Monday, May 28, 2012

Patriotic Remembering


Today is Memorial Day
and the time to remember
those who have served
our country.  We think of
our fathers,
Elom and Elder,
who left loved ones
behind; thankfully
both made it home
from the
war and went on to
raise families of their
own.
Thank you!

We think of those who
made it home, but have
had injuries to deal with.



We think of our young
neighbor, Benjamin,
who is currently
recovering from gunshot wounds
recieved just a short time
ago in Afghanistan.
Thank you, Ben.

Knowing that there was a parade in our town honoring and
remembering those who have served and those currently enlisted,
we knew it was the right thing to go to show our support. 
Even Miss E got into the action by waving the flag and
clapping for the guests of honor!












Following the parade,
we headed home to make
an impromptu lunch with
hot dogs, potato salad
and the typical holiday fare.
But there had to be cake
with the patriotic colors of
red, white and blue. 
And Miss E had to help with
the decorating of said
cake.  The beauty of being
a grandmother came out
when she wanted the
strawberries to go where
she wanted them to go
and going with that
instead of in rows
like the flags' stripes
might be placed. 
She also insisted that
there be candles on the
cake, so we went with that, too.












And what song
to be sung with
the presentation of the
patriotic cake?
To the tune of
"Happy Birthday to You,"
we sang:

Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue!


Thank you, again, to those of you who have served
to make our country safe and strong, past and present.


Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Crafting Gene?






















I've had my hunches for quite a while now that Miss E just might
have the crafting gene that I seem to have been born with.  She asks
for crayons, paper and play-doh whenever she visits. She knows her
colors and has her favorites.  (Not white, that's for sure - she always
wants it taken out of the pack and placed away from the other colors.)

Recently, we had a just-the-two-of us Girl's Night
and there was a secret plan of making her Mommy a gift.
I purchased (at the local thrift shop) an 8 x 10 white picture frame
and brought out the bin of pom poms.  Miss E had fun sorting
them into pastel colors, sorting out the reds, greens and bright
blues to the side.  Then out came the glue - she couldn't wait to get
going with that!

All around the frame went the pom poms.  I put the glue down
and she stuck the pom pom on the glue.  And so on until the frame
was covered.  Yes, I thought to myself, she is keeping going until
the project is complete!  This took about 20 minutes, and she
was still ready to craft more...so we moved on to the wrapping
paper for the gift then and there.





Two flower-shaped cookie
cutters were used to print
on the white paper.   She
wanted purple, so I mixed
together the red and the blue
paint.  A cork was used to
print the flower centers. 
The paper was ready, but had
to wait overnight to dry.











The first thing we did after
breakfast the next day was
to put the picture in the frame,
then into a box and then came
the wrapping.



























It's ready for giving to Mommy now, and Miss E was pretty
excited about her secret gift even though her glance looks a
little ??? in the picture.

Can't wait for more adventures in crafting with Miss E,
that's for sure!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Jumping for Joy - Graduation Day!




Congratulations to our daughter
upon completion of her
Master's Degree
in
Math
and Science
Education awarded this past
Saturday!  Hoot-Hoot-Hip-Hip Hooray!


She has been working the past two years
in a program through the Illinois Institute
of Technology (IIT) and the Museum of
Science and Industry in Chicago.

Life has been busy busy for her,
to say the least.




Miss E got in the spirit of the day by wearing her
Mommy's special glasses.

Congrats to you, dear Anne!
We're all so very very proud of you!

Monday, May 07, 2012

Re-Fashionista!



Somehow, I just can't seem to let a good piece of clothing go! 
Take a look at what Miss E is wearing as she stands on the chair: 
it used to be one of my Mom's favorite shirts.

    (This is what the shirt looked like before I chopped it up.)


Using Butterick B5020, this is the finished product.
    



On a couple of the embroidered flowers I placed a backing of orange and hot pink fabric.
Also, green fabric was placed behind some of the leaf shapes.


To make the shoulder ties, I used the same pink and orange fabrics.
You can see the underside of the dress with the colored patches here.



This project reminds me of one of my favorite children's picture books:

I Had A Favorite Dress by Boni Ashburn (illustrated by Julia Demos)

in which a little girl has a dress that she loves and her Mama keeps altering
it into other clothes as she grows.  Miss E is going to have that happen as long
as her MeMo can operate a sewing machine!

In case you are interested in how others are refashioning clothing, check out
this website:
http://refashionco-op.blogspot.com/

Happy Re-fashioning!