Annie

I've been savoring this doll pattern for awhile.

 

 

Billie Anne

She's a raggedy.

 

Here is my dolly all tattered and torn.
Everyone loves her even though she is worn.
Her body is floppy and her hair is a mess,
But I love her dearly, and she loves me best!

 

 

You're never too old to play with dolls.

 

I hope one of the granddaughters will claim her to love.

 

~b

this and that

We are having a taste of winter again...

temps in the 30's and snowflakes.

My pansies may need a blanket tonight.

 

 

When it's cold out it's nice to warm up the kitchen

 with something in the the oven.

 

strawberry-apple cobbler*
*(I will never be a food photographer)

 

 

A preview of a quilt I am working on.

Of course it involves lots of scraps.

 

 



~b

Happy Birthday!

 

 

I thought this lap quilt would make

 the perfect birthday gift for my sister...

it's as busy as she is.

 

Let yourself go. You're bound to bloom - unknown

 

 

Have you been snipping a few tulips to enjoy indoors?

~b

 

 

 

 

Earth Day...

Our neighbors tree came down recently in an ice storm.

We helped him clean it up and Dakota Man will burn it

 in his work shop this winter to stay warm while he creates.

Thank you Mother Earth!

~b



chicken theme

 

 

 

I scratched out a couple of pot holders today.

 

 

I like my pot holders small...

it  helps keep them out of the food.

 

 

Nothing special, didn't bother with binding them.

I am to hard on pot holders to put a lot of work into them.

 

~b

 



thrillers

I was thrilled this weekend when Mr. b offered to drive 30 miles

 out of our way to hit the quilt store in Valley City, North Dakota.

And then we took a different route to get back on our road 

and found yet another quilt store in Oakes, ND.

With fabric over $10 a yard in quilt stores

 I am glad most of my projects are small.

~b



projects

We are back from our Easter holiday.

Trust me on this...

visiting our daughter's home always involves PROJECTS!

Lots of projects... all very enjoyable.

 

Project #1

 

 

They were lucky enough to be given this playset for their girls.

Their daddy and grandpa (plus a couple more thugs)

moved it...almost intact!

Daddy better get it enclosed because

 their two-year-old is practically living in it.

 

Project #2

 

 

 

Daughter knit and pearl decided her and the girl's should be chicken farmers!

The hen house is up, the chickens moved in...

and they will soon be having farm fresh eggs for breakfast.

 

Project #3

The chicken house and garden needed to be fenced off

 from the family dogs so a quick pallet fence was put up.

Aren't the pallet projects popping up all over clever?

 

Project #4

 

 

Of course we dyed eggs.

Not quite sure why grandma was the only one

 to come away with dye on her shirt?

 

~b

 

 

 

 



hatch-able

Easter time calls for some Easter sewing...

 

 

Making Easter eggs...

 

 

that will hatch into

 

 

CHICKS!

 

 

Inside out toys are a lot of fun for kids too.

 

We are taking a trip up north for the holiday...

~b is for be back soon

 



rub a dub dub

Yesterday I played the baker and candlestick maker.

 

 

I enjoy doing both...making candles and baking.

They both satisfy my sense of smell.

 

 

Hand poured soy candles

 are also a nice gift item to have on hand.

 

 

I recycle cans and glass containers for my candles.

It makes the gift even more economical.

The labels are a fun touch.

 

(Talking about gifts...Happy birthday today to my sister!

I guess you know what you're getting.)

 

From the baker:

My peach cobbler turned out excellent also.

 

~b is for baker



bibs

My little sewing sweatshop turned out 25 bibs this weekend.

I was flying solo in this assembly line.

 

 

6 yards of fabric...

 

 

25 snap sets!

 

 

Dakota Man contributed the sweet

 little helicopter prop for my pictures.

 

~b is for busy



the fast road to a slow life

When our twin granddaughters were little

and we would bring them to our house

they would always ask if we were going to drive on the "fast road,"
which meant the interstate.

 

 

Dakota Man toys...aren't they adorable.

 

AND LOOK!

 

 

I think they just pulled over twin sisters

for going to fast on the "fast road."

 

~b

 

fresh air

It is the perfect spring day to hang out at your clothesline.

 

 

Not too cold, not too warm.

The perfect temperature for that stuffy quilt

you've been using all winter

to absorb all the fresh air it can hold.

 

If we all used clotheslines, we could save 30 million tons of coal a year,

 or shut down 15 nuclear power plants.

 Buy 50 feet of clothesline and a $3 bag of clothespins

 and become a solar energy pioneer.

 - Bill McKibben

 

Can you smell the sun? the wind?

The tree buds? new grass?

 

~b is for breathe

spying

Making eye spy quilts has been a bit addicting for me.

 

 

I spy with my little eye
Something that’s the color red,
Can you see it, can you touch it,
Can you show it to me.
I’m looking for the color red.
It could be red like a red, red rose
Or red like a clown’s red nose,
I spy with my little eye,
Something that’s the color red.

 

There are 196 blocks in this little quilt...

2 of each pattern...

98 different fabrics.

Enough to keep a child busy for awhile I would say.

  I spy with my little eye
Something that’s the color blue,
Can you see it,
Can you touch it, can you show it to me.
I’m looking for the color blue.
It could be blue like the blue of the sky,
Or blue like a blueberry pie,
I spy with my little eye,
Something that’s the color blue.

    Tell me other colors you see,
Come on now and show them to me.

 

~b

fowl

There's a reason daughter knit and pearl

 and I have chickens on the brain...

 

 

and we hope we can share soon!

 

 

There's just something about chickens isn't there?

 

 

I tucked a little chick on the back of this flour sack towel.

A little surprise I call it.

Surprises are nice when you're hand drying your dishes.

 

 

I enjoy embroidering.

 

 

It was the first craft I learned as a girl.

 I learned watching my grandmother.

I taught my children at a young age also.

 

~b is for bok bok

 

 

 

 

 

cultures

It was such a beautiful day yesterday

we decided to take a little country drive.

 

Did you know we have Amish in South Dakota?

They moved here in 2010.

 

 

They are a great reminder

that we could all stand to slow down a pace or two.

 

Today I dug out my Amish cookbook

and made kolaches.

 

 

I know, not very Amish are they?

I used Esther's recipe from this cookbook.

Kolaches were brought here by the descendants of Czech immigrants in the 1800's.

 

‘Show him the spiced plums, mother. Americans don’t have those,’ said one of the older boys. ‘Mother uses them to make kolaches,’ he added. Leo, in a low voice, tossed off some scornful remark in Bohemian. I turned to him. ‘You think I don’t know what kolaches are, eh? You’re mistaken, young man. I’ve eaten your mother’s kolaches long before that Easter Day when you were born.’

– Willa Cather’s novel My Antonia (1918), about Bohemian immigrants in Nebraska in the 1880s

 

I think mine turned out more like a Danish.

 

~b is for bohemian