Easter Blessings to You.....

Tuesday Ramblin'.....

Besides the usual day to day things, and after finishing up the 'pay it forward' gifties I pulled out my collection of sampler charts and decided on this one!

Yes, you are seeing that correctly. A Christmas chart.

Yule Sampler by The Primitive Needle.

While it will most likely hang on my sampler wall throughout the year, I wanted to make sure I would have it completely done, framing included by this Christmas.

I've also been working on the quilt you see beneathe the sampler.  Started by my mother-in-law several years ago, she passed it along to me. Since then, it's been folded and stored in my closet for quilt awhile, not sure I would ever get it finished.  Since putting a bed in this "spare" room, needing a cover for it, I decided to finally bring out this quilt top for finishing.  It just needs to be a little bit bigger, so I'm adding a couple of border strips.

You know what  a magazine nut I am, and I recently found this one on the stand. It's to bring me a little inspiration to design and make a small quilt for my grandbaby who is expected to arrive in July.

Then I found this one.....

Just for fun, I picked up this one.....

Cupcakes

Maybe some fun gooey cupcakes for the summer family picnics or bake sales instead of the usual cakes or cookies?

Both are awesome magazines and will probably never see that give-away or recycle pile!

Well, time to get busy.....

Enjoy your day!

Enjoy your day...



Spring...

Ahh....gotta love spring weather!  We had a beautiful day here Sunday! It was 80 degrees. I got home from church and opened up all the windows, turned on the fans letting all the winter stuffiness out!  After working for an hour or so out in the back yard, I decided it was too windy to try and tackle the flower beds.  I enjoyed the afternoon doing a few chores inside and sitting near the open window with stitching in hand. All was well. And then.....

The weather warnings began.

I'm still not sure if they called it a tornado or just straight line winds. 

Whatever it was, it sure done some damage.

There was little damage here at our house...however, the trailer not quarter mile south of us, it wasn't totally taken out but was hit hard enough to knock it out of sorts.  It's beyond repair and will need to be hauled out.  It belonged to John's cousin, but he had just moved out of it last fall.

John's aunt and uncle who live not quarter mile to the north of us, lost a shed, that also serves as a garage.  And the cousin that lives just across the road, lost the roof to his house and also lost parts of his barn.

A beautiful new home. Built not five years ago because they lost their last home to a tornado that hit 5 years ago.

If ya don't mind, could ya send a little one up for them!

They were on their way home when this happened and apparently had vehicle problems. 

I don't know how it missed us.  We do have a barn that sets southwest of the house and I'm sure blocked alot of that wind, but there wasn't even any damage to the backside of it.

I thank God for that and that no one was hurt in all this.

I hope the sun is shining in your little corner of the world today.

Enjoy your day!

Grandpa's Chili.....

Yesterday was a day off and I spent it at home doing little odds and ends around the house so a perfect time to put a pot of chili in the crock pot and just let it simmer all afternoon. I've always used my Grandpa's recipe as a guide with my own substitutions and I usually let it simmer in the crockpot all day on low or afternoon on high.  I thought I'd share his recipe with you today.....

Grandpa's Summers Chili

2 lbs browned ground chuck

3 cans chili beans

2 medium onions, chopped

1 1/2 cups water

3 cans tomato sauce

1 envelope chili seasoning

salt to taste
Cook slow 1 hour. Supposed to be thick but you can add water so it won't stick or for desired consistency.

2 - 12 oz cans of tomato juice may be substituted for the water and sauce.

(I use 1 can tomato sauce & 1 can diced tomatoes in place of the 3 cans of sauce)

 
Added a small pan of cornbread and a blackberry pie & ice cream for dessert... Yum-meee!  There's even a little bit leftover for lunch today!

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I think spring is finally here!  According to google weather it's to be 66 today and 80 tomorrow.  Hmm...maybe some yard and flower box clean-up?

 

I hope the sun is shining today in your little corner of the world....

Enjoy your weekend!

 

 

 

A look back...

While out visiting with my folks last week, Mom brought out a bag of quilt squares and pieces. They had belonged to and I'm assuming, started by a fellow church member who passed away several  years ago.  As you can see, Mom never got around to doing anything with them so she passed them on to me.  Maybe one day I'll get them finished into a wall hanging. Sixteen smaller blocks make up the larger block and there are already seven of them put together. There just happens to be sixteen smaller blocks ready to sew together into the larger block and while there are still pieces that can be sewn into blocks, I think I will finish large block #8 and make them into a simple wall hanging.  Each block is hand sewn. Totally!  Will I have the patience to finish this quilt with hand sewing only? Can I do this quilt justice with my own handsewing?

Also in the bag were these applique' floral blocks. There are four completed and a few that are partially stitched and the rest are just basted.  These were started back in the day before stitch witchery, jiffy fuse or the decorative zig zag stitch on the sewing machine.  A very narrow blanket stitch is used for the applique'.  Sixteen blocks in all.  The applique' may get finished by hand, but the blocks will most likely get put together on the sewing machine.

I just thought I'd share these with you...I hope you've found them as interesting as I have.

Are you a Collector?

 I've got a few collections going on......I think I've shared some of my cookbook collection with you before...I continue to add to it.....some I refer to quite often, others, not so much.  Sometimes I like to just thumb through them for the extra reading there is in some of them.

This is my tobacco stick ladder (made it myself) that hangs on my kitchen wall filled with all sorts of gadgets, old and new, and a few other little treasures mixed in here and there.  I've often thought about taking it all down so it isn't so cluttered there but I just can't bring myself to do it just yet.

And a couple parts of my bobbin and spool collection (yes, there's more).

And I've got a little bit of a stoneware collection.....crocks, jugs, bowls.  Old and new.  Scattered thoughout the house, a lamp, a magazine keeper,  sewing or kitchen utensils, but most sitting on the mantles. And you can see above there, I like baskets, too.

I think my collections say a little bit about me. It tells a little bit about who I am and what I do.

What do you collect and what do your collections say about you?

Well, time to get busy.....Enjoy your day!