"Isn't She Lovely?'

I really, really did NOT want to start another collection of anything when I discovered the Jim Shore quilting angels. However, when my family finds something that I like, they provide it for me. So, quite a few angels and two large Santa's later, I have a nice collection of Jim Shore angels. This was a Mother's Day gift from DD and her family. "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling' is the title, she holds a basket of shamrocks and has a Irish Chain quilt with applique shamrocks on the back of her skirt along with some Celtic design on the border. She is just beautiful, her face is one of the most interesting of the angels, I think. She is my first musical one, the music box plays, of course, "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling". It seemed right to get this on Mother's Day. My dad was Irish on both sides but his maternal grandmother came from Ireland as a indentured servant. His mother, my beloved Grandma, was very proud of her Irish roots. This song was one of her favorites. Grandma was a big part of my life growing up and the angel brought back good thoughts of her on Mother's Day.






What else has been happening at my house? I am up to my neck in peaches! Every year, the great white hunter and I go pick peaches at a local orchard. Every year, we pick way too many peaches. The kids took some, he took some to work and I made a cobbler and two batches of peach jam. In years past, I made four or five batches but we just don't eat as much of it anymore. When I was working, I used it for gifts as did DD, but life circumstances have changed. The refrig is full of peaches and after I do this post, I am doing a search for peach recipes. I tried canning them one year and it was such a mess that I decided that was not for me. Might just end up freezing them and I am open to any and all hints anyone might have. Best part of the peaches is slicing them on my morning cereal.......yummmmy!






The rag rug is going along wonderfully! I am sewing strips and crocheting like a good fellow. So much so that my hands are just a little sore and I might have to take a break. It measured about 21 inches in this picture but I added a couple of rows since then. Quilting is sitting waiting for me but doing what I want to do when I want to do it here. I am even planning the next one.




On a end note, the great white hunter is taking a vacation day on Friday and we are off for a three day weekend to Northern AZ. I am really looking forward to this. He has been working some wicked hours lately under a lot of stress at work and we need a break. See you soon!

It's That Time Again.

Last year I blogged about how I loved to "bring in the crops." So, here are pictures of what I picked in our little garden yesterday. I bet there are some of you who are saying, I used to have a colander just like that! That Tupperware colander is almost 40 years old! It has been used all that time and is still going strong even though it is not very pretty anymore. I got it when our oldest son was just a baby. It had a snap on gridded top so you could drain things completely. Our son liked to sit in his high chair and chew on that top while I fixed dinner. I would replace it with a new one because it really doesn't look clean even when it is but.........can't find one that I like as well. I think it has more life left in it than is left in me, so it might be around for another 40 years!



After I took that picture, this is what I did with my bounty! These ice box pickles are yummy and the salsa is my favorite. The little tomatoes have a acid taste that really goes well with the other ingredients.



Princess Paris watches me cook now days.



Colin was here for a few minutes after school today. He was all excited about the progress I have made on my rag rug. After we talked about it getting bigger and which row he liked the best, he asked if he could have it when I got done. DD told him that not everything Nana made was for someone else and maybe I had plans for that rug. I told him he could have the rug............and he was thrilled. He is going to put it right by his bed. That kid just makes my day! So, back to the strips, I have a home for my rug so I guess I need to finish it.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms and Grand Moms out there. I am going on a picnic with my great white hunter and the great white hunter son #2 and wife, DD and SIL and the grand kids. Number One son sent a gift earlier in the week. I wish every mother could be with her babies on this day.

Second Try

I really didn't like the green in the first rug that I started using Finn's instructions so, made some scrappy strips and started over. This is a lot of fun and a great thing to do when you are watching TV.

I think it could be a shade rounder but for the first try I am happy and plan to keep going until I get a use able size rug. I found that hand sewing my strips is easier for me that using the sewing machine. I just never got a comfortable rhythm going sewing the 1/2 inch strips. If I do them by hand, they just take a couple of stitches and I am not dealing with threads. I might change that as I go along and get tired of hand stitching but so far, it is going along quite well.




Colin was here today and he was very interested in the whole process. We watched a movie this afternoon and he sat by me on the couch watching the strip sewing and then the crochet. When DD came to pick him up, he showed it to her and said, "Look what she is making!" My DD winked at me and asked him what it was? He said "I don't know, what is it, Nana?" Little guy has seen so much stuff going on here with his Nana that it no longer matters what it is, it just is. So now that he knows, he would like a rug for his room please. Someday, sweetheart, someday!

My buddy Finn is doing a tutorial showing how to make a crochet rag rug. A round rug that lays FLAT! I grew up with these rugs and have tried several times to make one, only to have them curl up and then, I gave it up. So with Finn's encouragement and promise of help, I decided to give it another try. I dug out my crochet hooks, and of course, didn't have a size K. (I do have three H and two G size hooks though, now what was that all about I wonder?) So, after a trip to Walmart, I cut my strips, sewed some together and last night, tried again.

It was fun, Finn's instructions are great because they allow for adjustment along the way. Here is my "trial" rug. I am going to tear this out and start with a lighter color and assorted strips to get a more scrappy look but..........hey, it is laying flat. Now it is not as round as I think it should be but, by George, I think I might just be on my way to a rug of some sorts. Thanks dear Finn!

More Play Along

I posted below about not wanting to tag folks because they might not want to play along. Well, I guess some do.........check out Finn and Carolyn.

Come on, join in on the fun! Let me know so we can add you to the list.

UPDATE. Check out Carlseapatch for the letter game with a Aussie favor. Thanks for joining in Jo-anne.

Goodies in My Mailbox

I was so surprised today when I opened my mailbox and found the package from Bronwyn in Australia! I won her give away just a short while ago and it got here in record time. I sent a package to Canada one time and it took weeks!

So, what fun to open and find such wonderful goodies from Down Under. Here are the two quilt patterns that I am saving to relish this evening. The most fun part of this wonderful package is the pile of fabric charms plus a nice sized piece of print fabric. They were extras that she included for my JULIA! I had written that I had a grand daughter that would enjoy sharing my bag. She has a picture of a bag being held by her daughter on her blog and I knew from that, Julia would love it. I can just hardly wait to see Julia's face when I show her. She has her own fabric box to collect fabric to use with her Christmas sewing machine so I know she will be thrilled. I think the bigger piece of fabric is mine.........hehehe! The card she included is in front.




Now, am I not going to be the envy of the "bring your own shopping bag" set in my neighborhood? I can hardly wait. This bag is so special with its yo yo trim. (It is hard to see from this picture but there are large yo yo's in the center) She said in her blog that it was not a fancy bag. Let me tell you folks, it is pretty fancy. It is lined with the same fabric as the contrasting border.




This is the piece of chenille fabric she included. Not quite sure what I will do with this. It is so soft and wonderful and I hate to cut it. What I am wondering is, when you are 60 years old, can you still have a blanky to cuddle up with? Not a covering now, a snuggy to comfort you. I think this would fit the bill perfect! It reminds me of the soft chenille bedspreads we had when I was growing up ages ago.




Thank you Bronwyn so very much. My family is amazed that someone that I don't know would send me such a nice gift from so far away. I tell them that quilter's are family and distance doesn't mean anything when there is fabric involved. So, it has been a great day!

Tags

When Carol tagged me for the Scattagories that use the first letter of your name, I was supposed to tag other bloggers. I have read in the past on a few blogs that they don't want to be tagged. So, not knowing what to do, and wanting to keep everyone happy, I didn't tag my friends.

But at least two of them have played along anyway and it has been so much fun to read their answers. I wish more of you would join in. Check out Katie, Granny Lyn and Carol to see what fun we had.

I think blogger should have a place where you can say that you don't want tagged, so you would know if you were doing an OK thing. If you do play along, be sure and let me know so I don't miss your answers!

"This is IT!" Revisited

My grand kids can hardly wait until the water in the pool reaches swimming temperature. They check to see what the temperature is every time they come. So last week, on the way home from having sleep over at our house, the great white hunter and I took them shopping for their annual "stay at Nana/Papa's house" swim suits. They were excited because it was Saturday and Papa was with us.

They each chose three suits to try on. All three of Julia's were one piece which was a surprise to me. She and the Mama had already had a tussle over a two piece suit that Mama said was lacking in fabric for her seven year old and Julia got second choice. Two of the suits had matching skirts and she liked that. Colin had a white pair with blue sharks and two different Spider man print.

Trying on the suits was quite the production. They each had to leave the fitting room and troop out to show Papa the suits.........all six of them. I just crossed my fingers that none of their bare toes got ran over by a wayward shopping cart.

Colin decided that he wanted the white ones with the sharks. The Spider man ones were "a little snug", he said.

The first suit Julia tried on was a coral color with a striped skirt that went over it. It had the same striped fabric on the top. She really liked it but wanted to try on the other two. Next came a blue green tie dye. Now this suit had NO back even though it was high in front.......it was cute. Last came a white suit with bead work on the top with a white tie on skirt.......she stood in front of the mirror and struck a pose, one hip stuck out, her hand on the other one. She turned, checked over her shoulder to see how it looked in the mirror from behind and said. "This is IT, but I need to go show Papa" and out the door she went.

I stood there amazed at how sure of it she was, how she knew at seven years old that she had found "IT". And then a flood of memories came back to me.............

My daughter (Julia's Mama) and I are looking at a white Jessica McClintock dress. I am telling her, "NO way, that dress costs too much" and she is telling me, "this is IT!" We were shopping for her a dress to wear in a Jr. High School debate competition. Oh yes, she got the dress but only after making a deal with the great white hunter that she would pay for part of it with her babysitting money.

The great white hunter and I are walking down a isle in a mall store, our daughter walking in front of us. We have come to the mall to look at a prom dress that she had seen earlier that day on a shopping trip with her friends. She runs to a rack and grabs a sapphire blue dress with a beaded top, and says, "This is IT!" We have great pictures of her and her date (Julia's Daddy) at the dance. She has her long hair in beautiful curls and the blue dress on with shoes dyed to match.

Next memory has my daughter and I in the dressing room, trying on the 20th plus white wedding gown of the day. I am so confused, mixing up stores, styles and prices. My brain is on over load because nothing has been just right. She slips the dress over her head, I zip it up and she turns around. I burst into tears at the sight of my baby girl in that dress. She smiles and says, "Well, I guess this is IT then." That was the dress she walked down the isle in on the great white hunters arm to marry Julia's Daddy.

We are in the baby dept of some store and I grab a tiny, frilly white dress off a rack of christening dresses and hold it up for my daughter to see. She says, "Oh yes, that is IT." My Julia has her first fancy dress.

One of my favorite quotes is "LIFE IS NOT MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF BREATHS THAT YOU TAKE, BUT BY THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY." I do not know who said this, as my plaque doesn't have a author but to who ever, I say hear, hear! Best part of this grandparent thing is more of those moments to share.

This is "IT!"

Tagged

Carol tagged me with this and it looks like fun. I am supposed to tag ten people to do it also but not going to do that part. If it looks like fun to you, please do it on your blog and let me know so I can read your answers. Let me tell you that the letter "N" is a real pain for something like this!

Use the first letter of you first name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things..nothing made up!

Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME

Norma


4 LETTER WORD

Nana..........my "other" name


VEHICLE

Nissan (had to go to the classified ads in the newspaper!)


TV SHOW

Nightline


CITY

New York


BOY NAME

Nathaniel


GIRL NAME

Natasha


OCCUPATION

Nurse


SOMETHING YOU WEAR

Necklace (diamond, of course!)


FOOD

Nachos


SOMETHING IN THE BATHROOM

Nightgown (hangs on the back of the door)


REASON FOR BEING LATE

Nerves


SOMETHING YOU SHOUT

No! (but often not loud enough)

I Am the WINNER!

A few days ago, I found the most colorful blog.........and she was having a give away. I commented and got the word saying I won. It is a lovely bag, patterns and a piece of chenille that reminds me of my childhood bedspread! Best thing is, I really enjoyed the blog too! Check it out at Whippet Good.

Thank you Bronwyn!