FALL IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!

So it's been 4 months since last I was here.  We have been super busy this summer and therefore I have had very little time for the blogging world.  But most recently we went apple and pumpkin picking. It was super fun and the kids loved it.

Now my crafting mind is in holiday mode.  What am I making for who?????? UGH! I have finished 2 quilts and started some knitted gifts. Can't say what because those that get them may be reading:)  
So that's a quick catch up and now off to the knitting needles and then to work to make people beautiful. Good day all:)

                                                  Some of the Fabulous Flock of The Brook

my daughter's dress

The dress that I have been making for my daughter's 1st Communion is finally finished!  After many nights of thinking and planning I started looking around online to see if I saw anything that I liked or would like to implement into her dress. I found something that I loved and figured that I would see if I could come up with something similar. So with much stress about cutting the beautiful silk my grandmother sent me, since I was pattern free, I went ahead.   Many nights and a lot of "come try this on...it will just take a minute" later it's done. I did make some changes so it would be just what I wanted.  I am very pleased with how it came out and I think as you can see it does look very much like the photo I liked. 


Traditionally communion dresses are pure white and as you can see this one is not.  The veil that she is going to wear was my great grandmother's and it's not white. That being the case the dress couldn't be white.  My grandmother chose the fabric and while it looks pink in the photos it's more of a champagne/ivory color but I will say that it does look pink at times.  I just love the color and can't wait for the big day.


this is the one I found online



We ended up with 5 ducks and 2 geese.  Last week we added a goat to the crazy train.  A Nigerian Dwarf Goat which my son named Brody.  Now I haven't done a lot with this goat since he belongs to my son and want him to be clear that it's his job to take care of him. So far so good!  Now my husband wants at least 1 more goat and maybe a cow......I draw the line with a cow. I am not a cow kind of girl!

Funny Farm

Saying it's been busy would be an understatement.  Little League has started, hubby coaching my son's team and my daughter deciding that she will not take after me (thank God) and try sports. Of course that means that they are on different teams and that means going all the time. Her games on one day and he has 3 games a week and her practices are at the same time as his games!  Baseball is running the show right now. 

George

Willow

  

India

Reilly

While all of this is happening we added the 2 new (new to us) pointers to the mix last Saturday.  Let's just say that India is letting it be known that she is in charge and Willow would really like to be the one with that job.   For the most part things are going as planned.  Sometimes I feel like what was I thinking!  George is very into food, his, ours, any one's.  We have to keep our eyes open for him with his head in the bag of dog food as well as on the counters.  Just the other day he met me at the door with a bag of potatoes in his mouth. Not sure if he wanted me to cook them up for him or he just got caught.  At first I was concerned that Willow was depressed. I think she thought he old owner would be picking her up at any moment. Things have gotten better, she is even playing with the others now.  She has been caught curled up on the couch a few times.

Yesterday we started on the duck roller coaster.  We had one duck hatch in the evening and two more were there this morning when we woke up. It has been very exciting for hubby and me as well as the kids.   Very cool to watch these things that you think could never have fit in those tiny eggs. 

3 of our new ducks

NEMO

Here he is, the very coolist black cat to ever live. Nemo. I know what you're thinking, he's not orange like the fish. That's what happens when you let little kids pick a name for a cat.  Unfortunatly today we lost him in a very tragic accident.  He was only 5 and we had planned on having him around for many many more years to come.I will be missing him in so many ways.  The way he would run after balled up pipe cleaners like a dog chases a ball. The way he slept on my feet at night. The sound of him running through the upstairs like he was an elephant.  I'm even going to miss the paw prints on the table right after I would wash it  EVERY DAY that I swear he would put there just to make me crazy.  We are so very heartbroken and I know it will take a while to heal but I am sure that he knew just how much we all loved him.

We love you Nemo.

 

9/2006 -5/1/2011

Easter Swap

So I haven't blogged much lately, life took over. So in the last few weeks lots has happened here at the Brook. One of the most exciting is that I got my Tilda Easter Swap package!  All the way from the UK. You can just think of how excited I was.  Elaine sent me the most beautiful bunny!!!! I have named her Hariett. I just love her purple outfit.  It also came with some very yummy chocolate (that didn't make it long in my house), beautiful fabric (can't wait to do something wonderful with it), yummy tea that I drank during "The Wedding" and the most amazing handmade card that has had a very special place in my diningroom so everyone can see it.

Silk, Lace, and Wool, oh my!

My daughter is making her 1st communion this spring and I have set out to make her dress. Now this is not a major ordeal for me however deciding what I want it to look like is.  When I made my 1st communion I wore my mother's dress and I also wore my great-grandmother's veil (on my father's side).  I have always thought that when I had a daughter she would wear the exact same dress and veil that I wore. I didn't give any thought to the fact that being married to a 6 1/2 foot tall man might give me overly tall children. This fact has made it so the dress won't fit her.  I'm also not liking the idea of buying a dress.  So I set out to make a dress. I told my grandmother of my plan, and she stepped right up. Gram is a very talented, as I like to call it, fabric artist.  Her first love is quilting but sewing in general is as natural to her as breathing. She also lives in an area of New Jersey which gives her access to the best quality fabrics, laces, threads, everything.  So I told her I was thinking about silk and she said "say no more I've got it taken care of".  About a month ago I got a wonderful package of what I consider beautiful things.  She sent several yards of a gorgeous dupioni silk in the most beautiful shade of ivory that in the right light has an ever so slight pinkish hue, and several yards of the most amazing, lightest, softest cream colored wool.  Now, I know that tradition is a bright white dress but I want her to still wear the veil and being almost 100 years old it's more ivory than white, so ivory it is!  Today was the day. I've started a "rough draft" in muslin. So far so good.  I have to say with all the ideas that have gone through my head it's been very hard to decide what this should look like.  Pictures to come soon.

31 and Holding.......

gifts from Marie and Dawn

So I celebrated my birthday over this past weekend and while I'm not too far off from 31 I am going to be staying that exact age for a while I think. Truthfully I don't care, 33 is just fine but I have to say I seem to feel like I was just 31. My how quickly the last two years have gone. The other reason I don't mind getting older is I like to get gifts. I will be honest. I like stuff!  Some of my favorite things I got this year have to do with a huge event in the near future. The Royal Wedding!  That's right The Royal Wedding.  My cousin sent the commemoriative William and Catherine Royal Wedding Yankee Candle. LOVE IT!  My BFF Dawn gave me The William and Catherine tea cup. Now this is the perfect gift since it combines my love of all things royal and my love of tea and tea cups. I have it on good authority that there may even be a certain sapphire  ring replica coming my way.  My kids and hubby gave me some new beads for my Troll Beads bracelet, I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  This year it seemed like I was able to make it last days. While the real day was Saturday and my husband and I celebrated that day, I also got to have cake and icecream with my family and the inlaws on Sunday and Monday I was surprised by beautiful flowers from my brother and his girlfriend. Yes I don't mind getting older, a day all about me.

from Kevin and Brittany

Just a quick note about the goings on at the Brook.  We are expecting!  Ducks and geese that is. Made you all gasp didn't I.  We decided to jump on the band wagon with everyone else we know that's hatching chickens this year and do the same.  However in the fashion that we are so well known for we had to do it with a twist!  We opted for duck and goose eggs. So for the last few days we have spent many hours looking at eggs, staring at 2 different thermometers, deciding which light bulb has the right amount of heat, and making sure the humidity isn't to high or low.  Oh I feel like a woman that is a week from her due date. The problem with that is we are only about 6 day into a 21-28 day journey.  I'm not sure I can look at an egg the same way ever again.


          

Eggcellent

                                                        

egg Gramp made

blue & white paperweight egg

Several years back I stated an egg collection quite by accident.  My Grandfather, Gramp as we called him, gave me a paperweight that's shaped like an egg.  When he gave it to me he said I ought to have it because it was given to him by his good friend. Now I don't really think that there was any real reason that he gave it to me and not my father or brother other than he was cleaning out his office. Of course there is the thought that he gave it to me because I am the oldest grandchild and by the same token the most loved and favorite. Okay maybe those words weren't used but I am sure that was the  real reason. Then after it sat on my craft table for a few years holding down quilting patterns, which is where my grandmother would like to see it, I thought that I should bring it out and put it on the mantle.  Just about that time my mother brought  over some other eggs that I had forgotten I had.  Two that had belonged to my great aunt, theses are very sparkly and shiny and as I have said if it sparkles it's for me!!!  The third egg was one that Gramp had made me. Gramp was quite an artist and had gotten into making Ukrainian eggs when I was younger.  The egg he made me was to commorate my 1st Communion in 1986.   Then one year at Christmas my mom gave me 3 small marble eggs she said to go with my collection, still not really thinking of it as a "collection". She was right though, I did have a collection.  Since then I try to add one or two a year to it. It's not  a huge collection yet but I'm sure it will be before too much longer. Yesterday I decided that I hadn't been at the sewing machine in a while so whipped up a few eggs to put in a large vase I have.

eggs I made last night

The Pointers of The Brook

Libby Brook's Jewel Of India

"India"

                                                          Libby Brook's Life Of Reilly
                                                                          "Reilly"


In about a month our girls, India and Reilly, are getting some new friends.  That's right, the crazy is going to get even crazier with 2 more German Shorthairs.  We found out a few weeks ago that India's mother Willow and brother (from a different litter) George were going to need new homes.  Well, my softer side took over with this news and the hubby and I decided to make that family 2 dogs larger.  So now we will have 4 dogs all under the age of 6. UGH!!!  If you aren't familiar with GSPs they are great family dogs, very loving, fantastic with kids, and very energetic!  They love to run and boy is India fast. I think she could be the fastest dog I've ever seen. They need to have about 30 minutes a day to just run, play ball, whatever it takes to blow off some steam. After that they are calm and happy to just lay next to your feet for the rest of the day.  Currently  they have been out and smelled all the new spring smells there are to smell today and are resting in the entryway as the sun beats down on them through the windows. As I look at them quiet and calm I realize why I want to bring 2 more into this family. Stay tuned for the adventures of the Libby Brook Pointers.

Spring????

So it's been officially Spring for a little over a week. As you can see it still looks (and feels) pretty cold on the Brook. The ice is gone but 30ish temps and wind chill doesn't feel very springy.  I know in a few weeks things will look greatly different.  The girls (the dogs) LOVE that they can now run everywhere and so do I because that means that they are super tired come evening and anyone that has even 1 GSP knows that tha tis wonderful. 
With the arrival of Spring that also means the exit of snowpants!  Mother's everywhere rejoice!!!!!!!!  No more snowpants in the backpacks, laying on the floor in the entryway, hanging on the back of chairs infront of the wood stove to dry. That does however mean mud. At this point I look forward to the mud.  Enjoy your day.

                                                                         Katie