Making the Cut (Copycat Challenge #26)

I got me some Gingher love going on here. If you sew, you know what I am talking about...these are the best scissors ever made (in my opinion). Sure, I've tried Fiskars and they are awfully good cutters, but Gingher rules! For garment sewing I use the full size, but for my small craft projects I use the 5 inch embroidery scissors.

Way in the back of the Blanket Statement book by Vicki Haninger - on page 98 to be precise - is an acknowledgements and inspirations page. No actual patterns are given, but I knew I could figure out how to adapt the Scissors Keeper by Charlotte Lyons to create a custom carrier for my own scissors. Snip, stitch, done.

And now I have a safe way to keep track of my little scissors. I chose to applique a tiny acorn on the flap (pattern provided on pg. 97) because, like the mighty oak tree from which it comes, it represents these mighty fine cutters! Please accept my apologies for photographing the project with a maple leaf background instead of oak leaves...I'm too lazy to go out searching on this beastly hot day and the mosquitoes appear to be on a rampage in these here parts!

The Big Squeeze (Pink Suitcase Chronicles #28)

Why call this post the Big Squeeze? Simply because we squeezed a whole lot of action - and people - into our family cabin in Michigan this past week!

The occasion was Wes' parents 60th anniversary celebration and family came from Texas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois. Seeing as the cabin is roughly the size of a double car garage and we totalled 23 people, we opted to slumber in the AmericInn in town.

However, our days were spent at the cabin. The raft on the lake saw much action!

As did the boats.

Just like the old days when Wes was a boy, the younger cousins put on a "show" for the rest of us. What was different this time around? Check out the "tip" cup that we were encouraged to visit after the show. Pretty resourceful, huh?

Performers taking a bow at the end of the show. .. we heard songs and watched dancing moves.

John is the oldest boy cousin; Jackson the youngest at six years of age. Here they pose with their weapons of destruction after the show had concluded.

Ellie is the youngest of the family - and the object of much interaction! She was passed around like a container of popcorn with each holder enjoying her irresistible flavor! Shown below: four girl generations!

The food was consumed with gusto - a whole lot of food and gusto!

Kari is quite a hit with the young cousins.

All of the above activities happened within the span of one day. The next day was the big anniversary party and the order of the morning was making six wild raspberry pies. Paul picked, Lora and Renee constructed and Wes and I were the pie runners as we ran out of propane gas for the stove and had to take the pies next door for baking in their oven. Oops.

The pies were brought to the restaurant. All 10 grandchildren (one texted a message from California) gave little tribute speeches and then helped to hand out the pie slices to the guests.

Their reward? Making goofy faces for the camera!

Here we are. Thank you, Elder and Muriel, for giving us great cause to celebrate! You're the best. And, might I add, the main squeeze of this two-day event!

August Lovebirds

There's just something very special about these early days in August! First the anniversary of my in-laws (8/5), the wedding date of my fairy god-daughter Katie and her love Peter (8/6), and then the first anniversary (8/7) of our son John and his wife Kari. Congratulations to ALL of you!

And may you all live Happily Ever After!

These pictures were taken at K and P's wedding reception at Independence Grove in our hometown. A perfect night for celebration with a lake view, a golden sunset, flickering candle lights, hydrangeas, bridesmaids attired in floating chiffon dresses and guests who loved being a part of the promises made.

Happy 6oth Anniversary!

On this day in 1950, two very special people were wedded. Now, 6o years later we gather to celebrate their long and happy marriage...four kids, several dogs, one cat, ten grandchildren and one great-grandchild later!

Blessings to you, Muriel and Elder!

Dog Days (Copycat Challenge #25)

I know, I know. Two Copycat Challenges back to back on this blog --- please indulge me! It's just that, well, time's a ticking and there are only a few more months to complete all the projects in the Blanket Statement book by Vicki Haninger! This time, the author sent me her very own PDF attachment as the book did not include the actual pattern for the dog on page 99 - she's that nice! She even wrote that I could be her official pattern tester for this project, and I happily report that the pattern sent was flawless and easily assembled. Thank you, Vicki!

Again, a children's picture book was my inspiration for the tweaking part of this challenge. I love

the work of Emma Dodd and this particular story of Dog's Colorful Day was just right

for me. The basic plot is that an out-and-about dog gets messy with mud, food and other spilling/dropping/splashing messes.

I made colorful felt spots with velcro attached on the back side so that the green woolly dog can get messy, too. His ending can also match the ending in the picture book, but I am not going to tell you what it is because I don't believe in being a story spoiler!

And now I wish you well as we enter the dog days of August. Here in these parts we have been having some roasty, toasty and humid days - all the better to be inside stitching up a storm of colorful dog spots!

Look! Up in the Tree! It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No it's...Copycat Challenge #24!

...and it just happens to be a green flying rabbit with red wings!! The inspiration for this project was actually a children's picture book with the title of The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. The basic plot of the story is that there was a little rabbit wasn't happy just being himself - he wanted to be somebody else instead. When he saw a porcupine, he wanted to have a back full of bristles. When he saw a duck, he wanted flippers. And so on. Finally, at the wishing pond, he got his wish granted and ended up with --- you guessed it ---red wings. But here is where the story gets complicated. As always in this Copycat Challenge based upon the book Blanket Statement by Vicki Haninger, there is a twist/tweak to the construction. She makes wings for a cat, and I decided to find a pattern and make wings for a rabbit. Luckily, in my file of vintage patterns I found just the pattern needed. I enlarged Vicki's cat wing pattern a bit to fit the rabbit.

The red wings are kind of special to me as they are made from the felted wool of one of my Mom's favorite winter sweaters.

Take a look at the rabbit above front on. This is after I corrected the "whoopsy" of making the face wrong the first time...

Poor thing had no neck at all! His nose headed right down with no room for sniffing out carrots!

I made a little green wool loop for the wings to fit through when the rabbit wanted to fly with those red wings. Or not when not. (Read the book to find out more.)

Here's the vintage (from 1996 - is that truly vintage at 14 years old?) Simplicity pattern that was used.

The undersides of the ears are white felt, as is the bunny tail.

Sharing this story - and rabbit- with Miss Ellie will be coming up in the next couple of years! In the meantime, though, I will try to be true to what life gives to me and the state of being content.

The Absent Chihuly Slide Show (P*S*C* #27)

Right now, you should be able to see 15 slides of our recent visit with Marny and Tracy to the fabulous Chihuly show at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan. However, this slideshow is simply not working here on my blog --- drat and double drat!

In case you haven't heard of Dale Chihuly, he is an amazing artist who works with glass. We have seen his work at Garfield Conservatory in Chicago, in the Seattle vicinity, and at the Botanic Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. When we heard that Grand Rapids was going to exhibit more of his pieces, we knew we had to go there as well! A HUGE bonus of ours was going to the show with Marny and Tracy!!

Please, if you are a Facebook friend of mine, go to my home page and see the slide show as it somehow made it there.

Grand Time in Grand Rapids (Pink Suitcase Chronicles #27)

First let me introduce you to one very fine dog---meet Anakin. He's an 11 year old English Springer Spaniel. His owners are our wonderful friends, Marny and Tracy. See how obedient Anakin is that he would pose with Pink so patiently? (It did help that he loves doggie treats...) Our time in/near Grand Rapids, Michigan was filled with vibrant colors of fresh produce and flowers - and glass. More on that later. Saturday morning we visited the Fulton Street Market which was probably the best farmer's market I've ever seen! Marny had her list of produce items to buy for our dinner later that night. Oh me, oh my for all the beautiful fruits and veggies there as well as all the flowers, meat and cheese products offered.

Though rainy (check out Wes in the background with the blue and yellow umbrella) the people were out with their baskets and bags.

Beans, blueberries (more on them later), peaches.

But the true treat of the market visit was seeing the Danz team at work once they got into their very own kitchen later that night!

Wes and I sat and watched as they sliced, diced, minced, baked, seasoned and cut their way to dinnertime...in fact, we felt like we were an audience of two on a TV cooking show --- they're that good!

On the menu: chopped salad with at least 10 different items, pork tenderloin medallions with homemade guacamole as a base and salsa as a sauce, green beans with scallions and,

for dessert, the most heavenly tart with freshly made lemon curd topped with fresh blueberries.

Is your mouth watering yet? It sure as heck should be!

Coming soon: what we did in between the Fulton Market morning and the dinner later that evening...it's pretty incredible.

Goodbye, Almond!

It was finally time to replace the almond appliances we have been using for the past 26 years in our Nest. They were showing much wear and tear after all these years, though still working.

Think of how many times the doors had been opened and shut by our kids, how many pots of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese had been boiled on stove and how many holiday turkeys and hams have been cooked in the oven. Whew!

First, Wes laid new floor tiles to replace the white linoleum "squares" and he sure found his knees were sore after this experience. (About five years ago, we redid the cabinets and counters --- I gotta say that I love granite--- and Wes did all the work then, too).

We decided to go with a black refrigerator to match the black dishwasher. It was a discussion we rehashed again and again.

The stove and microwave are done in stainless steel with black accents. They pretty much are the same as what we have in our City Nest and I really like them there.

This project was squeezed in between all of our comings and goings thus far this summer. Wes took about a week off of work. Poor guy --- he would much rather have been almost anywhere else relaxing in the hot summer sun! Thanks, honey!