About us – Page 2 – Gracious Rain

November 11, 2015November 5, 2021

Pretty Baby~

Before quilt market, April and I hit on a fantastic idea.

Since she would have a booth at the Moda area, why not use that cute baby as a living mannequin–so to speak. We could dress her up in pretty little ruffly things made with the prettiest fabric on the planet. SUCH a good idea!

I scoured the internet and found just the right patterns–four to be exact–for the entire event. That baby would have a new outfit from her mama’s fabric for all three days at the conference and one special dress to wear to the fancy-schmancy black and white formal dinner.

The teensy tiny catch was that I only had 6 days to make the 4 outfits.

The race was on!

1~ The first thing was the easiest. I made the little pants to go with a sweet little red shirt. Sadly, because I made the top last, I don’t have a picture of it.

2~ Next, was this little summer dress. It was autumn weather her in Utah, but it was warmer in Texas, so this outfit would still work.

I was nervous that this one would be too wide for this tiny baby girl so I sewed a tie on the front…

that cinched it up just enough, with a little bow in the back.

Completed.

3~ This sweet flowery top…

with the double tiered, ruffly bloomers. So dang cute!!

4~ And last of all, the “formal” dress for the Black and White dinner.

I finished the last stitch on the last top–the red one–about an hour before taking April and Jacob and the baby to the airport. Yeah, that’s pushing it, I know.

But it worked…

in the nick of time!

Phew!

October 3, 2015October 20, 2022

And The Wall~

came tumbling down!

So as it happens in projects such as these, we started talking about how much more open the kitchen would feel if it were…ummm… you know, open. So one thing led to another and before we knew it, the wall was down. Just like that.

Crow bars and sledge hammers seem to be these guys’ best friends.

Kind of exciting to see things just wished for one moment…

and coming true the next.

This place is awesome. This disappearing wall is awesome.

These guys are awesome!

October 23, 2014October 11, 2021

The Shop Is Now~ OPEN!

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Oh, my goodness–how long it’s been since I’ve had the time to put anything new…or let’s face it, anything at all in my pretty little Gracious Rain Shop.

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But the day has come, and now, after weeks of prep and focus, I finally have enough items to stock the digital shelves.

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There’s still not a bazillion items, just enough I’d say. But you can be sure that what is in there, was hand made with all the love and care I could muster.

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Perhaps you’ll see it in the stitches, somehow. Perhaps you feel it in the pretty little models that turned up magically and posed so politely.

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At any rate, I do hope you’ll stop by the Gracious Rain Shop and check it out. Maybe something will just leap out at you and call your name. I do hope so!

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If you’re so inclined, please leave a kind word or two, a tweet, a pin or a Facebook “like.” All of it helps to spread the word.

We’re baaack!

And…I’ll love you forever.

October 22, 2014October 20, 2022

Honey Spice Throat Drops Season

100 Happy Days #54

Ahhh…here we are again, at that lovely time of year. My absolute favorite, to be exact. Leaves changing and falling everywhere. The holidays approaching. That nippy cool snap in the air. But with all this loveliness also comes the musty furnace coming on at night and the cool air coming on in the day. It’s a balance from hour to hour to not roast or freeze. At our house, sometimes all these changes brings an occasional bout of scratchy throats for the big and little folks.

Must be time to whip up a batch of Honey Spice Throat Drops! Yummo.

Now, I need to tell you–if you venture out and make your own throat drops using this recipe, please, PLEASE go HERE first and find out what Hard Crack Stage actually is for your area at this time of year. It’s not hard to figure out, but it is different everywhere and changes with the weather and moisture in the air. It’s pretty aggravating to follow the directions and have the same temperature I use actually not set up, or worse, burn in your area. Do the test and your drops will work.

Mine were a tad more sticky this time because it was raining outside while I was making them. I should have cooked them a minute or two longer. But they still tasted great and did the job.

Yee haw. I love these things!

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Honey Spice Throat Drops RECIPE

July 15, 2014October 20, 2022

That Old Red Van

100 Happy Days #48

Oh, this old, sweet, silly, heroic, ridiculous red van.

As you may remember, it tried very hard to die a few months back which led to some exciting, unheard of behavior on my part.

But then, what to do with the red van…hmmmmmm?

Well, it didn’t seem prudent–or respectful for that matter, to just send it off to the junk yard to be crushed up into tuna cans.

No, no. That wouldn’t be right.

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So, we had a very kind man come and tow it to the shop for one last fix up.

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And what do you know? For less than $100 it is up and running just fine…

and on to it’s new home with a sweet new family that promised to love it nearly as much as we have.

Gr van Good-bye old girl.

You’ve held a special place in our hearts.

We’ll never forget you.

Note: This post was all good and fine until the driver’s side door mechanism went out, totally freaking out the sweet people who wanted to give our old girl a new home. So, sadly…she is being put to rest and recycled. Well, no one can say we didn’t try.

I’ve decided that whenever I feel a twinge of guilt over it, I’ll just go for a drive in my little Ruby.

That should help.