Custodians of Beauty

Sweet Dreams by Firmin Baes "...motherhood is a journey that is treacherous and torturously lovely by turns. It feels impossible but it is infinitely worth the undertaking." - Audrey Assad, catholic musician, wife and mother

Ptak Reunion circa 1960 Gearing up to attend the Ptak Family Reunion this weekend. It'll be the first time in a long time that all 11 children (my aunts and uncles) will be together. It's going to be a blast! So many "littles" running around and plenty of cousins to catch up with. Not to mention the fabulous potluck meal and "Grandpa Ptak's Memorial Happy Hour" on Saturday evening serving Stanley's Manhattans, Pat's Old Fashioned's, and Mike's Boundary Water Cocktails.  My sister and I volunteered to design the inaugural tee shirt for the special occasion. She designed the graphic while I researched prices, vendors, and managed the shirt orders. It was fabulous to collaborate with her on the design. Seeing her artwork transform from simple sketches to the refined final design was remarkable. Her illustrations are attractive and stylish and her designs are fresh, yet have a hint of old-timeliness.  Story behind the graphic... T...

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...