Sunbonnet Sue & Overalls Sam

Howdy all!
I got to do a little sewing yesterday. It was great to get "Jan" out and get her humming again. Yup, THAT's it! "Jan". Do you remember I had asked the question of what to name my New Home when I first got it? Well, just now as I was typing that sentence, it came to me - Janome was the actual manufacturer sooooo, JAN short for Janome! 

The name "Flora" popped into my head yesterday (out of nowhere), however Cass' 1980's Singer is getting that name. It's plain white , so we dressed it up with some floral and dragonfly stickers. It's a whole 'bunch' cuter now!

About the Sunbonnets - a month or so ago I got the nudge to try my hand at a little embroidery. I have a quilting magazine that's all about Sunbonnet Sue and figured it a good spot to look for something to trace. It was. I picked this bouquet holding couple, traced and stitched it up using the outline, lazy daisy, and I think it's called the wheat stitch. I even took the liberty of a little extra detailing like Sue's bonnet band and apron trim, as well as giving Sam a pocket & flower and the little wheat at the bottom of his pant leg (to coordinate with his life's love).

Sewing yesterday consisted of strip piecing various fabrics to frame out this cute couple. Nothing too elaborate - but BOY, is it CUTE!

After a little squaring up, I think it'll be a wall hanging, maybe a pillow. We'll see!

Thanks for reading. Have a blessed day!

Bye, all!

Not Your Mother's Baked Beans

So, I've never been a fan of baked beans. Don't care enough for the thick-ish sweet sauce to withstand the starchy beans. For the most part it's no kidneys, no limas, not even butter beans however cute the name may be. However, I must say I know that your tastes change as you age. Take onions for instance, never used to get'em to my lips. Now, how can you have a hoagie without them and have it taste nearly as good? And of course they're wonderful in a salad... back to the beans..

I caved in some years back now and started making chili for my family. A friend of mine makes hers nice and loose with hardly any beans. I modeled mine after that somewhat. Nice and loose with yummy tomatoes (another item I've recently come to enjoy), but I switched up the kidney beans for small white beans - much more tolerable!

Now, for the 'baked beans'. My sister-in-law's husband just loved his co-worker's wife's beans. Pfeww! What a sentence!  Anyway, he loved them so much that he got the recipe. We were visiting this past Sunday and they served them. They were good - not your mother's baked beans. They're kind of like a chili but sweet and with BACON!

yummy!

I did make a couple of adjustments like decreasing the sugar, changing the beans and subbing out canned baked beans for beans and extra ketchup.

Here's the final product:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. bacon

1 large onion

1 1/2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C ketchup

3 T vinegar

1 can pinto beans w/ liquid

1 can small white beans w/ liquid

1 can small pink beans w/ liquid

1 can french style green beans w/ liquid

In a large dutch oven (I used my 12 inch cast iron deep skillet), cook bacon until crisp, add the hambuger and cook thoroughly, add onion and cook until translucent. Drain well.

Add to meat mixture the brown sugar, ketchup, vinegar and all of the beans.

Stir to combine.

Cover and put it in the oven at 350* F for an hour.

There ya' have it!

Enjoy!

p.s. Let me know what ya' think about 'em!

Up, up and away!

Well, who would've thought yesterday while typing to you

that my husband was receiving an invitation for us to go up in this balloon?

picture taken from Warren \County Farmers' Fair Brochure

Of all times to not have an SD card in the camera! I left in a rush after typing yesterday's post and neglected to take it with me :(

Thankfully, the camera holds a few shots without a card...

Off to Fred's house. Fred's the pilot, by the way!
To fill you in, every summer at the fair/Balloon Festival, our family helps out by way of setting up, chasing and then packing up balloons for any pilot that may need help. Most of the time we're with

Fred (Balloonatics & Aeronuts)
or
Kenny (Balloons Over Orlando)

FILLING THE BALLOON

A LITTLE LOOK AT THE INSIDE WHILE IT'S
FILLING UP WITH AIR

THIS IS FRED, VERY FOCUSED AS SHOULD BE!!!

THAT'S US OVER THERE ON THE MOUNTAIN
OR AT LEAST OUR SHADOW :)

PICTURESQUE OXFORD FURNACE LAKE

SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY AROUND
OUR NECK OF THE WOODS

It was such a wonderful night for a flight! Living where we do we could see both the NY and Philly skylines. NY was very distinguishable, however it didn't photograph very well, too hazy. Awesome, nonetheless!

For a good portion of the trip we were up a mile or more (a little unnerving when I started the "what ifs" in my head, but I didn't allow myself there for long).

Just before we landed we needed to fly THROUGH some trees in order to slow us down... that was really neat! When we came out on the other side of this one tree, Oxford firemen were there to cheer us.

Bet you thought I was going to say RESCUE us - we just happen to fly next their firehouse!

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU, FRED! for all the wonderful times that we have had in and around the balloons. Looking forward to many more.

My family is very blessed.

Did ya' miss me?

Hey there everyone!
I know it's been a TERRIBLY long time. 
Summer seemed to fly right on by.

Here we are again... the start of a new school year for my kids and a time for me to get back into a routine of some sort. It will be good again to have some time to myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT one of those moms that "can't wait for them to get back to school". I think that it's horrible to wish your children out of your house. They'll be gone all too soon. Nevertheless, I should have some alone time... time to talk to God, get into His Word, do my chores without interruption and maybe DEFINITELY do some fun stuff, too!

So, this summer I spent some time driving back and forth to French Creek Bible Conference where all three of my children spent their respective weeks at camp. In addition to their own weeks, Wyatt spent an extra week working in the kitchen and another week as counselor at Cass' conference. Our family spent Labor Day weekend there, as well.

We actually began the summer with a trip to Seeley's Bay, Ontario with a stopover in upstate NY on the way home. It was nice to get away together. And the dog, too,  is now an international traveler!

Another big highlight was the Farmer's Fair where my daughter was in the Princess competition once again this year. She came in 2nd Runner-up last year with her performance of 'God Bless the USA'. A little stiff on stage, wasn't quite her best. This year she gave it her all with a rousing performance of 'BoogieWoogie Bugle Boy' in the style of the Andrews sisters. With her stuffy head and runny nose she still pulled in 1st Runner-up!

Here she is in her homemade 'military' uniform complete with hand-crafted garrison cap. I found the pattern on Ehow.com. The skirt used to be a pair of hunting pants. I had taken in and old blouse and shortened a store-bought tie. I love how easy it was to pull off her authentic hairdo - hairnet and bobby-pins! 

she actually started facing backwards then turned around like this while marching

the music picked up and so did Cass and her 'jazz hands'

now, if you manage to flip through these fast enough, it's almost like being there!

tu, tu, tu, toot, diddle-ee-ada

'he's the boogie woogie bugle boy  of Company B

'they made 'im  blow a bugle for his Uncle Sam'

'it really brought 'im down because he couldn't jam'

instrumental 

'he puts the boys to sleep with boogie every night'

dah, dahh, da-da, da-dahh

Look at that smile - she had a GREAT time!

Okay, sorry for all the pics, but I'm a proud mama, what can I say?!

Well, now that my two September babies have both celebrated their birthdays and we have a couple weeks of school under our belts, I'll get at that routine like I mentioned earlier. Back to some sewing and baking and cards with the girls! AND of course finding some time to share with you all    ;) [wink]

no pic of Sawyer's cake but here's  Cass' cake

Gardening

Finally, I made some time for a little gardening! And oh, how happy I am to know that one of my beds is up to par.  Now if only I could keep the neighbor's stinkin' cats out!!! Mulched or not, they still come and dig in the soil and leave the nastiest little presents  {euwwwww yuk}

Here in another bed is a Siberian Iris. This was started I think two years ago from splitting one that had been given to me by my mother's friend, Margaret. I can't remember NOT knowing Margaret. She's no longer with us as she passed away several years ago now due to Cancer. I used  to stop in and see her from time to time or she would come over here.  We'd chat about gardening or our families. I'm fortunate to have reminders of her around my house. There are plants in the flowerbeds that came from her and the valance I have around my front porch was originally her idea. Her house in the neighboiring town and mine were the only ones around with a valance on the porch. People have told me how much they like mine and asked me if I had ever seen the one in S'ville. "Oh, yes", I'd say. She was my inspiration. {sigh} Sometimes I really miss Margaret.

You'll have to excuse the weeds. Isn't it pretty? I like them so much better than traditional Iris. The blades are so soft and delicate and grow in this compact "bush" which looks nice even after the blooms are gone. See the little gnome my mom gave me? She surprised me with it several years ago when she drove up. We were eating at a Cracker Barrel in Florida and I spotted this in the store, but couldn't take it on the plane. I really like her even though she is now faded and this year I found that the top of her hat has a hole in it!

Back to the cats... my husband bought Critter Ridder (Havahart) made mostly of black pepper oil. I spread it around the bed and alas, they still dug in the soil. SO, if you have any solutions perhaps maybe homemade repellants or the like, PLEASE leave me a comment. Happy gardening to you all!

A Little Getaway

Welcome to a new week. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. I did!

Friday evening I dropped Wyatt (16) off at Trinity OPC in Hatboro, PA for 'preview weekend' for our church camp. He is a counselor for the
4-5-6 camp (that's grades 4,5,6) at French Creek Bible Conference.

After dropping him, I headed back over the river to south Jersey for a visit with my godparents. They graciously put me up for the night. I then spent all of Saturday with them. Aunt Linda and I visited a couple quilt shops near their house and had lunch at the most adorable restauant. The menu was not your typical fare... much more "gourmet" than most. I had a yummy  veggie burger (called Garden Burger), served with a beautiful side salad. Of course, I had ordered fries, too not that I needed them!

This is the entryway into the room where we ate...

and this is the room where we ate. It's actually an enclosed porch.

Beautiful place, huh?

If ever in Mount Holly, NJ you just have to visit

Robin's Nest Restaurant . You won't regret it!

Before lunch Aunt Linda showed me the local shop in beautiful Historic Burlington, NJ where Uncle Lee quilts when he's not quilting at home. He's a terrific quilter! He even runs one of the shop's many longarm machines that are available for use.

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't remember to take any pictures inside. There was much, too much to see and it slipped my mind. Here's one shot from inside the car...

To see better pics and much more, click this link for

Olde City Quilts' website.

Now this little shop in Mount Holly (around the corner from Robin's Nest) has a wonderful display of fabrics.

The Village Quilter has many quilts on display as you can see here and kits made on site to make your own. 

"Hi" Aunt Linda! Thanks again for everything - I had a really nice time visiting with you and Uncle Lee. We'll have to do it again sometime soon!



New recipe time!

It was a very dreary day here in NJ.  It rained most of the day.

On the upside... while running a few errands this morning, I stopped at the thrift store and found one of those cool umbrellas that have a duck head for a handle.

Isn't it cute?

and only 3 dollars!

When I got home, I remembered that I had rhubarb in the fridge SO,

with the weather the way it was, I thought...

what a perfect day to bake a pie!

Yummy! Rhubarb Custard Pie!

It looks a little like an omelet in this picture!

Although this was a new recipe,

I still baked two and oh boy, were they good!

Here's the recipe:



The custard is made up of 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix all that together and pour over a pound of rhubard cut into 1/4 inch chunks mixed with 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt (place this mixture in an unbaked pie shell).

Bake the pie for 45 to 50 minutes @ 350 degrees F.

Go ahead and give it a try. Leave me a comment - I'd love to hear what you think of it!