Caydee

Here we go with another hat. This is Caydee, Amy's daughter. I don't think many of you have met Caydee but she too thought her bowl made a great hat. I am enjoying this blogging and sharing pictures of our family spread throughout the country. Soon I will have my own cell phone so that I can receive more shots to share. I think that I am going to give the bowls a rest for a while. Today I learned a new craft and I will share some pictures tomorrow.

A basket and apron for Cora

Today I went out to visit Molly. She used to teach across the hall from me. I haven't had a chance to see her daughter, Cora in quite a while because I usually leave Molly's classroom before she comes after school. I took the opportunity of Spring Break to drive out and see Cora. I decided to make her a basket. I made it out of bright colors. The handle fabric is what I used to make her a quilt and bear when she was born. I thought the basket turned out quite cute.

I have been making aprons again too. I finally found the pattern for aprons for children. I made this bright one for her. I made these aprons reversible. This is one side with the contrasting border on the bottom.

On the reverse side you don't get the contrasting fabric on the bottom but I put buttons on near the neck strap and a nice contrasting pocket.

Here is Cora with her basket and her apron.

I had a fun time visiting Molly and Cora.

Jessica quilting on her new quilt

Well, Jessica is learning how to use her 'walking foot' on her sewing machine and quilting her newest creation. I haven't done this kind of quilting very much although I have a walking foot too. I took a class on quilting but didn't like it very much. Jessica said this kind of quilting is very easy but a little cumbersome with the size of the quilt. You have to roll it up and do the quilting. Good Job Jessica. I will try my walking foot too.

Who are those ladies, lovely ladies

Hey, I learned how to use the scanner and then work on some pictures so look out. I thought I would start with one of Eva and me so that your wouldn't be too upset when one of you shows up on the blog. This is one that I came across yesterday while Eva and I were looking through Mom's pictures. It is a picture that I can always remember but don't remember when it was taken. On the back is written June 16, 1951 and I think it is at the farm. We took our baths in this tub. Jessica now has the tub. I am guessing that this is before we had hot water in the house so Mom warmed the water up on the stove. It is taken in what is now the utility room because that was the kitchen when they moved in. If it wasn't taken at the farm, it was taken in the house we lived in Coleman before moving out to the farm. I guess I have all of Mom's diaries so I could look up when they moved to the farm. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little picture and it made you smile. Keep that sense of humor as I find other pictures to post of just about anyone.

The baskets/hats arrived.

I sent out the baskets to the girls in TN. I received this little picture via Bud's phone yesterday. I think they make good hats too.

A new Look for Glen

Glen and Penny are in Florida. I think this picture really captures the fun that they are having. I'm not too sure what you would do with this hat but it sure looks great on Glen.

Bud trying out the new quilt

I guess it is long enough. Bud climbed under it and said that it is long enough for taking a nap.

New quilt for the sofa

I just finished doing the hand work on the binding of this quilt. I have another one very similar to this one because when You do this pattern you end up with 2 different quilts with the same fabric. I will share the other one when I get the binding done on it. Most of the fabrics are orientals. I really wanted to try this pattern because I was intrigued by the making of 2 quilts with one pattern. This quilt will be on our sofa. I made it a little extra long so that when you stretch out it will cover you completely. The backing is a floral oriental

This shows the quilt blocks up closer.

Groove

The passing of the health care bill has been on my mind this past week. First I was appalled by the reaction of some angry protesters. Spitting and name calling seem to be a bit over the top. I KNOW that may sound strange from me because I have been know to express some frustrations with government in my lifetime all the way from protesting the Vietnam war in my youth to disrespectful statements about previous presidents all the way from 'Tricky Dick" through the last one that we had. (If you are too young to know who I am referring to when I say 'Tricky Dick' you probably should 'google' it.) But even aside from the anger, it does seem that a new president was elected a little over a year ago to make some changes. Now some people didn't vote for him and they may not like the changes but at least we are getting those changes and I happen to think that we do need some change in the way health care is made available to people in our country. I have always been blessed with exceptionally good health care and that has been a part of my compensation as a teacher. I think that this change was asked for and we should be able to give it a try. In our country the elected officials must answer to the electorate if they do not do our bidding, we vote them out or at least that is the way they taught me in my government class. Many social changes have met with public distrust but we now accept Social Security, free public schools and Medicaid as programs that are important in our society.

I woke up this morning to the news on the radio (Yes, I listen to that liberal station NPR) and President Obama was speaking. I lay there listening and it was good to hear that he "Has his Groove Back". I have been a little concerned because I haven't heard that 'hope' in his voice lately. I think it is back. In my opinion it is nice to hear that hope for something good to happen rather than to be 'snowed' by an administration that only wanted it their way AND their way meant that some people died at war.

I'm going to push the button that says 'Publish Post' before I lose my nerve.

SIZE

No, I'm not going to talk about that kind of size and if it matters. I am going to talk about size in general. This posting all started with a story that I was reading in Vogue last night. A model was talking about her size and her 'curves'. A ways into the article I saw that she is 5'11" and wears a size 10. She is a "Plus Size" model???? I had to check it again and YES it did say that she is a size 10. Since when did a size 10 become a PLUS size?????? Still another article is a journal of a model that is currently very thin. She was 5'10" and weighed 110 pounds. That is the usual size for models. The average size for models is size 0 now and it used to be about a 4 or 6. It seems that the fatter society really is, the skinnier the models get. That doesn't make sense to me.

SIZE also seems to be out of touch in many other aspects of our lives. House sizes have increased over the last 50 years, so have room sizes, bathroom sizes and number of bathrooms in a house and many other aspects of our homes. I remember that my parents had one closet that contained their clothes for the season and it was pretty small. I am VERY guilty of having too many clothes. When I was a little girl going to grade school I had 2 dresses to wear to school and they lasted the whole year. I had one coat for winter and one coat for spring. I had one pair of boots and just two pairs of shoes, one for church and one for school.

SIZE has a very negative impact on our size too. The size of our dinner plates has increased as we have increased. I don't know which came first the larger plate or the larger portions. I do know that I ate out this past weekend and each time I brought home enough food for another meal. If you eat all the food provided for you, your size will increase.

Those are the few examples of SIZE AND HOW IT MATTERS that have been on my mind today.

Baskets Birthdays and Bunches of fun

Of course there were presents. Eva managed to fill a big bag full of wonderful little 'finds' that only Eva can produce every birthday. I'm sorry the pictures are a little out of order but I had already downloaded the other pictures while waiting for Bud to send me the 'phone pictures'. I hope you enjoy all the pictures and feel like you were along with us celebrating the birthday and enjoying our weekend together.

It was Jessica's birthday and I forgot to take my camera to dinner so we are left with the pictures that Bud took with his phone. Here is the birthday girl with her birthday dessert. Eva brought the candle and we didn't have the wait staff sing to her, we just sang at the little corner booth that we had. It was a great dinner and celebration. Doug, Jessica's friend Angie and Jessica at the birthday dinner.

We went to Grand Rapids this past weekend. This is another basket that I made for Jessica's birthday. I made this one pretty big because I wanted to see how big it would be if I used 100 feet of the rope. It is much brighter than the others that I have made. It is quite tall too. If I was to do this over, I would have made the base bigger and the sides not quite as tall. I didn't put any decorations on it because it really was quite bright.

We bought some matching bluebirds to represent spring. However it really wasn't very spring like in Grand Rapids this weekend. We woke up to snow on the ground. Jessica said that it always snows on her birthday. This year was no exception. We did our best to have fun by planning inside activities.

Shopping was the main activity for the girls. Ann Taylor Loft was having a major sale so I did pick up some summer tanks and things like that.

Eva bought 2 new pairs of shoes, one of them will be comfortable and the other one is more dressy. Yes, she did buy a wedge even though Jessica doesn't like wedges.

Jessica was shopping for some material to make a new quilt to use as a throw in her living room. She was having some difficulty finding solid colors but we found 5 pieces that will look great together. We talked about how it will look, she is making it in simple stripes with the brown separating the colors. I hope she sends me a picture when she is done so that I can post it here. She decided to take tomorrow (Monday) off from work so that she may enjoy extra birthday time and maybe start on the new quilt.

We were treated to a new view of Eva's decorating. Some of you may remember this OLD cabinet/dresser that was in the basement at the farm. Eva insisted that we drag this VERY old and decrepit piece out of the basement. It was really heavy but they did it for her. It even looked worse out in the light but Eva took it to Grand Rapids and performed her 'magic' on it. She painted it black and then 'distressed' the paint. It sits in her guest bedroom upstairs. It looks pretty good. She is looking for a mirror to hang on the wall above it. She had one but wasn't really terribly excited about the look. She did find 3 small ones that she loved while we were out on Saturday. I think she should go and get them.

This is the bench that she has at the end of her bed. This bench was given to Dad when he retired and it was painted a gray color I think. The story about this bench is that it was given to Dad by the guys he worked with because he would use it every day to take a nap on. He would eat his lunch at work and since he had an hour lunch he would then use the rest of his lunch break to take a nap on this little bench. They gave it to him at his retirement dinner. You know Dad, he could take a nap anywhere.
Here we have the 'Coleman Room' known as the guest room downstairs. You may take note of the quilt that I made for her on her birthday the year before Mom died. You may also notice the dresser beside the bed. The large milk can is sitting on the dresser. This was the can that Dad used to bring milk to the house after milking the cow. I also see the old clock that was always on the dresser at the farm, and a kerosene lantern.

This is the dresser that Mom and Dad used for many years, before Dad built the dresser in the bedroom. Notice the little green stool beside the dresser. I think it was built by Josh on one of his summer visits. It was painted the green color of the porch. There were 2 such stools, I think that Leo took one to Josh this past winter.

This is the bookcase from the farm. I always remember this bookcase and don't know where it came from. The earliest pictures of the family always have this bookcase in the living room. Dad loved to go to auctions and buy dressers and such so I imagine that he bought this at some auction. It is one of the few pieces that Mom didn't refinish so it has that original old varnish look and we never broke the glass. Inside the bookcase there are many little mementos of the farm from books, the glass bulbs from the lightning rods, a church plate, a couple of watches, a couple of sketches that Mom drew in school, Mom's old pencil box and many more. On the top you see the violin that Dad received from his family. The story is that it was made by his Uncle George. I really don't know whether he was from the Lewis or the Clarke side of Dad's family. It is in the original box. It is quite a piece.

Murder at the Banquet: Staring Charlotte Nobel

Last night we went to a play at the junior high. Charlotte played the part of Claudette Pindu in the play Murder at the Banquet. It was a short and fun play. They did a terrific job. Here is Charlotte wearing her Grandma Jane's stole. She looked great.

Mom and Dad were proud.

Aunt Della and Uncle Bud were also proud.

Great job Charlotte.

Spring

I found these flowers sprouting in my garden right beside the driveway. They are called snowbells I think. The are pretty hearty flowers because they come up every year and they seem to live even though this garden doesn't get much sunlight. It is a sure sign of spring and I am very happy.

Another birthday

Yesterday we went out to dinner to celebrate Sonja's birthday. The cards were terrific and full of laughs. Charlotte and Jack posed outside the restaurant for us. It was a very nice evening. Happy Birthday Sonja.

More bowls

Last night I decided to make yet another bowl. I think this is going to N. Dakota for Caydee, Glen and Penny's granddaughter. It is a little bigger than the other ones because I just wanted to finish the rope that I had. I added some ribbon to this one.

When I showed it to Bud he said it would work as a hat too so here I am wearing it. I don't recommend it as a hat though.

I picked up two quilts from my quilter yesterday so I need to leave the bowls alone and start working on those quilts.

Easter bowls

Well, I have been busy making bowls to send as Easter baskets. I have 3 done. I have included two different views so that you can get a good idea of how they look. I have been experimenting with embellishments of flowers that I make and beads. I am planning to give this one to Annika if Diana thinks it would be a good color for her.

This time I added some more beads and a bright plaid for the flowers. This one goes to Hailey.

Finally, I mixed it up with this bright green and pink for Brookelynne. The bowls are easy to make but the flowers and added embellishments are a little harder to make and decide how to add style to them.
SO. What to you think????? I am going to make some more and maybe surprise others with my creations.

Hello,Good-bye

Friday was a sad and sweet day. I arrived about 9 and Eva had spent the night here at the farm. She had to bring her own camping equipment but managed to spend a quiet night. She and Leo did a little more cleaning in the afternoon and went to dinner. Eva did a little walking around where it wasn't too wet.
I did call around Coleman and find the owner of the cat so the cat found its way back home. I was right it belonged to Kari and TJ who live in the new house up by the church. The thought that some wild animal had gotten it so they were very happy to have it back and the cat was VERY happy to be back at home. I received a call from Kari last night and she said that now they probably have a 'house cat' instead of a cat that likes to roam. The kitchen looks a little less empty. Many a great meal was cooked in this kitchen. I could almost smell the turkey. Eva brought some tulips for them to plant and a book about how to fix things as a gift. I'm sure that they will enjoy both of them.

Here is the lovely couple. When they first arrived Ryan walked right into the pole barn. I think he is really looking forward to having a place of his own. Christi has some plans to turn the 'big room' into a master bedroom and turn the 'hired man's room' into a bath. I think that is a great idea.

You could see Christi 'glowing' at the prospect of having her first house. She is very excited.

I told you that we would include a few more house pictures so us girls posed on the front porch one more time.

The trees and that view from the front yard can't be forgotten.

One last view from the road and we took off to sign the papers.

Like I said it was a sad but sweet day. It was sweet to see a new young couple starting out their lives as a couple in this house. It is hard to think of Mom and Dad on their moving day so many years ago. I can't tell you the exact date but I think that Eva said that it was in 1951. It is hard to think of them moving into this house where there wasn't any running water in the house, it was heated with coal, and they had 2 lovely little girls to take care of. Ryan and Christi don't have as many physical obstacles to overcome since they do have running water and a better furnace. They don't have 2 lovely little girls to help out with the chores but it will be a wonderful place to start a marriage. I only hope they have many long years of happiness as they make this house their home. Not much more to say about this day. Thanks for sharing it with me.