Special Birthday

Someone special is having a birthday.  My cousin's grand daughter, I guess that makes her my 3rd cousin?  She is turning 2!  DD and I decided she needed a new quilt.  We made her one when she was born, but now that she is a big girl, she needs a new one!

Well her family are big Disney fans.  They have passes and go all the time.  So she is a huge Disney Princess fan.  So a theme was born.  Need to make a Disney Princess quilt!  Lucky for us when we went to JoAnn's all their Character Prints were 50% off!

Here are the squares all cut:

I used 8 inch squares, a 3/4 inch seam and it is 7 x 7 squares across.

Here it is all laid out:

There is a tink print, a pink princess print and a blue Cinderella print.  Then we filled in with pink and blue stars and an awesome green/glitter solid and a sweet pink and green. dot.

Again I used the tried and true stiching on the border with alternating colors:

And after snipping and washing here she is?

We found the cutest Disney Princess nightgown on clearance and a great Disney Princess 5 min story book. I think bedtime is covered!

Party is tomorrow, hope she likes it!

Have a great weekend,

Toodles,

Laura

posting at:

Shabby Creek Cottage

Veggie time!

Hi all, hope you have had a great weekend and a safe and green St. Paddy's day!  Pretty low key around here.  Last weekend it was time to get the raised beds ready for veggies.  We added more soil and some compost and mixed it up a bit.  Then added our veggies.

I love fresh from the vine tomatoes, don't you?  We planted 4 plants, can't wait!

There are 3 in this bed and 1 in the next one.  Yellow Pear, Purple Cherokee, Superstar to name 3 of them!

Here I also have some swiss chard, and a zucchini!  The tall plant is my sugar snap peas that have been growing all winter.  Still producing but starting to taper off.
I also added a pot with some rosemary and basil.  Need to start cooking with them more!

Have you planted your garden yet?  What are you growing.

Here is a pic of our garden from last year!

This is when the tomatoes were real high and the squash was crazy!

Hope we get the same this year.

Toodles,

Laura

Old Glory

Hi, hope you are having a great day!

As you may remember I enjoy making rag quilts, flannel ones at that.  I have always wanted to try a flag quilt.  Have you seen them?  I just never found a pattern I liked.  I have a few pinned on Pinterest, but none that I really wanted to tackle. Finally I found one easy enough for me to do. Here is a pic of the patten I found.

Didn't look too hard, now I just need to scour my stash to find all the red, white/cream and blue flannel I had.  I knew I would probably need more so off to Joann's I went.  I bought some solids and some prints.  Here is what I came up with.

This is just laid out on my bed, which I always use to lay out my quilts.  Really hard to find cream and white prints in flannel.  And I worry that the red will run.  Oh well, here it is with the rows sewn.

And from the other side:

 So after I got it all sewn up, I really like out it turned out.  

I do a decorative stitch around the edges, this time I use red thread on one side and blue on the other!

And here she is after snipping and washing!

What do you think?  I think it turned out great!  The red didn't run and I washed it twice, in cold with 2 color catchers.  I think I will make another one!  This one is going to our annual DAR Heritage Tea silent auction.

Have a great week!

Laura

 

A Little Betty Bag

Last year I joined DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution.  I really enjoy it, genealogy has always been an interest of mine.  My neighbor Chris was so helpful and supportive of me in this quest, so I wanted to make her a special Thank You gift.  

I found this darling pattern at The Mother Huddle for the Little Betty Bag.  Too cute.  I had some left over fabric from a tote bag I made last year for the DAR auction.  Very patriotic!  The bag is more of  a small evening bag, which is what I wanted.  This way she can take it to State Conference and use at the formal nights!

So here are a few pics!

This is the front flap.  I tried to center the print I also added seed beads to the print.  Nothing like making it harder!

This will be the back.

Here it is all finished.  I used a chain for the strap, and a magnetic closure.

Found these cute chain holders at JoAnn's.  You can remove the chain if you want to use as a clutch.  It is small and will hold a phone, cash and maybe a lipstick.

Here is a close up of the beading detail I added.  Hope it isn't too hooky.

Have a great weekend all.

Toodles,.

Laura

Adjustments!

So last fall I had to adjust to my DD going away to college.  She was only 60 miles away, but wanted to try the 'dorm' experience.  So we moved her in and she came home most weekends.  Well fast forward to this January where she decided it wasn't for her and moved back home!  While I am fine with this, it is an adjustment again.  She is commuting to school and says even with the drive she is fine and much more happy!  

Now DS has been fighting with severe tendonitis all summer/fall and had to resign from his job of 4 years because of it.  In late November another health issue cropped up and now that is finally getting resolved and he is (hopefully) on the mend.  We told him to work on getting healthy and everything else will fall into place.  
Again, adjustment.  

I think I have had a hard time with this because we are all taught that when your kids turn 18, it is time for them to leave the nest, or become adults and work and go to school.  As I tell DH all the time, the world is a different place than when we were their age!  Heck when I was 23 I was planning a wedding!

But I digress, I love having them home and seeing them flourish and work through life.  Their time will come and I will be happy to help them when they are ready.  

Have a great day!

Toodles,

Laura

A New Year!

Yes can you believe it, it is 2013!  Crazy!  I know I have been MIA for a while now, but sometimes, life just gets in the way!  So I am back and raring to go! 

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year.  Now time for cleaning, organizing and getting those cobwebs out!

I have a few projects in my head, but here is one I did as a quick neighbor gift for the holidays!

Sea Salt and Herb Rub:

First I found this recipe at Country Home, (whose website is down for maintenance, so I can't link!  Sorry I will post the recipe at the bottom of the page)

Bought all the herbs and such at Smart and Final and found the lemon zest at Target!

Then we found these cute jars at World Market.  Love that store.

I love how they had the openings in the top!

Mixed it all together and poured into the jars.

Then I had to figure out a way to label them.  Bingo.  I found this tape at Michaels I think it was $1.99

So wrapped around the jar and then added a label I printed on clear labels.

Then just trimmed the edges with a exacto knife and voila, Easy Peasy!

I love how they turned out. I added a little direction card printed on card stock for each gift.  Here is the recipe:

 

1 1/3 cups coarse sea salt or kosher salt

2/3     cup dried parsley

1/4     cup dried thyme

1/4     cup dried rosemary

1/4     cup coarsely ground black pepper

1/4     cup dried shredded lemon peel

2        tbsp. garlic powder

2        tbsp dried minced onion, finly crushed

 

 

In a medium bowl, stir together salt, parsley, thyme, rosemary, pepper, lemon peel, garlic powder, and onion.  Spoon mixture into container of your choice.  Store for up to 6 mos.  For gift giving, include " to use" directions, below. 

 

To Use:  Stir salt mixture.  Lightly brush pork, lamb, beef, chicken or fish with olive oil; rub evenly with salt mixture ( use about 2 teaspoons per pound of meat, poultry, or fish:  Let stand 15 minutes.  Grill or roast as desired.

 

 

Have a great day!

 

 

Laura



Small Hall.

Upstairs we have a small hall that houses the doors to the kids rooms and their bathroom.  Off in the corner is the small angled hall closet, or cabinets.  I really don't know what they were thinking when they added these cabinets.  I am sure there is wasted space behind them.  Sorry I don't have a before shot, but just picture boring navaho white cabinets and counter top. 

Back in 2008 when we were doing the whole house refresh, I had our contractor reface the cabinets with beadboard.  We then used leftover flooring for the counter and used faux tin panels for the backsplash.  Finally I got the counter cleaned off.  It is the dumping ground for all that isn't wanted!  So here is my clean and much improved hall closet!

The dinosaur is 'Bub', he was DS favorite toy for many years.  We got it at the local swap meet many moons ago.  I saved it cause it brings back such memories.

Here is a close up of the tin and flooring.  I love how it turned out.  Give this little corner of the hall some personality.

This is the beadboard detal on the cabinets, he did such a good job.  And those are my fav crystal pulls from Restoration Hardware.  I love them and used them on my desk as well.

So when you have a small closet or cabinet that you don't know what to do with, it is OK to think outside of the box.  You never know what you will come up with!

Have a great week,

Laura