Anyone Can Quilt

Making memories...

This weekend was unseasonably hot for us Oregonians.  It was in the 90's.  Now, my southern friends would laugh till their sides split over how my local peeps go on and on about how HOT it was.  Seriously.  Yes, it was a hot day, but without humidity.  And it was cool in the shade... and  I even wore jeans in the evening.  You'd think it was Africa hot the way people strip down to their blinding white torsos and legs when it gets warm here (my pasty legs included, ahem).  Now, if one of my Oregon peeps was transported to Florida in the middle of summer, then they would know what hot was.
Anyhoo, it was gorgeous and perfect for camping at the river.  My great-grandfather bought this property on our local river when my dad was a teenager.  We've been camping and swimming here ever since I can remember.  I have so many wonderful memories of swimming all day long as a little girl.  I love that my little girls and my nephews are making lasting memories of their own.

It's still a bit early to swim for me.  The water is cccccold!  But that didn't keep the crazy kids out.  The water will recede a bit more and warm up a bit in the next couple of months. It was painful to me to watch the big kids run and jump in the river!  But they had a blast.

Crazies.

The water is so clean and clear.

Rosie is a good camping dog!

And much entertainment for my weirdo father.... 

The kiddos made up lots of games and ran and ran.

This is my dad's favorite tree.  It was his grandfather's favorite tree too.

A dirty worn out puppy at the end of the day is a beautiful thing...

Evening Yahtzee with grandma...  look at the glare coming from my youngest little angel.  I think we were one photo away from me getting clocked on the head with the Yahtzee cup...

All in all, a lovely weekend.  And wonderful childhood memories in the making.

Leona's necklace

I just finished my grandma Leona's necklace from the post before last.  Oh my.  I am in love with this necklace.  I spent time this morning soaking and scrubbing the delicate crystals one at a time.  When I started I wasn't actually sure if they were a light beige, or clear and dirty.  They were definately clear and dirty.   Then I carefully restrung the necklace and added a new sterling silver clasp. 

I decided to add a delicate extender to be flexible on the length a little bit.  And yes, the necklace is on a neck form.  Don't you all have one of those laying around the house?  No?  Well I have a ton of them.... but alas.... that is a story for another time.

I had the wonderful idea to present my grandma with her new and improved necklace on Mother's Day.  I unfortunately hadn't taken into account that we had the crazy dance weekend to contend with.  Soooo, I can't wait to bring it to her tomorrow.   

Before:

After:

I can't get over how gorgeous the crystals came out.   My grandma is going to look so elegant wearing her Mother's necklace.  I love being able to be a part of this special memory of her Mom. x

It's all over but the crying...

Wow.  We had a full week.  I am pooped.  The girls have been taking dance lessons this year.  L took ballet, and K is a little tapper.  Mother's Day weekend is the big show of the year!  I had really been looking forward to seeing the show that they have been practicing for all year.  The show, however, goes on for 3 days..... Plus a dress rehearsal..... and practices before that.  The show is also looooong.  But fabulous.   And the show consists of dances from  every dance class in the whole dance school.  So us moms get to hang out backstage for hours, with hundreds of other children and moms, waiting for our kids to go on.  For days.....  But now, as my friend M.T. would say, "It's all over but the crying..."  I love her, she has so many great southern sayings that crack me up.  So I'd like to share with you a few pictures of our ordeal.  My camera takes horrible pictures in darkish situations, so there is alot of blur here. 

Here are my little showgirls backstage.  The room they stuck us all in is called the "black box".  The floor, walls, and ceiling are all, well.... black.  After the first three hours in the black box, I was wishing it had a wine bar.

Here are my girls and their sweet friend in the middle.  They had so much fun together!

I love this one of my little K checking out her tail feathers.  Damn you blurriness!

She got tired of Mama with the camera.

The girls had a blast watching each other during the dress rehearsal.

They felt like stars.

And guess what I got in the mail?

Ooooohhhh pretty.....

Could you just die?  I LOVE these cards!  That Rachael is one clever woman.  I love the fabulous dresses and sparkly crystal accents.  The dresses even have a bit of stuffing to poof them out a bit.  Thank you so much Rachael, these are great!

Now that dance is over, I am looking forward to getting some sewing in, and maybe think about attacking that gigantic pile of laundry that keeps taunting me.   And most importantly sending this precious thing his post card.   :)

Something from her Mother...

I was visiting my grandma Leona and Grandpa Joe the other day.  One of the things that I love about visiting with them is learning new stories about our family.  My grandma often shows me things she finds that had belonged to her mother, Crystal.  My great-grandma Crystal was a crafty gal!  On the visit before this one, my grandma gave me a ton of yarn.  It was so fun going through the big boxes and seeing what kinds of wild colors my great-grandma used!  On this last visit though, she brought out another treasure.  It is a gorgeous vintage crystal necklace and earrings.  My grandma would love to wear this beautiful set, it reminds her of when her mother used to wear it.  But it isn't in the best shape.  Luckily I am a jewelry maker!  Did I never mention that?  Oh, sorry friends.  I will have fun jewelry posts in the future.  Anyhoo.... I am so exited to get this necklace and earrings taken apart and re-strung.  They are strung on some sort of clear cording (used to be clear, now is yellow).  I'm going to clean these crystals and get them sparkling again.  I can't wait to get this set back to Leona, just in time for Mother's Day.

I love the crazy shapes of these crystals, they're bold, but feminine and pretty.
Speaking of pretty, get a load of Leona's wedding picture, and my handsome gramp too of course!

These two are lookers!  I've always thought that my grandma was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.  She still is.

I can't wait to show you how it all turns out!

Oh, by the way......

A little yellow

The Cottage Magpie is hosting a color challenge!   April was yellow, perfect for spring!  I got to do a little spring planting yesterday, I can't wait to have colorful flowers sprinkled around the edges of my yard.  It's too rainy today to take pictures of the flowers soooo .... I searched around the house for some pretty yellow things......here's what I came up with:

I absolutely loooove yellow, in all it's beautiful shades.  Join in the yellow challenge!  This was fun!

It's a tea cozy!

So sorry this post took so long by the way....  But here it is!  I kept changing my mind about what to do with my little yo-yos.  I really thought a little cushion would be sweet, and I started sketching.  My yo-yos became little teapots, so I decided a tea cozy was in order!  Now I realize my handle and spout stitching is a bit funky.  That's what I get when I freehand the whole thing.  But I can be impatient... If I do this again, I'll be sure to plan it out better.  I made it small to fit my little 'brown betty', she's just a two cupper. 

And here's little betty, she's quite the reflective little thing... look carefully and you can see me in my pajamas hiding my noggin... you should thank me, I have crazy morning hair at the moment... and sorry about the dust.

I think my cozy is happy with her new friends, my thrifted sugar bowl and creamer.  They're not a matching set, but both have that beautiful robin's egg blue that I looooove.

I thought I'd share with you this picture.  I drew this from a photo of my Grandma Marlys  when I was 15.  It was a birthday gift for my Mother.  My Mom has always had this old photo of her Mother hanging in her home, and I knew how much she loved it.  It was also one of my favorites because I always thought it still looked just like her!  She always had those same kind blue eyes and sweet expression.  So I decided to surprise her and draw it for her birthday.  She was so exited as any Mother would be.  Four years later my Grandma passed away after a short and painful battle with ovarian cancer.  She was the most amazing Grandmother.  Now the original picture and this  sketch from it are even more meaningful, as a reminder of how my Grandma blessed our lives, and how much we desperately miss her.

I wish we could all share a pot of tea today and tell the wonderful stories of our Mothers and Grandmothers who taught us so many things.  How to sew, knit, bake cookies, make play-dough, and on and on..... I know I am a better person for just knowing my Grandma.  I sometimes wonder what she would think of all of this craftiness that goes on around here.  My Grandpa often tells me in his old timer Texan accent, "Sug, (short for Sugar, his nickname for me since I was a baby) your Grandma sure would be proud of all of that quilting that you do."  I think we would have had so much fun sewing together!  Will there be quilting in heaven?  I hope so! x

Camping!

We went camping this weekend!  It was not planned and I almost pulled all of my hair out trying to get us all ready on Friday.  It was my brothers birthday and since the weather forcast was good, we decided to go.... at about 5:00 Friday evening.  So I hurried to get the trailer (or as my friends from the U.K. say "caravan") ready.  Blankets, pillows, jammies, sweatshirts, toothbrushes, doggie things, go food shopping, blah blah blah.....  So we were a wee tad stressed by the time we got out there as you can imagine.  But boy was it fun.  The weather was amazing, the air smelled so fresh and wonderful.  The kids got dirty and played and played.  We all visited and laughed till our sides hurt.  We ate too much, and had a tad too much vino..... it was wonderful!  Since the river isn't quite ready for swimming, we decided not to camp at the family property and to go camp at the "Elks" campground.  It's not far from here and is really wooded and beautiful. 

I learned something new about my 4 year old little nephew on this camping trip.  He's a little germ-a-phobe.

He really had at it with the hand sanitizer.  Squirt squirt squirt, rub hands together, rub up the arms, and repeat....

We had to cut him off....it makes him all crazy.

All of my sweeties looooooove camping!

What could it be?

Last night while the girls played, my husband played his guitar, and the Mr. Precious and Rosie reenacted a WWF wrestling match in my living room, I got a little stitching done.  It's not perfect as I decided to just wing it.  I should have drawn it out on my fabric so I'd have a bit of a guideline, but of course, I did not.  I have to admit it's still looking pretty cute, wonky bits and all.  What is it you ask?  I'll reveal the finished project later in the day.  Hopefully....

I'm so happy that my tulips finally bloomed!  They showed their lovely faces last week on a sunny day.  Then I heard we were to have a bit of snow....hugh??  I don't know what's going on with the weather this year.  But, I decided to clip some of the lovelies to enjoy indoors.  I got the best pictures I could on my kitchen table on the dark no sunshine day.

It was a cold and rainy/snowy day, but the tulips inside made it a bit more cheerful.  It was a perfect day to catch up on some of my favorite blogs and do a bit of yummy desert baking.  See my laptop next to the stove?  That's mostly where I keep it.  I'm standing there at this very second.  I really like to look up wonderful recipes and have them right next to me on my laptop while I cook.  And of course the wine fridge is strategically right below......  Sorry about the ironing board, I had to iron my pretty vintage sheet table cloth!

This next picture is of the bridge that goes over the bay in Newport.  I love this bridge.  It's a great part of my little community.  I took these pictures the other day when I was driving home from the girls dance classes.  It is such a routine thing for me to drive over and under the bridge.  I don't always stop to think of how beautiful it is.  This post is turning into quite the hodge-podge!

And now, last but not least....I mentioned above about the chubby cat and the baby dog wrestling.  They are getting along now!  Almost too well at times.  They constantly wrestle.  I'm glad they're having fun but sometimes I have to separate the two so they don't get too carried away!

New friends...

And it starts...

Soon it will be a flurry of brown and black on the floor, giving me heart palpitations......Lord help me....

Two ways to make a yo-yo

Let's make yo-yos!  They are quick and fun and too cute.  I recently found a neato new tool to make y-yos.  I am going to show you the new way first, then we'll make them how grandma did. 

This is the new yo-yo maker, by Clover.  They cost $5-$6,  and come in a variety of sizes and shapes.  They have the classic circle, flowers, and hearts!

Here's what you'll need.  Fabric, yo-yo maker in the size of your choice,  (I think this one is medium.....or was it large...?  I don't remember and I threw out the packaging....it says 45mm on the back and it's the orangey-yellow one), needle & thread, and scissors. 

This yo-yo business is pretty fun.  With the new yo-yo maker, you just insert your fabric, trim around the fabric, and stitch in and out of the little slots in the back.  The directions show you how to do it step by step.  Once you get the hang of it, it's very easy and fun. 

The yo-yo maker comes in two pieces, the 'disk' part, and the 'cup' part.  At least that's what I call them.

First you make sure you put your fabric in correctly, and line up one of the lines on the disk, with one of the little bumps along the edge of the 'cup' part.  The wrong side of the fabric faces the 'disk' part.

Then you trim around the little fella.  Leaving approx. about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of fabric all around.

Then you make a knot in the little flap of fabric you see here.  The best way to make a knot on these is to knot your thread and take a stitch.  Then take another stitch, but don't pull your thread all the way through.  Leave a little loop, and pull your needle through that loop.  Do this a couple of times in the same spot and you'll have a nice sturdy knot.

Now you stitch down through the holes in the 'disk', and up through the slots in the 'cup'.  Down and up and down and up, all the way around.  When you get to the end, you stitch once through the first stitch you did.

Once you're done stitching, you remove your fabric from the yo-yo maker.  And puuuulll the thread.  It will gather up and look funky.  So you have to shape it with your fingers a bit.  Then it will be beautiful.  Once it's beautiful, you make a knot on one of the middle folds somewhere.  Try to make it down in there a bit so you can't see it easily.  Use the same knot we used in the beginning.  If you know you'll be sewing it onto something where you won't see the back, you can poke your needle through the middle and make the knot in the back.  I won't judge you. 

Voila!  A perfect yo-yo.  Now if you want to make one right this very minute and you don't have a yo-yo maker, don't get all panicky.  Take a deep breath and grab some fabric, a needle & thread, scissors, a pen, and a round object like a small bowl, or saucer, or as I did, the lid to your new sugar bowl you bought at the thrift store yesterday.

Now, trace around your lid on the wrong side of the fabric.  Hey look!  A yo-yo turtle!

Now cut it out on the line you just drew.

Now you simply fold over the edge you'll be working on, just a little at a time as you stitch.  Make a knot as we did above, and stitch 1/4 inch long stitches all the way around.

Then pull to gather, reshape, and knot!  I took the easy route and made a knot in the back of this one. 

There!  An 'old fashioned' yo-yo.  Both are easy and fun.  I do like using the yo-yo maker though.  It makes them the same each and every time.  And there is no accuracy or tracing round things involved.  But if you're a purist, the old fashioned way is wonderful too!  I love making these out of 30's reproductions.   You'll have to check back soon to see the project I have in mind for these......I'll try not to take too long, I promise!

Happy yo-yo making everyone!

Barbeque at my Bro's...

All summer long we enjoy camping with the family.  My brother and his family along with my dad and step-mom, and my grandparents all go on local camping trips together.  My grandparents have some beautiful property along one of our local rivers that my family has used for camping since before I was born.  It is beautiful, and a perfect place for the kiddos to swim.  We are all itching to get camping, but thought we'd settle for an evening barbeque at my brother's house.  There's nothing like sitting around the fire on a cool Oregon evening.  The same river also runs behind my brother's house.  It's a bit of a treck to get down to it.  It's not quite ready for swimming just yet.  The river is still too high and swift.  As we get closer to summer, the river recedes and becomes calm and crystal clear.  I can't wait.  I promise to post lots of photos of our first camping trip of the season!  Here's some b-b-q pictures.  I wish all of my new blogging friends could visit around the fire with us!

Getting the fire started!  And as always, punks running in the background.  Now for some back yard views...sorry there are so many, I have a compulsive picture posting problem.  Stick with me.... just imagine you are breathing in that fresh pacific northwest air, eating yummy food, and having a nice cocktail that my sis in law made.  I think it was a mojito???  Is that how you spell that?  I don't know but it was y-u-m-m-y.

This next picture is of my brother and his sweet dog Roz.  She has been such a great companion over these past 14 years.  Now she has painful joints and has trouble getting around.  I don't think she'll get to go camping with us this year.  When the kids were smaller she used to watch them very carefully when they'd swim at the river.  She follows them and makes sure they don't go out too far.  She's been known to drag a child by his or her life jacket back to the shoreline!  One time she swam past my youngest and swam back and forth to make sure she wouldn't go out too far.  We love her.

My brother doesn't know his picture is here for all to see.  He doesn't even know I have a blog.  He he.  Let's see if I can find his first grade picture where he sported his favorite necklace, a cowboy riding a bucking bronco.  Oh yeah.  I'll have to get on that.