fall

 

It's a pretty fall day here today...

 

thank you to our son's family for the pretty (and huge) mum plant.

b



Aladdin

I'm calling this bag...

 

Aladdin's Carpet Bag.

 

 

The fabric just reminds me of a turkish rug.



Pirate Party

Our granddaughters won't let September slip by

without a pirate party at the Ramada Inn.

So...we buy cupcakes and balloons and pretend it is still

grandma's birthday.

Esther Williams?

they are sisters and best friends...

...of a perfect weekend.

b



 

Happy Anniversary!

to my Mr. b.

 

 

It's been forty years of good memories...

 Thank you to daughter and her CEO
 for the beautiful flowers that were delivered to our door yesterday.
b



"up my alley"

I just have to get me one of these

Dakota Maid bags...

 

 

This one is really "up my alley."

b



for the birds

The best way for baby to tell mama that

"Eating Carrots is for the Birds"...

 

 

is by wearing this bib!

 

I may just start a new line of bibs

and call them...

"In your face Mama!"

 

I think this bib is super cute

and I love dropping my feed dog to do the free stitching.

That's sewing lingo...

if you don't sew don't try to understand it...

cuz I didn't actually drop the dog.

b

 

 



orders

I don't take orders well...

(right mom?)

 

But daughter knit and pearl keeps taking special orders for our Dakota Maid items.

 

 

 

So today I'm trying to finish a few of them

 to get them shipped out tomorrow.

 

This adult size flapper hat crochets up quick and easy.

 

It may even stay on in the wind like we're having today.

b

peachy

 

still enjoying peaches...

b



jumping hoops

I spent Sunday 'jumping through hoops'...

 

 

Don't you love using a pretty embroidered flour sack towel?

They are pure vintage.

b



gotta be good

What's for supper?

 

I love a prize winning recipe

 and always try to make them when I catch one in the newspaper.

You know it's gotta be good if it won first place

at the South Dakota State Fair.

 

 

Sioux Falls Night Lights Beef Stir-Fry

by Ssu Chen

 

1 lb. rib eye steak, cut across the grain into thin slices

1/4 of a green, red, yellow, and orange bell pepper, sliced into quarter-inch strips

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 scallion (green top onion), chopped

2 T. oil, canola or olive

2 T. low sodium soy sauce

2 T. hoisin sauce

2 T. cornstarch

Salt to taste

 

In a large bowl combine beef strips, garlic, soy sauce and cornstarch.

Toss well. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

 

Heat oil in a skillet, stir-fry beef until evenly browned; set aside.

 

 Stir fry bell peppers, onion, and scallion for two minutes.

Add beef, hoisin sauce and salt. Stir fry for one minute.

 

Serve with your choice of rice or noodles or wrapped in whole wheat tortillas.

Serves 4.

 

Beef...it's whats for supper.

b

 

ps. Made this for our supper and served rolled up in a flour tortilla

 with a dab of sour cream...delicious!

 It's definitely going in the vault.  Thank you Ssu Chen.



feeling fall

Our weather has finally calmed down...

we even got a few drops of rain the other night.

 

 

I love the colors of fall

and using them in the bags I have been making.

This is a special order bag

that a woman is giving her elderly mother for her birthday.

I love a handmade gift don't you?

b



postcards from heaven

I have to share with you my find at auction this last weekend...

 

It was my aunt's auction and her and her husband were antique collectors,

and we knew that there may be a few collectibles from her parents,

who were also my mother's parents...

my grandparents.

 

It was hard to tell what may have actually belonged to my grandparents.

But when we spotted a shoebox full of postcards all addressed to and from them from the early 1900's...I knew they weren't going into the hands of strangers and I wasn't walking away without them.

 

 

They are simply fantastic! The oldest is dated 1906.

 

 

I will cherish them the rest of my life

 and then hope another family member keeps them safe one-hundred more years.

b



September

I know September is here

when I've turned another year older

 and there is a pretty fall bouquet of flowers

sitting on my desk from Mr. b.

 

 

September is also the month

we have been married another year...

 making it 40 years for us.

 

It is easy being married to this guy.

His patience has been our secret

 to a long and happy marriage.

b



busy

I love an early morning farmer's market...

 

 

Isn't this jumper with silly chickens on it sweet?

 

 

It was a busy Saturday for me...

farmer's market..art show...antique auction...

and a birthday party for my brother.

 

It was definitely a fun day!

b



another diet

I woke up Wednesday morning with the good intention of starting a diet...

 

then an hour later I was looking for mother's zucchini bread recipe!

 

 

(There can't be very many calories in a zucchini right?)

 

 

Two hours after that I was eating warm zucchini bread with butter on top!

Good intentions just don't last long enough with me.

 

b

lonely

Just thinking here...

 

 

It must be a terribly lonely life...

 

 

 

...being a bull-y

 

 b

 



early morning...

 

Early morning in North Dakota...

 

b



sewing retreat

We had a fun holiday weekend in a little cabin

overlooking the Jamestown ND reservoir.

 

We definitely were NOT roughing it.

 

 

Don't be fooled by this comfortable chair in front of the fireplace...

 

I did about 10 minutes of reading and knitting

between sewing projects.

Daughter knit and pearl and I spent most of our time

 at the kitchen table sewing.

 

We called it our "sewing retreat."

We brought the husbands along because someone had to feed us, ha.

b