A Little Birthday Present For A Four Year Old

I made this little pink overnight bag for a little girl's fourth birthday.

FOUR +  PINK = HAPPINESS.

It feels so good when I am able to create something with a pattern, fabric, trim and a zipper that I already have.
No trip to the store needed here.  

There are six pockets on the outside to place her toothbrush, toothpaste and brush and comb, all pink of course.  Pink "Hello Kitty" pj's go inside.

Now all she has to do is hop in the car and head up the mountain so she can spend the night at her Omi's house.

Sometimes I wish I could to be a little girl again....just for a day.

Grandbaby No. 3 Has Arrived

Nothing is sweeter than gazing at that precious face.

And touching that soft skin.

Only a few hours old

And capturing a mother adoring her new baby.

And cherishing the sight of a big "brudder" holding his baby "brudder" for the first time.

Life is sweet.  Especially new life.

I love being a "GranZ"

Green Day

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's day?

The closest I am to being Irish is the fact that my mother's name is "Patricia".  When I was young, I "celebrated" by making sure I wore green to school so I wouldn't get pinched.  After I got married I adopted this fun holiday by gathering family together and eating.  That is what St. Patrick's Day is all about.  Eating and drinking.

Tonight we had family over for a traditional dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and bread. This is the easiest dinner on the planet for all you have to do is throw the corned beef and veggies in the crock pot in the morning and let it cook all day.  I must say it was yummy.

Crock pots rock.

 For dessert, we had green mint ice cream topped with with some chocolate mint cookies.

Cookies on a vintage three tiered tray.

I pulled out my green and splattered them throughout.

My windowsill above the sink

A collection of green glass

Some green on the island

Family + Food = Loveliness

I'll leave you with this....

The Making of a Baby Quilt

It is finished.  A quilt for my little grandson who is due any day now.


I love making baby quilts.  .
I've made quilts for each of my children, my grandchildren, my nieces and some friends.

Let me share the process I went through with this quilt:

I started by going  through my stash and pulling out what grabbed me.  It took awhile...I pulled, put back, pulled, put back.  I even used fabric from my "scrap drawer".  You never know when those smaller scraps can come in handy.


Next to decide which design to make?  Do I make strips?  Nine patch?  Log cabin?

So many choices.
Keep It Simple kept running through my head .

For this quilt I decided to use (A) as my inspiration fabric. I wanted to cut strips of this fabric to use as a border.

Next, (B)  I  threw the fabrics together on the floor while choosing what I will use for the field squares.  Needed to visualize what it would look like

Since I decided to make triangles in the main field,  I cut strips of fabric 5 3/4 in wide (C) and then
 cut those strips into 5 3/4 in squares (D).


Now, let me show you how I made those triangles.


After piecing the triangle squares together, sewing the border, grabbing some natural cotton batting. and  choosing the backing, I came up with this:

 





And then I hand quilted away....


I can't wait  to wrap up my new little grandbabe in this sweet quilt.

Kissed By the Rain

Love waking up in the morning after a night of rain. My garden loves it too.

Japanese Flowering Cherry in full bloom in my front yard

Newly planted urn on my front porch

Purple freesias that smell divine

And white freesia in a potted lemon bush

My absolute favorite freesia.

Nothing beats the climate here in California.  Nothing.