Bitty Baby

Every year I make dresses for the two little girls for Christmas and I make matching dresses for their dolls. They both have Bitty Babies. This year I think the doll dresses were harder than the ones for the girls. I love making doll clothes.  One time, years ago, I had my kids and the neighbor kids in the basement sewing doll clothes.  I wonder if Bill W. remembers doing it.

The First Heavy Snow of the Winter

The first real snow of the winter arrived today.  We were glad we were scheduled for collecting for he Lions Club on yesterday. It was awfully cold yesterday but a least not wet. Mindy loves the snow and can hardly wait to play in it. Hubby looks forward to using "Big Red" his snowblower.

My Dollhouse Curtains are Done

I have finally finished the curtains for my dollhouse. I found it a very difficult task.  The bath and kitchen curtains were easy because I used a ready made lace for then. I used shrimp skewers for the curtain rods and bent straight pins to hold them up.  For the nursery I used scrap book paper with embroidery floss for the tassel.  I glued them in place.  My fat fingers had a terrible time getting into that corner.  The living room curtains are my least favorite. I had a hard time with the skewers and the pins with the bay windows.  The last one I finished was the bedroom.  I had a rubber pleater that my sister-in-law had given me. It doesn't work on polyester fabrics, but once I used cotton,it worked all right.  With the valence I could just glue everything in place and not worry about curtain rods. Now I just need to tackle some of the furnishings.                                                                                                                    

Bath

 
 

kitchen

living room 

nursey

bedroom

An Autumn Quilt

Carole and I have been working on a quilt pattern that I bought several years ago.  It involves a lot of paper piecing.  Progress is slow.  We aim to finish it by next fall. Out of 161 squares we have finished 12.

Visitors from the South

Yesterday we had dinner with my mother, brother and his wife and their son and his family. Also my son, Jim, was there.  It was a fun occasion at the Dearborn Olive Garden.  Mike and Julie have their hands full with their handicapped child, Miles. He sure is the cutest, happiest little guy ever. Avery, their daughter, is as smart as a whip and besides that she likes the bunny quilt and dresses I made for her.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I have all my Christmas gifts sewed.  Placemats and napkins and  pillowcases to put the gifts in.  (I don't like to wrap presents.) All except for a satin one for Molly. I finished the christmas dresses for the little girls. I liked them.  I wonder what I should wear.

Thanksgiving Day

We went to small town Ohio for Thanksgiving.  Mary had a delicious dinner. I brought the pumpkin pie and hubby made the green bean casserole and Jim made a chopped salad that was so good I intend to have him make it for Christmas too. We got to meet Mary's puppy,Pepper, who couldn't be any cuter and so affectionate. Mary looks really good.  I am sorry I didn't take a picture of her beautiful table setting or to show how good she is looking.

Dress-ups

My four year old grand daughters asked for dress-ups for Christmas. I had several pieces of taffeta and satin that great grandma had in her cedar chest. The fairy costume has a rainbow of taffetas in the skirt and a satin bodice.  I got the wings from Amazon. They came today.  I still have to make the headbands.  I bought flowers and a butterfly to glue on the headband.

      The princess dress is an orange satin.  The material was all in small pieces but I had lots of it. The hat is made of a tall party hat, ribbon and left over tulle from Mary's wedding veil.  It was really fun to do.

Annual Sewing Machine check up

Yesterday Hubby and I went to Ann Arbor.  I bought my Bernina sewing machine at the Ann Arbor Sewing Center. So even though it is quite a distance I take my machine there every fall to be cleaned and checked over. It makes for a nice drive and yesterday was a beautiful day. We went to lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant, Shalimar, We even drove out to look at the Palmer house.  It is a Frank Lloyd Wright house which we had just attended a landscaping lecture about.

A finished Quilt

I finished my second quilt this fall.  This one is a winding trails that I made for Gretel. I started out with a snail trail pattern from American Patchwork and Quilting  the December 2015 edition.  But I assembled the squares as a winding trail instead. I machine pieced it. I wasn't real happy with their pattern sizes. I had a terrible time matching points. I then hand quilted it in circles. The first quilt I did this year is the log cabin I showed on Sunday October 16 with the cat in a laundry basket.

The Election is Over

Well, it's over. It is not what we hoped for but it is what we have. At least the turnout was good.

Charity Dinner

On Friday night Hubby and I went to a charity dinner for the Penrickton Center for the Blind in Taylor, Michigan. It is a facility that cares for children who are blind and have one other disability. They offer day care and boarding for children from Sunday night through Friday.  The facility is amazing.  They have top equipment and staff. The dinner was at the Dearborn Inn and was delicious. They also have a silent auction. I bid but only to raise the prices. I didn't win anything. At the end of the evening they had a comedian who was AWFUL. But otherwise we had a wonderful time.

    Last night we went to a volunteer recognition dinner at Tollgate Farm in Novi, Michigan. The dinner was sponsored by the Americana Foundation.  The food and company were great and we are all fired up to work there again next year.

Planting Tulips

A local cemetery has a beautiful tulip display every spring. When thee tulips are done blooming, they dig them up and give them away. 15,000 bulbs! The Master Gardiner Society sent us a note about it and we rushed over for some. Today Hubby was planting tulips wherever he could find space. I am anxious to see them next spring.

Metric Cross Stitch

I ordered 3 very cute cross stitch kits from a company named Riolis, through the stitchery.  They were made in Lithuania.  I really enjoyed working on the kits. They were on 10 count Zweigart Aida fabric done with a wool and acrylic yarn.  So they filled in really nicely. I went to order frames and found the cross stitch was 20 by 20 cm, except in English measurements that is 7.75 by 7.75.  I ordered 8 inch frames but now I need to put one row of stitching all around the picture so they fit.

Mary Jane

While we were in Oregon, Hubby decided he wanted to try a marijuana brownie.  He went to a dispensary where they had pieces of chocolate but no brownies. He said he didn't feel a thing and was quite disappointed, The small piece of chocolate cost him $7.50.

Portland

We just came back from a short visit to Portland, Oregon to visit my son and his family.  We had a wonderful time. We had fantastic food! Rej's mom and dad made Indian food for us, a little spicy but great.  Bill took us on a tour of Portland and on to Mt Hood and the Bonneville Dam.  Mt.Hood was covered in snow and really breathtaking. Hubby was really excited that the Timberline Lodge had been used in the film "The Shining."

Then we drove up the Columbia Gorge to the Bonneville Dam.  I have never seen a fish ladder before, it was not what I expected. I got a chance to see Sammy's school and watch him swim. As a seven year old, I couldn't believe how well he did. He also played the piano for us.
 Oh, and Sammy has a new kitten, Nala. We spent a lot of time playing with her. It was sad to leave them and realize how far away they live.

Cats and Quilts

I love making quilts and have made almost seventy of them.  I like cats too. Over the years that hubby and I have been married we have had eight cats, not at the same time.  We had three at the most and now we are down to one. The cats seem to be fascinated with quilting.

This is Savannah as I was quilting Amy and Seth's quilt.

Sprocket liked being under Gretel's quilt.

Cleo helped me design my brother's quilt.

Virginia and Cleo liked napping on my bed.

 Fervor is our last remaining cat.In the top picture he is helping me bind my quilt, next he is laying on a quilt made of entirely cat fabrics. He is testing Amy and Seth's new quilt and in the bottom he is on my new quilt. We don't let the dog on quilts. We can't keep the cats off.

New Leader Dog Facility

Yesterday we went to an open house at the new Leader Dog Facility. It is a fourteen million dollar expansion of their previous kennels. They are now air conditioned and they have new puppy bays and veterinary facilities. It sure is a wonderful place.

This is where the year old dogs stay while they are being trained.

These are 7 week old puppies getting ready to go out to puppy raisers.

Pumpkinfest

Last weekend we brought Mary and Sofie up for the Tollgate Pumpkinfest. We had such a good time! We made s'mores. Had a hay ride and bought a pumpkin. Sofie petted the goats,sheep,cows, horses and a rabbit. She also held a hissing cockroach. She went through a straw maze and made apple cider and we ate pumpkin ice cream.  But the best part was we got to dissect a cow's eye. Sofie liked it much more than Mary.  She especially like squeezing the vitreous humor out of the eye and feeling its squishiness.

Lawn Ornament

Well we have our, every 4 year, lawn ornament up.  I hope it does some good!

Pig Roast

Last night Hubby and I attended a Pig Roast at Tollgate, Michigan Extension Service Farm  Everything on the menu was grown on the farm.. We had a hay ride before dinner and saw their community gardens.  We had volunteered there earlier in the day.  Twice a year the gardens have a plant sale so we were working to separate plants, label them, and prepare them for winter. I think I have all the hours of volunteer work that I need for recertification as a Master Gardener.  I still have to pick up two hours of education.  On Monday we watched a fantastic webinar on the Monarch Butterfly.

Detroit Walk for JDRF

Yesterday Hubby and I went to downtown Detroit for the annual fund raising walk for JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes). The walk was at the Milliken State Park and on the Detroit River Walk. It was a beautiful cool morning. We saw several freighters come by on the river. We walked with a group of Lions but it was fun to see all the teams there for different kids with diabetes

Quilting

Hubby set up my quilting frame in the living room . It is the only room to hold it comfortably.  The quilt I am working on is a log cabin.  Technically it is Carole's quilt.  She told me I always make quilts for others so the next one I make should be hers and she will give it to me. I have Gretel's quilt top almost done when I noticed I put it together like a winding road instead of a Snails Trail.  Oh well.

Shingles or Contact Dermatitis

I could show a picture but it would be unsettling. Sunday morning I woke to find my right side of my face red and swollen around my eye. It was painful.  When I woke on Monday it was worse.  The internist said it was not typical shingles but its location and the fact that only one side of my face was affected led him to consider shingles. I then went to the eye doctor who felt the same way and gave me an antibiotic to put on my eyelids to prevent a secondary infection. I was given the medication Valtrex which fights the shingle virus but wont hurt me if they are wrong.  This morning the rash has spread to the other side of my face, although not as bad as the right, and down both sides of my neck.   I also have a small rash on my forearms.  Last week I did use an Avon night cream that I have used several times before, but not in a long time. I threw the rest of it out.  Hubby is sure I brushed against something at the farm where I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and jeans.

Tollgate Fall Fair

Today was the Tollgate Farm Fair.  The weather did not cooperate at all. It poured and was very windy.  At least there was no thunder and lightning. Unfortunately there were more volunteers than patrons.  Hubby and I and a lovely woman named Pat were manning the fruit stamping table. It did give us time to take turns wandering about to see the other events.  There was a Galapagos tortoise named Thor, some huge cockroaches and tarantulas. They were pressing apples for cider and selling honey and beeswax candles from the bee hives. They had the fire engine, ambulance and a police dog too. There was a band, hot dogs and popcorn and even fishing in the pond for the kids.

Clean House Day

On Fridays I clean house.  With Hubby and I it really is a light housekeeping job. I Clorox wipe the kitchen counters and sweep the dog hair up throughout the house. I water the plants and dust.  Not much to do. Mindy knows to get out of my way.  This afternoon I will have lunch with my friend, Carole, at a Mexican restaurant.  Should be a nice day.

Apple Picking at Tollgate Farm

The Michigan State Extension Farm, Tollgate, in Novi Michigan has its fall fair this Saturday. It is a great event for the whole family with crafts for kids, cider making, a band, animals and all sorts of stuff. Hubby and I will be working at the fruit painting booth and Hubby will also be helping wrangle a Galapagos Tortoise. Today we spent some time there picking apples for them to make into cider on Saturday.

Master Gardener Award

Last night Hubby and I went to the Master Gardener Society meeting. Until this year Dick has written their newsletter "Roots and Shoots" for nine years.  He also started a flicker account for the pictures and a Face book  address. I did their calendar. We were given a stepping stone for the garden,. It really is pretty. Surprisingly we both won raffle prizes at the meeting! In order to maintain our membership Hubby and I have to put in some serious hours this year.

A New Book

I am looking for a new book to read. I like almost anything except politics and gruesome murder mysteries. I like biographies and historical event books.  I finished "The Boys and the Boat." It was really good. I usually read at night in bed so I don't finish books quickly so there is no such thing as a one day read for me. I do like fiction too, but Janet Evanovich is a little cloying.

Lunch with Sofie

Yesterday Hubby and I spent the day in Ohio with Mary and Sofie.  Mary is doing much better and seemed to be feeling good and looking good. She is starting her third week of radiation. Sofie was delightful.  We went out to lunch at the Lonestar and she really enjoyed the book of puzzles they give to child customers.

Sofie also drew a picture of Mindy for me.