Our weekend visit and a little more sewing . . . .

We had a wonderful weekend visiting our son Jason, his wife Holly and Jason, Jr. We haven't been out to their house in a long time and we were anxious to be with them. Our grandson is growing so fast and loves puzzles. He even stopped to put these pieces on his riding toy.



Oh he made me laugh walking around with his hands in his pants pockets, like a little old man.



He loves to paint too, he has so much fun playing, he never stops.



While we were away, I finished up another blanket for Lifesavers Ministry and plan to take these onesies that I decorated and burp cloths over to our church on Sunday. I hope some sweet new baby enjoys them.

A sweet little jacket, a little bread and a grandson . . . .

Oh I really am having fun sewing this week. I finally got around to working on a little jacket for Leanora from this pattern. A while back I had made some pants for Tessa and Joy from this pattern, also by Jackie Clarke. If you click on this link take a stroll through the gallery on Farmhouse Fabrics, such delightful childrens' clothes. The service from this store based in South Carolina is amazing. Use them and you will be very pleased. While I am at it I should also mention Karen Faylor, another great place for an online order, especially if you like to smock. Karen is another wonderful person to talk to, she is very helpful. I think I should make up a list for the side of my page with the online stores that I like to use. The customer service you get online is truly personal.

I have been making lots of burp cloths, some as gifts, a few to sell and so I have accumulated lots of flannel along with scraps left over from the blankets I have been making for LifeSavers Ministry. I lined it with minky so it is so soft. Minky is a little slippery but so cuddly soft. This was smooth minky, without the bumps so it worked perfectly. Not that you couldn't use the bumpy minky. It really is great to use some of these many scraps that I hang onto, some I thought were too small for anything but between repairing the quilt and making this jacket it has been fun to see how well things that I already have go together. Maybe I will post a picture later of LJ (that's what her Mommy calls her sometimes), wearing it, if she isn't already too big. She is growing so fast!
















In addition to sewing I have gone bread machine crazy. My daughter Megan gave the machine to my husband years ago and I never used it, if it did get used it would be because I would pick up a mix in the store for Walt and he would make us some bread. Well he brought it up to the lake and after Christmas I went soup and bread making crazy. So far I have made cinnamon raisin, corn bread, regular white bread, old fashioned buttermilk and honey wheat! I never knew how easy it was, five minutes is all it takes to put all the ingredients in! I guess you are all wondering where I have been since the 1990's but I am afraid that the bread machine was just gathering dust since then, sorry Megan. There are recipes all over the web (have I mentioned we lost the book that came with it) but one of my favorite places for a recipe is here.


I am really flying high tonight because my husband and I are heading out tomorrow to see the little man pictured below, just 20 months and already on ice skates. Oh by the way, I think he does wear a helmet when he skates too. I have really missed him and can't wait to see him. Have a great weekend, I know I will.
Jason, Nana and Papa will see you soon and we can have a date with something Melissa and Doug!

Patching, fixing and lots of zigzag stitching . . .

Today was the inauguration of course and I really wanted to leave the tv on and listen but I can't sit on the sofa all day. So I finally dragged out an old quilt that was done in sort of a crazy quilt style by someone in my husband's family. Some thought that his aunt had made it years ago. Well it was falling apart and frayed in many places with some pieces missing so I went to work on it for many hours with the tv on in the background. It turned out pretty well and can now be used as a throw or a coverlet or it might even be big enough for a twin bed.




















Last week Joann's was having a sale on patterns, $1 each so I stocked up. One of the patterns was a vintage yo yo clown from Simplicity's archives. I worked a long time on this but am not completely happy. I think his head is too small, if I make another the next one will have a bigger head. Anyway it was fun to make from my huge stash of various fabrics.

A little stitchin', a little crocheting . . .

A new year and January usually gets me itching to make things but where to begin, my mind races with all the ideas out there. I am interested in helping this ministry so I thought I would begin by making some receiving blankets with crocheted edges and some burp cloths to go with them. They have such pretty yarn to put on the edges so they are fun to make.




I've always wanted to make this pincushion. It's from Heather Bailey, although she wasn't given credit here. It was also fun to sew, think I will try some more.

Oh boy, what's next . . .

I received gifts of fabric for Christmas and got some on sale too, lots to make, just have to decide what it will be and then settle down and do it.
Maybe more of these , or maybe I will try this, who knows, there are so many ideas out there. I made one of these for Christmas and would like to make another. They certainly are enjoyable to make, and there is even a hat to match.

A study in brrrrr. . . .

We live in upstate New York, in the area called the southern Adirondacks so we are pretty familiar with snow and ice but we are not always guaranteed a snowy, freezing winter but this year we are having just that. The beauty of it all is astounding to me sometimes and I know many people don't like winter. If you click on the first picture you can see an ice shanty out on the lake, that's something I don't think I would enjoy. I have to wear my winter boots and a scarf, hat and sometimes many layers of clothes when we go out. But the beauty of all as I look out the windows towards the lake and the mountains makes it worth it to me. I took the icicle pictures quickly before my husband knocked them down. The lines in the snow are from the wind whcih is very still today but was so crazy on thursday. Everyday is different up here. As for today more snow is expected, maybe even 8 inches but for now the sun is still out, it will begin later. I am curious to hear what bloggers west of us got this time. Our church is always open, our pastor lives in walking distance so he says we will always have Sunday services. Of course he also said people that are uneasy shouldn't drive to church if the roads are bad. My husband is never uneasy so we can always get there.

Birthday celebration and creativity . . .

We celebrated Courtney's birthday on Thursday night at Court and Adam's house. Adam made chicken parmesan and got Courtney's request of a Carvel ice cream cake. Annabelle pretty much wanted to eat everyone's cake, she was pretty funny.

Annabelle was very tired but very happy nevertheless, she is such a friendly little girl

Katie surprised Courtney with a beautiful pear pincushion that she made herself, isn't it pretty? She also gave her some new pins to use with it. So happy to see my daughter-in-law sewing. Courtney enjoys it too. Those babies just don't give them much free time to do it.

Before . . . . . . and After

Well, we tried to take a picture of some very tired grandchildren in their Christmas Jammies, you can see how it went.

Then we added their Mommies and it was a whole different story. Can't say that I blame them.

Left to right our daughter Megan with Trinity, Tessa and Joy, our daughter Courtney with Annabelle, our daughter-in-law Katie with Leanora and our daughter-in-law Holly with Jason. Holly is also pregnant and due in May with her second baby. Got the ladies in their jammies too, hope they didn't mind. We had just finished a monkey bread and the kids had opened piles of presents, lots of toys and cute clothes. We had our celebration in a lovely house that was rented for us by my sister and brother-in-law while we visited them. It was a little crazy all at once, but I guess it will always be that way from now on. As long as I get to see my kids I'm happy. I actually slept in that morning, very weird because when the kids and grandkids are around I am usually awake just waiting for the first peep out of the first one so I can kidnap them from their parents. But I did sleep in, due to exhaustion I guess and got up to the coffee made, and the monkey bread coming out of the oven, what a treat for me. Thank you Holly, Jason and Courtney for doing that and Megan and Jeff for bringing all the stuff we needed for breakfast!!



I did quite a bit of sewing this Christmas, making play crowns out of felt for all the grandkids and royal robes for the three oldest. Jason wasn't thrilled, he is a little young to understand dress up and he is a guy after all. But I think Joy and Tessa will enjoy them. They will look better with some Disney Princess gowns to go with them I think, and those are home in their closets.
Annabelle put hers on later, for New Years Eve I believe.


** After posting this I realized I never gave credit where credit was due for the crowns. You have to go to http://juicy-bits.typepad.com/juicy_bits/2008/09/32-felt-birthday-crown-tutorial.html to see her beautiful crowns. This where I got the idea and the pattern.

****PLEASE NOTE: My oldest son is quite the cut-up and he has some plastic "funny" teeth in, in some of these pictures. They are not his teeth!!!