Bee in my Bonnet Giveaway

There is a giveaway of these flour sack dish towels and floss and choice of patterns over at Bee in my Bonnet Check out her BLOG to see all the choices. Lori does a Vintage Monday where she shows what she has collected ie: aprons, hankies, dishtowels... She has lots of cute quilts that she designs. Great patterns and eye candy. Check out her Blog and look at all of her patterns that are available. Wish I lived closer to her so I could take a class and make some Paper Dolls... Comments need to be posted to win by July 4th.

Auditioning borders and bindings

Just for Monday and Judy L, I put some stuff on my design wall this morning. I am looking for borders for a Train Panel that is supposed to be a January Birthday boys' quilt. I gave him the panel at the party. I think it's time to get this one off the list of "TO DOS" . Not that he is freezing in our 80+ degree heat wave. Should I use the border on the Left that is darker, it's a red/black check, or the bandanna print on the Right???? I also have a UFO that needs done by the 30th or I could become Queen of UFOs on my Stashbusters group. I could just send in a FQ penalty, but that doesn't get the UFO's done. Right now I'm just a lady in waiting #12. This was a Mystery quilt from apocketfulofmysteries Yahoo group. It is called Spring Breeze. Design by Dorothy Young. I machine quilted it last week and just need to bind it. Don't look too close at the quilting, I'm still practicing my free-motion skills on the DSM (Domestic Sewing Machine). This is something do-able before the deadline, I think!

The one who made me a Grandma...

Jared Milton Crowther was born on this date 9 years ago... before there were digital cameras... This is the first page in Jared's book that I made for him. I keep it here at my house, he gets it when I'm gone. He is the first son of Milton and Christen, the first grandson of Paul & Mary; Marlo & CaryAnn. We are so happy he is a part of our family! He is a great example to all of his little brothers and sister. He was baptized last year by his father. He got this nice new suit to wear to Church. Isn't he Handsome? He likes to play with Legos at Grandmas... his spaceship is put up high so nobody takes it apart. Today he is going to the movies and I'm sure there will be more fun for him. Sorry Grandma and Grandpa won't see him today. Next week we will give him our gift. We love you Jared!!! My brother told me the only bad thing about being Grandma is...you have to sleep with Grandpa!

Progress on projects & Visitors

It has been a restful week for me. I ate when I was hungry and slept when I got tired. I have assembled my Big Star quilt and with opinions from two people have decided to make 4 more big star blocks so it will fit our queen sized bed. [picture is sideways] I'm glad I hadn't cut the borders yet. So I guess it will be on my 'design wall' another week... I put the remaining 3 borders on my "Hidden Star". This is what was waiting for me when I got to my quilt buddies studio Tuesday. She knows I like "Nativities" especially if they are different. This one plays music and has a light above the manger. The fat q's are always fun to give each other too, since we are collecting 30's. Brant and Tina brought their two cute boys Wednesday night for a visit with "GaGA". They are headed to the Ocean at Seaside, Oregon for a week with Tina's family. Then they will be back to celebrate the 4th of July with our family. They got here in time for Cheap Pizza night at Big Cheese. I went and brought it home. Then we went for a walk to Pioneer Park. [sorry picture is fuzzy- moving targets] Grandpa is still at Girl's Camp so he will have to see Caleb next week. Christopher likes to push his stroller. He talks a lot and slept well through the night in GaGa's crib. Yea for that! Caleb got to sleep in the Laundry basket. It reminded me of bringing Milton home, the first bed he had was our laundry basket. So I, of course, had to take a picture. This morning it was Grandpa Brown Pancakes, sausage and eggs. I made my (sort of) famous smoothie too, which I shared. I'm going up to Girl's Camp this evening with the Young Women's President. I'm not sure what is on the program agenda... Maybe Lip Sync??? I sent the Nikkon camera with Paul so I can preview some of his pictures and take fresh batteries to him. Funny how the batteries run out - too soon it seems. . .

Home from Retreating- design wall?

I am back home from attending my very 1st "real" Retreat. My Online "WASIQ" group retreated in Leavenworth Washington this past week-end. A great time was had by all and along with retreating I got to see this cute little town, meet some of my online friends and sew for 3 days well into the night. I'm dead tired and had to take a long nap...It' s now time for bed and I will unpack in the AM and post some pictures. I returned in time for my three oldest children to come and treat their Father to a nice Sunday Dinner with family including 10 very noisy, but cute grandchildren. Who posed with Grandpa for a Father's Day picture. Grandma was tired and a bit grumpy from lack of sleep, hope they will forgive me for not enjoying the noise. The dinner was yummy and I'm glad they could honor their father on his special day. I worked on many different projects, running out of fabric for final borders to call them completed flimsy's or tops. I have the fabric at home, just didn't take enough of the pre-cut strips or any extra to cut them. I did take some pictures of them on the design wall in preparation for the Monday post for Judy L . "What's on my Design Wall?" I worked on a project from her site and made quite a bit of progress on it. I sewed almost all the Multi-colored pieced sashing strip sets and attached them to the sides of blocks horizontally. Shown here was my 1st check to see if the strippy sashings were random enough. There are only 4 blocks shown because the wall was fairly small and the Star blocks are 16-1/2" square. I also re-did the Strippy star I mentioned taking with me to do at Retreat. It is done except for the final 3 borders. It's the pink and Purple quilt in the post. Got some OOOHHHH's and AHHHH's for both projects. The Flowerpots that were on my design wall at home got sashings sewn to them as well. I need to be choosing a cornerstone for the inner borders, then I can assemble the top. Other projects are secret until they are gifted... so, no sneak peaks at them just yet...

Happy Father's Day, 1st day of Summer!

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful Fathers in my life. From my Father to my Father by Love, my dear Hubby and sons who are all fathers.

My Father Alma Milton Brown, a handsome dude sitting here on his car in 1940 or so. If it was in color you'd see his red hair.William Brown as a Missionary in EnglandThis is my Grandpa William Brown. He was a worker on the railroad until he got some metal in his eye and lost his eyesight. He was also diabetic. He's sitting in the chair that is in my basement. See why I keep it around?? He would be 116 years old on Sunday, June 21st. The first day of Summer always makes me think of him. Funny how William, Prince of Wales was born on the same date as my Grandfather who served his Mission in England many years ago.

I'm glad to be your mother when I see how you love all of your Children. You learned it from your father. Who learned kindness from his father. Paul has said before how he was so happy to go to town with his father and his father bought him a candy bar. Simple things really do matter... I am sorry I'll miss seeing all of you on Sunday. I'm excited to have Caleb come to meet the rest of the family in two weeks. See you in Pasco... be sure to bring your Smiles you know there will be pictures...

At Retreat

Here's the blog entry that shows one of the quilts I want to make again... I just might get one made at the Retreat in Leavenworth. I loved how the pink star just shines amidst all the purple. I will have many other secret projects to work on. Because our Oldest Grandson is having a birthday the week after Father's Day, his birthday gift will be with me as will his baby sister's belated quilt and cousin Vincent's train quilt. I have 4 days, mostly 3 nights and 2 full days. I hope I don't have too much fun and not finish things. Hahahaha! I will take some for show and tell that will be gifts later this year... I'm excited to meet some of the ladies from my online group WASIQ [Washington State Internet Quilters]. over the past 4-5 years I've done swaps with them and 'talked online' but haven't met most of them. There will be 15 of them and I have retreated with only 2 of them before. Another big plus is I get to see the town of Leavenworth, Washington.

My Hero this week and every week...

Paul is a great guy... He loves his PB&J and JAM, so he has learned to make it himself. He has picked all the Strawberries so far this year in our flowerbed garden. Isn't that sweet of him to save wear and tear on my aching back??? I took all the stems off and have frozen some and he made his "Red Ribbon Jam". He has entered it in the Walla Walla Fair 2 times and gotten the same color ribbon. It tastes good, maybe the judges should taste it...

Who is eating my Strawberries???

Jackson came to Walla Walla with his mommy this week. Here he is helping Grandpa pick the strawberries. Really just eating any he could find. He didn't care if they were pink red or green. And playing on his toy, they left it here to share with his cousins too. He figured out with grandma's help how to climb up. But didn't want to slide down. He didn't mind that g-ma squirted the toy while he was in it to get the cobwebs off. He just threw his sippy cup down the slide. Some friends even came by on their bikes to play and visit. Thanks Springens'! That was fun. Sorry about Brock's tires popping...

My DD #1 is having a B-day and...anniversary

Happy, Happy Birthday, to NaDell!!! 27 years ago she woke me up anxious to get here. I had to wait for her father to come in from irrigating. But labor was the fastest of all my children. She was a welcome child and I was told how the 3rd child would straighten out the other two. I always said that my Mother and daddy sent her to me with her red hair and big brown eyes. Her name came from my middle name and my Mother's first name. Since I grew up Mary Brown went to town... I wanted my daughters to have names that were more memorable. It's also her 8th Anniversary. A day I will always remember spending in the Temple in Portland. She spent most of the night making her hair just right for the wedding pictures. Andy has been a good addition to our happy family. He likes to play games and challenges even Great Grandma at Scrabble. I can't compete with a Surprise Party. I hope she knows how much she is loved by all of us. Have a great day Dear Daughter. And her present will be delivered after my quilt Retreat...ok? Kori's too. The Anniversary is also shared by her Aunt Mary & Uncle Cary, and her cousins Michael & Beth.

A Time to Camp and a Time to Dance...

Milton called and asked if Dad would join them at their Father/son outing at Lewis & Clark State Park on Friday. After eating a quick dinner and packing his tent, air bed and stuff, he left me home alone. I debated what to do and ended up going shopping at Albertson's, making myself a treat and just hanging out in my basement, I know BORING! NaDell invited me to go and stay there so I'd be to Tri-cites early for Saturday activities. Nahhh, I'll sleep in my own bed, thanks! Paul took some pictures with the grandsons. YEA! Cute boys and he said their father was very patient with them. Paul had to come home because of flying pollens. Gotta keep him breathing! Grandpa and I went to watch two of our granddaughters rehearse for their Ballet Recital in Tri-cities on Saturday. Manned with two cameras. I took some videos and tried to zoom in at the right parts. If there is no sound, it was taken with our Olympus. :( I forget that it doesn't do everything the Nikkon does.That's why we kept both cameras. I remembered not to turn it sideways though. Paul had the Nikkon, that's why there is a picture of NaDell and I being Paparazzi. Sometimes I wonder why I let him take pictures... I was a ballerina back in my younger years so watching the girls makes me smile. They had their hair up in cute little buns and we were so happy to be there today. Olivia danced to "You are my Sunshine" [sing along as you watch her video]. This was a song that my mother and I used to try and harmonize riding in the Menan Potato truck with my father. My mother would sing the harmony and have me sing the melody, but soon I was singing the harmony right along with her. I learned to follow really well, not so much at harmonizing though. Elizabeth's song was from the Jungle Book [her video is short because Aunt Torrie had to run and help some other dancers]. Such happy songs to twirl, point, curtsy and arabesque to. You can see the real performances on NaDell's Blog.

Fun time @ the Mission

NaDell e-mailed me and asked me to meet her and her 3 children at the Whitman Mission today. I was not too busy today and the weather was nice so I went. Lucky her, I had my camera, hers went dead too quick, so I took some for her and for me. Her Craig's list car made it all the way over to Walla Walla. She had called to arrange for her friends to come and take the tour of the Whitman Mission too. I haven't been since I went with Janessa in Elementary school. It was a fun morning. That's NaDell and her children looking at the necklaces and beads in the case. I had Elizabeth take a picture of me with her mom outside after we'd made the round by the foundations and the covered Wagon.Since I took the little quiz on Facebook about which Anne of Green Gables character are you? I needed to read more about the Diana character. I asked NaDell if she had the Anne of Green Gables books. She brought me the 2nd one. I wanted to start from the beginning so I went thrifting and found the 3rd one and one based on the programs on TV. I didn't have a library card so I went to the Library and got the big book of the 1st 3 books together. I will take it to the Quilt retreat, just in case I need a break or to wind down at night after a long day of Quilting... One week until the retreat...

Guild night and countdown to RETREAT! [Photos added]

Tonight is Quilt Guild Night. Paul brought me the paper last night to show me a new quilt shop called "Stash" in town. He asked if I knew them. The names aren't familiar from Guild so I will go and see their shop and ask them if they want to come tonight. Lynn and I are frantically finishing our Chunky Strip Challenge for tonight so I'm off to quilt again today. I had to revamp my entry to the Challenge since the pattern I chose didn't clearly show it was made of Strips. I have that project still on my design wall here at home. I'll post pictures later from the project when it 's done...hopefully today. Ok... here are Lynn's D9P and my Slanted Star Chunky Strip Challenge entries. We didn't win the $20 Gift Certifcate but these two quilts will keep someones baby in WW warm. We knocked ourselves out to complete these in time for Guild. I was stitching the binding up until 6:40pm and Lynn finished at 6:05pm. Gotta do the sample blocks for the Monthly Lotto at Guild also. BUSY Grandma. Next week is the Quilt Retreat in Leavenworth, no not the one where my son is... this one is in Northern/Central Washington. I will get to meet some of the Ladies I've met through my WASIQ on-line group. Fun stuff! Can hardly wait, what project should I take there???

Birthday greetings this week

I have many reasons to celebrate birthdays with family. Our family grows bigger each year. I love how they love to get together. This week starts with a birthday for Joseph's wife, our 2nd 'Daughter by Love'. Tuesday is my "lil Brother" Selwyn's Birthday... [he calls himself that, I'm really the Little Sister]...and My Nephews' pretty daughter Danielle. They live far away, but she looks ALOT like her Grandma, my sister. My Grandpa Waite's anniversary of his birth was Saturday, I almost forgot being so busy with getting grad gifts delivered. Thursday is Derlyn & Sheila's Anniversary and Friday is Sheila's Birthday. She is my 'Sister by Love'. The list goes on and on...so eat some cake or pie in honor of your special Day this week family! So sorry I can't come and share the days with you all. uh, oh! I forgot about a birthday of someone that joined our family on the Crowther side... Michael Draney's is Friday, he is married to our Neice. To see pictures you'll have the check out their Blog, they are always doing something FUN in California. Don't hate me for the OLD Pictures. I need to get some new ones of some of you...I tried to find Selwyn's baby Picture, He was such a "pretty Baby" my mother used to say.

Home again- just in Time

I got home from Idaho, in spite of threatening and occurring thunderstorms. I watched as storm clouds parted and dark skies filled with fluffy clouds for the trip across Idaho Thursday. The rain was constant from the moment I got into Oregon. I'd post a slideshow of the pictures I took, but think I'll pass on that, if you want to see them- you have ask. Have I mentioned before that I HATE driving in the RAIN, and at night it's even worse. Too much Dejavu from Missiouri 2007. anyway... It was a very busy week . I wasn't the only busy one. Brant warned me that Christopher was a 'busy' boy. Brant spent time outside weeding his garden. It's never too early to teach his son the difference between weeds and 'baby plants'. He has learned more words and is talking so much. When you ask him his little brother's name, he says, "name". If you didn't hear him on the video on their Blog he is saying Caleb is "Cute". The picture of Tina with her boys was taken when they got home. I got to be with Tina when Caleb was released from the Hospital, that was a first. Before I left I changed Caleb's poopy diaper and got some smiles from him. See how happy he is... He didn't like the cowboy hat much though. Grandma saved it for 25 years. Both boys have posed for me in it.This morning Paul got up and picked these for me. I guess I got home just in time... Back to the real world.

Christopher's quilt

Christopher gets his quilt early since I'm here now. I needed to tack down the binding and quilt Caleb's quilt when I came. I finished both so I can work on something else the next two days. I quilted a dump truck that I traced off his wall paper border in his room, in the orange blocks on Calebs quilt and swirls in the bright squares. I had to take a picture of Christopher on his blanket. He likes to hand me the pins. He says "sharp" and tries to put them in the quilt for me. I had a request to put a picture of the label I put on my quilts. I cut a 4-5" square of a close matching fabric, fold and press it in half and write with a pigma pen, the name of the receiver, my name and the date on the front, I put the name of the quilt block on the inside of the label. I like the flannel on the back, it is so cozy...