Sunday, April 29, 2012

One of My Favorite Things


to do is to take something old (not so old in this case, but used) and make it new again.
Last weekend when my cousin Judy and her daughter Amber came for a visit, Amber brought a pair of jeans and a red and white(I know, it looks pink) pin stripped shirt for me to make a purse for her.
This is what I came up with.
I spent a good part of the morning cutting them up and saving all the elements I thought I could use
This is one of the back pockets. The one with the zipper was a watch(?)pocket inside one of the front pockets. I hand sewed it on the back pocket first and then sewed the pocket to front of purse.
Don't you just love the bling on these...I do.
I used the plackets from the long sleeves of the shirt on the bottom  and to sides of the purse and added buttons  off the cuff.  I really wanted to use the cuffs, but couldn't figure out how or where to put them.
Here's the other side of the purse. Of course, you can tell that is the pocket from the shirt.
I loved using the front plackets of the shirt with buttons and buttonholes.
Here's a closeup.
I really struggle with a way to photo things in the motorhome.  So I tried a couple of different things.
The first one was hanging from the handle that rolls up the antenna. Not the best background, but it worked. then I tried laying it on a quilt.
Well,you get the picture. I completely forgot to photo the inside, but it is lined with the shirt back.
Oh, and I covered large cord for the handles because Amber has a purse she loves that has cord for handles.



Well, even though I worked on several projects this last week, this is the only one I got finished and photographed.

Hope you had a good weekend. We stayed in Santee for the weekend to attended a memorial for a good friend. 

Mr. SS says this will probably be the last week down here.  I will be so glad to go home even though I have enjoyed our stay here. The campground is really nice and huge.  I have pictures to show you next time.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!


Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Crazy Fun

After a 6 hr. drive we arrived back in Bakersfield around 9:30p.m. Friday to a greeting of hugs and even "I missed you guys" from 2 yr. old Emmy. Oh, be still my heart.

Saturday morning at 8:00am we met up with my cousin Judy, her daughter Amber and my BIL, Lynn
(all here for a quick visit from Sacramento)
at 10yr. old Kobi's Bobby Sox game.
She's the batter and we see her get her first 2 hits of the season. Yah, Kobi.
She is so cute in her uni.
Next we hurry over to another field to watch 5 yr. old Jack play.
First base here.
He gets a hit most of the time.

Before Jack's game is over, 7 yr. old Cade is playing on the field right behind Jack, so we
run over to watch him pitch,
and play 2nd base.


After 3 ball games, we are all famished and it's off to a local family owned Ice Cream Parlor for sandwiches and of course...lots of ice cream.
It's Rosemary's Creamery and we have lots of our family celebrations there.
There's Amber with some of the girls,

After lunch, the kids were taken home to swim.
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that it was in the high nineties by this time.

Judy, Amber and I made a quick trip to Strawberry Patches and then off to my nail place for mani's and pedi's.

Then back for sitting in the shade and watching the kids swim and Pizza for dinner.
We all were ready for an early bedtime,
but the older girls and I had one more project to do for the birthday party the next day.

We made daisy suckers for Brooke's garden themed party.
I didn't even get pictures, but we sure had fun.

The next day was the party...at near 100 degrees, I could barely move and didn't get any pictures.

As soon as the party was over, Mr. SS and I had to pack the truck and head back to Santee.
I was dripping by the time we climbed into the truck...thank goodness for air conditioning and a much quicker drive of 4 and 1/2 hrs.

Now back here to the 60's and rain tomorrow.
I've had tons of paperwork to do, but tomorrow, I sew and sew and sew.

Hope you're having a good week.

Again, I am fighting this new blogger format and tried all day to load some pictures...but I will get it eventually. Grrr....




God is Good!!
life is Good!!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Homeward Bound



In a few minutes, we leave our home away from home at Santee Lakes for the long trip home to Bakersfied. It's been two weeks and I'm missing my kids and grandkids more than I can say.

It's going to be double fun this weekend because my cousin, her daughter and my BIL from Sacramento are coming for the weekend.

We have ball games all day Saturday and a birthday party for 4 yrs. old Brooke on Sunday.

It will be a crazy fun weekend and I can't wait.

Thought I would post pictures of what I have been working on while in Santee.
Sorry for the poor pictures, but Rosie didn't come with me to model.

This is the  matching dress to the one I did for Emmy last month.
A model for Strawberry Patch.
Another model...They will look so much better when  Suzanne does her display magic at the store

I made 8 of these. They have little pockets. I thought they would be cute as favors for a cupcake birthday party. I only have the flowers to put on the others. 
They aren't very big, but could hold some little treasures. I got this pattern last summer when another blogger, Linda and her sister took me to a quilt store in Corona.
The sweet stripe is one that I bought last Saturday in Temecula.


Of course I am still working on my Dresden Plate quilt. Almost have all the circles appliqued.
Next week I will start putting the lattice and cornersquares on and will have my quilt top...finally.
I think Annelies is ready to quilt hers...no pressure, though. LOL 
 
 
Mr. SS will be home from work any minute and we must boogie to beat the traffic.
(Please don't picture me boogie'n...not a pretty picture)LOL
 
Oh, I must say one more thing.
Google changed format again.  I'm  just not good at change.  Just get it down one way and they go and change it. I can't seem to find how to edit a post, so if I find a mistake after I hit publish, we will just have to live with it.
 
 
God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Icing on the Cake


I have been Sew Blessed to have known Annelies for over two years through our blogs. We hit it off right away...both expecting granddaughters within a couple of weeks of each other...her first, my 10th and last.  We both have a passion for quilting and sewing and have shared ideas and patterns. We share the love of family and the Lord.
She teaches quilting at Eleanor Burns "A Quilt in a Day".  I first started teaching Eleanor Burns quilts many years ago.
Then a few months ago, this sweet friend shared her win of win of Pam Kitty Morning fabrics from Strawberry Patches with me. We are both making a Dresden Plate quilt with those fabrics.

As soon as I found I was going to be in the San Diego area, I couldn't wait to let Anne know.
She right away called me and we set up plans to meet in Temecula at a favorite quilt store of hers.
Quilters Coop
Downtown Temecula is like an old western town with antique and speciality shops and this cute as can be quilt shop

As soon as we entered we were met by the nicest lady who owns the store.
Joann was so sweet and friendly and had the greatest smile. She is in the middle and Annelies  is on the right.
It's really a large store with lots of rooms. I snapped just a few pictures to show you.




I found some sweet little stripes to make the bottom of some cute little cupcake favors I'm making for a birthday party this weekend. (The cute ric-rac trim came from Hobby Lobby)
I brought the red circle fabric with me, but found this cute pink with blue bird fabric and the red and white, all destined to be something for one of the grands.


After a couple of hours of browsing, and talking to sweet Joann, each of us left with our treasures and decided to go to lunch. It would have been fun to visit some of the other shops, but we both had  food and then Hobby Lobby on our minds.
We talked and talked through lunch.
Annelies gifted me with this
pattern.  It's for a jellyroll, so now I'm on the lookout for the perfect one.

After lunch, we headed for Hobby Lobby.
I don't usually buy anything but quilt store quailty fabrics, but this fabric just kept calling my name.
It is the perfect color to go with some of my collection of recycled denium.
I saw a tote bag on Pinterest that is inspiring the use of these fabric.
Not only cute, but it seems to be a good quality for a tote.
This is only the second time I have been to a Hobby Lobby and it can be a little overwhelming, but I went with the intention of finding cupcake papers and some sprinkles for that special birthday party this weekend.
I wasn't disappointed.  I have  really been loving cute cupcake papers lately and can't resist them.

I really hated saying goodbye to my now real life friend, but she had a date with grandson Donovan and I had a long drive back to Santee and dinner to fix for my Mr. SS.
We agreed, we would never run out of things to talk about and must meet again if we stay here for awhile.


Back to life at the campground.  We eat dinner outside every night and tonight we were joined by
a few new friends.
At least it wasn't coyote's who came around, as we were warned they might.


I've done lots of sewing  and will give you a peek at my projects next time.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Easter Festivites and On the Road Again

With 13 kids, running around, I didn't do anything too fancy on our tables. I was just excited to use my recently found vintage linens. They are just so springy  and fresh for an outdoor Easter meal. I decided to keep with that fresh vintage look and use mason jars for vases with fresh cut flowers. (From the market, not my garden.)  I am admittedly not a flower arranger and just cut the stems and set them in the jars and added a bow. Very casual.
This is the little kids table.
We had 24 total for the celebration, so I had 3 large tables.
One of the vintage embroidered runners (no china, just plastic, but I used damask tableclothes and napkins.
My cute little Bunny Fold napkins were a two hour failure. I think the damask is slippery. I just couldn't get them to stay together and standing for long.
But you can see here, all pastels and tied with a bow.
The little kids table.
The big girls table...silly, silly!
After our meal there was  horseshoe games, baseball and basketball competitions, horseback riding
and just good old fashioned girl talk for all ages.
Later on, the little kids go inside while the big kids and the guys hide eggs.
Then the natives are let loose...mostly running by me so fast, I couldn't get pictues.


They looked in bushes, trees, under rocks and some (the babies) found them just laying on the grass.
It is so sweet to hear the older ones run by one on the grass and say...no, that's for the little ones.  They remember when they could pick up the ones one the grass.
Then it is time to take inventory and see if you have enough to just stop and eat.
Or look to see if your cousin has more than you.
Or stop and look again for some  jelly beans.
 Meanwhile some of my big kids watch...remembering when they were the hunters instead of the hiders.

Its all a lot of work for this old Mamaw, but well worth it as once more, my whole family was together
making memories.
My DIL asked me I had fun...tears came to my eyes, as they are now...it was the next best thing to heaven.



Now...on the road again.
We got a call late Friday that Mr.SS had work in La Jolla, Ca. near San Diego. Monday was spent packing and traveling.  Once again we spent the night in a Walmart parking lot. The next day, while Mr. SS worked, I spent the day looking for a place to stay.  One we could afford and not too farr from the job.

We ended up at Santee Lakes Campground.  It is really nice with lots of trees. Not as much green grass as in Riverside, but there are 7 lakes and lots of activities going on. It must be Spring break here because I can hear childrens voices all day. A very welcome sound, because I already miss mine.

I brought lots of sewing, but today I spent get settled in, and actually sat outside, reading my book.
It rained this morning, but was beautiful this afternoon.



As always, in the midst of our crazy life...

God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Happy Easter

As ready as I will ever be for our family Easter gathering tomorrow.
Thought I would share some pictures I took a couple of weeks ago of my meager Easter decorations.
I either gave away, sold or donated all my decorations when we moved, but over the last two years, I have gathered a few to put in my two bitty display areas.
This is on the end of the kitchen island.
You can see my Lofthouse cookies. The kids love them and all I have to do is open the package .
I picked up this jelly bean candle cupcake at HG's I think.
This little glass bunny was 1.00 at a thrift store in Tehachapi.
My favorite little milk glass dish is full of JuJu Flowers. Remember JuJu B's?
I think that's what these taste like. I found them at The Dollar Tree.
I saw on line where someone stacked cupcake papers in a canning jar.
This is my version in one of my candy jars. I love all the pretty cupcake papers out there right now.
A couple of blurry little peeps under a tiny cloche.
My favorite this year is my cookie jar full of peeps.
They are sitting on a nest of edible Easter grass. Yep you read that right. I didn't know until this year that there was such a thing.
They are being carefully watched over by their chicky daddy.
A girl's gotta have her peeps you know.
Wanted to show you one of the vintage embroidered table runners I refound recently.
It is really long and had to be folded on my bitty counter, but would be wonderful on a large table.
The only other area I decorate is the mantle to our electric fireplace.
It hasn't changed much since last year. (Even still have my lodgey wallpaper border)
I did add a vintage linen doiley, though.
This little fellow has the sweetest face and looks like he is smelling the flowers, but I bet he is really thinking about having them for breakfast.

I'm off to bed.  Have to get up really early to decorate outdoor tables and stick the ham in the oven.

Wishing all of you a blessed Easter.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!