Warm Weather and Cookie Baking

Its a beautiful sunny day--highs should be in the 80's.  I'm going to enjoy it!  

Laura Beth, Nick and Mason arrived Friday night.  Family visiting and we went to the local steakhouse Saturday night.  Ken ordered the "Tyler Burger".  

Tyler Burger

Ken loves burgers. He was in 7th heaven--but said it was a family meal!  Three 1/2# patties.

Remember--I promised Mason we would make cookies?  Sunday morning BEFORE I HAD MY COFFEE Mason was asking "we gonna make cookies Grandma??"

Mason waiting for Grandma

Yes, we made cookies in our PJ's.   Mason sifted the flour.  

Packing brown sugar

 Packed the brown sugar.  Cracked the eggs.

cracking eggs--no shells Mom!

We made M&M with chocolate chips cookies.  Mason liked measuring the M&M's--a few were eaten!

Soon we had them mixed and were ready to bake.

Mason with cookies ready to go on pan

We used a small scooper to form the cookies.  See???

Hey Dad--see my scooper?

See Dad???  (Nick kept busy taking pictures for me.) Thanks Nick!

Soon we had a pan out of the oven ready to eat.

Mason with first pan done

The cookies came out pretty perfect!  Yes, a few bits of dough fell on the floor.  Mason had two casualties (two cookies flew off the plate as he was running to share them with Dad).  But there were plenty of cookies.  Mason took some to Great Grandpa John, and we packed a large container for Mason to take home. 

Mason--are the cookies all gone?  Grandma is ready to bake some more!! 

Another Beautiful Monday

The sun is shining and the temp to be in the 70's today.  Another beautiful Monday.


I remembered to take pictures of the most recent "auction treasures" Ken bought.   I love old enamelware, and he bought a whole box full a few weeks ago.  

A covered deep square pan (reminds me of a refrigerator drawer) a larger rectangular pan, an 8x11 baking pan, a covered pot with lid.  A large mixing bowl.  My favorites--a pitcher, a covered pan with fruit decals, a colander and a drinking ladle.  One stray lid.  

This pan is a favorite-the colorful decals are so cheery.  Some of these will go on my "treasures" shelf, and I know I will use all of them.  


And I have been sewing.  Last week I worked on the blue Jacob's ladder blocks.  The Sister's Choice blocks.  A blue/white Irish Chain.  "Mason's brother" quilt.  That means I worked on three UFO's.   None are close to a finish--but they are getting there!


I have another round of the blue/white swap in a few weeks.  I made this sample block--do you like it??

I like that the outer tips of the pinwheels point into the white hourglass portion of the block--they look like they're floating.  Most blocks made in this pattern are turned 45° and there are flying geese instead of the hour glass blocks.  Its a rather bright blue with white polka dots--I may try making another one in a softer blue.  I not sure everyone shares my love of bright "poke your eye out" colors.

This weekend Laura Beth, Nick, and Mason are coming to visit.  I promised Mason we'd make cookies together.   

Beautiful Monday

Today is a beautiful day, the door is open on my camper and a slight breeze is blowing in.  I can hear the roar of water going over the spillway on the dam and the crickets are busy singing.   The weather is going to change and become cool with perhaps some rain in a few days.  I hate to think that its fall already.  

A few weeks ago a fellow quilter from Yankton called and invited me to a trunk show--I think the local guild in Yankton sponsored it.  Pat Nagle--Eleanor Burns's sister was the speaker.  Lots of quilts and patterns and tools from Quilt in a Day.  But my favorite moment was this---

Pat is talking about this quilt and FORGOT that the gentleman behind the quilt was holding it.  Yes, those are Van's(??) Merrill's(??) legs!  It wasn't quite caught on the top and he's standing behind it with aching arms!   Thank you Jeanette for inviting me!

Lest you think I am slacking off in my quilting--here it the picture of my table today.

I started a baby quilt for "Mason's brother".  Most of the blocks for it are pieced.  Next I worked on the last of my nine patches, I'm sewing them together in pairs.  It was a block a day quilt-a-long from Crazy Mom Quilts.  I had a lot of fun making them--enough for 3 large tops!  These are the last ones.  These all have brown points turning them into Sister's Choice blocks.

I pulled out a UFO stored in the closet in the camper, I thought it needed more sewing, but it's to the pressing stage and needs some background fabric.  None here, it will have to wait.  

On Mason's birthday he baked and decorated a cake with me.  He's good at cracking eggs, loves to run the mixer (grandma helping!) and scraping the bowl.  He picked out some "sprinkles" when we were at the store to put on top the cake.  

Mason sprinkled enthusiastically and dug into the frosting with the jar--then licked the frosting off!  A small hole in the cake--we just added a LOT of sprinkles in that spot!  You can see some of our mess in the background.   

And then a picture of Mason being hugged by grandpa---

Life is good!

I Had A Coupon.......

Don't you just love having a coupon??  Me too!!  On the way to Mankato to visit Laura Beth and family, Ken obliged by stopping at my favorite fabric store.  And---it was 50% off everything that wasn't already on sale--with a coupon!   I thought I had read about Judy suggesting stash enhancement but I was wrong and Katie said it was using stash and setting goals.  Oh drat---too late!!  I didn't dig out the slip to add the totals, but its a "fair dab" of fabric.  I need more blues for a project.

A "fair dab" of fabric

We're in Minnesota for Mason's 3rd birthday.   

Mason blowing out candles

 Mason with punked up hair and Laura Beth.   

Next Mason showed me a new game at their house--

Yes, Mason is getting a baby brother in December!  New quilts are needed.  The only sewing I've done this weekend is hem five pair of pants for Laura Beth.  But, I did buy a new book--

Tomorrow we'd heading home.  I'll read the book and plan on the way. 

It's Rarely Work at the Visitor Center

John works for the National Park Service and often does Interperative Programs at the Visitor Center.  This is one I particularly enjoy--he dresses in costume and plays the part of a Purser on an 1880's steamboat telling stories.  

John particularly enjoys puns, he waited all summer to say "well, that's all water over the dam now".   The generation gap showed, as a young college student didn't "get" the pun, even when we tried the one "water under the bridge".   Which made us laugh harder!  We thought of several alternative roles for John's costume.  Undertaker.  Minister.  Saloon keeper.  John's personal favorite--"Manager at a Residence of Paid Affections".

Monday Thoughts

Are you a people watcher?  I am!  What do you look at??  Me, my favorites are shoes and t-shirts.  I asked a visitor if I could take a picture of her t-shirt --

Often Henrietta and I have the same idea at the same time, so maybe we have great minds.  Nah!!  And then I had this in my fortune cookie --

Guess someone knew I was about to poke some buttons!  And it rained the other night.  I noticed this in the afternoon --

Its hard to see, but the seat is full of water!  Glad I looked before I sat down.


My windows and doors are open, there's a nice breeze.  Its a beautiful day, I'm going to work on my Jacob's ladder blocks.

 

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Today is Ken's birthday!  He's at home and I'm at the camper (sniffle sniffle) so I called him and sang Happy Birthday over the phone.  He was slightly underwhelmed by my performance--but its the thought that counts!  Later this week we're visiting Laura Beth, Nick, and Mason and we'll celebrate.

Relaxing Friday

Last week a storm front came in from the west.

 And then another storm front moved in from the east.

A warm front and a cold front. 

It was not directly over the Visitor Center--but it did pass over the North and East side of Yankton.  Whew!  It was NASTY!  Winds and some large hail---half the skylights were broke on the roof of WalMart.  Only some wind gusts and a short downpour at the Visitor Center.   

There are lots of "summer people" that work or volunteer here.  Its hard to get together since we all have different schedules.  But Sunday evening was beautiful weather and we met at my campsite.  

Ahhh!!

Remember I said I had 64 Jacob's Ladder blocks?  

I was sewing the blocks into pairs and I only had 63.  Luckily I had enough pieces left over I was able to make one more.   Today I'll work on them some more.  Slowly they're turning from a UFO to a finished quilt.  

Last week I made a cake for a potluck.  Well, I was a week early.   It didn't last long!

 

Jacob's Ladder Blocks

Today I didn't volunteer so I sewed.  Remember--sewing machine and fabric type activity??  I finished enough blue/white Jacob's ladder blocks for a top--64.  

I tried laying them out on the grass but a slight breeze had them flipping around. 

Tomorrow there is a potluck at noon and I'll be volunteering at the Visitor Center.   I used the oven in Admin building tonight--I wanted to make a Peanut Butter cake in a sheet cake pan, and my camper oven is too small.   This recipe is a tried and true favorite.  Its sitting on the counter in the lunch room--I hope Ryan doesn't eat it before the potluck!

This weekend is Riverboat Days and I'm sure it will be busy.   The weather has been cooler and a few nights its supposed to be in the 50's.   Good sleeping weather!
   

 

Blue White Swap Blocks

I sometimes participate in block swaps.  I needed to finish a set while Henrietta was here.  They were to be blue/white and a "star".  Remember I said I was tired and making many mistakes?   First I tried a sample block.  

Next--I tried to repeat it----

Okay--try it with different fabrics.  Hmmmmm---

This effort definitely had problems!!!

Okay--thery were all supposed to look like this----

They're not hard to make--but you do have to follow directions exactly.   They are from a Book called "Stars by Magic".   No set-in seams, and all the blocks come in multiple sizes.   I'm planning to use the same book for the next round but different fabrics/different star.  Wish me luck!!

A Visitor to the VC

I enjoy watching the visitors at the Visitor Center.   Here is a set of grandparents trying on the 1800's period clothes with a grandson---

Dress up is fun at any age!

But some of our visitors do not come in through the door.   We have several of these during the summer---

He's not very good at hiding--a brown bat on a white wall really shows up!   He's small--maybe 3-4 inches long.

There is "bat catching gear" at the VC.  A net on a very long pole, and leather gloves.   Bats are protected species--we catch them and release them outside.  Did you know that bats cannot fly when they are on the ground?  They need to "drop" from a height to fly.  This one was only about knee height on the wall, I just used the gloves to pick him off the wall and hung him on an oak tree outside.   These bats eat insects--so I hope he's busy eating mosquitos at night.