When it Rains it Pours

And I am not complaining. The last month has been slow for my sewing business. Of course I went to Kentucky the first of the month and it took me a little recoup time before I got back into the groove,

Then last week I worked on a secret project all week and had my grandkids here.

I haven't talked a lot about this, but being in the home construction business has put an economic strain on our lives.  Considering the turn our life has taken, I am so thankful I have a skill that I can use to help out a little, and it is something I love to do.... Sewing!!

First though is the project I showed you a couple of months ago that I was going to make for my grandson's birthday.  Well, since his birthday is July 12th, I have decided this is going to be his Christmas present. (Wise decision)

The picture and pattern came from Amber 

Go over and visit her blog.(Click on her name) She does a lot of cute quilts and she has her own pattern company called Gigi's Thimble.

I finally finished cuting out the triangles, (a lot of triangles) I loved the red, white and blue stars in Amber's quilt, so mine will look much like hers.

The triangles are sitting on the backing. I don't have quite enough backing, so will have to do something creative there.

So, in the last few days, I have been given some projects to start....like now. What am I doing here??

(Indulging in one of my passions, of course)

Starting tomorrow, I will be starting this costume for the granddaughter (Kenzie) of my friend Sandi. She is playing one the Queen of Heart's attendants in "Alice in Wonderland"  The dress is the cream in the background and a double layer apron will be made from the sheer and the heart fabric.

This  is the sketch they gave me of what the costume is to look like.

Then I have 2 of the cutest models to do for Suzanne at my favorite quilt store. (Click on her name)

Here's one.

  

Another one:

So those are my three projects for this week.

I also received two home dec projects too, but will show you them next week.

Oh, and some pants hemming to do for a friend.

Hope you are all having a great week. It's hot here and I'm going to crank up the air tomorrow and sew,sew, sew.

Chicken Pasta Salad

About 15 years ago, I helped a friend open a little restaurant called Mountain Rose Tea Room in the little mountain town where we raisied our boys, Tehachapi, Ca. We decorated it with antique tables, chairs and furniture. I made cute Rose printed fabric valances and covered chair pads with coordinating fabrics and made cute little table toppers. We used vintage dishes and tableware.  I really only planned on training the waitresses and running a little gift shoppe, but it was so busy that I stayed on  waiting tables for several years. It's no longer in business and  feel I can share a recipe with you here.

I have made several changes to it and add different things at times.

One of our favorites, was Chicken Pasta Salad.

Last Friday night I went to a get together and was asked to bring a salad to share.  Mr. SS was home that day working in the garage, so we had it for lunch too.

Ingredients

12 oz package of Whacky Mac (Curly Macaroni in vegetable colors

2  Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup Black Olives

4 stalks celery with leaves

1 bunch green onions

1/2 cupSour Cream

1/2 cup Ranch Dressing

2 Tbls. McCormick's Salad Supreme Seasoning

Salt

Fresh Ground Pepper

Cook Whacky Mac according to directions on package.

Chop Chicken, veggies and olives

I add sour cream first to coat pasta. Then add other ingredients. I add the Ranch, Salt and Pepper  last and adjust to taste.

I often change it out a bit with Ham, broccoli, peas or grated cheese. Use your imagination!!

I joining  http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ today. (Click on link.)

Be sure to go by there and see all the other great food ideas and recipes bloggers have added.

It's a great way to get new food ideas that have been people approved. LOL.

My Guys

Our three sons and Dad

Eric, Dad, Scott, and Brandon.

You can't tell by the picture, but they all have red hair. Eric's is auburn, Scotts is (was...and he isn't bald, just shaved) a carrot top and Brandon is Strawberry blonde (can you say that for a man?)

Here they are with their sons,

Kyle, (the oldest) Cade (our only redheaded grandchild) and Jack.

Cade says his hair isn't red, it's orange.

And here the are with their girls.

Kobi, Drew, Lexi, Brooke, Cami, Madi and Emmy (left to right)

We all had a great Father's Day. Lot's of baseball for the Dads and the kids, and lots of relaxing and talking for the Moms.

We had a great Brunch

Filet Migon (BBQ'd using a yummy Paula Deen Recipe)

Marinate with Zesty Italian Dressing for 4 hrs.

Wrap with bacon

BBQ 8 minutes on each side basting with Lea and Perins Steak Sauce.

(wish I had a picture, but they disappeared too fast)

Scrambled Eggs with lots of toppings including DIL Lialani's special Salsa

(Yes, we ate a whole quart!)

 Fresh Fruit Salad

Pancakes

Hot Polish Sausage

(Can you say "Heartburn"?)

Desert

(Did I say desert?)

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake (2 whole cakes, layered with ice cream) also made by Lialani

We ate the whole thing.

Just have to include these pictures of the baby of the family, Emmy.

She is just the sweetest at 3 1/2 months. A delight...and changing every day

Oh my!! I really have so much to post.  So much going on, I just can't seem to catch up.

My oldest two grandkids stayed with us the last few days and since one of my spare bedrooms is also my studio/office, I haven't gotten to my computer (or my sewing machine) as often.  But that's okay, because I sure had a lot of fun with them around. 

I still have a covered bridge to show you in KY and of course all those quilt barns....but my next post will be a recipe for a salad I took to a get together last Friday night.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads out there including the best Dad I know.

My Sew Sweet Hubby

DENNIS

We are having our three sons and their families for Brunch today after Church.

I will have pictures tonight to post of all the Fathers in my family and much more.

Hope all of you are having a special day with the Fathers in your family.

Not Just a Place to Eat

                                          

While on the way home from Puducah and the Quilt Museum, we stopped to eat dinner at Patti's 1890's Settlement. It had come highly recommended by a friend of Amber's.

We found it in Grand Rivers, KY. It was about 10 miles outside of Puducah.

The food was wonderful and way too much of it. We had the cutest waiter who flirted with Amber and gave her directions and drew a picture on a napkin of how to make moonshine. It seems that Grand Pond near there was the big moonshine production area during proabition. He even told us that Al Capone made his there...not sure how true, but made for a fun conversation.

There were many small dining rooms and each was decorated with different colors. Lots of twinkle lights, plants, flowers and....yes, quilts. The ones I'll show you were all hanging from the ceiling or arranged high on a wall.

After dinner and before starting the long ride home, we all needed to use the "Restroom"

Well, that's what it said on the door...

As we left, we walked across this little bridge where a creek ran,

and watched the water wheel.

There were lots of little trails full of plants and flowers, winding creeks, waterfalls, and other buildings. There was a coffee place and a bakery, a sandwich shop, and another restaurant. We concluded that was why it was called a settlement. But you sure would not know what was back there from the street.  We found a treasure in Patti's.

Mason Baptist Church

Since it is Sunday night, I thought I would show you the church I went to last Sunday while in Kentucky.

This is my 90 yr. young Aunt Lola's church. She plays the organ here and has for many years.

It sits just off the road in Mason County (people talk about counties in Ky. instead of towns or cities)

It even has it's own cemetary right next to the church.

It was a beautiful morning, but it clouded up after we got there.

Amber took these pictures with my camera.

I especially loved this one.

I had woke up on Sunday morning to my Aunt Playing "When the Roll is Called up Yonder"

She always practices before she leaves for church on Sunday.

It brought back such memories of when I was little (about 4 yrs. old) and listened to her practicing for Sunday Morning Church.

Do you know that song? It is one I sang growing up in little churches in Texas and elsewhere.

It is still going through my mind and it has been a week now since going to church in Kentucky.

The walkway going up to the front door.

Here we are...and before you ask, no we did not talk over what we were wearing that morning to church. Isn't that just so funny??

Aunt Lola, me, Cousin Judy, her daughter Amber

Once again, I would like to ask you all to pray for my good friend's son Jeff. (see my previous post)

He  has had a few setbacks in the last few days and you can go here to read more about how to pray.

Thanks to all of you who have done so already. It means so much. 

                                                 

Home Sweet Home and a Prayer Request

As much fun as vacations can be, there is just something so comforting about sleeping in your own bed and snuggling with the one you love(Mr. SS, of course).  I have been busy playing catch up (you know...laundry, bills, housework, etc.) so haven't had time to post about the rest of my Kentucky vacation.  I will spread out the rest of the trip eventually, because I still have some great pictures to share. Spending time with my family there has meant alot and I am in love with the state of Kentucky.

Another reason I haven't posted about the rest of my trip is that as I was catching up on some of my favorite blogs, I discovered one that I had missed was that of my friend Suzanne. She owns my favorite quilt store and her blog is about her store and her life. She is very open about the things going on in her life. She has been sharing lately about her son Jeff who was diagnosed with ALS last year.  I have just felt, I don't know, frivilous posting about vacationing when she is away spending day and night in the hospital with her son.

Jeff is very special to me as Suzanne and I were best friends when we where pregnant with our first babies. She had Jeff and I had Scott, just two weeks later.  Jeff was born on Scott's original due date.

Even though we lived 2 hrs. apart, we shared everything during pregancy, birth, and the raising of two of the cutest little boys.  We visited often and even dressed them alike at times. They had the same toys, liked many of the same foods and progressed about the same, but Jeff was always one step ahead of Scott in each area of development for the first year or two, so I always knew what to expect next.

I changed Jeff, fed him, rocked him to sleep and loved him.

After the first couple of years, we weren't  together as often as my husband's job (if you can call playing pro baseball a job) took us all over the country.

But we remained friends and have been in and out of each others lives often, mostly due to my families life changes.

Anyway, not to make this about me, I know Suzanne will read this and will not mind if I ask my readers to pray for Jeff and his family and my dear friend and her husband Bill. You can go to her blog by clicking here and read about Jeff's progress. He's had a few rough weeks, but seems to be doing better with the love and prayers of many of  his family and friends.

Museum of the American Quilter's Society

 

This is taken from a postcard. I love the way you can see a quilt featured in each window. Of course we were there during the day and you can't see inside.

It is a non profit museum dedicated to honoring today's quilter.  Open year round it is America's largest quilt museum featuring bi-monthly changing exhibitions of quilts.

I took that info from the back of the postcard.

You can go here to visit their website.

Because we were not allowed to take pictures, I am going to show you a few postcards of quilts we saw. We were also not allowed to touch.  Do you know how hard it is to look at a quilt and not touch....but I do understand the reason. Even though there were many contempory quilts, I only bought cards of  the traditional ones that were my favs.

 "Stardust" 

I loved the piecing of the stars and the appliqued border.

 "Spice of Life"

I especially loved the colors in this one and the bias strips that made up the flower stems.

This was probably my favorite one.

 "Mother's Day"

 I loved the playful children's silouettes and all the aplique was so intricate.

(Sorry, just realized this is sideways)

"Flowers of the Crown"

This one is unbelievable. It is so realistic and was a favorite because I got to go to tour Churchill Downs last year.  These quilts were all hand quilted, but there was a lot of beautiful machine quilting too.

 

This one is made from wood.  It was in a separate room.

We were told there was a wood quilt in the conference room....

we walked in and I insisted there was not a wood quilt is this room. I got as close as I could and still argued it was not wood.  Don't tell anyone, but I touched it and yes, it is carved from wood. It is hanging from a swagged rope and had folds, texture and looks hand quilted. Don't tell anyone, but we got a picture of this one.  I'm not a rule breaker normally, but.....

The picture does not represent how authentic it looks.

Here we are as we were leaving.

Me, my cousin' s daughter Amber, my 90 yr. old aunt and my cousin Judy.

Amber wants to quilt and we headed back to Hancocks to get her started. My Aunt (her grandma) has quilted and sewn all her life. Judy...well she would rather golf, but was so sweet to take us on this special trip.

It was all her idea and she planned it all.  Thank you my sweet cousin.

After stopping at "Patti's 1890's Settlement" for dinner (I'll tell you about that tomorrow night),

we got back to my Aunt's house late and after the 4 hr. trip home, we all were pretty tired.

We took it easy today. We sat on the porch tonight and Judy said, "9:00 on a Saturday night and we are sitting in rockers on the front porch watching cows....only in Kentucky"

"My Old Kentucky Home"

One of the many places I lived when growing up was Paducah, KY.  As with many of the places we lived, we didn't live there for long and I don't remember too much about it except we lived in a trailer...a very small trailer. In those days they weren't called Mobile Homes or RV's like today...just trailer. But it's all I knew and we made the best of it. While in Paducah the last couple of days, I was wishing I knew exactly where we lived and how old I was, but there is no one in my family left to ask about it.

As we were driving around yesterday looking for the Quilt Museum so we could find out when they opened, we drove past this cute house and I asked my cousin to go back so I could take pictures.

Since I don't know where I lived, I could pretend I had lived here...not really...It is not a fancy house and not all that big, but something just drew me to it.

You could tell they were working on it and had the kind of cottagey flowerbeds I love.

Just as we (my cousin's daughter Amber and I) were taking this last picture of the swing and shutters the lady of the house came out with a big welcoming smile on her face (thank goodness). We were being rather bold in our picture taking.

I told her why we were taking pictures and she said she was so flattered and that they had moved there 2 years ago and had to redo everything .  She continued to tell us all they had done and then invited us in to see the inside. We would love to we said, but our 90 yr old aunt (grandmother) was sitting back at the hotel waiting for us to take her to dinner.  I think she was so disappointed that these strangers didn't want to come in and see her house.

Only in Kentucky!!

Opps, I forgot the other special place I wanted to show you!  We actually went here first.

There is a story to the excitement of being able to go here too. I always have a story...

Back in the 1980's, (oh am I dating myself) I took a class from Eleanor Burns. I learned how to do her first quilt, the Log Cabin. Then I took classes from her at Quilt Market to be certified to teach her quilts.

In fact she was the one who taught me about the Rotary Cutter.  For many years, I taught her various quilts.

So this was another sentimental journey for me.

Here I am with Eleanor!!

Here are Amber and I with Jeanie who runs the store.

She was so sweet and fun. We just had a great time.

Here are a few pictures I took of the store.

My cousin, Judy in front of the store. It is located about a block away from the Quilt Museum in an older downtown area. As we drove around, it looked like they were trying to refurbish many of the buildings.

     

These are for you Anne.

Because of my love for Barn Quilts, I got Eleanor Burns new book called  "Quilt Blocks on American Barns"

There are wonderful pictures of  barns with quilts painted on them and stories to go along with them. She also shares the instructions for making many and for using them in quilts other than the one on the front. I found a few I really want to try.

Tomorrow night I will share about our final 2 stops in Paducah....The National Quilt Museum and the great place we had dinner (yes, more quilts) on the way back to my Aunt's house.