Tagged!

While I was away, Elizabeth tagged me on her blog, "Thoughts from an Evil Overlord". She asked me to tell eight things about myself.

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. September beach vacation with all the children and grandchildren.
2. Summer visits from family and friends.
3. Getting front porch completed.
4. Getting back to work in my studio.
5. Fiftieth birthday.
6. Day trips to the beach.
7. Visiting grandson in Milwaukee.
8. Weekend with Boogie.

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Planted annuals.
2. Planted two grape tomato plants in my Topsy Turvy that daughter gave me for Mother’s Day.
3. Picked up mail at post office.
4. Went to local flea market and bought a vintage dresser scarf and a vintage tea towel. $1 each.
5. Stopped at neighbor’s yard sale. Bought four old medicine bottles, a vintage clover seed bag and a vintage sugar bag.
6. Visited with Miss Ellen, our dear neighbor.
7. Posted to my blog.
8. Worked on an embroidery piece.

8 things I wish I could do:

1. Tap dance really well.
2. Be in two places at once.
3. Twitch my nose like Samantha of “Bewitched” and the house would be dusted and vacuumed.
4. Talk to my Grandma Lawhon.
5. Read the thoughts of our dogs.
6. Sleep all night.
7. Upholstery furniture.
8. Not look so much like my sister.

8 shows I watch on television:

1. Criminal Minds
2. Numb3rs
3. The Mentalist
4. Big Bang Theory
5. Survivor
6. The Tonight Show
   
7. Flashpoint
8. CSI – all of them

The eight people I have tagged are all bloggers that I read faithfully and would like to get to know better. They are:

CC of "Lace 'n' Ribbon Roses"
Patty of "Pip Stitch"
Threeundertwo of "Lit and Laundry"
Rosie of "Reading Rosie"
Dawn of "It Just Dawned on Me"
Miri of "Milk and Honey Quilts"
SueLovesCherries of "My Secret Garden"
Roslyn of "Ros-the-quilter"

Check out these ladies and their blogs.

Finished for Friday - Wedding Reception

I debated about whether to post today because I really haven't finished anything this week. We arrived back home from Kansas late Monday night and since then, I've been playing catch up. All the laundry is FINISHED. Dirty clothes must multiply in suitcases.

The reason for our trip to Kansas was the wedding reception and renewal of vows for our youngest daughter, Paige and her husband, Alex. It seems like we have been planning this event forever. First it was to be in April, 2008 but was moved to May 9th, 2009. So I can say it is FINISHED!

The theme for the reception was "picnic". Nothing reminds me of a picnic more than red gingham. In my last Finished for Friday post, I mentioned having ten yards of gingham to cut and sew for table centerpieces. Thanks to the wonderful invention of the rotary cutter, that job went quickly. Here is a picture of the centerpieces.


Don't those ants just add the right touch? Paige and I were so excited to find those little baskets at Michael's for guest favors. I hot glued some red plaid ribbon around the top then we filled little bags with chocolate rocks. Fun!

Cupcakes were served after a buffet of sub sandwiches, cole slaw, potato salad and baked beans.

A picture of Paige and Alex.

Paige and her sister into the bubbly.

Hubs holding the bridal bouquet with daughter, Kathryn, the bride's attendant.

That's me holding on to a box of wine like a drowning man holds on to a life preserver. My mom interrupted me as I was getting ready to pour my first glass of wine.

This picture just says it all.
FINISHED!

Finished for Friday is hosted my Threeundertwo at Lit and Laundry. Check out what others have finished this week. Tell us what you have accomplished.

Vintage Thingies Thursday - Sewing Cabinet

Hello my vintage loving friends! I've missed you all the last couple of weeks. It's good to be back!

Vintage Thingies Thursday is hosted by Suzanne at Coloradolady. Click here to see what she and all my other VTT friends are sharing this week.

Several weeks ago, I shared a great sewing basket I found at a flea market. You can see that post here if you missed it. I'd like to share this sewing basket this week.


It isn't as old (or as interesting) as the other one, but it has been with me for a long time. This is the sewing box my mom bought me to take to school for seventh grade home ec. That was 1970.

Recently, I cleaned out my sewing box. That is why it looks so neat. Buried at the bottom of my sewing box was this dressmaker's tracing kit.

It was purchased at TG&Y around the same time as the sewing box. Any one remember TG&Y? I loved that store!

Below is another item that stores my sewing supplies. Not sure of the age as I purchased it at an auction.
I love this piece. The top and bottom drawers are nothing special. But the two middle drawers are special.

The second drawer has pegs along the sides to hold spools of thread. I think our old boxer girlie thinks it should hold treats for her.


The third drawer has a wooden tray at the front. It has two troughs. The larger one is just perfect for holding packages of bobbins and sewing machine needles.

When I got this sewing cabinet home, these were some of the things I found in it. In this picture, I included the tracing kit from my sewing basket. I have no idea if these things are sewing tools or just things the previous owner just stuck in her cabinet. The two long metal rods are not needles as they do not have eyes. The shorter one is pointed on both ends while the long one is pointed on one end and flat on the other end. There is a LARGE, heavy needle above the red handled thing. Any one able to tell me what some of these things are?

Thanks for stopping by to see me this week!

Tuesday Tidbits - I Lied and Contest Entry

Is that a face only a grandmother could love? That is our cute grandson, Mr. Porter Pants.

I've been looking for one image to use for my Tuesday Tidbits. Last week I had the pineapples, which reminds me of tidbits...pineapple tidbits. This week I wanted to share this picture as it reminds me of tidbits...all over his face! Maybe I will just use different pictures each week...

I lied. My last post was that I was taking a blog vacation as I'm going back *home* for a week. But, I made the mistake of checking email and my blog roll and read about this giveaway. How could I not enter! Click on the Apronista button to see the giveaway.

Yesterday afternoon, I visited with my 86 year old neighbor, Anne. She never throws anything away. Really. She saves everything. When I left her house yesterday, I had four bags full of vintage goodies and a vintage toaster. I'll have to share those with all my Vintage Thursday pals once I return.

Now, I must TURN OFF my computer and get packing. Literally!

Now I'm taking a

See you next week!

Blog Vacation

I'll be heading back to my home town Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing my family and friends. Keeping my fingers crossed that the air travel gods are smiling on me. It always seems my flight gets delayed and delayed and delayed then canceled.

See you all next week!

Blue Plate Mondays - Biscuits Supreme

Thanks go to Kelly for hosting Blue Plate Mondays at (un)Deniably Domestic. Stop in to see what yummy recipes others have to share this week.

I also must thank Kelly for leading me to EllynAnne Geisel's FABULOUS not-a-contest GIVEAWAY at her blog, Apron Memories. I was one of the six winners! WOOHOO! Click here to see what I won. I'm going to have to send Kelly a thank you gift.

Seeing Kelly's post about Biscuit Donuts brought to mind my struggle with making home made biscuits. I finally found the right recipe and the *tricks* to making fabulous biscuits. They are almost as easy as opening a tube of biscuits.Biscuits Supreme

2 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco.)
1/2 cup milk*

Sift together the first five ingredients. Cut in the shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (Avoid blending the fat completely with the flour. This makes for mealy biscuits. Use a fork and blend until the shortening is the size of lima beans.) Make a well in the center of flour mixture; add milk all at once. Stir just until dough clings together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for ten to twelve strokes. PAT the dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, dipping cutter in flour between cuts.

Bake on ungreased baking sheet for 10-12 minutes at 450F.

*My recipe calls for 2/3 cup of milk, but this made my biscuits to "runny". I started using 1/2 cup milk and they are perfect.

The key to making the best biscuits, noodles and pie crusts is to handle them as little as possible. That's why you should not knead them very much and pat the biscuits instead of rolling them.
Now that I have learned the trick to making great biscuits, Hubs wants them all the time.

I've been busy getting ready for Daughter P and SIL A's wedding reception. On Tuesday, I fly back to my hometown for a week. I decided to take a blog vacation during that time so I won't be posting next Monday. I will be checking out the yummy recipes you share when I return.

Have a great week!

Finished for Friday - Another Needle Case and I WON!

Can it be Friday already? I'm sitting here thinking of all the things I need to get done in the next few days before I head back to Kansas to visit family and friends. And as usual, when I'm stressed, I do nothing or I try to do everything all at once accomplishing nothing.

This week, I finished the needle case and pin cushion I'm giving to my mom for Mother's Day while I am *home*. You can see one similar here.

I got several things finalized for Daughter P and SIL A's wedding reception, including finding a dress and shoes.

I've made two trips to the post office to check our new P.O. box for mail only to arrive home and find our mailbox on the house stuffed with mail. What a mess! If it is delivered to our house today, I will make ANOTHER trip to the post office to find out what is happening. If you missed my rant about my *enjoyable* trips to the post office, you can read that here.

Back in March, Kelly at (un)Deniably Domestic led me to a give away at Apron Memories, ElleynAnne Geisel's blog. My entry for this give away can be seen here. The random drawing took place today and I am one of the six lucky winners! WOOHOO! You can check out all the goodies I won here.

Now I must get busy cutting and sewing ten yards of red gingham fabric into table mats and runners for the wedding reception. The reception's theme is picnic. I ordered black plastic ants to go on the gingham mats for the tables. They should have been here by now but with our messed up mail delivery, who knows where they could be! Makes me want to curse!

Don't forget to visit threeundertwo at Lit and Laundry to see what others have accomplished this week. Tell us what you Finished for Friday.