New finish and a new start

I got to finish the Sweet Things by The Sampler Girl. I used different colors for the Fall season.
I got to use one of the fat quarters from my stash which I loved. I just made a simple tie with some DMC floss and some old brown buttons in my stash.

I am having Keebler double fudge cookies for a bedtime snack as I finish up Sweet Things..........Yum!

My new start today is Heart of America by Little House Needleworks. This is accomplished on 30 ct Creekbed Brown as called for in the pattern and Crescent Colors threads. A spontaneous move today as I really planned to do a few Halloweenie ones but for no reason, just started this one.

I already have the frame for this one so I'm motivated to work on it.

I looked for my frame for the Blue House Sampler in the mail again today.....but no frame yet.

I also printed some freebie Halloween designs from Primitive Betty's blog and hope to get those worked in at some point.

The Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about

What is the Hokey Pokey all about? Well, in doing some research I'm convinced that the Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about.

Many meanings depicted in several cultures.

Balfour said his grandfather told him he thought of the ice-cream sellers of his youth when he was looking for a cheery title for a throwaway ditty.

"When he was a boy they used to come up and down the street shouting 'hokey pokey, penny a lump' to sell ice cream. The Canadian officer said to him why don't you change it to 'hokey cokey' because in Canada 'cokey' means 'crazy'."

In American the Hokey Pokey~~~~~~

sample instruction set would be:
You put your left leg in
You put your left leg out
You put your left leg in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around
That's (clap) what (clap) it's (lift leg and clap under the knee) all (clap behind back) about (clap and raise right hand)...

In Italy~~~~~~~

An Italian ice cream street vendor was called a hokey-pokey man.

I agree with Canada history. It means crazy. This world is really alot of Hokey Pokey today.

I've even seen T-shirts with this phrase. I've always been intrigued by it and wondered what the origin of it exactly came to be. Crazy is a good phrase for our society today.

Crazy is what just about any family conjunction for me includes. And all I can do is hum the song Hokey Pokey inside while I smile and greet people who really want to hurt me or who have tremendously and it hurts to the core but I will have to keep humming the Hokey Pokey song.

Now, I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world with this feeling but do you ever get the feeling that some folks think it's ok to just hurt you? You know that feeling? Just supposed to smile and say nice stuff to folks who really want to hurt you?

Well, I"m convinced that the only way to deal in this day and time is to hum the song in your head, the Hokey Pokey, while they smile and greet you and feel that it's ok to be hurtful and basically hypocritical. Some folks do it well. I, unfortunately, do not.

I'm not about fakeness at all, contrary to what alot of folks are. And I've come to the conclusion today that the Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about..............

so

put your right foot in

put your right foot out

put your right foot in

and shake it all about....

you do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around....

that's what it's all about!

I got a lot of feeling that I"ll be doing the Hokey Pokey with people this weekend......LOL

Hope yours is a good one!

A Good start this evening

Besides computer problems again, I did get a good start on the Sweet Things sampler.
I so want to stay up till 2a to finish but, gotta get up early in the gray morning, so nite, nite.

7 Granny Smith Apple Delight

They say 7 is a lucky number, and for me and the BodyGuard tonight, 7 was lucky indeed!
I had 7 small Granny Smith apples in the frig that remained from a big bag of apples. I really didn't want them to sit lonely in the frig anymore so I decided to mix up an apple delight.

Now, I know most people take a pic of the complete dish, but by the time I went to grab the camera, I turned around and Body Guard had his first bowl of it, with seconds to follow and I couldn't wait to taste it myself. So, pardon the half-eaten dish! ;)
This is what empty nest does to ya!

This is what I did.

Preheated the oven to 350. In the interim, I peeled 7 small Granny Smith apples and cut up into medium to large chunks. No food processor here, just plain ole' kitchen knife.....LOL

Then I set them aside a second to start another bowl. In this bowl, I put 1 and 1/4 cup of milk, 1 cup of self-rising flour, and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 3/4 cup of light brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of Watkins Pure Vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of Cinnamon. I mixed this. The mixture will be lumpy, so all OCD people don't get upset with it, cause lumps will be there! LOL

Then get a large casserole dish. Place 1 stick of butter in it and put in the microwave for about 1 minute, till melted.

When melted, take out of microwave. Then, pour the flour mixture directly in the middle of the butter. Do not mix. Warning, it will look lumpy and alot of butter.

This is the fun part. Then, with your hand grab the apple chunks and plop them down into the casserole dish on top of the mixture.

In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup of pecans, and 1 tablespoon of Cinnamon.
Mix well with your hands, like making biscuits......
then sprinkle heavily all on top of the apples.

Put in the oven for about 40 minutes, give or take.

Serve with ice cream or Cool Whip and dream about the Fall leaves changing this year! ;)

Caution: don't turn around for one minute as all family members will be dishing this out quickly......or those that love apples and pecans.........

Enjoy!

What's next in my stitching basket.........a sweet pillow keep

I've been piddling around today on my day off and the weather is conducive for creative thinking and cozy thoughts. I have put together my colors a little, well alot, differently for the Fall atmosphere! This pillow keep is called Sweet Things from The Sampler Girl. I love the colors in the pattern and actually have the Belle Soie silks for it but I changed out for the season.


I have a fat quarter here from the quilt shop in Dahlonega, The Common Thread from my last visit (this past weekend). I just loved it when I saw it! So primitive and cozy to me. The house here reminds me of our house in the color scheme.

I'm using Crescent Colors Just Rust and La Tierra for the colors, stitched with a little love from my Love Scissors here.........

And pulled some Autumn Leaves 30 ct linen from my stash for the front of the pillow keep.

Just seemed so fitting for this time of year!

The verse is quite sweet ~~~~ It is the sweet simple things of life which are the real ones afterall.
The chart states this is from Little House on the Prairie which I dearly loved myself when I was little. I think I read every one of those books at least once!

Hope you are having a great Thursday! Me.....I'm just watching out the window every now and again for the UPS guy to see if my frame will come today........

Till later,

Jennifer

Stitching and dreaming.......through the rain

I stitch near the window
I stitch near the rain
I stitch in the car
When a break came.

I love my friend, the needle
It's always waiting there
To push past the strong linen
and into my hands so fair.

This is what I was saying to myself yesterday finishing up the Blue House Sampler.
I know we need the rain.....I think? But this cloudy, gloomy mornings and days are getting to be somewhat depressing by the 5th day. Oh how hard it is to get up at 6 am when it's dark outside and pellets of rain are hitting our tin roof!

But today is my off day and I'm so happy to sleep in late, I guess you could call it. I really dreamed the last 4 or so hours. Have you had those nights of just dreaming the most bizaar things? And I'll doze off and start the dream back where I left off? That's weird. But I guess my mind is cleansing the brain of all our worries and such. It's a good thing I don't remember the dreams to much as the day goes onward.


Last night we had quite a bit of frustration from my laptop computer. It wanted to add programs over and over even when I said "don't allow". So, BG worked on it for about 2 hours and by 1 am I was like

" Pwease, pwease, are you done with my computer yet? I just have to put this picture on my blog!" in a sweet, whining voice and he caved.

So, he came through. It still put a toolbar at the top I've never seen before but we will see as the day goes onward and leaves the past behind.....(oops that was a poem too, I'm into poetry today)........if it stays straight so I can catch up on my blog reading.

Coffee, where's my coffee?
I'll touch base again when I digest some coffee.......Yawn

Blue House sampler finished

This is a retired sampler from The Sampler Girl

The Blue House Sampler

designer Tanya Anderson, The Sampler Girl

32 ct vintage exemplar

2 over 2

Crescent Colors

I finally finished this piece and hope, hope, hope that my frame comes in tomorrow so I can frame it and hang it in a special place.

We have had more rain this week than I remember in a long while. Yesterday afternoon it bordered on flooding on the roads. Weather forecasts more starting tomorrow afternoon.

Well, on to bed, dreaming about my new start tomorrow!

Almost to the finish line

Today's progress. I can see now that one more night of couple hours of stitching should finish the Blue House Sampler by The Sampler Girl.

Excited about my frame coming in the mail this week. I chose the Sweet Honey. I entertained the thought of frogging out the red color and stitching as called for in the green.

Whatcha think? Frog or no frog?

What is at the bottom of my stitching closet is scarey

Found this old, old, dusty sewing cabinet for thread/spools and stuff. Had it a long time and will be taken out of the closet to the sewing room. Needs some lemon oil.
it looks gray, but it's really a nice dark wood.

I've been working on my sewing closet/stitching basket at the bottom......I put all the piles of stuff I've had for years on the floor and sat in yoga fashion to sort it out. Wouldn't you know that somebody came over while I was in the middle of this mess on the floor...........

Here is a scarey pile of floss that I have no idea what it belongs to. I'm like, should I save or should I throw away? I'm sure it belonged to kits from 20 years ago, which ones, I don't know.

Does anyone else have these odd thread piles?

I had a pack of needles that were 22, large enough for that Aida fabric I used to use.......... and then these little, tiny projects on Aida which I will probably not stitch so don't know what to do with them. If anyone wants these little projects, email me and I will be happy to sent them.

Now these I got last year but didn't finish them. I got them at Hobby Lobby for 1.50 around Christmas time. I thought they would make good ornaments. They are quite pretty, one is a pearl one and the two wooden ones look old and they could be used for small framing. Those are keepers.

And this bag goes to work with me for lunch hour sometimes. I know everybody has a stethoscope in their stitching bag, right????? LOL

It's for checking my heart rate and blood pressure when I've noticed I'm one wee thread off........

Well, I've made a royal mess trying to declutter and transfer from sewing nook closet to basement sewing area. Slow going too.

Got me a new pair of reading glasses today too. The grocery store kind. Went up a notch to 1.50.

Makes the stitching a little easier to see.

Tomorrow plan to pick up where I left off. Pack up my daughters sewing machine I've been using so she can get it next week. And now, I will be forced to get that CD out for my new one and learn how to use it.

So, I think, I'm calling it quits tonight on the sorting, cleaning, and strowing all the stuff from the kitchen to the closet to the family room to the basement now. Hubbie had to do hop-scotch over it to get to bed. He's a keeper too! He has to love me to put up with all my stitching frenzies!

Nite nite, don't let the needles bite!

Scarlett said it best........

Scarlett said it best...........

War! War! War! If I hear one more word about war I'll run in the house and slam the door!

I can shoot straight, if I don't have to shoot too far.

Marriage? Fun? Fun for men you mean.

If you go ... where shall I go? What shall I do?

Sir, you are no gentleman.

As God is my witness, I will never be hungry again!

"Fiddle dee dee"

"I won't think about it now, I'll think about it tomorrow, when I can stand it"

"After all ... tomorrow's another day"

Don't you just love it? I love Gone With the Wind. What's even funnier is that I have actually caught myself saying these things before!

I get the best ideas when commuting to and from work. It's just blank time to think......and too much sometimes.

This morning, as I was heading out, I started to think about Halloween parties. Adult Halloween parties. It's getting close to that time of year and we just might go this year.

One year we planned to go and BG and I were going as Scarlett and Rhett Butler! But something came up so we couldn't go. I was so dissappointed. I had my little white fluffy dress borrowed from someone with green ribbons.

So on my drive to work I thought, hmmmmmm.............that would be cool. But, I would have to color BG's hair.....the mustache black (temporary color). But Rhett would have very little hair. LOL What a random thought today on the way to work. I think it would be fun.

A white lacey umbrella would make the outfit, don't ya think?

Breaking for lunch and lunch surprises

well my lunch options are limited right now but I don't think I will be bringing it to work anymore since someone.......they can't figure who....is eating out of the lunch in the frig and then putting it back. That's if they don't like it. If it's pretty good or especially hot dogs, they will eat it all and it disappears.

It's like you take your lunch and stick in the refrigerator in the morning. If it's a sandwich, someone just bites into it once or twice and then puts it back in refrig and at lunch, well........that's crazy. So, gives me an excuse to just go over to the hospital for lunch, which is actually good food and so much cheaper........

There are some odd individuals out there.

On the stitching forefront, I've gotten little progress but boy do I have the patterns. I think I have enough until the nursing home now! LOL
But, last night, I noticed I had to frog a small section so I went to bed and brought it with me to see if I could straighten it out during lunch, if I had the time then and that's a big IF.
But my needle will be moving faster as I got notification that my Sweet Honey frame has been shipped to me! Can't wait to finish it now!

Have a nice afternoon.......and remember, if you're hungry, don't eat other peoples lunch before asking! LOL ;0

My bedtime prayer

I got a chance to meet some more military moms today. You could cut a knife through the pain in the air. I found this prayer on the Internet tonight which says alot to me.

Mom Be Bold

by Roger J. Robicheau

Dedicated to Moms of our military...

I may clutch a picture of my child

Go in that room of memories wild

Thoughts come with me wherever I go

Prayers often lead my way, you know

My young one has left to be so brave

The hero of my heart, gone to save

At times I want to reach out and hold

But I know the answer, Mom be bold

The love of my child is part of me

So strong and good, it will always be

Nurtured in life with a caring heart

This child to me is a work of art

Dear God you know how my love is true

I’ve prayed for my soldier, more I’ll do

And to mothers who live their life as I

We’ll grow in support, our flag raised high

Together we’ll get through each new day

Becoming great friends, God Bless our way

©2002 Roger J. Robicheau

Eye Candy and interesting finds

I will share some finds that are pure eye candy!

I found this baby hangers and I wanted to show you how they were made. I got 2 of them. The owner of the prim store, I know her, she said that she had these when her children were little, 25 years ago and I'm not sure who stitched and fixed them like this. But it gives me an idea. I have many old clothes that I wore (oowie, that's almost a half century!) and of course Meghan wore this dress too. There is a pink and a blue wooden one.
The pink color one is soft and the color didn't pick up well in this pic.
By the way, that's me and my Brother in that pic to the left when I was about 3 years old.


This is the front of the blue hanger. I love the Bluebird here!

The pink one, but the flash washed it out. The dress is the one I wore myself and my daughter Meghan, wore.

I plan to put one of my son's outfits on the blue one. Anybody ever seen these or cross stitched and put them in the hanger like this? I think whoever did this was crafty!

Quilt store guilt trip........couldn't resist this pack of squares. I'm sure I won't make this many ornaments, but hey, let's set some high goals, right!

more eye candy

Today is a quiet restful, fill-up your coffee cup 5 times, morning and I"m enjoying the sunshine through the windows. It's cool outside with a nip of Fall in the air. Ren has just finished enjoying his Strawberry Cream oatmeal and I'm trying to get motivated to move some more stitchy stuff downstairs to my sewing area.