Prim2Pink

Jordan's Desk

2012-01-23T01:30:00.001-05:00

This will be a quick post to show you the desk that I painted for my grandaughter. She wanted lots of bright colors. So I painted it with some of the purple from her walls and some pink, green and light blue. I knew she would have stuff sitting on her desk so I just painted some simple flowers in the corners. She was very happy with it.

While we were upstairs painting Kelly's room, we also painted the landing room (the area at the top of the stairs). There isn't much room in that space but I fit a twin bed up there for when one of the other grandkids come to stay. The armoire was my husbands when he was a small boy. As you can tell, this is called the 'monkey' room. I have a small collection of sock monkeys. Kelly took these pictures and you can't see that I have sock monkey ornies on my little tree too.

See the green wall in the next room? That is Kelly's room. I will post about it next.

Meanwhile...This is our next project.........

MY NEW CRAFT ROOM !!!!!

I'm really anxious to get this room done. All my sewing and painting supplies have been packed away and I really would like to get them out again soon. Even though I'm having a lot of fun picking out colors and figuring out where I'm going to put everything.
Now you know what I've been doing on these cold snowy days.

Bonnie's Stools are Done

2011-12-30T23:50:00.001-05:00

Remember these?

This is a picture of one of Bonnie's barstools and Jordan's desk that I had started awhile back.

I did get them all painted right before Thanksgiving, but I sent them home before I got some pictures of them.

Well I did get some pictures of Bonnie's barstools. They were a lot of fun to paint. They started out as plain black stools. I sanded them down a little and applied a gold crackle paint over the legs. Bonnie likes a very primitive look, so I distressed them a little more and then antiqued them with a wood stain.

And next was the tops.
I haven't done any decorative painting for awhile. I guess I just got a little tired of it and started sewing instead. I seem to do that a lot...go in spurts with one craft then another. But while I was painting these stools I realized that I really miss painting.
Anyways... I think you might like to see the tops, right?
Bonnie likes roosters and her kitchen was just redone with reds and gold colors. You might remember the cupboards that we redid in an antique red.
OK OK here are the tops of the stools.

Bonnie and my son, Tom loved them. I had to explain to Tom that I put a couple of coats of clear on them to help keep them from scratching. He wasn't going to let anyone sit on them. LOL

I got Jordan's desk done too, but I can't find those pictures yet. I'll keep looking.

My daughter Tammi and I have redone Kelly's room too. We decided to start at the top of the house and work our way down with some very much needed updating of my home. There should be plenty of pictures to come.

My goal this year is to get some projects finished that I've started. It looks like another busy year again for me.

I hope everyone is having a great time during these holidays!

This project is linked to: http://missmustardseed.com/2011/12/favorite-furniture-of-2011-friday/

I know, I know

2011-11-30T23:21:00.001-05:00

I'm beginning to sound like an old broken record. I have been lurking around and once in awhile you might have noticed that I've commented on some of your blogs, but I sure have neglected my blog this time. Anyways....
Today was the first day that we've all had school and work closings. Not because of the first snow that we got, but mostly because it started out as rain yesterday and that made frozen, slick roads this morning. I guess that means that ole man winter has finally arrived. Yuck! You would have thought that I could've gotten some things done around the house. But that didn't happen. I spent a lot of time picking up wet gloves and hats from the grandkids. It seems that the wet snow is packing really well and they keep going back outside to build a snow fort. I did get some peanut butter cookies made to go with the hot cocoa they enjoyed.
I really have been quite busy these last couple of months. My daughter and I have remodeled Kelly's bedroom and the upstairs landing. I'll post about that soon. And I've gotten some things painted. I need to get some pictures taken and then I can tell you more about it all. So until then...
Stay warm!!

2011-11-22T22:42:00.002-05:00

Did you miss me? I know you did!! LOL

2011-04-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

I've been kinda busy! REALLY!!! But I still don't know how February & March could have come and gone so fast.

My nephew was seriously hurt a couple of weeks ago and we've all been pretty worried on his outcome. He did have to have a finger amputated and will probably have some therapy for his hand. All of his other wounds seem to be healing OK so far. God had him in his prayers that evening.

On to some fun stuff!
I was in a Spring Swap with a few of the girls on the PrimPals forum. My partner was Casey at Olde Spoon River Homestead. I sent her these items.

I made the embroidered lavender sachet and the button sheep. While out on some of my antiquing excursions, I found a small red painted bowl, a soy candle, a rusty bell and the penny rug. She was very pleased with what I sent her, especially the penny rug.
This is what I recieved from here!

Isn't everything just adorable? I loved it all! I had to make myself a cup of the Vanilla Chai tea right away. It was yummy. I didn't have a lot of Spring decorations, so I put them on display right away too! Thank you Casey ! That was a fun swap!

Brenda over at Pine Tree Prims is swapping or selling some of her items and I asked to swap for the cutest little suitcase.

and I got an extra cute pincushion too.
I sent her a mustard & black tablemat that I made (I forgot to take a picture, darn). It was a lot of fun. I think she still has some more things that she would like to trade or sell. Go visit her blog and check them out.

I have been pretty busy these last few weeks. After everyone got over the nasty flu bug, I finished sewing the rest of the pinwheel blocks for Brenda's quilt. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to put them together.

I've also been doing some painting.
Tom & Bonnie's hutch came out really well. She was so anxious to get started on her decorating now that the walls, cupboards & hutch are finished. Everything looks just prim perfect.

Of coarse Jordan just had to be in the picture. She is our 'princess' after all.

My current projects, besides trying to get caught up on all the BOMs and finishing up Brenda's quilt are these:

Doesn't look like much yet, do they? These are the 2 barstools I want to paint for Bonnie and a small desk that I'm painting for Jordan. They're in the priming stage pictured there. Jordan is getting her bedroom redone and we have started redoing Kelly's room too. Jordon's Mom is repainting her room and she got some new white furniture too. Kelly's room is being rebuilt. We have torn out a wall between her room and another. Now her room will be twice as big. I've got lots of work ahead on that project.

I hope I can keep up a little better on my posts. I'll try! I promise!

It's been one of those kinda nights

2011-02-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

Tonight is Friday Night SewIn and I had big plans a couple of days ago. Now I have a sinus cold and I'm finding it difficult to sew with watery eyes and a drippy nose. But I was determined to get something done! I wanted to work on the pinwheel quilt I'm making for my sister. So I got one of the blocks cut out and the four corner blocks sewn together. When I tried to get the pinwheel figured out it wouldn't go together right. I had sewed all four of the blocks with the orange & white fabrics in the wrong place. All of the seams had to be taken apart! Then when I sewed them back together again, I noticed that I had tore the orange fabric when I had ripped it apart on 1 of the blocks. Now I have to cut some more orange. Got them all sewed together again & was squaring them off to a 6" square and 1 of the blocks was too small! Dang, must've sewn my seam too big. Back to more ripping apart & I have to be careful this time cause I know I don't have any extra hummingbird fabric if I tear that fabric. (cough cough sneeze) Whew finally got it all sewed together! The points aren't coming together very well but I know Brenda won't care. TA DA Here it is!

Now I'm exhausted!! That's it for me tonight. I'm going to write this post yet tonight and schedule it for tomorrow cause I plan on sleeping in late. I'm going to go take some cold medicine and go to bed.
Nighty Night!

Judy

Friday Night Sew-In time again

2011-02-08T23:27:00.000-05:00

It's Friday Night Sew-In time again!

Visit Bobbi's blog & she will tell you all about it.

Judy

What else can you do when it's Super Bowl time?

2011-02-06T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well I'm going to tell you what I sent to Amy for our swap!
She let me know that she received my package and she liked it all.
I think she liked the crow & sunflower spring makedo the best. She collects crow (you would know that if you checked out her blog. LOL)

I also sent a prim ladybug for the doll we were supposed to include.

But MY favorite thing that I sent her was the candlestick.

But look!

I have another one that I can paint for myself!

I'm glad that she liked everything and it was a very fun swap. Now I need to get some Easter Eggs done for another swap! But first...

I have to show you what my youngest granddaughter has made on her new sewing machine.

She made a rag quilt tablemat for her Mom and a scarf for her friend at school. She was a really quick learner. My older granddaughter is learning to crochet. What is really funny is that Jordan (the youngest) was spending the night last weekend & during the night she was having a nightmare. She would keep screaming "NO NO". Finally I woke her up & asked her what was wrong. Her reply was " Gramma I was having a bad dream. I made a great big raggy quilt for the bed and when I was finished I found a mistake in the middle & I had to take it all apart". OH MY GOSH!! Now I'm giving my grandkids nightmares. Her Mom just fell on the floor laughing.
Speaking of raggy quilts...I don't think I showed you the quilt I finally finished a few weeks ago. Jordan's birthday quilt!

Grampy went outside today with Angie, Tammi and the grandkids & had some fun in the snow!

Do you see the tunnel they dug through the pile of snow?
They might be having a blast in this snow, but I'm longing for the hyacinths to be peeking out from under it.

Well I think I'm going to work on those Easter eggs while I watch the end of the football game! That's the only part I like (the end) LOL

My Swap Goodies Are Here!

2011-02-05T20:34:00.000-05:00

My swap goodies are here!
I participated in a swap that Tammy of A Primitive Place had organized and my swap partner was Amy of At Home With Amy. BTW, if you haven't visited either of these ladies blogs than you are missing out. They are both great ladies.
My goodies could not have come at a better time!
I've been a little under the weather these last couple of days. You know, the sore throat , runny nose kinda thing. I laid down on the couch to get a little rest & must have fell asleep. Next thing I knew, our dog was jumping up at me and barking. She had to go potty, so I drug myself up and went to the door to let her out. When I opened the door there was a package on the step with my name in big bold letters. I grabbed the box and ALMOST skipped to the table to get something to open it with. I couldn't believe all the really nice things that she sent me. I would Ohh & Ahh each time I found something new to open. We were to send each other a doll and 2 other prim items. This is what I received....

Isn't it all just wonderful? I love the prairie doll that she got me and the towel & sign that she stenciled.

The stitchery that she made is just perfect for in my kitchen.

So are the melts and I was really hoping she would send some of her dried oranges.

Now check out this fabric box! Cool heh?

This all sure made my day!! Thanks Amy!
I had a lot of fun joining in on this swap. I will post a picture of what I sent her when I know that she has received it. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for her. {{Hope she likes everything}}

Judy

Snow!!!

2011-02-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

Snow, snow and even more SNOW!!!

I'm wondering if we will ever get to use our swimming pool?

Angie is actually standing on the deck, there is a step down to where this snow is.

At least we can get out our back door now!
We are still under a #1 snow emergency. But we actually were pretty lucky!
Just an hour south of us is where they started getting the sleet & ice. Indianapolis got even more ice. There are a lot of power outages there.
I would rather have snow than ice!

Everyone stay safe!

What have I been doing?

2011-01-23T15:28:00.002-05:00

Well let me show you!
Not only have I been keeping my sewing machine a humming.
See some of the quilt blocks I've done in the post below. But I've also been sewing on some things for a swap (that I can't show you just yet, sorry)
AND...
All last week we (Bonnie, Tammi, Tom & I) have been fixing up Tom & Bonnie's kitchen! They really liked the Kitchen hutch that I just painted for my kitchen and asked if I could do that to their hutch too and maybe their cupboards also. You could probably guess what I said. "SURE I can do all that". And so the kitchen redo began to happen!

Sorry I didn't get any BEFORE pictures, but we were so excited to get started that I forgot. The before cupboards were a very dark stained wood. We took all the doors off the cabinets and brought them to my house so we could work on them in my garage. The grandkids helped me with the sanding & the first coat of paint. Tammi came over to help with the sanding & painting too. In the meantime Bonnie & Tom stripped the wallpaper border and painted the walls a deep gold color. It turned out beautifully. Then I took the cupboard doors back to their house to finish up. It would be better for them to dry with the staining if they were already hung. Bonnie & Tom like the more primitive or rustic look so we roughed up the cupboards before we put the stain on. This is the finish that Tammi, Bonnie and I accomplished.
Click on any of the pictures to make bigger.

Here is the finished cupboards.

They are going to put wood floors in some day.
She is decorating her kitchen with roosters. Here is Kelly showing off some of Bonnie's decorating.

I We think it turned out perfect!
They brought the kitchen hutch to my house yesterday. Now I'm going to work on it with the same colors. This is what it looks like now...dust & all.
The top...

and the bottom...

Did you happen to notice the black barstools in the picture with Kelly? I would like to paint those to. With a mustard or black on the legs & a rooster on the seats. That will be a surprise for them.
Well that's why I haven't been posting as much as I would have liked to.

Now I better get to sanding!

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-01-22T19:01:00.002-05:00

Last night was the Friday Night Sew-In for January. I actually got to get some sewing done last night! Last month I signed up but something came up & I didn't get anything done. It has been so cold outside these last couple of days that I was determined to stay inside where it was nice & warm.
I joined in on a couple of BOMs (block of the month) again this year and was already falling behind. Last night I got the fabrics out for the Layer Cake Quilt Along and started making some of the blocks. Before I knew it, I had four of the blocks finished! Now I'm only two blocks behind. I had to order some more fabric before I could make anymore. I'm making my quilt with some Halloween fabrics and I didn't have as many as I thought I did and they are hard to find in the stores this time of year LOL.
This is block # 1
I could not get my points to come out right. Good enough for me this time.

Block #2
This is my favorite so far.

Block #3
I'm going to embroider a spider & web in the corner of the handle on this basket.

Block #6

I also got the first block finished on the Birdie Stitches Quilt Along.

I'm doing all my embroideries in shades of red. Then I'm going to be using some beadwork & buttons.

You can find these Quilt Alongs on my sidebar if you would like to follow along too.

I was the big winner at the 'Be Mine Blog Tour'! WAHOO!!!!!!!!

I won a $100 gift certificate to use at The Fat Quarter Shop. Can you believe that? It took awhile for me to actually believe it. So today I went SHOPPING at their online shop. Goodness that was a chore (too many pretty fabrics to choose from) but sooooooo much fun! I'm getting a jelly roll for the postage stamp quilt, some Halloween fabrics for my Layer Cake Quilt, a layer cake of Dilly Dally for Kelly's birthday quilt and some fabrics that I really liked. Now I shouldn't have any excuse to not get things done.

Now I'm going to go check out what some of the others have been doing for the Friday Night Sew Along.

Have a great evening!

Hi My name is Judy

2011-01-06T19:10:00.006-05:00

I'm not very good at "tooting my own horn" but I'll give it a try.

I've been married to my high school sweetheart for 44 years. We have 4 kids ( 3 girls and the youngest is the boy) and 3 grandkids (2 girls & 1 boy)... well actually 4, my son's fiancee has a girl too. My middle daughter is mildly mentally handicapped and she has one of my granddaughters. They both live with us. So I will never have an Empty Nest. But that's good because I didn't like the QUIET when they were all gone.
We live in an old house on 22 acres of ground that once belonged to my Hubby's grandfather. We also have our own private lake that the whole family likes to play on.
I have been doing something crafty my whole life. I remember making Barbie doll clothes when I was just old enough to thread a needle. Now I'm passing that on to the grandkids. They love to come to my house to make stuff. There aren't too many crafts that I haven't tried. But there are a few & I'm sure I will try most of them before I'm gone. I had my own little shop for awhile & taught decorative painting for about 5 years.
I Love to paint!
Here are some things that I've painted:

I also like to sew:

I also like to mosaic, embroider, crazy quilt, crochet, rug hook and so many more.

I love to garden and do a lot of canning each fall.
And I love to decorate my home with shabby primitives & antiques with a bit of pink & aqua thrown in.

These are things that I like or collect:

wool & anything made with wool
purple cow collection
Longaberger basket collection
pink & blue Fiestaware
jadite
redware
aprons
stitcheries
bluebirds / cardinals
doilies
crocks
quilts
wooden bowls
pillows
ornies for my little tree
Hall Crocus dinnerware
snowmen
salt glazed pottery
vintage canning jars
handmade dolls
plants / seeds
potpourri
chocolate
almonds
rolling pins
favorite colors: pink, aqua, sage green, barn red, mustard & purple

Wow, guess I should've just listed the things I don't like:
rhubarb, Americana, sushi, fruit scented candles

I've been put on a gluten free diet due to my intolerance of wheat, barley & rye. But that's not all bad cause it has helped me in my weight loss journey.

Well that's all I can think of to tell you about my 60 year old self!

Interested in winning a quilt pattern?

2011-01-04T18:45:00.002-05:00

For all you seamstresses...check out the blog from these generous ladies.

They are giving us all the opportunity to try and win the ENTIRE set of Springtime BOM patterns.

They say it's there biggest giveaway ever!
http://www.gumtree-designers.com/2011/01/its-our-biggest-giveaway-ever.html

I wish you good luck...but not too much cause I really would like to win.

Another year has come & gone

2010-12-31T13:02:00.000-05:00

I've finally got a chance to sit & chat. It seems like this Holiday season went by like a whirlwind.
As I sit here right now, it is thundering outside and RAINING!
WHAT??!!! In the middle of winter in Indiana? What a muddy mess!
I just hope that it doesn't freeze later this evening. I hope everyone has a SAFE New Years trip home.

Christmas was great this year! I enjoyed having the whole family with me on Christmas Eve. This year it was a little difficult for me to find presents for the grandkids. They are ages from 8 to 11. Too big for little kid toys and I can't afford all the electronics that they wanted. So besides the usual hat & gloves, they got remote control helicopters, fingernail kits and these buggs. They were a great hit.
My youngest granddaughter did get a new sewing machine from Santa. Her Mom thought it would get more use at my house, so she has brought it to Grandmas to learn on. We have been straightening out my craftroom so we can put her new machine, my older machine (for the other granddaughter) & my sewing machine all in a row on my table. I can see an all-night sew-along in the near future! LOL

My 60th Birthday was on the 19th too! I still can't believe that! I sure don't feel like 60! I don't mind being older except that means that our loved ones are getting older too. My father has already gone to Heaven and I miss him immensely. And to see my Mom & my In-laws get older and more frail is very heartwrenching. Thoughts like this seem to enter my head as every new year begins. Then I think of all the good times that we all spent together. I'm very blessed to have my whole family close by.
2010 was a wonderful year and I look forward to whatever 2011 brings!

I have several thank yous for gift swaps & winnings that I need to catch up on after the holidays. I really do appreciate it all and I'm sorry I didn't get things posted promptly. That will be one of my resolutions this year...Keep my Blog Posts up to date! Oh Dummy Me! Why can't I just get started now? I am such a procrastinator! Here goes..........
I was in a stocking swap over on Noelle's blog Lil Bits and Pieces of Me.

My swap partner was Melanie. Check out her blog, Country Roads. I was so excited to get it mailed out that I forgot to take a picture, so I'm going to borrow the one that Melanie took. This is what I sent to Melanie.

I made her a blue & silver raggy quilt stocking and stuffed it with this cute kitty trinket box and kitty in a basket ornament and some fruity candies.

Melanie is expecting her first baby soon. So I made a little stuffed kitty for the little one too.

This is Kelly (GD#1) modeling what I recieved from Melanie. I had to keep reminding her that they were mine.

The scarf & gloves are so warm & fuzzy. I've used them a couple of times already. I also got the cutest crocheted snowman ornament. It was the first to go on my tree this year.

Now I hope I remember all of the giveaway winnings that I was blessed with recently. I know I should have posted these right away so as not to forget anyone. But they will have to wait until later.
Now I have to go get some ham rollups made and get ready for the New Year's Party.

Be safe this New Years Eve!

New lights for the Tree

2010-12-13T00:58:00.000-05:00

Every year for the last couple of years, I have gotten the Christmas tree completely decorated only to find that a couple of days later there is a strand of lights that doesn't want to stay lit. How frustrating! So this year I decided we needed new lights. I always put multi-colored lights on the tree before but I really wanted a complete change. I wanted something that would go with all my snowman ornaments. It was either going to be all white or all blue. I chose to get some LED lights in BLUE. The grandkids helped me do the tree decorating this year, so they wrapped all the lights on the tree and we plugged them in. OMG...LED lights are so much brighter! It took me a little while to get used to all the blueness. But I think I like it!

What I'm not sure about is the effect on my ceiling. Look at this!

It reminds me of a Disco. LOL Especially with the star that blinks too.
It definately is a change from before. The grandkids love it!
I'm sure I will too after I get all the ornaments on it.

Quick, quick, quick

2010-12-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hurry on over to Janette Mallory's blog and sign up for her giveaway to win these beautiful candlesticks! But you do have to hurry, because today is the last day!

AND THE WINNER IS...

2010-12-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

My grandson Zack wanted to help me pick a winner today. After we cut all the papers and wrote down the names. He folded them all up and put them in our Santa hat.

See the sparkle in his eye? :o}
Well maybe it's just the camera flash reflection, but I think it's a sparkle.
This is the name he drew out of the hat...

Prim in the Country !!
If you would send an email to me with your address and which snowlady you prefer ( the primitive or the pink), I will get them sent off to you right away! Congratulations!!

js_prim2pink@yahoo.com

A little Peace & Quiet

2010-11-29T14:22:00.001-05:00

I really enjoyed having everyone over for the big Thanksgiving dinner and then watching all the grandkids the next day, while their Mom's went shopping.
But I am really enjoying today!
Kelly is back in school. The kids are all back to work. My hubby has been out in his garage all day cleaning and I have the house to myself!
After getting everybody sent off to where they were going this morning, I decided to do some blog hopping.
What a Great Day!
I ordered some fabrics from This n That Fabrics. They are having a cyber sale this morning. I had so much on my list that I had to go back through it and remove a few items before I ordered. Then when I read my email...
I found out that I won a $25 gift certificate at their store. So now I can get a few of the items I had to remove. Yippee!

Not only that, but when I got to Madalynne's blog "Pineapple Primitives", I was lucky enough to be one of the first 12 readers of her blog this Monday morning and I won one of her little Teddy Bear ornaments.
Somebody pinch me!

You have to go see the reindeer family that she has made.

A couple of weeks ago I won one of Deborah's birthday giveaways. Her blog is WoolenSails. She has some freebie Santa patterns that you can cross stitch or needlepunch posted on her blog right now if you are interested.

I chose this rooster pattern. I plan on doing some rug hooking after Christmas.

Now I better go get some cleaning done in my craftroom. After I do my route tonight, I'm going to get lost in there for a few days. I have some things I would like to get done for Christmas presents and I still have a blanket I promised to make for Jordan's birthday last month. She did help me pick the fabrics out and I got them all cut last Friday. She said she wanted me to wrap it up & give it to her on Cristmas, so she could have one extra present more than the other two did. She's always trying to do one better than them. I guess that comes from being the youngest. :o}

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway if you haven't already!

Giveaway Reminder

2010-11-21T12:30:00.000-05:00

To show my appreciation to my followers, I am having this Giveaway!
I cannot tell you enough how very grateful I am that there are people that actually think that I am interesting enough to stop in from time to time and see what I have to write about. Thanks!!
Since Christmas is right around the corner, I've given this giveaway that Holiday theme. I've made a little yoyo candle mat and a grungy snowlady doll. There will be a couple of little extra surprises too.

USA and Canadian entries only! I really wish that shipping wasn't so expensive and I could include others.
This giveaway ends on December 1.

Here is what you need to do to enter:

1. You need to be a follower!
I adore all of the followers I have now, but wouldn't mind a few more. :o}
2. You need to leave a comment on this post or the original post below.
What are your favorite Christmas decorations? Santa, nativities, penguins?

That's it! But if you would like an extra entry than you could:

3. Post this giveaway to your blog!

I am posting my giveaway again on this post because the original post seems to have gotten hidden amongst my other posts.
All entries from both posts will be counted. You do not need to comment on both posts, only one please.

Also...
If primitive isn't your 'cup of tea' then I will also have this little lady and a pink pennyrug to choose from.

It will be your choice if you are the winner!

Happy Holidays to you all and Good Luck!

Friday Night Sew In

2010-11-20T11:16:00.001-05:00

I didn't get a lot accomplished for my Friday night Sew-in. I did get my fabrics prewashed & dryed. Then I was cutting away at the squares when my doorbell rang. Company dropped by! So I will have to try again tonight. I would like to get the squares all sandwiched together tonight. If you're not familiar about raggy quilts, it takes 3 squares of fabrics that are sewn together with an X, then you sew those squares together with the seams showing on the right side. After that you clip, clip, clip! When you wash it the seams wil fray and make a soft seam.
This is a close-up of another quilt that I already had done.

These are the squares that I have cut for Jordan's quilt.

The middle fabric of the squares isn't seen,except for in the frayed seams, so I can usally use some leftover fabrics that have the same colors for those. I intended on using the bright green with dots & the snowman fabrics for the middle fabrics. But when I asked Jordan to check out the colors I had picked out, guess what? Those were the first two fabrics picked out that she liked. LOL Looks like I'm putting a couple of snowmen on the backside of her quilt.

That's all I have to show you today.
I'm going to be leaving to go to a Christmas Open House Show soon.
Hopefully I can get back to work on this quilt later this evening.

Click on the Friday Night Sew In banner on my sidebar to see who has joined in on the fun.
Have a Good Day!!!

My granddaughters project

2010-11-19T20:29:00.001-05:00

Tonight is Friday Night Sew-In and I am going to be heading to my craftroom for the night soon. I am going to be working on the rag quilt that I promised my youngest granddaughter. Then I will have to get my oldest granddaughter's quilt done. But first I had to show you what the two girls are working on.
They knew that I was going to be sewing and asked me if there was something that they could do. So I told them to go in the craftroom and find something, but I wouldn't be able to help them much. They came out a few minutes later with this...

and wanted to know if they could make him some clothes. They found a doll that I had started and was going to make into a Santa. I hesitated at first, then said OK. I just asked them to show me the material they wanted to use first, to make sure it wasn't something that I had plans for. They are both busy working away.

I have already decided that this is going to be one prim doll that I will keep forever.

I better get to work myself now! I'll show you the finished doll when they're done.

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway! Just click the button on my sidebar for my 100th follower giveaway and post your comment on that post.

Is it Friday yet? What, I missed it! Giveaway

2010-11-15T22:22:00.001-05:00

Well I have a kinda good excuse for missing it. Maybe!
First I need to backtrack a bit. {{The giveaway will be at the end of this post...I promise}}
Years ago, I had decorated my home with a more country look. Then a couple years ago I decided I needed a change. Everything was browns or greens and so blah. I thought I was missing some color. So I packed everything away and started decorating with the Shabby Chic style, with lots of roses and pinks and aqua. My family came home one day while I was painting my kitchen walls AQUA and said they felt like they walked into a fish bowl. When I painted my cupboards a white with pink crackle finish, I think they were about to commit me to the old peoples home. I thought it was very pretty...for a while. I soon got tired of the frilly look. I really missed having my crocks on display and it wasn't as fun going to the antique stores or junking. What I missed most of all was the PRIMITIVES.
My daughter and I went to Shipshewana on Thursday to find a present for my other daughter's birthday. We found a big wooden bowl for her to put on her dining table, but I also noticed their rag rugs. I found one that had the perfect colors in it.

Right then & there I decided I was going to redecorate my kitchen~!!
I bought the rug and took it home to try and decide what color I would paint the walls. That same night, I made a trip to the hardware store to get some color cards and buy some paint samples. I painted a few swatches of the two samples I got.

Didn't like either one of them, but I did see the perfect color in the color cards. It's called "Agave". A little hard to describe. It's a bluish, greenish, grey color that is darker than anything I've painted on my walls before. There are stripes of this same color in the rug.
So I have spent ALL weekend painting!
I didn't realize I had so much stuff, until I had to move it all. Then you have to clean it before you put it back. I'm gradually bringing my primitives, crocks and antiques out of the storage cupboards. It's feeling much more like home now!
Next comes new curtains. I bought the material today. I will post more pictures when I get things finished.
I got so involved in my kitchen redo that I totally forgot about my giveaway.

Now to get back to what you may be waiting for...MY GIVEAWAY for getting 100 followers!!!

To show my appreciation to my followers, I am having this Giveaway!
I cannot tell you enough how very grateful I am that there are people that actually think that I am interesting enough to stop in from time to time and see what I have to write about. Thanks!!
Since Christmas is right around the corner, I've given this giveaway that Holiday theme. I've made a little yoyo candle mat and a grungy snowlady doll. There will be a couple of little extra surprises too.

USA and Canadian entries only! I really wish that shipping wasn't so expensive and I could include others.
This giveaway ends on December 1.

Here is what you need to do to enter:

1. You need to be a follower!
I adore all of the followers I have now, but wouldn't mind a few more. :o}
2. You need to leave a comment on this post only!
What are your favorite Christmas decorations? Santa, nativities, penguins?

That's it! But if you would like an extra entry than you could:

3. Post this giveaway to your blog!

Happy Holidays to you all and Good Luck!

And the first winner is.....

2010-11-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

I had my dear Hubby pick a number from 1 to 29 and he picked number ELEVEN. And who was number eleven out of the 29 entries?

LESLIE LEMKE - CRAFTY MOM

Congratulations Leslie!! If you would send me an email with your mailing address, I will get it to you right away.
She is a fantastic lady. You should go give her a visit at her blog.
http://craftymom03.blogspot.com/

I'll be posting my second giveaway on Friday.

Would you like to see...

2010-11-05T13:08:00.000-04:00

Would you like to see the cute little ornie that I received from Tammy at The Primitive Place?

We were two of the participants of an ornie swap that Wendy of Ravenwood Whimzies had put together. Tammy was my secret swap partner. Her doll ornie has already found it's spot on my little tree. I really like that she isn't too Christmasy and I can keep her out all year long. Thanks Tammy!!!
Now I have to tell you a funny story about her ornie (hope you don't mind Tammy).
This was the picture that I first took of the doll ornie.
You don't see anything wrong do you?

Well my daughter did !!
She looked at the picture nonchalantly and said "Is it smoking a cigarette?"
"WHAT?"
We both had to go into the kitchen and take a second look at her...
No she wasn't smoking. What we saw was the little jute string that was tied around her neck holding her bonnet on. It was poking up in front of her face.
Oh my gosh! Not only did this little ornie give me joy when I opened the package, but she gave us a chuckle a few days later too.

I have signed up for the November Friday Night Sew-in that Heidi and Bobbi have organized. This will be my first time. It sounds like a lot of fun & a great way to get the mojo to finish some of those Christmas gifts I need to do.
Would you like to know what it is all about?
On Friday 11/19, you spend some time in your craft space and work on your projects. Then on Saturday you post about what you have done on your blog. You can post some pictures on the FNSI Flickr group also. On Sunday they will draw a name from the particapants to win a prize (4 prizes this month). There will be a MrLinky list for you to go visit the other participants.
The FNSI Giveaway this month is sponsored by Me and My Sister Designs. Me and My Sister Designs have created many adorable lines of fabric for Moda.
If you would like to join in on the fun then go to Heidi's blog:
Handmade by Heidi

Don't forget to sign up for the first of my giveaways!!

MY FIRST GIVEAWAY IS A QUICKIE !!

2010-11-03T00:17:00.001-04:00

I've decided to have two giveaways to celebrate my reaching 100 followers. This is the first of the two and it is only going to last for one week. This way the winner will receive it before Thanksgiving.
First, I would like to let all of my followers know that I appreciate them very much. I look forward to signing on to the computer after a busy day and visiting with my buddies. Now, onto the prize....

I have made a little "Thank You for being my Follower" stitchery! But you can use it as a Thanksgiving display too.

Isn't he cute?
If you would like to be entered in this giveaway, these are the rules:

Entries will be excepted for this giveaway until November 9th.

You have to live in the United States or Canada (sorry, but the shipping rates are too expensive for International).

You must be a follower of my blog.

You must leave a comment on this post only.

And if you'd like an extra chance, you could post my giveaway on your blog.

Little kitty & his punkin were handstitched by me. In the distressed black frame, it measures 6"x8". It is my version of a pattern from Chestnut Junction. You should give them a visit. They have some great patterns and Freebies too.
I liked this guy so much that I'm going to make one for myself too!

Again I would like to say a BIG Thank you to all of my followers!

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T23:08:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone has had a Spooktacular weekend! My family has a get-together for this holiday instead of taking the kids trick-or-treating every day. This year we put up a huge tent and had lots of activities and decorations outside. Here are some of the pictures I have now.

My son's dog, Emerson in his devil outfit.

Some of the food that we made:
deviled egg eyeballs and monster sloppy joes

cut-out cheese slices and a white chocalate covered spoon with yogurt, a mandarin orange & pineapple. These were really yummy.

cream cheese stuffed ham fingers

and lots of deserts

Some of the decor in the corner of the tent

I will post about our party again when I get more pictures.

This was after pumpkin carving day!

Now I know you are wondering.....
WHAT ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY?

I haven't forgot! I've just got a little side-tracked with this Halloween party. So I've decided to have two giveaways!!
The first one I will post on Tuesday. It will be a quick one that will only run for a few days because it will have Thanksgiving items in it.
The next one will run a little longer and it will be Christmas themed.
I think you will be happy with what I have chose.

Have a Safe and Happy Halloween!!!

I've been pretty lucky!

2010-10-02T23:13:00.001-04:00

I've won a few giveaways this month!

The first one was from the Gum Tree Designers for their 1st Birthday givaway. I won Dawn Hays bundle of goodies.

I love the cute seam ripper and the toffee (that came all the way from Australia) was deelish!!!
Be sure to check out there blog!
They are going to have some Christmas Freebies starting in October.

The next one was from Deb at A Fine Feathered Nest.
She made this adorable Christmas tin that is a tealight holder.

She loves the shabby style and makes lovely handpainted roses. I can't wait to add it to my Christmas decor.

The next one is from Leslie at "The Crafty Mom" blog.

She has been a prim blog friend of mine for a quite a while. What a pleasant lady to chat with. These are the goodies that she sent to me.
The votive candle smells wonderful & the little ceramic punkin is perfect for my shelf.

Just today, I found out that I've won the giveaway at Hearthside Happenings too.

Jacki has some great primitive items for sale in her two shops. You should go check it out (She has another giveaway going again also. You'll see it on my sidebar). Can't wait to get this in the mail.

Did you notice that I have reached 100 followers?
WAHOO !!!
I am going to get my own giveaway put together and I will be posting about it in a few days. I'm thinking it will be something for the Autumn season and also something to decorate for Thanksgiving.
First I have to finish canning some apples, freezing some pumpkin puree and making grape jelly.
Hummm, I hope my sewing machine hasn't seized up from just sitting there, not being used :o}

I love how the cabinet makeover turned out

2010-09-23T20:21:00.000-04:00

Things are finally starting to calm down a little. The grandkids are all back in school now. The canning is starting to dwindle down. I just have some apples to do next, then later in the winter I will can some jellies from the berries I've put in the freezer. I've been spending so much time in the kitchen lately, that I've decided to spiff things up a bit and get some painting finished that I started awhile ago. I have one more wall to paint aqua then I decided to bring in an old cabinet and fix it like I want it.
These are the pieces of furniture that I worked with...
This cabinet was in my kitchen, but I was using it for food storage instead of for decorating.

My daughter had given me this end table.

I wanted to swap this endtable for the bottom of the cabinet, because it was deeper from front to back & then use the bottom of the cabinet to make a bar for the middle of the kitchen.
I had to add some new legs to the end table to make it a bit higher and swapped the handles from one to the other. Then I painted it RED. After I distressed it and put a stain over the red to antique it...I LOVE IT !!!

Now I have it full of decor.

The bottom of the cabinet to the hutch is also going to get the same red paint, but I plan on putting a larger top on it that will hang over on one side. Then I'm going to get a couple of stools to put under that side. This will give us a place to sit and I can take the table out of the room that is way to big. I haven't found what I can use for the top yet. Looks like I need to do some garage saleing.
OK. my TV show is on.
I hope to be posting a little more often.
Have a good night!

Holiday is Over! Back to Work!

2010-09-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!
Ours was a very busy one.
Dear Hubby spent most of his time at a big event that happens near here, the annual Auburn Cord Duesenberg Days. People from all over come to this huge Auction. He and a couple of his friends had some tents set up there to sell some of their old car parts. Our Grandson Zack looks forward to spending a whole day with them each year. The guys told Zack that they would give him a commission if he sold any of their things. He was quite the salesman, handing out free American flags too. Then whenever he got his commission, he would go around the corner to another tent that was selling 1/24th scale model cars (he has started a collection of these)and barter with them. I think he has watched to much "American Pickers" with his Grampy. LOL
On Saturday the whole family got together to celebrate my youngest granddaughter's birthday.

Her Mom & her Aunt Tammi love to make cute cupcakes. So for Jordan's cake she got Pink Flamingos. They were adorable!

She is quite the fisherman, so she loved the PINK fishing pole that her Mom & Dad got for her.

My grandson Zack's birthday was last June and I made him a blanket to curl up in while he watched TV.

I am going to make all three of them a blanket for their birthdays. But I told Jordan that hers was going to be a few days late, cause I've been so busy with canning lately that time just kinda snuck up on me. ((Bad Grandma)) I'll show you a pic when I get it finished.
After cake & ice cream, we all went to play some miniature golf (I lost big time) and then off to the gokart track.

Everyone had a great time!!!
Now the Holiday is over and I need to get back to work.

I am getting close

2010-09-05T00:24:00.000-04:00

I almost have 100 followers!! Yippeee!
If When I reach that goal..I will have a giveaway.
Let's see....I have a raggy quilt table mat already done that I can put in the goodies, but wait, it is in Autumn colors. Maybe I won't reach this goal till closer to Christmas. Hummmm. Guess I will have to wait and see. ;0{
Maybe it won't be until next Spring. I think I have been gone from the blogging world for too long. I hope I haven't lost any of my friends.

Summer is almost over?

2010-09-03T00:24:00.000-04:00

Don't get me wrong...I love Fall weather. But I am saddened that the summer time fun is coming to an end. We all had a lot of fun back at the lake this year. The grandkids were finally old enough and they all had learned to swim good enough, that we didn't have to worry as much when they were at the water. They got to learn how to row a boat...

put their own bait on the fishline, jump off the new swing over the water,

they helped me build a new raised garden,

helped Grampy build a new pole barn,

they went on several bike rides and they went on wonderful vacations.

Now they're all back in school and this is what they miss the most.
SLEEPING IN LATE!!!

I sure hope that Fall will stick around for awhile once it gets here. I'm not looking forward to what Winter usually brings.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Memorial Day Graphics - Myspace 2.0 Layouts

Gluten free & lovin' it

2010-08-29T20:17:00.000-04:00

I have been doing really good at sticking to this gluten free diet ( no wheat, rye, barley) and I've lost 20 pounds. WAHOO!! Come to find out that the bulging tummy that I have been so embarassed about, was actually just a lot of swelling & bloating from the irritated bowels. Now that I'm feeling better, I think I might use that ab lounge chair I bought several years ago(have to do some dusting first).
I was told I had celiac disease on the first of July and that I needed to change my eating habits. I won't lie...it was a little difficult at first. After about two weeks, we were having a cookout back at the lake and I thought to myself that just 1 hotdog bun wouldn't hurt me. Wow, I had a gut ache for 2 days after. Learned my lesson there! Now I am finally beginning to adjust. At first I went out and bought all kinds of premade GF mixes. Found some I liked and some that I hated! My daughter & I have been making a lot of our own GF things now. Our first attempt at homemade noodles didn't go well. They fell apart and were very tasteless. We'll try a different recipe next time until we find the one we like.
Then we tried a GF pizza crust. It was yummy and the whole family would eat it. That seems to be my biggest barrier right now...pleasing the whole family. But hey, I couldn't please everybody when everything was 'normal'.

Today, for the first time, I am trying to turn a regular recipe into a GF recipe. Sunrise Muffins!!!
First, I canned this Carrot-Pineapple-Orange Marmalade!

It is good enough to eat by the spoonful right out of the jar.

I found these recipes in the Ball Blue Book guide to preserving, 100 anniversary edition.

Then I used this recipe to make the muffins:

Muffins straight out of the oven!!
These turned out delicious!

Now it's time for supper...

Homemde spahetti sauce over Tinkyada GF spaghetti noodles with cheesy garlic bread (made with GF bread)and a salad.
Yummy! Now I'm hungry...got to go!

Yes I AM Still Here!

2010-08-23T19:31:00.000-04:00

August means Canning & Freezing almost every day!

Frozen zucchini, corn, green beans and lots of berries!

Tomatoes and stuff made with tomatoes (lots of Salsa)! Sweet relish, ham & beans, madiera mincemeat and more.

The start of my canned fruits...pears, cinnamon pears, amaretto pears, peaches(still have more to do), fruit cocktail! And the apples are just getting ready to pick.
I didn't take a picture of my jelly stash! Cherry, grape, raspberry.

I still have lots more to can & freeze, but it will be worth all the work come this winter!

My sister-in-law had a baby shower for her daughter a couple of weeks ago. She asked if I would make the cake and I said "sure!"
I love to decorate cakes, but this one was giving me fits. The bottom sheetcake did not rise right. Not sure why, but it was flat. I didn't want to stay up all night baking another one, so I bought a frozen one decorated with blue flowers. The duck cake that I made, turned out good. I placed it on top of the bought sheetcake and it looked really cute, UNTIL... the bottom cake thawed! The blue flowers started running down the sides of the cake. The new Mommy still loved it!

My daughters made duck cupcakes to go along with it. They were adorable too! (darn it! Those pictures are on my daughters camera)

I really am anxious to get back to sewing soon! I'm getting a little behind with the BOMs that I have started.

2010-07-03T14:25:00.000-04:00

I hope you all have a very safe and fun Holiday!!!

43 years ago

2010-06-27T19:13:00.002-04:00

Dear Hubby and I were married!!

A lot sure has happened in those 43 years...some good , some bad. I've been doing a lot of reminiscing(SP?) lately.
DH & I were high school sweethearts and we were married just a few weeks after he graduated.

OMG... we were so young! He was 17 and I was 16. The grandkids still don't believe that is us, LOL.

Things were a lot different way back then. You didn't get married, move into a fancy house, get brand new furniture & 2 new cars. NOPE.......I will never forget my first dream home.
We moved into an 8' X 24' travel trailer (half the size of our livingroom now) that we got to put on his great grampa's farm. His Aunt Marilyn and I went and bought some purple upholstery fabric and redid the sleeper sofa. The only other furniture I could fit in was a wooden rocker. I made some floral curtains for our only L/R window. Every appliance was "PINK". Yep pink sinks, pink stove, pink fridgerator (wish I still had that), pink toilet & pink tub. How cool was that! Isn't it funny how after 'several' different decorating styles, I've come full circle to this style again? Well almost anyway, don't think I want the pink toilet again LOL.

We were both to young to have REAL jobs right away, so I kept working in the concession stands at the racetrack(been doing that since I was 14) and DH worked cleaning and getting the track ready for the next week. My 2nd cousin owned the track and my Dad had been racing for a few years.

Hubby always said he married me cause my Daddy had a racecar (that and I had cute feet...hehehe) Racing is a whole other story someday.

As soon as DH turned 18 yrs.old, he got a job working at Kraft Foods making candy. Except for the free chocolate covered caramels that he brought home...I hated that job. I can still remember him coming home with that white uniform on (impossible to get that syrup cleaned out) and smelling "sickly sweet". That smell was really awful, especially when you're pregnant!! It wasn't long until the first child was born.

That was when......
THE FUN BEGINS !!!

I STILL LOVE MY HONEY BUNNY !!!

And these are supposed to be the golden years?

2010-06-13T02:42:00.000-04:00

I must find out who came up with this saying about the older years of your life. There idea of 'golden' has got to be different then what I was thinking. LOL
It seems that ever since I turned 50, I have come up with different ailments. The arthritis is getting worse, the low thyroid levels has now turned into a high thyroid level, the side effect from this is a problem with my eyes and just last Friday I was told I might have celiac disease (which means I am to go on a gluten-free diet). I sure am hoping that these last ten years have been the 'melting down of the gold' stage and when I turn 60 in December, I will have gotten to the 'precious jewel' stage. Now about this gluten-free diet...OMG! No donuts, no homemade bread, nothing with wheat, barley, oats & rye. This is not going to be easy. I had a birthday party for my daughter Steph on Friday...couldn't have cake or the beef & noodles for supper :0(
Went to a graduation party on Saturday...couldn't have cake again! Bummer !!!
This will be quite a challenge!
Tammi & I get together at least once a month to make homemade pastas, so I'm going to get some rice flour and try making them with that. I've been looking up some recipes to try. If anyone else has some good gluten-free recipes they would like to share, I sure would appreciate it. I haven't been deprived of everything that I like (Chocolate, veggie omelets or ice cream), so that should be OK. I have to admit that after just 3 days I am not feeling as bloated. I would like to find a good bread recipe for sandwichs. The rest of the family is going to be put on this diet too, whether they like it or not. And they are big sandwich eaters. Wish me luck !
Steph had a birthday Friday. The grandkids spent over an hour punching out little dots & tearing little pieces of paper for confetti to pour over her head when she walked in. She was quite surprised and the kids even swept up the mess afterwards.
All of the rest of the family was able to come over and have homemade beef & noodles, mashed potatos and corn for supper. She requested some homemade angelfood cake with CoolWhip frosting for her cake. Then everyone went back to the lake to try out the new swing that they made.

The pictures don't really show you how high it actually swings you out over the water. But it is quite a drop. They had a blast till the mosquitos swarmed in.
The next day we had a graduation party for my granddaughter-to-be. It turned out lovely except for a little mishap with the cake. Tom calls me a couple of hours before the party & says they have a "cake crisis" and can I come see if I can fix it. They had opened the box when they got home and noticed that the company that made there big sheet cake had put the graduation caps, the names and Congratulations on it and on the bottom they wrote PROM. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?? (sorry, no pics) He tried picking it off with a toothpick but it left a blue stain in the white frosting, right in front in the middle of the cake.
Writing more words over it wouldn't cover the stain. This party was for Mandy (girl) and her cousin Kyle (boy), so they really didn't want to put a bunch of flowers on it. We decided that we could make some diplomas and cover those marks up. Tom & I made a quick trip into Walmart to get the supplies. We took some blank note cards and rolled them up to look like diplomas. One was tied with blue ribbon and the other was in gold. But it still had some of the stain showing! We were running out of time so I thought of making some tassels out of the ribbons. That's what we did. I placed them on the cake just in time. Guests were starting to come in the door as I was getting all the supplies picked up. Whew!!! Luckily I didn't live far from the Hall, so I snuck out the door to go home, freshen up and pick up the Hubby. The party was a great success! The cake was delicious! ((I didn't get to eat any of it, even after all that fussing)) And everyone went home happy.
Tomorrow should be a much quieter day!

My pillow for Kimberly

2010-06-03T22:01:00.002-04:00

I don't think that she sees my blog posts, so I will show you what I made for Kimberly in our butterfly swap.

This pillow was quite a lot of fun to make. I think I'm addicted to Crazy Quilting now. I know that she likes 'redwork' & 'hexagons'. So I put some of that on it.

And I tried some beadwork too!

Now I would like to learn some more fancy stitching. Hope she likes it!

I've decided to enter this pillow in a contest that Melissa is having on her blog,
Lilac Lane. Lots of fun prizes to win! To enter you have to post an item that was handmade by yourself that has been trimmed, embellished or bedazzled. I think this qualifies!! :0} Click on her button on my sidebar to see all the other entries.

Got to get back to some sewing again! Later!

It's June already !!

2010-06-03T18:44:00.003-04:00

I sure haven't been good at keepin' up on my posting, have I?
It sure seems like I've been plenty busy. So I don't know why I haven't had anything to say! Oh well♥

I belong to a quilt group on Flickr called Tea/Coffee quilt along. Besides the quilt block (coffee/tea related) that we are supposed to post each month, we have been having a specific swap each month for those that would like to attend. The May swap was to be something butterfly related. I thought I would show you what I received from my partner.

She sent 2 fat quarters of very pretty fabric and some butterfly buttons. She also sent some tulip, dragonfly & butterfly candies. They will be perfect for the cupcakes the grandkids want to make next weekend for a birthday party. The cookie cutter will come in useful too, the next time we make sugar cookies. But what she made for me is this cutest teacup pincushion!

Isn't it adorable...with the teabag label and all?

Next month is a tea cozy...hummmm! What shall I do? Think I'll do some blog hopping to get some ideas. Later!!

They say a Storm is coming

2010-05-13T18:41:00.003-04:00

You couldn't tell by looking out the window right now. We have the first sign of sunshine in several days...a little windy but No Rain right now. It's been raining off & on for several days now. And if it isn't raining then its foggy. Hopefully after this last bad storm, we will get a few days of nice weather. Especially since Kelly & her Aunt Tammi are going on a field trip tomorrow with her school class. They're going to visit Sauder's Village. That means lots of walking outside. I really wish I had an ON-OFF button to control when I want the weather to happen~~I drive a van that I deliver disabled people to and from their work. So, TURN OFF when I need to take everyone home. Turn back on when I get home. Turn off again at 8:ooPM to watch "Survivor" (we always lose our electricity when the good TV shows are on). Turn back On at 9:00. Turn off again around 3:00AM so everything will have a chance to dry out before tomorrow.~~Hummmm just a thought!!
Okay, I'm going to get all my complaining done first!
Look at this ▼ ↓ ▼

Yep... I was driving along, singin with the radio, when***KABAMM***. I thought somebody had shot at me. I was checking my chest & arms and realized that I was still alive and no one had shot at me. Then I looked around and saw that huge chip in my window. "What the #@*?^<\!!!!!" (I'm not Ms. Nicey Nice all the time, LOL). Looking in my rear view mirror, I saw a County Dump Truck go whizzing by. He must've had a stray rock fall off and it had to hit my windshield. All this happened within seconds. Good thing for Insurance! But I may wait a few weeks till most of the roadwork is done. Alright, I'm done complainig. Now onto some good stuff.I hope all the Moms that read my blog had a wonderful Mother's Day!Mine was Terrific!!! Look at all the plants I received from my kids and grandkids...

and all these herb plants.

My whole family went out for dinner a couple of days earlier.
Mother's Day was a bit more special this year because my Sister Renee decided to get Baptized on that day. My Mom, my other Sister Brenda, her son's family and Renee's family, all went to a special service at her church that Sunday morning. Then most of our families went to my house for a carry-in dinner. Each one of us sisters received one of these cup & saucer flower arrangements.

What a Beautiful Day!!!
Well, they just lifted the tornado watches and they say the storms won't be as bad as they suspected. Geessh! It's like "the boy who cried wolf" with these weather predictions. No one is going to believe these weather people if we ever do get a bad storm. But I'm glad it is going to blow over.

I better get to cookin some supper! Later

oh Wait!!!!!!!!! This is Thursday and I almost forgot to post for Jenny Matlock's AlphabeThursday. Boy have I been behind on these postings! If you click on the button below it will take you to Jenny's blog for the explanation of these posts and the list of other participants.

Q is for Quilts
These are a few of the raggy baby quilts that I make.

Really got to go now! Kelly says she's STARVING!!!

It's been a whole month??

2010-05-02T20:29:00.000-04:00

Oh my!!!!!!
What have I been doing?
It could be that I've been busy getting my new raised garden ready to plant. I still have to put some mulch down between each tub, to keep the weeds down. But this should help out a lot. It doesn't look like much yet. I'll have to post another picture when things are actually growing.

My new strawberry plants seem to be doing alright.

Or it could be that I was doing some alterations on a prom dress for my ~~son's girlfriend's daughter~~ granddaughter-to-be. She was so beautiful. And her dress turned out so lovely.

Or maybe I was just busy helping the dear Hubby and his friends. We are adding on a pole barn addition to our garage. Mother Nature is not helping us out to much with the rains. I must admit that my help is only consisting of handing them a tool or letting them know that something doesn't look quite straight enough. I do seem to be sent to the house alot, to get a cold glass of water or something. LOL

But I haven't been doing much sewing or blogging!!!
I will have to remedy that situation soon. So I apologize for not keeping up on my blogging visits. I have a feeling that is going to happen quite often this summer. Please don't forget me! I will pop in as often as possible....I PROMISE !!

What's in my chest?

2010-04-06T13:30:00.001-04:00

I have a cedar chest in my room that I use to keep odds & ends of things in that I want to save. I usually only open the lid far enough to get an extra towel out when needed and open it up far enough again to ~~throw~~ place the towel back in there. Well... I decided to see what I actually had in that old chest.

I found this old quilt neatly wrapped up in the bottom of the chest.

This old crazy quilt was passed down to me from my Mother-in-law. It was made by her Aunt. I remember her telling me that her Aunt had used some of her cousins old clothing for the fabrics. And that she had to make it pretty big because her cousins all slept in one bed upstairs and there was no heat up there. Some of the fabrics are pretty worn, but thats to be expected from something that's over 100 years old. I love all the hand stitching.

I think I'm lucky to have a Mother-in-law that saves EVERYTHING. (Really, I mean EVERYTHING) Because I get to receive some of the most interesting things.

Happy Easter

2010-04-03T23:25:00.001-04:00

Coloring eggs for Easter!

AlphabeThursday!!!!

2010-04-01T12:38:00.000-04:00

Todays post is for the letter "K"

K is for "KELLY". My oldest granddaughter. She is probably the most spoiled because she lives with us full time.

Kelly got to go with Grampy & I on vacation to Alaska last summer.

She was the only child in our tour group. For her it was like having 6 more sets of grandparents to spoil her. This is her getting a 'bear hug'.

She is a good helper though.

Kelly dearly loves all her animals!

And she is really good in school. (science project)

She loves to swim & go skating with the rest of the family.

She doesn't mind getting all dressed up...

But would rather be getting a little dirty!

K is for KELLY

Don't forget to visit the other posts for AlphabeThursday on Jenny Matlock's blog.

Easter Crafts At Grammas

2010-03-29T19:04:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was Craft Day at my house.
I remember making these string eggs when I was a kid.

But I don't remember having as much difficulties as everyone was having that day. Aunt Tammi had found this idea on the internet and they called for yarn cut in 36" pieces that you dipped in a mixture of glue & water.

Well the yarn kept slipping off the balloons and then they would have to start all over. And the balloons became so slippery from the glue that they were hard to hold onto.

It was funny at first, but then the kids started getting very frustrated. I think our problem was that we shouldn't have cut the yarn into pieces but left it in one piece to wrap around. Maybe a string would have worked better than yarn too. Anyway, they were planning on doing all these balloons that they blew up. hehehe

Everyone decided that one a piece was plenty!

All the grandkids will be stopping by on Wednesday to let the balloons out of their creations.
We will see how they turned out then.

AlphabeThursday!!!!

2010-03-25T13:22:00.001-04:00

Todays post is for the letter "J"

J is for JORDAN !! My youngest granddaughter... the Diva Princess of the family.

Don't forget to check out the rest of the AlphabeThursday posts on Jenny's blog here.

More of my BOM work

2010-03-24T14:51:00.000-04:00

Snowbound block #3

Simple Thymes block #3

This is a Bronwyn Hayes quilt along called Catalicious. Block #1

Catalicious block #2

Remember the placemat swap??

2010-03-20T02:10:00.000-04:00

Awhile back I posted about a placemat swap that I participated in. I showed you this placemat that I received from my partner.
I couldn't show you the placemat that I made for her because I hadn't sent it to her yet. Well...I'm a little late on posting about it, but she received it and she really liked it.

She hung hers up on her kitchen wall! Here is a couple of pics that she sent.

This month our group is having a pincushion swap. I only have one more week to get one finished & sent out. So I better put that on the top of my "To Do list". I'm hoping to get some more sewing done this weekend, but I do have 2 milkcans that I need to paint for a friend also. I should get those base coated this weekend. I need to spray paint them outside and tomorrow it is supposed to get cold outside again. Darn it! I was so hoping it would stay warm until Summertime. But I should have known that Winter wasn't through with us yet :0{
Well if I don't head for bed soon, I will be too tired to do anything.
Good night

This is what I've been busy at lately...

2010-03-06T13:04:00.000-05:00

These are the BOM's that Ive been working on.
If you aren't familiar with the sewing jargon...BOM is for 'Block Of the Month'. These are projects that designer have where they will post a new pattern each month for a particular block on a quilt. At the end of the 9-12 months, you should have a quilt top ready to assemble & finish.
I thought if I did a little at a time on each quilt I wouldn't get too tired of it. I'm hoping this will help me get some things finished for some Christmas gifts.

This is my first attempt at trying to do redwork!
I can see where I will be doing more of this. The embroideries are going fairly quick.

These are blocks 1 & 2 of the "Love is" BOM and

blocks 3 & 4 of the "Love Is" Bom.

I have used gold and tan cotton fabrics for the backgrounds on the "Simple Thymes" BOM and wool or wool felt for the appliques. The sheep is a white minky fabric.

The "Snowbound" BOM is coming along nicely also. I'm using my three favorite colors: aqua, pink and red.

Block number 1

Block #2

Now on to the next blocks and I have a couple more that I would like to start also.

prim2pink ~ letter G

2010-03-04T19:30:00.001-05:00

GODSPEED sung by the Cactus Cuties!
click on link below to view the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czmHZAyAVUI

Don't forget to click on the AlphabeThursday button on my sidebar to see what others have posted!

prim2pink ~ letter F

2010-02-25T13:22:00.001-05:00

FIELD TRIP TO THE FLOWER GARDEN

“I am so glad that all of you children did so well on your exam last week.” said Mrs. Matlock. “To celebrate we are going to go on a Field Trip today”.
“Yay !!” shouted the children.
“Where are we going Mrs. Matlock?” said Judy as she was putting on her jacket.
“I know I've asked your parents to keep this a secret, but I will tell you now that we are going to go visit a flower farm. That is why I've asked you to wear your jackets and boots” explained Mrs. Matlock.
Everyone was all set to leave and they boarded the bus. It was just a short trip to the flower farm. As they pulled into the driveway, Mrs. Matlock asks “Who can tell me what the sign says?”
Everyone shouted at one time “ Franke's Flower Farm!! Yay we're here!”
When the bus came to a stop, Mrs. Matlock stood up and looked back at the children. “ Before we get off the bus and since this is your first field trip, I have a couple of rules you must follow...
First, you must all stay together
Second, you must all listen to Mr. Franke
Third, take a good look at all the pretty flowers
and
let's all have fun!”
The children were all excited as they filed out of the bus. Mr. Franke greeted them at the door. “Hello kids! I am Mr. Franke. Let's go look at some of my flowers.” First they came upon some foxgloves growing in the field beside the driveway.

“That's a funny name” said Susie.
“Yes it is” chuckled Mr. Franke. “You must know that this plant is very pretty but it can also be very dangerous because it is a poisonous plant. We aren't going to go touch or smell this one. “
“Wow! Flowers are poisonous?” Georgie asked in amazement.
Next they saw lots of plants growing in pots along the shop wall.

“These are some of the herbs that we grow” said Mr. Franke. “There are also plants that you can eat and they are good for you. It's very important that you should always ask an adult about flowers before you pick or smell them.”
“Oh I like this one! It is my favorite colors!!” Missy said as she pointed towards the ones hanging from the pergola.

“Those are very pretty Missy. I know what they are. They are called Fuschia” Mrs. Matlock said with a grin.
“Now I'm going to take you to the magical part of our flower farm” Mr. Franke said very mysteriously. This is our Fairy Gardens”. All the children stopped walking and looked around. “ This garden is where our fairies come out in the evening and dance among the little flowers. Sometimes they will peek out and see what you are doing, So look very closely” Mr. Franke told the children as he bent over to look under one of the Fern leaves that he had brushed aside. This was the part of the field trip that he most enjoyed. He watched in pure delight as the children were so desperately trying to catch a glimpse of a Fairy amongst the miniature little Furniture that he had made and placed in his garden.

Mrs. Matlock noticed that Judy was yawning. So she glanced at her watch and saw that it was time to leave. “It's time to go kids! Tell Mr. Franke Thank You for the tour”.
“Thanks Mr. Franke” they all chanted as they were boarding the bus. “We had a lot of Fun!”

Be sure and click on the AlphabeThursday button on my sidebar , to read what the others have posted!

prim2pink ~ AlphabeThursday

2010-02-18T00:59:00.004-05:00

QUIET PLEASE !!
All the children in Mrs. Matlock's class are having an EXAM!!

EDUCATION is so important!! We won't disturb them today.

I've decided to show you an Easy Egg recipe today instead.
It is:

You can also substitute or add ham or sausage for the bacon.
I will make this the night before and either cook it in the morning or cook it the night before and reheat in the microwave.

ENJOY!!!!!

Please join Jenny Matlock at her blog to view the rest of the participants in her AlphabeThursday!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY !!

2010-02-14T22:37:00.000-05:00

I am hoping that all of my blogging buddies are having a great Valentines Day!
I spent most of the day yesterday with all my daughters, DIL and grandkids making chocolates and goodies to give as Valentines presents!
Today I am resting !!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
Have a LOVEly day!

prim2pink ~ AlphabeThursday

2010-02-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

A New Dress for the Dance

The school is having a Valentine's Dance for everyone on Friday. Judy is so excited! She overheard Billy telling his friends that he was going to be there. She can't wait to go home and tell her Mom about the dance. Oh it's going to be so much fun, she thought.
The bus pulled up to her house to let her out and she almost fell out the door trying to hurry into the house. "Be careful Judy" said the driver. Judy looked back and smiled then continued on her way up her driveway. She burst in the front door yelling "Mom, Mom where are you?"
"In the kitchen" her Mom yelled back. "What's wrong Judy?"
"Mom look!" she said as she handed her Mom the note from Mrs. Matlock. "We are having a dance at school! Can I go??"
Her Mom took a deep breath, relieved that there wasn't a major catastrophe happening. She could see that Judy was pretty excited though. "This would be your first dance, wouldn't it? That would make any little girl a bit anxious. I'm sure you will be able to attend Judy. Maybe we should go shopping tonight for a brand new dress?"
" What? A DRESS!" Judy questioned. "Why do I need a DRESS?"
You see, Judy is a bit of a Tomboy and dresses aren't in her wardrobe very often. But she knew that her Mom wouldn't let her go to the dance in her old holey jeans and a t-shirt. After supper they would go shopping!
Judy and her Mom were in the car on the way to the Shopping Mall, when her Mom tells her "Judy I remember seeing a beautiful dress in this little girls store. I think you will like it. We will go there first."
"OK" she said reluctantly.
When they got to the Mall, her Mom got out of the car and started quickly walking to the doors. "Come on Judy! This is going to be so much fun."
Somehow Judy had a feeling this wasn't going to be as much fun for her as it was for her Mom.
Then when she saw this store coming up that had all the pink, glittery and sparkly signs...she knew. This was not good!
Mom walked right over to the row of dresses and pulled out this DRESS.

"MOM!! Not that one! It's too pink and Puffy!" Judy whined.
Mom held it out in front of her and said "But it has some matching pink glitter shoes and you would look so beautiful."

"But I don't want to be BEAUTIFUL. I just want to dance and you can't dance with those shoes. The glitter would fall off and everybody would know it was from me." Judy was trying her hardest not to cry.
Mom realized that Judy wasn't quite ready to be that dressy yet so she agreed. "I think you are right Judy. This is more of a wedding dress isn't it? What do you think would be a good dancing dress?"
Judy went down the aisles until she found a pretty blue dress. "This is it Mom. I found the perfect dress".
Mom agreed again. It was the perfect dancing dress and her little girl was going to be absolutely beautiful in it.

Friday finally came. All the children were talking about going to the dance. Judy got all dressed up in her pretty blue dress and she did look lovely. Even Billy Burton walked by her and gave her a slug on the arm while he was saying "You look OK".
Judy thought to herself "OK is good!! This is a good night!"

Don't forget to check out the others that are participating in Jenny Matlock's AlphabeThursday.

My placemat swap partner....

2010-02-07T13:04:00.001-05:00

My placemat swap partner could not have made a more perfect placemat for me!!!
I belong to a quilting group (Tea/Coffee Quit Along) and we had a placemat swap. We were assigned a partner and then you have to make a placemat for that person and in turn they will make a placemat for you! My partner was DEE. She knew that I liked pink & aqua and that one of my collections was of cherries in my kitchen.
When I opened the envelope and saw the colors, I knew I was going to love it. Then when I unfolded it and saw the beautiful handiwork that she had done....I almost cried. Isn't this just the cutest??

If Dee is reading this....Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, I absolutely love it!!!

I can't show you the pic of the placemat that I made for her just yet. It is going in the mail on Monday and I would like her to be surprised just like I was. I will tell you that she collects chickens...shhhhhhhhh don't tell her yet! LOL

prim2pink ~ letter C

2010-02-04T17:42:00.000-05:00

All the children were sitting quietly in their seats while listening to Mrs. Matlock read a story from the library book. Then a screech came across the loud speaker "Mrs. Matlock, you have a visitor waiting here in the office."
"Thank you. I'll be there in a couple of minutes" Mrs. Matlock replied.
Luckily she was toward the end of the book, so she finished the story and then told all the children to get a clean piece of paper out while she put the book away.
"I have invited someone here as surprise for you. Children I would like you to get your Crayons out and color a picture of anything you would like. I will be right back." Off she went towards the office.
All the children got out their crayons and started coloring.
A few minutes later, Mrs. Matlock walked into the classroom with a pretty young lady.
Mrs. Matlock & the lady stood in front of the class, "Children I would like you to put down your crayons now. I have someone I would like you to meet." said Mrs. Matlock " I would like for you to say Hi to Carin."

"Hello Carin!!" the children all chimed in.

"Carin is going to college to study Color psychology." continued Mrs. Matlock."I will let Carin explain."

"Hello children!" said Carin. " Do all of you know that there are studies that believe each color has a feeling? I am going to school to learn about colors and their feelings. I've asked Mrs. Matlock to have each of you color on a piece of paper and we are going to see if we can tell what your feelings may be right now. Won't that be fun?"

"Yeesss!!" the children were all excited to see what she could tell them.

Mrs. Matlock had gathered all the colored pictures while Carin was speaking and put them in a pile on her desk.

Carin picked the first one on the pile and held it up.

"Do you see how the color used the most in this picture is PINK?
Pink is a kind color. It means you are sweet and sensitive."
Then she laid that paper down and picked up another. "What color is in this picture class?" asked Carin.

"Green!!" shouted the children.
"You are right" said Carin. "Green is a color for safety. It means that you are generous and goodwilled. Next we have Purple. Do any of you know what that might mean?"

"A King!" said Robby "I drew a king!"
"You are actually right Robby. It is a color for people that are well liked and mysterious." Carin said.

"This color is yellow" Carin said as she held up the next paper. "Yellow is a happy color. This person is probably very playful". All the kids turned towards Cathy. They knew she had colored that paper and she was a happy person. Carin is guessing everybody right so far.

"Then we have this color...red! Red is for people that get excited. They are usually quick and get bored easy. Do you think that the study is pretty close to being right?" Carin asked the children.

They all looked at each other in amazement, "Yeah! It is!"they all shouted.
"Mrs. Matlock?" Cathy said as she was pointing towards the floor. "There's another paper on the floor.
"Whoops! I did drop one." Carin bent down and picked up the paper. Mrs. Matlock started laughing as she looked to see who's it was. It was Judy's paper and it looked like this!

"Now how do you explain this one Carin?" she snickered.
Hummmmmmm..... COLORFUL

Click on the Alphabe-Thursday button on my sidebar to read other posts for the Alphabe_Thursday!

prim2pink ~ letter B

2010-01-28T00:09:00.001-05:00

Here comes Judy running down the school's hallway as fast as her little legs will move. Uh oh, the principal has spotted her "Miss Judy...there will be no running in the hall!!"

"Yes Sir" she says as she stumbles over her feet trying to slow them down. She finally gets to her room and rushes in. "Mrs. Matlock, Mrs. Matlock!!"

"Judy dear, would you please quit tugging at my dress and take your seat? Class is about to begin?" replies Mrs. Matlock.

Just as Judy turns to go to her seat, (the seat in the front row right next to the teacher's desk) "he" walks in! ♥Billy Burton♥ No one could be as cute as Billy. With his mop of red hair hanging in his face and the cutest green eyes. Ahhhhh!!!!

"Everyone take your seat now." Mrs. Matlock was ready to start the day.
"Judy what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Mrs. Matlock...Billy Burton was a Bad Boy on the Bus today!!!"

Oh no, did she just get her secret sweetie in trouble? She sure did! Somehow Miss Judy had the idea that he needed some extra attention as she stood up, turned around and pointed straight at him. "Billy Burton is a Bad Boy!"

Billy had quit talking to his friends by now and glared right back at her.
" What?" he said.

Mrs Matlock walks over to Judy "Let's sit back down and you can tell me what happened."

"Well" she explains, "Billy took the Blue Barrette out of my Blonde hair! And now it won't ...it won't...it just won't do anything!!" she shouts. Then she quickly glances back to make sure Billy is still looking at her and she flits her hair quickly out of her face.

"Billy, do you still have Judy's barrette?" Mrs. Matlock asks.
Billy puts his hand in his trouser pocket and pulls out the blue barrette along with a small stick, piece of gum and an eraser. "Yes maam." He wimpers.

Mrs. Matlock has figured out by now that Judy was just trying to get herself noticed by the boy. So she decides to take matters into her own hands and resolve this quick. She gets the barrette and puts it gently back into Judy's hair. "Billy I would like for you to come up here and write your name on the chalkboard 10 times."

Billy shuffles his way up to the front of the room and starts writing.

Then Mrs. Matlock turns to Judy and says " When he is through I would like you to clean the board." Judy looks up at Mrs. Matlock a little puzzled and then glances over to see that Billy has turned around. He is smiling at her! Billy Burton has smiled at Judy!!!
"Yes Mrs. Matlock." She said with a deep sigh ♥

I think Billy will be Judy's BEST BUDDY someday! Don't you?

I am linked to Alphabe-Tuesday. I made a little button on my sidebar at the top of my blog you can use or you can simply link words to the McLinkey post to see what the others have blogged about.

TURTLE BROWNIES....Do I dare?

2010-01-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

YES I DID

While blog hopping one day, I came across this recipe on Betty Crocker's website for "Ultimate Turtle Brownie". (Have I ever mentioned that I have no willpower for baked goods?} I just knew that I had to make these for ~~myself~~ my son and his girlfriend. Chocolate, caramel & nuts! OH MY GOD !!!! They are delicious!!!!
I tweaked their recipe just a bit and here it is.......

Ultimate Turtle Brownies

1 box family size brownie mix
water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on brownie mix box
1 bag (14 oz) caramels, unwrapped
1/4 c. whipping cream
1 bag (11.5 oz)semisweet chocolate chips (2 c.)
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350°
Grease and flour bottom and sides of 13"x9" pan.
In medium bowl, stir brownie mix and the ingredients called for on box to make them, until well blended. Spread 1/2 of this batter (about 1 1/2 c.) in pan. Bake 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in large microwaveable bowl, microwave caramels and whipping cream uncovered on High 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until smooth.
Pour caramel over partially baked brownie; spread to edges. Sprinkle with 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the pecans. Drop remaining brownie batter by small spoonfuls onto caramel layer. Sprinkle with remaining 1 c. chocolate chips and 1/2 c. pecans.
Bake 33-36 minutes longer or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour at room temperature. Cover; refridgerate 1 hour before serving. Store covered at room temperature.

I had to fix some Spinach Salad and homemade Veggie Soup for supper that night to make up for some of those calories!!!!
Enjoy!

DO I REALLY NEED A MAKEOVER?

2010-01-23T12:20:00.000-05:00

Really! Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have someone just take you in there care & give you a full transformation....new makeup, new hairdo, massage, teeth fixin, tummy tuckin, no one will ever know you kinda thing? I'm sure it would be like going back in time. Probably very ego boosting. I love pedicures!
But I know what would happen here at my house if one of my kids walked in and seen a new me! They would gasp for air and start yelling "Mom's gone mad! Go call the others!! I think maybe Alzheimers is setting in or sumethin. Go tell Dad!!"
I would be the most beautiful person at that 'OLD Peoples Home' that they sent me too... for sure!!!
Hummm just a thought!

Alphabe Thursday....Letter A

2010-01-22T00:54:00.002-05:00

Good afternoon Mrs. Matlock!

Sorry I'm late maam! It won't happen again.

You say I'm to write on the chalkboard something that starts with the letter 'A' so I can be included in your Alphe-Thurday?
Hummmm, A? Hummmm....ok
{{{squeaeeeeeeekkkkkk}}} sorry I squeaked the chalk on the board.
A is for "apple". No no no that won't work. Let me erase that & start over.Hummmmmmmm
A is for "Awesome"? No no no that won't work either. Somebody else has already used that word. (cough cough) Geesh this chalk dust is nasty!
OK I have it!!!!

A is for "ANTS". Yeah that's it...ANTS!

I hate the little buggers!! Especially in my garden. Nothing worse than stepping on an anthill & not knowing it. First you feel this little crawly thing on your toe, then you look down and there is actually hundreds of 'em crawling up your leg!
EEEk! Then you go running to the water faucet to rinse them away & Yee Gods the water is freezing cold. Now I'm hopping in the mud puddle I just made, trying not to step on them again.
Whew!!!
And all the time I can see Dear Hubby standing at the window...laughing his butt off of coarse.

Ummmmmmmm....Mrs. Matlock?
Can I be excused?

I have to go potty!

I am linked to Alphabe-Tuesday. I made a little button on my sidebar at the top of my blog you can use or you can simply link words to the McLinkey post to see what the others have blogged about.

I HAVE TO CONFESS...

2010-01-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

I would much rather read other blogs & leave comments for them than write on my own blog! Not that there isn't stuff happening here or I don't have much to say. I just get so wrapped up in my hunt of finding such interesting stuff. So I'm still here, just hopping around.
Maybe you have noticed that I've put a button on my sidebar that looks like this ▼▼▼

I have been doing a little blog organizing!
If you click on that side button it will take you to another blog that I've made to feature the great giveaway finds that I've run across during my hopping around.
Now I need to work on all the sewing sites I have posted :0}

I'm also playing with PhotoShop! Got one for Christmas and it's not as easy to figure out as I thought it would be. Just another thing to detract from the things I really should be doing.

Did you also notice that I won Jenny Matlock's giveaway!! Yes I did!!!! I could not believe my eyes. I am so excited.
She was giving away a $50 gift certificate to Tasteful Gardens. Now I can order some strawberry plants
to plant in those tubs that Hubby brought home for me to make a raised garden in. She lives in Arizona & is having nice enough weather to still have a garden. Now she has me in a gardening mood. Even though I still can't see anything green in sight here right now. Just a frosty white. A girl can dream though!!!
Jenny is such a generous, funny and well-liked lady. Her daily posts are so creative. You can't help but strike up a friendship with her. So go tell her I told ya to stop by.
http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com

I've also been working on some Easter things to get my Etsy shop a going again! Sneak peeks ;0}

I'm really thinking of quitting the booth I have at a local shop and just trying to sell on Etsy. I'm finding it a little hard to keep up with both. With the economy the way it is, I'm just barely selling enough things at the store to pay for my rent. There isn't much profit in that for me, just for the store owner!
WHAT DO I DO?? WHAT DO I DO??
Looks like I have some serious pondering to do. So I'm going to go get a cuppa coffee. Oh darn! The peanut butter cake is gone :0{

♪ ♫ Hi HO HI HO It's off to work I go ♫ ♪

2010-01-08T15:18:00.000-05:00

Yay...We're all feeling much better now that the flu bug has left.
Til I realized that I haven't picked up a paint brush or threaded a needle since before Christmas.
What???? How can that be?!
Well how's that for already getting behind?
So I'm headed to the craftroom right after I write this post.

Hummmm...I could use some energy. I think I'll get a piece of that peanut butter cake and a cup of coffee first.
Diet, you ask! It's a couple of months before I have to fit in that bikini. RIGHT???

Do you see my dilemma here?

2010-01-06T23:06:00.000-05:00

Anyone know how I can get the border off from around my pics and siggie?

Somebody is shaking up the snowglobe again!

2010-01-06T23:03:00.000-05:00

Remember those cute little bottles filled with liquid and they had some cute little scene on the inside. And when you turned it upside down and then back up...the sparkly little flakes would fall gently down?
That's what the scene outside my window reminds me of. Gently falling snow falling in my back yard. It looks so beautiful and calming (as long as I'm not the little figure inside the bottle, LOL) We are expected to get about 6" by tomorrow. That's OK, I've got enough of everything to keep me comfy & not starving for a couple of days. Just plop the GD in front of the TV, give me a hot pot of coffee & lock me in my room till its over.

I haven't been blogging for a few days because we have been passing the stomach flu around to each other. One person at a time so it can drag on forever. Why am I the only one that can stomach cleaning up the mess? Hummm that doesn't seem fair. Needless to say, Ive been pretty tired lately and been trying to catch up on some lost sleep. Everything seems to be over now, thank goodness.

I am so ready to get started on some new craft projects!!!! I've been kinda interested in making some quilt projects this year along with some dolls and some painting. I have some house projects to finish too. So this will be another busy year for me.

I hope all my new blogging buddies are doing well and hope to hear from ya'all!

A New Year is coming !!

2009-12-31T01:20:00.000-05:00

May God fill your life with Love, Joy & Peace throughout the new year!!

Playing in the snow!!

2009-12-20T11:10:00.016-05:00

What a wonderful birthday I had yesterday!
I woke to a beautiful sight...our first snowfall for the season.

All three grandkids spent the night here & when they woke they couldn't wait to get outside. They decided to build a snowman. It was perfect snow for that.

They kept rolling & rolling. Soon they came running into the house hollering for Grampy. "Can you come out & help us get the middle ball on top of the bottom? We can't lift it." We both went to the window to see what they had done. LOL... The balls were huge! So Grampy got dressed to go help.

I could see they were getting cold. So I made some hot cocoa and told them to come in and warm up & they could go back and finish later. It didn't take them long to slurp the cocoa down and they got some more warm, dry clothes on & went back out.
A little later they came running in the house again "Gramma come see!"
This is what I saw...

My very own Birthday Snowman!!!
And just in time. The rest of the family got to see my snowman as they pulled into the drive.
Of course Uncle Tom had to get out & play in the snow too.

It didn't take long before the snowball fight began.
Then came the challenge.

NA NA NA NA NA NA!!

Whatever Zack tried, obviously didn't work.

And Jordan looks like she is going to end up on the ground too.

But wait....

Kelly Scores!!!

And just in time! Danny's homemade potato soup is steaming hot and Tammi has the grilled ham & cheese sandwichs finished.
Afterwards I got to open my birthday presents. I got a couple of beautiful tops and this new set of pans.

THEY ARE PINK!!!! I love it.
Sometimes I wonder how I deserve such a wonderful family!

Now I have to concentrate on Christmas. Last minute shopping, presents to wrap and more cookies to bake.
I do hope that my blogging friends that got hit with the snow blizzard are all safe & warm.
Holiday Blessings to all!

Finishing up on all my projects!

2009-12-18T12:02:00.011-05:00

I got one of the Christmas trees decorated. I collect snowman ornies & I try to get one new one each year. This year I got 2 ornies for the pink tree. A seashell from our visit to Florida & a pair of pink Eskimo boots from our visit to Alaska this summer. (I still haven't found the topper yet)

I let Kelly decorate the pink tree. She did a pretty good job.

AHA!!!There is my snowman topper! Kelly used it on the pink tree. Looks like we will be making one for the big tree. :0}

I spent the last two days with my son's girlfriend and another good friend making some Christmas goodies. Look at all this yummy stuff.

We made butterscotch haystacks, Oreo truffles, cornflake wreaths, chocolate covered cherries, walnut fudge, chocolate pretzels, chocolate covered peanut butter & crackers, buckeyes, white chocolate pretzels, turtle pretzels, pecan balls, and the leftover chocolate we poured in little forms. I must say that my favorite new recipe that we tryed are these Oreo truffles. They are delicious. And pretty easy. All it takes is Oreos, cream cheese & chocolate. Here is where you can find the recipe.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-oreo-truffles/Detail.aspx

I also finished up my last craft order! These Mary & Joseph dolls turned out so cute. They are from a pattern by 'You Are Special'. I will definately make some more for next year.

I have been so bad about not getting things put in my Etsy shop this year. I have some good ideas for things to do after the holidays. I'm hoping then I can get back into the normal swing of things.
Now I just have some last minute shopping & wrapping to do and I will get my Christmas cookies baked next week. Whew!!! Right now I need to do some house cleaning. All my kids & grandkids are coming over tomorrow for some homemade potato soup and grilled ham & cheese sandwichs to celebrate my birthday. The good thing is that they are making everything!!!!
Happy Holidays!

Time for School Christmas Musicals

2009-12-14T12:23:00.007-05:00

I really enjoy going to the grandkids school programs. They are so enjoyable. Some of the kids will be pouring their hearts out as if they think they may be the next Hannah Montana (who knows, they may just be) while some are just standing there trying not to be noticed. And there is always the little one that has to make you laugh cause he is trying to outdo the little girl next to him and she keeps pushing his hands down from in front of her. :0}
This is a picture of my oldest granddaughter at her Christmas program. (I know it is a terrible pic. I'm just not a good photographer) Kelly is the girl in the red dress on the end of the row.

I know that my daughter took better pictures. So I can show you more when I get them from her.
Kelly goes to an elementary school that has kids from kindergarten to 5th grade. The school had so many people come to the programs that there wasn't enough seating or parking. So last year most of the schools in this area started having a Christmas program that split the classes in half. Now Kindergarten, 2nd grade & 4th grade have a Christmas program and 1st grade, 3rd grade & 5th grade have a Spring musical program. It's just the opposite at my other grandkids school. It seems to work out quite well.
Well I need to get to craftin'. I have one more order for a Mary, Joseph & baby dolls to finish.
Happy Holidays to all!

My BESTEST FRIEND EVER

2009-12-13T21:37:00.008-05:00

I'm sitting here at my computer trying to think of the words to write about this wonderful guy. There are so many things whirling around in my head...how I used to clerk for him when he was an auctioneer many many years ago, how my dear hubby has drove him around all day for the last 2 years & looked forward to spending every single minute of it, how he has taught all of my kids & grandkids( or the "rodents" as he called them) to be independant and fun, how we spent almost every New Years Eve with him & his wife playing cards, how he could put a smile on your face every time he stepped into the room, how every child he met would call him Uncle Ben, how he could come up with such extraordinary ideas, how him & his brothers and sister are like family. I could go on & on. But I couldn't possibly tell you how much I am going to miss him.
God has taken him to Heaven.

The battle with his brain tumors has ended.
His family had a "celebration of life" ceremony for him this weekend. He had told everyone that he wanted them to remember him happy. They had a very nice Church service then some of his family spoke of good times that they spent with him. Afterwards there was a pizza party to remember the 'Saturday night Pizza Hut family and friends gatherings' that he never missed!
There were still many many tears shed.

My son has great taste

2009-12-07T21:15:00.008-05:00

He picked out this faucet...Let me start from the beginning.

Our old faucet had a leak & it was getting a little worse. Last Saturday night I lay in bed, trying to get to sleep. But all I heard was this drip...drip...drip. The next morning I informed the dear hubby that it had to be fixed. So I called my "Mr. Fixit" (my son). He came on over and starting taking everything all apart. Then he said" where's the new faucet?"
OMG, I hadn't gotten one yet.
I've been fighting off a stomach flu for a couple of days and not gone anywhere & didn't feel like going anywhere yet. SO....Dear Hubby and the son volunteered to go pick one out. My only request was that it has a tall neck on it so I could fit my big pans underneath.
After returning from the hardware store, Hubby walks in the house. "Remind me not to go shopping with Tom again! He has expensive taste. I had one picked out for $68 & he talked me into getting this one for $200. You better like it!" Then Tom walks in with this smirk on his face. I could just picture the debate in my head. Like two little boys arguing in the aisle. I'm not sure how Tom won because that doesn't usually happen. But I'm sure glad he did because I love it!
I wouldn't be surprised if Tom decided to replace his faucet at his home too! LOL
Now I can sleep in peace!!

I have to show you the surprise that came in my mail the other day. It was from a new blogging friend, Jenny Matlock!

It's her instructional book on how to make "ZIPPY STRIPPY QUILTS". She even autographed it!! How lucky am I?
It's a great book with exceptionally nice instructions and photos. I'm going to have to try & make one after the holidays. They look like a lot of fun to make and fairly simple too.
She is also having a "Sweet & Sour" giveaway. You must check it out! Just click on the lemons on my sidebar. Yes I did say lemons :0}

I haven't been posting or visiting for a couple of days now. So I think I'm on my way to some blog surfing & catching up.

Happy Holidays!

And the giveaway winner is....

2009-11-24T10:17:00.006-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUANITA !!!

I thank everyone that entered and came to visit me on my blog. I hope I've made some new blogging friends and you will come back to visit soon. I know I will be visiting you often.
Please go see Juanita on her blog...It's Harvest Time! She always has lots of great pictures for you to look at.

I am wishing everyone a very Blessed Thanksgiving Day!

gingerbread giveaway update !!

2009-11-22T14:06:00.005-05:00

I've added the gingerbread ornament to my giveaway for having 25 entries!
Now I see that I am up to 50 !!
So I will also be adding a small slate wallhanging for the winner.

If you haven't signed up already...you have until midnight this evening! Scroll down to my Nov. 2 post to find the rules. You can leave your comment there or here.
This is so much fun!!!

Bazaar, bazaar & more bazaars

2009-11-16T21:31:00.004-05:00

I think I am having bazaar overload! I have been so busy trying to get some things made for the craft bazaars that I have been in, that I am almost exhausted. It's getting a lot harder to carry in & set up (OLD AGE). But I enjoy doing them so much. I just can't give up on them. There are only two more to go. I'm afraid that I've completely ignored my Etsy shop though. Darn, I need a class in "How to organize your time". LOL

Oh my goodness !!!
What a great bunch of bloggin buddies! I am lovin all the very nice comments on my gingerbread giveaway. And look...there are more than 25 entries! That means I will be adding something more to the giveaway. Hummm let me see. I think I will make it something that I have handpainted. I better go get busy so I can post a pic in a couple of days. Good luck to all of you. I wish you could all be winners.
And if you haven't entered yet you better go to my Nov. 2 giveaway post and get signed up!!!

Thank you to all our Veterans !!

2009-11-11T01:23:00.003-05:00

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway on Nov. 2 post.

Chocolate Cherry Mice

2009-11-08T21:58:00.004-05:00

My daughters and I made these over the Halloween holiday. They were for a close friend that we have known for years. This friend has called my kids "The Rodents" ever since they were born. Not sure how that all came about. But now they always come up with things mouse related to give him. My daughter found the recipe and I'm not sure where. So I can't give anyone the credit they deserve. Here is one of the little rodents that we made.
These are so cute!!

This is how we made them.

You will need:
Maraschino cherries with the stems on them. I had a hard time finding them. Where I did find some was at a liquor store. :)
Chocolate bark or chocolate chips
Sliced Almonds
Hersheys Kisses
Blue Icing or Blue confetti candies

Put some waxed paper on your cupboard or in a cookie sheet.
You melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Dip a cherry in the chocolate, part way up the stem. Lay this on the wax paper with the stem off to the side (the stem will be the tail). Next you put a dab of chocolate on the flat side of an unwrapped Hershey kiss. Place the flat side up against the cherry, putting the curl of the Kiss pointing upward. Place two sliced almonds between the Hershey Kiss & the cherry for the ears. You could just pipe a dab of blue frosting for the eyes but we had the grandkids pick out the blue chips from the confetti sprinkles jar and placed them on the face with a dab of white frosting. I placed mine in the refridgerator until they were hardened together. You peel them from the wax paper and enjoy. Remember not to eat the stem!!

I didn't get a pic of the tray when it was full. But it is really cute with a bunch of them together. We've also made them using white chocolate for my oldest daughters wedding shower. They were tucked amongst the fruit and cheese on her appetizer platter. They got so many compliments!

Don't forget to enter my Gingerbread Giveaway on the post below!!!

My Holiday Gingerbread Giveaway

2009-11-02T22:43:00.003-05:00

Hello Friends!

I've decided to have a giveaway to celebrate the holiday season coming up soon. This is going to be a primitive "gingerbread" themed giveaway.

First I have made a raggy quilted table mat using gingerbread men fabric and Christmas colored material. Then next I have made a Gingerbread girl doll. She is such a sweetie! And her dress matches some of the fabric in the table mat.
I'm sure you would be so happy to put them on display atop a shelf or table in your home.

And....guess what?
After every 25th post for this giveaway I will add something extra!! Isn't that exciting?
Now for the rules:
1. You need to be a follower of my blog or my Etsy shop
for one entry each.
2. You need to leave a comment on this post only. Let me know if you have a favorite theme for your Christmas decorating. That will be another entry.
3. Post about my gingerbread giveaway on your blog for another entry.

I will draw the winning name on November 23. Entry deadline will be Sunday the 22nd at midnight.
I wish you all good luck!!
I also want to thank all my blogging friends for their visits and comments.

Happy Halloween!! My Ghostly Friends!!!

2009-10-31T22:42:00.020-04:00

WE have a terrific day for the grandkids to do their trick-or-treating. It was so windy , rainy & cold yesterday that I was worried that tonight would be miserable too. But it was actually rather nice. Just a bit cold.
My oldest daughter had the whole family over to her house for a Halloween Dinner before they all went trick-or-treating. It was quite fun!!
Everyone brought some sort of odd looking food item.
We had meatloaf that looked like severed feet. Yummy!!

Little ghost baked potatoes and mummy hotdogs.

Punch with a floating ice hand.

Mummy cupcakes, Bat cupcakes & Cat Cookies.

There were ham rollup fingers, homemade caramel dip for apple wedges and bone breadsticks.

What a feast! Everything was so yummy!

This is my family before they left to go trick-or-treating. What a fiendish group of characters, heh?

From left to right are: My son's partner, my son, Me, my Mother, my granddaughter Kelly, my Son-in-law, my oldest daughter, my youngest granddaughter Jordan, my middle daughter, Hubby, my youngest daughter and my grandson Zack. My other son-inlaw was taking the picture.

I hope everyone else had a safe and fun Halloween!!!

My apologies!!!!

2009-10-27T23:08:00.008-04:00

I have totally forgotten to post about the giveaways that I won awhile ago!

I had won this gorgeous lace doily and the most beautiful smelling soy candle (lilac is my favorite fragrance)from a giveaway that Kimberly had in August. I was amazed at the workmanship in her crocheting and the candle was so pleasant to smell. I say WAS because I have been burning it almost every day.
Now she is having another giveaway! Three winers will receive one of her Autumn fragrances. So please check out her blog at Sugar Creek Hollows .
She is also having a "buy 2 get 1 free" sale on her website.

Also...I was third place winner & had won a cute hankie holder that Linda had made. I've put it in my car for those unexpected sniffles. It works so much better than using the extra napkins from McDonalds. LOL And much much prettier too!
Please check out her blog at Prairie Flower Farm. She also has a wonderful store full of her handmade items.

So SORRY ladies for being so late with this post!!
My hubby says I must have had one of my "blonde" moments. He won't be able to say that much longer. I've been letting my hair go back to natural. It's almost there. And it's mostly GREY!! :}

So now I'm thinking that I should have a giveaway too!
A Christmas giveaway. Does anyone like gingerbread men?

On Monday I will post my gingerbread giveaway and all the details. So please come back and see what I have.

Pleasant Vacation! Now back to work??

2009-10-24T23:14:00.006-04:00

Hubby and I had such a relaxing time while on our little vacation. We visited with some friends (Ben & Laneda) at their Florida home. For the first time in a long while, we didn't have to deal with having to take kids to a theme park or try to keep kids occupied so they weren't bored. Although I did call almost every night just to keep in touch.
Since I've lived in northern Indiana all of my life, I truly enjoyed the hot weather in October. And to be able to look out the back porch and see bananas or lemons growing on a tree. Pure paradise for this country Hoosier.

But the ALL TIME BEST was when we went down to the beach and just bobbed in the water. We even saw some dolphins out in the distance.
It was truly a most memorable vacation. You see...
2 years ago, Ben had a seizure and found out that he had a brain tumor. He had brain surgery to have the tumor removed. The surgery went well. Because of his surgery he wasn't allowed to drive. So my hubby has been his driver ever since. He has been taking him to all of his therapys and to his work (Ben owns his own business). Laneda had to keep working because she had the insurance coverage. We have known both of them since our school days (many, many, many years ago LOL).
While in Florida, we noticed that his speech was getting worse and he wasn't walking very well. Hubby just let him lean on his shoulders a lot. So we just took it very easy. Swam in the ocean and played a lot of cards. After our return home, Ben went back to the doctor. It was not good news. He has another tumor that is rapidly growing and they can't do anymore surgery. They told Laneda that he only had a short time to be with us. We have been spending as much time with them as possible now. I am so glad that we decided to take our vacation when we did!

Needless to say... I am behind on getting my Etsy shop opened again. I am still working on some projects. Like this little ugly doll.

I am really hoping that I can get it going in the next week. I hope you will still come and check it out then.

Please pray for our friend Ben and his family!
Thank you

Kelly's Easter Chicks

2009-09-22T16:20:00.015-04:00

{{{Here is the story of Kelly's Chickens that I thought I had already told}}}

I took Kelly to our local farm store around Eastertime last year and they had all these tubs full of chicks, ducks and rabbits. (They were cute) She asked me if she could get this little chickie that she was holding. I didn't have the heart to tell her NO so I said "ASK GRAMPY". Well as soon as she got home she went running to Grampy. She must have caught him on a good day. He said he didn't care. He remembered when our oldest daughter got one from her Uncle for Easter. It got loose and the cat got it. Didn't last long!

We went back to the store the next day to buy her little chickie.

We were trying to find the one she had picked out the day before when the salesclerk tells us that they don't just sell ONE. You have to get SIX...yes SIX!! So we picked out 3 of the fuzzy yellow ones and 3 of the little brown ones.
Now the fun begins!

We had to buy a feeder and some feed, a water jug, wood shavings and a heat lamp. Grampy must have forgot about all that. You should have seen the look on his face when we returned...priceless!!!
We had a dog cage stored in the attic and got them all set up in my garage.

Those things just kept growing. It wasn't long until I told Grampy that they were going to need a coop. So he told Kelly they would build them a little house. They gathered up some old lumber and started building this structure right in front of my garage. Grampy informed me that he would move it with the forklift after it was finished. It would be easier to build it there because it was closer to the saw. "OK" I said.

The neighbor across the street just had to come see what was going on. He had an old metal roosting area that we could have. Then he says "Looks a little big for a coop". So from then on our chicken coop has been named...

After they got it all built, we had to move it. Boy was that a chore. It was heavier on the side that had the roosting area and it wanted to tilt that way. I didn't get any pictures of this because I was to busy giving directions on where it was to go. But believe me it was quite a sight.
We have some pretty happy fat chickies now.

My Mom came over for a visit and she went out to see them. She says "When you going to butcher them?"

They are our pets now. You can let them out of the Chickie Mansion & they will follow you all over the yard. With all the eggs they are giving us...they know they are safe. They even have names...Omelet, Yoshie, Flapper, PeckPeck, Bossie and Peep. As you can tell, this is a learn as you go project. I don't even know what kind of chickens they are. Every time we go into the farmstore, they are probably wondering what question we are going to ask this time.
So that is the story of the Chickies!

LET ME OUT OF THE KITCHEN...PLEASE!!!!

2009-09-22T13:57:00.008-04:00

Canning, Freezing and more Canning!!!

I'm beginning to fill like a prisoner in my own kitchen. Whew!!
The tomatoes are finally starting to end. I thank the cool nights for that.

I do want to try a recipe that I found to make Enchilada Sauce. I'll make that tonight and if it turns out ok, I will post the recipe.

The freezer is almost full also! I think I have enough zucchini to make zucchini bread for awhile. But my family could eat that or pumpkin bread every day if I would cook it.

Remember those chickens that Kelly got for Easter? (I think I posted before about the chick mansion that Kelly & Grampy built... LOL) {{{{ AFTER LOOKING THROUGH MY OLD POSTS, I SEE THAT I NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT THEM YET. SO THAT WILL BE ANOTHER POST.LOL}}}} Well, they are laying eggs now! We are getting about 6 eggs a day. So I got a pasta maker and we've been making our own noodles. Dang, am I becoming little Miss Homemaker or what???
I'm hoping to get this "Winter Food Storage" thing done soon.

On the 1st of October, Hubby & I are planning to go to Florida to stay with some friends for a few days. Thennnnn....I need to lock myself in my craft room and get some stuff done. I've closed my Etsy shop and plan on reopening about the 15th. You will have to check it out. I have some pretty cool things planned (pumpkins, turkeys and ugly dolls).

OK OK
Enough talking!
It seems that when I get on the computer, I could use up the whole day.
Later.....

More giveaways!!

2009-08-25T01:19:00.003-04:00

Frummie is giving away two 2 yard cuts of fabric! Get over there and leave a comment....frummies quilted garden

Bonnie at Calamity Jane's Cottage is having a giveaway of a baby quilt pattern, a pkg. of Texture Magic, fabric and magazines.

THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER ARE HERE

2009-08-18T11:59:00.016-04:00

Today is the first day of school for the grandkids.
Although Kelly lives here full time, it's not the same as when all three are here everyday together.
No more singing concerts for awhile...

Fishing back at the lake will have to be only on weekends for awhile..

And it's almost time to close up the pool for awhile...

It's kinda sad. BUT.....................

I'm doing a happy dance cause now I have time to get back to doing what I like to do!! Not that I don't love to babysit for the kids, but you know how it is!!!

I have too many things started and I don't seem to be getting anything finished! I'm not sure whats been happening with me lately. I've managed to get myself into a lot of "WIP" (work in progress)projects that are just stacking up. I have always been the type that will stay up all hours & do nothing else until something is finished. So this feeling of "failure to complete" is getting me down.
TIME TO MAKE A LIST !!! :0}

SHHHH, CAN YOU HEAR ALL THIS QUIET!!

Good time to think and get this list made.
First on the list
Get my livingroom put back in place. This is what I had last weekend to look at.
I moved everything to one corner so I could shampoo the carpet. Then I have to move it all to the other side and do the other half. It's a pretty big room. Since I won't be having dirty little feet coming in & out all day now, it should stay clean for awhile.

During all this moving of furniture, I decided to take my computer desk out in the garage and I let the grandkids put the coat of sealer on it for me. I got the bottom half of it painted and antiqued but the top half and drawers are still waiting to be done.So second on my list has to be...
Get Computer desk finished

Number 3 will be...
Finish kitchen cupboards OR maybe I should get something done to put in the shop. Hmmmmm!
I'm going to go get a cup of coffee and do some tweaking on this TO DO LIST !!

Did I mention that it was awfully quiet here??

Later

Looky! Looky! Looky!

2009-07-26T17:03:00.005-04:00

I went "garage sale" hunting yesterday and looky what I found!!!

I've been in a crafty kinda slump lately. Too much canning, freezing and weeding to do lately. I got that all caught up for now. So I grabbed my coin jar :0} and left for a country drive. I really love to just get in my car and go places by myself. That way I can go where I want and do what I want to do. I don't mind the quiet !!!
I found some really cool stuff. Those chairs were only $ 1 a piece and they aren't a bit wobbly. Just need some TLC and PAINT. Maybe I shouldn't say how much they were in case someone reads my blog and shops at my booth in town. Oh well !! If you do just remember that the extra money I make will just let me buy more stuff to do. hehehe

I guess that was just what I needed cause now I'm anxious to get started!
To heck with the laundry!! I've got some sanding to do !!
And remember those kitchen cupboards? I think I'll get the flowers painted on them too since I have the paintbrushes out again! I also have 2 milkcans to paint for a friend.
WOW !!! I'll keep you posted on my progress!

What??? Vacation is over?

2009-07-21T01:06:00.008-04:00

Why is it that you can go away for a couple of weeks and have an absolutely glorious time then.............

You come home and you are behind on everything?
Laundry seems to have piled up, weeds are knee high, pool needs swept, veggies are needing to be picked and canned, school clothes & supplies need to be bought, the dog's hair is over its eyes & needs trimmed, and sewing & painting ( Do I still know how to do that? ).

OK OK, I need to get out of the daydreaming mode and get back into the swing of things!!

I picked some zucchini today, so tomorrow I'll make some zucchini bread. I have 2 baby blankets that are close to being done. I know I can get them finished and post to my Etsy shop. And poor Betsy (our Shitzu) really does need to see again:)

I'm going to go to bed now and get an early start tomorrow.
I'll keep you posted!!!LOL

Do you love cannas?

2009-07-19T12:39:00.005-04:00

Aren't these pink cannas just beautiful?

You have to go visit Paula at her new blog, Pondalicious Plants ! She is also selling on Etsy and Ebay too.
This Texas gal has a passionate obsession with water and bog plants. Come join her in what she calls a soggy, wonderful world...
Good Luck Paula in your new ventures!

It's raining!

2009-07-16T23:30:00.011-04:00

Hello Friends,

Don't you just love when it's raining in the evenings. I do!!

It could rain all night! It's not like I have something I have to do outside in the dark. Right?

I have a loveseat that sits next to a window that I can usually keep open at least halfway. I'll get me a cup of tea and curl up on that sofa, listen to the rain falling and usually enjoy a slight breeze blowing in. That is what's going to happen tonight as long as it doesn't blow up a storm.
Hummmmm...and you know what I'm thinkin??

WaHooo, I don't have to drag the hose out & water the garden tomorrow!

Even more reason to enjoy this night!!
Hope you have a rainy kind of night tonight too!

Alaskan Glaciers

2009-07-15T00:23:00.018-04:00

Here are some more pictures of our Alaskan vacation! These are of the glaciers. Aren't they magnificent?

Do you see the cave area at the bottom of the glacier by the water? There is a waterfall formed from the ice melting inside the glacier.

The water was coming out so fast it was making a loud rumbling noise that you could hear way before you even got to the glacier.

Here is Kelly taking in the view from the balcony of our room on the ship.

The glaciers had the most brilliant color of blue stripes. I was amazed at how much dirt was on them though.

Seagulls were having a rest on top of one of the icebergs.

There were lots of icebergs floating in the bay. They were pieces of the glaciers that had fallen off.

Grampy and Kelly were having a great time exploring the ship. I think Kelly got a little tooo used to the excellent service on board !!
But even on vacation....there is a few things that still have to be done. Even Laundry!!!!

I HOPE EVERYONE HAS A PEACEFUL EVENING TONIGHT!!!

More Giveaways!!

2009-07-13T15:32:00.007-04:00

It seems that I have taken a break from all the cookin' and craftin' and just been a computin" today. LOL

While I was a browsing around, I found a couple more giveaways that I need to mention.

On Audrey's Giveaway Blog she has the cutest strawberries & sweets headband made by Michele.
Snazz is Michele's wonderful children's shop on Etsy!

At Simply Heart and Home, Gina is giving away this cool Debbie Mumm apron. That's Gina doing her "curtsy" modeling. You'll find out about that on her blog.

Don't forget to check on the ones I mentioned on my earlier post today!
Judy

Giveaways

2009-07-13T12:25:00.011-04:00

I thought you might like to check out these giveaways.

Marydon, over at her blog Blushing Rose Boutique is having a celebration giveaway of all these beautiful items. Aren't they just wonderful? Please go check this out.

It's time for Cindy's monthly giveaway party at My Romantic Home!
She is giving away either a lovely teapot or
this cute garden angel donated by Jen at Vintage Home Interiors.

Over at Mammalicious Finds you will find a fabulous giveaway from Cinnamon Creek Country Candles for this yummylicious grubby loaf candle scented in sugar cookies.

Have fun everyone!!!
Judy

Cherries are done!

2009-07-10T21:32:00.008-04:00

Unless my brother brings more over this weekend....cherries are done!
14 qts of frozen, 7 half pints cherry sauce (oh so yummy on ice cream), 13 half pints of cherry jelly and 2 qt. juice. I love how jellies sparkle in the light. LOL

Does anyone have any suggestions for the yellow squash? My daughter has a recipe for a casserole that is pretty good. This is the first year for growing these. I'll have to do some research on whether to can or freeze.
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I promised a few pictures of Alaska from our vacation. These are the pics of the whales. They are so huge but still beautiful. We were told that they are having there babies at this time and they aren't as playful as they usually are. They were just skimming at the top of the water then you could watch there tail fin go under.
Absolutely amazing!!!!

And the Eagles were magnificent...oh and I can't forget the moose!

I took over 1000 pics and I will be posting some more. You just have to see the glaciers!!
Later...........Judy

It's Berry Pickin Time !!

2009-07-08T20:18:00.006-04:00

Well I'm back from vacation. We had an absolutely wonderful time. I will post some pictures when I get them sorted.

Now its time to get started on the canning & freezing.
My daughter & I got 30 pounds of sour cherries yesterday. I just finished up today of pitting and freezing most of them. Tonight or tomorrow I will can some cherry jelly and some juice. I have some cooked cherries hanging to drain right now.

We had quite an assembly line going on yesterday. The 2 granddaughters were rinsing & taking the stems off. My Mom, daughter and I were pitting them and my grandson was measuring and filling the bags. I would have taken a picture but my hands were to sticky. I sent enough cherries home with my Mom so she and Mike could make us a couple of pies. YUMMY!!! My brother said he may have more cherries too.

I missed going to the strawberry farm and getting strawberries. They ripened while I was on vacation. I'm trying to find someone around here that is going to thin their strawberry patch out. I'd like to grow my own again. My hubby brought home some plastic crates to make raised beds for a big patch.

Raspberries should be next!
I picked the first zucchini, yellow squash and jalepeno pepper out of the garden today too.
Aren't these baby melons so cute?

ANYONE HAVE ANY GOOD CANNING OR FREEZING RECIPES?

2009-06-05T18:23:00.008-04:00

I know! I know!
Where have I been?????
First there was the knee surgery that didn't go very well. Now I'm trying to get a thyroid problem under control. Geesh...it's not so fun getting old!! LOL
Then my mother was in a car accident and was staying at our house for a few days.
Today was the last day of school for the grandkids so they will be coming here during the day. Except for the time we will be going on vacation.
VACATION.............Yeah, we will be leaving for a 2 week vacation to Alaska in a few days. I think I can use a break from it all.

I really am sorry I didn't get my Easter giveaway done. I'm not sure how I got so far behind.

I just happened to try some browsing and came across this really great giveaway! What a lovely rosebud afghan. Click on the banner on the right for Kim's Country Cottage and get signed up. Hurry though...it ends June 15.

Did You think I Forgot?

2009-02-19T14:19:00.002-05:00

No I didn't forget! I'm still working on some projects for my Easter giveaway. I can tell you that one of them is an Easter raggy quilted tablemat.
I'm a little ((NO A LOT!!))late on my postings lately! We have been passing a virus around in our household this last week or so. My poor granddaughter came home yesterday and laid down on the couch complaining of freezing, headache and just plain too tired to move. She always seems to get the worst of the colds. But I knew what she was feeling cause that's how I felt a couple days ago. On top of that, I found out while I was at the Doctors that my thyroid level was too high.
OK... so now everyone is on the mend and I'm ready to get back to crafting. The first day for my giveaway is going to be coming up soon.
I've got my eyes open for some more Easter treasures and I'll be posting some pictures soon! I promise ;)

1st Item for Easter giveaway

2009-02-08T19:48:00.003-05:00

The first item that I have found to put in my upcoming Easter Giveaway is the packet of stick on letters. They are all pretty spring colors with a touch of sparkle.
Time to watch the Grammies!
I'll continue my search for goodies tomorrow.

Easter giveaway?

2009-02-07T11:16:00.002-05:00

All this snow & cold has been making me think SPRING. So I am starting a collection of things for an Easter giveaway. By the time comes for the giveaway I should have quite a nice collection. There will be more information later. I can tell you that I will have the main post for this giveaway on February 21. The drawing will end on Feb. 28th. That way I can get it sent out in plenty of time for Easter display.
Oh I'm tickled pink with excitement! LOL
I'm off to get started on my findings.
(hint hint) Here is the first thing I've found...
Picture to be posted tomorrow!

Valentine Swap

2009-02-06T10:42:00.003-05:00

I haven't been posting much lately. I've been so busy getting things done for the spring bazaars coming up. Then one day the postal lady drove up to the house & peeped her horn. That means I have a package that won't fit in my mailbox. I went outside, talked to the postal lady for a quick bit and took my package inside. I noticed who's name was on the box "Nancy Collins". Yippee, this must be my Valentine swap!! I fixed myself a cup of hot tea to warm up and proceeded to open my box. OMG it was packed full to the brim with all kinds of goodies. I noticed the box of chocolates first & had to have a piece while I opened the rest of the packages. Here is a picture of what I received.

Let me tell you...this just made my day. It couldn't have came at a better time. Thank you Nancy!! {{HUGS}} I love it all!
Nancy should be getting her package any day now.
((I forgot to put the card in it that says who it is from, any ways)...
Happy Sweet Valentines !!!!!

This same group of the nicest people are having their first birthday party! You have to be a member to join in the fun, but you might just want to check us out.

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Valentine Cupcake Giveaway!

2009-02-02T16:22:00.003-05:00

If you would like a chance to win some fantastic cupcake giveaways, you should check out this blogsite that I have been visiting! Mammalicious Finds. They say that they are two mamas bringing you fun, funky & fabulous finds for your family!

They are having a Cupcake Extravaganza going on from Feb. 2 to the 6th. They are going to be posting different giveaways every day this week. All of the giveaways are CUPCAKE related. You won't believe some of the yummy looking cupcake candles, valentine cards, magnets and much more. I'm giving away this cute mosaiced cupcake box! You have to go to their site to enter. Either click here...Mammalicious Finds...or click on the button on my sidebar. They will give you the instructions on entering. I'm not sure which day this week that my cupcake box will be posted, but you won't want to miss some of the other giveaways too! Have fun!!

Catch up Time !

2009-01-31T14:39:00.007-05:00

Oh my, I haven't been blogging for a few days and so much has happened that I need to catch up on.

First: I would like to show you what I won on Connie's blog giveaway. It is so adorable!!

My youngest granddaughter just fell in love with it. She had it by her side all day. When it came time for her to go home she asked if she could buy it from me. I told her that I didn't make it and a friend of mine made it, but that didn't matter. She wanted to buy something from her Grandma because other people do. She watches me make things to sell at the shop & Etsy (She must've been paying more attention than I thought LOL). She wanted to take it to Show & Tell at school the next day. We took some pictures of the cute little birdhouse. Then she begged $5 from her Mom (I gave it back when she wasn't looking). If Connie could have seen her face....that was the happiest girl in the world at that moment. I called her the next day to find out how school went. She was bubbling with joy. She says she has it sitting on her shelf in her bedroom. She is a PINK kinda girl too. It has found a perfect home.

Thanks Connie!!

Second: I would like you to check out Sonya's blog. She is having a contest that I am participating in. What fun!!!

Third: Be sure & click on the Mammalicious button on my sidebar! There you will find out about the cupcake giveaways. More fun!!!

Fourth: I received an award from Noelle! Check out her blog, she is so sweet! futuremrsk.blogspot.com

So the rules for this award are:

1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design

2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon

3) List at least 10 honest things about yourselfWell, here it goes!10 HONEST things about me:

1. I love chocolate way to much! You can tell by looking at me. I'm still a bit too heavy.

2. I'm really bad about putting things off to the last minute.

3. I am the oldest of my two sisters and one brother. I think that's why I have this huge Motherly instinct.

4. I married the first boy I ever dated at the age of sixteen and we are still together almost 42 years later. "OMG what were you thinkin?" I hear that alot cause my dear Hubby is quite the cut-up. But I wouldn't have it any other way. There is never a dull moment in our household.

5. I learned how to play the accordian when I was a little girl. But I had to start playing the organ because the accordians got to be bigger than I was.

6. I learned how to drive at a racetrack.

7. I HATE to throw anything away!

8. My Hubby used to go on little vacations with the guys and while he was gone I would do some remodeling on our house. He would always tell me to leave a light on for when he came home so he wouldn't trip over something new. I was getting pretty good with the sledge hammer at taking down walls. Now it is a standing joke with all my relatives..."what room you working on now? LOL". Wonder if thats why he doesn't take many of those vacations anymore?

9. I do not like to shop for clothes or groceries. But show me where an Antique Mall or an Auction is and I'm happy!

10. I'm the friendliest person you could meet. HeHeHe Really I am!!!!

I'm sorry that I'm not going to be able to name 7 others to send this too, but if you would like to participate & send this on, please do!!

Thanks Noelle for the award!

AND Last: More fun....

I got this in an email from a friend & just have to pass it on. I don't know where it originally came from.

Summer's almost here...

We can now see the deer moving around.

Yep, won't be long.

Somebody turn up the heat, please!!!

2009-01-16T00:15:00.003-05:00

Oh my gosh is it Cold!!!
We have gotten a lot of snow this week and now the temperatures are in the minuses. There has been a school delay or cancellation almost every day this week. That means that Grandma (thats me) gets to watch the 3 grandkids on those days, while the parents go off to work. I love it. I really enjoy spending time with the kids. They are growing older so fast & I know that someday they will be so busy doing their own THING, that I will be moved a little lower on the fun things to do list. This has put me a little farther behind on the cupboard painting though. I have got the crackeling done on half of them. If I get the roses painted on the door under the sink, then I can put the clear sealer on them & I will be halfway done! This weekend I should be able to get the other half crackled. Patience, that is what I keep telling myself. I should have some pics in a couple of days!!
The kids helped me take all of my stuff off of the top of the cupboards yesterday. Good Lord you almost needed an air mask with all the dust that was a flying!! LOL That took me most of the day to wash everything. Now to put it back up there & arrange it just right. whew!! Oh well, I think we might bake cookies instead. :)

I hope everyone else is staying warm!!!
Judy