My Casa Bella

COME IN THE EVENING, OR COME IN THE MORNING;

COME WHEN YOU'RE LOOK'D FOR,

OR COME WITHOUT WARNING.

KISSES AND WELCOME YOU'LL FIND BEFORE YOU,

AND THE OFTENER YOU COME HERE

THE MORE I'LL ADORE YOU!

-Thomas Osbourne Davis



Welcome To My Casa Bella

My Casa Bella- means-my beautiful home- but it can mean so many other things. How you make your home a home. The sounds of children or pets playing. The aroma of scones in the oven or a lilac candle burning. The flowers blooming in your garden. The home grown vegetables ready to be picked. Grandma's quilt at the foot of the bed. A fire to curl up to with a good book. Or just a family spending time together with love, laughter and a good time.





















Monday, March 29, 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy....

I know its been a long
long time
since I've posted anything.
Not sure why
to be honest, I mean I have
been so very
busy for the past two
weeks and its
only going to get busier for
the next
couple of weeks. But a good
busy.
I've done alot, I've been
working as well,
but not sewing and I'm really
missing that.
So I need to take time out
to do some
crafting, some me time.
But I wanted
to stop in and say Hello!
I've got
alot going on this week
need to
get ready for company coming
this weekend.
Very good friends of ours
driving up
from Tennessee and we're
excited to see
them.
So, lots of cleaning,
getting the
yard mowed, I know
ALREADY!!
But it needs it.
Making some
yummy meals, I think we'll
grill,
oh that sounds nice,
grilling!!
Hope you all had a nice
weekend
and a happy Monday!

*picture from Google image from
Kate McRostie*

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Gloomy Day..:(

Well, I wish I could do this
today,
but no giggling today,
no siree,
because I was looking
forward to
sitting here this summer
out of the sun having
my coffee
in the morning and
iced-tea
in the evenings
but I woke
to this site instead
yup, its come crashing
down thanks
to that horrific wind
that we
had
all night long!!
Part of it I
put underneath the table
back there
but this piece is
still hanging
on by a
screw,
one
stupid
rusty
little
screw!
I so
badly wanted to take
it
and
yank it off!
This stupid
thing kept me up all
night.
Between this and the
wind
I was quite
frustrated!
So yes folks,
lack of
sleep
darkness
and
pouring rain
has been
making
my day!!
Yet, these two
little things
hung on for dear life
after all that violent
wind
these two are still
hanging
while our porch roof
is
ruined,
go figure!
So today I clean,
my home
should be pretty
clean by
the time I'm done
with it.
Need to take the
frustration
out somewhere.
oh well.
We move on, things
could be worse,
in fact
they are
in other places
but
I just needed to
whine!
oh, by the way,
we've
lost this too
Can you see it there
laying on its
side?
Poor baby,
its flat on the ground
this is the
third
rose bush we've lost
due
to a storm.
So
I guess the
thirds time a charm, heh??!!
No more rose bushes
back here.
All done with those.
(sigh)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Why Are You Tormenting Me?

The weather is close to 70 today,
the sun shining,
the aroma in the air is the earth
waking up.
Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths are
coming alive!
There are small green things starting
to appear.
Fresh, green and soft.
My plants are coming alive, already!
They've been
hiding under the dead leaves all
winter and
they're playing peek-a-boo.
I like that game
with my flowers. Its so exciting
to see
them, peeking from under the
dead fall leaves.
I was able to do some yard cleaning
Monday.
I tried to be careful, not to do too
much.
But that sunshining on me was like
an addict getting
his fix. That's the only way I could
describe it.
If I had to run into the house, I
literally ran in
and out, because I needed more
of that warm
sun.
I planted some spring bulbs,
YES!
Spring Bulbs.
I read in a gardening magazine
that you can
do that and still get those
pretty spring flowers
I just hope I
did it at the right time, if not
then they'll
be there next year.
Now I'm anxious to get my veggie
garden going.
Anxious to do this very thing:
(click on image to enlarge)
Watching my hubby fighting with the
tiller,
getting the veggie garden ready.
Me planting
the small veggies with moms help
when she can
come down from NYC. She loves
to garden
but can't when you live in the
concrete jungle.
So she'll come down and get
dirty.
Then sitting back and watching
things grow.
I look forward to sitting on
my back porch
with coffee in the morning
when its
still cool, then tea or lemonade
in the afternoon
after working in the garden.
Do you long to
do the same thing?
Are you being tormented by
this gorgeous
weather?
Its hard not to get out there
and start
planting!
But take it from me,
don't do it!
Wait until the
right time, otherwise you'll
lose
everything.
I won't do that again!!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Cabin Fever Craft Show...

Well the weekend has come and
gone, it was
a beautiful weekend here in
the NE,
first time in a long time.
We also had
the Craft Show that I was
trying to prepare
for.
I took some pictures of
our table
When we did this show last
year,
it turned out great. But I
really think
weather had something to do
with it.
Last year, it rained on/off
it was windy,
and yet the place was packed.
This year,
sun was shining, temp's were
in the low 50's
and the crowd was so very small.
So, I wasn't
happy this year. And what is funny
is I didn't
want to do it this year, mainly
because of
just getting over my surgery
and not
having the stamina to do anything
to prepare
for it. But that's ok, I still
had a good
time and we were invited to do
a couple of shows
this summer.
But now I can take it easy.
Today is
just beautiful out and I think
I may go
outside for a little bit
and walk
around the yard. I saw some
tulips
trying to peak out, YEA!!
Hope its
beautiful today where you're
at.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Through The Years......

This morning I was thinking about the
upcoming Craft Show,
and remembering when I started doing
the handbags.
I took a sewing class to help me read
patterns better.
I had a difficult time understanding
some of them.
So a local fabric store offered a six week
course.
It was so much fun. I chose to make a
curtain.
By the fourth week my curtain was done
so the teacher told
me to pick another pattern to make,
she said,
"how about a handbag? something simple"
A handbag?
Panic set in!! I've never done that before!
But I tried it,
and I was having a blast putting that together.
Sadly, the class ended
before I could finish, then that's when the real
panic
set in, who's going to help me finish what I started!!
Thankfully, I have a friend
who's been sewing for many, many years and she
helped me in an area
where I was just stuck at. I could not figure out
what they were saying to do
with the inside lining. She had to read it a couple
of times, then figured it
out!!
I then finished my very first purse. I was so
proud, I even took it to the
lady who taught the class, I wanted to show
her, that her time
with us payed off.
Now I wanted to learn how to sew so
I can make custom
window treatments for anyone who
was looking to
find someone to help them out.
Well, I went to
a Doctor's office for an appointment
and one of the
lady's at the front desk loved my bag,
she wanted that same
one, so I went to buy the fabric and
what do you know?
They no longer carry it!!!!
Great! Now
what do I do?
Well, I cleaned out my bag, Yes, my
very first bag
that I made, and I sold it to her.
Do you know
I regret that now? I wish I had it.
It's the bag,
third row, the one on the left
(click on image to enlarge)
I really liked my new bag that I made
but she loved it too
and I was flattered, so I sold it to her,
and after that
she purchased 3 more bags from me.
So I guess it
was worth parting with. That was
the summer of 2006.
I've been at it now for about three
years.
I never thought I'd be making
handbags to sell.
The picture above shows just a
few of the bags
I've made and sold.
Its been a fun adventure. I am so
happy
I found something that I not only
like doing
but that I am good at. Thanks
to my mom,
watching her behind the sewing
machine
as I was a child, I was so
fascinated with
that big, black machine that
fell back into
the table it miraculously popped
out of.
She tells me I inherited that gift
from my
maternal grandmother. She
loved to sew
everything and anything.
I sell my handmade
products in a local shop, at craft
shows and on Etsy.