Scott Eli Douglass

Last September Tony's brother, Scott passed away.

This is the last photo I took of Scott. The previous year, their dad would have turned 100 years old. We all got together to celebrate. Little did we know that would be our last gathering before Scott's funeral. He was so animated when he would speak. I will always remember him, talking with his hands.

Scott, grinning from ear to ear as he shows off his Whiskey. This isn't just any whiskey. This is BLACK DOUGLASS whiskey, from Scotland. He was certainly proud of his heritage!

The Douglass siblings, at Scott's funeral. September 13, 2010.
Cindy Christensen, Glenna Douglass, Paul Douglass, Tony Douglass, Jackie Poulsen.

Doll Clothes

What is it about making doll clothes that I love?
Probably because it is one of my fun childhood memories. I have been sewing these clothes in preparation for a craft fair that is coming up.

Call it a Do-Over!

MAUVE! What was so neat about mauve? Honestly, I was so sick of those pink drapes! How many photos have we taken in front of them? The rag rolling with the border certainly speaks volumes for when I last decorated my living room. (at least the country blue furniture is gone!)

We have lived in our home 17 years and never had different drapes. It's time!

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the paint is a soft golden color. I purchased extra drapery panels, cut and sewed the valance myself. I wanted the brown to serve as a frame, narrowing up the space.

I love the detail in the drapes. It is so important to me to like my drapes because the sunlight gives me headaches. I have to keep them closed all the time.

We had way too many favorite pictures in the living room. I had to narrow it down, but I like the results.

I love this picture of Christ. It is a reminder to me to take time to ponder amid the hustle and bustle of a busy life.

I got lucky here. I wanted a temple picture in the living room, but our old stand by was too big and outdated. Josie happened to go on a road trip with friends. She had taken all these photos of different temples. I made them up in sepia, framed them to match and lined them up. I love the look.

Years ago, I decided that the three things I always wanted represented in my living room was the three things that are most important to me. My family, my Savior, and the temple. In this photo you can see the family portrait, along with our three children. To the side is a crochet of our last name, framed over the top of our Douglass tartan.

Elephants on parade! Looking back, I am amazed at how long I plan my decor before I actually do it! I am currently all about elephants! I would have done antique globes with it, but had a relatively small space to work with.

There is just one more thing in my living room that I love. I don't have a photo of it here. It is a plaque that says:
"HEAVEN, don't miss it for the world"
The more I think about it, the more I like it.
Redecorating the living room has given me a pleasure that was a long time coming. It is peaceful and serene in there. I love the warm colors and the simple accents. Also not pictured is Tony's favorite thing, a BIG flat screen TV. I haven't taken a photo of it since we purchased a nice cabinet to go under it, but it's pretty too. He likes the room too.

A Little Pink Snoopy

Here came Josie's birthday. I happened to be going to the fabric store a lot. I found this pink snoopy fabric. She LOVES Snoopy!

She already had a blue baby quilt that she made out of Snoopy fabric. I couldn't resist making her a pink one.


I had fun picking fabric to go around the block. Of course I couldn't make it simple and just pick a back, a front, and tie it with yarn!

The border was a challenge too. I had never done any kind of border that wasn't just straight. I don't mind the hand work. It is relaxing to me. I also love the way the waves made the pink and brown feminine.

Uncle Floyd and Aunt Helen

One of my favorite childhood memories is going to my Grandma Bowles' home. It wasn't really her home. She lived with my Uncle Floyd and Aunt Helen because of her health.

Floyd and Helen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It was wonderful to see them again and remember how they always opened their home to us, making us feel like an extension of their own family. We never felt like an imposition, not when visiting years ago or this day. We came late, when the party was almost over and stayed well beyond when we should have gone home. It didn't matter to them. We were just an extension of the people who were already there.

One of the fun things besides celebrating with Floyd and Helen was that Paula happened to be able to come to Idaho Falls with us. The other two sisters live right here in good old Cache Valley with me, but Paula lives in Arizona. It seemed more complete to have her along.
Ann, Ruby, Paula, and Betty

Costuming and Cosplay

My fall was filled with sewing, sewing, sewing, and more sewing. Of what? COSTUMES. I love it!

I was asked to sew for the musical, "The Scarlet Pimpernel". It was a lot of fun. I have sewn for theater before, but this was fun because I was able to make Josie such a great costume!

Josie posing for me out front in her aristocrat costume. Gotta love the bum roll! We had more than one laugh over that thing.

Cute pose.

Details on the front.

It was an honor to be asked to sew Chauvelin's costume. Anthony did a great job playing the lead bad guy. He had such a cute face I didn't know if he could put off mean, but he made me proud. The photos is bad. It was at a fitting, but it is all I have.

Cosplay is more than just having a costume. It is the whole attitude, personality, and acting as if you are the person in the suit.

Patrick was pretty intense. He was so thrilled to have this costume for the Anime Convention. I designed the costume and the appliques. They were specific to the character he was playing.

My son Shane. I just love how serious he is in this picture. It's all part of cosplay. Apparently his character sits at a table, leaning on his hands, not saying much. At the convention, he actually had people asking for photos with him because he played his character so well.

I FORCED Shane to stand for this photo. (He didn't want to be out of character) I wanted a good picture of the details in his costume. It was a challenge to figure out how to sew this from just a poor drawing on the computer.

Seaside, Oregon

Imagine how thrilled I was to be invited to come to Oregon and play favorite aunt/nanny to my wonderful niece's family. This was how my summer began, and was by far the highlight! (for more than one reason...)

Kiersten was the reason for all the fun. She was able to participate in the Miss Oregon pageant. Cute little princess.

LaDawn and I proving that we were really there!

Kiersten at the beach. Always the perfect pose.

William and Ian pretending to look out through the telescopes.
They posed a lot for me. Patient boys.

Seaside should probably be nick named "Dog Town". I have never seen so many pets being walked around town. It was nice, as I was away from my own little dog.

Ian and Will relaxing before the parade.
I had so much fun playing with these guys and getting to know them.

Of course spoiling Kiki was absolutely necessary. We did facials and fingernails.
Just what a princess needs.

The best part of The Carousel Mall wasn't necessarily the carousel.
It was THE HAT STORE!!

William

Ian (aka: Harry Potter)

Kiersten

LaDawn

I had never been to see the ocean before. The whole trip was amazing and calming.

I took more than my share of pictures of the sunset.

I couldn't believe how quickly the scenery changed.
We were only on the beach 20 minutes.

I love this photo. I happened to look the other direction as I went up the boardwalk. I couldn't help snapping one of this cute cottage with the sunset in the windows.

My last day in Oregon was a Sunday. We had to drive back to Portland in order to be there to catch the plane. I wanted to go past the temple and feel the spirit there.

It was such a sweet reminder that the Lord is there for us. Even far from home I could feel of His love and the importance eternal families. All of this is manifested in the multiple temples throughout the world. He loves His children.

I'm BAAACK!!

Wow! Who knew?

For months and months I have thought my blog was infected. But now, after changing the back ground. . . all is well. Hopefully now I will be able to blog at least once a month. Soon. The change was so unexpected that I wasn't really prepared for the fix.