A Perfect Afternoon...

Last Friday I had the most fabulous birthday celebration with my dear friends Kimber and Merry. We met for lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants called Fire Creek - enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the relaxing ambiance and spent a couple hours just catching up. I always enjoy chatting it up with Merry and Kimber, as they are full of creative inspiration - we always talk about cooking, gardening, sewing, crafting, and homemaking...and I always get lots of tips, advice, and encouragement...

After lunch and opening my birthday presents, we headed down to Valley Junction - a historic district in West Des Moines that was founded during the development of the railroad line - there are more than 120 specialty stores and antique shops (many of them housed in buildings constructed at the turn of the nineteenth century). It is always a treat to head down to main street and we definitely have our favorite store fronts to visit! Our first stop was Sisters, a quaint shop filled with home decor, vintage treasures, stationery, jewelry, and charming gifts - one of my favorite gift shops in the city.

After leaving a few dollars at Sisters, we headed to Carefree Patisserie (in their new FABULOUS location), where they bake the most delicious cupcakes...they had a great assortment of flavors on Friday (see the cupcake counter upper right) - I decided to go with White Almond - Kimber picked up Chocolate Mint - and Merry had a special Butterscotch Bacon...yes, I said Butterscotch Bacon (made in honor of the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival held on Saturday), which she said was YUM-O! The new location also has a unique assortment of baking supplies and gifts. I decided to be nice and bring home a cupcake for Travis - for him, I picked up a "Muddy Farmer" (a caramel cake filled with chocolate fudge - topped with chocolate buttercream, honey roasted peanuts and pecans...and a few pig sprinkles on top!)...needless to say, he devoured it!

After enjoying our cupcakes and tea/coffee, we headed over to The Quilt Block - a great little fabric shop, where I found yardage of the new French General line "Rouenneries Deux" and a few sewing notions (have you ever known me to go to a quilt shop and leave empty handed?).

You would think we would be all worn out/shopped out by this time - but no - we had one more stop to make - we left Valley Junction and headed over to Archiver's to do just a bit more economy enhancement. I found a pile of special embellishments and pretty papers...and even purchased a paper trimmer (an American Crafts Cutup - which is WAY cool).

After our day together, I returned home feeling completely inspired and itching to work on a bunch of new projects! It was a perfect afternoon and I felt so blessed to celebrate my birthday with my dear friends.

Once again, Merry and Kimber spoiled me with the most AMAZING birthday gifts...and they had Valentine pressies for me too...

Kimber brought me an adorable owl writer's block with matching pen....the most awesome fat quarter stack of fabrics (aren't they adorable! - I love these!!)...and a decorative pedestal plate with bird and a glass cloche (which was difficult to photograph) - I absolutely adore this - my mind is swimming with ways to display it! Kimber has impeccable taste and I am always delighted with the gifts she finds for me...

In true Merry fashion, I was showered with presents to open! She brought me a bag full of Valentine goodies - including beautiful tasty chocolates from Chocolaterie Stam, two snack mats (she made with frog fabric - so cute - see the tutorial on her blog) and some of her homemade jelly. She also brought me the cutest suitcase style box for my birthday that contained a cast iron teapot (which is something I had told her I wanted), a set of three nesting Japanese teacups, two handmade snack mats, a handmade trivet, and a bag of organic kukicha twig tea...I am such a lucky girl!!

I'll say it again - I have the most wonderful, special, generous, kind, and talented friends! I feel very blessed to be surrounded by friends (near and far) who love, support, and encourage me.

Over the next few days, my focus turns to the TNNA Nashville Needlework Market - I am heading to Nashville on Thursday and I'm looking forward to seeing some very close friends...and hopefully make some new ones...

Heavenly Chocolates

Happy St. Patrick's Day to those of you celebrating today...I hope you are wearing your green and you have a chance to enjoy a nice cold green beer or margarita!

This morning I took Simba to his monthly grooming appointment and I was lucky enough to spend my late morning/early afternoon with my dear friend Merry...and if you are already wondering, yes she made these phenomenal chocolates for me! Don't they look like they came from a wonderful gourmet chocolate shop?! Merry and I have both had a rather rough week and definitely needed a little "girl time"...but I had no idea she would try to fix all my problems with a gorgeous plate of delicious chocolates....even the presentation was fabulous (my foofing obsession has rubbed off on her) - I love the polka dot plate and festive green ribbons. I have already savored one of the hearts - which had scrumptious, creamy, ooey gooey caramel inside....there are even homemade peanut butter cups, and a chocolate truffle (in the center ) - yep, I am so spoiled (and she is so amazing and thoughtful)...and I will definitely need to do some extra workouts this next week. Plus, I almost forgot to mention she brought me her last jar of Jalapeno jelly (which is "to die for")...she definitely treats me like a queen!

Merry and I made a trip to a wonderful local quilt shop - and of course we found some new fabrics that we just had to give a new home...then we went to our favorite little Japanese restaurant in town and thoroughly enjoyed our sushi lunch....and then somehow, *poof*, my terrible week was not so terrible anymore.

May you enjoy the company of a good friend and a sweet decadent treat to soothe your soul...

Scented Heart Sachets

Aren't these just the sweetest little heart-shaped sachets? This fun wool applique project was part hand-stitching and part machine embroidery....and I was so tickled with how each one turned out. Each tiny heart pillow has some machine embroidery on the front and the back...and hand-stitched embellishments and blanket stitch around the outside edge. I enjoyed choosing the wools, ribbon, buttons, and pearl cotton out of my stash...and filling each with a mixture of fiberfill and scented pellets. The machine embroidery digitized design is called "Scented Bags" and is by Embroidershoppe ....it comes with 5 different designs, but I only worked on two of my favorites. They are a great size and measure about 4" H x 3.5" W (without the hanger). I should have taken a photo of the backs for you as well - each back has embroidered words, including: "made with love", "with love", or "handmade". My schedule has been so hectic, I had to do the machine embroidery on one day...and then the handwork the next day. I was really hoping to get a photo of these sweet little sachets posted a few days ago, but my schedule just didn't allow - although, I think they are perfect for year-round use!

This morning I had to take my little boy Simba to the groomer, so of course I met my dear friend Merry at the quilt shop - we did some fabulous fabric shopping and enjoyed a wonderful lunch together....always a treat. There were so many new "springy" fabrics, it was an overload to the senses - I tried to be good, but I still brought home an assortment of new cotton prints and a few new notions.

Merry brought me the most fabulous box of homemade chocolates (her talents are endless) - oh my goodness, these are sinful! So far, I have had a miniature white chocolate turtle that was divine...and when I got home, I had a larger milk chocolate turtle with caramel/nut filling...and they are AMAZING (but who would expect anything less from Merry!). I am going to savor each and every one of them...well, I may share with my husband, if he is lucky. To see more of Merry's cute candies and read about them, visit her blog: http://www.afarminmyheart.blogspot.com/.

I am now excited for tomorrow - I have lunch and some "girl time" scheduled with Merry and Kimber to celebrate my birthday - can't wait! I have been so unbelievably swamped with work and have been so under the weather, it is going to be heavenly to get out and about...plus the weather is supposed to be abnormally beautiful. Tonight I will be working hard on some needlework finishing and more chart bagging - I want to get a bunch of things done on my list, so I can enjoy the day with my friends....