Oxford Impressions

Farm Chick Onesie for First Birthday Party

2012-02-10T10:44:00.000-06:00

Katie's friend, Katie F. asked me I could make a onesie for her daughter Macyn's first birthday party. She said the theme was farm animals and I could come up with my own ideas! So this is what became of my brain storming. Macyn will be the #1 farm chick at the party!

I'm also making a paint pony onesie but I have not received my fabric in the mail yet. Eight days till party time, hope I get the second one made in time !

First Entry On Google

2012-02-03T16:37:00.003-06:00

A lot of people have been coming directly to my blog in the last 24 hours and I had to figure out why!

Google put me in the number one spot for Crescent Cheeseburger Ring !!!

That totally makes my day !!!!

My Fitness Pal dot com

2012-01-31T18:14:00.000-06:00

Katie introduced me to http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ 35 days ago and I've been hooked ever since. I set my personal goal at a conservative five pounds a month. And am very happy that the weight (so far) is falling off faster than I ever thought it would. The website is easy to navigate and making entries and finding foods in their data base is a breeze too. I'm liking it way better than Weight Watchers. I also love the fact that I can eat whatever I want as long as I stay in my goal numbers. Below is how your screen starts off for the day under the "FOOD" tab......

You enter the foods you eat under the corresponding meal and the My Fitness Pal program does the rest. I added Sodium and Fiber to my graph. I've always been conscious of my sodium intake since so many members of my family are on high blood pressure medications. So far by just watching my sodium I have avoided that problem!

I like to see what I have remaining for the day after I complete the entries for one meal. To make this program work for me, I had to make these three items be a staple in my kitchen.....

I should also add Ziploc baggies because I'm now bagging portions to make things easier!

Adding foods is easy, you just click on the "Add Food" button and start typing in what you ate. I always start with the brand name unless I'm entering a fresh fruit or vegetable. If the item is not already in the data base, then you can add it yourself on a separate screen. In 35 days, I've only had 2 items that I had to enter all the numbers for. I also like the "Quick Tools" feature. I often eat the same thing for breakfast a few days in a row, so I can click on "Quick Tools" and choose to copy the day before for my breakfast entry.

Here's how my page looked after breakfast and lunch..........

There is also an exercise tab where you can enter in whatever you have done in that department. I try to get to the fitness center 3 to 4 times a week and walk two miles on the treadmill and then do three reps on three different weight machines. When you add your exercise in, the program gives you additional calories for the day !

I love that it's FREE.
I also love that Katie and I can be friends on it and see each other's pages. That is great motivation.
But, my favorite part is the "Complete This Entry" button. When I've put the last bite of food in my mouth for the day (usually around 6 pm), I click the "Complete This Entry" button and it's liked I've locked up the kitchen. No more going back for nibbles of anything the rest of the evening. Water only from that point on. When you click on that button, the program will tell you if you have succeeded in coming in under your target for the day. And it will give you a message saying something like, "if every day was like today, you will weigh X amount of pounds in 5 weeks".
That is the best motivation of all !!!!
It also has an app for the I phone. I gotta get me one of those someday !

Show Us Your Life Friday Things You Make

2012-01-27T08:28:00.001-06:00

Kelly at Kelly's Korner Blog is hosting her weekly Show Us Your Life and this Friday the topic is, Show What You Make. She has this topic at least once a year and it is my favorite. Maybe because I have a lot to post about for this topic or maybe because I just like to recap things I've made in the last year ! It's my goal for 2012 to get an Etsy shop up and running. I already have my shop's name picked out, I just have to find the time to get it started. Most of the pictures in this post were items that I completed in 2011. The quilt above is my first paper piecing string quilt. I'm loving this technique and have plans for many quilts in this pattern.

Below is an idea I found on Pinterest last year and absolutely had to try it out. I made two of these for friends and then a couple for Stephanie's store.

I also make taggies/lovies. I use lots of different fabrics, lots of shades and prints of minky and tons of ribbons. Each one gets 25 ribbons!

Onesies are one of my favorite things to make. I've made probably over 100 of them in the last few years. Sister-in-law, Luann needed a University of Florida one this week, so I came up with this idea....

I made this one for baby Macyn when she was a couple months old...........Her mom paired it with baby sized skinny jeans and it was super cute!

I also make burp cloths. I'm sure I've made close to a thousand of these in the last 15 years....

Last year I made several sets of these matching giraffe onesies and burp cloths.....

Another quilt I made last year for baby Harper. Loving the straight line quilting technique...

Another project I did last year for baby Harper and big brother Owen were these Lil Sis, Big Bro shirts...........Harper got two sizes of onesies....

A circle quilt made with oranges and periwinkles.......

I've made several of these superman capes over the years.....

I also scrapbook and this book I made for my Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary is my biggest scrap booking accomplishment. Click here to see all the pages.

And one last thing to show off !! I turned my 2010 blog into a book. It was a lot of work to narrow down my posts and my pictures to get it in the price range I could afford. Click here to see the blog post on it with a link to the website where I created it at. I've started working on my 2011 blog book and will probably get it sometime in April.

Just A Little Sneak Peek !

2012-01-24T19:39:00.000-06:00

Just a little sneak peek at what I'm working on these days. In between making grandma memory quilts, I'm sneaking in some extra projects. I've got two graduation quilts to get completed before May 2012.

It will be fun since one is for a girl and one is for a guy. So they will be complete opposites. I'm still gathering my fabrics for the guy but I've got all my plans figured out for the girl quilt and have all my fabrics cut.

I picked the string quilt paper piecing pattern because I LOVE IT ! This is your one sneak peek before the final reveal in 4 more months!

University of Florida for Baby Boy

2012-01-21T13:53:00.000-06:00

Last weekend Luann asked me to make a blanket, a onesie and some burp cloths for one of her friends who is expecting a baby next month. She also wanted to use a theme of University of Florida. I love getting orders with a theme and then I get to pick out all the fabrics! I immediately got online and went to EBay and Etsy and found these 3 perfect fabrics that I purchased.

I already had plenty of minky in blue and white and I also had the perfect shade of blue onesie to go with this project. Here's the blanket with University of Florida bandanna print on the front and baby blue diamond patterned minky on the back.....

I made two super soft burpies, one in each print with solid white minky on the back....

For the onesie I found an alligator template online that I printed off and enlarged to the size I wanted.......

I also got into my Michael Miller Ta-Dot's stash and found three colors to coordinate with the University of Florida fabrics. I used Gerber 6-ply diapers and sewed a piece of fabric down the middle of each pre-folded cloth diaper.....

Here's everything together....

And all bundled up and tied with three coordinating grosgrain ribbons! This order will be going out in Monday's mail...

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.

She Loved Her Lipstick

2012-01-17T13:13:00.000-06:00

She loved her lipstick. For some reason that's what I've been thinking about lately. Tomorrow is pappaw's birthday and today is the one year anniversary of grandma being stolen from us. That's how it feels, like she's been stolen, taken from all of us too soon. Pappaw is lost without her. These past 12 months have been so difficult for him, but he has persevered and fought the fight every day.

She was the best. The best daughter, best sister, best wife, best mother, best mother-in-law, best grandma and the best grammy. We want her back. We know that is not possible. So we will live our lives being the best we can be so one day we will reunite with her in a place where there is no pain and there is no cancer. Maybe when I get there, I'll have her lipstick in my pocket.

New Fabrics

2012-01-15T09:01:00.000-06:00

Aaron and Stephanie gave me a gift certificate to www.hawthornethreads.com last month and these are the fabrics I bought. I'm thinking they will make the perfect quilt to compliment my new couch !

New Couch

2012-01-14T14:29:00.001-06:00

Above: Old living room furniture

Below: New living room furniture !!

Today Nebraska Furniture Mart delivered my new sectional couch. I've waited a very long time to have a large sectional couch that is deep and comfortable. I love every inch of it!

I had to keep a walkway to the front door, so the couch has to set in close towards the fireplace to allow a walk way.....

It makes this space very cozy now! I kept my old green ottoman but did not include it in these pictures. Of course getting a new piece of furniture always leads to other things. Like new paint. I would love to paint the living room a different color now. Maybe a bluish gray that would compliment the charcoal color of the couch. And something to decorate that big empty wall behind the sectional. Someday I'll get an ottoman that will match the sectional! Maybe like one of these two....

I've now got a big space behind the sectional by the window that looks awkward but I 've got a chair in my bedroom that will fit perfectly in the space as soon as I get some help moving it down the hallway.

My bare window needs some desperate help too. I want a window covering that starts almost at the ceiling and goes to the floor. Maybe a linen drape in an oatmeal color. I'm liking this 108" drape with grommets I found at Overstock.com......

And what does this boy think about it all? He's not sure yet. Since he's almost blind, he's not liking having to figure out how to navigate his new couch. Good thing I kept the old ottoman so he has something familiar. He will jump up on the ottoman as part of his usual routine, but is afraid to make the jump to the couch. Then when he gets on the couch he's very hesitant to move, but he will figure it out! In a week, he will be comfortable and have all his strategies worked out in his fuzzy little head!

Russell and Susan's "Grandma" Quilt

2012-01-02T19:08:00.000-06:00

Another "Grandma" quilt got completed this past Saturday. This one is for Russell and Susan. After I got Aaron and Katie's completed, and a small one for myself, it was time to start on the rest of the family. I've got a total of about 19 quilts with this "grandma" project to get completed. Since I enjoy quilting and creating things with fabric, it's an honor for me to use my talents to make a keepsake for members of my family.

With so many quilts to make, I've had to set some rules for myself to keep it under control. First rule is to use as many of my scraps as possible for parts of the quilt that won't be grandma's clothes. This means that things are not always going to match but since the nature of the quilt is to include a large selection from grandma's wardrobe, it's not really going to "match" in any sort of pattern anyway! Second rule is to take the time to use an interfacing or wonder-under behind all fabrics that are thin, synthetic or won't hold their shape on their own. And the third rule is to make each quilt as personable as possible.
For instance, with this quilt, about twenty years ago, Russell gave his mom some of his hospital scrubs. She loved them and wore them a lot when she first got them, so in Russell's quilt, I made sure to include fabric from those scrubs...

I cut out all the labels from her clothing and will use them in the girls quilts, but when I found a label called RUSS, I immediately knew that it had to be incorporated into Russell's quilt since Grandma often called her oldest son, Russ. How funny that she bought a shirt that had a RUSS label. It made me smile and wonder if after she found a "Russ shirt", was she always on the lookout for a Patti, Steve, Doug and Luann brand of clothing! I'm sure if there would have been, she would have bought it !

For this quilt I used two shades of yellow scraps and some muslin for the squares. The backing is a cream colored sheeting. For the binding I went to my scrap closet again and pulled out some old green striped pillow cases, cut them into long strips and made my own binding.

This quilt will go out in tomorrow's mail to make the trip to Arizona! Sheila is next, she liked how I used a pale pink binding on my quilt to represent Grandma's softness, so I think I will be adding some of that pale pink to Sheila's as well!

Sick Pooch and Sewing Projects

2012-01-02T16:22:00.000-06:00

My little dog is not feeling well. While giving him a bath today I found a nasty gum infection. That explained his decrease in appetite the last few days!

So after getting him clean, I put him in his favorite spot. Riley loves the laundry basket! I was also washing the bedding today so I put a soft blanket in the basket and he snuggled right in.

It was the perfect place for him to hide while drying out from his bath.

After a trip to the vet to get his lip shaved and get started on his antibiotic, I managed to get a good start on a high school graduation quilt I need to get finished by May.....

My favorite quilt design lately has been the string quilt. I got my fabrics cut into strips last week, so over the weekend and then today I got 25 blocks completed. I've now got to cut some more material so I can make an additional 11 blocks.

Brinner for Christmas Eve Cream Biscuits, Mimosas and Chicken Foot Dominos

2011-12-27T16:36:00.000-06:00

For Christmas Eve, Katie wanted to have breakfast for dinner. We called it Brinner and it was a great idea. We had cream biscuits, bacon, sausage, milk gravy, eggs, french toast and cheesy hash browns made in the crock pot. The cream biscuits were the best! I found this recipe for them and it's a keeper.

They were super easy to make with only five ingredients of heavy whipping cream, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Katie and Stephanie made a quick trip to Price Chopper before they closed at 6 pm to grab a bottle of champagne. We had orange juice for me and mimosa's for everyone else!

I tried the mimosa, but that alcohol always goes right to my head, so I passed on it after one sip! After dinner we had a game of eleven rounds of chicken foot. Chick, chick, chick !!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T15:58:00.000-06:00

Christmas 2011 was quiet this year. For the past 30 years I've had a Christmas at home and a Christmas at my in-laws in Texas. Since grandma is no longer with us and this was the first year pappaw had to do a Christmas holiday without her, he wanted it to pass with as little fanfare as possible. So to honor his wishes, we stayed home and let him have a quiet day with just the family that lived in his town.

I got to spend Christmas day with my sister and parents for the first time in those thirty years. We don't have a slew of family on my side as we do on the other side, so the day was mostly quiet but very enjoyable.

We opened gifts, had a dinner of roast beef, carrots, potatoes, corn, salad and rolls. For desserts we had homemade carrot cake, brownies, peach pie and apple dip.

The guys played dominos at the table while the girls play Scategories in the living room...

We always like to get a picture of the kids in front of the tree. Actually it's only one kid now (Hannah) and the rest are adults!

My mom and dad..........

One of our favorite movies to watch at Christmas is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...

That night we went to the theatre and saw Matt Damon's new movie, We Bought A Zoo, and by the time we got home we were ready to crash just like this pooch.......

Sierra loves Christmas too !

Pappaw Tells A Story Of His High School Ring

2011-12-13T08:54:00.001-06:00

Pappaw started high school when he was 14. That's when he met Patricia Ann who became his wife. She was four years younger than him. Later on into high school, he gave his school ring to his Patricia, it was too big for her finger so she threaded a ribbon through it and wore it around her neck. It was one of her closest possessions and she treasured it dearly. One day her older brother took the ring out of her bedroom and hide it from her and made her believe that she had lost it. Pappaw never could figure out why Grandma's brother would do such a mean thing. I mentioned to him that it was probably typical brother-sister behavior but he wasn't understanding why another person could hurt his girl.

Pappaw then told me the story of how he got his high school ring:

The ring cost $40 and Pappaw had to have $19 to put down as the deposit. He had $16 saved and did not know how he was going to get the other $3. He was running out of time as the deadline was approaching quickly. He thought about asking his parents but did not want to be selfish since he knew they had little money themselves. That same day his friends talked him into going ice skating at a pond near his farm. They did not have ice skates, so they would run up to the pond and then slide across it on their shoes. Pappaw's dog, Poochie was with him that day and she had run over to a pile of brush and was barking and digging at it. Pappaw went over to check out what Poochie was so excited about and he found a mink, a young brown mink. He knew that a guy in town was paying $20.00 for mink hides and he saw this as the perfect opportunity to get the money he was needing for his high school ring deposit. Possums only brought 50 cents per hide, so finding a mink was like finding a gold mine. He and his friends took that mink into town and he got $9.00 for it since the mink was not full grown. Pappaw had to share the winnings with his two friends and they each got $3. He now had the $19 that was needed to put down as the deposit for high school ring.
That was the first and only mink he saw while growing up on his family's farm. He's very thankful he got coerced into pond skating that day and that Poochie tagged along with him or he would not have gotten that ring to later give to his girl to wear around her neck with a ribbon.

Taggies (Lovies) Going to ROOM 5

2011-12-03T15:14:00.000-06:00

Today I got 6 ribbon taggies (lovies) completed and ready to ship to ROOM 5 in Ozark MO. If you see something you like, call Stephanie at 417.581.1404 and place a phone order. Each one is approximately 12 inches square. All taggies have 20 ribbons that are triple sewn in place. This one below is my favorite of today's bunch......

Animal print on the front and minky animal print on the back.....

A whole school of fish on a crinkle fabric for this taggie, very colorful..........

Light blue minky on the back.............

Ann Kelle, Ready Set Go airplane fabric used for this one.........

With a medium blue minky dot on the back...........

Disco dot in pastel for this one, might be Michael Miller...........

Solid white minky for the back..........

Floral in pinks, blues, purples and yellow...........

Pale pink minky dot for the back side......

Michael Miller Groovy Guitars in Lagoon for the last one............

Solid white minky for the back side.......

Practicing Camera Settings

2011-12-02T17:54:00.000-06:00

Last week I asked Katie if I could borrow her camera since she does not use it much. I wanted to figure out how to use something besides the point and shoot that I have. Since the Christmas tree is up I started experimenting with ornaments. I want to figure out how to blur the background but keep the image in front very sharp.......

I'm getting there! I've taken tons of pictures and need to go back through the camera and delete most of them....The best ones I've used in this post....

I've had this Santa since my kids were little, I just can't let go of him. He graces the mantel every year!

Riley wasn't much for picture posing but I did get to work on blurring the background.....

I even practiced on myself in the mirror. Unfortunately I had to keep my glasses on so I could see the icons on the the camera for the different settings.....

2011 Christmas Tree Onesies

2011-11-27T15:19:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I saw a Christmas Tree onesie on Pinterest and knew I had to add it to my sewing projects. Today I got two completed. One for Miss Macyn and one for Miss Harper. Two sweet baby girls who will be celebrating their first Christmas this year.

I totally messed up my first attempt. I had a cute pom-pom trim I was wanting to use at the bottom of the tree, but it was hard to work with and kept falling apart. I also started sewing on the trims and ribbons but had trouble making things line up correctly so I discarded my Plan A and went with Plan B.

I had a tube of Unique Stitch in my sewing supplies that I have never used before. I did some more research online and found another Christmas tree shirt where a fabric glue was used instead of sewing the ribbons in place. I'm impressed with the Unique Stitch, it worked well on the grosgrain, the satin and the rick-rack. I dipped the ends of each piece of trim in Fray Check and let that dry for thirty minutes. Next I placed a piece of aluminum foil inside the onesie before adhering the trims unto the front of it....

This is the 24 month size, I used seven rows of trim and a bow on top. I found the flat satin bows on EBay at a really great price....

and here's the 12 month size with six rows of trim........

Here is Miss Macyn wearing her shirt.....

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.

Michael Miller Zoology With Coordinating Ta Dots

2011-11-26T19:05:00.000-06:00

Today I made baby Liam a quilted changing pad to be rolled up and kept in his diaper bag. It measures 14" X 28" and I used Michael Miller prints in Zoology and Ta Dots. A gray Kona cotton was used for the background and a pale yellow for the backing. Binding is handmade with a ta dot print as well (sewn to the front and hand stitched to the back). I cut my blocks at 4" square and 8" X 4" and then some odd pieces to fit in the empty spaces. All blocks were glued to the gray cotton and then sewed in place with a zigzag stitch.

I then layered the quilt top, Warm and Natural batting and backing and secured with large safety pins.....

Then my favorite part, the free motion quilting technique sandwiched the three layers together...

I kept my free motion stitching small and tight to make a very quilted changing pad.....

Here's a closeup of the stitching...

I cut my binding at 2" and it gave me some trouble. I usually keep my binding at 2.5 or even go as wide as 3" for thicker quilts. This 2" binding gave me some issues with staying straight and the corners were too thick so I've got to work on my technique for two inch binding. Here it is all rolled up and ready to go in Liam's diaper bag............
Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.........

Christmas at ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique - It's The Hap-Happiest Season Of All

2011-11-22T11:40:00.001-06:00

ROOM 5 is all decked out for Christmas shopping. Lots of tree ornaments and Santa cookie platters and hot chocolate mugs. Festive bowls to hold Christmas candy and cute little tea pots for hot tea. Candles are a plenty along with table decorations and card holders for seating placement at fancy dinner tables.

Numerous figurines to add to your holiday table or mantel scenes....

Christmas gifts for school teachers too....

ROOM 5 is located in Ozark Missouri, or visit the website by clicking here and place an online order to be shipped to your home.

Rag Quilt Using Kumari Garden by Dena Designs

2011-11-19T18:17:00.000-06:00

Today I finished my first rag quilt. I had purchased some Dena Designs, Kumari Garden off Etsy a few months ago that would make the perfect baby rag quilt. I also had some scraps of cream colored chenille that I used on the back of the quilt. Here are the steps I took to create this small quilt:
Cut out 49 six inch squares for the front
Cut out 49 five inch flannel squares for the middle
Cut out 49 six inches squares for the backing
I did not have enough chenille for 49 squares so I used some of the Kumari Garden for the back pieces as well.......

The next step was to draw an X with a pencil on each top square. The X is sewn one inch in from each corner so I made small pencil marks at the one inch spot that would catch my attention while sewing (pencil marks wash out)....

Here's how the squares looked while sewing......

All 49 squares completed...........

I then played with arrangement of the blocks on the floor. Riley thought they were to play with too......

I should have made a trip to the fabric store and bought more cream chenille. I had trouble with placement of the squares looking right on the back and well as the front, so the back has a funky pattern to it....

All seams were sewn at 1/2 inch and then clipped at 1/4 inch spacing. This was the messiest quilt I've ever made! With all the chenille falling everywhere and the threads and clippings it required a full vacuum of the living room and sewing area after I finished! One quick run through the washer and dryer to puff up all those clippings and this is the end result.....

I love the rag look and the softness of this quilt !

I thought 49 squares at 6 inches each would make a good size baby quilt but it actually turned out fairly small. So my next attempt at rag quilting, I will use larger squares or go with closer to 100 !

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.........

Baby String Quilt Jenean Morrison Free Spirit California Dreamin'

2011-11-18T12:51:00.000-06:00

I made my first string quilt blocks a couple of weeks ago to help with a fundraiser quilt for cancer research. I enjoyed making those blocks with the string technique so much I just had to make a whole quilt for myself. I have tons of scraps so it was a project that required no extra spending! Above are the blocks after I got them all completed for the baby/toddler size quilt. I rearranged them several times until i got the placement that I wanted. For the binding I used a Michael Miller ta dot print in red and pink. After ironing my binding in half I sat down to roll it up and this little monster grabbed it from me...........

He likes to pretend that he's blind with those thick cataracts but he pulled a fast one on me this night!

I really love the binding choice........

Here's some closeups of the many fabrics that were used. Jenean Morrison's Free Spirit, California Dreamin' was used the most. I had two different prints in that line and used it throughout the quilt and for the border........

I sandwiched it together using free motion quilting. I love that my new machine has the option to disconnect the foot pedal, push a button to turn it on and then take off a sewin'. Makes for some fast free motion quilting !

Here's the finished quilt spread out on the floor.........

and draped over a chair..........

For the backing I used a vintage mattress pad. Forgot to get a picture of that, but it makes for a nice, thick, warm quilt ! Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.

My Mother-In-Law Memory Quilt

2011-11-11T19:34:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I finished my memory quilt with grandma's clothes. I made mine different than Aaron and Katie's. I chose just a few pieces of clothing and made blocks all the same size. I appliqued them onto a white twin size flat sheet in a somewhat "wonky" pattern...

For some of the blocks, I appliqued a smaller block on top of the larger one....

For this quilt I also appliqued on some of the labels out of grandma's clothes so I could remember "her style". She was very stylish for her age and always chose to keep up with fashion!

I used another twin flat sheet for the backing and used my favorite free motion quilting to sandwich this quilt together. I made the binding out of some pale pink fabric scraps........

This pale pinkness reminds of her softness...enough said.

Katie's Grandma Memory Quilt

2011-11-11T19:08:00.000-06:00

I completed Katie's grandma memory quilt a couple of weeks ago and she got it last weekend. I used the same design as I used for Aaron's. It was the best way to get some big blocks and t-shirt fronts. About half of these fabrics had to have Wonder-Under to keep them flat and avoid puckering. Some of the fabrics were from clothes Grandma kept for a long time, so they were very thin and needed some stability added to them. I think I did a pretty good job of getting a good variety to make this quilt colorful and making it a "girly" version after making Aaron's a more masculine version.

I used a zigzag stitch on all the "mosaic tile" pieces that were added to this quilt top and also used a zigzag stitch to sandwich the quilt together by stitching in the ditch.

I made the binding with some white fabric scraps.........

Losing grandma to pancreatic cancer has been very difficult. We miss her so much. Below is the picture that Katie currently has as her Facebook profile. It's almost twenty years old but the feelings are still the same. Saying goodbye is hard.

String Quilt Blocks For Heros Foundation Auction

2011-10-31T14:55:00.000-05:00

I have been given the opportunity to participate in a project to raise funds for cancer research. Val at How About Pink Please blog is putting together a string quilt for an auction to be held at the Heros Foundation. She put out the word last week looking for volunteers to make one (or two) quilt blocks to donate to her project. In January I lost my mother-in-law to pancreatic cancer so this project is something I really wanted to help with. Above are the two quilt blocks I will be getting off in the mail to Val tomorrow. She requested String Quilt Blocks. This technique was new to me so with the help of a tutorial she posted on her blog I was able to figure it out. It's really quite simple and I'm loving this type of quilt block construction. I took pictures as I taught myself and will be making many more of these in the future. Here are the steps involved:
Cut a piece of paper to the size of block you want, then mark off a one inch section horizontally through the middle........

Cut a one inch strip of fabric in a solid color of your choosing. Val wanted white for all her quilt block submissions. Adhere this first strip to the paper with glue.....

Cut strips of fabric in varying widths and you are ready to go. Val wanted the strips to be anywhere between 1 and 2.5 inches wide. Lay the second strip face down on top of the first strip and sew a tight line at 1/4 inch. Set the width of the stitch to a 1.5 setting and back stitch at the beginning and end of each strip. I back stitched about 3 times to make sure nothing came undone!

Continue sewing strips and being creative until the paper is covered.........

This being my first attempt I learned that for in the future I will try to gauge the placement of different widths a little better so I won't end up with tiny empty sections on the corner that require a small piece of fabric.......

When completed, flip the block over and trim the excess fabric off. You will notice on the paper that the "sew lines" have a perforated look to them. This will help in tearing the paper off the quilt block. This is also why you secure your stitching tightly at the beginning and end of each strip.

After trimming the block, I pressed it with my iron using lots of steam. On one block I had to do some additional trimming.

Val wanted bright, colorful blocks. I think I filled her request pretty good!

I'm loving how these turned out and looking forward to making more in the future.

For Val's auction entry she has asked all participants to make a 4 x 6 card with our name on one side and a picture and few sentences about who our quilt blocks are in honor of on the back side. Here's the picture I'm putting on my card and what I'm saying about

my mother-in-law....

My mother-in-law, Patricia Schwartz. Lost her battle with Pancreatic Cancer

In January 2011. These are the faces of true love and the sadness they (we)

endured. I was first going to put a happy picture of Pat on this card, but this is what cancer does to a family and I thought it was more fitting for this occasion. She was the bravest fighter we’ve ever seen. She had strength, courage and confidence and was full of grace.

Amy's Creative Side, Blogger's Quilt Festival October 2011

2011-10-28T10:17:00.000-05:00

Amy's Creative Side is hosting her Fall 2011 Blogger's Quilt Festival. This is my third time to participate! I love this festivals. Each one brings so many new quilts to admire and add to my to-do list. The quilt I'm featuring this go around is titled

Boy I Spy Mosaic Tile Quilt.

This quilt is special to me because I love the idea of quilting as you go. I sandwiched the blue background fabric to the batting with straight pins and then attached each "mosaic tile" with a zig zag stitch. I cut the pieces of fabric before sitting down at the sewing machine but as I went along, many pieces had to be trimmed to fit in the open spaces.

After I got all the blocks completed then I sandwiched that to the backing using a zig zag stitch in the ditch technique.....

I made the binding with the scraps of fabric that was left over. I love how bright and cheerful this quilt turned out. Click here for the original post on it and click here for the girl version I also made.

Thank you Amy for hosting this fall festival of quilts!

Big Cedar Lodge in the Ozarks of Missouri

2011-10-21T09:08:00.001-05:00

A couple of weekends ago I went to Aaron and Stephanie's to celebrate Aaron's 28th birthday. We went to Big Cedar Lodge to walk around and take in some nature. We had gone there three years ago and loved it and I have always wanted to return there. It is so pretty in the fall with the leaves turning colors and the harvest displays.

The picture below was taken from one of the highest points at the resort....

This picture makes me laugh........while taking a break in these comfy lounge rockers and looking out over the resort and the lake I snapped a shot of Aaron talking about how pretty it was. But with his hand movements, I'd rather say that he is waving to his subjects while looking out over his kingdom! And, Stephanie looks like his queen giving her approval!

Aaron's "kingdom" !!!!!

We snatched a few colorful leaves to put in an apothecary jar.............

Snatcher Stephanie securing her leaves........

Aaron exploring the land.........

Climbing out of a hole........

We found this beautiful shaded pergola to snap a few pictures of each other............

This bridge was a pretty place to stand and listen to the waterfall............

Beautiful landscaping at Big Cedar Lodge..........

The turtle pond is one of my favorite spots. This guy made me laugh while he was doing some back leg stretches while taking in the sun...........

Happy 28th birthday Aaron ! Love MOM

Click here to get to Big Cedar Lodge's website.

Aaron's 28th Birthday Raw Edge Mosaic Tile Quilt With Grandma's Clothes

2011-10-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I made a trip to Aaron and Stephanie's for his birthday and surprised him with his "Grandma Quilt". Last month, Pappaw was ready for me to take some of Grandma's clothes and start making memory quilts for family members.

For Aaron's quilt I tried to keep the florals and the pinks to a minimum! Above is a block using one Grandma's t-shirts and below, the black and white is from her p.j.'s....

The middle floral in the block below is from her swim suit. This is the swim suit she wore when the grandkids were young and she would take them to the pool. For this fabric I had to use Wonder-Under to keep it in place while stitching....

She also had an old sweatshirt that her and I made when her grandkids were little. We put a tree on it out of fabric, made an apple for each grandchild and wrote the names on each apple. Above the tree we made a banner and wrote "The Apples Of My Eye". The first eight grandkids made it on the tree. We should have made another shirt to include all the grand kids and great grand kids but never got around to it... This is Aaron's apple....

Here's Aaron opening up his surprise quilt. He had no idea he was getting this......For the backing I used a mattress pad cover.

Looking at all the blocks............

Posing for a camera shot..........

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week........

Lil Bro Football Number T-Shirt Jersey

2011-10-12T08:57:00.000-05:00

Last night I finished little Luke's, Lil Bro t-shirt for him to wear to big brother Seth's football games. My intentions when I purchased a long sleeve brown t-shirt was to put the football laces on the front. Click here to see the laces on a onesie. But my first couple attempts were a struggle and I did not want to ruin this shirt since I ordered it off www.rockbottomt-shirts.com and only had the one. I decided at the last minute to go with Lil Bro instead and am happy with the results. I had some football print fabric to use for the letters so that made it have even more of a football theme. Big brother Seth's uniform number is on the back of the shirt. I used a whimsical font for the front with letters I purchased off Etsy.com earlier in the year.....

I used a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine....

For the numbers on the back of the shirt I used a royal blue since that is the color of Seth's football jersey and accented that with a blue plaid in the background.........

I only zig zag stitched on the blue solid so after a few washings, the plaid will ravel and give the raw edge rugged look!

This cute little shirt will be going out in today's mail to hopefully reach little Luke before Seth's next football game!

ROOM 5 Ozark Missouri for Baby Gifts

2011-10-11T15:56:00.002-05:00

On my recent visit to Stephanie's boutique, ROOM 5 this past weekend, I love to stroll around the store and look at "my section"! Yes, I have my own corner! Stephanie has a unique tin table that has drawers underneath the table top on both sides. These drawers are full of things I made. Things you can purchase by clicking here to go to her website. Send her a description of what you see in a picture and she'll get right back with you!

If you are in need of a toddler size bib, a baby size bib, a burp cloth, a decorated onesie or a ribbon taggie lovie this is the place to find it! She has fun stuff to make awesome one of a kind baby gifts!

Also if you are looking for items made by ELEGANT BABY, Stephanie has an assortment of their merchandise for sale. Everything from sock sets to sweater teddy bears to sweater blankets to swaddling blankets, pajama sets, picture frames and first tooth keepsake holders.

Go to her website to see everything available for babies.

Lake Springfield

2011-10-11T08:43:00.002-05:00

Aaron, Sierra and I took a short walk on a trail around Lake Springfield on Saturday. I captured this beautiful picture of a bee and monarch butterfly. We started our walk at this old bridge that crosses over a small section of the lake...

Sierra loves to go exploring with Aaron........

Milkweed plants were abundant on this trail. The pods were in various stages of drying out and I could not resist picking the dried ones to split open and release the seeds to blow in the breeze. As a child this was a favorite past time so it was fun to reminisce..........

I love how this picture turned out and how on rare occasions my camera will take such a clear sharp picture.......

Boutique Halloween Decor at Room 5 in Ozark MO

2011-10-11T08:30:00.001-05:00

When walking in ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique in the month of October, you will stop in your tracks to take in all the Halloween and Fall decor displayed at the front tables. Stephanie has my black, orange and white onesies displayed in a way where one can view all the different designs at once.

The large tables are covered in Fall decor and Halloween items.

Colorful pumpkin votive candle holders are flying off the shelves as well as little pumpkin men to perch on the side of your candy bowl. Click here to get to ROOM 5's new website.

ROOM 5 New Website

2011-10-10T19:52:00.002-05:00

Stephanie has launched a new website for her online ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique. Click here to take a look around it.

This past weekend I was visiting Aaron and Stephanie and took these pictures at ROOM 5 to show off some of the goods............

Everything from contemporary candle sticks to fall decor of large acorns....

Pear shaped candles......

Ceramic picture frames with grandma themes............

Insulated initial cups...........

Beautiful jewelry....

Room 5 has a little of everything. Next time you are on65 Highway between Springfield and Branson Missouri, get off at the Lambert's Restaurant exit in Ozark and make your way to 1711 James River Road (across the street from Lambert's).

Bichon Personality In Pictures

2011-10-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

Kelly at Kelly's Korner Blog is hosting her weekly Show Us Your Life. This week it is "Share Your Pets". One of my favorite topics! Being a bichon lover it was very hard to narrow down my pictures. Riley was born in 1999 so a ton of pictures have been taken of this little guy in the last 12 years. Above is my favorite puppy picture and below is a picture of me and him taken a few months ago. He's changed a lot in twelve years........

He's always loved his stuffed animal toys. He has never showed an interest in the hard plastic toys. His main objective is to remove all squeakers!

I tried to pick out pictures that express his personality. He loves to put on a show and get others to play with him.....people that is.........not other dogs. He's never really cared for the idea of playing with another pooch. He KNOWS he rules the roost and that all things are his.

This toy duck "quacks" and he's pretty good at biting it in just the right place to get it a quacking!

His expression in this picture below shows his annoyance of having to wear a costume! He's thinking "are you serious? get this off me...now!"

Running through the house with a bison..............love it when I capture a picture of his ears flying behind him as he is running!

Here he was growling and begging at the same time to get this toy to play with him......

Riley's favorite place to snuggle is in a basket of warm clothes fresh from the dryer. Even if it's 100 degrees outside he will jump in the basket when I sit it down.....

Playing with his toys again............

Relaxing during a car ride. Riley prefers the front seat. He crys and whines if he gets put in the back seat.........

This warm clothes basket has him almost asleep.....

And lastly his nightly routine of making the perfect spot to sleep for the night. He might turn around 15 times before he stops his nesting. He's one very picky dog when it comes to getting comfortable........

Bichons are the best. Full of personality, fun and cuddles. They are very much people loving dogs.

Fall Apothecary Jar

2011-10-02T17:41:00.000-05:00

Today I copied an idea I saw on Pinterest for a fall apothecary jar filling for Fall. I love all the colors. Split peas, red beans and corn kernels..........

I used an empty paper towel tube to take up some space in the apothecary jar......

I'm loving it.....a little burlap string tied around the lid too......

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.........

Pink Airplane Onesie

2011-10-01T12:28:00.001-05:00

Airplane Onesies are popular at ROOM 5 in Ozark Missouri. Now there is a girly version. Pink and purple plaid on a pink onesie. I completed the first one today. Call Stephanie at Room 5 if you are interested.

Black Halloween Onesies

2011-09-30T12:28:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I pulled out my blank black onesies and got busy with some Halloween ideas. The orange dot pumpkin is my favorite....

This spider print is bright and makes for a colorful tie on a black onesie.........

Here are some black crows perched on pumpkins for a nice Fall season onesie......

These will all be going to Stephanie's boutique, ROOM 5 in Ozark MO. Contact her if you are interested in purchasing one!

Scroll down to see who all I have linked to this week....

Football Onesie

2011-09-30T12:17:00.001-05:00

Football laces on brown onesie. I saw this idea several places in blog land and on Pinterest and had to give it a try. I already had some brown onesies I was planning on decorating for Thanksgiving so I'm taking two of those and making these football onesies. I used a white knit as opposed to a white cotton. The stitching was a little tricky. My other one is all messed up and I need to take a seam ripper to it tonight. This one though..........turned out pretty good. It's going to Stephanie's boutique, ROOM 5 in Ozark MO. Contact her if you are interested in purchasing this adorable football attire for your little one!

More Airplane Onesies

2011-09-25T20:03:00.000-05:00

The airplane onesie I made last week to send to Stephanie's boutique, ROOM 5 in Ozark Missouri has already been bringing in orders. So yesterday I got busy and finished up another 5 to go in the mail. Above is blue plaid on a blue onesie and the ones below are all on white onesies with different plaid designs....

I'm really liking the plaids for the airplane applique. I got out some other prints and contemplated polka dots and other geometric patterns, but always came back to the plaids. I think it's the right decision. Hoping these will be big sellers at ROOM 5. Click here to place your order!
Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week...........

Wedding Bridal Shower Ideas and Appetizers

2011-09-25T19:51:00.001-05:00

Last Sunday, my Katie hosted a bridal shower for her best friend, who is also a Katie. I got to host the party too along with Val and we had fun planning and making all the goodies for this party. Below is Paula Deans lime sherbet punch. It was very tasty with the lemon and lime slices and very colorful with the bright red cherries. Click here for the recipe.

This caramel toffee apple dip was the hit of the party. Click here to get to my post featuring the recipe.

Katie found great ideas for the appetizers. She got all the square serving dishes 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby and she already had the martini glasses to hold the dip.....

We used a Pottery Barn flower vase to hold the multi colored mini peppers.....

The other white serving pieces are Food Network brand, all purchased 1/2 off at Kohl's over the last couple of years....

The two dips were made with sour cream and powdered Ranch dressing packages. One dip was made with original ranch that we added some dill and celery seed to and the other was a southwest flavored ranch....

Spinach wraps sliced pretty.....

Little smokies wrapped in bacon, drizzled with brown sugar and baked in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.....

The shower was at the bride's house. That way she did not have to load up all the gifts and carry them home. That worked out great!

Katie looking pretty and opening her gifts......

The quilt I made her and Jimmy. Click here to see the full post on this quilt.

One game was planned for the shower. We had these candy bars laying out and everyone had to create a story or a list of bullet points giving marriage advice but you had to incorporate the names of the candy bars into what was written. Katie got to keep everyone's funny advice as a keepsake.....

Katie's mom reading her "candy bar" story......

Sweet baby Macyn.....

Best friends since the third grade, even went to the same college, one became an electrical engineer and one became a labor and delivery nurse. Looking forward to what else is down the road for these two girls......

Fried Eggs Inside Red Pepper Slices

2011-09-25T19:18:00.001-05:00

I saw this idea on Pinterest last week and have made it for breakfast three times already. It is very good, colorful and healthy! Saute red pepper slices in olive oil for a few minutes, then crack an egg inside each pepper slice.....

Continue cooking until the egg is cooked to your liking. Serve with some pico de gallo to make a tasty spicy breakfast.....

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week....

Pico De Gallo - My Version

2011-09-25T19:12:00.001-05:00

My version of pico de gallo: tomatoes, jalapenos, red onion, cilantro and lime......Mix them all up in what every amounts look good and enjoy!

Scroll down to see who I've linked to this week....

Trendz in Overland Park KS

2011-09-24T20:32:00.000-05:00

Today Katie and I went to Trendz in Overland Park. It's a place she had been hearing a lot about and wanted to check it out. It's one "store" that contains many independent boutiques. We loved it from the moment we walked in the door.........

We found furniture, picture frames, jewelry, clothing, dog accessories, baby clothes and accessories, purses, seasonal items and many other unique items.........

Even the mannequins were unique....

This cute little gray dress in the middle of this picture was my favorite..........

The doggie boutique was full of one of kind items from clothing, leashes, collars and tutu's for pooches......

One of the baby boutiques had these adorable hair accessories and headbands....

There were lots of decorated onesies that I will take ideas from for my own creations......

Katie asked me to add these tooth fairy pillows to my to do list someday........I've got plenty of scraps to make tons of these fun little pillows!

Ready To Make "Grandma" Quilts

2011-09-24T09:36:00.000-05:00

Last month when Aaron, Katie and I made a trip to Pappaws, he was ready for me to go through Grandma's closet and pull out the clothes that I wanted to make quilts with. This morning I finished getting them cut up and removing the seams, zippers and buttons.

Grandma loved red, and denim and wearing things like hospital scrubs that Russell and Luann gave her. This swimsuit below in blues, pinks and purples will definitely have to be worked into the fourteen quilts I will be making with all these clothes. Grandma did not know how to swim but she was determined to be in the swimming pool with her grandchildren.

She also had some t-shirts with Texas and Arizona on them...

and I found the "Apples of my Eye" sweatshirt that her and I made together back in the early 90's that has an apple for each of her first eight grandchildren. We should have made another a few years ago to get the rest of the grand kids included. That would have been a very full apple tree!

And here's the pancreatic cancer t shirt we got her when she was first diagnosed. She wore this shirt to her chemo treatments. It may take me a couple of years to get all these quilts made, I want each one to be special and hold memories of the wonderful person she was. We love you grandma.

Airplane Onesie

2011-09-21T20:32:00.001-05:00

Red plaid airplane onesie. This is my first airplane onesie to make and I think it turned out pretty good for a first attempt. I need to work a little on my zig zag stitch. It will improve with time !!! This onesie is going to ROOM 5 in Ozark MO.

Halloween 2011 Onesies

2011-09-21T20:25:00.001-05:00

I got some Halloween 2011 onesies made tonight that will ship to Stephanie's boutique, ROOM 5 in Ozark Missouri. Spider onesies and skull onesies......

This skull fabric has a little glitter working in the fabric and eyes look like they could start moving. The orange spider fabric is my favorite. Very vibrant.....

A couple of pumpkin onsies to go to ROOM 5 as well.....

The Amy Butler orange moon dot is my favorite......

The one below has some skulls to go along with those spiders and cobwebs..........

And lastly one gray Halloween cat print to go on an orange onesie............

Contact Stephanie at ROOM 5 if you are interested in purchasing one of these. She can get it in the mail to you soon!

Gray And Aqua Quilt

2011-09-19T18:29:00.000-05:00

I made this quilt for Katie G. and Jimmy as their wedding gift. It's a mismatch of a bunch of different prints from different designers. I got the scraps in the picture below off EBay and chose the other fabrics as I went along. The floral fabric did not make it to the final decision. It was thinner than the other fabrics and had a "dirty" tinge to it that was not working for me....

I quilted it using the free motion quilting technique. My favorite!

I cut my binding strips at 2.25 inches wide, sewed it to the front and hand stitched it to the back...........

I really like the gray, aqua and white together...

I used a darker shade of gray for the backing in this damask print....

This is how I took it to the wedding shower, no gift bag, no box. I folded it into thirds, rolled it tightly and tied it with a 2" white satin ribbon.....

One pretty quilt has a new home.......

Scroll down to see who all I have linked to...

Cream Cheese Caramel Toffee Apple Dip

2011-09-19T14:14:00.002-05:00

Katie found the best recipe last week for apple dip. 16 oz of cream cheese mixed with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Spread on a plate and leave room around the edges to decorate with apple slices. Then one container of caramel apple dip goes on top of the cream cheese mixture. Toffee bits go on top of the caramel. We could not find the toffee bits so we crushed up 4 Heath candy bars.....

This dish was the hit of the party!

Scroll down to see who all I have linked to this week.

Hot Water Heater Disaster

2011-09-17T20:29:00.000-05:00

Today started off good with a great fish fry at my aunt and uncles, but I came home to this...

A busted hot water heater and soaking wet carpet in my basement. American Family suggested I let them call out Service Master to my house. That turned out to be a great idea. They were at my house within three hours (during this wait, I made a quick trip to Lowe's to spend a ridiculous $400.00 on a new hot water heater). Service Master was very professional and explained every step they were taking.

They assessed the damages with their fancy gadgets, wrote reports, took pictures, pulled up the baseboards, tacked up the exposed insulation, removed the pad underneath the carpet, removed the linoleum in the bathroom and set up fans and humidifiers.....

The fans and humidifiers will run non stop for the next three days and they will come out daily to check the progress.

Plus they hauled off all the damaged stuff. Now I just gotta get my new hot water heater installed and wait for an insurance adjuster to come check everything out. Not the weekend I had planned!

Dermapaw To Stop Dog From Licking Paws

2011-09-13T09:18:00.000-05:00

Riley has been having a rough few months with his allergies. Our part of the country has been dry and very hot and something outside has really been bothering him. He has been on so many antibiotics and steroid shots in his lifetime that I wanted to find another solution for his itchy paws. I searched the Internet and found Dermapaw. I liked their story, their ingredients and their solution for keeping the socks on the dog's feet.

Riley has been relentless on chewing on his feet so I'm hoping this will bring him relief. Dermapaw suggest putting the salve on at night before putting the dog to bed. They give detailed instructions on how to adjust the elastic strips and the booties which was very helpful. They even have YouTube videos to watch.

I followed their instructions to the tee and Riley did not disappoint. He did everything Dermapaw predicted the dog would do. He became relaxed, found the cream soothing and gave me no problems........

Not once did he try to pull of his socks. He settled right down and never acted like the socks or the elastic harness was bothering him...

He was not restless like he usually is and it was a peaceful night with lots of sleep....

Tonight we will do a repeat and continue to do this every night until the jar is empty. He was back to licking his feet all day today so I'm guessing the salve had worn off and the more days I continue to use this product, each day will show improvement. So far we are off to a great start.

Dog Sitting Sierra

2011-09-11T17:14:00.000-05:00

I've been dog sitting Sierra today while Aaron and Stephanie are across town getting to know their new nephew Liam. Sierra wanted Riley to play with her but they never happens! So she went to the toy basket looking for a substitute...........

She found the stuffed version of Riley and played it with it for about 10 minutes.....

Then it was off to find a soft place to take a nap..........

Blue on Blue Mosaic Tile Toddler Quilt

2011-09-11T15:31:00.000-05:00

Today I finished my blue on blue mosaic tile toddler quilt with a boy theme. I made it all out of scraps of fabric, batting and backing. Nothing new had to be purchased for this small quilt. I have so many scraps, I've got to think of creative ways to use them up without adding any additional expenses! A couple of months ago I made a pink on pink mosaic tile toddler quilt with a girl theme. Click here to see that post. I pinned the blue squares onto a piece of batting and then sewed the fabric squares on using a zig zag stitch.....

After I got all my squares made, I used my rotary cutter, self healing mat and a plastic ruler to trim off the excess batting........

I made a total of 15 blocks, making 3 rows of 5 each. I pieced together blue fabric scraps for the backing............

I then used a wide zig zag and stitched in the seams. No serious quilting done on this project. Just something easy and fast!

Here is one of my favorite blocks......

And here it is completed. I wish I would have trimmed the seams after I sewed the blocks together. I had some difficulty with bulkiness.....

Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out and love all the blue!

This can also be an "I Spy" quilt with all the different dogs, dinosaurs, airplanes etc....

I used scraps for the binding too..........

This blue on blue quilt now has a special place in my quilt storage cabinet next to my pink on pink quilt.....

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.

Crescent Cheeseburger Ring

2011-09-10T20:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight I made a Cheeseburger Ring and it was something to talk about! This will totally be a regular for family get togethers. Aaron and Stephanie came in to town tonight and I had this waiting on them! I used the following ingredients: 2 tubes of crescent rolls, 93/7 lean hamburger, shredded cheese, cheese slices from the deli, sliced pickles, mustard and ketchup, romaine lettuce and small tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown hamburger and add 1/4 c ketchup and 2 teaspoons of mustard. Stir well and add a handful of shredded cheese, heat until the cheese melts...

Separate the rolls into triangles and arrange on a pizza sheet with the points facing outward. I had two triangles left over so i baked them as rolls....

Next I took the cheese slices from the deli and halved them, sticking one on each dough triangle.....

Then put one big spoonful of hamburger mix on each slice of cheese.....

added two pickles to each.........

Rolled them up, bringing the pointed end over the fat end and folding it underneath. I then tried to rearrange all the rolls to snug them together so it would make a pretty ring after it baked.....

I sprinkled some more shredded cheese on top before putting it in the 375 degree oven for 22 minutes. And this is what I got........amazing! It turned out so good. I shredded the romaine lettuce and quartered the small tomatoes for decoration in the middle....

It made a beautiful presentation........

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In The Beginning Lily Pond Collection

2011-09-10T12:55:00.000-05:00

When I found this, In The Beginning Lily Pond Collection by Wendy Slotboom, on sale at Etsy.com.....I had to get it. I needed some more boy fabrics for my stash and these are perfect.

Stephanie became an aunt for the first time this past Tuesday and her and Aaron will be visiting new baby, Liam Alexander this weekend. I wanted to send some homemade burp cloths and a tie onesie with them.....

I love the sweetness and the color palette of these fabrics. The snails worked out perfect for the little tie onesie.

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Fresh Peach Pie

2011-09-04T19:47:00.000-05:00

Judy made Pappaw a fresh peach pie yesterday! I was busy working on pasta salad, green beans and a roast so I may not remember everything she did to create this yummy dessert, but here goes. Start off with a bunch of fresh peaches. Peel them, take out the peach pits and slice them up. Fold in some sugar and flour. Spread a pie shell in the bottom of your pie pan. We used a big quiche dish. Add the peaches, squeeze half a lemon over the peaches and top with some additional sugar and half a stick of butter cut into slices.
Take another pie crust and seal it over the top. Use a knife to make some small cuts in the top pie crust. Use a pastry brush to apply some melted butter to the top of it. Sprinkle on some more sugar.........

Pop it in the oven for an hour, I'm guessing 350 degrees. We were so eager to top it with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream and enjoy it that I forgot to take pictures of how it looked once we cut into it. But take my word for it!......It turned out amazing!

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Grandma Schwartz Recipes In Her Hand Writing

2011-09-04T18:22:00.000-05:00

Katie, Aaron and I made a trip to Pappaw's on Thursday and came back home today. While there I went through what hand written recipes I could find of Grandma's. Above is a recipe card that grandma wrote to record her mom's (Grandma Henry)'s recipe for banana bread. I tried to find just recipes that she made often but was not very successful. I don't remember grandma making this blueberry recipe written below, but it's in her handwriting and I thought Katie might want to try it since she is a blueberry lover.....

Cornbread salad...I don't remember Grandma making this one either, but again it looked good and I want to try this one......

Grandma's recipe written out for dump cake. She made this often and we all loved it!

Grandma's hand written recipe for Mississippi Mud. She would make this often back in the 1980's.....

Grandma's recipe card for Strawberry Pie. She made this a lot in the 1980's too. I like that she had a strawberry themed recipe card!

Grandma's hand written recipe for her apple crisp. I've seen her substitute the apples for fresh pears or peaches too. In her three recipe boxes, she had about a dozen different recipes written out that did not have a title on them. Makes me think that she would just grab a piece of paper and write down the ingredients for a recipe before she would forget it.....

Below is grandma's recipe for her hot rolls. Everyone loved her rolls!

Pancreatic cancer took her away from us in January. We miss her so much....

Chicago's China Town 2011

2011-08-30T16:53:00.000-05:00

On our visit to Chicago this month, we had to make a visit to Chinatown. I wanted Katie to experience the different culture and how Chicago has such a big community compared to our part of the country. We took the yellow water taxi from downtown to Chinatown for $4 each. It was a nice quiet ride where we could relax for a few minutes and look at the buildings along the water way. We got off at the Chinatown dock that looked like this....

We had to navigate our way through some apartment buildings but eventually got to this section of Chinatown that looked fairly new......

We went in one of the markets and looked at all the items that were for sale. There were dozens of plastic and glass containers selling roots and antlers and dried fish by the pound...

We then crossed over a busy street and entered the older part of Chinatown. We visited another small grocery store where we did not take any pictures but they had a large tank full of huge bull frogs. There was an attendant standing by the tank to make sure no one took pictures.

There were also many little trinket shops full of the traditional Chinese merchandise..

We took the El train to get back to downtown.

Chicago's Gino's East Pizzeria

2011-08-30T16:27:00.000-05:00

On our visit to Chicago earlier this month, Gino's Pizza was on our to-do list. The Pizzeria was on Superior and our hotel was on Ohio so it made for a quick walk the first day we got into town. We came in on a Sunday and Gino's did not open until noon, but at 11:30 the line was starting to get long! We timed it pretty good and only had about 15 people in front of us.

We got seated at the front window and could watch the crowd as we waited. We were anxious to try these famous deep dish pizzas with their secret "cornbread like" ingredient crust. We decided on a supreme with one half having pepperoni and the other half being sausage. As we waited we took in all the sights inside the restaurant. We knew this was the place where one could write their name on the wall (or the chair, or the railing), but we did not think to bring anything with us. It looked like most people used a white paint pen or brought their own bottle of liquid white out.....

The pizza was huge and there was no way the three of us could finish it off......Katie and Judy were fans of it and I did not care for the crust or the sauce that much but was glad to experience Gino's Pizzeria!

Notre Dame Grotto And Campus

2011-08-30T16:03:00.001-05:00

While visiting Michigan for Jacob and Annie's wedding, we (Russell, Susan, Judy and myself)made the short drive to Notre Dame's campus. We ran into Stacy and Luann while we were there and waved and shouted from the car! The campus was beautiful and breath taking. The grotto was my favorite spot. We are not Catholics, but we lite a candle and said our silent prayers. The experience is one I will never forget.....

Russell was going to take a picture of us girls, when a passer by offered to take a picture of all of us..........Funny us girls are all sporting our black sandals!

I liked this statue............

We only stayed around the grotto and these few buildings.....

Russell liked the "GOD COUNTRY NOTRE DAME" above this door..........

We just kept staring at the buildings, they were so fascinating.........

If we ever go back to visit Patti and John again, I'd like to see more of this beautiful campus....

Pretty Pictures In Chicago's Millenium Park

2011-08-30T14:18:00.000-05:00

Millenium Park in Chicago had a cool, serene, tree covered area that we took full advantage of when we discovered it. The temperature had climbed higher on this day than the previous day so we were glad to find a place to sit down in some shade and relax for a few minutes. We were wishing Papaw would have made the trip with us so Katie made a sign to show our wishes.........

The shade of the trees made for some pretty picture taking so we took full advantage of any lighting that was flattering !!!

Katie's always saying, "Mom, make a silly face for this picture"..............

Me and sister-in-law Judy.........

Being Silly At Cloud Gate in Chicago

2011-08-30T13:54:00.000-05:00

Cloud Gate (or the Bean) is one of my favorite attractions in Chicago. I still can't figure out how it was formed. Everytime I visit it I look for seams. I like taking pictures that shows the reflection of the Chicago skyline.

And then of course we had to do silly poses for the camera.....

Me and Katie above and Katie with her Aunt Judy in the picture below....

Cyan Design Contemporary Vases Available at ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique, Ozark MO

2011-08-30T08:33:00.001-05:00

Daughter-in-law, Stephanie, has recently added some contemporary vases to her inventory at ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique in Ozark Missouri (a few miles south of Springfield). These are five that really caught my eye. They are all by Cyan Design. I'm loving the green and blue ones. The one above looks like it is specially made to hold some lilies and the one below in the marine colors looks like fish scales to me!

With this one, i would put some bamboo in it................

And this one I would sit on a table by the front door to hold keys..........

This tall blue vase is screaming at me to hold some Gerber Daisies!

Click here to get Stephanie's website. Or click here to become a fan on ROOM 5's Facebook page.

Luke Loves Wedding Cake

2011-08-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

Luke loves wedding cake! At Jacob and Annie's wedding reception, he was all about it, gave it his full attention! Katie could not get it in his mouth fast enough!

At one point, Luke had Katie and Madison feeding him cake !

The boy knows his sweet tooth!

Photo Booth At Jacob And Annie's Wedding Reception

2011-08-22T15:59:00.002-05:00

This photo booth that was set up at Jacob and Annie's wedding reception was a fun idea! There was a table set up that had the picture book on it with a pen and you were to write a note to Jacob and Annie next to where your picture would be inserted. There was a plastic tub full of props and two large wooden photo frames.........

Seth and Gabby were the first ones to try it out! Stacy was a Hawaiian amigo who was also wearing his famous Rush Limbaugh tie and Luke wore a frog hat!

Stacy and Luann's family made a cute picture.......

With Gabby wearing this wig, we can see how much see will look like her mama if her hair turns this dark!

Russell had this same black wig in his hand to wear in a picture but the photographer took it away for a few minutes to demonstrate something, not sure what!

Dosen't Russell make a pretty woman?

Katie and I posing with the picture frame...........

Katie and Madison looking pretty in their pictures.........

A Petting Zoo At Jacob And Annie's Wedding Reception

2011-08-22T15:36:00.000-05:00

Jacob and Annie's wedding reception was full of entertainment. Everyone in our family had to take in the farm animals! We were told this guy was in "time out" and that was why he was separated from the other animals. Not sure if he is a donkey or a mule. He did lean over the fence and grab the back of Susan's hair when she bent down too close to the fence to snap a picture of Luke!

Luke liked all the animals and the sounds they made. When I had Luke to myself we sang Old McDonald Had A Farm..........okay.......only I sang and Luke looked at me with a funny expression, but it was still a good time!

This turkey was strutting his stuff........

Luke liked playing in the grass the most............

One of the smaller hens got loose and Seth and Gabby did their best trying to catch it but it was Luann who got a hold of it and returned it to the cage (wish I would have got a picture of that !).......

This was the ornery goat who nipped at Seth..........

This pig was inquisitive of the camera and a had quite a few words to say about it too....

An old farm tractor the owners had labeled as 1940.........

Seth and Gabby found a tree to climb.............

Gabby was not going to let a dress and white patent leather shoes slow her down either!

There was a three story playhouse on the property that all the kids wanted to climb to the top of! Gabby and Seth liked "looking out over the land" !

A Perfect Yard For A Wedding Reception

2011-08-22T14:39:00.000-05:00

Jacob and Annie had the perfect location for their outdoor wedding reception at a friend's house that was close to the church building. Michigan summers are beautiful! The grass was so green, the garden was so bountiful, the pond was beautiful and there was a breeze blowing in from Lake Michigan. The owners of this property had everything to host the perfect party....

Everyone took their turn walking baby Luke. Russell liked walking around the pond......

They even had some farm animals........

And a water pump that was powered by this windmill. Wish I could capture sounds to go along with this picture. I enjoyed standing by the windmill and listening to the pump....

There were many bird houses around the property. You can see one next to the windmill above and in the picture below there were several on the edge of the garden. Stacy loves to garden, so he was taking in this big garden and seeing what all they were growing.....

The tables were decorated so pretty.....

I'm going to copy this idea someday! Making name cards for all the entrees in the buffet line.....

They even had a caramel apple making station that Seth and Gabby both enjoyed.....

Gabby with her apple.........

Jacob And Annie Get Married

2011-08-22T12:38:00.002-05:00

On August 12th we flew to Chicago, drove to South Bend Indiana for the night, then drove to Niles Michigan the next morning to watch my nephew Jacob marry Annie. My pictures inside the church did not turn out that great but the ones I took at the reception are quite good! Jacob and Annie came out on the backyard deck, waved to the audience and proceeded down the staircase to the plush green lawn where they had their first dance.

Their wedding colors of deep purple and lime green were so pretty with their outdoor reception setting.....

Such a pretty cake.....

I love this color combination........

Annie's parasol was perfect for when the afternoon sun got a little too warm....

Some more wedding dancing going on...........

Jacob and Annie enjoying their guest......

Baby Girl Changing Pad Using Anne Kelle Urban Zoologie, Bubble Gum Ta Dot and Patty Young Mezzanine

2011-08-21T19:22:00.000-05:00

This weekend I completed a set of burp cloths and a quilted changing pad using Anne Kelle's Urban Zoologie, Michael Miller's Forest Life in watermelon, Michael Miller bubble gum Ta Dot and Patty Young's Mezzanine. There's also another pink bird print thrown in that I don't remember the name of. I'm loving all the pinkness, the owls and the birds.....

Gerber has started packaging their 6-ply prefolded cloth diapers in lots of 10 instead of 12. I've gotta sit down with my calculator and re figure how much to charge for one burp cloth now. I liked the diapers packaged as a dozen, guess it will take me a while to get use to 10 in a package now!

This quilted changing pad turned out really cute. I used 42 five inch squares......

and did my favorite free motion quilting technique...

I cut my binding strips at 2 and 1/4" to make a small, tight binding all around the quilted changing pad.......

This picture really shows off the puckering of the fabric from the free motion quilting....

Very cute! Can't wait to give this to the new mama!

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week....

Thank You Gerber

2011-08-12T11:08:00.001-05:00

Anyone who follows my blog knows I purchase a lot of onesies! Most of them are Gerber brand. Last month I purchased some onesies, got them home and was putting them in the washing machine and noticed that one of them had the seam open on one side. I decided to return it to Gerber to their quality control department along with a nice letter. Well.......it paid off! Last night when I got home there was a FedEx box on my front door full of this.....

Thank you Gerber for such a great response from a loyal, long standing customer. Happy onesie decorating to me!

My Crazy Bichon

2011-08-08T20:18:00.000-05:00

This afternoon while my Bichon was snoozing on the ottoman I got a crazy idea that I could spread my fabric squares out on the floor and get some work done!

How silly of me! After being on the floor for just a few minutes, Riley popped his head up and peered over the edge of the ottoman to oversee my newest project...

He got that very mischievous look on his face.....

I knew trouble was coming! He started letting out his playful growls letting me know his ornery ways were brewing......

and then he was right down in the middle of my fabrics, claiming them as his own, destroying my order....

I expected it. He never fails me! Anytime I get on the floor, he wants to be in the middle of it...always begging for a belly rub....

always claiming my space as his space.....

I think he was enjoying the sun's rays streaming through the window too.....

so as usual, I had to collect my fabric blocks and move to a table......

so I could claim me a new spot and he could have his floor spot....

Halloween Black Cat and Ghost Face Onesies

2011-08-07T16:25:00.000-05:00

This weekend I started planning and working on some Halloween onesies for Stephanie's store, ROOM 5 Home Decor Boutique in Ozark MO. Here are the first two I've made for 2011. A black bat cat on an orange onesie............

and a ghost face on a white onesie......

Scroll down to see who I have linked to this week.....

Quilted Baby Changing Pad with Red & White Quilt Square Swap 2011

2011-08-02T14:23:00.000-05:00

Last month I participated in my first ever fabric swap with fellow bloggers. Sara at Sew Many Ways was the host and coordinator of this big event. Each person had to send in 125 five inch squares, then Sara and her "team" divided them all up and sent each of us back an assortment of the squares. I made this quilted baby changing pad yesterday. I'm loving the red and white squares I received and how cute this changing pad turned out.....

I used my favorite technique of free motion quilting to sandwich these fabrics together....

And finished it off with some Michael Miller Ta Dot's in a color choice of Minnie!

Scroll down to see who all I have linked to this week....

My Bichon - No Words Needed

2011-07-31T18:28:00.000-05:00

Pink On Pink Mosaic Tile Toddler Quilt

2011-07-30T19:47:00.000-05:00

Today I accomplished a goal. I wanted to make a quilt without purchasing anything new for it. I looked through all my supplies and decided I could make another mosaic tile quilt. Click here to see the first one I made. For my newest one I wanted it to be girly, full of pink and lots of flowers. I had a couple of pink sheets that I used and I went through all my quilt batting scraps and found enough to complete this 43" X 56" toddler size quilt. I also went through all my fabric scraps and pulled out everything that had any pink in it. I used cottons and flannels. With my first mosaic tile quilt I made square blocks so this time I made rectangle blocks. This time I also decided I would not sew the scraps on "raw edge".

I cut the quilt batting larger than the pink rectangles and sewed the scraps on each block using a tight zig zag stitch. Twenty blocks were made......

Next I trimmed the excess batting off each rectangle......

Arranged them all out on the floor in the order I wanted to sew them together....

Here are pictures of two of my favorite blocks.....

Now it was time to sew all the blocks together. I kept them laid out on the floor in the living room and took one row at a time to the sewing machine and then returned that row after sewing those blocks together. That way I could keep some order to my madness!

After all the blocks were sewn together, I cut up an old pink bed sheet for the backing and pinned the layers together with large safety pins...

Free motion quilting or straight line stitching are my two favorite forms of quilting but with these pre-made quilt blocks I find it easier to just stitch in the ditch and keep it simple.....

I used a large loose zig zag stitch and sewed down each seam. I used more pink fabric scraps for the binding.......

And here it is completed. (Please ignore my heat scorched dead grass!)

I'm loving it. Loving the pinkness, loving all the different prints of flowers, stripes and puppy dogs....

It now has it's own shelf in my quilt storage cabinet......

I'm thinking now it needs a blue on blue mosaic tile quilt to go next to it !

Scroll down to see who all I've linked up to this week

City Market Kansas City with Aaron and Stephanie

2011-07-25T12:45:00.000-05:00

We made a trip to downtown Kansas City yesterday to visit the City Market. I love the market with all the activity and the vendors and so many different items to choose from. This was our first time on a Sunday and we will make sure we always go on Saturday's from now on. Some of the vendors don't return on Sunday's and the atmosphere is definitely more vibrant on Saturday.....

Before making the trip downtown, we stopped at an Ice Shack to fill up the cooler. Put in two dollars, open the chute and your cooler fills up with ice!

As soon as we enter the market area we always go to the right and browse through the plant shop/florist and other small vendors who have indoor shops.....

Stephanie and I both loved these water pitchers and thought they would be fun to sit outside for decoration as well as for watering the flowers......

Aaron tried on some Holland wooden shoes and we quickly decided we were very happy to not have to wear those all the time....

The aroma's from the bakeries and outdoor grills was enticing.....

Stopping to read the descriptions for all the spices is a must do when going to the city market.....

There were lots of fruits to choose from.........

as well as many vegetables.............

We got there right before the humidity set in for the day so by the time we walked the entire market we were ready to get back in our air conditioned car......

Welcome Harper Louise

2011-07-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

Kelly and Eric now have their baby Harper to love and to hold. She joins big brother Owen who will soon turn four. Harper was resting her head close to her mama's heart, getting some skin on skin contact, looking at her mama, putting a face with a voice! She came into this world on Thursday, July 21st.

When Kelly found out she was getting her baby girl, her head started swimming with ideas of what she wanted for girly stuff. She loves paisleys, so when she saw Michael Miller's Watermelon Patti Paisley, she was hooked. We then spent the next couple of months creating many things with paisley prints. Above is the back side of Harper's baby quilt. We also made a baby blanket with this same paisley on the front and hot pink minky dot on the back. Below is a changing pad made with the watermelon patti paisley......

Kelly also loves the song from Tim McGraw's movie, My Friend Flicka, titled My Little Girl.
Her friend Janelle painted this beautiful canvas for Harper's nursery using the lyrics from the song and the colors and paisley print from the fabric. Very creative that girl is !

I love this bottom corner of the canvas. It's like she perfectly transferred the print from the fabric right onto the canvas.....

Baby Harper is a very lucky little girl, she's got two great parents, grandparents, great-grand parents, aunts, uncles and lots of friends to watch over her.....

From her head to her toes, she's full of goodness and sweetness and we all look forward to watching her grow up into a beautiful young lady....