Happy Thanksgiving Week!

I had this idea to make "Thankful" pictures for Thanksgiving week from some of the pictures I've taken lately.  My plan was to share one on Facebook each day this week leading up to Thanksgiving.  I'm not a big Facebook fan.  I'm more of a Blog girl! LOL

I love photography as much as my other hobbies of sewing, quilting, gardening, crocheting, etc.  So, I thought I'd share some of the pictures I came up with here to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

My thanks go to my husband for the use of his hands in this picture.  The beautiful yellow Fall leaves came from the mountains of Tennessee last week.

These toes belong to my youngest granddaughter, Victoria. Love those little toes!

This food is takeout from the Redneck BBQ Lab in Benson, N. C.  If you are ever traveling on I-40 near McGee's Crossroads, you should definitely stop.  They have won so many awards, its crazy.  The occasion for this food was my sister's 70th birthday.  We stopped on the way to her house for a little celebration.  The food is really good!

The Blessing words do not all show up too well, but it is the traditional Blessing my Mama always said before meals when I was growing up.

My sister's cake:

So there you have it.  My "Happy Thanksgiving" to you!

Chalkboard Messages

I recently bought this little 2 sided chalkboard on Amazon to use as a photo prop with my grandchildren.    In addition to its use as a photo prop, I discovered that I really like writing different things on it.  It sits on the kitchen counter where we see it all the time.  I am really enjoying it.

Here I used it as a photo prop:

I used it here for my granddaughter's 2 month pictures.  I will be using it for this purpose a lot in the future.

Here I wanted to surprise my husband with a compliment!  He didn't notice it at first, so I took a picture and texted it to him.  He thinks I'm kind of crazy. LOL

It will be great for different seasons.  Fall, Winter, Christmas, Valentines, Spring, Summer, 4th of July and birthdays, etc. will be showing up on it.

One favorite way to use it is for Bible verses or Christian quotes
.

I'm not a chalkboard artist, but I can write and draw a simple sunshine, flower or heart!  Also there are all kinds of ideas on pinterest.

The frame is natural wood, but I'm thinking of painting it.  Just not sure what color.

If anyone is interested, my Amazon referral link for the chalkboard is below:

A Little Baby Sewing

I made this baby name banner for Grandson #5, due in late August.  I plan to use it at the baby shower and then Jake's parents can use it in his room, if they wish.

I'm not sure if anyone is interested in how I made it, but it was very easy to do.  I used Dollar Tree paper alphabet letters for tracing the letters, double sided fusible interfacing, a home made cardboard triangle shaped template and the applique (zigzag) stitch on my sewing machine. 

Here are a couple of Mother's Day pictures of two of the boys.

Dylan, Age 6 & 3/4ths

Eli age 10 months

We had a great Mother's Day, with simple foods, no restaurant crowds, and lots of love shared.

Treasure Hunt!

My grandson loves all things about pirates and treasure. So, we didn't have just an ordinary egg hunt at our house, we had a real treasure hunt!

We made a homemade treasure box and 100 year old map.

The map had all the things a real 100 year old treasure map would have:  a compass rose, starting point, landmarks, red X showing where the treasure can be found and wrinkles and raggedy edges.  HERE are the instructions for making a 100 year old treasure map.

The treasure box was an old tackle box that we sprayed with just a little gold paint and decorated with some stick on jewels.  Inside we placed lots of "shiny" things.  I raided a drawer that contained old watches that had no monetary value, old costume jewelry, etc.  We put in a few old coins and other odd treasure.

With some help, my grandson followed the map, stopping at landmarks such as a red chair, birdhouses, a flower pot, the red truck, the meadow and more. At each landmark there was a bright shiny egg. After finding each egg he would move on to the next landmark.

Finally after much running around with giggling and happiness, the treasure was found under some twigs.

Our boy was very happy and had a great time!

After the treasure hunt, we then had a traditional egg hunt.

I hope my grandson will always remember the treasure hunt and Easter egg hunt that he had at Grandma's house when he was a little boy.

Celebrating Thanksgiving on Memorial Day

I know its a little unusual, but we cooked turkey, dressing and giblet gravy this Memorial Day Weekend.

The turkey was bought at 39cents a pound and had been sitting in the freezer taking up valuable space. Cooking turkey takes planning and since I was off work for a few days the plan was to put the turkey in the fridge to thaw earlier last week and then to cook said freezer space thief over the weekend. So Saturday I cooked the turkey.



After much discussion, it was decided that we could have dressing with the turkey. If we were going to do Thanksgiving, we might as well do it right! I had cornbread stuffing mix and the other ingredients needed on hand to make Mama's dressing recipe. I cannot express to you in words how delicious the dressing was! I have helped Mama make it at her house at Thanksgiving, but never on my own at my house. It turned out every bit as good as Mama's. I'm sure no one wants to know how to make it in May or June, but maybe I'll post the recipe in November.



Have you ever seen sliced boiled eggs in giblet gravy? My hubby's mother made it that way when he was growing up, so I tried to duplicate her recipe. It was pretty good.



It may be May 30th, but I am still as thankful as I would be in November for all our many blessings. I am thankful for all the men and women who died for our country, not just on Memorial day, but all year long. Being spared during the recent tornado outbreaks is a blessing indeed. My list of blessings is long.

Eating a thanksgiving Meal on Memorial Day isn't such a bad idea after all!

A Mother's Day Remembered

My family knows what I like and showered me with these things. Its wonderful to be remembered with love and I wanted to share with you.

I love benches and had been wanting one to go underneath these windows on the front porch. My hubby had a nearby carpenter to make this one for me. You may remember my red bench that's inside. This one is made exactly like it and the wood is as smooth as silk. Both are sure to be family heirlooms.



My daughter loves gardening as much as I do and put together these two beautiful blue and purple plant combinations. One is for me and the other is for my mother. I love them!





My son gave me this red and white hanging basket, which I promptly hung on the shepherd's hook outside the kitchen window. I can look at it often to remember his thoughtfulness.





My sweet little grandson picked out this water wand for his grandma. Isn't he something? He knew exactly what I needed!



My newest co-worker remembered me this Willow Tree Angel. She has recently lost her beloved mother and even though she is too old to be my daughter since she just turned 40, she wanted to remember me and another "older" co-worker. This angel is called "Sunshine". I love the sunflowers in her lap.

Words of Comfort In Any Season

Here is a passage from my Bible study this morning that touched my heart and I hope will touch yours.

2 Samuel 7:9 I have been with you wherever you went

A comforting Bible verse that reminds us that God is with us through all our days, no matter what the season!

Merry Christmas and may you have many blessings in 2011.

I will be back on Monday with updates on getting organized in 2011!

Second Chance NC State Quilt

My handmade Valentine's gift for my hubby, including his favorite candy: Caramel Cremes.



This quilt has been hanging around in my sewing room for 2 or 3 years and I have finally finished it! It originally was planned to be a queen size quilt for my stepson. The quilt never quite looked like I wanted it to and then my stepson ended up going to a different college. So about a month ago I decided to finish it as a "throw size" quilt for my hubby for Valentine's Day.



I wanted it to be a surprise. Do you know how hard it is to make a quilt in the same house with someone without them knowing it? Also, I have a very good husband who is almost always home. I worked on this quilt only when he was out of the house and I was home alone. I didn't quite finish the handwork on the binding on the back of the quilt in time, but finished that last night. I think it turned out well and the free motion machine quilting looks nice.



This quilt will be around a lot longer than any store bought Valentine goody I could have purchased. Don't you just love handmade gifts? I do. One of my most treasured possessions is the purple scarf my daughter crocheted for me last year for my birthday. It was the first thing she made and it was for me. That is priceless!

I'm Not Ready!

I'm just not ready to start getting ready for Christmas!

Can I please have at least one more week of Autumn?!!!

I was looking at this Fall arrangement on my kitchen table and felt anxious about the fact that I should be storing away the Autumn decorations and putting out the Christmas decorations and suddenly I read the scripture on the bottom of the table topper. That's what I want.... peace.

If you look closely on the table topper in this picture you will see this scripture: You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You, Isiah 26:3.



Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and weekend!

Happy Easter!

Here are a few pictures from my walking route today. You just can't beat a beautiful spring day in North Carolina!






I hope you and your family have a good Easter weekend.

Interesting Easter Facts

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives!

And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above!). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:

1. The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913. So if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!.

2. The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

How is the date for Easter arrived at each year?

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Based on this, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) but that is pretty rare.

This information was taken from my church bulletin today.

Heart Shaped Valentine Cake

This is what I was doing at 5:00 this morning.



We were going to have a family Sunday dinner and I wanted to give it a Valentine's flair. Its really easy to make a heart shaped cake even if you don't have a heart shaped cake pan.

You will need a square pan and a round pan with the same diameter. Mine have 8 inch diameters. The cake mix and frosting are two of many I stocked up on combining coupons and sales. The entire cake was about $1.00. This is a spice cake with cream cheese frosting. It tastes really good, kind of like carrot cake.



The finished cake is pretty wide, so you will need a cookie sheet or covered cardboard. I covered a piece of cardboard with heart fabric and then covered that with plastic wrap. I just turned it over on the back and taped down the edges so it would be nice and tight and neat.

After the cakes have cooked and cooled, turn the square one so a corner is at the top like a diamond shape. Cut the round one in half and place each half against the sides of the diamond at the top. The tops of the pieces might not be perfectly level, just cover it all up with frosting and you'll never know it. I could have sliced off the top rounded part to make it more perfect, but it was fine anyway. (Note to everybody: I am not a talented cake decorator!)



I stopped at one of my local Dollar Generals after church and picked up some little boxes of chocolate and sweetheart candies. I decorated the cake with the candies and put a box of chocolate and candy hearts on everybody's plate. I bought my little grandbaby some baby books since he can't have candy yet. I was going to string up some red paper hearts and hang them from the light fixture over the table, but ran out of time. I pulled out my red Christmas tablecloth and napkins and used my Cade's Cove dishes which have some red on them.



My sweet husband was in charge of most of our dinner. He made a hand rubbed pork tenderloin, field peas, mashed sweet potatoes, and broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in cheese. I made some pigs in blankets and macaroni and cheese to round it out.

The food was great and the table was right cute too!

Look what sweet grandbaby can do now!