Just about as crafty as a Granny gets

Lamby & I have been crocheting, Does anybody remember "broomstick lace?" it is old, old, old, so ancient, I don't remember my own grandmother ever doing it, I have only seen it done once, other than the baby blanket I did over 30 years ago!
The real story is...The "broomstick" has been in the same drawer in the buffet since I finished the baby blanket for my oldest, he is now 33 years old. Along comes Leash rummaging and trying to organize, and the thing drops on the floor and the bottom breaks. I am the resident Glue Guru, so I glue it back together, telling her the whole time, Nanny gave me this 34 years ago, you have to be careful, plastic gets brittle,etc, etc, etc. Then, Elizabeth comes over and wants to know what it is, so I show her, next thing you know, she is watching a dolly blanket grow before her eyes. She just happens to have a cold dolly that has a dress that will match these leftover 1982 yarn balls! What luck! So, no quilting, just broomsticking. I am honestly riding my broomstick...tee hee! Anybody remember this stitch?
The wonderful and talented libby challenged us all to reveal our ironing boards, and you know me, I jumped right in and claimed the prize for the oldest, most decrepit, etc. My Mom recieved this when she married my Dad as a hand-me-down in 1950. It was up all during my childhood, and in the 60's when polyester came out, it was pitched into the basement never to be seen again. Fast forward to my own housekeeping, and I loved cotton, thought polyester was icky feeling, so I needed an ironing board, bad. The ol' girl ended up in my bedroom for years, then we built the new house and she became Queen of the Laundry Room. She has helped me tremendously and one of my grandaughters have already claimed her.
I was confident the Queen would be my shoo-in for some kind of praise, but to my suprise, she still looks good, (just a few cobwebs underneath, like me) the forties green is hardly faded, and her fairly new dress is not as tattered as you would think. So here is my friend, The Queen.

Have a wonderful day!
lyn

Wow, busy, busy, busy

It has been a wild weekend, and still busy on Wednesday. For Valentine's day, my DH rented a cottage here, http://www.doublejj.com/accommodations/loghomes.htm

it is about 5 miles from our home, so travelling in Feb wasn't an issue. This is the fourth time we've taken advantage of the "Sweetheart Special" which is 2 day, 1 night accomodations, Prime Rib dinner (w/ their fabulous desert) and breakfast. For pennies, you can stay two nights since it is winter and they are a resort. So we left on Thursday, ran home cuz we forgot our bathing suits, had a wonderful dinner, lounged in the hot tub, got up Friday and had a wonderful breakfast, ran home cuz we forgot DH's meds, picked up some low-calorie snacks, and spent the rest of the day reading, and pruning in the hot tub, and reading, awe-some weekend! I win the prize for having the most romantic husband!

We got home on Saturday, and Sunday was my Darling Leashie's 23rd birthday. I made the Lasagna, and her Daddy made the cake. She is such a darling! There are not enough adjectives in the English Language to describe how loving she is. She became mine when she was two weeks shy of a year, and she weighed 8 lbs. 10 oz. at a year old. She came with half a hospital and 17 medications, most of them given 6 times a day. Through the years, she has given me many scares, many messes and many, many smiles. She is the last one, she is the baby, she is the one who cured my "I Want Another Baby" itch. She's the one who got the new crib, after 6 boys, she got all new clothes, she's the one who still lives at home. Thank God!

So now I'm thinking about the deserts, Double JJ Ranch mixes 37 kinds of chocolate and molds it into a truffle-like ball about the size of an x-large egg, they lay it into a martini glass and cover it with a rich vanilla creme......(sorry, need a napkin to wipe my drool)....I have dreams about this "Chocolate Ball" I wish I had pics but I didn't have my camera, next time...

Leashie's favorite cake for her birthday is what her and her daddy call "Dump Cake" the easiest cake in the world, and you would be suprised at how good it tastes. All you have to do is "dump" a can of cherry pie filling and a can of pineapple (not drained) in the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan and sprinkle a whole box of white or yellow cake mix (dry, not made as directed on box) on top, slice a stick of butter or margarine into thin pats and lay them on top of the cake mix. bake as directed on cake mix box and that's it. I usually sprinkle colored sugar on top, green & red for christmas, pink and purple for Leash, we are a home-made-cake family. Next time I'll tell you all how we make our "Paddy Cake"

have a wonderful day!

lyn

I'm a Stackin'...

and I'm a Whackin'!





We are definately tired of the cold, blowing snow outside, so a little Spring inside would be great, Right?
So we brought out the blooms! I got the book, Stack-N-Whackier by Bethany S. Reynolds, from our little library and it is soooooo easy!



I would love to get a triangle (like Starmaker 6) and have a whack at it,(pun intended, tee hee) But all I have are squares and rectangle, so I just made QST and...viola!

I have my favorite, whaddya think?








four little opportunities to practice my quilting!














Don't look too closely, when i'm eighty years old and am perfect on the quilting, I'm going to blame all these "littles" on the grandkids ;-)



We are now in the middle of spring, and the lady bugs are going about their business!

Have a day full of pink and purple blossoms,

lyn

I've heard it said...

that practice makes perfect, but I'm sure the person who said that never saw my quilting. Last week, Jakey and I made four little log cabins, and then his Daddy came to get him, so I sewed them together and made a little "pet quilt" thinking I'd get a little hand quilting practice out of it. I love doing hand work in the evening while DH and DD#3 watch TV. That little thing took me three nights to quilt. My stitching is sad, my stitching is crooked, my stitching is uneven. Practice? not so perfect. So, Elizabeth picked out some fabric, and we made a star, Granny

practiced maching quilting, instant gratification is a wonderful thing! But my stitches are still uneven. But, it only took about an hour (I'm not the fastest truck in the passing lane) and this time, I don't cross any lines or turn an odd corner. I didn't feel like such a slo-poke. Seems to me, that maching quilting is what I'm going to practice more often, tee hee.

Soooo, today, kids, we'll play with some other fabrics, maybe something spring-y, whaddya say?

have a great day,

lyn

Please tell me how...

you label your quilts.
What is the most important info to put on the label? What is the best way to attach it? Who are you labeling it for? My Aunt Biggie never labels, and from reading the blogs, I have "heard" how important it is...


On Jakey's race car quilt I embroidered his name, mine and Elizabeth's initials and the year, is that enough?

For Elizabeth's I cut a heart out of my mother's blouse and added the names off all the generations of fabrics that went into the quilt,
and for Tony's I again stitched my mom's blouse that matched and this time added the year.
I'd show you all but blogger won't let me add any more pics,
oh, pooh.

Please help me decide the best way to label.
thanks to all who comment...
lyn

My very First

A sleepy just-woke-up grandaughter and the first quilt I ever attempted. I was stupid, I was heartfelt, and I was a rookie. What can I say???

The tiny pink flowers are from my Great-granny's apron, the pink/red/white plaid is from fabric that my grandmother made curtains out of in the 50's?/60's?, the mint is fabric left from a blouse she made for herself. On a corner is a heart cut from my mother's "lucky" bingo blouse. It has been loved, tossed, spit-up on, and washed a thousand times and it is the softest hug you could ever imagine. I made it for the baby shower when Katie and Tony were expecting Elizabeth, and she is now 4, almost 5.

Elizabeth just left, dragging her "bankie" with her. And Granny's heart swells with every hug............... please hang on while I grab a tissue, sniff, sniff...

This is the second quilt, easy-peasy!!! This was for James, DS1, It was a strippy with a cha-cha-chi-wowie animal print on the back for his wife, our wild child! tee hee,( lets see if she reads this) It has various strips from my Grampa's suit (brown solid)lt tan & black solid), Nanny's fabric, and one of the maternity tops I wore when I was pregnant for him,(black gingham)I can hear it now, what a pack rat she is, and you, my dear reader are absolutely right!!! I have GOT to call that 1-800 number in the morning!! The quilt was ooh-ed and ahh-ed over but it was huge, hard to handle, and it was sooooo hard to keep the strips straight, I had no idea I was supposed to sew one strip left and the next strip to the right. So, I ended up taking it apart many times to take the half-moon shape out of it,,,,,geez oh pete, it took a long time!)

The third quilt I made for our RV and it is still out there, with 3 feet of snow, so I have no picture of it. It is just a plain machine quilted thing, with acorns and pine needles on it. For camping, you know.

Then, my beautiful-but-fashion-impaired Mom Passed to be with the Lord, and she left us 61 pair of the same pants, well, some were black, some were brown, some pink, some green, navy, rose, tan, purple...you get the idea. They were all stretch, double knit, polyester, perma-seam down the front, slacks. All were whacked off and stitch-witchery-ed to a perfect 23 inch inseam. And here it is, Gramma's Pants:

Which reminds me, I have to do a Gramma's Pants for the boys, too. I donated all the black (29 pair) but who else is 4'9" and wears double knit pants? in purple? or lime green? just what I thought, too.

So, dear reader, now you know why I'm so proud of Tony's quilt, it's the best one yet!!! An actual pattern and everything, (I can learn,,,I can learn,,,I can learn,,,)

And sew on and sew forth!

lyn