Trying something new

Every week I have several groups I attend, two knitting and crochet groups, and a quilting group.  For many years I have admired hand made quilts, never thought I could do it, but finally talked myself into joining the church quilting group.  And I think, with their help of course, I CAN make a quilt!  I just needed to find a pattern that was easy enough, with large pieces, that I loved...

Last week I was helping my neighbor pick out paint for her living room, and while we were at the store getting the paint I noticed a lady with a scrap of fabric, and they were MY colors...blue, brown, cream and green.  I had to go talk to her to find out where she got that awesome fabric.  JoAnn's of course!  On closer inspection there are little bits of metallic gold between the stripes of color. I was instantly in love with the fabric...I knew that I had to put it in my quilt.

I have been pinning quilts to my Pinterest board for over a year now.  Most of what I like are the more intricate quilts, artsy...elaborate, not beginner....at all...so I went on a search, and found one that I really did like, and it's fairly easy...if you call 13 different fabrics easy....it even needed a striped fabric...

Yes it is a baby quilt, and I do hope I need to have one of these on hand in the distant future...and there is nothing stopping me from making this, with "gender neutral" colors of course, and putting it in the closet and wait for the day that I will need this for my own little one.  This awesome quilt is a freebie that can be found at patternpile,com.  The pattern calls for flannel, but I asked, and was told that I could use cotton instead, thankfully....

Today my mom and I went to JoAnn Fabric and Craft Store.  They were having a sale on quilting fabrics, and we had a coupon for 20% off total purchase.  Made sense that we should take advantage of the sale to get started...our first task was finding the coveted striped fabric...and we did find it!!!  I did a little happy dance in the isle which got my mom laughing.  Next we started pulling fabrics that we thought would go with the stripes, matching the blues, browns and creams.  There were two fabrics that had the metallic gold accents...and of course I had to get those!!  SPARKLY!!! When we narrowed our choices to 12 fabrics we then pulled out the pattern to decide which fabric we chose would go where in the pattern.  I then decided to use the stripes in the quilt, and as the binding.  And the backing material would also be seen in the front of the quilt. 

I do love the colors and materials I chose, it is going to be a contemporary and neutral quilt.  And if need be I can always add some lace to the decor to make it a bit more feminine. Or add some more rustic things to the room to make it more masculine. Either way I will have a quilt that I made, and that makes it perfect.

Rain is a good thing!

What a busy day!  Went to the square downtown where there was a car show for Larson's Cruise.  A lot of awesome cars, a silent auction and friends every time I turned around!  After the show wrapped I headed home to change and wait for my parents to come over and get me so we could go get dirt.  It took two loads, but we got the garden full!

On our way to get the second load it started sprinkling so I knew the weather was headed this way!  And we do need the rain, and it was a race against the weather to get the dirt in, and the plants in the dirt.

Well we were able to get the grapes in the ground before the sky opened up. And while it was pouring down outside, I was chilling on the couch sipping on my lemon, cucumber and mint infused water...yummo!  Once the rain passed I was able to play in the mud and get my started plants in the ground, and two small rows of corn planted.

I plan on waiting until the ground drys up a bit before I plant the lettuce, and the carrots...but I have a lot of plants in, and I am just waiting and watching everything grow! So bring on the rain tonight (but no hail please)!

Garden DONE!

The gardens are done, well at least the front garden beds are done!  And by done, they have dirt, and have plants in them.

We still need to get the river pebbles for the ground cover.  I think we decided that that would be best for the cat issue.

but before we get the pebbles we have a whole other garden to fill with dirt.  Yes we have finally completed the raised garden bed in the back yard for the vegetables/edibles!!

Selfie!

And of course by WE I mean my DH dug out and built the garden. The dogs kept watch, as did I.   We compromised on the material, and the garden is built out of cedar, which yeah isn't cheap, but it's all natural, and doesn't have chemicals in it like some landscaping materials do.  I think it looks a bit better than rock, although I do think eventually I will create a small flower garden and bench space, maybe an arbor so I can have some climbing vines, like clematis, or wisteria, in the square in front of the 'L', or even a small water feature!  The sky is the limit!

Well...the budget is the limit, but it can wait till next year...

I did have two grape vines, Concord and Pink Catawba, that I purchased from a big box store, the same time that I purchased the Flowering Plum tree we put in the front yard.  Wouldn't you know...they never budded out, or grew, they were dead when I purchased them...so those got returned today, and because they didn't have any live grape vines at that store, and I really wasn't keen on spending another $25 on vines or plants at that store I came back to Smithville and went to Pack's Hardware.  Man oh MAN do they have a fabulous selection of annuals, perennials and edibles! And their plant gal Terry is phenomenal!  I hope you have a place just as good in your neck of the woods as I do in mine...I ended up getting another Catawba vine, and of course they were out of the Concord, they are such popular vines because the fruit is delicious!  I decided to try a "King of the North Grape" I will do another post later all about the grapes...

I did also decide to purchase some vegetable plants, so I chose two types of beans, and a tomato plant.  I will probably end up with several types of tomatoes, and possibly some other vegetables, but this is a good start for my first garden!

Happy Spring and Happy Gardening!

Reaching Out

This week I was fortunate to meet the founders of, and hear about a wonderful foundation based here in my small town.  There are not enough nice things to say about the founder and her family, and the work "Spread a Little Joy Foundation" has done, and continues to do.

About

Spread A Little Joy Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to making wishes come true for adults with life threatening illnesses, while offering their families lifetime memories, resources, and support.www.spreadalittlejoy.org

Mission

Spread A Little Joy Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to making wishes come true for adults with life threatening illnesses, while offering their families lifetime memories, resources, and support.
It was founded in memory of Joy Holmes Brown who lost her courageous battle with cancer in November 2010.

Biography

When our mother was diagnosed with terminal leiomyosarcoma cancer, she felt helpless, scared, and frustrated. We realized the only thing we could do was to help keep her spirits up, and in an effort to do so, we chose to try to fulfill as many of her wishes as we could.
Through the efforts of family and friends, we were blessed to be able to make many of our mom's dreams come true. Watching her smile and laugh while she enjoyed these experiences was not only beneficial to her, it helped us as a family. We were making memories to last us a lifetime. Through our Spread A Little Joy Foundation, we now hope to pass these gifts on to others in need.

Company Overview

Non-profit organization based in Kansas City founded in 2011.

Description

We offer patient driven wish fulfillment in an effort to give the patient (our dreamers) spirit lifting experiences, and to give their families memories of a lifetime.
By creating a network of supporters we hope to be able to call on people to assist whenever their particular skills or connections are needed. 

Like their facebook page here.
Visit their website here.

Mini me

In two short days I will be part of an annual Women's Tea.  I am hostessing my own table, and in charge of making cake.  I first thought, oooh cupcakes!!!  Then after getting on Pinterest and seeing the smorgasbord of ideas for having a tea party, ooooh petit fours!!!! So I attempted to make them...

After that long day and the unsatisfying results I decided it was the best and smartest idea to go BACK to mini-cupcakes. So I bought two box mixes. Tee hee!  For both mixes I substituted butter for the oil, and for the white cake I used half heavy cream and half 2% milk for the water.  for the lemon I used the juice of one lemon, and Sprite for the water.  I also zested the whole lemon and threw that into the batter too!

I think they turned out quite nice!

I am lucky enough to have two star tips for frosting.

The frosting part went faster than the baking part, thanks in large part to my mom!

Can't wait to dig into these tomorrow!