Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

We're expecting a baby girl cousin to be born any day now and I just finished a cute quilt for her.  I made a little gift bag with the leftover fabric.  The bag can be used later for her to store some toys in. The lighting was not cooperating today (or maybe it's the photographer's poor skills) so these pics are a bit dark.  But, anywho, here's the quilt I made. My favorite detail is the flower trim I added at the seams of the strips.  This trim came from my grandmother many years ago and I was finally able to use it.  I think she would be pleased that it adorns a quilt made for her great granddaughter. I had a great time making these pillows for my Etsy shop .  The black fabric is actually an upcycled corduroy skirt that a friend gave me. The back side of the larger pillow is black houndstooth check fabric upcycled from another skirt.  I found the doilies at thrift stores.  I've never seen a silhouette doily before.  I thought it was ...

Celebration Day! This is my 300th blog post.  And I just got my 80th follower this morning!  To thank you for sticking with me for the past year, I'm having a give-away of my Baby Button Nests. I've envisioned these in my mind for a few months and finally got around to making a collection of six to give away to one of my lucky followers. They're made with brown hemp twine, vintage buttons, and a wooden clothespin.  The buttons are from my hub's grandmother's button box.  She passed away a few years ago at age 100!  She would be happy to know that her buttons are still being used and admired. The Baby Button Nests have many uses. Christmas tree ornaments. . . Book marks. . . Package toppers. . . Napkin ring holders, potted plant ornaments, curtain tie-back ornament. . . Ok.  Here are the rules: 1.  1 entry if you are a follower and you leave a comment and tell me you already follow. 2.  1 entry if you become a new follower a...

I saw this fun party over at Kate's blog called Centsational Girl .  I just drool over her home office.  Let me tell you, this girl's got class.  Anyway, she's having a party where you can post pics of the places you blog.  I had never given it much thought, but I do tend to blog in several areas of my home.  They are my comfort spots and also where I can feel creative.  So, here's where I blog: My blogging location varies with the weather.  On nice afternoons/evenings you'll find me here on the front screened porch.  The chickens are usually running around just outside the porch area and they are quite the entertainment.  Babe, our youngest, insists on talking to me the whole time I'm out there.  I keep reminding her that she is a chicken - not a person!  Posted:  NO CHICKENS ON THE PORCH!  On beautiful mornings you'll find me here.  I like to do my devotions out here and follow up with a bit of blogging a...

                                                                                                          Source:  Country Living Where did the summer go?  Didn't it just seem like we were pulling out the summer decorations, bathing suits, and lawn chairs? If you've noticed, the stores are already full of Halloween, Harvest, and Christmas decorations.  But, hidden in dark corners, on the back sides of shelves, and counters by the restrooms are treasu...

If you're expecting today's blog post to be inspiring, useful, or helpful - well, you'll be dispapointed.  Sorry. Today's post is trivial and bordering on weird but I'm just keeping it real here at The Wren. Today, I'm going to show you how I major on the minors, so to speak.  Here's what I do when my favorite box of facial tissue runs out. I love this box.  It matches my bathroom perfectly.  I was sad when I used up the last of the tissues. When I went to the store to buy more I was disappointed to find out they didn't have any of this same design. So, I bought whatever was cheapest and brought it home. I opened up both boxes on one end.  I slid the stack of tissue from the ugly box into the cute box. Then I used my handy double sided tape to tape up the end of the cute box. (don't worry, ugly box went into the recycling bin) If it doesn't stay "stuck" I'll have to pull out my trusty glue gun.  Ah, happiness in the ...

I've been wanting to make one of those cute camera straps for my camera that I've been seeing all around the blog world.  Lots of cute fabrics and ruffled patterns.  Problem is, my Hubs uses my camera sometimes and he's not too keen on cute and ruffly (except on me!). So, I looked around my upcycle fabric stash and found this suede skirt that I thought would be perfect. First step:  I cut off about 4 inches from the bottom of the skirt.  It was not hemmed, so I didn't have to take that into consideration.  I trimmed the strip down to 24 inches, folded the ends over and hemmed them on the machine.  Easy. Then I cut a piece of extra fabric from the skirt that measured 4 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches.  I folded over two of the ends and hemmed them.  Then I sewed one end to the strap, pleating as I went.  This will become a pocket for the lens cap.  (in the picture you can see that I had already sewn the cover part way and had to take out the s...

When we moved to our property almost 5 years ago I was determined to bring some of the plants I had nurtured at our old home to our new home.  Our friends were gracious enough to "plant sit" for us for the 3 months we lived in an apartment, while looking for a home.  They had a "nursery" area in a shaded section of their property in which I stored pots and pots of plants I had dug from our old home.  One of my favorites that I had to keep was a perennial hibiscus.  I got the seeds from an old family friend who had been growing it for decades in his back yard.  It took 5 years from the time I planted it until it finally bloomed.  But, boy, were the blooms worth the wait. The flowers are the size of luncheon plates.  They tower over the other plants in the garden - even the tall grasses. I have since weeded this garden and it looks much better! Right now, since the day lillies are done, the hibiscus is the only color in this border.  It's b...