Baby K's song

This song is "unpublished" until now. I have been pondering and mulling over a song for Baby K since she was born two years ago. The older two seem to like their songs and last time we were there they asked me about their little sister's song, so the pressure was on. I had been thinking about it, but until a "song" sticks in my head and I can remember it from one day to the next, it's not the right song. This one stuck.

I use her first and middle name.

Baby K N
my baby K N
She's sweet like a brownie
And cute like a bunnie
My baby K N
my baby K N

Baby K N,
my baby K N
I love her and miss her
and wish I could kiss her
my baby K N
my baby K N

Baby K N
my baby K N
I miss her and love her
and wish I could hug her
my baby K N
my baby K N

I use the tune from "Good morning to you" as the base of this song and I always signed my letters to my kids, I love you, I miss you, I wish I could kiss you, OR I miss you, I love you, I wish I could hug you, when they left for college, because . . . well, that is how I felt. So Baby K's song has that bit in it.

I will be debuting the song in May, I hope she likes it.

Now, a Baby D song, hmmmmmmmm.

The Lulu Song

Lulu Bug, Lulu Bug,
She's my little girl.
Lulu Bug, Lulu Bug,
Her hair has got a curl.

I love LuLu Bug
I love her very much.

Lulu Bug, Lulu Bug,
She's my little girl.

The Cowboy Song

I write a song for each of my grandchildren. Don't know why, just do. I had little names for my kids when they were little, Silly Bean, Tootsie Bear and Honey Bunny, so this is probably just an extension of my celebration of children. I have finished Baby K's, but the other two (who were reminding me she needs a song, too) haven't heard it yet. It isn't something I can force, but it finally came to me. They will hear it on my next visit.

This is the Cowboy Song. I put cowboy in place of his real name.

Cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,
He's my little boy.
Cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,
He's my little toy.

I like to play with Cowboy,
I like to play all day.
Cowboy, cowboy, cowboy,
Hooray, hooray, hooray!!!

I have also been singing a little praise song, "Rejoice in the Lord, Always" from the time he was born. It was off an album that my children listened to when they were little. Cary Landry was the artist on the album named Hi God. Anyway, I sing it all the time when I visit and he can belt it out pretty good, especially the re-JOICE part. When he was very young the JOICE was all he could do, but he did it well. After he hit about three, the "self conscious cowboy" came out and he tempered his enthusiasm. Why do humans get like that? My youngest, "bunny" came out of it in High School and she was always the most fun counseller at summer camp. She was FUN to watch and held nothing back as she praised the Lord. I believe she had a profound impact on those Jr. Hi. kids.

The Six of Us

We are indeed happy and proud grandparents. The joy that these little people bring to our lives is truly indescribable. To look into their little faces, to hear what they have to say, to feel their hugs and kisses, they love so recklessly, they are precious. This picture was taken last October, so quite a while ago. We are going for a visit shortly, so we are looking forward to our next group shot.


This picture was taken the fall before. The kids, our cowboy, Baby K and Lulu are almost exactly one year younger. And baby D hasn't joined the family yet. What a delicious pile of LOVE.

Those "blasted" Azaleas

While I was on my adventure downtown, the azaleas decided to come into full bloom. I also arrived home to a whopper of a storm, truly timing from above. As I pulled onto our street the wind, lightening and rain hit full force. I rocked down the road in my little Smart seeing the smaller trees at a 45 degree angle, SCARY!!! The storm was coming from the south west, but at our place the wind was straight from the north. I got my little self inside fast and felt very safe and cozy, even though the wind was whipping. This morning the news reported winds up to 70 mph and tornadoes to the east of us. We dodged that bullet. Some homes in the area lost electricity for a couple of hours. I kinda know it's not real good when the storm is coming one direction and the wind from another. We even had purple over our area on the weather radar for a while, with a huge red blob surrounding that. An inch of rain in less than an hour. We had some more today, but just regular rain thank goodness. I do like regular rain. Regular rain is lovely.



Anyway . . . back to the azaleas. After reaching their peak and then getting the snot beat out of them, this is what they look like now. Sad.



The last picture is my "rain gauge." I am a little weird when it comes to rain and can get a little fixated on switching to the weather channel or calling up the radar on the internet. I like to know what is headed my way, which generally helps me avoid being caught in a storm like last night. I am the first one to STAY HOME if something is coming. I have been comparing the color of the radar, light green, medium green, dark green, yellow, orange, red, and even purple on occasion (we had purple last night) with the flow of water coming out of our back downspout. I have gotten pretty good at knowing what "color" will be on the radar by the flow from the spout. This picture shows dark green.

Adversity results in shopping

I had a most interesting past two days, I am still a little in shock about the whole thing. It started with a phone call late Monday evening. My youngest was in a car accident. This is not a phone call any parent wants to hear. Fortunately the damage could have been far worse than it was, although any trauma is unwelcome. Temporary loss of sight in one eye and then a check up that confirmed no permanent damage and healing should proceed over the next few weeks with a positive outcome. Thank God, thank God, thank God.

So I got to drive downtown avoiding the big freeways, which turned a 40 minute drive (on a good day) into an hour and a half (during rush hour). I was pleasantly surprised that it was an easy drive with fewer lights than expected, lighter traffic than I expected and well marked transfers from one road to the next. It was a drive I wanted to do, just not in an emergency situation. But, such is life. I love my little Smart Car so it was a drive that was only dampened by my concern for my daughter.

After the Dr. appointment and lunch, we returned her friend home and made a bonus trip to see some old, dear friends who lived nearby our destination. It was only about a 20 minute visit, but so wonderful. I then got to drive a lovely drive along a lovely Boulevard that I had never had the opportunity to drive. The next day, because of the eye sight challenge I was again called into cab duty. Armed with some help from maps and computers we managed to find our destination and I dropped my daughter off for the day. Just like High School! I decided to just drive around the city, not worrying about wrong turns (except on one way streets) and got a better feel for "my city". I also arranged lunch with a next door neighbor who works downtown! That was nice, since I had to eat anyway. Then on to the fabric store!! I had to take advantage of that.

I knew I needed fabric for my little girls jamies and sundresses. I also am hoping to make some fun cowboy shirts for a couple of little guys I know! I found some cute, cute, cute stuff and can't wait to start cutting.


This is the fabric that I will make the cowboy shirts and maybe a sun dress or two out of. A nice poly cotton that came out of the dryer without too much creasing.



This fabric will be used for the girls night gowns for this summer. I will use the print on the younger one's nightgown with the blue being the trim and use the blue for the older one and the print as the trim. It might seem a little too juvenile for a four year old, but I hope she won't mind, it is SO cute.

This last one, now, how could I resist? I will use this for summer dresses for the girls. It makes me wish I was a little girl again, or I wish our society didn't judge someone who might express themselves a little "differently". I love color and find ways to wear it without it being too silly looking. Wearing a black skirt helps, I can put LOTS of color with my black skirts. I also have that red with black polka dots to use for something fun for the girls as well.

I was on a roll and stopped by Office Depot to check out chairs. SALE!!! I got a nice chair for under $50. When I got home I couldn't even get the wheels into the bottom, I guess this is a job for . . . . . SUPER HUBBY! I have been using a dining room chair for sewing and that has made moving between the machine and the serger very difficult. This will be a big improvement, especially in comfort as the height is adjustable. Once we get to the point of changing out the carpet, I'll really be on a roll.

A Cowboy from long ago, well . . . . the 80's

This is the father and auntie of the current cowboy. My son was five in the picture, my grandson is five in the pictures posted recently. My daughter was probably two. The grand babies call her "Aunt Dewey" I love that.

More of the Garden

This glider is from my grandmother's screened in porch, I would sit on it when I was a kid and listen to her little canary Tweety and rock. My brother had it for a while, but didn't have a place for it. He offered to give it to me, I was beyond thrilled. We had it refinished by a friend who even took the wrought iron apart and sandblasted and repainted it. Did a great job! It is a fabulous place to sit and enjoy the garden. Apparently my grandmother bought it used, so I think it may be pretty old, but it is made so well.



We used to have several jade plants in the house. For some reason we decided to move them outside, they are MUCH happier outside.





I find this flower completely fascinating because it has several amazing colors in the same flower. How did God do that?? I love it.


Our first wine cups began to bloom this week, there are several more now and we'll have lots by the end of the week.

The Kitty Cat Quilt

I am making a quilt for my oldest daughter and her husband. They are cat people and recently had to say good-bye to one of their cats. They ask if I would contribute to the memory of their kitty and after thinking about how to do that, I decided a cat quilt would be perfect. It is a smallish quilt, crib size, and I will put a sleeve in the back of it so they can hang it on the wall if they would prefer that to using it to snuggle up with. It alternates with cat squares, heart squares and nine patch squares. Much of the fabric is from my mom's stash, although I had to buy the dark blue for the sashing and framing, as well as the cat fabric for the back. That is just for grins. One of the cats on the cat fabric reminds me of the cat my daughter got several years ago when she was single. It was a rescue.


This is the heart square.



This is the nine patch square.


This is the cat square.



The back of the quilt. I rarely do the back in only one fabric. I have used the blue of the sashing and the deep pink from the posts and will embroider the date and such in that square.


The front of the quilt.

I have it basted, but will do the quilting in April when I am recovering from a procedure that will require me to sit on the couch for a few weeks.

My Little Cowboy

I found two pics from the other blog to feature my handsome little cowboy, THE CUTEST ever. Oh, yeah. As you can see they are much better being modeled.

one little, two little, three little cowboy shirts.

My little grandson seems to love being a cowboy. He is frequently photographed in one of the three cowboy shirts I have made him this past year. Since I am sure they will be outgrown shortly, I have made three more in the next size. I hope he will always enjoy being a cowboy as I am certainly a happy cowboy shirt maker, especially for such a special little boy. I think of him surrounded by my prayers of safety, strength and for his growing faith. He is a most marvelous little man.

My new black dress

I have been sewing. Mostly working on a cat quilt which I hope to have together by the weekend, I will head to the sewing room when I am done here. This is my new black dress. I will make is slightly different the next time. I think my shoulders slope a bit as when I pull it up just a titch in the shoulder, it looks nicer. I really didn't see it with the muslin mock up as the fabric is very different. I am looking forward to making this with a lovely floral print and maybe doing the shorter version. I am so very comfortable in dresses.

My birthday

My birthday is over a week away, but I am still getting birthday cards, so I am NOT willing to move on just yet. Since there was so much lunching and dessert eating around my birthday, I had a simple cookie with pink frosting and sprinkles (I was thinking of my grand daughters, and knew they would like that!) instead of cake at home, and requested a few pics with one of my favorite women in the bluebonnets. How nice that she just went along. How lucky am I??

How does your garden grow. Vol. mid March

The first two pictures are of the Parsley Hawthorn Tree. A long shot and a close up of the beautiful little blossoms. The third is a bluebonnet with a firecracker plant snuggling up next to it. Wow!











We had some rain last week and I expected lots of new growth in the garden. There is a lot, but not as much as I had hoped. What I am loving right now is the mixes of color in close proximity. God does lovely things. The last wildflower isn't on our property, but is nearby in a common area. I had to include it.

Birthday Break

I have been having lunch and doing other things that have kept me out of the sewing room for over a week, but the activity level (and mess involved) is back. Sometimes I wish I had a much larger room and lots of shelves and tables, but I would just make a bigger more unwieldy mess. I saw on one of the final shows of Project Runway that the contestant that won worked out of a closet! OK, I have a room AND a closet, a guest room with a queen size bed (the quilt bits are laid out in there right now) and a dining room with a large table (the skirt of my dress is laying out there) and the living room (where I sit with hubby in the evenings doing hand sewing) so I guess I will just be quiet now.

As I said,I am sewing again, I have a dress half made and MANY things planned, but my big focus is I am deep into the process of making a quilt, a cat quilt, for 2 birthdays and an anniversary, for the same two people. I figure if you have May and June birthdays with a July Anniversary thrown in, one quilt is a good joint gift. Considering the time involved on this project, lots of praying for the recipients.

There is also some cursing, well not really cursing, but definitely some frustration at times. I cut fabric for the sashes and after cutting them all, realized I cut them for eight inch squares and the quilt has nine inch squares. Brilliant . . . NOT! Fortunately I am not out so much fabric, but I am the kind of person who can't bear to throw away 20 one and a half by eight and a half inch strips! My brain is scrolling through 1,000 uses for miss cut strips. Submit ideas to . . . . . never mind.

I haven't quilted in quite a while, as the sewing has taken an upper hand. With so many folks to sew for and the practicality of sewing, while it feeds my need for creativity, my need for precision, my need to build and my need to have a tool for meditation, it just fits me well. I did make a small quilt for my mom with her eight great grand children featured on a small panel, but actually it wasn't quilted, it was so small it was just a panel. I realized I never posted a picture of the panel, so here it is.



And . . . I am going to lunch with friends, so sewing is delayed a bit longer today.

Scan, scan, scan!

I haven't really been sewing lately, and don't have any pressing projects. I do hope to make a dress or two for my little grand girls, we'll visit sometime this spring. Meanwhile I have been scanning pictures. My plan is to make history books, family history books. I have some fabulous pics and hope to do research and gather family stories so these can be shared with grandchildren and they will have the opportunity to know their grandparents and great grandparents better. My son never knew his paternal grandfather so that is the first project.

This photo was taken March 1966. I believe there is a story in there somewhere.

How does your garden grow. Vol. early March

The garden is quickly coming to life and within a week we have a number of additional surprises in the garden.


These are FUN, they are called Indian Corn and they remind me very much of those little candy corns we loved as children, or maybe still love! They are so cute!!






Our Redbud is going to be beautiful.


Our Azaleas are just beginning to bloom.



Cosmos!