Sewing Along Life's Seams

Letting Christmas Surprises Outta The Bag

2011-12-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

Now that Christmas "surprises" are all said and done, I wanted to share one of the projects that I worked on for one of our DD's. Years ago, my MIL had all of the girls that were around come and look thru all of the quilt blocks/tops and fabric she had. Some had belonged to her mother; (affectionately known as "Nana" to my kids) mostly quilt tops and some odds and ends of blocks that were never finished. Our youngest DD picked out these 8 blocks... not even thinking what she would do with them. They had sat at our house for long enough! It was time to do something! And quite honestly, get them outta my house! In the next picture you will see how these are made... each flower is attached at the points... and the centers of each petal lift up away from the fabric. I'm not sure what this type of needlework is called but I plan on finding out! Anyway, I made it into a table cloth, just a decorative one (I warned DD's hubby that it's not to be used to eat on! Poor guy we tease him somewhat about that sort of thing; but we love him!) Anyway, DD was very pleased and surprised with the result. I put a label on the back basically saying that Nana Litchfield made the blocks and that I had pieced it all together. It was fun... and a bit challenging because if I remember right my math was off a little and I had to recalculate once or twice! LoL.... good for the brain.

The only other problem was that there was a drop or two of blood on it; (who knows how many years that was there!) and funny thing, it came right off! Now, mind you I was ready for a battle because I knew it had had to of been there for at least 6-8 years since it's been at my house... who knows how long b/4 that! We do have a few more quilt tops that Nana made up. Guess we girls will have to get with it! Cause, I know that there are at least 2 more or really 3 more counting one of mine that need to get finished... and at least 2 will leave the building! Ahem... if you know what I mean! But if.... and only if... I get some help! You know who I mean don't you DD.... (I will leave which one off to protect the innocent!) Lol....
I made a skirt for another DD... (which is funny in itself... not the skirt... but how it got made.) DD gave me a skirt to use as a sample of what she wanted.... she would not be bothered (be honest now... I'm telling the truth about this DD) to let me measure her for it! So, the fabric I had was a cute brown pin stripe with some spandex in it. I basically measure a skirt pattern off I had to the ready made skirt. Noooo problem they were basically the same size. Just add a titsh... and it was perfect! Not Sooo says the skirt.... because after I was all done, except for putting in a hem, I laid it over the top of ready wear skirt.... and somewhere along the line. Yeah... too short and too small! No way can I figure out how in the whole I managed that! Sooo strange! Never in my life have I had that problem b/4... I mean it was a simple skirt! Go figure... I recut a new skirt measuring and then measuring and then for good "measure" I measured again.... and then cut and sewed and put in a new zipper.... and this time... it's the right size (at least it's the same size as the ready made skirt) we shall see. DD hasn't told me if it fits or not.... hopefully it does! The first skirt... hmmm taking in the side seams and putting a hem into it for DDIL. Who is smaller than all of us gals (of course that doesn't take much to be smaller than me...) So two of the DD's will have matching skirts, but they live in different states so I doubt if that will be a problem and honestly I do have enough fabric for 1 more skirt.... sooo if one of the other two DD's speaks up maybe I could make another one! I'm just saying!
One of the DD's wanted some tools so that's what she got..... we aim to please...! And besides.... she is loosing weight sooo fast... we will have to be doing some sewing soon... or she won't have a thing to wear!
More later.... I will have to show you the sweet gifties that my family gave me! Talk about spoiling me!
Hugs.... Don't forget to pick up the threads off the floor... because it can be embarrassing if you go out shopping and go to pay the clerk and hand them threads with your $$$. Don't ask!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T02:16:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to tell you that I'm still alive and kick'in! Just wayyyy to many things going on to blog about right now!

But, have a wonderful Christmas and I'll be back!

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

2011-12-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

The end of November, the day after Thanks Giving... our family (my DH's extended family and friends) meet up and leave nice and early and drive outta state to a National Forest to hunt Christmas tree's. First of all, you have to get a permit. $10 for anything up to 12 foot tall. Anything larger is more $$$. But then we only have standard height ceilings so we go for the $10 tree's. The weather forecast said that it would be possibly 40-50 mph winds, noooo problem..... right? Oh, and also.... it was suppose to be cold.... like below freezing... also no problem right? Just everyone dress warmly and be ready for snow! Hmmmm...... yep.... here's some pictures of that event.... no pictures of the tree's we got mostly pictures of us going home.... ahem... it took us about 3 hours and 45 minutes to go around 10 miles, because a couple of vechicles kept getting stuck! Look at the pictures... and a good time was had by all! It was cold and everyone was pretty tired by the end of the evening... it doesn't usually take that long to leave to go home! But everyone worked hard to help and eventually we all drove home. It's an adventure that's for sure! Sooo Merry Christmas to all.... and enjoy the preparations!

Super Hero Training Academy

2011-12-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

So in October, this birthday boy had a Super Hero Training Academy birthday party! And it was a hoot! We took pictures of all the Super Hero's that attended... (and of course we can't post any pictures here because that might mess with their secret identity!).... so these are the only ones that are brave enough to let me post their pic's!

Super Mom was very busy sewing capes/masks for all comers!

And of course... all "Super Hero's need nurishment,
so we had your basic super power drinks,
popped corn, and fruit snacks. After training of course! First of all our Super Hero's had to learn that all S.H's need to help one another.... so they had to learn how to pick up and dispose of Kryptonite safely. Next they had flying lessons;

Outside they had defense lessons on how to over-come bad guys..... (they used silly string to attack balloons with bad guy pictures on them...) and then Super Dad dressed up as a bad guy so they could attack him too; ahem..... 'cept it backfired!!!! Little Granddaughter super hero was scared silly.... (to say the least!) she ran into the house and I was going after her cause I saw the look on her face! She slammed the front door; dead-bolted it.... ran to her bedroom, slammed that door closed, and hid in her closet crying! Poor little thing! My niece was in the house and heard all the noise but didn't know what was happening... ( I had just explained to her daughter, who was dressed up... and no to be afraid... didn't get to granddaughter yet!) Any way, Super dad went in via the back door, and took off the outfit and went and calmed her down! Let's just say, she isn't going into the Super Hero business real soon!

After all was said and done, the kids attacked this cone of Cosmic Candy.... (notice me in the mirror taking the picture! LOL) And a good time was had by all!

November Is Just Around The Corner

2011-10-27T13:35:00.000-06:00

What with November just around the corner...... that means someone's birthday is too! Yes siree.... so, my mom and I were talking the other day..... I need to check in and make sure that they are behaving themselves and that I'm not missing anything... (sound like someone you know mom and dad?). Mom mentioned that she mailed my birthday present! Quick story.... when our oldest DD was a little girl.... she hated not knowing what a gift was.... whether or not it was for her... she could hardly stand it if she had to wait to see what it was! And she was more than ready to volunteer to help her siblings open any presents that they might have! Some things never change! So as she started having children I was interested to see how she would deal with this situation (mind you she is now 30 something). So last week was our DGS's birthday! I must admit she did really well; even when he was having a hard time opening one or two presents at his birthday party... (you know the ones that have that curly ribbon on them!) she held back and didn't volunteer her services.... until he asked! And then either she or DSIL helped out and the gift was given right back! LoL.... yeahhhhh Missy! Anyway, so a day or 2 ago I received the gift from my folks and when I was speaking to DD#1... I told her about it. And that I now was going to have to "wait" until my birthday to open it! She said, You haven't opened it yet?" Too funny.... I could just see her eyes getting all excited! Patience is a virtue you know... guess I had better keep waiting... I need all the Heavenly help I can get! LoL...
I've been working on some Christmas presents and a few gifts for a couple of my friends from the Primary Presidency I was just released from. I may show those later.

O.K. it's getting colder outside and I thought that I would share a family favorite that maybe I've shared before... (it just makes me think of Fall/Winter)

Leek and Sausage Soup

carrot's sliced (however many you like... we like lots of veg's in our soups)
celery sliced about 1/4 cup
1 1/2 cup of washed and sliced leeks either in strips or rounds
peeled and diced potato's (see carrot's)
Kielbasa sausage is good.... depends on how much you want but the recipe calls for 1/4 pound... (but we use more cause we didn't want to hear about how much someone else got of the sausage from the kids... lol)
1/2 tsp. Marjoram
1 tsp. salt (optional... I figure the sausage has salt in it... so it's up to people to salt to taste in their own bowl)
pepper 1/2 tsp.
3 cups chicken broth (give or take.... you need enough to cover veg's... or you can add a little water)

2 Tbs. flour
2 Tbs. butter or margarine

1. Combine all ingred's except flour/butter into cooker.
2. Cook on low 5 hours, or on high 3 hours.
3. To thicken soup, remove 1/3 c. liquid and combine with flour and butter. Return to soup and stir.
Yields 5-6 servings.... depending on how many more veggie's you have added.
It tastes even better the next day!
Enjoy..... And oh.... remember to clean out your machine once in a while to get out all the dusty bugs... your machine will thank you!

You Know It's Fall When....

2011-10-07T13:56:00.000-06:00

O.K. so now that I've gotten that last post outta my head and the tears taken care of; it's Fall People!!!!
There are soo many beautiful things about Fall.... so I thought that maybe I would write down a few!
You know that it's Fall When;
The Geese start flying around getting their wings ready for the flight South.
When there starts to be a bit of chill in the air.
You get to feeling like you need to make some sort of Soup!
The tomato's pile up and out as they are getting canned into spaghetti sauce and salsa and well just canned tomato's!
When the apples are getting crisp and crunchy.... aughhhhh the smell of apples is just wonderful isn't it?
Canning apples is Fall to me too.... Chunky Applesauce.... wonderful!!!
Layering clothes because you know that one minute it's cool and the next it's too warm for just a warm sweatshirt.
Leaves starting to turn beautiful colors up in the canyons and mountains. Our's aren't turning here in the valleys yet... but we went for a drive last week and they were soo pretty.... oranges, yellows and greens, oh and some beautiful reds too!
Rain.... that is Fall too.... although, I must admit that so far this year I'm feeling like we have had wayyy to much of it already! I mean as much as I love Oregon, Washington.... this is not either of those places! This is Utah... our Falls are generally dryer!
Soups.... I know that I mentioned this b/4 but you know.... there is nothing like a good Taco Soup to make you feel all warm inside.... so here is the receipe

Taco Soup

1 # of ground beef (if your not into beef try ground turkey... I'll bet it works just fine)
1 medium onion diced

2 cans each of the following; (making these the smaller cans, say 15 oz. or so) DO NOT DRAIN
kidney beans
red/or/black beans (or combo there of, but 2 cans)
pork & beans
creamed corn
1 envelope of taco seasonings (I have a huge container of this and so use around 2 tablespoons)

1 large can of tomato's (I use my own canned tomato's... 1 quart jar) you can use diced, sliced, whole, whichever way you like them.

Brown the meat, add onions, and all of the canned ingredients..... juice and all.... now add seasonings, heat through..... serve over either Tortilla chips or Frito's corn chips.... (we like the corn chips) add a little sour cream and or grated cheese (your choice, I use cheddar) and yummm. Believe me when I say, your tummy will thank you! Enjoy the Fall Show! Oh.... guess I had better quit procrastinating.... I should be making spaghetti sauce and salsa.... I picked 5 5 gallon buckets of tomato's last night.... ahem, in the rain... I just couldn't see them go to waste... if we get a freeze! Back to work!

Missing My Little 4-Legged Friend

2011-10-07T13:26:00.001-06:00

Just sending this into blog land; I miss my little Jamie... she was such a sweetie, always hanging around to keep me company and thumping her tail when I walked into a room. I miss her happy barks and her ever listening ear when the geese would fly over head heading to the lake or going South... I found myself telling Jamie today that the geese are flying over and asking if she heard them! Guess I had better go get some tissue...
You are indeed missed.... my little friend! Hope that your having fun running around without fences or leashes, chasing and barking and wagging that friendly tail of yours!

What To Do When A Fabric Store Does You Wrong!

2011-10-06T16:17:00.000-06:00

I know, I know.... it's been a while... I do have lots of excuses... but then again... this is my blog and I guess I get to it when I get to it! LoL

I was reading a new to me blog today and the writer mentioned that she had bought a cute cut of material that was a knit. This piece was cut really badly. So much so, that she couldn't get the short sleeves out of it to make the shirt she had planned on making! She ended up making a sleeveless top which is fine.... she made "lemonade"! Good for her! But, there are a few things that we can do to prevent this from happening. I have worked for one of the big chain fabric stores and believe me when I say..... They Want Your Business! So let's see what we can do!
#1 When you are buying fabric in store; (no matter what kind) watch how they cut the fabric! If you are a quilter some stores will tear the cottons for you to guarantee that your cut will be straight! Some stores won't do this at all. But, if you are buying a quilt backing that is one of the 72" or larger size....(especially a cotton) ask them to tear it for sure... otherwise ask them (b/4 they cut) if they will take it back if you find when you get home that it is not even! This way you have what you want, not some material that they are just trying to get rid of! And believe me when I tell you that I worked with some people that didn't care how they cut fabric and we got back stuff that just could not be used for the purpose they bought it due to this lack of care!
#2 If the fabric you are buying is a stretch/knit/lycra etc.... ask the cutter to show you how it lines up.... if they aren't willing to show you that is a problem..... bring it to the attention of the manager! You are the one that has to take it home to use it and if it's lined up wrong..... it's a waist of your money and time if you can't even it up enough to be able to get your pieces out. Pattern companies usually account for extra material so their should be more than enough if your following the patterns guidelines....
#3 The fabric company's want your business.... and believe me when I say that if they are reputable, they will make things right! Cause they know that if they don't..... they will loose you as a customer and possibly any body else you decide to tell about the problem you had. So... this being said, talk to the manager or supervisor if you have a problem with a how a fabric you bought was cut. Remember though... if your loosing your temper that isn't going to win a whole lot of points... as they say "You get more flies with honey than vinegar". Most companies will try hard to fix the problem.
#4 Try to be flexible! For example; when one of my daughters was planning her wedding, she wanted white tulle draped high on wires with white lights etc.... and we estimated we needed around 250 yards of the tulle!
O.K. I went to one of the local chain stores..... asking if I could use my 50% off coupon and after they told me yes, they proceeded to call several other stores and got me the amount I needed. Now, of course I wasn't going to be able to get it all in one piece.... but I did have options; I asked that a) could I please not have a bunch of bolts with lots of leftover pieces on them..... b) and then I asked them to not give me anything less than a ten yard piece. c) also since they didn't have what I needed in stock, and I wasn't really special ordering.... that I not have to pay any shipping! They worked with me and I got what I wanted and what I needed and only ended up paying 50 cents a yard. I can't tell you how beautiful it turned out...
#5 If you are doing a large order for something like say a wedding dress, brides maid dresses, etc.... and you need lots of the same material... check on the bolts to see if the dye lot numbers are the same... checking again, b/4 you leave the store is going to end with a lot less headache! I've made a lot of wedding dresses and if the bride/brides mom have me go with them it's a lot less hassle to handle it b/4 rather than finding a problem after they have bought everything and it's not what they thought! This goes for decorator fabric's too
if you need lots and a store needs to find it at another store match up all of the fabric's b/4 you pay... you don't want to end up with something that doesn't match! Ask the person your ordering with if you have to pay b/4 you receive it. Most places may need you to pay first, but then if it doesn't match.... they will refund your money....
#6 As I mentioned I've made a good deal of wedding dresses... and in the process I've come across material that the brides (1 or 2 of my 3 daughters being a couple of them) liked soooo much they had to have and they weren't really the width that was called for on the pattern back! So; what to do? Do you piece? Or what would you do? Well, mostly it depends on how much of a difference there is in the material and pattern. If I have to piece a large train most times it's smart to take your main/or middle of the back area cut it out and then add to the sides of this piece.... matching any where it may need to match up. There are times that I have pieced the trains of wedding dresses.... not even the bride noticed! I will tell the brides mom before I cut it out to show her what it will look like if I have to piece.... and I can't think of one case where it was at all noticeable that I was told not to make it that way! But you need to take those types of things into consideration before you cut out a dress that has such a wide train. Lots of other times, if the pattern calls for maybe 60" wide fabric and you have maybe 58", it's just not that big of deal to put a bit of a fold into your pattern piece (in the area lower than the hip line... you don't want to mess with sizing) to make the dress back/front/train to allow that bit of a saving. Honestly no one ever missed it! And depending on the fabric, like for example a Dull Satin.... sometimes you can cut your pieces out running 1 piece up and the other down! On a good quality Dull Satin, there isn't a difference in the sheen and so it can save a lot of money by cutting that way!
#7 If your buying on line.... b/4 you make a purchase from an on-line store, check to see what kind of return policy they have! Nothing like getting a great deal on something that just isn't all that great!

Alright..... go.... hunt for fabric....... may your search be fruitful! And remember any purchases you make will be helping out the economy! LoL...... enjoy!

10th Anniversary of 9-11

2011-09-11T21:43:00.001-06:00

Please don't get used to me posting so often as this; it's just a quirk.... I know it, you know it... so I'm just saying.
Anyway, I wanted to write a post... in memory of 9-11.

Ten years ago I can remember sitting on the couch just mezmorised at what was happening in our country, Our Country! I wasn't anywhere near New York or Washington DC... but I was there, In Spirit.... helping those people as mush as if I had been there in person to help them out of those buildings. All I wanted to do was hug and cry with them.... the shock to have been there in person must have been incredible!

I'm a crier from wayyy back.... I come from a long line of crier's on my mom's side of the family. One time we had a family reunion in a coastal town in Oregon... and my gramma and grampa, (mom's mom and dad) and my mom and dad, my aunt and cousins, my brother and his family and my DH and our family were all there. On Sunday, as per usual we went to Church. The building was just a little Quenset Hut and with those of our family who went to the Sacrament Meeting we doubled the group that was attending. This was a place my parents attended as often as they could when they went to the coast to stay. When my parents car was recognized in the little community.... they got a phone call and were asked to speak during the Sacrament meeting. Dad got up and since it was quite a small group he began to introduce his family.... and this is the way he did it! The lady over there with the hankie..... is my MIL and my FIL sits next to her.... then with her large towel to dry her tears is my wife. Next to her is my DD (me) she uses a sheet! And on and on about the rest of the family.... the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree as our girls do pretty good also. My DH told me once after we watched the movie "The Other Side of Heaven"..... (and we saw the paid morner's) that I could make a lot of money.... just be yourself.... and you will cry at the drop of a hat! Yep that's me all right...
just start to talk about crying.... or even say the word.... yep... I start up! No drought here at our place! (which does seem quite strange to me.... you would think after a while.... I would just dry up! Nope not me!) I've gotten to the place where I honestly don't go to funerals much anymore.... because it's embarrassing! I cry so much.... it's not for the person who is gone.... it's for the people, family left behind! I know that they will be better off (the person who has passed) but I guess it's just in my make-up.... I cry at the old Hallmark card comercials.... what can I say? I am what I am!
So long story short tonight as I sat and watched some of the memorial events... of course I cried... thankful for all the wonderful people who went outta their ways to help everyone they possibly could! The people lost, the people who fought again'st the terrorist's on the planes.... and everyone who lost anyone. Know that my heart goes out to all those who were left behind. You will not be forgotten. As we strive to make this world a better place... we must always remember who made it possible. God Bless America!

In Between The Sewing

2011-09-09T16:39:00.001-06:00

Alright, in between the sewing.... we had two sweeties come visit; my mom and dad.... we got together with the kids that are in town and had lots of talk a little food.... just well.... lots more gabbing. DH and mom and dad and I all went for a drive up to a little town on the other side of the mountains. We had a great little meal.... ( I had smoked Salmon Salad.... yummmmy.... I just should not have eaten allll of it at one time! But it was sooo good! ) we tried Wild Huckle Berry Soda.... (very good I must say). There was desserts.... I had a cheese cake... just a piece mind you not the entire thing!!! And also there was bread pudding.... not bad... a bit too sweet for my liking.... (I know, your shaking your head.... sweeter than cheese cake? I thought so!) And if I remember right there was also.... Huckle Berry Ice Cream.... and DH.... I can't honestly remember if he had dessert or not... but all in all.... an enjoyable day was had by all! Oh, just so you know.... I forgot to take the camera with us... but it was fun spending time with my favorite sweeties! Thanks for coming you two!

Our DD#2 was hamming with the sweeties! As we were waiting for the shish-ka-bob to cook!

And then the 3 DD's and my SIL and her DD and also her DDIL and I all went to Saint George to see

"Little Mermaid" one night and then "Grease" the next. We had a great stay in a home that we rented from a friend of my neice's. It was hot.... over 100 degree's each day we were there. It cooled some in the evenings

just wasn't what I was used too. We played some, shopped some, laid around the pool some. Ate... of course! And mostly just had a good time together!

We went to a place called "The Painted Pony" to eat once we got there! The food was good... but mostly we were really taken with the pewter cups! See them here in the picture.... they were sooo great! Nice and cold... they must have been kept a refrigerator... because they really were cold! And one guy...(not our waitress, was there constantly filling the glasses... I think that's all he did in the place! I know... you now think... she doesn't get out much does she? Well... I do get out... I just thought it was funny that that's all he seemed to do!) We were all laughing about the cups being soo great that maybe DD#3 would have to slip some into her purse.... (she always has the worlds largest purse's and honestly... (well really not all that honestly I suppose) if she had been in that way of thinking... she probably could have managed! But of course.... we don't do that! We did however ask if they sold them, or if there was a place we could purchase them on-line! Nope, neither one of the above!

This is my food, I had just a plain old club sandwich.... which was really good. And the salad was shredded apple, feta cheese, walnuts, and spinach. House dressing too.

This is Nephew's wifie... she is a cutie!

Here are my girls all decked out! And of course... they were singing along with all the songs! Too funny!

All of us out front of Tuacahn, (www.tuacahn.org) . We had soo much fun!

Here is a shot of 3 of us... Niece, Nephews wife, and me!

This was the second show.... Grease! The DD's and I sat together the night b/4. Funny thing at Little Mermaid, we were walking to our seats and all of a sudden I hear; "Sister Cogdill"....... and there was a family from our ward at Church! Makes for a small world sometimes! We drove over 300 miles.... and we still ended up seeing people we knew! Oh, I forgot to say..... that the artistic director is my DH's Cousin and that the gal who plays Ursula is also a cousin of DH. She played Miss Lynch in "Grease" the second night!
Apparently they do such a great job on Disney shows.... they have been asked by Disney to train other companies to do the same thing! So DH's cousin (whom we aren't sure he has ever met!) goes from place to place teaching/training all these other art directors. Interesting. If you go to the link I put above.... and then click on the Little Mermaid icon.... and then go to pic's of the shows.... you will see a great picture of Ursula. Here is a picture of SIL and her girls.... at least the ones who could come!
And as they say.... a good time was had by all! I won't go into details about how silly we got when we had stayed up too late and were busy singing and dancing when we got home! No... nothing in the manner of fermented beverages was had to become sooo silly. Just tiredness and all that music! Until next time! Oh, that should catch me up for a little while... One more thing.... my DD's (at least two of them) have got me reading The Twilight Series.... so yes.... I'm on book #3. Always something...

What's Been Keeping Me Busy

2011-09-09T15:39:00.001-06:00

It's hard to get back to blogging sometimes. I've been keeping busy trying to get into the sewing room and well it seems there is always something to do. UFO's to get back too. I finished the white dress adding the sleeves. Then I tacked down the lace part through-out the edges to hold it in place.

Honestly, with all the other white on this dress, it blends in quite nicely. And looks as if it were original to the dress. I looked through my patterns and found a sleeve that I liked and that would fit the finished sleeveless ready-made dress. Then cut out a complete sleeve out of the spandex and gathered the top of both fabric's inserting them together.

I used a white cotton rectangle doily for the lace of the sleeves.... but did not have quite enough as you can see from this picture... the bottom part of the sleeve or lining I made out of white spandex... when worn doesn't really show, so to be honest I wasn't really worried about it! I still would like to find a cute belt of two that I can wear with it. And all in all the dress cost me all of $20. I had the doily... the eyelet that I added to the bottom of the skirt for more length and also the spandex in my stash of fabrics. I got a few nice compliments and well.... over all I will be wearing it a lot.

I finished a baby quilt, it's from fabric that my youngest daughter bought years ago... and started on. It for some reason was left here. So, since she had it started I figured that I would finish it so it can go away! She did have the ruffle done... it is made out of a black and white print that looks like a cow hide. Oh, and then I tied it with a multi-colored cream cotton crochet thread. She isn't pregnant! It's just something she found and liked while working at the local fabric store.... and as you know... if you like it... it sometimes comes home with you! LoL...

Also lately I've been trying to help Karma and friends that are working on a Sunbonnet Sue quilt for their DUP (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) group. It has 31 quilt blocks. I forgot to take pictures of the others that I completed (or at least put onto the muslin already). There are a few that are the same as far as the theme goes. But, that is the only thing similar about them. I don't have these on the muslin yet because I ran out. The blocks are gong to be on point on plain muslin and then there is a cute blue print that will be in between each block. I will have to get some more pictures later. Each block will be blanket stitched around all in black and then embroidered where different lines... details etc... are found.

As you can see the details will add a lot to each
block. We still need to add lace, ribbon etc... to each
also. Anyway, it will be raffled off to earn $$$ for the
DUP chapter.

Well, that is all for now...
Whatever your sewing; enjoy the process... and don't forget to change your needle every now and then!

It's Been A Sad Week

2011-08-26T13:05:00.000-06:00

Just a short post.... our sweet friend and companion of 11 1/2 years went home to Heavenly Father.
Although she is of the 4 legged variety, she will be deeply missed.... she loved deeply, was very patient (as long as it was something other that going outside or eating) and she always forgave!

They Grow Up Faster Then We Are Prepared To Let Them

2011-08-14T20:34:00.000-06:00

Well things have gotten a bit busy here lately. We had some wonderful visitors in the form of my parents week b/4 last. It was great to see them and talk their faces off! They had to go home for face transplants for sure after seeing me and all the girls! We ate lots, gabbed more took in a movie went for a lovely drive and lunch. And pretty much just enjoyed life! What's not to like.... good people (we love), DH had time off from work (good for him!!!) more gabbing... laughing and sharing stories... And well it's always hard to see them leave, but also nice to hear that they got home in one piece! Thank you for coming mom and dad.... We Love You!

As far as the title, well... I was reading a blog I've just started enjoying lately, it's a cute read go there if you want to laugh now and then! http://lipstickandlaundry.blogspot.com/ Anyway Jen was talking in her post today about how emotional she got at Church when someone asked about her youngest son... bring out the hankies!!!
His first day of Kindergarten is tomorrow! Enough said! So... then I related this story... one I'm not too sure I've related before... just skip this if you've heard it..... A snake, a dog, and a monkey walk into a bar;
O.K. no, that's not the story I was going to tell! LoL.... sorry... your thinking I'm really loosing it right?
The first day of Kindergarten for our son (him being #1 child) I had asked my DH to take him and drop him off because I know that as emotional as I am.... there was no-way that I would be able to go in drop him off and then leave without any emotional baggage... Dh said fine he had no problem with doing that... matter of fact I think he thought it was pretty cool that he was going to get to be the "adult" over this milestone event!
Fact is, I'm surprised that he didn't need a hanky!!! So it went like this, he took son into the class room, he found where he was to sit and then DH stood in the back of the room.... like all the other parents. As the teacher was speaking to the kids and the parents.... Son calls DH over to him, "Dad, you can go home now"!
Yep.... that would have been all she wrote for me!!! Even thinking about it now.... yes.... I'm tearing up! I can see DS in that class room and all of it happening all over again, almost as if I had been there myself!
By the time #4 child went to K... I was ready for it to happen... still got teared up... but I really did know that she would be fine and have a great time. In between though.... with DD#2 (#3 child) she had a hard time with one of her teachers..... (not so much the teacher as just not wanting to leave me by myself... with little sister!) So I worried about her and took her to school some... it took a while but she realized that the teacher wasn't going to eat her and that I would still be waiting when she was done with school!
I must say I did cry as each one of my wonderful kids walked across to get their diploma's and as they were making that special Time and All Eternity Commitment with the person they married... and still at times when I think of how wonderful they have all turned out makes me tear up.... (just a little bit... sniff sniff!).
Just know, that we love our kids... I always enjoyed the time I spent with them in the Summer or other Holidays when we could spend time together doing all sorts of things. I must confess, that as our kids grew I would read to them most every night that I could b/4 bed and later when the youngest was still being read too, (big brother was almost 8 years older than her) there would be times that I would be reading a story to her and I would notice that some times even when he was much too old to be read to himself.... I would spy our son out in the hallway listening to the story too! Ever since our children were little I would make up stories to help them to think through a situation that they were going thru... i.e; if they were having a hard time getting along then I would make up a story about how a certain little animal friend would have handled things. It was a comfort to me (and I hope to our kids) to be able to calmly talk to them without speaking down to them about how to handle different situations. Most of all.... I hope that our children knew/know that they were/are loved very much and we did want them to grow up and make the "hard decisions" that they needed to make. But also.... we were still going to have a hard time letting them go and make those decisions.
O.K. I have to go blow my nose now.... bye!
More about sewing next time...... P.S. I did get the outfit for our little GD.... done... just need to get a picture,
What else is new? LoL....

Getting Tired Of Me Yet?

2011-07-26T11:25:00.003-06:00

O.K. so I've started a new little outfit for my oldest grand daughter.... it's her birthday soon... and well, a gramma has to do some sewing for little girls! Boys just don't always appreciate sewn items... but little girls usually do! I'm using Simplicity #7133 which is an op (outta print) view hmmmm, well I can't see which letter view it is.... but, it's the white outfit and I found this cute little seer-sucker a couple years ago... maybe even last year... and it has my grands name all over it! She likes pink and porple (as she says it) very much! She is all girl! I will have to take a picture of her in it... later!

A Busy Saturday

2011-07-26T06:20:00.000-06:00

We have a grundle of bikers (as in bicycle type road bike) riders in this family. And we albeit, about half of the family riders and several friends of the family we started out on "The First Annual Ride" from Park City Utah to Wolf Creek, Utah. There were a few minor confusions, but in all great events... we must have a breaking in period. We met at our starting point..... with all but 2 of the riders expected; The little guy was just one of the support crew (our neice's son Ammon). Starting from the left; my hubby, then a friend from Church, Dan Evans, Neice's hubby Wes, Josh (a friend of our SIL/Daughter), SIL Kevin, Daughter Melisa, Ammon, Neice Jenny, Josh (yes.... there were 2 of them... less confusing then you think... when there are 2 new people to get to know.... nice to know they both have the same name... easier to remember!) this was Mountain Bike Man!!! The entire ride was to be around 100 miles, in one day... hills, straights, and some beautiful countryside! He did over 50 miles..... on a mountain bike! Yeahhhh Josh! First time rider (long distance that is). Oh, I forgot to mention that also in the support crew were my SIL Tammy, (no picture), her granddaughter Ellie Kate, also one more grandson.... Isac. And besides me, there was our grandson Cameron. Also no picture.... except towards the end you see him from the back as I took a picture of his mom/dad.

We had to wait for 2 riders to meet up with us and while waiting; I snapped a picture of the local Thistle.

My daughter cheering on one of the Josh's, the finish
was on a hill, so it was a hard ending!! He did it all,
so he should be proud of himself!

Here they all are, they managed to finish up in one piece. We lost a couple of riders.... I guess what I mean to say is that some of our riders finished up at different places and went home. We had 2 that met up with us, and 1 that started with us but as I said, they left us at different places. It was an interesting, beautiful ride. It would have been much better had some of the riders not gotten lost.... but, as I said before, your always going to have a few problems the first time you start out a new adventure! All in all, everyone was tired and enjoyed the ride. Especially the challenge of it all!

I took this of my SIL and Daughter.... he really wasn't sticking his tongue out... I just caught it wrong... maybe I had better check the other one I took of them!

O.K. here is the better of the two pictures. Sorry Kevin! Oh, and the backside of grandson!

And last but not least, someone who is very happy to have us back home again! She was smiling, look into that face.... her eyes are closed! Talk about content!

All in all it was a great day..... one that started at 4:30 a.m. when we woke up... and finished when we got home around 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. when we got back home! Oh, we did have a bar-b-q at the neices when all was said and done.... there were a lot of very tired people there!

Part II of; You Know Your A Red Neck If.....

2011-07-26T05:18:00.000-06:00

As they say proof is in the pudding; here is the picture I promised of the truck with said..... stirrups!

Oh, and if you look really close, you can see at least one of the stirrups on the other side too!

Always nice to know that we all have somewhat different characteristics! I rest my case!

Missing Quilts..... Disappeared While Here In Our Area!

2011-07-25T16:09:00.003-06:00

One of the blogs I read is Allie Aller's. It's such a shame that this has happened. Please keep your eyes and ears open and if you see/hear anything please contact the contact address here: ctinfo@ctpub.com.

Dear Readers,

As many of you know every year we look forward to displaying our authors' quilts in our booth at Quilt Market. At Salt Lake City's Spring Market the booth looked fantastic with so many stunning quilts. We know how important our authors' quilts are—the expertise, time, and love that goes into each and every stitch, and for that reason, we take great responsibility for them while they're in our care. So it is with a heavy heart that we regret to inform you that at the close of Salt Lake City's Spring Quilt Market, four quilts went missing. The quilts that are unaccounted for are 3 cover quilts and a table runner. They include:


Allie Aller's cover quilt, Crazy in the Garden, fromAllie Aller's Crazy Quilting (46" x 46")		Joyce Becker's cover quilt, Dryer Lint, Etc., fromQuick Little Landscape Quilts (18" x 18")

• click quilt image to enlarge •


Deborah Kemball's cover quilt, Floral Sampler, fromBeautiful Botanicals (28" x 42.5")		Sweetwater's, Gathered Table Runner, from Fresh Fabric Treats (42.5" x 16")

When the crate came back from Quilt Market and was unpacked, it became apparent that these quilts were missing. We went on high alert. We searched high and low, going through every box, drape, tube, you name it we checked it (twice) and to our deep regret the quilts were nowhere to be found.

Our entire company is mortified by this situation. We have racked our brains and tried to figure out what could have happened to these quilts, to no avail. We are reaching out to you, our readers, for help. We wanted to make you aware of the situation so that you too could keep your eyes and ears open in the hopes of finding these missing works of art. We are offering a reward of $4,000.00—no questions asked—for the return of the quilts. If one quilt is returned, the reward will be based upon the appraised value of the quilt. Information or inquiries can be sent to ctinfo@ctpub.com.

Amy Marson
Publisher
C&T Publishing

July 18, 2011

Just A Quick Post

2011-07-20T20:42:00.000-06:00

Just wanted you to know that our little 4-legged friend is feeling much better! I took her to the vet's and ended up with an anti-biotic and a anti-inflammatory prescription. It's been a couple days now and she is doing sooo much better! A happy camper..... me too. I can stop worrying so much now!

I took the first photo with her looking at me; then she had had enough! She is a sweetie though! She lost 16 pounds.... heck of a way to loose the winter weight! But she is doing better now!

You Know Your A Red Neck If

2011-07-18T11:25:00.000-06:00

Sorry to anyone that may take offense to the title... But maybe after I explain, you will get a chuckle out of as I did. When I'm good (mind you it's not every day, and then again.... not even every other day...) I go walking for the betterment of my health! Ahem, now you see what I mean about being good. So I take various routes when I walk so as to not be bored... plus I really don't like to walk where there is a lot of traffic and noise. I live in the country!!! It should be quiet and serene right? Right! On one of my routes I go through a neighborhood a couple neighborhoods over. Where in lays said Red Neck! I don't have a picture yet because I only take my cell with me and to be totally honest, I have no idea how to transfer any picture's from my cell to my computer.... let alone to my blog! O.K. so the picture that I need to get is of a cream/white pick up truck and I believe it has an extended cab on it.... but it has instead of a step or one of those bars to help you step into the truck...........
wait for it.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. It has stir-ups! One for the driver, his/or her (let me be correct in this) side passenger and then the two rear passengers also have stir-ups to use to climb into said Pick up truck! I know what your thinking.... sure we believe that! I will take my camera and get a picture you will see...!

In the mean time, hope that you all are doing "jus" fine out there.... and don't step in any "pies" if you know what I mean!

Show & Tell

2011-07-15T21:55:00.001-06:00

Alright, let's see if I can get this thing to post my pictures. I just went from old to new editor.
I've been busy as I said in my last post, and here are a few of the
reason why;
First off; My DH's b/day and we ordered him a new watch.... cross that..... two (2) new watches. Namely because the 1st one; that had already been shipped.... yeah, it wasn't the one he wanted! Let's be clear here.... it's all his fault! Not one to point fingers..... (ahem... well maybe just a little!), he was trying to be the good guy and go for the less expensive one, although it wasn't really what he wanted! So, I ordered that one and found out the truth! And yes.... I had to re-order and these two pic's are what the box looked like for the watch he actually wanted. Let's just say, I was a bit concerned (thus the reason for pictures of the box! (To prove to the co. that any damage.... was caused in shipping!)
Forgive the cute pic of my toe, it sorta snuck in on it's own.

Did I show this to you all? O.K. this one I did in May, or towards the first of June. B/4 the birthday and watch fun. Of course, I had to send the first watch back.... but that's something else, I didn't have the free return label with me, so had to have DD#3 make a print of it and get it to me! After the 2nd trip to the UPS people it was sent off. The watch we did want was just fine... thankfully.

This is another donation quilt, I counted up how many blocks I had and then figured out on graft paper how I wanted to lay it out. Remember good ole graft paper.... it still works!

Alright, this is the quilt I put together for our youngest little granddaughter... here is the front; I pieced it and then machine quilted it.... don't look too closely!

And then here is the back.... aren't the little frog's and turtles and birds cute! They are so much like characters from the the book "The Wind In The Willows". I think I need to find a copy of it
to go along with this, well, it will have to go later, because I already sent the quilt! Maybe for her birthday or Christmas.

And then remember back a while...... a lonnnnng while ago, I had a white dress that I added some eyelet too and then wanted to add sleeves too? Well, this lace doily.. imagine it cut down the middle about here. I forgot to take pic's (oops) anyway, first I cut out sleeves from some soft white Lycra and hemmed them. Then I gathered the cut edge, and placed it at the top of the Lycra sleeve and stitched them together. The sleeve's were set in and the only thing I need to do now (besides take out one of the sleeves because I wasn't very accurate!) is stitch the finished edges to the hemmed Lycra and do a couple of little tucks to round up the square-ness..... is there such a word? When it's completely done, I will post a picture!

And last but very far from least..... our 4 legged friend has gotten sick! We made a visit to our friendly dog doctor and they did tests. With results soon.... hopefully it's not anything terribly serious. Although, she does look sad, and doesn't want to eat. So she lost some weight. This is a B/4 pic. We shall see about a later pic.

Hope that you are all busy doing something fun.... Because of our Annual Pioneer Day celebration on the 24th of July (When the Pioneers came into the Salt Lake Valley) we will have Fire Works this weekend, which is fun because we have them most all of the months of June/July. Not bad hmmmm, good way to spend the Summer. And we don't have to pay to see them! What is neat is that each little town/city has it's own little Heritage celebration and also does Fireworks.... that's why we have they about all June/July! See.... now you've learned something new haven't you! You didn't know that this was also an Educational blog. LoL...

Take care..... and don't drop your pins on the floor.... if you do.... you may find them the hard way!

New Motto; Work Harder, Hide Better!

2011-07-06T13:42:00.002-06:00

This will be a shortened version of the post I previously wrote; I had it all ready and hit post and nothing! Yep.... nothing like loosing a post to waste a bunch of time. Oh, and it's mostly shorter because I won't be able to remember everything that I wrote before! LOL.... what do you expect? These are the ramblings of a seamstress, wife, mom, grandma..... daughter.... etc.!

I've been keeping out of mischief..... (just barely!) cutting out squares (of all sizes.... just to have on hand, so when I'm ready to use them they will be available). I have been helping my MIL clear out and clean out some of her closets of old outdated items..... make-up, lotions... things that she wanted me to donate to the local D.I. (Deseret Industries). But to be honest, most all of the stuff was sooo old, they just wouldn't want them. So, I saved the D.I. from having to chuck them into the garbage and did it myself! We went thru old sheet sets that they have had since they lived in their last home (some 15 plus years ago) and managed to do a very good clear out! Some of the sheets came home with me to pass onto others and then to the D.I. the ones that no one cared about!

Last week I helped out my friend Karma.... what with MSN e-mail changing over to charging people it had to be done b/4 the 1st of July! The poor guy was sooo hard to understand (I believe it was outsourced) I'm sure that when he was done talking to us.... he begged his boss/supervisor for a break! But, we got it done and after we took all the time to switch all of her favorites by putting them into new messages and sending them to her new email address.... (and it took forever!) What should we find.... when they switched her address book etc.... they switched her favorites too! Try to figure that one out? When we did mine, I had to change mine myself.... and the guy even told us that no, they would not be doing that for her! Weird!

Also took care of the grandkids a couple few times.... and we at one point walked over to a neighboring farm friends house to buy eggs. Grandson (oldest) asked how come we didn't buy them at the store? I explained that they are fresher this way.... plus I wanted the kids to see the farm a bit. They got to play with some kittens and I got to visit with my friend Linda. We talked about her wanting to learn how to make Crazy Quilts. So.... guess that's something we can work at later in the year when it's a bit cooler! Just when I was thinking that it was time that the grands mom should be showing up..... I get a phone call to tell me that she had been in a fender bender, but was fine. Fortunately they were not moving very fast, and she was in a Jeep! She needs a new bumper, and the guy behind, that hit her? I'm thinking that she said that his car was a mess! He was driving with Flip-Flops on and his foot slipped off the brake and hit the gas! I'm telling you... I love my Jeep! Our youngest daughter drove my Jeep Grand Cherokee to work one day and got smashed between two pick up trucks! She and the one in front were slowed down because of stop and go traffic on the freeway.... the truck behind her hadn't seen that traffic had slowed down.... he hit her pretty hard and pushed her into the truck in front of her!

It did total my jeep, (and yes.... I was very sad to loose it!) she had some whiplash, but that was all! If she had been in a little car like one of those small economy cars.... I don't think that the ending would have been the same! I love my Jeeps! I can drive them most any where, and flip a few levers and have all the cargo space that I need/want. I'm not very patient when it comes to waiting for my DH to haul something for me in his pick-up truck! I've had 4 Jeeps and DH has had one, our son has had one, and now one of the daughters has one.

I've been back at trying to loose weight again....working harder that is. It seems to find me again once I've lost it.... so I just need to Work Harder, and Hide Better! This is my new Motto/Mantra something like that! LoL...

I hemmed a pair of pants and altered a couple of blouses for our 2nd to youngest daughter, who is doing a great job working on loosing weight! Looking Good Heather!

Hmmmm, there have been tons of other things that I've been up too.... but well besides not remembering them all, and not wanting to bore you completely.... suffice it to say that I've been reading a lot of blogs and writing comments.... just not writing on my blog!

Best to get to the things I need to do.... make sure the sheets are almost dry etc..... and oh, yes.... I do remember one thing that I was going to post about. Have you seen one of these Rotary Mats? They swival? They are sooo cool!

Olfa Spinning Rotary Mat 17''X17'' : rotary cutting : sewing & quilting : Shop | Joann.com

Since I've been cutting out so many squares etc.... I thought one of these would be wonderful! So, I waited until Joann's had a 50% off sale and got a great deal on one! Now, there are other sizes, and brands but I liked the size of this one and am really tickled with it! It rotates so after you trim one side you can move it to the next side etc... without repossitioning the entire item each time. It saves time and well.... like I said before..... it's cool! Just something I thought I would pass onto you all.

Take care..... If you keep a spool of Black and a spool of White thread handy.... you can sew most anything!

This Is Just a Test!

2011-07-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

This is only a test...... I wrote an entire post.... and saved it.... and it dissapeared off the face of the blog!!!

A Poem For Memorial Day... One Worth Reading

2011-05-29T14:41:00.002-06:00

Since tomorrow is Memorial Day here in the United States I'm posting a Poem that two of my SIL's sent to my e-mail. One I feel is well worth reading and if the truth be told; I wish all of our politicians could/would read it as well. I didn't write this and do not know who to give the credit to, but it is worth your time... if you feel differently... that is your right! I hope that you all have a wonderful, safe and thankful Memorial Day. Please remember those who have given up their lives and those who are in far away places even now... protecting our rights to read/or not read this poem.

He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.

Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
The were heroes, every one.

And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.

But we'll hear his tales no longer,
For ol' Bob has passed away,
And the world's a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.

He won't be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.

He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won't note his passing,
"Tho a Soldier died today.

When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great.

Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.

Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?

Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?

The politician's stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.

While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.

It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys.

Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?

Or would you want a Soldier-
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.

He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again.

For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.

If we cannot do him honor
While he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage
At the ending of his days.

Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
"OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY."

-"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, it's inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."-----Winston Churchill

Yikes! May Is Flying Past!

2011-05-16T11:10:00.002-06:00

Hello all.... I do need to prioritize don't I! Seems that I've been doing things and forgetting to post. So, I will try to play catch up... I re-did Lois's jumper and got that back to her... It wasn't too bad, I didn't have to re-make the bodice... which was nice. Only, well... I had already purchased another yard of the fabric so that I could re-make it if I had too! Oh, well... guess I will find some little simple something to make for one of the grand daughters!
I finished a quilt that I was making for one of the humanitarian projects my friend Karma and I were working on. I wanted to finish it so that we could get it tied last week! Several of us worked from 8:00 a.m. until 8:10 p.m. (with a late break for lunch/dinner around 3:30) and we managed to tie 3 double/queen size quilts. So with working the night before on several baby quilts with the Relief Society we were able to finish 6 quilts altogether! Nice! We will deliver them plus 1 more that our friend Donna is tieing to make it a total of 7 quilts this time. What with all the things that are happening in the world, there are plenty of people that are in need of quilts.
I managed to get some mending done... some of my DH's shirts are looking the worse for wear, so I flipped the collars and also the cuffs on some of his button the front shirts and they look almost as good as new! He is a supervisor at a machine shop so, he doesn't have to wear a tie but wants to look nice and a bit dressy.... picture casual Friday wear with out a tie! Something like that anyway.
My DIL's birthday was yesterday and so we sent out a couple of fun things for her.... (can't say what because she may not of gotten them yet!). I tried really hard to get her gift/gifts to her on time.... but, well I was waiting for a sale on one of the items.... and no one had them in store and then I thought (later than I should have) that I could just order them on line and I got free shipping to boot~ Not bad.... she had forgotten it was even going to be her birthday this week end! So, no high expectations on her part... just on mine!
Hopefully she had a wonderful day.... and our love goes out to her! Always!
I have been busy gabbing with the gals too.... I went out to eat with some of the ladies from the ward... we went to Naturally Chinese. It's a great Chinese Place that is local and is as it says; all natural foods.... no msg... etc... really good. And if you have at least 7 in your party.... birthday girl (or guy) gets to eat free!
I also went with the SIL's and MIL to lunch two days b/4 that to Olive Gardens... it was time to take MIL out to lunch.... we know that if we are going out to eat.... we are going to the Gardens!!!
She loves the Chicken Alfredo.... which she orders each and every time.... very predictable... but since she is easy to please it makes it nice! She bought us lunch! Go figure.... it was just b/4 Mother's Day... we were going to buy her lunch! It was fun... we finally got in to eat at around 1:45 and didn't leave until almost 4! Yikes... we yakked and yakked.... It was very enjoyable. Just goes to show we need to get out together more!
Checkbook and bills are calling my name.... guess I had better get things done... don't want anyone going without because I didn't get the bills paid! LoL....

On With The Jumper Saga...

2011-04-30T20:39:00.002-06:00

I got myself over to Lois's house and had her try on the jumper. The bodice at least at the bust isn't too big... it's just the shoulders are a bit too long, so I need to take them up a little and then in the back.... I need to take it in just a smig at the top of the zipper area. But since I have to take out the zipper to do all this anyway, I'm going to replace it with a longer zipper to make it easier for her to get into. My friend Lois is going to be 91 this year... and what ever I can do to make life a tad bit easier for her, I'm going to try to do it! The front has a little bit of a sagginess in it... not a lot so I may try to do a little gather stitch.... to see if this will do what it needs to take care of the problem. It's not much, but since the neck is rounded it draws attention to it not being nice and crisp! If you know what I mean.... basically it also needs to be taken in a little bit... only like 1/2 inch at the very top down to like a 1/2 inch in length. Hard to explain... guess I should have taken pictures. But then, I'm not too sure she would have wanted me to post pic's of her on my blog.
Ooops.... I need to let the dog into the house!
Hope your Saturday night is enjoyable... and your Sunday is very nice too!

Sooo I Made A Little Mistake Or Two

2011-04-08T18:34:00.002-06:00

Yeahhh.... so much for just trying to use two patterns to pull off the jumper for my friend! I must say... I don't usually have these types of problems... but, you know things go wrong sometimes! So Lois called and we played phone tag all day yesterday and this a.m. and finally she got a hold of me. Apparently the jumper is too big in the bust! Yep... and she will be busy for a few days so I can't get at it until next week some time! I feel bad... I wanted to have it all done and out of the way! But, then this is what happens when we don't have a fitting! I'm sure we can work it out... I will just have to take in the side seams and possibly take out the zipper and re-do the back. She said that the shoulder straps fall down! So this tells me that the shoulder measurements are too wide. Say la veee! I'll let you know how it goes! Oh.... and it has snowed all day yesterday and most of today! Spring Shming!!! Spring is definitely not here!

Is It Spring Yet?

2011-04-07T12:47:00.004-06:00

Although the calendar says it's Spring, you surely can't tell from looking out the window!

It was as they say.... It was a dark and cloudy day...... and then all of a sudden, BOOM, BOOM...... and the Hail came down and the winds came up and BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.... the thunder raged and the Hail came down again..... and then it tapered down to a hard pounding rain and then a sprinkle... til now... a little lightening and next to nothing moisture wise....

If you look hard enough... these were taken while it was coming down and you can see the hail before it lands! Hard to believe it was a beautiful Spring day yesterday and "we", Missy and her kids and I all went to SLC for the day!

No pictures... what was I thinking! The flowers in Temple Square were wonderful and so bright and pretty. But, with 3 kids 5 1/2 and under... yes... we had enough to do... Missy took pic's... maybe I will have to try to get some from her!

Alright... onto another project that I did for my DIL's sister! DDIL's sister just had a baby girl 3 months after our dear little Kate was born! Sooo,

If you take this,

+Plus this;

add some of this....

=And you get this! Have you made these before? They are called

"Ragg Quilts".... they are all made of flannel (the better to ragg with.....) and the seams are sewn up facing the outside and not enclosed! You can make it with either 2 or 3 layers of flannel and no batting. I almost always have some sort of flannel around! This is a great way to use up odds and ends. And super simple too!

The hardest and most time consuming part of the entire quilt... is that after you have sewn it all together.... you snip the seam allowances... and I mean alllll of the seam allowances! Your hand can get a bit tired but it works! ( You will snip almost to the seam stitching.... get the quilt wet and then dry it to fluff it up! ) You do need to make sure that when you make these, #1 if you have flannel that you are afraid will bleed (the dye may run) set the dye with either a soaking of vinegar or salt with water for a while before you start to cut out the blocks. This way it won't run all over your other fabrics. Of course if you do this step; then you must do a quick wash before you dry it.... (don't want your quilt smelling of vinegar!)

#2 When you wet and then dry your finished quilt for the first couple of times.... there will be a mass of lint; (it's important to clean out your lint trap several times before it's finished drying; believe me..... you will notice a difference! And the quilt will dry faster too!) Also... you may want to wash/dry it by it's self the first times. If after you are using the quilt it still seems to drop a lot of threads.... toss it into the dryer a few times with either an old towel and this will help get rid of the excess threads. If you look at this picture closely you may notice that it seems some of the white printed blocks are show thru as different colors. This is because I made this as a 3 layer quilt, I used odd blocks on the inside layers. Oh, and just like any other quilt.... the back can be any color or pattern that you want. I forgot to take a pic of the back side. I have seem Ragg Quilts done in all sorts of patterns.... Log Cabin, Around the World.... etc... and any size and shape! They are really soft and cozy. Make one from your scraps today!

Oh, I also forgot to take a picture of a jumper that I made for a friend of mine.... Lois. She is a sweetie... wanted me to make her a new dress for Church. I finished it the other day and delivered it. She was quite pleased. All in a few days work!

Ooops.... it's Raining again.... so much for letting the ground dry out a bit so we can till the garden! Can't say I mind too much though... it sure does "Green" things up around here!

On to other sewing projects.... my sewing room is calling me!!!

After you make these Ragg Quilts.... make sure and take time to clean out the underside of your sewing machine; these create lots of lint!

March! So What Happened To January?

2011-03-12T12:42:00.009-07:00

I know that I posted in February... but what happened to January? Do you really want to know? I've been a bit pre-occupied with a certain grand daughter..... the newest little member of our family I got to go visit in January when she was only 3 weeks old... And then again about 3 weeks ago I went with my DH, 2 of our DD's and our only other DGD.

new little Kate;

Oldest DGD Grace.... with little Kate

Grampa is infatuated with Kate... I think she sorta likes him too, I mean if you can be sooo comfortable that you fall asleep in their arms.... it's a given!
DD holding her "neice"... mommy to Grace. I think she sorta likes Kate too.... well, I mean really what's not to like!

We had this picture taken when Kate was Blessed at Church a few weeks back. Part of the family... our youngest DD in the back and yep that's me in front next to our son Ben and his wifie.....
But in the mean time, you know b/4 all these going's on.... I made this for the above picture/event.

And of course, you need a slip to go underneath it all!

Here is the little princess. Oh, when I took this picture (sorry it's turned wrong) someone called Kate a princess and then later DGD (the older version...lol) went out to her mom and said, (imagine this with a pouty little voice and lip) "Mommy, I want to be a princess!" Too Cute!

O.K. and just so you know I wasn't just messing around not doing anything in between sewing and all, on Valentines Day I asked the 3 grandkids who live here in the state to come play and make Sugar Cookies with me! Look at all the fun we had!!!

We made all sorts of cookies.... I just forgot to take pic's of the frosted ones! And of course, the eating!!!!

This is Wyatt; he wasn't really into making cookies... so he went to play with the dog and everything else... but the rest of us enjoyed all the fun!

The weather keeps calling out "Spring, Spring".... but then low and behold.... we get more snow!

Earlier this week we got around 5-6 inches (during the middle of the night) of the pretty wet white stuff..... (I love listening to it snow!) and before the end of the day.... yep it was all pretty much melted! Gooo figure! Well, the resevours are getting filled and that is a good thing... we will need this water later in the year...

In the mean time there is more sewing going on! Pictures later!

Don't forget to clean out all the little dusty, fuzzy stuff that is going on inside your machine...

The Anniverary Post! Mine, Not The Blog's!

2011-02-07T22:20:00.008-07:00

Such a busy time.... anniversaries, (my in-laws 40Th, and our 35Th!) birthdays.... (my daughters 30Th, and also my SIL's 50Th).

Hard to believe this little cutie is going to be 30 years old! She is wearing a dress that I wore when I was her age (about 3 at the time this was taken). Guess I need to dig up a photo of me in the dress too.... hmmmm we shall see what I can find! If I can figure out the scanning again... we shall see indeed!

A couple of the missionaries from our Church stopped by last evening to drop off a hand me down suit one of the Elders received. I need to alter it for him... he is somewhat quiet and a bit shy and well... the suit is too long in the torso and in the pant legs also... if I had gotten a good measurement on him I could have probably take in the seat too... hopefully it won't be too baggy on him. One tries not to embarrass the young men too much! He is all of 19 and all.... and what with my DH and another Elder there well.... I couldn't do too much without embarrassing him.
My friend Karma and I had a day of sewing last week. We had some quilt block that her daughter Diane had made up... long ago of a white background baseball print with some blue and also using some red borders and then we made up some blocks that had a red plaid and also blue plaid centers with the same blue or red borders. Then we used red and blue for sashing around the blocks and proceeded to make a crib size quilt.... too funny actually... I cut and pressing the borders/sashings and blocks while she sewed them all together! It's easier for me to see to cut then it is for her! We got to talking sooo much, that in the end as I was handing her rows to sew together, somehow she had flipped two sections and put them opposite and then added the sashing and final borders before we noticed! The entire quilt top was complete before we noticed that the pattern we had decided on was a bit of a mess! Of course no one but us will notice... it just, well.... it looks as if it should be flowers from Dr. Seuss's garden! It really does still look cute, just we don't really feel like taking it all apart! Sad... I know... but someone will still get a good use out of it when we put on the back and batting! All out of flannel... it will be really soft!

We went into SLC today to play and visited the SLC version of this! Yes.... I was a badddd girl!
Dear Hubby and I shared a mint truffle.... and these are the size of a 50 cent piece! Plus I split another one with him after dinner (his half is going into his lunch tomorrow...) he had a large piece of English Toffee...(and yes he did offer to share a bite with me... but I did declined.... I was waiting for my caramel to warm up, it was a little hard because it was cold outside) but I must say that when it did warm up DH shared a few bites of my caramels soooo I didn't technically eat all of the caramels! Now I didn't have to admit that we did this... ahem.... guess now that I read it.... I feel like a pig.... although, I must say that in my defense.... we didn't eat them all at once! We did eat dinner in between some of this! Ohhhh well, guess I need to get back to work with my exercise routine! Oh, and eating better too! It was our anniversary so we celebrated here and there!
Oh, I forgot to tell you.... this place is called
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory..... as you can see.... there are wonders here... hey, it's chocolate! What's not to like?

This week this pattern goes on Sale;
http://www.simplicity.com/p-4994-babies-vintage-layette.aspx at our local Hancock's Fabric's Warehouse......
It is the dress I will be making for our new little granddaughter's blessing dress. I need to see what fabric I will be using.... I may have something I want to use in my fabric stash.... I will post a picture if I find something in there..... then again, if I open the doors.... you may never hear from me again! LoL...
I also have to sew up some little white bags for a meeting we are having for the little kids that will be 8 years old this year. It's called Great To Be 8! There will be all sorts of things inside to help them understand the importance of being baptised. And somewhere in there get the Elder's suit altered... guess I will be a bit busy.
So, I'm going to be up to my ears, elbows and maybe at least teeth in the sewing room! Will let you know what I'm up too soon!
More soon.... make sure you put that pedal to the metal.... if you want to get anywhere with your sewing!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-18T10:57:00.004-07:00

Shall we try this again? Well, it is still the new year.... I'm just a bit late in sharing the news!
Sorry I've been soooo neglectful! Just life gets in the way sometimes! You know how it is, sometimes I would rather read blogs than write this one! I've been busy sewing, reading, getting excited that our new grand baby was on the way! Oh, she was born the last day of December! So, yes.... she is here! And what a cutie... her daddy and mommy are very happy, and I believe content that she is here. I think they are wondering how on earth did they ever fill the hours without her! And I get to go visit in a couple more days! Am I phyed or what????? Another little grand daughter..... what's not to like? Now we have evened it up so far, 2 boys and 2 girls!
Towards the end of February some time we get to go visit again! And this time, a couple other members of the family get to go also! Possibly a couple daughters and our other granddaughter get to go also. Our little DGD is sooo excited to go, I think that she wants to go now! She keeps asking when she gets to go on the plane and go see baby Kate and Uncle Ben and Aunt Jentica (yep that's how she says my DIL's name... cute hmmm!) Right now I'm doing the really important stuff, laundry, ironing etc.... so DH is all set while I'm gone! When I have a bit more time I will show and tell some pic's of some of my projects that I got done for Christmas. Such a wonderful time of year. And we had beautiful snow.... that is melting as I type! We need more, all of a sudden it's warmer than January should be.... we don't need an early snow melt... that would cause flooding possibly! Not a good thing! My heart goes out to the people of Australia and all that is going on there. Know that you are in our prayers daily!
Oh, and for the people/families that were effected by the shooting in Arizona. Your also in our prayers... our hearts go out to all those who had their lives changed by this sad, sick man.
Bad things do happen to good people, yes... I think that how we handle these trials can be an example to others. Hopefully the outpouring of love will help others in their distress.
Until next time! Don't forget to keep your shears sharp!

2010-10-22T13:51:00.008-06:00

First; here is the out of print pattern.....

This is a little girls dress that I set aside and now I'm close to finishing. Plaids are so rich and fun to play with. Of course, when I bought this fabric (years ago) I'm sure my manager asked me what I was going to make with it! (my old boss at the fabric store) And I probably just said, "I don't know yet! It will just go into the fabric stash until I find the "right item it needs to be!" Well, to be perfectly honest, I'm sure I didn't tell her that.... (she would have looked at me funny! As you are now!) But I'm sure I told her I didn't know yet! A while back I believe I showed you the plaid and maybe even the pattern..... (researching!) Alright... I didn't show you the plaid, or the pattern.... I just wrote about them a little is all. Back in May! Ahem, well.... some of us just can't win! But I will try to rectify that right now!

The picture of the oop pattern was just my starting point. First; I changed the neck made it a bit larger.... more open.... so that the little girl can wear a blouse or long sleeve t-shirt with it and it won't be too clingy. Also; I wasn't into the old fashion sleeves.... (see oop pattern above!) Just too much fru-fru for me! I wanted it to be a bit more simple, and mostly have the main focus on the plaid and the person wearing it! Notice the cute print lining the bodice? Well, the pattern doesn't call for it to be lined, just faced but during a trip to the fabric store a while back, I happened upon this.... It called out to me! And it was just the right piece to go inside of this cute plaid! I still need to hem, add buttons and button holes. And honestly... one day when I find someone to wear this then maybe I will get a picture of it on someone. But until then, it will hang in the closet..... waiting! One more thing, on the pocket front edges I put just a tad bit of light yellow ric rac. Just to give it a touch of whimsy!

It's been fun. I'm not too sure yet about what buttons to use. Maybe I will go with just a clear round type.

Now that you know that I've not just been messing around... I guess that's all for right now! I suppose it better be! It's almost November.... Actually today is the oldest grandson's b-day!

Happy Birthday Little Guy! We love you!

It's Starting To Feel Like Fall

2010-10-12T18:28:00.010-06:00

So yes, life gets busy. What can I say! I forget to write things down and well b/4 you know it... a month has past! Almost two!

We took care of the grands again... it was fun... they are growing up so fast though.

Here they are out in the garden playing in the dirt!

Our oldest grandson (he is almost 5) wants to be a Transformer for Halloween. His mom is working quite hard to make him a cool costume. A week or so ago, he looked at the costume (which is being made out of cardboard) and said, "Mom, are we going to spray paint it? Cause I don't want the kids to look at it and say he's wearing a box!" "I don't want to be embarrassed!" Our daughter did the "mom thing" and told her DH that no matter how much time she puts into this, that when all is said and done, if he looks at it and he thinks their son will be embarrassed.... she will scrap the entire thing! Now is that love or what? I'm thinking yes! Indeed yes! I will have to take pictures of the grands to let you see how things turned out!

I've been busy working on a pile of fabric's that I've pulled from my stash.... I'm about half way thru them... I'm cutting out 10 1/2x 10 1/2 inch squares; 4x4 squares, and triangles... oh, and also strips that are 2 1/2 inches wide and all sorts of lengths. There are a lot of floral's, some lights and some dark prints, also a variety of dark's too. I haven't come up with the type of quilt that I will for sure make with these... actually, I'm thinking it may end up as more than one quilt.

This picture; is of the second half.... that I haven't cut up yet!

About a month or so ago... I bought this dress on clearance... which makes it more fun and cheaper to play around with.... I did get it at a better price.... than shown here!

http://www.coldwatercreek.com/product-detail/52081/58263/cotton-tiered-dress.aspx?colorid=013&refLink=outlet-dresses.aspx&Skn=outlet at Cold Water Creek....

It's an all white dress, if you go to this site you will see it... anyway I don't really wear sleeveless dresses, but I do like to play with things I buy. Not only do I see in my mind what I can do with fabric, but I also see things on people, in catalogs, store etc.... and think.... hmmmm, what can I do to improve or modify them so I would like to wear them?

So, this is the added eyelet to add to the length. I still need to do the sleeves.

Alright now for one, it was a bit too short for me..... (which because I had forgotten to read the customer comments... I could have figured that out b/4 hand... but I didn't! )I'm not crazy about my calves.... so I like a dress a bit longer. Also the sleeveless thing.... not quite my thing. So, because the dress has a variety of materials that it's made from I'm going to add sleeves that I have made from a couple of materials. For the base of the sleeves I will be using a knit white spandex, and then over the top of that I will be using a doily..... I know your laughing now.... but you just wait! Hopefully when it's done, you won't be! The dress has a cotton layered bottom and the top is made out of various knits. Since there wasn't enough of the doily to make the entire sleeve, that is why I'm using the spandex knit to build a base. Hopefully when it's done you won't even notice the base and your eye will go to the embroidered cotton doily. If it turns out like I plan.... I will be happy. And let's be honest.... I'm doing this for me right? So, who if anyone needs to be happy? You got it! Oh, and your probably wondering..... why is she working on a dress she won't wear now until Spring? Because that's just how I am! I just don't always get to things when I need too!

What with canning and fruit drying and recovering from hurting my back.... (I have no idea what I did....) but it's taken me several days to feel like a human again.... I've been walking around like I'm 90 years old. But stubborn as I am.... I will persevere!

Oh.... I did take time to brush out the dog.... there was an entire other dog in the bag that I put that old hair into! She looks much cuter now.... and I suspect that she is much happier too.... no more itchy hair to try to get off when she is outside!

I will be doing another post, so this is all for now!

Talk About Fast Service

2010-09-07T18:36:00.004-06:00

O.K. for those of you in the U.S. we all know that yesterday was a holiday. Labor Day weekend is the last full on weekend of Summer! And well, as weekends go it was a good one, shopping, dinner with some of the family and well.... more shopping! What's not to like? I have to tell you about the service we got.... talk about fast... I'm almost speechless! And if you know me, it takes an awful lot to hush me up! So DH has been after me since about Wednesday last week to please order him a pair of new tennis shoes (sports shoes... hey, they are white/navy and have a tread for traction.... that's why I call them tennis shoes.... not that he plays tennis... just how I am!). So teasingly every time he would see me, (even if I came back into the room after being gone for a few minutes.....) he would ask me.... did you order my shoes yet? And so on and so forth..... So, yesterday being a Holiday as I said, I placed an order.... the operator told me well since this is a holiday they will ship tomorrow, and be there no later than Wednesday! Yeah! Next time DH sets eyes on me..... (you know the question..... insert here!) I could say, Yes! This a.m. I get an e-mail saying that the shoes shipped out at 1:30 a.m. this morning. I thought, nice... DH will be happy to know that they are on the way! I told him b/4 he left for work this a.m. (yes, I checked my e-mail early this a.m.) Anyway.... that being said, I told DH and he was quite happy leaving for work! At 10:15 a.m. the door bell rings, I figure it's my company, albeit a bit early...... Nope! It's the UPS truck! He has just delivered a box! And yes! It's the shoes that I ordered from Zappo's! I couldn't believe it! I mean it hadn't even been 24 hours and they were here already! Just what we ordered, talk about fast! WOW!!!!!! I must say, I'm very impressed by the speed of their service! I didn't have to pay shipping! Just so you know..... I'm getting nothing besides the satisfaction of knowing that their shipping/service department is totally awsome! Just thought I would past that little tidbit along!
More later.....
Edit: Bye the way honey...... I ordered your shoes!!!! Oh, and then.... when we found out that the size we ordered were wayyyy to big!!!! I reordered a smaller size! Done! They will probably be here tomorrow night! LoL....
Edit: Here we go again! This time the shoes were shipped even faster! They were shipped at around 3:00 a.m. Kentucky time and got here b/4 10:00 a.m. Utah time! And on top of that instead of charging our credit card again; and then giving us a refund when the other shoes were returned.... no.... the gal says to me..... "I will just transfer your $$$ over to the other pair of shoes, so we don't have to charge your card again!" Really? Wow.... I can't tell you how very impressed I am. Plus like I said above..... no shipping charges either way! O.K. this type of service, just doesn't happen. I mean, they are seriously making an effort! It's working for me!
Goooooo Zappo!!

Summer Is Over......

2010-08-31T11:25:00.013-06:00

Although I no longer have kids in school, public, private or even collage for that matter... I am always touched by the fact that the neighborhood streets and yards are so much quieter when the kids go back to school. Summer for the most part (at least for the kids) is over and now it's back to the matter of learning and taking in knowledge. I hate to be the one to break it to them, but that is one thing that never ends! Learning or the work of learning to me is always there. There is still so much for me to learn... I didn't go to collage, but it seems I learn something new all the time... so just going to the college of life is important to me! I get a bit nostalgic about things this time of the year... thinking on how quickly our family grew and learned so many important things of life. And now, our grand kids are moving quickly down these paths also. Sometimes it's hard to see this happen, others.... well I get excited to see and to share with our grand kids some of the very things that excited me when I was their ages.

Alright... I know it's been quite a while since I took the time to post anything so I will try to do a better job the rest of the year. I ended up going on the Pioneer Trek.... to help with the cooking. I didn't actually do any trekking... but it was a wonderful experience anyway. Cooking, packing lunches for around 200 people a meal was well.... busy, exhilarating, hot, hard at times, silly, tiring, and at times we had to be just down right inventive! But well worth the hard work and the company was wonderful! I sooo do appreciate my dear husband and missed him very much. I was glad that I DID NOT SEE ANY OF THE RATTLE SNAKES THAT SOME PEOPLE SAW..... apparently a couple were seen but they just waited for them to slither away off the path and onto other travels..... YUCK!!!!! And there was one that managed to go into the girls bathroom..... (because someone didn't close the door..... like the signs said!!!!) but it was taken care of and is now viewing us from.... let us say.... more Heavenly Aspects.... ahem, get yourself into the bathroom and that's what you get I suppose! I came back with a bit of a different aspect on the wearing of pioneer clothing.... Those women were Wonder Women..... wearing dresses all the time, hot, cold.... with the breezes whipping in and out and well.... I do have a whole new light on how I feel about all those women.

I put together a quilt top/and the quilt it's self for another one of our Primary to hand tye. The only thing was..... 2 yep that's right..... only two girls showed up to help tye it! They were here early (which worked out fine) and had to leave after an hour to go to their soccor games. They were a big help though by helping me to get the quilt put onto the quilt frames. Sorry no pictures of that action.... but I do have a couple of the quilt.

Front: just a 9 patch

Back: a cute flannel that I had... and a little pink to finish it off. Nice to be able to grab something out of the fabric stash!

And last but not least: The Helper Dog!

She seemed to think that I couldn't do what I was doing without her help! She is right of course. After taking several shots this one seemed to say, don't you think that your done now! She is our sweet girl!

Our grandson..... the youngest, turned 2 a couple of weeks back and we had some family fun right here.

He is a pro already....

He is a "pro" already... he was hitting the ball and setting it back on the "T" all by himself.... (which is nice for mom because we know who would really be doing it if he couldn't do it for himself!).

Our granddaughter and her "Papa", were having a little of fun!

I've also been working on more of my "string quilt blocks" not sure how many I have now... but it's getting up there! Also I have been doing some alterations for moi!!! Wonder of wonders! I know, I don't think to sew for myself sometimes.... it's just that there is always something else to be done! My friend Karma if you will remember let me "shop" in her daughter's closet (Karma's daughter passed away 2 years ago and a while after she was gone I was invited to look at and try on and take home any clothing that I wanted. Her daughter had wonderful taste and since having died of cancer her weight went down rather quickly and she had all sorts of sized clothing. Some brand new, some not... but most all were in such good shape that her family felt that it would be nice to share. After all was said and done, I went home (feeling rather guilty really) with several large boxes of clothes. And come to find 14 people had shopped at "Diane's Closet" as we called her place and each went home with a huge amount of clothing. Diane was a wonderfully warm and caring and sharing person in life and in death. Her family misses her very much. I want to thank her family for being so generous to me and to all those that these clothes helped along the way! I have another story to tell concerning some of the clothes or at least one coat that came from "Diane's Closet" please see below*) and I brought home a number of dresses that I needed to take "in" and take "up" for that matter. Some of these dresses had never been worn before. They are so pretty and Summerish..... I should have finished them lonnnnnng ago... but, such is life! I have one more to do.... and I will have a complete new summer wardrobe! Some of them can be worn other times of the year (I'm not one who "has" to wear certain dresses during certain seasons.... some of them need to be worn... just Spring/Summer/very early Fall but I will decide as the seasons come.)

I do need to work on some up coming Christmas presents too..... we all realize that Christmas is coming......only 4 months away! Dear Hubby and I found one sweet present for the grand kids, and it will be an "early" Christmas present they will receive around Thanks Giving. I can't show a picture of it right now because our oldest DD just can't stand it when she doesn't know "the secret"..... so this is mostly just to tease her!!! LoL.... Bet I get a call as soon as she reads this!

Well, I hope all of you lovely people are sewing, crafting, and enjoying this beautiful day and the season to come. There won't be too many Summer days left I think... live each day to the fullest!

Our Heavenly Father Loves you all... Don't forget that!

Oh, and when your done sewing; don't forget to turn off the lights! Until the next post!

* I mentioned a coat that I received from Karma's daughters closet; telling about this closet of clothes made this story come to mind. I don't think that I've shared it... if I have and I know that I have to some, please just skip it and have a great day! If not.... please read on; A coat that I had seen in "Diane's Closet" went to one of Karma's sisters... it was a lovely green wool coat, a long dress coat to be exact! I had tried it on and it fit like a glove and then my hands went automatically into the pockets (I guess I'm just a pocket person at times). Inside the pocket were a pair of somewhat longer knit green gloves to match the coat!

After trying it on Karma mentioned that she thought that it might fit her sister and she really ought to have her try it on! Can't say that I wasn't disappointed, one I love green and although I really didn't need this coat (because I have a nice navy blue one) I would not have minded owning this one! Karma took the coat to her sister saying if it didn't fit her she would bring it back to me. I didn't really give it much thought after that. A few months later ( we were "shopping" in Diane's closet some time in March I think or April) Karma and I were working on a project together and she mentioned that the green wool coat didn't fit her sister and she pulled it out of the closet and gave it to me! Such a pretty coat and all I was very pleased. Fast forward to last December..... I had a meeting at Church and it was a very cold day and one of the ladies of our group and I were waiting outside the office of our Bishop for the meeting to start (in the hallway) and I had on a sweater over my dress and the green coat! The lady..... named Peggy (named has been changed to keep from embarrassing her) was sitting and shivering! She didn't have a coat on! I asked where her coat was and she said that she had left it at home, because she didn't like to wear her parka like coat with dresses! I asked her if she wanted the one I was wearing? She just looked at me, I think maybe she thought I meant just to get her warmed up! I told her the situation of how and where I got the coat and that I had another dress coat at home and I was more than comfortable to give it to her! I think she was pretty surprised.... maybe even shocked really. She didn't really know what to say I think. So she basically said no.... that's o.k. I will be fine. Later after our meeting, I confronted her again, (when no one was around and I had taken the coat off during our meeting) this time I asked her to please take the coat, that really I had another at home and to please use it with my pleasure. I had put my scarf into a bag I was carrying and gave that to her later too. (it was a scarf that I had also gotten with the coat!) She was sooo excited! She told me that green was her favorite color! I told her see..... it was meant to be! And then I told her that there were gloves in the pockets to match! She was all smiles as was Karma when I relayed the story to her.... with the name of the actual person. So, that's the story. I wasn't really supposed to have that coat after all. I was just to hold it for a little while. Love...... pass it on!

Happy Birthday (Tomorrow) America!!!!!

2010-07-03T12:32:00.012-06:00

Well, it's that time of year again. I did mention last post that we would be celebrating the 4TH of July soon. I've a lot to be thankful for! This old country has been pretty good to me and I just thought I would find a couple pictures to show you what I have to appreciate! The Church, Family and the beauties of this wonderful country. There are a lot of pictures on the internet that show all sorts of wonderful views, vista's and ocean's, mountains and valleys... forests, streams, rivers... that I could have added, but I felt that you probably already have a favorite picture or place that means a lot to you. Each one of these places can touch my heart in a different way. ( edit:What I should have said, is that each of those type of places touch my heart and that I just couldn't decide which pictures to add... so the most important pictures are of my family! ) I am sooooo greatful that I have the opportunity to live in The United States of America. I was born here and after being in the Military and serving my country and being away from the U.S. I learned so much more to appreciate all there is in this Great Country! No matter whether you live in the U.S. or not, remember to appreciate where you live and the freedoms that you may have! Take care of our old world..... It's the only one we have!

God Bless America!!! I hope that those of you who live in the U.S. will have a wonderful and safe and happy July 4TH!

Who Is That Lurking Around The Computer?

2010-07-01T11:29:00.010-06:00

Yes, believe it or not! I'm alive and well. For some reason I've just not felt like blogging lately... just blog lurking here and there. That and the creativity in my sewing room has up and left! Seems that sewing time gets interrupted when gardening etc... happens. But I will get it together one of these days!

So, what have you been doing? Anything fun?

We had some great company a couple weeks back. Our son and our DIL came to visit and it was non stop busy-ness.

We went to the zoo... the family (or at least some of the family and extended too) went and we had a great time. In all toll we had hmmmmmm, 15 of us there... and only 6 were kids! Well people under the age of 8 that is! Pretty good odds don't you think? This is one of the first animals we saw when we got there. And they don't even have to be caged!

The giraffes were trying to keep cool.... I can't imagine how much lemon aide it must take to cool off a giraffes throat can you?

We saw the baby elephant and of course lots of birds and critters. Ate lunch, took a train ride.... we took up most of one entire section of the train. Not too sure who the biggest kids were... then again yes... mostly the "older" ones! They had a great bird show and we saw a beautiful Bald Eagle (one that had been hurt and so can't fly fast enough to catch food so it can't go back into the wild) an owl, and a couple of hawks. They had them (most of them) trained to fly to different perches and they would soar right over the crowds heads... so they told us not to raise our hands or stand up while the show was going on!

I'm so in awe of these beautiful creatures! They are amazing to watch! It brings me to tears to see them! I could watch them all day!

I thought that these two photo's were very appropriate for this week here in the United States! We are celebrating the birth of our country on the 4Th of July! Fireworks, parades, music, flags.... Eagles.... our beautiful home and all of our Freedoms.... What's Not To Love! Happy Birthday America!

As we walk off into the sunset... or at least to the car park! Hey... this zoo has lots of hills and walking and/or pushing a stroller gets tiring! Needless to say, we were all pooped and a little sunburned! I sunburned my hair part... I'm still dealing a bit with the peeling..... ever burned your scalp? Yep.... it looks like dandruff when it peels.... yuck! So, if you see me.... be fair warned! It's not pretty!

During this fun visit we celebrated 3 birthdays, Father's Day, someone being preggers (well it was her belated birthday gift shopping), we had a family picture taken and had a bar-b-q and various other eating events.... family and food goes hand in hand! We dined out a few times, Mimi's Cafe (for breakfast for the birthday girls), Taco-Taco, Chili's, a restaurant that I forget the name of..... for lunch with DD and my Nephew from Oregon..... God Father's Pizza, oh, and because we were getting soooo much rain believe it or not..... I made Chili one night! (Yeah, well don't feel too bad for me having to cook.... I opened some cans of chili and then added a few cans of black and red beans!) With the fact that it was birthday time we of course had various celebration desserts..... Frozen Yogurt Pie, Strawberry Shortcake, and then home made Cheese cake. Which is a story in it's self! I will try to make it short! LoL..... sooo funny... I over whipped the batter for this cheese cake and put it in the pan size that was recommended a 9 inch pan (the release type pans.... I can't remember off hand what they are called!) and while cooking it grew and it grew and it grew....... so after cooking it for the required time; it still wasn't done! (too bad I didn't think to take pictures!) I left it in longer 30 minutes longer to be exact! Nope.... all it did was over flow the pan! Pieces dropping left and right and smoking up the house! And mind you it's at night so I had to open windows and turn on the ceiling fans to keep the smoke detectors from sounding the alarm! LoL.... All in all I finally took it out of the oven (it was about 3 inches over the top of the pan) and took a bread knife and sliced it across the top into the garbage disposal! Heavy Sighhhhh! Cooked it for around 30-40 more minutes and it was done! Not pretty but done! And the next day it did taste pretty good.... I learned to not mix so much and maybe next time use a larger pan! Oh, and my DSIL Tammy.... told me to tape foil to help support the sides of it if it raises up too much!
All in all.... we had a great time.... I'm sure that the extra weight will look good on me! No! I'm working that off now!
Until next time..... remember what we have learned! Save the beating for the whipped cream!

For some reason the comments area is running together with the end of the post? So I've tried several times to fix it.... if at first you don't suceed... try, try again. Which I have... so now it's just go for broke!

What Has Been Keeping Me Busy

2010-05-27T05:38:00.003-06:00

It has been a while since I last wrote but as things go I've been keeping out of trouble, mostly! I worked on a costume for a friends neice's 8 year old daughter... (got that?) it was a mermaid costume that she needed for a school something or other! Here is what it looked like when done; http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m5498-products-8714.php?page_id=915 It was a bit of a trial because I was told she had a 28 inch waist and then that she was 8 and I finally got her neck to waist measurement and waist to floor measurement. Not a whole lot to go on! Oh, and I was also told that they figured a ladies 10 would fit her? Hmmmm, not sooo much! We worked it all out I tried in on my friends granddaughter a day or so b/4 the little girl came to try it on... and took it in some thru the back and waaa-laa! Done! I didn't get a picture (I seem to forget the camera in situations like this) and so you don't get to see the final project... but it is done! They were happy with it... and mom told daughter that look.... you have your Halloween costume all ready too!
Now I'm working on an OOP pattern.... (out of print) just because... one I will put away because I'm not sure who it is for yet! It's a cute little purple plaid dress, button up the front and it will have pantaloons too that can be worn but don't really need to be worn.... I will find the pattern and post a picture of it and the material too. Now I've decided that instead of any type of lace I'm going with a cute light yellow Ric Rac... hopefully pic's later.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL MOTHER'S

2010-05-08T20:05:00.004-06:00

I am posting a day early.... but, better early than my semi-usual late.
It's Mother's Day, and whether that brings back all sorts of memories (hopefully all good) or it's just a wonderfully relaxing day I hope that it will be a good one for you and all the mother's and future mother's out there.

I spoke to my mother last night. We have been playing phone tag all week and so we finally caught up and got to sit and visit for a while. Thanks mom for taking the time to track me down again!
My mom is one of the great women in the world. She is kind and loving and very supportive. Her journey through life has been in the company of a loving husband. (that would be my dad) Hopefully she doesn't really remember the trials that I personally put her through... (we won't go there!!!) and being as I want to make this day as wonderful as she is I won't bring any of those things up either! When I became a mom I knew that although I was a bit nervous about it all, (taking a tiny little baby home and caring for him was a bit scary) I knew that my mom was planning on coming to see us and helping out for a while! That was far more of a comfort then I think she knew. Just having my mom there meant that if or should I say when, I made a mistake... she would be there to back me up and help me make it right! My mom in her work a-day life was a court reporter. You know, the people you would see in the court room during a trial that take down everything you do or say. I know that it was a challenge for her. I'm sure that there were times that she just wanted to chuck it all and tell someone to go suck an egg! (ahem.... oh, well that is more like me not mom!) But as far as I know, she never did that. People came from far and wide to ask for her help and she would give it. She was Relief Society President twice while still working full time. She hadn't been a member of our Church for very long before she was asked to take on this responsibility. But, she did it and did a great job each time. Always there to comfort, console and sustain the members of her ward and stake she set a great example to me and to my family. (dad is no- slouch either.... but remember, it's Mother's Day... Father's Day is next month! )
I just want my mom to know that I Love her and that I would admire her even if I weren't the best daughter she ever had! (of course, I am her only daughter so she really doesn't have much to compare too! LoL...)
Here is a little Mother's Day Poem that we are sharing with our Primary kids and their mother's on Mother's Day. Oh, it is supposed to have some trail mix to go with it.... you will understand when you read it! Enjoy... and have a bit of trail mix on me!

Mother's Day Poem
(author unknown)

In this bag of goodies you will find,
Reason's that make you one of a kind.
The pretzels are for the twists in life you've helped me through,
Teaching me by example, the right things to do.
For all the times I've driven you "NUTS",
But if needed your door was never shut.
Times when I've made you mad, but still you'd forgive,
So the Marshmallows are for the squishy hugs you always give.
Raisins are for the wrinkles that will come your way.
But I still hope to be like you someday.
M & M's for all the times it's just mom and me,
I'm so glad I'm yours for eternity!
This bag makes a yummy mix which can become a big mess.
Luckily I know it will get cleaned because my mom's the best!

It's a bit childish... but you know, I will always be her child! And she will
always be my mom! Love to you mom! Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful
mom's and mom's to be out there!

What's That Old Saying, You Can Count On Death And Taxes

2010-04-20T11:03:00.005-06:00

Well, at least the taxes are done! Hopefully I'm not quite to the point of the other one!

Things have been a bit hectic around here to say the least. But every now and then something gets accomplished and well that's a good thing.... (as Martha says, lol now I really could care less what "Martha" does or says. That is her business, but that is "her" catch phrase so I will just give credit where credit is due.) I finished my little GD's dress's. And here, is proof!

I should have taken a picture with her in them. But I was scrampling to get over to her mommy's house to help put a swing set together so I just grabbed the dresses and no camera.

I just found out that the neck on this red one is a bit big for her, so her mommy is going to tighten up the elastic a little.

And of course this is the one that was going to be an Easter dress, but when I cut my finger it made it harder to do right away. You really have to look closely to see that it is an Easter print, eggs, bunnies etc... but it will look cute on her. Maybe a picture some other time. Too funny, her daddy was just telling me the other day that the people who take care of GD in the nursery at Church were saying that they hardly ever see GD in the same dress twice. This gal is always excited to see what GD is wearing each week. Oops! Now that's not totally my fault! But she does look cute in dresses!

One other thing that I finished for a friend didn't actually have anything to do with using the sewing machine. You may have seen some of the patterns that will give you measurements to cut out pieces to make some things with? This pattern is for an apron. It's really cute, but since this friend is 89 years old, she was having trouble trying to figure out what and how to do this. So, I've made her pattern pieces to go with the pattern. Hopefully it will make it a bit easier for her to cut these aprons out. To see the apron pattern go here:

http://www.vanillahousedesigns.com/p132-four-corners-apron/#more-112 I could probably just take a picture of the pattern front, but it does say on the back not to make any reproductions of it. So, I will just let you go look if you are interested.

Don't sew with dull needles... it snags the material! I tell you this because I keep forgetting to change mine!

Last But Not Least, Some Sewing Does Get Done Around Here

2010-04-15T11:54:00.004-06:00

Before all the rig-a-ma-roll over my figure, I was working on several projects. I was going to cut out a dress or two for DGD. That didn't happen until afterwards... and well it took longer than I had planned. You try cutting out fabric around pattern pieces with a finger sticking straight out! It tended to get into the way a bit! LoL... but that part is all done now. The dress isn't made yet, but I plan on working on that sometime tomorrow.

Her is the pattern that I'm using Simplicity 5895 view A I believe it is. The pink one.

And here are the fabric's the plaid is a cute and bright fun one. The other piece is turned the wrong way... (sorry about that) is an old Daisy Kingdom piece. It will be lined with a pink fabric to show off the print better.

Everything is cut out.

For today, I'm doing a hem on a prom dress for a friends granddaughter. We shall see if I get a picture or not.

I almost forgot!

Here is the basket of strings (strips) that I was working on when the "unfortunate accident" happened! I did get a bunch done on it, even with finger pointing going on! I decided it would be easier if I just used scissors! So I did! This is no small basket either! It's picnic basket size at least! Sad thing is, this didn't even put a dent into the stash!

And then the next picture is some of the string quilt blocks that I made. I put a black variety into the middle section. These were pieces that I had left over from when I made DD#3's wedding quilt. But the pattern is neat because you can turn them in different directions for different effects. I made the muslin backing pieces 5 inch squares. You could make what ever size you wanted. It's a great way to use up your scraps!

Alright! That is it. I'm all caught up on what I've been doing in the sewing room.... that of course is not all I've been up too!

Last weekend DH and I had some fun hanging out under the kitchen sink replacing the faucet! Yep! And it doesn't even leak!

Make sure you have either resharpened rotary cutter blades or a new one on your pinking rotary cutter... it's the pits to try to use them and only get the cutter to work ever so often!

Hope that your days are filled with joy and/or sewing!

Wait! What Happened To Spring?

2010-04-15T11:21:00.003-06:00

Last week everything was all pretty and Spring was popping out all over and then over-night we got this! DH and I woke up bright and early, and it had turned cold with beautiful (it's always pretty to us!) snow coming down on the dog as she did her early morning potty break! She came into the house with snow all over her coat. It's my job to make sure she gets wiped off. You should see how she looks at me when I get a towel out! I don't let her come upstairs until it's done and she is more than ready to get up to the warmer area's of the house.

A couple of weeks ago, (I'm still trying to play catch up!) just b/4 DD#1's birthday, we girls got together to go shopping! What's not to like? We took her to Ross's (for those of you who don't know Ross's is a discounted store that somehow gets all (well some) of the things that weren't selling at the major department stores and sells them at a huge discount!) to see what we could find for her some of her birthday presents. Her sisters go through and pick out all sorts of things clothing wise for her to try on and we have a great time having her model stuff for us! You are only allowed 8 pieces each person to go into the dressing rooms.... and believe it or not with the 4 of us... we had exactly 32 pieces! It was a hoot really! These girls are not brutal, which is helpful. But being sisters they are a big help to one another and point out what works and what doesn't!

Too funny, last year b/4 a family reunion I took them (o.k. so they dragged me!) to Penney's to find a bathing suit for me! I won't go into the embarrassing details about how we finally came to a deciding factor but, we now keep an eye on DD#3! (You know who you are! We love you!!!) It's a lot of fun, with lots of laughing goes on. And I'm sure more than once people asked to have a different changing room! Enough said!

All and all we had a great time... as is always the factor when you get the 4 of us together.

Afterwards we ran over to Cafe Rio for some dinner. Good Mexican food. They don't want pictures taken inside the cafe.... so, so be it! No pictures of all the lovely food... yum! I'm suggesting next time we just go somewhere for a dessert! Or as my friend Karma calls it.... Non dinner!

I had fun... and hopefully I will be excused for any embarrassment I might have caused the other 3! It happens to everyone! I will leave it delicately at that!

Next post... I have been doing some sewing! What I was doing when I cut myself!

Playing Blog Catch-Up

2010-04-15T11:04:00.003-06:00

For those of you who do not like to see things like stitches etc... you may as well not even look at this post... your not really missing anything. Really! Just a couple of pictures of my finger that got cut. One has stitches and there is one after they are taken out! So... if you are squeamish you don't even need to read this one!

Things do get busy when your behind sometimes. For those of you who like pictures... these are the before and after of my finger stitches.... before as in when I had the stitches and after... hmmm, yes, that would be after I got them out. Oh, and sorry that the first one is a bit blurry... it was after I took off the wrappings and for some reason I couldn't get it non-blurry... yet the second one is not. Go Figure!

At this point I was trying to bend it, because it was super stiff from being straight and pointing at everything/everyone for 10 days!

I'm now where I can bend it and pretty much flex it pretty well. As you can read.... I'm typing again! (Which to me seems to tell me that it is much more flexable... probably was the best thing I could do to help recover!) O.K. that's that... on to more interesting things.

Pictures of The Underground RailRoad Blocks

2010-04-15T10:57:00.002-06:00

So, here are the two blocks or in the second one's case partial block... it kind of gives you an idea of the block size. 6 inch square. The second one still isn't finished because well.... I had the cut finger issue!

You can see how small these pieces are because that is a standard large spool of thread. More later when I get them done!

Tell The Truth Now, Have You Ever Been A Klutz While Sewing?

2010-03-26T05:07:00.004-06:00

This is going to take a bit of time to write, but you will understand why when I get this done. ( I must say now that typing with only my right hand and some of my fingers on my left hand makes this a really slow going thing!) This is not what I had planned to blog about, but you know how it is.... I don't want to be the only one! Now think, take your time, have you ever done anything so klutzy and embarrassing as to make yourself say..... I can't believe I did that.... and while sewing! I mean I know of people, (one of my SIL's to boot) that have sewn their fingers with the sewing machine and I've always thought, how can you do that? And just so you know.... that is "not" what I did! Nope.... I wasn't anywhere near the machine when I did what I did! ( Oh, and just in case your wondering... there will be no pictures!) Nope this took place in the pre-paring part b/4 any sewing was to take place. This is so embarrassing.... o.k. it's a story an well, you know how long winded I can be! Sit back.... just don't tell me when your laughing.... cause that will just make it worse!
Last night, DH had gone to bed, ( as per usual, trying to get his 6 hours sleep) and I was sitting in a chair in the living room watching Sherlock Holmes... and then I was going to watch "To The Manor Born".... (that ended up being a no-go!) and sitting with a pile of scraps of fabric on my lap.... (I was trimming them to 1 1/4 inch sizes to make string quilt block pieces) my first mistake! I had an ironing board (one that is around 14 x 20 inches or so also on my lap) and then a small rotary cutting board on my lap too! 2nd mistake! I had been trimming away doing just fine with ruler and rotary cuter...... when you guessed it! 3rd mistake! The cutter slipped, fortunately it only cut my finger! It cut the top of my left index finger.... (thus the typing problems... you try to type without your left index finger and see where it gets you!) honestly I won't go into the details here... don't want anyone fainting! I applied pressure right away... and went into the bathroom to rinse and see what the damage was. Yep... stitches! This of course means that I now had to wake sleeping beauty! Not a pretty thought! No... DH is a sweetie... he just wasn't ready to wake up yet.... after only1 1/2 hours sleep. I said you need to wake up... and then after he was a bit more awake... I told him you need to take me to get stitches! He said, let me see.... it probably just needs a good band aide..... I sorta laughed and said... no such luck... and besides... I will probably need a Tetanus shot! I showed him.... and poor guy is trying to focus his eyes on my finger.... are you sure you need stitches? I said yes... can you drive me while I keep pressure on it? O.K..... he got dressed.... we got into the truck... and I mentioned maybe we could go to Now Care.... but they were not open (I've never been, I had no idea where else to go besides the Emergency Room at the local hospital at the hour in question) so embarrassed, DH filed out the paper work and they asked me how the pain was on a scale from 1-10? I told them it was around a 3-4! Just goes to show.... I can take pain! (I've had 4 kids.... naturally.... no meds!) Nurse looked at the finger.... yep, stitches.... Dr. sat and talked about how he does Mountain Man Ron-devue and made his own leather pants etc... sewing them etc... (this after I told him how I cut myself) he said that he couldn't sew with a regular needle (to sew the leather pants) so he used one of the curved needles like in the E.R..... anyway 5 stitches later.... we won't talk about the shots!!! Yuck! I must say though, the dr. asked DH if he fishes... a big No! Well, he asked cause he wondered if we wanted the tools.... scissors, etc... he had just used on me... cause they throw them away! I said sure.... I'll take them... there are times it's hard to pull threads when tieing a quilt or even quilting... one nice thing out of the evening! So, the nurse wraps me up.... and I look like I'm pointing at something! 10 days.... b/4 they take the stitches out! Heavy Sighhhhhhh! I'm going back to bed! I'm tired and well..... I have an excuse.... I will do more craft/sewing room stuff later! Oh, and the Dr. gave me an excuse to "not" do dishes!!!! What more can I say? Fingers are tired now! Please be careful out there..... sewing can be hard on your fingers!

Starting The Underground Railroad Quilt Blocks

2010-03-18T11:15:00.006-06:00

This will be on-running and I will do the best I can to show you what we have been up too. But first, my friend Karma has a nice sewing/quilting room and I thought I would share a few photo's: we are all up to see other sewing rooms, Right? Yep! Just as I thought! So here we go.

This is Karma, I just had her sit to take the picture, she did mention that it would have been better to at least have had something to sew

This is her cutting table that her son just made for her. She is enjoying all the added storage space underneath. Although, she did say it's a bit of a mess at the moment! This is what happens when you have a designated sewing space sometimes.... it gets full quickly.

One side of her closet....
The other side of the closet; plus her book shelf which is full of all sorts of quilting books. Karma and her daughter have taught the Quilt In A Day Series Quilts.

Amazing! You and a helper start out in the morning and by the evening you have a quilt ready to be quilted or tied. They usually do the Log Cabin Quilt.
This ironing board drops down (you probably already figured that one out....) and then inside the closet.... more stuff/fabric stash.... she asked me not to take a picture of this one cause she said it's a mess! Plus then off to the left of this closet is a bureau with 5-6 drawers full of fabric and other necessary notions.

On with the post about the First quilt block we did..... we have our quilt block fabric's all cut out.... not the blocks, just the fabric's. Each block is then separated into a baggie, with it's name on it. All the baggies are stapled together forming a sort of file. I picked up the file and asked Karma to close her eyes to pick one! For a little joke, I said I need to mix them up..... I picked them up and shook the baggies! (I did say it was a "little joke" ) She closed her eyes and picked the Drunkards path.... we have decided to call it the DUI block.... (for those of you not in the U.S. DUI... means Driving Under the Influence, of alcohol or drugs) When you see the last picture, then you will understand where the block gets it's name.
Picture #1 is of the circle and square.... I forgot until we had the circle/squares put together to take pictures. You put a circle of fabric and one of fusible interfacing and stitch around the circle. Then cut a slit into the interfacing and turn right sides out. Round it up some and place in the center of the square and press. Then either by hand or machine; do a blanket stitch around the circle. Oh, also you will see that there are green squares w/yellow circles and vise/versa. We should of stitched the green circles with yellow thread... but we were being somewhat lazy and didn't change thread.... our bad!

Then you have to cut them into quarters... I'm telling you... that hurts... you get them in good shape (don't look closely... I know, I know.... now your really looking close aren't you!?!) and then you cut them up! What's up with that?

You then have to separate them into groups and then start laying them out into the pattern.
We don't have them sewn together yet... but they will be eventually. And this last picture is what the block will look like when it is done! So where it gets it's name?
I will try to take my camera each time and show you the different steps. We are getting together once a week to work on these. And of course, we get lots of gabbing done! What's not to like? What do you think? I sure won't be going into a quilting business anytime soon... but it's fun and her DH ( he is 92!) comes in to see what we are up too now and then... sometime I will have to take a picture of him... he looks like Santa Clause! He used to play Santa at a lot of the malls in his younger days.... back when he was in his 80's. It's too much for him to have the kids sit on his lap now... wears him out! Karma used to dress up as Mrs. Clause. That's all for now.... make sure your needles are sharp and the bobbin has thread!

Playing Sock Puppets Under the Bed?

2010-03-09T11:56:00.003-07:00

DH was doing something in the bedroom and turned and noticed this! It looks like someone is playing sock puppets with my slipper socks... so I thought that I would take a picture and share! I know.... I could find better things to do with my time.... but then... what would make you laugh today? Believe me, no one was playing sock puppets... unless.... maybe...... Jamie!!! What have you been doing with my slippers while we are gone? You never know about her. She is a pretty clever dog.

A New Model Hits The Runway!

2010-03-08T12:47:00.011-07:00

I started to get my act together and then... well I fell back into a slump again! Such is life sometimes.

I had to make a pattern for a pioneer bonnet.... o.k. well, I didn't really "have" to make a pattern. But, I decided that after seeing the one that I had access to was going to be a bit too hard for the girls/ladies making them (90 % not knowing how to sew and all) I thought maybe I could come up with a pattern that might be easier for the masses as they say!

So, 1st pic' is of it sewn together and then you tie the ribbon/yarn that shows at the bottom of the picture, and you get;

#2.....

#3 on my shy model....

picture #4..... I bribed her..... 2 treats!!! Isn't she cute! LoL.... she wasn't very happy with me.... until of course the treats came out! Edit: The bonnet was also made of on hand materials! Yeah!

Now, we have a Valentine's table runner I'm still working on... about a week b/4 Valentine's I thought.... ohhhh I have some scraps from this cute V. print.... it would make a great runner... so awayyyy I went.... working away... doing fine.... and then yep! I got called away to do something else..... (hmmmm I wonder if it was babysitting???) Don't look too closely... this is of course the front... I used some scraps from the scrap basket and a lot of them were from DD#3's quilt from her wedding.
(I know, I know.... the other two DD's keep telling me how spoiled #3 is...)

They got quilts but not pieced! What can I say.... I had a bit more time with the last child home!

The back, I used scraps from the scrap basket... I think we have a theme going here.... red, red, white, and some black.

If you want you can click and enlarge... I've started to quilt it some.... I may be ripping it all out and starting again... I'm not all that happy with my work here! Once it's done then I will bind it with... you've got it.... scraps from the basket! Nothing like using what you have! This is made of nothing but things I already had in the sewing room.

Karma and I started to work on some wall hangings.... they are from a book about The Underground Railroads Quilts. Sorry can't recall the exact name at this time. She started this project with her dear and bestest friend Marjory years ago. Unfortunately her friend passed away several years ago and she didn't feel up to working on this by herself. They had cut out most of the fabric and we finished up with all but the background pieces last week. We spent about all day working on me cutting and she putting them into groups and marking them off the "list". We had to make a "list" because we were not sure where else to start otherwise! So, a "list" it was. Now those of you that know me... ahem, know that I'm not crazy about lists. Mostly because I have a tendency to stray from lists.... quite often. But, in this case I was actually the one that recommended this method. Otherwise, between the two of us.... we might not remember what went where when with all the whositts! I will try to give you some pic's as we work on these.... they are of all things 6 inch squares.... and there are 15 blocks plus one that is an information blog that tells all about where the project came from and the history of the Underground RailRoad.... or at least a tad bit about it. Karma doesn't see all that fantastically and I do alright most times.... but then again I will be happy when all the cutting it done! Talk about your cross-eyedness! Little numbers, and little pieces.... for example.... we have one piece that is for a Churn Dash block..... the skinny cross pieces are 7/8 inches x 24 b/4 you cut the length you need..... aughhhhh! Karma mentioned maybe we could paper piece all these blocks. But the patterns pieces were not available in a manner we could do that. So... no go! We shall over comeeeeee..... someday?

The bank branch that one of my DD's used to work at is going to be knocked down.... the building is really really old and in sad shape! So, they are moving the staff and the works to another bank building (one that went out of business a while back) temporarily until they can get the new one built. I went into the basement of the old branch with DD to pick up some old doors that she wanted.... a couple of 6 panel doors and one that is a bead board door. Really cool.... anyway we were told we could look around and see if there was anything else we wanted. I found some neat old safety deposit boxes..... all metal of course and brought them home... I'm a bit of a pack rat! I'm sure that I can find something to use them for. They really are neat. Several different sizes. I'll be right back! I need to take some pictures......

These are a few of the safety deposit boxes I got...... fun huh?

Not quite sure yet what to use them for.... if you have any idea's... let me know! Thanks....

As always....

Don't forget to turn the lights off before you leave the sewing room!

Always Something To Do!

2010-02-18T17:30:00.004-07:00

The month has flown swiftly by... hard to believe it is almost the last week of the month! With our 34th anniversary.... the 1st week, Valentines Day and our DD's birthday the 2nd..... me getting a silly cold the end of last week and into this... it seems to have taken it's toll on the days. I have worked on some projects but did not complete the goal for January let alone finish up this month. I'm still trying to catch up.... always something else to find to do.
I went out to lunch with a friend last week... we went to a little place called The Little Bit of Britain. It's a fish and chips shopp. The food was good and we had an enjoyable time... just chatting and taking our time. They had all sorts of different foods from England... you know in a gift shopp attached to the shopp. Although, since it was fried it is not something I will be doing very often. I am trying to be good about what I eat. I need to get back on the wagon as far as exercising and all..... the holidays tend to call me and I follow.... So, now it's time to put things to right!
I saw the cutest thing on Sewing With Nancy on PBS TV last week. She and her guest were doing projects where they recycle different things. And one of the projects was to make grocery type bags.... of light weight bags to use for shopping out of old scarves. The ones everyone wore in the 80's! They used 30 inch square scarves for the most part. Really simple too. I will have to take some pictures... and maybe do a sort of tutorial on how to do it! Fast project and so light weight it would be simple to have one in your purse, pocket etc.... at all times... thus saving you from having paper/plastic bags! Every little bit counts!
I am working on sewing the binding of a quilt right now when not working on a belated birthday present for DD. She doesn't know what it is.... or even that it's coming her way... well, maybe she does now! Hope to have it done soon and will take a picture to post it after I give it too her! That and blog hopping and I finally also finished a book called "Lorna Doone". I found it at the D.I. for $1. Not bad.... it was a pretty good read. And yes, there are cookies called Lorna Doones... not mentioned in the book at all! It is a love story and a very good one too! With lots of action and adventure. I highly recommend it if you can find it! It seems to be an old book so good luck finding it! You might want to look on Amazon!
Well, I need to frost a cake to deliver for a funeral luncheon and then back to the binding... I may need to make a cake for us too though.... there it's calling my name again.... Jeannnnn, you want cake!!!! Now where are my Rice Cakes.... guess they will have to do!
Hope you all know that if you stick yourself with a pin/needle... and you bleed on a project your own saliva is the best way to get the blood out! Take care. Later....
Oh, I almost forgot! Since I posted a couple of pictures in December/January of DH and myself... I've been told that I need to put more pic's of me on the blogg.... I will try to do more of that! I won't promise when.... but I will try! Thanks for the comments

Advice From A 1949 Singer Sewing Manual

2010-01-23T05:06:00.003-07:00

O.k. my niece Mica sent this to me.... I just had to print it up! It's just too funny to pass up!

Advice from a Singer Sewing Manual from 1949:Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do. . . Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing. . .When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on . . .[If] you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should. .

Now remember.... keep your French Chalk near by... we wouldn't want to loose our grip! Hmmmmmmm I'm thinking the person who wrote that already had! Too Funny! Enjoy your day! I know I will.... constantly thinking of this advice! At least they meant well! I mean they wanted us to enjoy the time sewing!

Checking Out How Outta Style I Really Am!

2010-01-20T11:41:00.005-07:00

So my dear SIL and I went down to Salt Lake City (about a 30 minute or so drive) to go shopping at the Gateway Mall. It's a nice outdoor mall... with lovely shops close together and it has one of those fountains that water springs up out of the ground that the kids just love! Oh, and it has music playing while the kids run in and out trying not to get wet! Considering it was only in the 30's or low 40's that would be a good idea! The NOT getting wet idea!
We went into all sorts of places to just look and see what is happening in the fashion world! Not that I'm anywhere near fashionable at all! Which truly is o.k. with me... but I do try to see what is going on... and sometimes I add things to the wardrobe that actually fit in! One thing that we really noticed a lot of this year is "detail". I know your probably wondering what I'm talking about! What I mean is.... most all tops.... i.e. sweaters, blouses, shirts etc.... all have something added for detail! Some of them had fringe (there was a great sweater at Cold Water Creek that I really liked that had a fringe made of the same yarn as the sweater... but it wasn't just a loose yarn fringe.... it was doubled and then it was twisted upon itself! I thought it was a great touch! ) Some of them had flowers all up and over the collars/neckline. We saw a lot of collars that had ruffles on them also, not big fluffly ones.... but soft ones or two layers of thin lightweight type fabric ruffles. We saw scarfs that had little knots of something inside them.... not sure but I was thinking they were little puff balls of some sort. Some of the items had detail that were just extra fancy or pretty buttons. Of course, not everything out there appealed to us.... and that is just fine... if everyone liked everything out there it would be a pretty boring world!
One store we went into had really pale type tops (we supposed they were thinking Spring) but they were sooo pale, to me Spring has pizazz and ump! Not just lalalalala..... dull to me! Like a washed out something or other! Necklines were decorated with different fabrics... something that made the item "pop"! Some of the dresses (shifts as some call them, in the sleeveless variety) reminded me of the 60's styles. Which isn't too surprising because there was a lot of other 60's reminders too. Mostly Jackie Kennedy type stuff. We saw some great Spring light weight type jackets, or coats in lime greens and the color at one store was "orange"!!! So, I challenge you to go take a look at some of the stores near you to see what touches your fancy or not! And see if any of these "details" will be added to your sewing! I'm not yet sure how or what I will add.... we shall see!

Oh, no pic's but I have cut out all 3 Christmas stockings for my 2 little grands and my SIL... now to sew them and get them off the list of things to do b/4 the end of January! Also the project for a birthday to come is sitting and waiting too! Lots to do... DD#2 and I are going to start into water aerobics.... and maybe get DD#3 to get "on board"! I also mended/altered a few items... making more room in the sewing room and getting things off the sewing table! Oh, and watching Gilmore Girls DVD's in the process! Cute grandchild tidbit.... the other day when the family was over.... grandson was looking at the movies to see what he wanted to "rent" (borrow) from us and he grabbed a VHS movie and showed it to his mom.... mom said nope sorry bud, the VCR isn't working right now. He came back to me and told me mom says that the CTR isn't working! (for those of you who aren't members of the LDS church... CTR stands for Choose The Right; and it's the name of some of the primary (kids) classes, one of which grandson is a member) Cute! Always something to think about when the grands are around!

I went in last week to visit with our Stake President's councilor (one of our local Church leaders) and I was asked if I would head a group to get patterns, idea's and all for the clothing that people are to wear for the Pioneer Trek that the youth are going on this Summer. The youth, 14 to age 18 or 19 go up to Wyoming to an area that was where several Pioneer groups that made their way into Utah from Missouri with hand carts and some wagons pulled by people and some oxen. They basically do an reenactment. But they have to pull the hand carts (two wheeled carts with all their gear in them) to various sites. Then they have speakers tell them about different events that happened. Real histories of people who were on these treks. Taken from diaries. A lot of people died on these treks... in the past. So many people had to bury their family members along the way.... of course these treks now are on for two or 3 days. The youth go on these to help them to understand and grow from the testimonies these people left behind.
So, they will be wearing bonnets, skirts or pioneer dresses, pantaloons and aprons if they want (girls that is) and then the guys will wear pants that are NOT jeans, like dockers... or some such and then straw type hats... bandanna's, and old time shirts.... the shirt my DH wore when we went (about 5 or so years back) was an old twill shirt with the upper collar removed and then the lower collar restitched... guys can also wear belts or suspenders. Anyway lots to do to get things ready so I best finish up here. Enjoy your week! DH has jury duty so he is busy too... although, I think he would rather be at work so as to not get behind there!
Take care..... don't forget to put all the pattern pieces back into the envelope! Nothing like opening up a pattern to find out you have lost a piece!

Christmas at Our House

2010-01-11T12:46:00.005-07:00

The toy giraffe is great! It is a stationary thing with petals that the more you petal things like letters, numbers and pictures come up. All 3 of the kids wanted to try it out! Well, I mean grandkids that is... The rest of us "big kids" didn't have a chance!

Anyone for Chutes and Ladders?

Matching Mommy and Me Aprons! And no! I didn't make them... DGD got a kitchen set from her Aunts/Uncles and sewwww she and her mommy got matching aprons too!

As you can see, I took a few pic's of the grands... and terrible "mom" that I am.... I didn't really get any of the "kids".... sorry guys! I will try harder this next year!

This one is sorta for my mom and dad... remember when? Just thought you would appreciate this!

Out With The Old, In With The New

2010-01-06T10:29:00.004-07:00

So, I've been trying to catch up a few things before I jump into others that have been waiting! I finished one UFO last night, it's a handy take along ironing pad that I mentioned a while back! It has a nice size pad and then connected to it is an area that has zippered pockets you can put smaller items, bits and pieces of projects etc.... into. I was taken by it... if someone were going to take a sewing/quilting class it would be fun to take because you would already have your pressing area! I still have one to finish for me... but the one for my friend is finished.... finally!
I did some mending and have more to complete! Sometimes that can be never ending. I still need to finish up the binding on the quilt for the Bishops storehouse I started to work on while taking care of the grands in November! Just couldn't quite get to it all.... isn't it funny how when your at someone else's house... it's hard to be motivated?!? Although I did get some of it done.... there is maybe 3/4 to go! Heavy sighhhhhhh!
Also since DD#2 has a birthday coming I have a project that I also want to get done soon.... and then there is the challenge that I set for myself.... I still have 3 Christmas stockings that I haven't done..... (seems that I never remember until Christmas Eve.) So, I have given myself a challenge to finish these b/4 the end of January! Wish me luck!
I've been trying to sort out things to go to the Desert Industries also.... since we are having a trailer available this Friday/Saturday to pick things up. I've found a few things.... guess I best look a little harder. Now is a good time to look into your closets and see what you may have that your not using! I was reading somewhere and it said that if you take hangers of clothing that your not sure that you wear and turn them backwards... (the hangers that is) and they are still hanging that way in say 6 months.... these are the clothes that you need to give to charity! So basically you turn the hangers around so they are harder to take off the rod, and if you haven't turned them around get rid of them! Sounds simple enough! I just need to do it! Since I got so many new to me clothes from my friends daughter's house... there are things that I just don't wear as much. O.K. I can see what I need to do!
I also have a cute couple of pieces of corduroy that I bought for granddaughter.... cute stuff that I need to get to... not quite sure yet what to make... but that is a project in the works!
Gotta go.... projects are calling my name and I still need to get busy and work out! I've been quite lax in this department for a while!
Don't for get to make sure you pick up all the pins off the floor.... our 4 legged friends and the 2 legged little ones would find them quite interesting! Later.....

Happy New Year and Now it's Time to Get Something Done!

2009-12-30T14:15:00.012-07:00

Time flies when your outta control!!!!
Things have been crazy around here, we babysat for the grands in November over the Thanksgiving Holidays and then went Christmas tree hunting (as per usual) running after 3 little ones and trying to keep up was something else! As many of you know.... (because I've said it a million times...) this is why you have kids when your less than 50!!!! Of course, sometimes this can't be helped and I'm sure that if it came to be that we had to take care of the grands forever and always... we would manage just fine. With the help of our Heavenly Father of course! LoL...

Pic's of the grad and DDIL, your's truely and DH,

DDIL, Grad, DDIL's folks

Our kids gave me and DH our Christmas present early this year.... they made plans to fly us to Oregon to see our son graduate from The Portland Art Institute a week ago Friday. It was great to see him and our DIL.... they are such sweeties! We got together with some of her family and a bunch of their friends to have a congratulation party the night after... it was fun! DDIL put us to work! Which was great..... I mean a person needs to keep busy..... ( I stay outta trouble that way..... sometimes that is!) I helped get a few things chopped up so that we could throw together 5 different kinds of soup! We had crackers, cheese, soups, great local soda pops.... local breads.... several cakes, and lots and lots of talk and a second tour (for me that is) of DDIL's sister's house. Which is cool cause it's 100 years old and on the Historic Registry... DH hadn't seen it yet... so he was properly impressed! This is where I would be inserting pictures! And I say that lightly because for some reason either my computer, my camera, or just operater error.... it is not to be!
Which drives me crazy..... because I would really like to share all the great pic's we got of our fun!

O.K. now your wondering what happened aren't you???? Yep, DD#1 helped walk me thru the picture problem and hopefully that is all that I will need!

This pic is us DDIL, Son, Your's Truely, and DH all on the trax system that moves around downtown Portland... another passenger took this! Sooo sweet of her! I know, your thinking ohhhh isn't that sweet that me and DH are twinner's.... this was not planned... we just both found red jackets that we liked!

Here are some pic's of the house I mentioned!

Outside.....

Inside.....

Christmas went way too fast, but was wonderful as usual. Spending time with loved ones or talking to them is always a large plus!!! As I said, our children bought us our trip to Oregon to see our Son and DIL and that was great! The only draw back was having to do all my shopping two days b/4 Christmas.... which I never do!!! I think that with all the different things that were going on or that were going to go on.... I just couldn't get my act together enough to think out what we were doing for gifts and all.
Hope that your Holidays were wonderful!

Here are a couple of pic's of our winter wonderland! Yep, baby it's cold outside! Although.... it has warmed up this week... we are in the 30's.... Having a heat wave..... Tropical Heat wave.... Oh, a boy came by last week after our last storm wanting to clean the walks/driveway... to earn some $$ I told him sorry.... my hubby likes to play with the snowblower too much! Kid just looked at me like I was crazy!

I'm Sooo Excited!

2009-11-18T11:20:00.002-07:00

Did I tell you that I sent off my camera to be fixed? Yep... I sent it off a week ago this past Monday... yesterday I got an email saying that it is fixed.... (at no charge to me!) and is now being FedEx'd back.... last I just checked.... it was in Tennessee! Which is rather strange, cause it's coming from Illinois! What do I care how it gets here.... I suppose it's taking the scenic route! But, it is coming and that means....... yes!!!! I can take pictures again! And even post one or two!
Hope all is well with every one's Thanksgiving plans... we had an early Thanksgiving dinner sorta with one of our daughters..... (we ate pie! and she sent home potato's, etc...) DH had a few appointments so we were on a time crunch! It was good though!
I got the binding sewn onto a quilt that I'm working on for our Church. I just need to hand sew it now! I figure that I can do this while'st tending the little grands....
More later.... Make sure your needles are sharp!

40 Days and Counting Before Christmas

2009-11-16T12:09:00.003-07:00

I was just thinking that as a child it took foreverrrrrr for Christmas to come. I suppose that it's still that way for children. At least I hope so! This world gets a bit hard sometimes, and I like to think that children are still innocent and sweet. Our oldest grandson showed us a letter he is going to send to Santa. Since he is 4 he has glued pictures onto the letter. We asked him where Santa lives and he had no idea.... (simpler time of life... innocent, sweet) and when we told him that Santa lives at the North Pole he just gave us a silly look and agreed. We asked if he would mail it to Santa? He laughed and said no! I probably should have asked if maybe we should just e-mail Santa. He probably would have figured that was right, because we allll know, that everyone including Santa has a computer!
I of course am no where's near being ready for Christmas... but, ready or not it will come. And I will enjoy it! My thinking is that it's more important to be ready Spiritually than any other way. Sure giving presents to those we love is nice... but it's more important to know why we celebrate and to be thankful for the person whom we celebrate the birth of. Just like the Who's in Whoville.... when they awoke and found that all their Christmas presents, food and decorations were gone... the reason to have Christmas.... which is to celebrate the birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ is much more important! Now maybe to you comparing how we celebrate to the Who's in Whoville is somewhat lame. But, the message is what's important. They still had each other, and that was the most important thing to them! Of course... to me if I woke up and didn't have any of my family, friends, freedoms etc.... it would be pretty hard to deal with. But, I know that I can lean on My Heavenly Father and his Son... my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm not saying I wouldn't cry.... me not cry.... rightttt! No, that in and of it's self.... next to impossible! But, as hard as it would be.... (and believe me, I'm not asking to be challanged in this way at all!!)
I know that I could make it through, as long as I have the help of my Savior. So 40 days or 40 years... Christmas is with me all year long. This just happens to be the time we celebrate and show a bit more attention to Him.
Take care everyone.... I pray that those of you that read this will have an Enjoyable Christmas Season.... And let me be the first to wish you a Merry Christmas! And soon to be New Year. May all your sewing projects finish smoothly.

It's November Again.... Birthdays Come and Go

2009-11-09T13:05:00.004-07:00

I was able to get a hold of the canon camera people... they were so nice! My camera is under warranty and so now I just need to send it off to get it fixed! The guy I spoke to said that worst cases I may have to pay $79 to get it fixed! But, that I could pay that same $ and get a brand new one of the same kind... so hopefully they can fix it and it will be back soon! He said that if I send it off soon.... it will be back hopefully b/4 Thanks Giving! Which if you look at the calendar... is just around the corner!
Here it is November... hard to believe that time has done it's thing once again... and scurried so quickly through the year. It's my birthday again!!! Yep, another day in the month and another year older! Like my mom was saying in a CD of thoughts she sent.... seems the older you get although your body gets older.... it just doesn't feel as if I've gotten any older! Our family had a nice get together yesterday to celebrate all the November birthdays in the family. I have two SIL's that have birthdays this month also! One tomorrow.... Happy B-day Fernando!!!
And one next week! Happy B-day Matt! Yep.... and I figured it out.... those two were born... when I was 27!!!! Yikes! That seems weird! We had cake, (each of us got our own type that we like!) I had chocolate Angel Food Cake.... with a bit of whipped topping! I like my cake light! And then came the presents! WoW!!!! My family sure does spoil me! I got all sorts... gift cards from the local Barnes and Noble... and one from the local Hancocks... a cook book and apron... a couple of really nice photo albums (I'm not a scrapbooker.....) to put the tons of photo's I have that are waiting to be taken care of! I received a Target red bag.... to use to put things I purchase with all my gift cards!!! I beautiful heart from my parents... made by Margarent Furlong. It has a wonder verse from the bible on it on love.... So, I want to thank all of my family for spoiling me rotten.... once again! And thank you for blessing my life! It wouldn't be any fun without you all!
O.k. has everyone noticed that Thanks Giving this year is the very last Thursday of the month!!! And that means we only have a short amount of time b/4 Christmas after Thanks Giving this year!!! I hope that you are all better prepared then I am! I know that my parents are prepared!!!! They have already gotten the presents, wrapped them, mailed them to my house (the ones for our family) and they can now sit back and relax!!! Guess I had better get my act together!
We have decided that this year instead of doing a family gift (in my DH's family) we will do something for others outside of the family. And then share Christmas Eve. what we could do. It's a nice way to keep from getting wayyy to many gifts and to help out a few others that may not have anything else for Christmas.
I need to go... the laundry is calling and my sewing room .... well let's just say that it will take a whip and a chain to get into the room now!!! LoL....

Halloween Is Almost Here and Apples, Apples, Everywhere!

2009-10-29T09:08:00.002-06:00

Halloween is almost here! I was busy yesterday working on a cloak or robe for part of the costume for our DGS. Here is a look at what he is going to be: Patawan from Star Wars...
http://www.padawansguide.com/robe.shtml My DD his mom made the rest of the costume... I just happened to have a piece of fleece that was brownish in nature to go for the outer cloak. When she gets some picks of him I will have to post some. Plus of the other little ones. Hope that everyone has a wonderful, fun, and safe time.
I picked more apples the other day.... like 4-5 bushels! Apples, apples, everywhere!!!! Luckily I was able to find a few more people that wanted some. Of all those, I ended up with only one of the tubs I filled. Yeahhhhh.... although my friend Karma is started to check her caller I.D. and probably doesn't want to see me coming to her front door! LoL.... So, if you want apples.... let me know! Mostly if you live in the area! Red Delicious Apples.... they make good pies, apple sauce and work great for drying.

Loser Monday

2009-10-26T10:22:00.003-06:00

Well here we are again. Loser Monday. Hmmm, I can't complain because although I didn't lose any weight, I did stay the same! From when I lost weight after being sick! So... that is at least a step in the right direction! I hope that all of you that may be working out, trying to loose are doing at least as well. Think ahead if you can about what your going to eat. One thing that I have been doing is eating at least an apple a day! I know, that sounds pretty cheesie! But at least it isn't hurting! And I do love apples, fruit of most any kind makes me happy. And what's Fall without Apples? O.K. this isn't on the "diet list" but it's really good! And it includes apples too!
My SIL made this a few years back up in Jackson Hole when we were up there for Lotoja!

It's For Dipping Apples Into...... Yummy is all I can say!
Take one 8 ounce package of cream cheese and mix with powdered sugar to taste (try about a cup to start.... some people like it sweeter than others!) It works great to use either a food processors or an electric mixer. Mix it up until smooth. Then spread this onto a plate of some sort; as the bottom layer for the dip.
2nd layer is caramel.... try to find the kind at the store that is creamy and nice (or you can use a double boiler and melt some down) Spread this on top of the cream cheese mixture.
3rd layer is some sort of toffee candy bar (it's your choice here.. maybe you have a favorite!)
sprinkle broken up little bits of the candy bar (sometimes you can find this in the baking department of the grocery store) over the top of layer 2.
Next thing you need to do is wash off any type of your favorite apples! And then slice and core them.... we just leave the peels on, but again this is up to you!
Dip away..... it's Awesome!!!! Just remember that it's easy to get carried away eating this.... so be careful! And enjoy this Fall Treat!
Don't forget to find something to do with all your scraps! They tend to grow when placed into a basket, or bin together! Sooooo watch out! Have a fun week! Halloween is coming!

No Pictures Again!

2009-10-24T13:52:00.003-06:00

So, I called around to a few places the other day to see about getting my camera fixed. They want me to pay more than I bought the camera for to ship it to get it fixed! yeah... I had better check out one more thing to see about the warranty! Cause this is for the birds!
Last night I spent several hours going thru my scrap stash to see what I had to make fabric block letters with. I found all sorts of bright fun fabrics and then this a.m. went to church and traced capital block letters onto fabric.... (thank you Linda C. for the help... she had gotten her's all done and helped me finish mine up!) So, two layers of fabric and 1 layer of scrap batting to sandwich in between and then sew them up and snip like you would for a ragg quilt, wash and dry.... and Wa Laa! Block letters that the grand kids can drag around, practice letters with and pretty much be entertained for a little bit here and there! Plus, I took a bunch of scraps I didn't want and the ladies helped themselves! So, it was a win-win situation! I was able to share and not waste... plus make room in my bins too!
Grandson's birthday celebration today! He is all of 4! Hard to believe that time goes past so fast at times! Since he will be getting more toys from others.... we got him some wonderful books! Curious George and also this darling book called "Where's The Dragon?" it's written by Jason Hook, and illustrated by Richard Hook. You need to see if you can find this book.... (pun intended!) they have all sorts of textures on the pictures etc... Basically the book is about a boy and his grandpa that are out Dragon hunting.... and they are everywhere... just that they blend in... so grandpa can't really see them! Cute book.... wondefully done! What can I say.... not much more than that cause we (DH and I ) are sold on it! Guess that's why we bought it!
Hope you get to do some sewing! I've done all sorts of things this week! I canned 21 quarts of peaches, helped picked about 6-8 bushels of apples, delivered about 4 of them to friends. More apples to pick next week. Picked another bushel of tomato's and need to can up a bushel of them too. Also dry some of the apples. And mail a package to my son! All in a lifes work.... hmmm?
Make sure and check your bobbin thread! You don't want to run out!

Talk About Feeling Like What The Cat Dragged In!

2009-10-19T14:43:00.004-06:00

I feel like I had my oil drained.... and someone forgot to replenish me with new oil! Ever have that lowwww dowwwn...... feeling? Yep, the flu has stuck. I was claimed as one of the latest victims. So far DH hasn't gotten it.... and hopefully he won't because... well.... he doesn't do "sick" very well poor guy! I got hit Friday a.m. and fortunately I had only had Shredded Wheat and a touch of milk! I started drinking peppermint tea when I started feeling poorly and I really think that that curtailed a lot of misery.... for me at least! DH was at work... and came home to find me a bit worse for wear. But.... well, let's just say it's not a very good diet plan that's for sure.... but on the good point..... It's Loser's Monday..... and I've lost 5-6 pounds! I don't recommend this way to loose it though. I'm still on the weakish side and had to go to the store today to pick up a few things. DH would have done it I'm sure.... but, well I needed to get out.... at least out of the house and into the jeep! Yep, I noticed he used like 1/4 tank of gas I put in on Thursday... geee... I thought it was my new toy! He took it down to the dealership to get this and that taken care of... So, I guess I better share! Plus then last night, he took it to his folks to show his brother.

O.K. although I was sick I did spend some time reading.... If you want some good quilt pattern blocks to check out (a lot of Older ones and some newer renditions) check out this book they have full size pattern blocks in them. Grandma's Best Full Size Quilt Blocks (It's a Better Homes and Gardens book) http://www.amazon.com/Grandmas-Best-Full-Size-Quilt-Blocks/dp/0696235277/ref=pd_sim_b_1
This is what I have been browsing through.... thinking I need to make a sampler quilt maybe. Oh well.... I do have lots of idea's... some day I may get to one or two dozen of them! LoL...
Hope that your Monday is going well... Take time to check out a new pattern or two.... what's the sense of having all this sewing knowledge if a person can't just kick back and enjoy the styles..... don't bleed on your fabric!

Canning, Horse Trading, Making Bread, and A Dash of Sewing

2009-10-13T13:23:00.005-06:00

I've been busy lately doing all sorts of things. The biggest and best... (well as far as the end factor that is!) is that we've been looking for a "new to me" car! Well not "a car" per say... I don't care for "cars".... I like Jeeps! So, since they decided to make the newer Jeep Grand Cherokee's not to my liking.... we started looking at the Commanders. This is what I call "HORSE TRADING"....... to me, looking for a new (used) vehicle is like buying a horse! Now I've never really bought a horse..... but, maybe you will understand when I paint you this picture!
You go out looking.... some salesperson shows you what he (I can't say that I've ever met a women car salesperson!) wants you to buy! You know, the one that's been on the lot forever!!!!! And then... he may actually ask you what you are interested in! Now mind you, I usually do this with my DH because he wants to find me a vehicle that is safe, clean... and runs well. What can I say.... he loves me! Anyway.... so salesperson and DH start looking at jeeps! He asks what price range we want to be in.... ahem.... and then if he doesn't have something in that area... he trys to get us to look at other types of vehicles! Or says something like.... so I understand that you are looking for something "like" a Commander! What can I say.... after hearing this type of talk from countless..... and I do mean countless..... (cause DH as sweet as he is... likes to look at all of them out there!!!) salespeople..... I counter with..... No! I don't want something "like" a Jeep Commander.... I'm only interested in a Commander! They kind of shake their heads and say sorry, you won't find one for that price! Ahem..... yeah..... he doesn't know me and DH!!!
O.K. a little more description on why I call this "Horse Trading". If you think about it, if you were going to buy a horse from someone, that means that the "horse" has had a previous owner! Which makes you wonder.... why is said previous owner getting rid of said "Horse"? So, you look at it's teeth, check it's hooves, lift the tail, make sure it's lungs are clear, make sure that it hasn't had any broken legs. Oh, and you need to know how old it is! How many trips to the vet... you get the picture right?
This is what DH does.... with each and every jeep he sees.... I'm a bit more patient that one of the sales people I feel we can actually trust (and who seems to not be pushy) will find us something we really want... and for the price we want to pay! DH.... well, he is the worrier of the two of us... so he has to do all the worrying about each and every one of the jeeps we look at!
He keeps looking on line... and calls me down to the computer when ever he finds one that pricewise, color, age etc.... fits the criteria! We looked at one after another, driving to different places in the state of Utah. And low and behold we found one we thought would be good! This on a Friday.... Monday we called back to tell them we were coming back for a second look.... It got sold on Saturday! Starting over again..... So a couple weeks back we had looked at a nice Tannish colored one.... 2006 nice..... but the price was a little bit more than I wanted to pay! So we moved onto look at another one... me patient.... DH ..... not so much! Finally this past Friday I was telling my friend Karma about what type of vehicle we were looking for and that I really didn't need a super plush type vehicle but it is the one we travel to family in etc.... over 900 one way.... so it wouldn't hurt to have it be nice.... So, the more I was describing it to her... the more excited I got and then b/4 I knew it.... I was calling the salesman that had helped us out. Dereck at Specialty Automotives in Centerville, Utah..... ( I'm not getting anything extra from saying this....) anyway... I asked if I could come see it again, he said sure.... and I looked at it! He wanted to know if I wanted to drive it again.... I said No! And said, O.K. this is the one! He said, alright... lets write up some papers! Too funny! He wasn't pushy at all! Nice guy... it was a good thing cause the guy we saw in Logan Utah.... (we won't be saying the name of the place here!) kept calling and calling! And when he called, even though he knew that the jeep was for me.... he asked for my DH. This ticked me off! After he called the 2nd time, I asked why he kept asking for my DH when he knew that it was for me.... He said, "Well, I figure that he is the one that has to decide whether or not to pay for it.... so I thought I should talk to him!"...... LoL.... he sure blew that! Oh well.... guess he didn't earn our business did he!
After I went back with DH with the $$$ the bank gave us (cause we know that the bank is really paying up front for it first!!!) we drove it home..... yeah.... talk about nice.... sorry... guess I'm gloating a bit... it's the nicest I've ever had... and only 3 years old with 37,000 miles on it! Practically new!
Next day... I went to my SIL Tammy's ward to do a demo on making white bread. The room we were in was sooooo cold.... brrrrr just doesn't describe it! I had to heat an oven to help the dough to rise.... cause the room just wasn't making it that's for sure! But eventually it rose enough and we baked it and it turned out pretty good.
I've also been making a cute little item for my friend Karma... for her belated b-day gift. We won't go into how late I am with the gift! LoL.... Anyway, it's a portable ironing mat that has pockets in a separate section. So think of a retangle that is say...... 14 x 26 inches.... (mat) and then from one end of the mat where it attaches.... a clear plastic area w/fabric on the back... it has 3 separate pockets that have zippers to get into them. It rolls up and is tied together with ribbons. If my camera was working I would be glad to show you... but alas... at this time it is not! If I get the camera fixed soon I will post a picture.

So now after everything... I forgot to tell you that I've been doing some Fall canning also... well, at least some fruit drying! I dried a 1/2 bushel of pears last week and if I do say so myself... they taste wonderful! Nothing like pears.... I need to finish up the rest and do the peaches I have also. Before we go get apples from my in-laws... tomatoes from the garden still need to be canned... and then we picked apples from our tree's too! Not enough hours in the day for everything ... guess that's why I end up doing things at night too!
Later ladies.... enjoy your week!
Today is my oldest childs B-day! Happy Birthday Ben! 32! WoW! Love Ya! MoM

Here I Go Again

2009-10-01T10:26:00.002-06:00

So, are you tired of me yet? I just had to post once again because I went to visit Allie from Allies in stitches (http://alliesinstitches.blogspot.com/ ) . You should see what a wonderful quilt she was gifted! Oh, and beautiful lace too! Go to her blog and read about where she got both and how the person who gave her the lace gave it to her because she felt that Allie would use it! I know... your thinking again, again with the stories! Yes, and if you don't want to read this... well there are some great blogs out there to read! I was just going to say that it reminded me of a gal that I used to iron for. Yes, iron... you know when you take all the wrinkles out of clothing etc... I did that for $$$ tedious work for sure... but you can listen to music, watch T.V. and stay home with the kids. That was my purpose in life.... the kids not the t.v. or music!!! LoL... I loved staying home because I got to watch my kids grow up and not miss every new step of their lives!
Alright, back to the gal! I started sewing for this gal... her name was Stephanie! Her dad owned a car dealership (so she came from mega $$$) (this was in the 80's-90's) And when she decided to get married (the 2ND time) she wanted a "real wedding" because first time around they had eloped. So, she asked me if I could sew her a wedding dress? Ahhhhh, NO! At that point in my life I had never sewn a wedding dress b/4! And she wanted it done in a little less than a month! No way! Never! I figured that just wouldn't give me enough time. Figure 4 kids, DH and sewing a wedding dress! Plus still ironing for lots of people! Wasn't gonna happen! Well, the subject was dropped and I went on with the ironing! Meanwhile, Stephanie flew to California to get a dress she had seen in Brides magazine. Yep, the dress (the only one they had of the one she wanted!) was 2 sizes too big for her! She called and asked me if I could alter it for her?!? I said I would look at it and see. I ended up altering it and then she said that she would be loosing at least 15 pounds b/4 the wedding.... would I alter it again after she had her bridal pictures taken? Being a mom of 4 kids I guess I was a bit surprised that she thought that she could loose 15 #'s in like 2 weeks time! I told her sure. And my DH promptly called our insurance agent to make sure the dress (over $800) was insured if anything were to happen with it in our house! Oh, and then he forbade our kids to even step foot into our bedroom while the dress was in the house too! Too funny.... thinking back! I altered it the second time... it was what they call a ballerina type dress but to me it was more like a Mortisha Adams dress.... (white though!) where it hugged the body down to say the knees and then goes out into a train! Lots of beads, lace etc.... I made good money that's for sure.... well over at least half the price of the dress! I was truly glad when it was all over! Your by now wondering.... what has this got to do with the lace and quilt you first started to talk about? Yeah I know.... I'm getting to that. After Stephanie and her DH and daughter..... oh, I made the daughters dress for the wedding too! Almost forgot that! When they set up housekeeping... I was enlisted to help with all the sewing for the bedroom makeover! I sewed 2 big beautiful round table clothes for side tables... bed pillows.... where I had to cut into Batten burg lace (that hurt!... all I could think about was the person who made the lace!) to make the pillow covers. Also she had me cut up more beautiful Batten burg lace to make a dust ruffle to go around her beautiful 4 poster bed! I did get to see the room after things were put together! I mean, I had to go to her house to set up the dust ruffle for her. Anyway.... it's funny what things will take you back in your thoughts! So... that's just another memory or some of the things I've done in my sewing, ironing business.

A Different Kind of Auction

2009-09-30T05:05:00.002-06:00

So, I have decided that I need to do a better job at posting! Or to rephrase... just a bit more often then I usually do. I know, this week so far, I've done more than I usually do in say.... a month! But, this is a new Season and so I need to try to improve myself... (yes, this will probably last ohhhh.... say well I don't know how long... we shall see how it all goes!)
O.K. how many of you think about what your talents are? Think now!!! What do you know how to do that maybe say your next door neighbor or your buddy at work or your best friend doesn't know how to do?! Think about it.... delve into your mind.... maybe it's sewing, scrap booking, organizing, quilting etc... now put whatever your talent is and a whole bunch of gals with fake money (points in our case.... points that you get for answering questions... i.e. 10 points for if you brushed your teeth today.... and if you did it more than once... 10 points each time! Plus about 20 questions worth of answers....) For every question that you answered yes too, you got at least 10 more points! I got 10 for each of my kids.... =40.... can you say ca-chingggggg! LoL..... who knew I would still be getting to count my kids for something fun! O.k. I got 10 more for being married over 25 years! And so on and so on.... you get the idea! I ended up with 190 points total! So now comes the fun part... besides being on the honor system.... as far as points go.... we counted our own! We have a lot of talented ladies in our ward at Church... so you can envision the talents we had.... plus oh, I forgot to say.... also people were donating services that they wanted to render also! Me.... I donated two dish towels that I machine embroidered HARVEST BLESSINGS across the front and then appliqued several cloth leaves of various browns/oranges onto. Plus then I also donated a service of some sewing lessons.... Hey, the more of us that know how to sew the better.... besides Halloween is coming!!! At least that was my thought anyway!
O.K. so all these gals are kind of slow going at first.... I mean scheeech you would have thought it was real money we were using! LoL.... One gal was going to take someone shopping (of course the person had to provide her own money...! Let's be realistic!!!) Let's just say it was at a discounted place and you don't have to pay tax! So there was a lot of back and forth going on that one! Too funny!!! We have a gal who does these beautiful pictures.... and she did a couple so it was quite fun to see some of the gals bidding up into the 100's to get them! Someone was going to make a Mexican dinner for an entire family! Someone else made a little girls tu-tu.... I was eyeing that and one of the gals who has a little girl looked at me and said.... you don't have a little girl any more!!! I laughed and told her.... yes! but I do have a little granddaughter! She got a bit nervous after that! Anyway, I ended up with a basket.... yes... I do love baskets!!! And mind you! It was full! It had 6 small jars of freezer jam in it!!! Yummmm! 3 blackberry and 3 strawberry!
Oh, yes.... this is gonna be good! Someone else donated some home made bread/jam.... but I do know how to make home made bread.... so I figured I take myself out of the competition... yeah, I know.... it was the nice thing to do! Although, you should have seen me... I was having a good time waving my paddle! I also won a day of someone else driving around for me to do errands! Actually.... (my DGS's favorite word!!!) I bid on that one for a friend who just had hand surgery... and couldn't come! Her DH is hmmmmm 91 this year and he can't drive any more... so between the both of them.... yep... no driving going on! A good time was had by all.... and we found out who had what talents... skills etc... there was babysitting offered too... I did ask if they would babysit our sweet dog.... that was a NO! Oh well, I tried!

O.K. can I say.... that it's only the 30Th of September.... and Winter has arrived!!! Aurgh!!!! Not ready for this yet! Weather man said... look out here it comes! Snow in the mountains.... We went from 90's this weekend.... to at the moment it's.....down to 47 degree's! And when I got up... (at 4:15 this morning) it was 57! So yes.... its not quite what I had in mind for the end of September! But then again, no one asked me! That seems to happen a lot... no one asks me whether I think we ought to pay more for gas, food, utilities.... etc... no one asks me if I think that we should have a war... I guess my opinion just isn't all that important! LoL..... oh well.... such is life!
Well.... it's now 5:37 a.m. and I think I will take the dog and go upstairs and see what I can do... who knows what sewing is lurking waiting for me to come and do..... (well I do... but no one asked me either!!!!)
Have a great day.... ANY DAY SEWING, IS .......... A GREAT DAY!!!!

Doing The Cogdill Shuffle

2009-09-28T06:24:00.003-06:00

I know, I know.... I just did a post! But I was visiting over at Charlotte's blog http://housewrenstudio.typepad.com/charlotte/ and she was talking about when her girls were younger and how they had to clean for company etc... and it got me to thinking!
When we had unexpected company we did what we sometimes referred to as "The Cogdill Shuffle"! I will explain in a minute! At our house, well, it's lived in... not huge either! T.V. is in the living room... no family room here! And so when dinner is done, and homework was done... we converged on the living room to watch some T.V. Every once in a while the room would be .... well, let's just say it was lived in and leave it at that! Clean.... under neath.... just lived in! And then when unexpected company came.... we did the Cogdill Shuffle! This is where the entire family would grab something.... (something that didn't normally live in the Living Room) and put it away... some place other then where it belonged! Things found themselves under the couch, in closets, etc.... you get the idea! It's been a bit of a joke for a long time! With 4 kids and 2 adults... it's not too hard to "live" in a room. I mean there will always be things that don't get put away.... right away! If you live in a house that has a place for everything and everything in it's place! Well, what can I say..... you need to get out more!
Of course after the "Shuffle" happened, the family was responsible to put away the thing that they tidied! I do recall one time a day after unexpected company... finding something in the oven that didn't belong even in the kitchen. LoL... I understand that once in a while my DD has done the "Shuffle" at her house too! So! What do you do? Anything different when you are expecting company? I would love to hear about it!

Catching Up On Fun Sewing

2009-09-28T05:04:00.003-06:00

So this post will be short and sweet! Well, only as short as I personally can get... if you have been reading for a while... you know I don't do, too much short! LoL....
I finished a little dress for my granddaughter that I started in June... go figure... Summer is pretty well over... on the calendar that is... it was 90 degree's yesterday! Someone forgot to tell the weather man! Although, it be a changing this week. As we are supposed to have a cold front come in and possible snow.... yes... that's what I said.... snow at around 5500 feet! Gulp! I'm just not ready for Winter yet! Where is Fall.... I mean it's just started.... and the leaves are still on the tree's! O.K. enough with the weather forecast.... (I told you I don't do short posts!) My camera is acting up.... I took pic's of the dress, and granddaughter in the dress, and well.... it keeps spouting off at me saying.... lens malfunction.... restart camera! What's happening is that when you turn it on, the lens usually will open out. Not So Now!!! My DD and I tried several things... taking batteries out, rebooting etc.... nope, nothing! Any idea's???? So, until I managed to do something else with it.... no pic's! Such is life!

The dress is an idea I saw... and changed around a bit! The one I saw is called a petal dress. Imagine if you will a jumper, (which to me, is a sleeveless dress that girls wear a blouse, or shirt of some sort under.) with a button up the
front bodice.
And then the skirt, is formed by sewing sections, ( I made 8) petal shaped and fully lined and attached to the bodice. I over lapped the petal sections about 1/2 way. But except for the overlapping petals the petals are only attached at the top allowing it to flow freely... if a little girl would just so happen to want to twirl around! With either bloomers, rumba pants (you know the ones, the cute little panties with the ruffles on them!) or even leggings they look really cute! Tights would work too.... Of course, since our weather is starting to change, probably the warmer idea's would be better! Also, a long sleeve top! Since I've gone down this road, I did the top a bit different too. I used an old Daisy Kingdom pattern as my design for the top of the jumper. Once again, a picture is worth a thousand words! Instead of a straight forward bodice, this one is an over lapping angled bodice.... cute really but different and hard to describe. I got to add some rather good sized Ric Rac to the outer edges of the bodice and so that helped it right out! That is my "fun sewing" that I finally finished!

Since I had gotten the dress done I wanted to see what else I could finish up...I finished a quick covered blanket for the downstairs bed too. It was a rather old sad looking blanket that well, needed to be freshened! It was clean mind you! Just sad, old... just needing a bit of love! So, I added a piece of flannel to both sides of this blanket, encasing it like a quilt, and after doing a little machine quilting.... It's done also! Nice feeling of accomplishment on my part!

I, since starting the dress for DGD... have cut out a dress from an old discontinued McCall's pattern. #1508. A simple A-line dress... just something new for me to wear! Not that I really need anything new... but I don't sew very often for myself... so it's time! I'm using a piece of red Challis print. I've had it in the stash for a long time.... so it's about time I use it... besides every time I show my daughters what I'm making next someone usually says....hey, didn't you buy that for me? LoL.... No! I didn't! You know who you are!!! (If you want sewing done, get to it!!)
Besides it will go great with a jeans jacket... so what's not to like!
I almost forgot... so little (very little) DGD tried on the dress... and yes... once again... too big! So, I put two little pleats in the side seams of the bodice and it looks better... it would have been much better if I could shorten it a tad bit. But a grandma has to do what a grandma has to do. I would have had to take apart the entire skirt.... I guess I could... if I could possibly wrestle it back from DD.... hmmmm that's a thought! We shall see!

I also have to make some new throw pillows for the couch.... it's wayyy past time for that! I have a rem piece of home decor that has some beautiful colors in it.... some greens, purples etc... and also beige or tans. Our couch is tan micro fiber so this should go well... I also have some deep purple baby pin wale corduroy and some somewhat lighter green thick wale corduroy to add. I'm thinking that if I take a piece of the corduroy and cut it at an angle (the pillows will be square) running corner to corner, but then turn it so that the nap is going in opposite directions.... get the picture? That would also add some extra texture to the pillows. Hmmm, now do I want to add some sort of edging or what? Oh, I forgot to say that I will use a piece of the home dec on the other side of the pillow top. Maybe once again, pic's when I get my camera working!
That should keep me busy for a little while. Seems just when I want to get something done, there is always something else that pulls me in another direction! I used to have one day designed for nothing but sewing.... hmmm I may have to start that up again... it's the only way I get much done at one time! Sewing.... yes.... it's just sooo well, comforting! Gotta go! I promised to try to keep this shorter! LoL.... yeah, that's gonna happen! Until next time.... Keep those scissors sharp!

So What's On the Agenda Today?

2009-09-24T11:48:00.002-06:00

How many times do you wake up and think.... hmmm what do I get to do today? And then the list just gets longer and longer and longer! And then on top of that... well, you only get one or two of the things done? Yeah, my life in a nutshell! I'm all ready to get the week going on Sunday night thinking... I want to get up early and hit the road running! Sure I am.... LoL I guess it's the thought that counts! We have a lovely lady in our ward at church that I visit once a month or so and she is amazing! Really! She is in her mid 80's and still going strong! She is an inspiration to everyone around! She has chickens, fruit tree's galore.... a huge garden.... (although, she says it's smaller now... since so many of her kids/grand kids etc... have their own gardens) smaller means that this year she only did around 40-50 tomato plants instead of 70-100! I'm not exaggerating! She just finished canning peaches, and is picking plums and apples! I asked if that means that she will be done with her canning this year? She said yep.... all done! Then she realized that nope she still needed to do grape juice! So, we went to visit and couldn't find her... she didn't answer the door or her phone when I called from my cell. There are times she forgets we are coming so we started to look around the yard (we worry in case she has fallen.... this has been known to happen a time or two) and there she was pickin apples! We helped out some and then I asked her if she still climbs the ladder? Yep... no big deal... She even fell down while we were there... and pulled herself back up.... I'm o.k. she says.... She is a very independent lady... truly amazing! She still does some quilting, mostly ties them now... her eye sight is getting to the point where she doesn't feel she does a good enough job hand quilting... this gal's hand quilting would put anyone to shame... I've told her that... but you know, I think she just has a standard and well, if it's not up to that... she isn't going to do it! Such a sweetie, and then she makes it seem like she hasn't done anything at all. She wears me out and all I'm doing is sitting there listening to what she says she has been doing! For the past 3 years or so... she has caught pneumonia at the drop of the hat. Finally after a bunch of dr's couldn't figure out what's wrong... she found a guy that could help her out! She says now I feel like I have some energy! Holy Cow!!! I can just imagine now what she will be getting done! Well, I got to get busy! There is no way that I will ever catch up to Dona but, then I'm not trying too. She set the bar way too high for me!
Have a Great Day People.... I've got apples to juice/dry and plums too (dry that is) and well the sewing room is calling me again... and I need to pay a few bills and well you get the picture... the list just goes on and on and on...........

Tribute To The People Lost in 9-11

2009-09-11T10:09:00.002-06:00

I was driving home today from doing a few errands... when I noticed flags flying everywhere! Then it dawned on me... today is September 11Th! So, now I need to go put the flag out and think about all those who were lost. It makes me cry to think about how vulnerable sometimes we can be. This country of ours isn't half bad at all... sure we have problems... but mostly, we have so many blessings! We have sooo many freedoms and rights that people in so many countries can only dream about! Sure taxes are not fun to pay... and there are things that can get us down... but you know, for the most part we have soooo much! We have a lot to be thankful for. Our country doesn't have a "war" in our backyard... we have the right to drive, walk, fly... bike where ever we have opportunity and we don't need a visa to go from state to state like in some countries. As hard as it must be for people who lost loved ones, friends, associates etc... they have NOT been forgotten! We will NOT for get what they have suffered for our freedoms! Also those who have lost their lives serving in the military!
Take a minute today and remember what we have..... it's a lot!

UFO Update

2009-09-02T11:36:00.006-06:00

Bit by bit I'm still working on some of my UFO's in the sewing room! Too Funny, I just thought of something..... if this were to go out into the "blog world" and someone clicked on UFO's (Unidentified Flying Objects).... this would probably come up.... and they would be soooo disappointed! LoL.....

This is just a wall hanging that I've been planning on finishing for a couple years....

O.K. now the other thing that I've been working on a bit.... is the garden! Lots of tomato's that we let run on the ground... there are around 38 plants this year.... we really trimmed down from the last few years.... we used to do around 70 or more! Also, zucchini, cucumbers, cantalopes, peppers, carrots, cauliflower, to name most of the stuff... our two apple trees didn't get sprayed or trimmed this year... oops! But the grass is nice and green.... ahem, 'cept where the dog visits... and well, now maybe you understand a bit why I've not been doing much blogging!

Later...

Time To Get My Act Together

2009-09-02T09:45:00.011-06:00

I've been away from Blogging (at least posting) too long! I'll try to do better! That's all I have to say on that matter!

But I do need to really get back on the band wagon with the ole Monday Diet Challange!

Since a certain someone moved (you know who you are Sharon..) I haven't been very motivated to continue on in the Diet Challange. So yesterday I got onto The Gazelle (my excersise form of choice and went for 30 minutes at an average speed of 4.1 mph! (only 2 miles though)

YES I DID!!!!!! Sorry about the fact that the picture is cockeyed... let's just call it operator error!!! Don't you just love that it's right next to the food storage items.... LoL.... makes for easier snacking options.... if I so choose!

I was feeling it later... I usually go longer (at a slower speed) but I was motivated a bit to do more yesterday. I was going to see the grand kids..... heavy sighhhhh and then that got changed! It's all my neice Jenny's fault! LoL.... I still could have gone... by then I was so wrapped up in folding clothes etc.... I didn't move!

A couple weeks ago DD's living locally (I have one more... but she lives in Portland!) and SIL Tammy and her youngest DD and I went on a bit of a Girls Night Out!!! For 2 nights and 2 days!

(One of the other neices.... Sage was supposed to come, but her DH had some sort of surgery... and she promised not to leave him for 24 hours! Hmmm him down in bed.... with 6 kids.... wonder why she didn't leave him??? We did miss you Sage... it would have been fun with you there too.... Maybe next time! I'm thinking we need to make this an annual event!)

(L-R Heather, Melisa, Cindy. DD's.... local!)
We went up to Park City, Utah and stayed at a condo we rented (thank you Jenny for making all the arrangements!) and then to the outlets stores to shopppppp! It was my SIL's birthday the following Monday... so we thought it would be fun to surprise her with a bit of a cake and a couple pressies! Plus one of my clever daughters brought a birthday banner and made her a tiara out of fancy pipe cleaners and a posie type septer!

We totally surprised her! She thought we had a little dance number of some sort to perform.... LoL... hmmm, maybe next year!

Shopping the outlet stores is well cleansing isn't it? Sometimes..if your the type of shopper that my neice is you save lots of $$$$ On top of all the sales that were going on.... it was the middle of August back to school sales.... plus we had 20% off coupons for most stores... plus most stores were having 30-50% off sales.... some stuff we got for around 70% off! What's not to like! I found some cute black boots (no....not rain boots!!! LoL...) that were around $100. Yep, I got them for $35! Nice!!!! Then Tammy tried them on.... and we got her a pair too! Yep.... we are twinners! Tammy and I wear the same size and she also wanted black. So we asked the kid.... (all of maybe 20.... younger then any of us!!!) if he would check to see if there was another pair the same size and color... back he went, he came back with another pair.... and proceeds to ring them up for me to pay!!!! AAAAAA no!!!! So I tell him, she pointing at my SIL wants the other pair.... still nothing! I say no, she wants the other pair.... and I'm NOT paying for them!!! Still nothing!!!! Finally I said, o.k., one pair is for me and the other pair is for her.... pointing once again at SIL.... and I will not be paying for the 2nd pair.... she will! Could I get any plainer than that???? (no I didn't say that! I felt like it though....) He finally connects..... and says.... you know when you sent me back to find the other pair I thought, why does she want another pair of the same size, same color.... I almost left them back there! I guess he was having a trying day! Busy.... and then we throw him a puzzle like that it was too too much for his young brain! So, he rings me all up and it's $50 some and then SIL asks did you use your coupon? NOPE..... so I ask him can I please use my 20% off coupon too?(by now he's ready to throw us out I'm sure..... I did appoligize profusely !!!!) He said yes.... I could have kissed him! That would have served him right hmmm? What stories he could go home to tell..... LOL.... some ole lady reached over and kissed me!!!! Aurghhhhhh!

Later of course we had to have show and tell! Melisa and Jenny (the neice) let me take this pic of their "twinner shirts".... yes, they will have to wear something underneath!

This is a bit of Heaven..... it's called "Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory"

............heavy sighhhhhh! I was good.... well semi good! LoL.... I got DH a piece of chocolate toffee and me..... two pieces of chocolate covered carmel! Yummmmmm.... I ate part of one in Park City and the other I waited til I got home...

I'm thinking that I'm glad I got outta the way.....Heather new what she wanted.....

So much to choose from and sooo little time!

We talked til around 2 the first night and then went to bed around 1 or so the 2nd. It was lots of fun... we of course took food to make and had lunch out! Great food of course... and lots of talking.... my jaw was a bit tired when we got back home! LoL.... guess I'm outta practice!!! LoL....

This is a quite touristy pose, but what the heck... no one knew that we wern't from too far outta town! LoL...
L-R... Tammy, Jenny, me

(2nd pic) Cindy, Tammy, Heather, Melisa, Jenny

This was one of the locals.... they dress the moose up there... guess that's why there are outlet stores in the area.

Well, that's all for the moment!

Three Down ? To Go....

2009-07-24T14:46:00.004-06:00

During all the hub bub in my sewing room I came across 3 of my FIL's nice dress shirts! These mind you are shirts that he asked me to alter.... way back when.... hmmm I'm thinking Winter time! Yep... as you that are him in the U.S. it's no longer Winter... matter of fact it's not Spring and it's half way thru Summer! So, now that I have them done... I suppose he has something to look forward too! Then again, he gets cold now so easily... he may wear them now. At least I finished them. Now to get them ironed and back to where they belong! This way they are OUT of my sewing room and taking up space! Nothing like a lot of clutter to make you want to jump in and weed things out. When I spoke to my MIL yesterday, I told her that I had found these 3 shirts and to please tell him.... not to give up on me or ever seeing them again.... she said "Oh, well.... he probably figured you had tossed them in the D.I. pile!" (Deseret Industries for those who don't know is a charity organization where people donate clothes and other things furniture etc.... to be re-sold to give people training etc and also so people have a source to go to to get inexpensive clothing etc.... )
I found a pattern I can use for "the project" for my little GD's birthday.... DD #1 mentioned she saw the blog (and left a comment) and wanted to know what I was making..... tee heee..... it's hard on her not to know.... this is a good part of the project too..... I get to tease her! The others well they may want to know.... just not as badly as DD#1! LoL.....
Have a Great Pioneer Day! Today; is the celebration of when the Mormon Pioneers came to Utah..... 1847 is when they came.... you do the math to figure how long ago that is! Lots of fun stuff going on.... fire works, parades, rodeo's.... and lots of water activities I'm sure cause it's really humid today.... Fortunately not as hot as they said it would be.... but still humid!

To The Ragg Bag and Saving Money

2009-07-23T13:27:00.005-06:00

Alright, as this is cutting into sewing time... I will make it very quick! I came across one of DH's old shirts.... and enough is enough! This shirt has had it... holes, frayed edges etc.... time to do it in! It just isn't in any condition to be worn any more! So, as I was sitting there cutting it into smaller size pieces.... (not too small) sizes I can use for rags.... I was thinking.... what do you do with worn out clothes not fit to be worn any more? I first see if there is any way to salvage the item.... ie.... mend a hole, replace a button or several. Then I look to see if I am going to scrap it.... is it any good to use for quilts, appliques or to use to mend something else! If not... then off come the buttons and into the button jar.... (I have an old 1 1/2 quart jar.... really old.... blue to be exact! Oops, as you can see from the picture at left... I did it again! My button jar is the large one... but the blue one is the one we put white chocolate chips into! That's what happens when your trying to do too many things at once.... confusion!!! LoL...) and then I do with it whatever I can use the material for. With this one it was an old long sleeve polo shirt.... wayyyy past it's prime! I cut it into rags to be used for just that Rags! I zig-zagged the unfinished edges and wa-la..... rags to be used for what ever I want.... and they can be washed because now I've taken the precaution to keep them from fraying to bits in the washer!
Do you know that if you have men's shirts or woman's for that matter.... and the collar is a bit frayed and worn looking and it's a two piece collar. You can take off the upper collar turn it around and use the other side! Now, if by chance you have a shirt that has sewn in collar stays, unpick them and continue on. You could put the collar stays back in... but you will have to do a little fancy needle work because the space is a bit tight. Me, I would probably just leave them out! On the other hand, if you don't have the sewn in type.... it's a cinch to turn them and then resew them back onto the lower part of the collar. You can do this with shirt cuffs too, but you have to do both sleeves and then trade them, the right cuff goes now reversed onto the left cuff and vise versa! And there you have it.... a quick way to save you some money. And isn't that what we want to do any way with our sewing talents?
Back to the sewing room! Just thought I would share!

Around the World in 80 Seconds and Thinking About Food Before It's Made

2009-07-23T10:29:00.002-06:00

I've been doing some blog hopping and at times it just amazes me how I can be sitting in the basement of our home and reading the blog of someone in Australia! What a world we live in hmmm?
So, I've caught up the ironing... and made room in the sewing room to work on some "birthday projects".... it's almost GD's birthday so I need to get at it and get things done! I can't go into details cause well, I have to keep this a surprise from some one! And well that means DD!!! Heeee Heeee Heeee... this is hard for her.... because she loves to be let in on secrets! I'll bet if she's reading this she is having a bit of a fit right now! LoL.... So, today is Thursday.... let's get sewing! I try to spend the entire day sewing.... you know, a dedicated day to sew because let's face it... time and projects and distractions have a tendency to get away from us! At least to me! The sewing room is in some semblance of order.... so away I go!!! A little mending, a lot of sewing and before I know it! Time will speed by and DH will be home and wondering if we are planning on eating anything at all tonight! LoL.... he's always hungry when he comes home from work! I don't blame him... he eats breakfast at around 4:15 a.m. and then lunch at around 11:00 a.m. so waiting until 6:00 p.m. seems like an eternity to him I'll bet! Hmmm, guess that means I need to actually think food too... I always seem to forget that part of the equation... menu + food = dinner! But, if you don't think ahead of time about menu it's more like food + ? = ??? Oh, well... maybe something light.... like hmmmm well, my brain isn't thinking food right now... but I will have to spend some thought time on it to get a result! Maybe I will call hubby now... it's his lunch time.... he will be thinking food! See, there are answers to everything.... just give it a little think! Or maybe a lot of think... in my case! Help!!!! Oh, I will try to take some pic's to show later... of some of my projects!

Time To Finish The Things You've Started!

2009-07-16T06:24:00.002-06:00

O.K. this is some important info that I'm passing onto you because, well.... it definitely works!!!
I was listening to a talk show host the other day and this is something that I think that everyone should know! The doctor said "That the best way to be able to relax and get some peace is to finish all the things that you have started and never had the time to get finished"
I thought about it for a while. Then I started looking around the house to see all the things that I started and hadn't found time to finish. I told myself, that today was the day to change, so before leaving the house, I finished off the 2 -liter bottle of Root Beer, a package of Oreo's, a bag of pork rinds, the left over cheesecake, some Doritos's, a half eaten cup of Tapioca pudding and a box of chocolate truffles left over from Valentine's Day.
You know, I really think that that doctor knew what he was talking about because you have no idea how amazingly great I feel right now! I can't wait to see what I can finish later tomorrow!

Have A Great Day..... and you know, try to finish a few things.... it will do you wonders!

On the sewing front....... I've finished 87 9 patch blocks 13.5x13.5 for the humanitarian project, and another quilt top out of some of the 9 patches that I had finished another time. I took out some of the quilting that we had done on a quilt top... the top was wonky.... and apparently cut on the bias and was stretching out of shape.... pretty much everyone that worked on it decided that it needed to be pulled apart and then tied instead! That's where I came in.... so now the back has been re-stitched because it was pulling apart too. Hmmmm.... so now I need to iron the backing and probably the top and then put on some borders (small ones to add a bit of length to the top and to help stabilize it too) and then hopefully get it ready to tie. I also need to cut out some solid colored blocks to go in- between the 9 patches.... to mellow it a bit! You would be surprised at what you get sometimes to make quilts out of! Otherwise I don't know how anyone could sleep under this quilt.... too busy!
I've been helping my friend Karma work on getting her quilt quilted! She may of finished it last night.... if not than this a.m. I may be going to help get it finished. She wants to put it into a display at our little towns yearly celebration ..... ahem.... for Saturday! Yep, this week!
So, it's been a week of finishing.... bits and pieces... isn't that how you get quilts made in the first place? So, what have you been finishing???

The Grampa Face!

2009-07-08T11:11:00.002-06:00

Alright, take a look at this picture.... is this someone that would scare you on a dark street???? LoL....

This is our grandson.... making what he calls the "Grampa Face"!

My DH when the grand kids are making "bad choices"... gives them this "look" or "face" as DGS says!.... So, he has now got the "look" down.... and it's hysterical how he does it! First of all he is all of 3 1/2 yrs old, second now that he has mastered it... (and that in itself is quite a trick for him.... ) he once in a while gets caught trying to bully other kids with it! O.K. this is hard to explain..... at least straight faced! He looks at you and most times can't stop smiling.... then he takes his hand and passing it over his eyes from the top of his head.... he tries to block out everything funny... (this is my interpretation anyway) and tries to get a serious look on his face.... then he puts the frown/scowl on! It's such a hoot! One time at Church a little boy sitting behind DGS was kicking GS's chair.... and GS did the "look" at the kid.... he stopped! Not a good thing to encourage him though.... especially the bullying part.... but at the moment it's really funny! Just thought I would share!

Aren't kids fun! They come up with the silliest things! Although I must say.... he has tried it on his sister and brother and I think mostly they just smile at him.... they aren't into taking too seriously yet! Of course that's because one will be 2 this month and the other will be 1 next month!

I got to get together last night with a bunch of sisters from our ward at Church and let's see..... we got 2 quilts tied, 1 partically quilted, and 2 more quilt tops put together! Not bad for 5 hours work! Hey, any day sewing/quilting is a good day!

Sure Do Love Our Family.... Extended And All

2009-07-04T15:19:00.011-06:00

So, on with the updates; if I do it a bit at a time, maybe it won't be so over whelming to you all!

I said that we had some visitors and that would be our Son and our DIL.... Ben and Jenica. They came down from Portland Oregon to come visit to be here for the sealings that took place. Also for the family reunion (hubby's side). And of course, not to leave these sweeties out.... my parents came down also from Oregon.... Eugene, also to be here for the sealings.... so with no further ado: my parents! Or affectionately called.... Papa and Gramma J.

They didn't realize that we were going to take pictures after the sealing at the Temple.... (or maybe they did.... hmmmm!) and so I got a couple pic's went they came by later that evening... they had changed into their "casual atire" by then!

We have lots of fun when they come down.... we went to Salt Lake City.... to do some errands they needed to do and then went out to lunch... ahem, yes, yes, it's my fault DD#2 didn't get to come to lunch with us.... I forgot to call. DD#3 got to come because Papa was texting her.... while we were ordering lunch.... and then invited her to lunch with us. Oh, yes..... you did read right.... my parents "text"! I don't even text! But they do..... they figured that this way they can keep up with the grandkids. And you know.... it's a hoot to hear what every one has been up too. They get all the news that's worth texting..... that's for sure! My mom said that you can always tell who is texting from their phone..... cause she doesn't bother to use coma's, period's etc..... and dad does! Oh, so we ordered lunch for DD#3 and she arrived after we had finished... so, of course we started in on her Fries!!! We went to Denny's! It was good... I had a cob salad.... healthy.... I know... I was trying to be good!

Then the next day.... Papa and Gramma and I went out to do Thai food! Long story.... (short version.... and you know, if it's from me... that's a plus!) My folks went on a mission for the LDS church to Bankok Thailand..... and they made some great friends. Everywhere they go they end up with another adopted grandchild! One they met in Bangkok was Jom.... great guy! He came to the U.S. to work for a while..... oops.... that's right we are going for the "short version". So basically while they were there, they learned to love..... Thai Food.... at least some of it! Plus, Jom, can cook Thai food.... and he does a good job of it too!

So, the grandparents.... A.K.A. Papa/Gramma J. showed up on Wednesday and then DSon and DDIL showed up on Saturday.... fun, fun, fun..... food, silliness, laughing.... what's not to like!Then, on with the family reunion..... Our Daughter #2... (birth order... remember... not order or concern or love. LoL) planned the entire thing! She sent out emails/letters to all the families all over.... Ariz./Ore/Ida/Utah/Vir and any other place that I missed. Gave people a date.... cause honestly if you give this many people suggested dates you know that there will always be conflicts. So, she figured that if she planned it so that there was plenty of time.... like 6-7 months ahead! That this way the turn out would be good.

This is the first pic I took... yep, FIL/MIL's motor home broke down on the highway... fuel pump! This was Thurs. and so we waited with FIL until they came to tow him away. Fortunetly he was only 10-15 mins away from the camp site. He was taken to Pocatello, Idaho... and then picked up by my BIL (one of many I have....) and brought to the camp site. They (inlaws) stayed in the little town at a hotel over night. We got lots of rain.... after we had set up the tents, and the wind blew some.... but I'm telling you there was down pour after down pour! What's a little rain right?

This is SIL.... (one of them) We were each taking pic's and about had a duel to see who would go first... lol

My pictures are somewhat varied and not just honed in on one person, for the most part and well, I forgot to take pictures most of the time.... just having way too much fun in the rain, and the

You can see that the motor home made it on Friday... nice hefty cost for the labor... but AAA paid for the towing.... sun, and the cold..... DD had planned it so that we weren't too tied to family activities, but if you wanted you could hang out at the camp and visit!

This is one of the "great nephews".... our neices son... and you can see a belly of one of the neices that will be having one soon.... great shot don't you think! Oh.... DIL back there in the cowboy hat.... she wears it when they vacation! By the way.... have I told you that she is my "favorite DIL" just the best in the world.... compared to "all" our other ones! (ahem.... she is the best! And the only one we have! LoL) Oh, and DD #1 is in the blue shirt w/back to us.... must have known I was taking pic's! Also, in blue/white shirt another Great Nephew.... DH's oldest sisters DGS. I'm telling you it's taxing to remember all these people and who they belong too!

#1 Son petting our little 4 legged family member. Yep, she got to come... and was so tired from all the petting and loving and walks etc.... she practically slept for 2-3 days when we got home!

FIL and SIL (aka soon to be MIL to her SIL.... cause her DD was soon to be married: this happened last Friday.... so now mother of the bride is now a MIL.... got all that?)

DHubby... SIL, DD#3 in red, SIL in white, DIL (cowboy hat.... yep... ahh they live in Portland, Oregon... don't know if she rides horses or not! LoL...) DS in lower left corner, and DD#1 in blue.

We had two breakfasts with the family planned... Inlaws (father/mother) provided those.... so sweet of them... they have these huge propane grills that we used to cook pancakes, bacon.... always a big hit camping or at home on the holidays for a family breakfast. And then on Fri. night DD planned one other joint dinner. So we had dutch oven potatoes (Cheesy Potatoes, or some people call them Funeral Potatoes) and ham. And then we all just brought what ever for side dishes. It was great food! And I don't think anyone went away hungry! Later DD split us into groups and had us fill out a Family tree.... it was a test of knowledge.... cause we have 113 members of the family (As of Jan. next year.... 4 new ones will be added to the count making it 117!) at the moment and trying to remember peoples names and which kids went with what family was a hoot! We had several people making up names.... cause they knew nothing!!!! LoL.... But it was fun and there was a great rejoicing across the land!!!!

DBIL in yellow... and his wifie, DSIL.... (oh, in pink) working on the family tree.

Neice in black (left.... also standing on right...) also going to have a baby.... it will be #5 grandchild for SIL pictured in red.... with back to us... and her DH sitting in the pic in yellow.

Nephew's wifie.... she was camping with 4 children w/o hubby as he was camping w/2 older kids that were in a soccor tournament. Brave lady! She brought 2 little girls, 1 2 yr old (don't quote me!) and the other around 5 yr old. Plus a set of twin boys... that are 6 or maybe 7. Sorry, hard to keep track of my own kids sometimes. Anyway... she was cuddling one of the sweet little girls on her lap. Also, another DSIL (ours) sitting on her left! Hard to see cause it was getting dark by now.... but 1 more SIL sitting to the right!

I told you I had a crop of them.

Stacey in pink... our resident photographer.... she got us together for a family picture and had to take it in 3 sections cause she didn't bring a wide angle lens. And then had a inlaw of a Neice In Law to take the one part where she needed to be in the picture.... Clear As Mud right?

Sorry, some of these aren't very clear.... as you can see the sun and I were in competition. Down on the grass is DD#2 (who planned everything..... yeahhhhh Heatheroo!) And standing above her.... yet another neice.... (that sounds bad.... she is a terrific neice... and has a great family too! See picture above.... wayyy up there of son..... the little guy who is all grins by himself!)

O.K. so let's try to finish up here.... I have a few more pictures but some are of the campgrounds... more or less after a lot of the group had cleared out! Lava Hot Springs has pools, regular swimming pools and hot spring pools also... I went on Saturday with some of the "group", DH stayed behind cause we couldn't leave the 4 legged friend behind by herself (campground rules you know.... besides she would have cried!... Probably very loudly!) I used sun screen.... really I did.... but I still got a sun burn.... on the tops of my feet, and weirdness, on my upper leg above my knee.... not the other one.... just the right one! Lots of Aloe later, and it felt better but well now I'm peeling.... sort of like a snake shedding it's skin.... (although not really very much at all!)

Hope your not sooo totally bored! This is mostly for those in the family who couldn't come or didn't get any shots themselves.

All rested up now and onto other things!

HAPPY JULY 4TH EVERYONE

2009-07-04T14:02:00.015-06:00

Happy Birthday U.S.A.!!!!! Hello everyone... it's me.... late as....always! I get around to things... in my own time!

A Lot has been happening around here. I've been kept very busy with company (family) and then if you saw my last post I finished the dress for our dear GD.... such a sweet heart! Hmmm, also DGD and DGS were sealed to their mommy and daddy and DGS (#1) got to see all of these happening too. So, no more delay.... on with the pictures! Oh, one side note, dear little granddaughter, after a bit was getting tired and had had enough of the picture taking!

Grandson #1 (he gets to be called that cause he was borned first!) is getting to that point in life... where sometimes he doesn't want to co-operate with the film director!!! It used to be if you would say cheese...... he was all grins! But then sometimes grandma forgets to say it! And well, you can see the result.... it's good.... just not the best! LoL...

Great family shot.... our Son.... back left of the photo.... trying to take a picture too.

I love this one... the way he is resting his elbow on

Grandpa's arm... pretty cute picture of the both of them! Oh, for those who don't know.... that handsome guy in the suit..... deep sighhhhh! He's mine! That's my guy! Dear Hubby!

Dear Grand Daughter.... is looking pretty sweet of course, that's most of the time! (ahem.... o.k. now comes the disclaimer.... for her mommy's sake..... sometimes, little DGD isn't always happy.... o.k. DD is that about right?!)

Aren't her bows cute! Mommy made them for her!

Dear Grand Son #2.... looking pretty dapper and all smiles. He knows that grandma is clicking pic's... and he's not one to spoil them! Of course... this gramma doesn't spoil the kids either.... ahem.... another disclaimer..... gotta get it in while I can!

And one of all 3 of the cuties... I know, sometimes it's just a grandma's prerogative to show off her grandkids.... yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So, in the next episode.... we all went to a family reunion.... camping up in Idaho..... at Lava Hot Springs.... the weather was weather.... whether we wanted it or not! Hot, cold, hot, rain.... wind.... more rain.... sunshine..... WOW!

The Dress Is Done!

2009-06-19T14:10:00.008-06:00

I finally finished up the dress for DGD. And tried it on her... but forgot to take a picture with her in it. So, on Tuesday when she actually wears it, I will get a couple of pictures to post.
Meanwhile here are a couple of the front and back with no one in it! Lol...

I did end up not happy with the lace facing..... sooo once again, (this is just how I am! Picky!) I undid the stitching and this time went with a full bodice lining. Happiness complete! It has more body to it now also. So yes, so glad that I made the change.

And can you see the line down the middle of the bodice and front of the skirt? You may have to enlarge... but let me know if you notice it. I've gotten so I barely notice it now! It helps that my DD didn't seem to mind it at all.
O.K. here is the back! Oh, and between the time that I finished and then gave it to my DD, I sat on the floor at church.... (DD was helping out with a Primary.... a kids activity...) and I made thread loops to hold the ribbon tie on. I put them on at the side seams.... Have you ever made those? They are relatively easy to do, but I just kept getting interrupted and so then I would lose where I was and so had to undo and start over. Which truth to be told isn't all that hard, it's just that I wanted to get it done! So here I am, sitting on the floor outside a doorway, while about 45 kids were inside a room watching a video of something they had recorded earlier... and these ladies that didn't know me, kept walking by probably thinking that I was nuts sitting on the floor sewing!!!! Hmmmm, maybe some truth to all that!
Here's the back! And When I get some pictures of the dress on DGD I will post them!

One thing that I did too, was I made an under slip for just the skirt! I didn't take pictures of it, but I may have to later... I used the front pattern piece for the skirt and then used only 1/2 of the back piece, because it really didn't need to be as full as the dress itself. I will explain in a moment. So I pieced the skirt pieces together so that I had a seam to use for the back opening. I left about 7-8 inches opening so she could get into it. I attached it with 4 small clear snaps that I put into the waist band. I figure it will be easier for my DD to clean if she can take the slip in and out. Also, on the bottom edge of the slip I put a couple pieces of cancan netting about 2 inches tall by the width of the bottom edge.... I gathered it first, and then attached it. This will give the appropriate puffing... as you can see in the picture. We tried it on DGD and it looks sooo cute! Sorry, guess it's a grandma's pride... she looks so sweet in it! Take care. Remember to put your scissors and or rotary cutter up so little fingers/hands can't find them!

Monday Loser's Post

2009-06-15T11:46:00.004-06:00

O.K. this will be short and sweet..... (come on now.... all my posts are sweet right? O.K. now imagine a cheesie grin.....) There is going to be a scheduled outage in a few minutes so I need to hurry!
I've managed to loose the weight that I had regained.... although with certain stress's in my life... we shall see how things go! You people know who you are!!! (stress wise!)
I'm just about done with the dress, just a hem and the pleats.... oh and let's see.... I need to make up a little underslip that will snap in (my own idear....) so they can just take it out easily. And it will be all done!
I also need to plant the garden and hmmmm clean my house! Family coming to town and then a family reunion, pictures etc.... and Good Times Today!!!
Take care everyone!
Don't forget to change the needle on your sewing machine! Oh, and if your stitch tention is bad unthread and try it again!!!

Happy Birthday To DD #3......

2009-06-12T09:43:00.005-06:00

So, 24 years ago.... I was minding my own business (but pregnant as all get out!) and I got a phone call from my MIL.... saying that she had gotten a call from one of her daughters.... (my SIL..... also pregnant!) and that she was at the hospital in labor! Now, those of you who have had kids know that it gets longggg and drawn out at the end. Well, I was supposed to be due before my SIL.... so I wasn't a happy camper. Anyhow that was around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. Also MIL/FIL were going to the airport to pick up another SIL that was coming home from a mission for our Church. Noooo problem! At noon when MIL called me back to tell me that the plane had been delayed and that SIL #1 (preggers one) still hadn't had baby... While we were talking on the phone.... all of a sudden I went into labor!!! Now it takes me a little while to get things going and well this was baby #4 altogether, so I wasn't really in any great hurry (no water breakage or anything dire... just labor). I told MIL that I was now in labor and of course she got really excited! I hung up the phone and being the normal procrastenator that I am, I pulled out my nightie that I hadn't finished sewing yet to take to the hospital! Stop laughing!!!!!! My DH would have killed me had he known I was doing that then! Of course, he was at work.... so what he didn't know, wouldn't hurt me!!!! MIL called one more time to inform me that SIL #1 had her baby at 3 or 3:30 (can't remember now.... it's her kid, not mine!) At around 4:00 he got home from work and I told him I was in labor. Your going to be shocked.... but he asked if he had time to shower!!! Now, you need to understand, always with the past babies he has had plenty of time to shower b/4 we left... so I'm sure that he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask! I said fine, make it quick! DH does not know how to make his showers quick!!! I'm just saying.... most times he pretty well drains the hot water tank of anything remotely near hot water! I finished the nightie and finished the packing and was trying to cross my legs....... if you know what I mean... and finally I said we need to hurry this up a bit! Pains were getting closer and closer... we lived near the Air Force Base and so traffic was a mess, and they didn't have the roads as they are now... let's just say at one point on the way to the hospital we had to wait our turn to get onto the Hiway.... I said, "Can't you just go around the people..... cause it seemed like all they were doing was sitting there! You see, by then the pains were a little less then 5 minutes apart! Hospital was still about 6-8 miles away... with too many traffic lights in between for me!!! We made it to the hospital and BIL met us there cause well... someone had to take our other 3 kids.... NO ONE WAS HOME IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!!! We got me to the labor room.... I was checked and I was dialated to a 3 and 10 minutes later they came to check me again.... yep, I was a 10!!!
So, things were going fine, I'm in delivery and ahem...... NO DOCTOR!!!! They said he was on his way, he had been in the North part of town at another office when he got the first call. They called him again the 10 minutes later.... and he left and was scurrying towards us.... He got to the hospital at 6:15 p.m. When he walked in, I told him I was glad he was there but there or not this baby was coming and I told him that she would be there no later then 6:30 p.m. Baby Girl #3 was born at 6:30 p.m.! How's that for labor and delivery! 6 1/2 hours total! And girl cousins were born 3-31/2 hours apart! They call themselves (or did) the twin cousins! So today is that day.... 24 years old.... oh, and Cousin (not DD) is pregger herself now! Due in Sept. or Oct. with a little boy. Funny how things change but remain the same.... So Happy Birthday DD #3..... (oh, and no we didn't name her DD #3!) You know who you are! We Love You!!!
Oh, and what I forgot to say was that another SIL ( I have 7 on DH's side and 1 on my side) was planning a wedding later in the week! 3 days after the Twin Cousins arrived.... I was there (not for the wedding.... no way!) for a family picture! Let's just say.... it wasn't my best picture! Hmmm, maybe I will see if I can find that... too funny I'm sure! The two of us new mommy's and all the motley crew! And 2 months later..... the SIL that came home from her LDS mission, she got married! Talk about your whirl wind courtship!

Ever Want To Tear Out All Your Hair?

2009-06-10T13:24:00.003-06:00

Sometimes I just wonder.... a while back I took a bit closer look at DGD dress and well there are these fold/crease lines that are on the bodice and the front of the skirt! Yep, the type you get from a well defined bolt crease!!! I tried everything I could think of, also trying to pick the brains of a few people out there who I hoped would know what else I could try! Yeah.... nothing! You see back between last fall and winter, I had read a bunch of library books on different sewing thoughts, idea's etc... anyway I remembered that there were several different idea's in said book (I no longer remember the name) about how to get hardy crease's/fold marks out! I went back to the library to see if I could find the book.... nope! And then asked the librarian if she could show me a record of the books I had checked out over a number of months.... (sorry... this may take a bit longer....) that was a no go.... she said, "It's for your protection, that we don't have a list of all the books you check out". Well, another librarian and I both went HuH????? This way the library can't have their records supenied by a judge.... I'm thinking big WoW.... all I ever read are sewing, craft and novels! O.K. so that was a no go! But, I ran into a friend that said I ought to try the extention service! Good idea! But, that was to no avail either! Last but not least I finally took it to the cleaners to see if they could help me out! I figured if worst came to worst I could start over with a new piece of fabric! The gal at the cleaners did her best and it did look better, only not the best! So, I corraled my DD and had her take a look... and she said it looks fine! So, on with the show! Guess I need to try not to be soooo picky! So, I will try to finish up today!

2009-06-09T08:38:00.006-06:00

O.k. so since I started a post a while back that I didn't complete and then went to another one... I messed up big time! So if you want to read about what I'm doing with my DGD's little dress, you have to go back a couple postings....to the May 26th post cause it won't let me change the date of the post... and I'm just not qualified to move things around to get it to change any other way! LoL.... later, Jean

Emily is having a contest!

2009-06-02T09:24:00.003-06:00

I'm Backkkkk! Kinda like a bad penny! (I think I've said that before!)
First things first.... Emily over at RavenHill http://ravenhill.typepad.com/weblog/ is having another contest to enter... and she is giving away some really fun things! This after just finishing up a giveaway for a wonderful shawl. But, for those of us who did not win.... she took this to heart and is now giving away a craft magazine that has an article about her in it! (clever girl is just getting her name out there all over the place, blogs, posts, and in print too!) So, she is now giving away the magazine she is featured in, (she already has a subscribtion) and also some wonderful fabric's.... on second thought.... don't go to her blog cause the more people who go the less chance I have to win! Just kidding.... well..... maybe!
That's all for now.... back soon with the pic's of my DGD's dress!

2009-05-26T11:14:00.010-06:00

O.K. first of all I have to apologize... I started in on the dress and then realized that I had forgotten to take pic's. So I backtracked a bit... so you could see a little of what I've been doing.

As I told you b/4 the fabric is white Silk Dupioni... I may be spelling this wrong... (which if your my parents... you know that this isn't the first or last time this will happen!) And please forgive the cock-eyed picture... what can I say, it happens!

O.k. this is the skirt that as you can see is extra long, due to the fact that I'm adding several horizontal pleats.

Nothing tricky here, I just finished the seams a bit because this type of fabric really ravells. So since I don't want to line the entire thing.... because of the fact that she will be wearing it in Summer mostly. I finished the seams.

I spent far too much time finishing the neck edge b/4 I put the zipper in. I was going to use a piece of white satin ribbon around 1 inch wide. But due to the fact that it wouldn't lay right (and I want to hand sew the facing), I ended up ripping it out! I wanted it to feel nice agains't her skin and so instead I used a nice soft piece of lace as the neck facing. Since I changed the pattern (DD didn't want a collar) so we had to use something for the facing. Not a problem... ahem, for most! I guess I just like to make things difficult at times.

Anyway I will post some more.... this is taking far too long... just too many interuptions!

Oh, and since this is finally getting posted... it's now June 9th... not May something or other!

So Happy Birthday Sharon.... from Red Geranium Cottage!
I'll be back soon with the finish up stuff and more pictures. Need to let the dog out.... she is dancing around and crossing her legs a lot!

From A Mother To Her Family And A Few Other Thoughts

2009-05-11T10:45:00.014-06:00

Well Mother's Day has come and gone... as it does each and every year. It's always so fun, sweet and nice to have you all right here. Us Mother's do appreciate all the wonderful things you say.... and mostly we just like it when you spend the time of day! All the jewels, flowers, cards and such, just can't really compare with knowing that you are/were in touch.... because it shows you care! Thank you so much for all your love and all the things you do.... From this Mother of 4 and a Wife of 1, and a Grandmother of 3. You made me feel especially nice, as nice as nice can be! Love You All.

Thanks For Making My Day Sweet!

O.K. here I am crying and it's the day after Mother's Day! I do that enough on Mothers day... due to overloaded sweet sentiments at Church and such...

I hope that all you new/or not so new Mother's had a wonderful day also!

So this past week has been a good time! The medicine the dr. put me on.... the antibiotic.... let me tell you.... fun..... not so much!!! 2 days after I had started taking it I called the pharmacist and told him that I was getting this terrible.... and I DO MEAN TERRIBLE... METAL TASTE, IN MY MOUTH (hmmm, where else would I get it.... oh well) along all of my taste buds! You have to know this guy... our Pharmacist.... his name is Von. He says to me... does it taste like your sucking a nickel? I said, yeah! He kinda laughs and says... yep... that will happen! I asked him what I could do about it, cause they are time release pills. I had to take 2 huge horse pills (it just seemed that way to me, cause they were wayyyy big) once each morning for 10 days! Yuck! Anyway... he said, just get yourself some hard candies.... and I'm thinking... dr's. orders! Root Beer Barrels to the rescue!!!!! So, each time I started getting that terrible taste I would just take a R. B. B..... and it did really help.... Only problem was I was getting it all the time, so I was sucking them all the time..... big sigh.... no weight loss! THIS IS MY OFFICIAL LOSER MONDAY REPORT....... Such is Life! But for those of you kind people who has asked.... yes, thank you I am feeling better. I would not have let the family over if I hadn't been!

Oh, and for those of you interested... Who were with this blog last Fall..... when my DD and her hubby got custody of the two sweet little ones..... it's all done and Legal! As of last week! And next month, they will take them through the Temple to be sealed. The kids have grown a lot... so cute to see them all together. And of course the rest of the family is having fun with them too!

Nothing like getting your family in leaps and bounds....

So today I finally get to cutting out the dress that I will be making for my little granddaughter or DGD as she will here to fore be known.

It's Butterick 3762. You can go here... http://www.butterick.com/item/B3762.htm?search=3762&page=1 if you want to see it~ Basically it's view D... with a few changes.

#1 Change is there will be no collar... DD has an aversion for kiddy type collars.... go figure!

#2 Change is that there will be pleats of the horizontal direction towards the hem. One will be around 1 1/2 inches and the next will be around 3 inches. This will give it some more detail...

The fabric is White Silk Dupioni. Since GD is now walking, it will be a nice long length. And hopefully not too long to trip her up!

I will be taking pictures so you can see what I'm up too... for those of you who may not care... well, I suppose you can just skip this sewing adventure or my blog totally.... I leave that up to your discretion. Stay tuned to this blog.... you never know what I may come up with!

A Bit Under The Weather And A Early Looser Monday Post

2009-05-03T09:41:00.004-06:00

Hello All,
Just thought I would post a quick little note. I've been under the weather for the past week, still am as far as that goes. I managed to get myself bronchitis somehow or other. It came on rather fast... so it knocked me for a loop! Plus on top of that the computer conked out a week ago Friday. So..... I've been incommunicado for a while. Believe me when I tell you I was going thru withdrawal! But dear hubby, and our SIL managed to bring the computer back to life! Yeah! We will still have to start looking for a new one! Shhhhh! Don't tell this one... we don't want any more fits or anything like that!
Want you all to know that Sharon.... from Red Geranium Cottage sent me a sweet package a couple weeks back... ( remember I won one of her contests?) Anyway, she spoiled me rotten.... (hmmmm, maybe that's why I got sick! No, not really!) she sent me two charm packs from Moda.... they are the same so it will be fun deciding what to use them for. Also two separate kits, I think they are both for bow tie wall hangings.... I'm a little fuzzy at the moment.... medicine, I need medicine! Guess I had better close... to busy coughing to make much sense right at the moment. More later..... I won't be weighing in this week... hopefully that means I will be in great shape next week! Here's hoping!

WANT A BIT OF A LAUGH?

2009-04-21T17:44:00.002-06:00

So you remember my many trials and error's with my photo's right? Yep, well... now you really find out how computer literate I really am! So while I was composing my posts each time... and then I would try to put a photo onto the post! So far so good.... yep... this is sooo embarrasing! I was composing in the edit html area, and so each time I would post a picture that's what was showing up... the html of the pic's! O.K.... this would be the time you start laughing... I know, hallarious right? O.k. now that you've had your laugh... (you can stop now, any time.... I mean it really.... please stop!) I have learned a lesson... my DD happened to do it herself.... and wondered what she had done, but she figured it right out! Go figure....! Seems to me that if she was a bit more concerned about her mother's welfare... she would have come right over when I was having problems and helped me figure it out too! But no, that's o.k..... sigh....
So, those of you who know about as much as I do about these type of things... lesson learned right? Right! Well, if anything, I'm glad I could be of service!
LoL.... have a great day!

Pictures Galore...

2009-04-20T12:25:00.007-06:00

These are pictures of my grandkids wearing the hats from the cute hats/oneies sets that Kristy in Australia sent. Little Grace didn't want to wear her's so Cameron decided he would. Oh, and that is also the kids mom... my oldest daughter, 2nd oldest child.

And here is a project that I've been working on a bit here and there, when I've been in the mood. It's a Mr/Mrs Snowman... Mrs. is done. I used this pattern and some scraps of sherpa fleece that I had from a quilt I made.

And last but far from all... here are a couple more pictures of my stash of fabric/patterns. The patterns are in the 3 bins on the floor of the closet... that's what I get from working at a fabric store for the years that I did. Plus there are some 30 or more in another basket under another shelf.

O.K. so now that you can see what a mess I have and what it takes to just get into the room sometimes... (granted it's not always... that messy!) you might understand why I need to get rid of a few things and get a few projects done so I can have more room! Take care... don't run out of thread... cause it always happens at night when the fabric stores are closed!

Another Date To Write Down In My Journal....

2009-04-20T11:17:00.005-06:00

So, I'm highly motivated to get "MORE EXERCISE" cause this is the only way weight is going to move around and hopefully drop off of me!!! So I used the "gazelle" for 45 minutes on Saturday and went walking today! 3.2 miles... not bad for a couple of mature ladies... lol... I say that because 1.there were 3 of us. and 2. it makes me feel good cause I the "youngster" of the 3. and 3. I'm the one that they ask to hold onto if and when the need arises. 4. we don't need any broken anythings....
Today my friend Karma (such a sweetie) gave me what is called a "pioneer pocket". She makes them every onces't in a while. Basically it is a pocket that you tie around your waste. The pioneer women used them because apparently they didn't have pockets in their skirts and this way they just transferred the pocket with the contents onto the article of clothing that they wore.

O.k. just on a thought... I tried something else with my photo's to see if it would work.... and believe it or not it works!!! I'm sooo excited! So First of all here is a picture of the "pioneer pocket" that Karma gave to me.

O.K. so you people are in trouble..... there's NO stopping me now!!!!

About 2 inches down from the center of the pocket there is an opening... that goes until oh... around 3 inches from the bottom. Plus sewn inside is a piece of elastic... which you can see, it has a snap on it to attach a pair of snips or scissors. Karma and her daughter Sally teach the Quilt in A Day Quilt making... so she says this is the best thing in the world for her. She is always going from person to person helping and all it takes is to put your snips down one time and you can't find them! So, this is what she uses.
You can make your own pattern, as big or as small as you would like... make a general almost tear drop without the top part so narrow... with a back (I noticed she used old denim jeans) and then you make 2 full front parts that you will put good to good and sew a straight stitch up from the bottom middle to where you want to stop... and then again from the area (however large you want the opening to the top edge. Turn right sides out so opening is in the middle, and press. Now if you want too, you can place a narrow piece of elastic into the seam allowance at the top between the layers. This piece of elastic has a snap sewn so that one part of the snap is at the end of the elastic and then around 3/4 of an inch in sew the other part of the snap. This will hold your snips. Then place the front onto the back pin together and sew seam binding all around the lower edges leaving the top free. Now, measure enough seam binding to enable you to tie the pocket around your waist.... And finish it up! You can do all sorts of fun stuff with this. Karma showed me another one she had made herself... she made it into a crazy quilt type block before she sewed it onto the front. It could be a great way to showcase some different decorative stitches... hand or machine!

O.K. as far as my weight... I had a sweet tooth last week and made what is like Yummy Zonkers in the store... or for you who don't know what those are... it's basically a sweetened popcorn not Carmel... but just as good! I pigged out and now of course... I have to suffer the consequence's... Which means that I've gain a couple pounds back that I lost... I want to get past this and onto a better loss record. Guess I need to work harder!

A while back I said that I would post some of my before pictures of my sewing room and well I've straightened (that's a word meaning I did some and not a lot of finding out where things are again!) but it will always need more. It's my room and if DH doesn't like the way it looks... well he just stays away from it... probably a lot safer for him too... We wouldn't want him getting lost in there! I might never find him!

More later...

Surprise Posting in the Middle of the Week... Will Wonders Never Cease

2009-04-15T11:23:00.002-06:00

All right all you quilters, and fabric junkies... Mrs.Schmenkman is having a 2 year blog anniversary... You need to go check it out! Plus by posting this I get another entry into her give away! Goodie, Goodie.... see I try all sorts of ways to get/find fabric without spending $$$$... Good Luck People!
http://mrsschmenkmanquilts.wordpress.com/2009/04/14/it-is-all-about-the-cotton/#comment-2539
And Congratulations again to Mrs. S... on her lovely COTTON ANNIVERSARY!!!

Will there be cake? Angel Food of course... better for us and all!