Spring snow...

 It snowed all day yesterday.

Heavy, wet stuff that melted at first and then accumulated.

We received about 6" on top of the slop

 which amounted to .6" in the rain gauge.

The low temp last night was 25*.

Brrrr!

 I spent most of yesterday indoors sewing.

I made these stretchy headbands for the little girls using

girls' tights and made clip-on flowers from silk and cotton voile.

Headbands     Flowers

(I didn't cut my flowers as fussy as M. Stewart did)

They turned out quite springy.

This is my second time making this Dutch Almond Puff.

It is so delicious and feels very fancy, but it's easy to make.

I spread mine with apricot jam and then drizzled it with a glaze and sprinkled on nuts.

So good with coffee or tea.

I found the recipe on Bonnie's blog:

Danish Almond Puff Pastry

(Thank you, Bonnie!) 

Danish Almond Puffs

 Cut together until it resembles a coarse meal:

1/2 cup of butter 

1 c. flour

Add 2 Tbsp. cold water

Mix into a dough.  Then press into two 3x12 rectangles on an ungreased baking sheet. 

Next boil:

1 c. water 

1/2 c. butter

add 1 tsp. almond extract

Remove from heat and add:

1 c. flour

3 eggs one at a time beat them in.

Beat until smooth.  Spread over the pastry rectangles and bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes.  Combine:   2 c. powdered sugar, 4 Tbs. cream, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/8 tsp. salt.  Beat the frosting until smooth.  When the pastries are out of the oven spread jam down the middle.  I use raspberry jam and caramel apple jam.  The when cooled drizzle the frosting on.  If you remember sprinkle with ground nuts. 

Recycled denim skirt...

  

I made a skirt!

I snatched a pair of Bee's jeans that had huge holes in the knees.

I chopped off the jeans just above the knees and

used the good part of the legs to made the insert

in the back and front.

Here's a good tutorial how to do that.

I really liked the simple A-line skirt that she made in the tutorial,

but I knew Bee would like ruffles more.

I found some cute ruffle skirts here and here!

 I ended up hemming this and putting two rows of ruffles

right over the top of it, overlapping one row over the other.

It worked like a dream.

I added a matching fabric belt.

This was so fun that I want to go on a holey jeans snatching mission!

I think all of my grandgirls would enjoy one!

Today I've been finishing up another project.

I'll show you soon!

Bits and pieces...

 

It snowed again.  

Just a little.

It's melted now and the earth is GREEN.

Since it snowed, I dubbed yesterday a donut day.

I fed donuts to all the ranchers here

and they were glad.

I'm sewing little circle skirts.

It's so easy.

And so fun.

The girls like them.

Sidewalk flower petal art from a few days ago.

These are tulip petal and dandelion butterflies.

We are hoping for a little patch of sunshine today

 so the calvies will dry off and we can brand a small bunch.

  But so far, the clouds keep dripping.

We are thankful for it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every particular in nature,

a leaf, a drop, a crystal,

a moment of time

is related the the whole,

and partakes of the perfection of the whole.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Own Crib Quilt...

My Own Crib Quilt 

is done.

I think every Grandma should have a quilt 

for when her grandbabies come to visit.

 It measures:  54" x 47"

I stitched-in-the-ditch around each square

and then quilted diagonal lines across each block.

The backing is Fresh Air by American Jane Patterns

Sandy Klop for Moda  

It's a teeny tiny check that's so soft.

Now I'm all about cutting wool squares.

Nothing easy about cutting up suit coats.  Blah.

BUT

I'm going to make a pair of wool baby pants out of a sweater.

Like these.

It'll be a fun experiment.

"Lily" likes to play outside with her sisters, 

but she's not walking quite yet and it's still snowy.

Her pants ride up and her poor chubby ankles get cold.

The wool pants with cuffs at the ankle would keep her warm and dry, I think.

The sun is shining and it's up above the freezing mark.

I took a walk to the mail box this afternoon.

Nice. 

I got myself a new book.  A quilting book.

By The Block

by Siobhan Rogers

I bought it mainly for this quilt, 

 

(source)

 

but there are lots of other quilts I like too.

Fun ideas.

I'm excited about it.

Have a happy day!

Sheeps, Kids, and Wools...

Do you see Baa Baa, the lone black sheep?

If you look closely, you can see blue lips on the ewe to the left of Baa Baa.

The kids noticed it right away.  They wanted to know why blue lips?

I told them it was from eating blue snow cones!

Almost!

Really, it's comes from licking cobalt salt blocks.  

Ruminant animals need salt to digest vitamins found in their feed and turn it into energy.

Pretty cute aren't they?

 Nibble, nibble.

 Making sheep scatter!

Because it's fun!

 Pushing sheep just because they are there.  

And because they are fluffy.

Would ya look at that wool?

Soon we'll be shearing.

 Nibble, nibble.

Papa helping the kids feed the sheep by hand.

..................................................

LATELY....

I've been inside working on a couple flannel quilts for the church and one for JJo's friend who will be having her first baby soon.  JJo did the quilt top and I finished it up.  Currently I'm working on "My Own Baby Quilt," -- the scrappy one.  Remember it?   I've begun the machine quilting part now and it's going pretty well.  I'm using a walking foot (on my new Bernina) and it works great. 

(Wool garments I found and a pair of baby moccasins) 

A dear friend gave me a special gift of an online class from Craftsy.  (BTW, their classes are on sale right now and so many choices!)  I'm so excited! I'm taking an embroidery and wool applique class which will surely challenge me, but before I can begin I have to find some woven wool fabrics to work with.  Today I spent a little time at the thrift store in town to see what I could find for wool garments that I can cut up and use in my projects. It's interesting to me that to buy new wool fabric by the yard or by the square, it is CRAZY expensive.  Like $24+ per yard.  But I can go to the thrift store and they do not price wool items differently than they do any other clothing items.   Besides the class project, I have an idea to make a wool blanket in "quilt fashion" kind of like this and this and this.  I'm especially fond of the first blanket with the soft pastel colors and the calico binding.  What do you think?

Pinterest Link

The weather is going to change from mild winter in the 30s

to cold, Arctic winter sinking to sub-zero temps at night and teens in the daytime.

Brrrrrrrr!  Rrrrrrr!  Rrrrrrr!

Bank up the fire and put on the kettle!

I hope you're warm wherever you are.

Bear plays bass...

 Bear plays bass

Owl snares the drum

Three little bunnies each play some

Tambourine rattles

Accordion squeeze

Clarinet tweets joyfully!

A sweet li'l baby has arrived,

his parents sing for joy!

He's a December gift,

a bouncing baby boy!

(a patchwork pillow for a friend's baby boy)

pattern ideas here

Little Christmas things...

 

 

I've been playing with needle and thread and also using the hot glue gun for one project.  

Since we have two 2015 babies in the family, 

I took up my needle and thread and started on a couple

tree ornaments for them, marking their birth.

Then two Christmas stockings!

And lastly, I turned some old ornaments and light reflectors

 into a shiny wreath.

The tree is up and some twinkle lights are strung.

The candles are placed and ready to light at sundown.

I like lighting candles on these dark December nights.

Emmy's Wing-It Quilt...

 (lots of gray November days make my photos a wee bit dull)

Emmy's Wing-It Quilt is here!

(I feel like I just birthed something.)

Hubs bought me a new sewing machine,
the first new one in 30+ years since my Viking.
It's a Bernina.
It's wonderful. 

And I'm having fun learning and exploring all it can do.

Our newest grandbaby was born in September and as is my tradition, I wanted to make a quilt to celebrate her birth.  Her mommy asked if I could make this particular quilt pattern "Interwoven"

 in Moda's *Just Wing It* fabrics.

Finding the Just Wing It was a little tricky since it is now OOP, but there were a few Etsy sellers that still had charm packs and yardage left for me. 

I didn't bind this quilt in the traditional manner.

Instead I made a quilt with no binding according to this tutorial. 

I like the clean, modern look of it.

I did some free-motion machine quilting in loop-d-loops.  

I have done a very little free-motion quilting, and I am still a novice at it.

But I figure if I don't try, I won't get better.

Emmy won't mind my imperfection.

Wild birds -- in felt

 

 Black-capped Chickadee, Lazuli Bunting (blue), Downy Woodpecker

 

American Robin

Guess what?  I found DownEastThunderFarm!  And you know what Susan does there?  She makes patterns for wild birds -- made of felt.  Lots of them.  And you know what else?  She lets you print her patterns for FREE.  The only stipulation is that you don't sell them for profit.  I am so excited because each of my eight beautiful grandchildren are going to have a wild bird ornament clinging to their Christmas tree this December.  So far, I have these three made and another black-capped chickadee ready for its wire feet.  I've got an American Robin, Meadowlark, Burrowing Owl, Wren, and Red-winged Blackbird printed, and there are so many more to choose from.  Susan's patterns are clear and easy to understand.  I think the birds look very life-like, and as a bird-watcher, this thrills me.

If you're not into birds, there are also a few patterns for wild animals.  I'm especially smitten with the Whitetail Fawn, and the Christmas Moose is really sweet too.  I hope you might find your favorite bird at DownEast Thunder Farm.  Even if you don't intend to stitch up any birds, take a look around the farm anyway.  I think you'll appreciate the beautiful birds Susan has created.
 ..........................................................

Bread and milk for breakfast,
  And woolen frocks to wear,
And a crumb for robin readbreast
  On the cold days of the year.

~Christina Rosetti

Itty bitty bows....

 

I've been fiddling around with felt and came up with these itty bitty hair bows for my lil girl grandies.  The two on the left are larger, about 3" wide.  But the other bow on the right and the one in my hair are much smaller.  Perfect for baby girls.  I found a cool method of making hair clips stick in fine baby hair -- grippy shelf liner.  You cut a small bit of shelf liner and glue it to one side of the clip and it will grip onto the finest hair.  I made all of the clips like that, even for the big girls.  Why not?

I found the tutorials for the hair bows here and here.  All it takes is some wool-blend felt, scissors, needle & thread, a hot glue gun, and metal hair clips.  Give it a try.  It's fun!

Doll quilt...

More scrappy quilty stuff.

A doll quilt....with legs.

The neighbor girls helped me choose the scraps 

for a doll quilt.

 

The girls made their own quilts.

They glued fabric scraps to card stock.

 

Summer nighties...

Two little girls with no summer nighties

Grammy sews

Who knows

What they'll get?

An orange-y and a white-y!

...........

For the white peasant nightie I used the pattern from Leila & Ben.

The orange nightie was made from this tutorial.

Both were made from men's T-shirts.

Comfy & Cool!

Circle Swing (a quilt)...

 

Swinging on the Circle Swing brings lots of fun and giggles, free-flight and height.  Our grandkids love it and beg for a push.  So in honor of that round-ish, wooden rope swing that hangs from the Willow, I dub our 7th grandchild's quilt, Circle Swing!  It's whimsical, it is free-style, it's swirly, it's light and airy.  I wish our little Lyla sweet dreams and super-hero flight under it's cover.

Gettin' ready, gettin' snow, get sewing!

We spent most of Friday getting ready for a coming spring storm.  We gathered all the livestock that was out in the far pastures closer to home.  I had the grandgirls and we drove the cake-feeding pick up to coax cows and sheep to pasture while the guys drove behind them with the Rangers.  We used to do this kind of job on horseback, but times -- they are a changin'.  We certainly do get a lot more done in a short time this way.

There are still cows that are calving so there is added work when a spring snowstorm comes in. By Saturday we totaled up an inch of rain which was most welcomed.  Overnight we accumulated some snow.  Not much.  Just enough to make the grass white.  As Sunday is being spent, the snow continues to fall, but it doesn't accumulate much on the ground.  The dirt roads are not covered at all, but only the grass is white.  We call spring snow "poor man's fertilizer" because it is coming in slowly and soaks in slowly.  We do hope we get a little run-off into the ponds and reservoirs.  Fresh water is always a need in springtime to carry livestock through the summer months when it gets hot. 

(My back yard through the window)

Since the spring snow is happening outside, I decided to do a little sewing inside.  Saturday I got busy making a couple muslins of two different skirt styles.  I decided to do the practice muslins to see how the patterns fit and how they looked.  I chose a flared (gored) skirt for the final cut, and I am pleased with the result.  The pattern amounts to one piece that is cut eight times.  I used a cotton voile and the effect is very flowy and relaxed.  It even has an elastic waist so the feel is relaxed all around!  The free pattern is called the Bossa Nova Skirt and the link is HERE.  For measurements and sizes, click here.  (I had to go hunting to find the measurements for the pattern brand.)

This is my Bossa Nova Skirt.

And for Mother's Day (wishing YOU a happy one!!) I sewed myself yet another skirt.  This one is SO easy and so quick and takes just one yard of fabric.  It is a knit pencil skirt, and I found the free  instructions and video tutorial over at Dana Made It.  I love that the skirt fits close to the body, but has a lot of give because it's a knit.  I think a knee-length pencil is very attractive.  Do you?  

  

 

 My eldest son gave me this hand-embroidered card along with a handmade sugar scrub.  I didn't know he could embroider like this!!  Thanks to his wife, my sweet DIL, JLo. Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there! You're wonderful!