I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so giddy right now!! My daughter wanted me to make her a little pouch for school. Well, I have only put a zipper in once and it was with the help of one of my lovely aunts....never alone or with my sewing machine. So, today was the day. I broke out my little owners manual, gathered my supplies and used this tutorial on someones totally cool blog. I also grabbed a Diet Coke....for strength....and began with step #1. Slowly but surely I worked my way through the steps and I was so surprised when I turned the thing right side out and it actually worked!! YIPPEE FOR ME!!!!

I am learning how to sew on my own. This is a HUGE step for me. What could be next???? Button holes? HA! I can't get to cocky....remember the quilting thing made me throw in the towel. :(

Taylor's Top

When I take my youngest daughter to the fabric store....she always migrates to this smocked material. She wanted something made from it. So, we bought a bit and some ribbon and put together a top for her this morning. She claims she is going to wear it the first day of school. We will see. I like it because it looks patchy...like a quilt. :)

Grandma and the beans

Remember a couple posts back when I said I was going to go see my 97 year old grandma and ask her to help me snap beans.....well.....she said yes! :) She was so excited when I showed her that bowl of beans. She immediately took the bowl and began snapping. It was sooo cute! My mama went with me. She just laughed and laughed. We had a nice time together. Three generations of women. Just snapping beans. How fun is that! And, these pictures are absolutely priceless to me. There is just not enough money in the world for the memory that was made today for me. I better stop. Tears are flowing........

Bean picking #3 and a few more things

Here is tonight's pickens my oldest daughter and I harvested. A bowl full of bright red cherry tomatoes and one very fat cucumber.

My daughter wanted to see how the carrots were doing. I told her they were probably still small...but curiosity got the best of her and she just had to pick one. Can you tell how tiny she was? So, daughter got a lesson on how incredibly smart her mama really is tonight. Amen! :)


And the last one is more green beans! My third big bowl full. We picked these in the rain shower that came through. We had a nice time together outside getting wet and picking while listening to God rumble overhead.

Holy cow! I made pickles!

One thing I have learned about being a farmer of zucchini is that one day you have nothing and the next day those little boogers have grown gigantic!! I had four nice sized zucchini yesterday and remembered that I bought this little cookbook awhile back and it had a recipe for Freezer Zucchini Pickles in it. So, I thought I would try them out. Not many ingredients but oh my goodness how lovely they tasted while going into the little containers. :) Here is the recipe if you would like to make some for yourself.

Freezer Zucchini Pickles

7 cups zucchini, thinly sliced

2 onions, sliced (I only used one)

1 green pepper chopped

1 tsp celery seed

1 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup cider vinegar

7 1 pint freezer safe plastic containers, sterilized

Combine all ingredients except sugar and vinegar in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and vinegar; stir until sugar is dissolved. Add to zucchini mixture; toss to blend. Refrigerate for 24 hours. ( I stirred mine occasionally during this time period) Spoon into freezer safe containers. Makes 7 containers. (I only got 5 from mine since my containers were a bit bigger than a pint.)

Contentment

I walked into my room this morning and saw this furry baby laying in the sun. For some reason the word "contentment" came to mind. What do you see?

911

We had a slight emergency at our house today. Taylor's blanket needed some minor surgery done on it. I told her it was a nip and tuck. :) She got this blanket as a newborn from my sister. She has slept with it all these years....11 to be exact. It is starting to become very very thin and almost all the binding is off of it now. I am always afraid to wash it because I am not sure if it will come out alive from the washer or not. Today, something had to be done. I carefully cut off all the loose pieces and sewed around the borders to see if we can keep it going awhile longer. I am quite sure my daughter has plans to take this to college with her. :) Hope this works.



She took my picture today while I was preforming surgery on the blanket. See my kitty watching me as I work? He loves to peep at me through the opening in the machine. Silly kitty!

Finally!!!

About 6 months ago, I began this little table runner project. I was going to quilt it and be ever so proud of myself. Well......after three attempts at quilting it....I threw out my white flag and removed the quilt batting from the middle and sewed her up and called it quits!!! I surrendered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Egads I need/want a new machine so badly. My little Brother machine is good for little projects....but for this I needed something that would quilt like a dream.....not a nightmare. :(

But, here is my little runner in all her glory. She is still cute....even if she is not all quilty.

And, I wanted to show you the little bunch of beautiful flowers my sister brought back for me from her vacation in Michigan. Aren't they lovely? I just wanted to share them with you too!

Couple Gifts

I made a couple of gifts for some people in my life yesterday. The first one is a little flag banner for a friend who is a third grade teacher. I bought a Recess Charm Pack and put it together with navy bias tape. I am happy how it turned out. I have no idea where or if she will use it in her room....but I thought it was cute anyway.




This HUGE pillow is a gift for a boy we know turning 8 years old today. He is a Cardinal fan and we wanted to do something with that theme. So, we bought a 27 x 27 pillow form from Hancock Fabrics and some red Cardinal fleece and I made a little slip cover for the pillow. I did the back in an envelope style so his mama could take it off and wash it when it needed it. I hope he likes it. That little guy is the one who gave the blankets I make their famous name....

When I brought the pillow in finished last night for my husband to see....he said "I want one!" :)

More beans and a roof!

Here is the roof going on today! If you look closely, you can see me poking out between the rafters. Hello there! :)

This is the side view. Can you see how high the ceiling is going to be on my little porch. Be still my heart!!!

Simon and I were playing "foreman" today while the fellows worked. HA! He loves to come outside with me and swing. He had to make sure the porch was up to his standards...you know...since we are building it for him and all. :)

My second jumbo bowl of green beans in two days!! I have put up 8 quart freezer bags so we can enjoy them this winter so far. I also put up 10 pounds of blueberries that my parents picked up for me at the Amish sale on Tuesday. My freezer is beginning to look yummy!

What did you do today?

Our Project

Well, I mentioned a couple post ago that we were doing something BIG to our house. I decided to show you what it is since I am so stinkin excited about it!!!!!! The back of our house had a set of french doors that lead out to a concrete patio. Probably as old as the house. It was cracked and ugly. So, we decided to put a nice screened in porch in its place. An area where we could come outside and sit in the evenings and listen to the bugs buzz and not get bitten by one or several of them! I also have dreams of sitting out there and having coffee with friends and a place to have meals with those I love. And, lets not forget the furry babies that live in my house. They will also love love love being out there and watching the world go by. The kitty in particular is really going to enjoy being outside.

So, here is what we have done so far.




This is the mess from tearing up all that old concrete from the patio.

Here is the new installed deck. I put that chair up there one day and sat and read a new cook book I had gotten. It was lovely.

This is part of the roof they cut into. I was a tensy bit scared when I knew this step was happening. Something about putting a hole in a roof.....not good. But, it was necessary and the fellow doing the work knows what he is doing. :)

And, here is where we are as of today. The walls are all up. The roof is going to go on tomorrow I am told. We are going to have a very high ceiling in this little space. The electrician will be here on Friday to put the ceiling fan in for us and the other electrical outlets we will need. The step I am dreading is the painting step. Not that there is a lot to paint....it is just really high up there and that is not a fun place to be when painting. Eeks! Maybe the hubby will do that part. I did make him some peach crisp tonight for dessert........

So, that is it so far. I will be back soon with more pictures. Can not wait to sit outside and enjoy our project. Oh and Dawn, this space is for you as well. You can come over and we can "play" with fabric and paper outside! Is it a date??? :)

Summers First Bounty

I am really getting excited about our garden this year. Things are FINALLY able to be picked. That is the thing about gardens....you plant the seeds and little baby plants....then sit back and wait. I am not a patient person by nature. It is something I have to work on A LOT in my life. One would think I could not garden. Too much waiting. But, it has helped me to be patient this summer. Well, vegetables and my Cosmo's have taught me to wait. :) Here is a couple things we were able to pick the other evening.

Look at all those green beans!!!!! You probably can not tell how large that bowl really is....but she's a jumbo! There is probably 3 or 4 pounds of green beans in there. My grandma, who is 97 years old, loves to snap green beans. I have many memories of she and I setting at the kitchen table snapping beans. Then, I can remember the smell of bacon and onion as she was cooking them. OH MY LAND!!! Tomorrow, I am going to take my beans and go to the nursing home where she lives. I am going to walk in with those beans and tell her we have some work to do. I can not wait to see the look on her face when she sees them!! But what will really melt my heart is watching her snap beans again.

Simon Peter

I have the cutest kitty in the whole wide world!! Others may disagree (like my sister) but I am pretty biased with him. :) While working around the house today I saw him in the sunshine and had to take a picture of him looking all handsome. In the top picture you can see how blue his eyes are. The middle picture he was sleeping on my picnic basket under the kitchen table that I had not put back yet in its place. The bottom picture he is enjoying the open window in my bedroom. He is laying on my dresser with the breeze blowing in on his face.....napping sitting straight up! What a silly kitty. Man do I love that cat!!

First Attempt

I bought some fabric awhile back from this gal and have not had the chance to use it. But the other day, I finally got brave and came up with an idea in my head and cut it up!!!! This is the idea I came up with. I still have fabric left so I am going to make another one. As you can see from the top photo, I decided to put it on my little church pew in my kitchen. The middle picture is the back and the bottom picture is a close up of all the fabrics. It is not perfect. A couple rows don't match up together. But, it was my first attempt. It is flawed...just like me. But, I am still happy with it. :)

My Lunch

We had the prettiest day here in Illinois today! I believe the high got to 72 degrees or so. Nice cool breeze blowing all day. Sunshine shining bright. It was just perfect! The house was quiet and my tummy was growling at me and I thought I better feed it! So, this is what I made. Little salad with chunks of cheese, tiny grape tomatoes, fresh cucumber from my garden, pepperoni slices, and tiny tiny croutons that I love. My favorite dressing and a glass of iced tea. Yummmmm!



Also, I got a Gooseberry Patch catalog in the mail today. So, I sat down and shopped in it while enjoying the quiet house and my salad.

See my little Lassie plate? I have had this little plate since I was 8 years old. I remember taking it on a little camping trip with my brownie troop. I am so thankful that my mom and I have kept it all these years. It is holding my fresh cucumber slices on it. All salted and peppered up for my eating. I ate the whole cucumber myself. :) Gotta love fresh veggies from the garden.

Blueberry Pie

I had a couple containers of blueberries that I thought I would use to make a pie. I have never made a blueberry pie before...but I found an easy recipe and thought I would give it a shot. First, I wanted to show you the too cute Pyrex bowl that I "lifted" from my parents camper. Ahem.... Actually, I asked my mom if I could have it and exchange it for a different bowl since it is so darling and would look sooooooo good in my kitchen. She said she did not even remember the bowl and yes I could have it. Lucky me! :)



Here is the pie ready to go into the oven. I sprinkled a little sugar on top for extra sweetness.

Here she is fresh out of the oven. The smell in my house right now is to die for.

I think this looks like a good start to our day today. This afternoon we are going to our closest big city and watching this movie. Hopefully it won't be sold out when we get there. I have been waiting to see this movie since last November. I can hardly stand the wait. :)

Laundry Room Letters

Here are the pictures of my little bitty laundry room with her new WASH letters that I made. I also found the cutest little valance at Target that matches perfectly with my new letters. For under $20 I changed the look of my little space. :)

Some Laundry Cheer

One day at our friendly Hobby Lobby, I saw these cute whimsical letters. They were half off and I thought....what could I make with these cuties? I picked up the letters WASH and thought they would go in my laundry room. I bought some very cute scrapbook paper (that I wish was in fabric) and went over to my sisters house since paper is her thing. She had a very sharp knifey thing that she used to cut out the paper for me. I went to work on the Modge Podge and after it dried....put the rick rack on them and the little buttons with string for extra cuteness. Here is their before......




And here is their after!!!

I think they are soooo cute! I am sure these sweet letters will bring so much joy to me while doing laundry..... Who the heck am I fooling? HA!

I showed them to my darling friend Lori today while she was over for afternoon coffee. I do believe there may just be another set of letters in my future. But those might be in her laundry room! And, another thought was to make some for the dental office where I work....I could use the words Floss and Brush and Smile and Teeth! The possibilities are endless really.

Chim Chimney Chim Chimney.....

Husband and I got treated to something very rare last night....an evening with no kiddos! One daughter was at a slumber party and the other daughter stayed with Nana and Papa. We took advantage of no kids and went to Lowes, Menards, Home Depot, Target, Borders and Starbucks. Phew! We are in the beginnings of a HUGE home project and we were gathering information. More on that to come....

While in Lowes, we looked (for the 100th time) at those little Mexican chimney things for your patio. Kind of like an outdoor fire pit....

I don't know if it was from all the campfire smoke we inhaled this past week or what....but lookie what came home with us!


Ta Da!! Our own little Mexican fire chimney! The entire evening I kept humming the words to this song....Can't seem to get it out of my head. And now that you listened to it...you won't be able to either! HA!

At one point in our evening while sitting on the patio, I looked behind me and saw the two furry babies watching us from the door. I had to laugh. Little darlings.

Camping Trip

We made it home alive from the camping trip. Came home a day early due to impending storms that are heading our way. Nothing like riding out a storm in a tin can. :) Plus, we did have one day with lots and lots of rain. Rain and camping just do not mix well in my opinion. We did have fun, however, and here is some proof!


Shelby and her fish! This girl would seriously love to grow up and be a professional bass fisherman/fisherwoman. I kid you not.

Taylor riding in the boat....with her camping braids. Wish my hair would do that! Too cute!

Secret code we found in the woods. Very cool.....

Isn't it amazing how the water looks just as green as the trees?

A little turtle we saw loafing on a fallen tree in the water. He took one look at us and went right back in the water!

Mama and daughter being silly in the camper while it was raining. She had no idea I was behind her with my tongue out. HA!

Another one that was to small to keep.....

Hubby and kids out on his boat waiting for the fish to bite.....Sophie the doggie was out there with them too. She loved being on the boat!!

Ah....the book my friends Lori and Dorenda told me I just had to read...... I decided to take it with me on our trip. OH. MY. LAND. This was an excellent book about friendships and the impact it can have on two people. All I can say is....I hope the other people camping did not hear me bawling when I finished the book. They might of mistaken my cries for a howling wild animal or something and got scared!! Get this book if you are in need of a good cry and a good read. This book is both. I also had my Ipod and coffee going a lot while we were on this trip. Lovely....just lovely.

The little camp lights we had hanging on our camper. Too stinkin cute.

Our home away from home for the past four days. See our little Sophie sitting by the screen door looking out? She did this a lot. Just watching the world go by...and the squirrels. Which she detests! :)

I just love this little picture of the camper through the woods. Some of Gods handiwork we saw on our trip. :)

That's it....our little camping trip is finished. We had a nice time together even though it rained and stress got the best of us one day. But, that is what life is about isn't it? Ups and downs and making up in the end. Family.....gotta love them. :)