Custodians of Beauty

God the Father by Paolo Veronese (1528-1588) "Let us be who we are, and be that well, so as to honor the Master Worker, whose handiwork we are."  -- St. Francis de Sales

Who can resist seeing a baby in a cute knotted headband? I've had this project on my "to sew list" for a couple of months.  Instead of buying fabric, I thought I'd make  a trip to Dig and Save to search for a couple of jersey knit shirts. Those of you who have been to Dig and Save know that you go there to, quite literally, DIG . All the clothes are dumped into huge bins/boxes. Nothing is sorted. There is no order whatsoever. You just pick a bin, and dig till you find something you like. And when you find that one-of-a-kind Ralph Lauren leather jacket, it's like finding the diamond in the rough!  Shirts I found at Dig and Save After digging around in the clothes bin I was happy to find a polka dot halter top, an extra large salmon-colored shirt that had tiny paisleys and flowers on it, and an off-white floral/dot patterned nighty.   Score! And I found these three items in less then 10 minutes of digging! What luck! Clothes are only $1 a pound he...

Queen of Mothers by Charles Bosseron Chambers "Jesus Christ, after having giving us all he could give, that is to say, the merit of his toils, his sufferings and bitter death; after having giving us his adorable body and blood to be the food for our souls, willed also to give us the most precious thing he had left, which was his holy mother. "  -- St. John Marie Vianney

While my husband finishes up his speaker project, I've taken this opportunity to spend my evenings working on flower inspired crafts. After the babies are fed and put to sleep, I reclaim the kitchen table (removing crusted oatmeal off chairs and floor) and set up shop. I've seen several felt flower headbands, but what I like about this one  is that it is more realistic. The  small cluster of white petals  reminds me of the blooming hydrangea bushes that grew along the brick facade of the house I lived in as a youngster. Lovely, are't they? For starters, I cut out ten white blossoms and four leaves. Using yellow embroidery thread, I fastened the blossoms onto an oval base overlapping them so that they bunch together. The stretchy lavender hair band has been sitting in my bathroom drawer for the longest time. Now it can finally see the light of day! There are two other stretchy bands left in the drawer, a dark pink and a white one. I...

For my second attempt to sew baby wear, I made this matching set. I purchased the white polka dot fabric recently; the other fabric was from my stash.  This  was a great project for reusing fabric "odds and ends".  The bib pattern was simple. To make the bib durable, a piece of felt was sewn between the fabric layers. Snaps are my new favorite. Love how easy it is to add them to clothing! And you can buy a large box of them for a couple bucks.  The wrap around snap was positioned  on the side of the bib to better accommodate little girls with longer hair. (I find it difficult to get bibs on my girls when the fastener is at the back of their head. Their hair always gets stuck in the snap.) I purchased a packet of colored suspender clips from Amazon. In my opinion, these metal clips stay on much better than the plastic clips found at Target. Want to make some clips like these? Well, here's the blog I found for inspiration on mak...

Made these saint felties for my friend's baby shower last weekend.  I altered the pattern used for my  Babuska Dolls  to accommodate the Franciscan habit. I decided to make St. Francis and St. Clare because they both wear hoods, and for that reason it would be easy to adapt the doll pattern to suit their individual looks. Also, how could I resist sewing this dynamic duo? St. Francis is usually depicted surrounded by his critter friends. He would recite the Word of God to the birds and the fishes reminding them to praise and love their Creator. Francis often gave the animals a blessing, making the sign of the cross over them.  I was going to sew a bird to his shoulder but then decided a squirrel would be much cuter. St. Clare had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. In 1241, the city of Assisi was under attack by the Saracens. The nuns were struck with fear because their convent was located outside the walls. St. Clare...

So far I've used my dehydrator to make dried strawberries, mango, apple slices, and fruit leather. The dried fruits are great trail snacks, but what's even better is homemade beef jerky.  Now, although I can't take the credit for making this mouth-watering jerky, I can say it was fun documenting the process. My brothers and husband joined forces to create the ultimate dry-aged beef, which they've dubbed, The Brother's Jerky . Mmmm, tasty dry-aged beef. The meat packaging alone was worthy of a photo. They purchased 6 lbs of beautiful London Broil at Whole Foods. The very low fat content makes for beef jerky that doesn't spoil so fast.  The butcher sliced the meat thinly, which made it easy peasy for the jerky making. Meats! The makings of a delicious, lip' smackin' marinade.  Jerky strips were divided out into bags and the marinade was generously poured into each bag. After massaging the meat (the br...