Jenny Tulips

A couple of years ago I bought some unique bulbs from Breck's. I purchased some "Jenny Tulips" to plant in my front flower bed. I also bought "Angelique Tulips", as close as I could find to Angie flowers. They aren't blooming yet. The "Jenny Tulips" have multiplied from the 3 bulbs I planted in each group and are really dressing up the front walkway.




My neighbor, Janet, gave me a few Grape Hyacinths a few years ago. They have really multiplied, I have hundreds now. Here is a photo of some blooming next to the front fence.






I haven't done much sewing lately but did get out my fabric for my next project. I have an awfully large fabric stash, I think I bought this fabric a year ago. Hopefully, I will have pictures of the finished project soon.

Garage Sales

Linda and I spent went to Freeland's Citywide Garage Sales today. We both found some great bargains. I only spent about $5 and came home with a lot of stuff. I got 2 hard cover books, "Vanishing Acts" by Jodi Picoult and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I found a mini-grater for a quarter, a deck of cards and a bracelet for a dime each. Thanks to Linda's quick eyes, I got the salad spinner I wanted for $1.


The following wooden pin is about an inch and a half tall. I thought it would look cute on a collar of a denim shirt. It only cost a nickel.




For fifty cents, I bought the fabric below. There are 7 different pieces of green fabric, each about half of a fat quarter.





On Sunday Tom noticed that Tiffanys in Frankenmuth had an interesting dessert on their menu. It had two Twinkies with strawberries, chocolate topping and whipping cream. We made them for dessert. I'm not sure the chocolate added anything, hard to believe I can say that since I'm a true chocoholic.

Sweatshirt Jacket

I used numerous fabrics and 6 kinds of thread when making a sweatshirt into a jacket. I had a lot of difficultly with the green, blue and gold metallic threads even though I used a metallic thread needle and loosened the tension.

Because the jacket turned out a little shorter than I wanted, I added a patchwork strip at the bottom.

I also patched the binding I used on the neckline and front of the jacket.

I'm fairly pleased with the jacket but will not make another or recommend the pattern to anyone else. The reason is the fabric patches were sewn on with raw edges. After washing the jacket, I had to resew some of the seams and trim off hundreds of fraying threads. Even on the finished jacket you can see the loose threads. I hope they won't continue to fray when I wear the jacket.

This is the back of the jacket.

This is the front. I put white shirt under the jacket so that the front binding would show up.

Signs of Spring

From my kitchen window, I am able to see the back garage (Tom's workshop and storage). Next to the garage, I have a small garden with a fence and arbor. Today I noticed some flowers were in bloom next to the garage. Please ignore the dead plants from last fall.







The bright red tulips are an early variety and only about six inches tall.





I have daffodils in numerous spots in the yard. They seem to not mind being transplanted regularly.





Look at what I found hiding next to the edging. The happy little plants just seed themselves.





For weeks I have been working on making a sweatshirt into a jacket, using this pattern. I'm almost done, so that will be my next post. The jacket has taken a lot longer than I anticipated.

Millington Quilt Club

Last Wednesday, the Millington Quilt Club met. The members agreed to let me post pictures of our "Show and Tell" on my blog. I would have posted this soon but I left the notes behind after the meeting. Linda was nice enough to write down who the quilts belonged to for me as I took pictures, thanks Linda :)



This is Linda with a cute spring wall hanging. This was the first project Linda has done alone. Great Job!





This is Amy's first project, she made a coaster using all handwork. Did you notice the fish in the middle of all the cats? Cute!





Carole made this gorgeous wall hanging. She had entered it in the Saginaw Piecemaker's Quilt Show and won a ribbon. Not surprising.





Viola made this manly quilt for her son.





Viola also made this quilt using Asian prints.




Julie made this beautiful Crazy Quilt. The detail is amazing. She had this quilt in the Saginaw Piecemaker's Show and I think she also won a ribbon for it.




Carol is working on a Grandmother's Garden Quilt.






Darlene brought her Tie Quilt to show us.




Darlene also made this quilt to be given to charity. Julie did the quilting on it.




Carole also made this pretty scalloped-edge quilt.




Mary made the green purse. I'm not sure what else she is showing us, I'll have to pay more attention next time.





Julie also made this ornate quilt using her embroidery machine.






This picture is a little dark, but I think you can see the cosmetic bag Viola made. The top of the bag snapped shut. The secret inside was a metal measuring tape in the top edges.

Jan made this detailed mini quilt. I may owe Jan $5 for posting her project. I hope she was joking :)

This was my first effort at taking pictures of the group's projects and a few of the photos didn't turn out :( Hopefully, I gave credit to the right people.

Happy Easter!

I've been busy getting ready for Easter and getting together with family. Hope everyone has an enjoyable Easter with family and friends.

Easters Past

I follow Nanette's blog. Today she had posted some of her childhood Easter photos. She said that she and Eileen had been talking about childhood memories of Easter, new dresses, gloves, hats, etc. They decided to post vintage pictures and bask in old memories. They also invited others to join them.

This is my Easter photo from 1950.



This one was from 1951, you will notice the Easter Bunny used the same basket both years.



The following picture was from 1952. Looking at the outside of my parents home, you will notice that they didn't have much money for yard improvement. I really don't remember not having a sidewalk but obviously that came later. I vaguely remember the hat. I think I got a new Easter hat every year, of course back then Catholic women had to wear hats to church. My mom used to make my clothes, but I don't know if she made the coat. Looks like she bought me a stylish purse.



The picture below is from 1984. We were celebrating my parent's 40th anniversary on Easter with my brother and his family. Since we are all in the photo, I'm not sure who took the picture.




This picture wasn't taken on Easter but brought back happy memories. My parents often watched my kids when I went shopping. My mom would hide plastic eggs and the kids would have an Easter egg hunt even though Easter might be weeks away. I guess that was good practice because my sister-in-law always had a big Easter egg hunt for her nieces and nephews on Easter Sunday.






When my children were small, I sewed a lot of their clothes. I made Ang the dress below when she was 2. It was a 2 piece dress with a pinafore on top. I remember it being very poofy with all the ruffles.

Trying New Recipes

Last week when I went to the Herbal Luncheon at Zehnder's, they served us minestrone soup and gave us the recipe. The soup was very tasty, so I tried the recipe. Of course I couldn't find the correct pasta and had to use dried herbs but I think the soup turned out well. I probably shredded too much cheese on top but we are cheese lovers.




To go with the soup, I baked Peppery Cheese Bread. The recipe was in a recent Taste of Home. It turned out well also. The flavor reminds me of Red Lobster's biscuits minus the garlic.




About a week ago, I saw an article in the paper about selling daffodils as a cancer fundraiser. In the photos with the article, women were getting the flowers ready for the sale. The flowers were just buds. So when I noticed I had some daffodil buds outside, I picked them and brought them in. Within a day the buds opened. We got a few inches of snow yesterday, so the flowers really brighten up the house and make it feel like spring. The vase is sitting on a table runner I made last year.

Quandary

Before I retired, I taught at a boy's detention facility. When I started working there, a coworker suggested I should make my math classes more interesting by using sports stats in my problems. Over the years I developed lessons around football, basketball, baseball and even car racing. I always did my basketball lesson during March Madness. My students thought I was a real sports fan. In reality, except for hunting down the information for my lessons, I don't follow any sports. So now why the quandary?


OR










We live in Michigan and most of the family attended MSU. However in my immediate family, we all attended other colleges, CMU, Ferris, Kettering, EMU and WMU. A big factor is that Jenny went to grad school at UNC.




So who will I cheer for on Monday?

Spring Herbal Luncheon

Yesterday, my friend Pat took me and some other friends to the Herbal Luncheon at Zehnder's in Frankenmuth. The Frankenmuth Unit of the Herb Society of America sponsored the lunch. There were about 200 women there. The Herb Society had decorated the room, set up displays and sold herbs and garden related items. Their speaker was Claude Weiller from the California Olive Ranch, which produces olive oil. Since the theme and speaker dealt with olive oil, Chef John Zehnder prepared a Mediterranean meal using herbs and olive oil.



After the lunch Claude Weiller explained the different types of olive oil and the differences between European and American olive oil. Just like tasting wine, we learned the method for tasting olive oil. We all received a bottle of olive oil from the California Olive Ranch. Thanks for a very enjoyable afternoon, Pat :)

Therapeutic Snog

Happy Birthday, Ang!




This is a photo of the birthday presents I made for Ang last year. I filled the frog with rice and told her she could put it in the microwave for a few minutes and use it like a heating pad. During the past year, she had a 3 day killer headache. Ang said sleeping with the warm frog behind her head was the only thing that helped relieve the pain. When I asked Ang what I could make her this year for her birthday, she suggested a snake filled with rice that could wrap around her neck.


Personally, I hate snakes and really didn't want to make one. After looking on the net at different rice or bean filled neck warmers, I sent some photos to Jenny and asked her opinion. She told me I had to make Ang a Snog.


About 25 years ago, I made my mother a draft dog out of brown calico using orange felt for ears and it's feet. It may have laid in front of the door some of the time, but mostly my kids and nieces played with it. They called it Snog. Until Jenny suggested I make Ang a Snog, I didn't understand the name. Jenny explained it was a dog that looked like a snake, therefore it was a Snog.



Jenny loves vintage fabric and just happened to have some brown calico and orange felt. She sent me some of each and I made Ang a Snog.

Ang, who lives in Brooklyn, opened her presents while we talked on the phone. She said the neck warmer fit perfectly around her neck and renamed it the Therapeutic Snog.