catch-up time

Here are a few things that have been going on around here.  Nothing earth-shaking (thank heavens), but bits and pieces of my life. 

I've completed the retirement lap quilt I made for Kim.  I'll be giving it to her next week when we meet for lunch.  I'll show the complete quilt after she sees it first.  

I went to a cabin get-away weekend with three friends a couple of weeks ago.  One really nice thing was discovering that this wonderful park is just about 12 miles down the road.  The City of Grand Prairie has Loyd Park on Lake Joe Pool, with campsites and cabins, walking trails, picnic and playground areas, and of course, the lake to play in or admire.   We got there on a Friday nite and cooked out hamburgers and released our inner child by playing with bubble wands.  I managed to capture Linda and Judy  with their bubbles, and you'll find Kay in the...well, I started to say in the campfire picture, but you can't see the campfire!

Saturday we tapped into our creative side and painted...rocks!  Here's Judy.

I had a picture of all the rocks lined up, but it didn't come out well.  Trust me, they were cute.   Elise and I painted rocks prior to the cabin weekend so I could see how it came together.  She did good too.  :)

In other news, Ashlynn was in a musical with all the first graders in her school.  Such a detailed production!  She was a butterfly, and they also featured ants, grasshoppers, bees, a stink bug, and one maggot.  Really good show. 

I had a cookout last weekend.  Well I had everyone over and David ended up cooking, but still...  Its hard to get everyone together when there are kids, work, and activities keeping us busy, but I like to start Spring with a gathering.  Visiting, eating, playing...what more could you ask for?  Oh, and eating birthday cake since Rhett turned 8 the other day.

That's it for now.  Have a good weekend. 

Don't give up on me

Haven't posted anything lately,  I'm having computer issues. Hope to get them resolved soon.

sewing, random

I've been working on Kim's retirement lap quilt, and finally finished piecing the top.  I was "winging it" and letting it evolve on its own.  I can see areas that could have been handled differently, but I really want this to be a completed project and not turn into a lingering UFO that keeps needing something before I finish it.  The next step will be to sandwich it and get ready for quilting, which I'll be doing myself.  I would show a picture, but not knowing if Kim ever looks in on my blog, I'm waiting a bit.  I've personalized it (hope she likes it) and want it to be a surprise.  Edit to add:  it's sandwiched!

I made Elise a dress last week.  You know little kids, they don't necessarily say they like something because its the polite thing to do.  I got tickled because she wore it the day I gave it to her, and the next day her mom took her to see a Disney Princesses on Ice show.  When she got up that morning, she wanted to wear it again!  Elizabeth put a long sleeve shirt underneath, and off they went.  Today we were at Hobby Lobby and she twisted my arm to get her fabric for another dress.  :)  Sorry, no pictures of the dress, but maybe with the next one...

I got a forwarded e-mail the other day about random acts of kindness.  You know the kind...paying for the person behind you at the drive-through, leaving a dollar taped to the vending machine with a note to enjoy a snack, giving water to a construction crew on a hot day.  Years ago there used to be pay telephones in a lot of places.  Remember those?  I know my kids used to love to run up to them and see if there were coins in the change slot that someone might have forgotten.  There were several times that I would purposely put a quarter in there just so someone could have the excitement of finding it.  Now I occasionally pay for the person behind me in a fast-food line, and have finally figured out what works best for me.  First, I look in the rear-view mirror and see if there's just one person in the car.  Then, after I've paid for my meal, I ask the cashier if their ticket is less than $x, say 5 or 10.  They tell me what it is, and if it's more than I want to pay I can gracefully bow out, but generally I'll pay it.  Usually I'm on my way before the person gets to the cashier and I can be anonymous.  The other day, it didn't work out quite that way, and as I drove off the lady behind me was waving real big with a great smile on her face.  Her bill?  I think in the ballpark of $3 (we're talking McDonalds after all).  What a nice little way to start a Friday for someone, don't you think?  What are your random acts of kindness? 

That's it for now.  Enjoy your week!
 

April! dare I say "Spring"????

Spring has been bunny-hopping its way on getting here, but I'm now holding onto the thought that it's here to stay.   :)

Had a terrific time with the family yesterday as we gathered together for Easter.  Hope you did too.

Later in the afternoon David helped me out by mowing and edging the lawn, it's first grooming for the season.  While he did all the work, I sat with Elizabeth and Elise on the porch catching bubbles.

That's it for now.  Have a good week!

I'm still here

Haven't been around much lately.  Guess that's because there's not been a whole lot going on. 

I'm still watching Elise during the week, but I'm off since this is Spring break.  She gets to stay home with Daddy, and I'm sure she's enjoying it.  While she's not around, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity and working on a few pre-school activity kits to have on hand.  My neighbor Angie was good enough to loan me a box of her kits to use as samples, which has been a great help.  While I didn't get a picture last week, Elise actually helped on one of the kits by painting some clothes pins with me.  And she's played with the fishing pole that has a magnet on the end, and has a variety of objects in the kit to see if the magnet will pick them up or not.  This one that I did get a picture of will help with letter recognition and matching skills.  I hope to make another set of cut up cards with pictures that start with the letters, but she can play with this as it is.

I haven't done much in the way of sewing projects lately, other than mending a few things here and there.  However, in going through a few drawers today, I came across some patches and logos cut off of some work shirts that a friend had passed my way several years ago.  She attached a little note, saying "for Kim's retirement quilt".  At the time (around 2005) I had made a patch quilt for work, and Kim just handed them to me in a joking manner.  Well...I think she's been retired at least a year now, so my thought when I saw them was that I either need to make something or get them back to her.  I played with them a bit, and laid them out on fabric, then decided that I should show it to her before proceeding any further.    This picture shows them on a 16x20 canvas, so you can see it won't be great big.  I've sent her a message, and this will give her an opportunity to see if she wants to update her choices, or if she even is still interested. 

Note:  I've heard back from Kim, and I'm going to work it into a lap size quilt.  We'll see what else I do with it.  ;)

Oh!  I almost forgot...I went to Memphis recently!  No, not the city...the broadway show presented at Bass Performance Hall.  It was a lot of fun, especially since Toni and Bonnie went with me.

Okay, guess that's it for now.  Hopefully I won't wait so long to come back.  :)

cooking, sewing, and "art"

I was at the grocery store the other day picking up a few things, among those items was milk.  I've not been drinking as much as I use to (milk!), so I've dropped down from buying a gallon to a quart.  I've notice before that the pricing is ridiculous.  This time it just irritated me even more that the price of a quart of milk was actually higher than the price of a gallon of the same brand.  I decided the heck with it, and just bought a pint.  Per ounce its even more, but it felt better for some strange psychological reason.  What's wrong with these people?

I also picked up some Bisquick when I was at the store.  Elise had watched Sid the Science Kid, and Sid was pondering the question of why his dad's pancakes are always blackened and crispy, his mother's are gummy in the middle, and his grandma's are perfectly golden and taste delicious.  It got me to thinking that I really need to experiement a bit and see if I can make better pancakes than the usually blackened ones I turn out.   There may be a better batter to use than Bisquick, and if you have a preference please let me know, but that's what I used.   Sorry I have no marvelous pictures, but this morning's experiment just came together at the last minute.

I made half the recipe, got my pan nice and hot, had some butter on it to cook the pancake in, and ladled in a big spoonful.  I expected to see the little bubbles that pop up and tell you its getting done, but none ever showed up.  I finally flipped it, and of course it was blackened a bit.

The next one I reduced my heat a bit, ladeled on another spoonful of batter, and again, no bubbles.  This one did turn out a big gummy though not as blackened.  Progress?  Of a sort I guess.

The next one I kept the heat on the lower temp, and managed to not have it blackened, and while it wasn't gummy inside, wasn't a beautiful golden color.  Still didn't have any bubbles appear.

Finally I thought to add a bit more milk to the batter to thin it.  This time I came closer to having the bubbles, and it browned without scorching, so I was pleased enough.  I made one more and called it done.  I added some maple syrup, and they tasted fine.  Not wonderful, but fine.   On the HGTV cooking forum (I think that's where I saw this) they had talked about the real deal maple syrup being so good.  I bought some on an earlier shopping trip, so used it for the first time with my pancakes, and it was good.  To be fair, I'll have to try it with French toast some morning, something that I already know how to fix.  :)

In other news, Marciel in my Bunco group is having some health issues.  She had made a bit of a start on a t-shirt quilt last year, and it got set to the side.  Long story short, one of the other Bunco girls, Lisa, asked if I'd want to help her finish the quilt top, and get it ready to go to the quilter.  Of course!  So we made a good start last weekend, getting the sashing attached to all the blocks.  So nice when one can cut while the other one sews.  The during the week I sewed the rows together, and it's now ready for the borders.  Lisa will be over one night this week and we'll get that part done.  Here's where we are so far.

And to show that I have a bit of variety in my interests, smile, here's my latest art work.  Along with my helper of course.  The floral is a little fat quarter (fq) that I'm sending to a fellow quilter who's having some medical issues, but  I decided the blank spot on the front of the card needed something.  Wahlah, an art opportunity!

And of course, my helper Elise.

I guess that's it for now.  Have a good week everyone.

this and that

Sometimes I'm almost compelled to hold onto something just because it might come in handy someday.  I'm getting better about letting go of things, but still have my moments.  And this time it paid off.

Last summer I cut off some denim capris that I didn't like the length, and made them shorter.   There was this set, and one darker.

They yelled out "wait a minute, don't toss me in the trash!"   Probably because of the buttons, who knows.

Now that I'm making a few doll clothes, I thought they might work out for some pants for the doll.  The buttons were too big to look right, but by cutting them to use the inner leg seam they worked out fine.  That seam turned into the outer leg seam for the doll.  And they already had a nice hem, so that was less sewing and working with the heavy denim.   Here's a picture using the darker denim, along with another pair I made using the fabric from the shirt I made last week.  I had a scrap of lace trim that worked well with it.

The pink ones are a tad longer, so we'll say the denims are more of a cropped length.  :)

Angela sent me a phone picture of Ashlynn with her doll and the clothes from last week.

Ashlynn may get tired of the little clothes, but for now I'm enjoying doing something different.

In another area of interest, little Elise has shown an affinity for tucking things away in special spots where she can find them readily.  I may have mentioned that a month or two ago I couldn't find my Ipod.  I looked everywhere I could think.  I happened to mention it in front of Elise, and she immediately went to my room, opened up a small dresser drawer, and sure enough there it was.  It was upside down, and had I glanced in there would most likely have overlooked it.   I've taken a few pictures recently of things I've come across.

Hair bands on the door knob.

 A pill fob on a jar top.

And a couple of bits of red reindeer fabric (from making the boot scootin' tree skirt) in my little drawer with tea towels.

Ah, its the little things that keeps life interesting.

And here's a fun picture of Robert, Angela, Rhett, and Ashlynn.  Angela thought she wouldn't be in it, but surprise!  And I love the look on Rhett's face. 

That's it.  Have a good week.