Happy 12th Birthday grandson!

Yesterday we celebrated the oldest grandson's 12th birthday. Gosh has time gone by quickly!

His mother makes the cutest cakes ever!  the theme was the beach. Soon they will be enjoying their vacation there. Play mobile toys and some goldfish make a beach cake. 

Here Brady waits for his birthday song and all the picture taking to end. 

He then blows out all his candles. Who knew the sand (graham cracker crumbs) would go everywhere!

Some one enjoyed the cake a little too much!

Happy Birthday Grandson!

Green beans, I mean purple beans, no really they are green

Remember me telling you about the beans Tipper from Blind Pig gave us? They are from Sow True Seed company. To refresh your memory you can read about it here. 

Well we harvested the first of a small batch of them. Purple they are. I mean they are green beans. 

I started with a strip of nice smoky bacon, diced and fried it. I then added a small diced onion and probably 2-3 cups of beans in my small pressure cooker and added some water. 

I let it come to pressure and set my timer for 3 minutes. Then this is what I had . . . green beans, I mean purple beans. They were delicious. They have just a hint of sweetness but yet still so much like the contenders we normally plant. 

The plants look beautiful and are still producing. I hope for a canner full to come.

I still love the purple blooms. So THANK YOU Sow True seed Company and Tipper. We loved the flavor and beauty of them. 

Lizzie Lizzie quite contrary how does your garden grow?

This spring when Lizzie and I were buying some seeds for the blacksmith, she wanted carrots. That is something we had never planted before. 

Of course, I bought the carrot seeds for her. 

Last week she helped Grandpa dig the first ones.

I then peeled, and peeled, and peeled.

In all I canned 6 pints. Of course we also ate some cooked and some fresh. I think I will let Lizzie buy more carrot seeds next year!

Warning!!! Kid Pics Overload!

There has been no quilting at my house this past week. It was family time all week.  We had family dinners on Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. It will be the last time we all can be together for awhile.

Daughter Sarah and grandson Connor got to spend a few days with us, while husband Rusty was house hunting in Florida.

The first full day of their visit, 7 month old Connor got his first boat ride. He loved the water. That is a good thing, since he is moving to Florida real soon.

He got to meet little cousins the same age. 

He played with these cousins every day!

Uncle Jeremy even got in on the picture too. 

He learned to take a "selfie".

One day Connor got to spend quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, while Aunt Sarah took the cousins to Central Dairy before dinner!  Shhh, don't tell their Mom and Dad!

(This would be the one that will spill the beans to her Mom and Dad.) 

Lizzie tried to hold Connor the entire time. 

Alex got a turn once in awhile.

Connor's first trip as a big boy in the basket. If only we would have remembered the shopping cart liner that Grandma made. 

Finally, we did get some professional pictures taken too!  Thanks to Aunt Lori at Lori Tappel Photography.  

So beware, more pictures to follow in a week or so!

I hope to make taking this same shot a habit every time he comes back to Missouri!

Love ya, Connor!



Life is GOOD!

Lot of cuteness

I might be behind on blogging, but I had a darn good reason for it.

We were spoiling this little guy. 

You see he is moving farther away from Grandma and Grandpa. We spent almost the entire week playing with him.

I think he was missing his Daddy who was in Florida house hunting for them. Thank goodness for facetime!

Cousins had fun talking with him too.

Connor learned to be pretty mobile too in a few days time.

He's back in Oklahoma now for just a few more days before the big move. I have a lot more pictures to post after I finish this box of Kleenex.

But the upside. . .  I can fly as cheap as we could drive to Oklahoma!

More bags

Several weeks ago a friend from long ago (she actually served  cake at my wedding) gave me some vintage family hankies.

I just had to repay her kindness by making her and her daughter bags from those heirlooms. So Kathy got a bag with her mother in law's hankie, and Heather got one too with her Grandmother's hankie!

My latest bag project is recycling coal bags. The nylon bags have been washed several times. Once they were even washed with child labor when the kids used an antique rapid washer and a wash tub.  I am selling these for $12, all proceeds go to the Boutique for the Blacksmith Association of Missouri.  

I've been lacking in my blogging . . . blame it on a lot of family time. Many pictures will be forth coming! 

I'm a lucky cousin!

Yesterday I received a gift from a cousin, these two quilt tops!

This lone star had been machine washed and dried. I spent almost an hour snipping tangled threads and pressing it. I could probably spend another hour doing more of the same. Luckily the seams all seem to be intact. 

I think I might have this machine quilted. The big white squares seem to scream for some detailed scroll work. 

This top had belonged to my late aunt. 

Then there was this Grandmother's flower garden, all hand pieced. This one of course has to be hand quilted! It appears to be quit old. It had been given to the cousin from her X-mother in law, therefore she had no attachment to it. 

Now for all you quilters out there, I've never paid attention as to how one of these are quilted. Do you quilt around every hexie?  Or is it more in color circles? 

THANK You Cousin!!  I love them both.

Life is good.

Sow True Seed report

We love our green beans. Every year we plant the Contender variety. In previous years we've canned more than 50 pints. That is until last year, with the drought we only got a few fresh meals. Luckily I had a few pints left over. 

So far this year we have canned 38 pints and 6 quarts. These beans were planted about the 2nd week of May. 

In May we went to John C Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. Several evenings while we were there we were lucky enough to visit with Tipper of The Blind Pig and the Acorn. One evening she gave me a package of Sow True Seeds.  It was the Snap Bush Royal Burgundy variety. 

These beans will be fascinating to me.  I noticed once they popped their little heads out of the soil by a couple of inches that their stems were purple. 

This picture shows the seeds as we were planting them.

In 10-12 days they were popping through.

This I believe was the 4 to 5 week photo.

Now at 6-7 weeks they are blooming a beautiful purple. You might be as surprised as I was to find out that they grow purple beans. However when you cook them they turn green, or so I've been told.

I can hardly wait to pick the beans in this row.

Now I pray for rain, we are already watering. We don't need another drought like last year.

I'll keep you posted on their progress.  In the mean time visit Sow True Seed company! Also check out Tipper's post about the bean giveaway.