Corn fields and childhood memories

Such a simple thing, summer corn growing in fields under blue skies.  But for me it means so much more... the growing corn elicits wonderful childhood memories.

My father was from Illinois, was the only boy among a family of 6 sisters.  Wonderful weeks of summer vacations were spent visiting my father's parents and his sisters there when I was young.

Many of my aunts lived out in the country, their homes nestled between one vast cornfield and the other.  Potluck dinners were often, and always delicious. 

There was always fresh sweet corn at every meal.  These cobs are still young and too small to pick, but I love to walk along the edge of the field, smelling the sweet corn scent, letting it take me back to childhood days and the fun of being with my father's family.  They were a large boistrous and loud family, laughter filled every corner of every room in their homes.  And I loved being a part of all that.

It has been more years then I care to think of since I was in IL.  Many of my cousins have moved to different states, but some have remained close to where they grew up, and 3 of my father's sister still remain there.  My oldest sister is in IL right now visiting with my brother, and she had the chance to visit with my aunts, and got to see a few cousins along the way.  I wish I could be there with her.  She said it was like stepping back into our past, the years melting away, the IL accents filling her senses, and the loving hugs of our aunts making her once again feel that wonderful sense of belonging to the bigger picture of family! 

I think I will walk along the corn field again today with Cody.  If I can not be in IL, I can at least make believe!

Inspiration, where ever one can find it.

Inspiration for my garter creations sometimes comes from very unexpected places.  This room's color combination...............

................inspired the idea for this new garter set in my Etsy shop.

I am now working on some garters using the same vintage chocolate brown satin ribbon, but combined with pastel pink, pale blue and buttercream yellow.  Absolutely yummy color combinations!

"Rosalie's Rising Sun"

I couldn't help sharing these photos of the sweetest new addition at the stables near us where my daughters ride.  I will let the photos say it all, so enjoy "Rosalie".

I hope you are all enjoying a leisurely Sunday, just like Rosalie in the grass.

Brugge in Belgium

I recently spent a magical few days in Brugge, Belgium with my husband to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  Now all I can do is long to go back to this wonderful old town.

This is the Bed & Breakfast we stayed at on the outskirts of town.  We just hopped on the bus in the mornings and then

 spent our days sight-seeing in town, doing all the things that tourists do.

Like going on the boat ride....

And taking a ride in one of the many horse drawn carriages.

We at nibbled on chocolates bought at one of the dozens of shops offering fresh made and delicious Beligan Chocolates.

We fell in love with the many bridges, which is where the town gets its name.

And we were awed by the architecture and history of the town, with many of the buildings dating back to the 13th century.

Oh yes, I am definitely longing to go back again!  I fell in love with Brugge. 

ANTIQUE CHRISTENING DRESSES AND BELGIAN LACES

I was recently in the fabulous town of Brugge Belgium, or Bruges in English, also known as the "Venice of the north" due to the many canals and little water ways that run through out the city.  It is a town filled with wonderful restaurants, lovely architecture dating back to the 13th and 14th century, shops of homemade chocolates that fill the air with their sweet scent, and shop after shop of gorgous Belgian laces.  Ah, now those are the shops that really caught my eye, and captured my heart!  Laces and chocolates, could there be anything more divine then an entire town filled with two of my favorite things!!  One shop in particular turned out be my favorite since it offered antique laces, and it is where I discovered these gorgous antique christening gowns.  They are from the 1700's, are in pristine condition, and are created with handmade laces.  The first one is made with the finest softest Needle lace or Brussels lace and took 12 years to make, the second one with Bobbin lace and a mere 3 years of work to create it.  They both were exquisite, and I timidly asked the price of both.....hoping, just hoping that perhaps the shop owner would quote a price that I might just be able to handle.  But alas, they were too much for my budget.  At $3700 each, I knew that I would have to be happy with just a photo of them!  Not able to take one of them home with me  (would I have been able to choose between them anyway???), I decided I must have a yard or two of old lace.  I found a gorgous Brussels lace, (sorry, couldn't get a picture of it), made with little 3 dimentional flowers that had tiny bits of cotton padding tucked inside of them.  Gorgous, lovely, beautiful beyond description!!  But again, too much for my pocket.  At $790 per yard, I had to leave it behind and simply let it be something that dreams are made of !

SATISFACTION

Once in a while I take a good look around me and feel the need to change things or improve on them.  Sometimes it could be nothing more then putting a bit of order into my home, or getting all the dust bunnies gathered from the corners of the rooms.  Recently my Etsy shop is the place where my need to change things have been focused.  I took a good hard look at my photos' backgrounds and decided I had to find something else that "spoke" to me a bit more.  So with much trial and error, I finally found a couple that really please my visual senses. 

One is a pale pink that I really like and depending on the natural daylight on any given day, the shade of pink is lighter or darker.  I like how it turned out for these garters.

I also like this background, made with a vintage bridal image that I just love.  It is perfect for my "Victorian Brides" series of bridal garters, which are made with fine laces and ivory silk satin ribbons, kept rather simple and not over stated, but refined and very elegant, befitting that gentle era.

It is fun to try out new backgrounds, change things around in my shops a bit.  Now I am always on the look out for other images to use, and am trying to improve my shop photos in the process.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE!!

I can hardly believe that it has been several months since I last posted. How could I have let the time slip away like that?  There was a big family celebration to prepare for, and as always with things like that, they take up more time then one expects.  Then my sister flew over from the states to spend some time here with me, and we had a glorious week together!  So many times I would like to roll back the hands of time and relive our days together all over again!  Here is one of the places that we visited - a 600' tower right on the banks of the Rhine River in Düsseldorf.  From above I zoomed in with my camera to capture someone's funny artwork of stones in the sand below.

Here is a view of the Rhine River from above!  I love how it snakes around in curves and bends, so interesting to see its path from above.
 

And another view from the many glass windows of the tower.
 

Here is the city itself.  This is the promenade along the river, and part of the "old city", while the newer more modern buildings are the background.
 

 And the tower itself, which should have been the first picture that I wanted to share, but as usual blogger and me did not quite get along as we should have been and I uploaded the photos in the wrong sequence. :-)  The first one shows a zoom in from below, and the last picture is how the tower looks from below in real distance.  A looonngg way up! 

I have missed being here on blogger and sharing a story or two with one and all, a few pictures added in for the visual fun of it all.  I have been busy sewing garters and keeping my shops full of new and lovely items for brides-to-be, so will share some of the latest creations in my next post.  

I hope this finds everyone well and enjoying your summer days!  

~Debby