Muskogee, OK.

With fall comes our annual flea marketing trip to Muskogee, Oklahoma! It's a very fun day.

We dig through a whole bunch of old linens…

Eat pizza till we think we'll bust (then walk it all off)…

Admire pretty dishes (we have a thing for dishes round here)…

Wonder how many glass knobs we'd have to buy if we wanted to replace the doorknobs on every interior door in our home…

Rest for a minute, in the big rocking chairs…

And take pictures of ourselves in huge old mirrors…

We didn't photograph the back of the Suburban at the end of our trip, though. Mostly because Mom found a really great old ladder with chippy paint to hang quilts on. We found some dishes too, and an old wooden crate for Achaia's closet! A happy day indeed.

What do you flea-market for?

xxx, the Long ladies

So long, Summer

Yesterday was the first day we noticed a big change in the weather. Summer is over. Fall is here. Maybe we've been in denial. Time to pull out cardigans and tights. Bundle up in the mornings. Falling leaves.

Our summer was full of a lot of things…. swimming, hauling hay, sticky popsicles, trips, sewing, time with friends. We've learned lots too. We are thankful The Lord gave us different seasons, even if only to learn to appreciate one over the other. And never get tired of any of them.

So, goodbye summer!

love, the Long ladies xxx

In Which We Celebrate a Birthday….

Homemade Pizza— check

The Quiet Man— check

Cath Kidston— check

Blue Bell Ice Cream— check

All of us together— check

Everybody's birthday should be this fun!

Lots of love~ the Long ladies xxx

the best cinnamon roll recipe ever.

We eat these fantastic cinnamon rolls with our wonderfully wonderful friends every time we come for a visit. They are so delicious, that we decided to share the recipe here. (All hurrays go to the adorable chef of their family for perfecting the recipe, so all we had to do was make and bake them!)

To Die for Cinnamon Rolls

-1 2/3 cups warm milk

-2 Tbsp. yeast

-1/2 cup sugar

-1 stick butter, melted

-2 eggs

-1 1/2 tsp. salt

-6-7 cups unbleached flour

-cinnamon (about 3 Tbsp.), brown sugar (about 8-10 Tbsp.), and melted butter (almost 1 stick)

Combine warm milk, yeast and sugar. Let sit for five minutes. Then add melted butter, eggs, salt and four cups of flour. Mix thoroughly, add remaining flour. Dump out onto a thickly floured surface and knead well, (about 5 minutes,) until a soft dough is formed. Oil bowl lightly. Let rise for one hour. (Here comes the fun part!) After dough has risen for it's hour, roll out into a rectangle that is approximately 1/4 thick. Slather melted butter rather generously all over rectangle. Sprinkle cinnamon and brown sugar on according to taste. Simply roll the rectangle from one long edge to the other tightly. Slice (about a 1/2" thick), place in greased pan and let rise for another hour. (Make sure not to place your cinnamon rolls too closely in your pans, or the insides will pop up!) Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean).

If you'd like to… while your cinnamon rolls are still nice and warm, top with icing. To make icing, simply combine powder sugar, milk and vanilla until you have a nice smooth consistency. Pour over rolls.

You'll want to double it — they're that good! Trust us.

love,

the Long ladies

great minds think alike.

Well. at least when it comes to doing their hair.

xx,

the Long ladies

happy birthday, Mommy!

Dear Mommy,

Happy birthday! As usual, we find ourselves unable to write exactly what we have in our hearts. So this year, we've decided to do some list-making.

Things we love about you…

– Your devotion to Jesus Christ.

– Your laugh, and the beautiful smile that comes along with it. Thanks for showing it to us everyday.

– The fact that you're not afraid of being different.

– You are incredibly wise, but never condescending.

– The clothes you wear. You are SO cute.

– The way you love our dad and aren't shy about showing it.

– The way you always make lemonade out of life's lemons. There's no one quite like you for making lemonade. (And some would say you've had more than your fair share of lemons.) We're glad you share it with all of us!

– You always understand.

– You encourage us to do our very best. Thanks for telling us exactly what you think!

– You are selfless.

– The fact that you love being with all of us.

Things you've taught us…

– A messy house full of happy children is better than a tidy house without any laughter.

- Blueberry crisp and Blue Bell ice cream is really a breakfast food.

– You can make almost anything with an ordinary sheet, including curtains, dust ruffles, and costumes.

– To always kiss goodbye and goodnight, because it could be for the last time.

- That being kind and loving is much more important than being intellectual.

– That worrying about anything is a waste of time. The Lord will always take care of us.

– To never laugh when you see someone hurting, but to help them instead.

– People are always more important than things.

– Paperclip necklaces are worth more than pearls.

We could write a book, Mommy. We're so thankful the Lord made you! We'll love you forever.

Your girls,

Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, and Abiah

Ps. You may be 46, but you don't look a day over 35!

Please wish our mom a very happy birthday! (Let's see if we can make it to 46 comments!)

a sweet tooth satisfied.

On occasion, we think we may be the only girls around who satisfy their cravings for something sweet with bolts of fabric. But something told us you would love this new collection, too!

So say hello to Sweet Tooth! We're seeing ruffle skirts and street fair skirts and quilts and lots of other cuteness. The purples will be just right for fall. What do you think?

love, the Long ladies

sweet girls! (and news of a super-huge fabric sale.)

We've met so many lovely girls through marie-madeline! And Elizabeth is one of them. She is so bright and cheerful — we love her! Elizabeth recently made AnaClaire jumpers for herself and her little (adorable) cousin Ava. Of course we wanted to share them with you…

Aren't the colors perfect? Elizabeth is such a doll!

Here is little Ava in her jumper! Isn't her matching headband darling?
Oh, yes! The sale! Next Monday marks the day we begin our week-long annual Birthday Bash. To celebrate Mom. You all know what that means… 45% off your favorite fabrics! So you can stock up, of course.

Cheers~

the Long ladies

Ps. Want updates on the Birthday Bash? Be sure to sign up for our newsletter, or become a fan of marie-madeline studio on Facebook. (See the right hand sidebar for links.) Naturally, we'll post here about what's on sale, too!

best friends.

We've found that there are friends and then there are best friends. You know, the kind of friends who are more like family than just friends. The kind of friends who know (and see) all of the wild and crazy things about you, but love you anyway. Don't you love those best friends? Ours happen to live 600 miles away… but that doesn't keep us from falling into our one-big-happy-family ways a few times a year!
And you wouldn't believe how many pictures we take in order to get a few without mouths wide open and goofy faces and all kinds of funny things happening.
See? We just know how to have a good time.

xxoo, the Long ladies

she’s so smart.

Okay. that's all we wanted to say!

xx, us

Back Again

Happy September! Our weekend was perfectly lovely and we hope it was the same for all of you!

Thank you so much for understanding the dilemma on our pretty cupcakes. They did turn out yummy looking (especially while sitting on the vintage feedsack). To be perfectly honest, we just used a box cake mix, then coated them with some good homemade chocolate frosting. Hopefully we'll post the recipe soon!

We have been getting some wonderful reviews + giveaways going on so we thought we'd let you in on them!

~a very kind, sweet sponsor post from Shannon (as well as a discount code to use at the marie-madeline website)

~visit Emily and enter to win some marie-madeline patterns!

~an apron giveaway over at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

We feel so very blessed to have so many kind ladies write about our goodies…. thank you, thank you, thank you!

So here we are. Back again.

love, the Long ladies