Sweethearts

My little Sweet Pea has been here for the past few weeks.  We have had loads of fun and made just as many memories.  Sweet Pea loves to watch the Food Network and is constantly coming up with new recipes, like her special "Veggie Pizzaz"!  Our trip to the library resulted in a cookbook entitled, "Mom and Me Cookbook" by DK Books.  She picked out the recipe she wanted to make, and we began...

 First, we made jam from the strawberries from Papa's (great grandpa) garden.

 Then I mixed up some cookie dough, and Sweet Pea rolled out and cut the cookies.  I placed them in the oven to bake.

 When cool, I frosted one cookie with butter cream icing, and my little Sweetie tenderly added the jam.

 Next, the second cookie was placed on top, and voila!

 Strawberry Jam Sweethearts!

They were sooo yummy...and they went very fast.  My compliments to the Chef!

An End to Summer

Summer officially ended last week...at least for my house! Sweet pea spent most of the summer with us, and we have enjoyed her so much. There's never a dull or quiet moment when she is in the house...just the way a Grandma likes it. We ended her stay last week with a trip to the Putnam County Fair! She and Grandpa rode the rides (Grandma's not so good on these!!), ate hot dogs and popcorn, viewed the livestock exhibits, and topped the evening off with the demolition derby. I think Grandpa has found a new demo derby buddy. She was sooo cute yelling, "Go, Derby!"!!!

Butterfly Kisses

My little Sweet Pea loves to draw! She spends hours each day drawing and coloring her favorite things...cats, Mommy, flowers, and butterflies, to name a few. Recently, she asked if we could make presents for her Mom. So we took one of her creations and made it into a kitchen towel for her Mom. Allyson picked all the fabrics for the towel, including some from her own stash. I think it turned out pretty cute, and her Mom will L.O.V.E. it!!

Mystery Guest

Can you guess who has been staying at my house?

Hiding in Plain Sight

My husband has always liked to play games with our kids, from the time they were little into adulthood. Now he has another generation, with our adorable granddaughter, to play games with. One of their favorites to play is "Hide and Seek"! Grandpa always hides in plain sight...like the photo at left, where he is laying across the chairs under the dining room table. He is calling to her to come find him, and yet, she just doesn't know where he's at. She looks and looks, calling "Grannnndpa! Where arrrrrrre you?!!". And he replies, "I'm right here...in the dining room!". Finally, she spies him, and they both start laughing. It is a sound that brings me great joy.

The second photo is of a dish towel that my sister brought me in February. She machine embroidered the towel. Isn't it adorable!

"And I Made My First Block on the Sewing Machine!"

My little Sweet Pea was here for the past month, and what a fun time we had! She got to use my sewing machine for the first time...and at age 4, that's a pretty big deal! My little travel machine, a Janome Jem 760, is just perfect for her...especially since I can slow the speed way down for her to learn to sew. Her first block was a simple strippy block, and she LOVED the process of picking her strips and sewing them on. The blocks are 12-1/2" and she was able to make 2 that day (we were at a Project Linus sewing day, so her blocks will be made into a quilt for another child who needs a blanket). Her enthusiasm spilled over into the following days and weeks, where she daily asked to sew! She also enjoyed her first Shop Hop, where she eagerly collected new fabrics for future projects. I am so excited to have another quilter in the family! She also made her Mom and her soon-to-be Auntie Rachel custom potholders! She drew her art work on squares of muslin, and then was able to sew simple borders on the squares. They are so cute, don't you think!

Oh...and while my little Sweet Pea was here, she learned to use her scissors...to cut her own hair!! Not suppose to happen at Grandma's!! Her Mom will be taking her to the hairdressers for her first haircut.

Tu-tu Cute

What do you do when it is a very cold, snowy day and you have 6 yards of tulle??? Why, make a beautiful princess tu-tu, of course!!

My little Sweet Pea helped with this no-sew project, selecting all the colors of tulle, and then, their position on the elastic waistband. She embellished her tu-tu with ribbons and ribbon rosettes. I believe I hear the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies waltzing in my living room!

Tu-tu cute!

Where Does The Time Go?

November was such I busy month! I celebrated another year, and my son announced his engagement to his beloved Rachel. She is so sweet, and a real blessing to our family. The above photo of my Mom, Rachel, and my son Jacob, was taken at my birthday luncheon at Honey Creek Resort on Lake Rathbun in Iowa. Oh, and guess who else joined us for the festivities...

...yep...my sweet little bundle of joy!! Do you know how hard it is to get a 4 year old to smile for the camera!! For some reason, she just wants to give a "posed" smile. Oh well!

Who Loves Ya, Baby!

It's not Kojack!! It's me!! It's me!!! Love you bunches!

(She was having some fun at her local county fair over the weekend!!)

Sing A Rainbow

This picture was taken outside my back door a few weeks ago. It was one of those days where the sun was shining, and it was raining at the same time. Just knew there had to be a rainbow!! If you look carefully, you can even see a double rainbow. This had me thinking about, and remembering, my sweet granddaughter who was just here for a month. Every day she wanted to sing...and we had quite an extensive list of songs to sing! And ALWAYS there was at least one song about a rainbow. "Red, orange, yellow, green and blue. Don't forget there's purple, too! Rainbow colors for me and you!" was her favorite. I'd sing her several other rainbow songs, but for her, there was only one...HERS!! "Over the Rainbow", "Sing A Rainbow", "All the Colors of the Rainbow"...none of these would do! And no matter how hard I tried to teach her another one, she would sing loudly over the top of me to drown out the incorrect rainbow song!! LOL!!! "No, Grandma, it goes like this..."!!!

She also sang the cutest version of "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Her version went like this..."Baa baa black sheep, heavy heavy world..."!!!

Lions, and Tigers, and Cheetos! Oh My!!

Have you seen these new Cheetos? They are huge! They are shown, at left, next to regular Ritz crackers and string cheese. They remind me of golf balls. I don't know what Chester Cheetah was thinking, but my sweet little granddaughter had a hard time taking a bite out of one of those monster snacks. However, she did manage to eat them all!!

Summertime!

Guess who's back!! My sweet little Tootsie Roll! We are having oodles and oodles of fun. From swimming to playing in the fountain. She's even modeling the little dress I made her!!

Duty Calls

We are taking our sweet granddaughter home today...early!! I've been summoned for jury duty, and have to report next week, so home she must go! For her "farewell" luncheon, Allyson chose Pizza Ranch (or Pizza Branch, as she calls it!!)...her favorite!! G.G. joined us and we had a great time! I so hate to see her go, but know that she will be back again in July for a longer visit! And jury duty should be over with by then!

Sewing Some Love

This morning, I made this little tote bag for my sweet granddaughter. It was so much fun to make, and took no more than an hour of my time! I will fill it with other goodies that I have been collecting for Valentine's Day. My granddaughter is such a little girlie-girl...and a pack-rat!! What better than a new purse to carry all her treasures in! The tote/purse measures 7.5" x 6" (not including the handles), and was made with the "Strawberry Lemonade" fabric line by Moda.

Playing House

My sweet granddaughter is here! We've been having so much fun playing house! I always wanted a dollhouse when I was a child, but never had one...at least that I can remember...so I bought my granddaughter one!! Isn't that how it's suppose to work!! Sounded like good reasoning to me! Anyway, granddaughter is standing in front of the "inside" portion of the house. We have a tub full of furniture, dolls, and horses to go with, but she had not, at this point "decorated" the new house! According to Mommy, "decorating" is my granddaughter's new hobby!!! And Grandma loves to be able to play dolls once again!

Birthday Surprises!

My birthday was Saturday, and I had a fun day! First, my son called earlier in the week and left a message on my voice mail wishing me an early "Happy Birthday", then my husband took the day off from work, and we spent the day delivering shoe boxes for Operation: Christmas Child, searching through antique shops, and enjoying an evening meal at a new restaurant. My sister sent me a fun quilty box full of the goodies in the picture...2 bundles of wool felt, thread, cupcake fabric, pattern book, and a fun tote bag(oops...the tote bag must have been camera shy!)! When we returned home, there was the sweetest message waiting for me on our answering machine...an adorable rendition of "Happy Birthday to you" sung by my 3 year old granddaughter! You can bet that message won't be erased! And to top it off, yesterday, Mom took me to lunch at another fun restaurant in an historic hotel and gave me money for fabric shopping! I am truly blessed!

Whew! What A Busy Few Weeks!

It sure has been a busy few weeks! It started off
with a trip to Tennessee and the marriage of our daughter! She was a beautiful bride. We brought our granddaughter home with us for a week, to play with Grandma and Grandpa!! On our trip home from Tennessee, we received word that my sweet mother-in-law had passed away, and so, after a 12 hour drive from Tennessee, we unpacked the suitcase and repacked, so that my husband could fly to Seattle to be with his family. Did I mention that it's a 3 hour drive to the airport!! Only 3 hours of sleep was had that night! So hubby went to Seattle, and granddaughter and I stayed home and played. Ally went home yesterday, and Grandma is recouping!! LOL!!! Oh, to have the energy these little ones possess!!

Planning Ahead

I finished up 2 sets of blocks this weekend for an upcoming online Primitive Folk Art Applique swap I'm participating in. The first is from an embroidery pattern by The Country Cellar that I thought would be cute done in applique. The sunflower is from a quilt book I had.

The swap blocks are not due until next month, but I will have my granddaughter here for a week or so and will not have time to work on them once she is here. Then, my sister and I will be heading to Des Moines for the AQS show the beginning of October.

Braggin' Rights

Since my Dad retired a few years back, he has been busy making "things"! I've been blessed repeatedly to be the recipient of his handy work. As he is the son of a carpenter, perhaps he comes by this naturally. Today, I found this adorable picnic table on my front porch! It's a "little" version for my grandchildren.

Here's a few more pictures of his creations! This is a mission style chair he made for my husband's 50th birthday this past May (note the hand carved duck decoy on the table...yep, Dad made that, too!)And here's a little table and 2 chairs he made for the grandkids when they come. Allyson and I have been hosting tea parties with it!



And, finally, here's a bench that Dad made for me! My daughter made the pillows.

My Very Own Garden

Allyson wanted a garden...her garden! So Grandpa told her we would buy some flowers so she could have her very own garden. G.G. (Great Grandma), Allyson, and myself ventured out and picked out the necessary supplies, including dirt, shovel, watering can, gloves, and of course, the beautiful flowers, to make Ally's garden. G.G. asked Ally if she liked playing in the dirt, to which Allyson quickly replied, "No...it's too dirty!"(hence the need for the gloves! LOL!). With the flowers bought, we headed home to plant the mini garden in our pots. Ally had so much fun, and loves to water all her beauties with her watering can.