Sorting Strips and Other Weekend Activities

We had our youngest two grandchildren yesterday, it was a VERY rainy day and we concentrated on inside activities. I asked Lynnleigh for some help in sorting my bin of strips into color groups. I set her up in the sewing room and taped crayons on the table to identify each row. She set right to work and enjoyed the task... for a while. She took a lot of breaks in between and that was just fine. We found lots of fun activities. We decorated the house for Easter, planted some flower seeds and baked up a big batch of caramel corn (recipe below!). I don't have a plan for my strips but they'll be all color coordinated and easier to use now, whenever I'm ready.

She got a LOT accomplished in snatches of time. I am very pleased (as she is) with the result.

The truth is there's probably just as many strings left in the bin as there are on the table. But, we've made a GREAT start! The bin on the left (on the sofa) will be reserved for lights/neutrals only.  

I got this recipe from Quiltkeemosabe last week. It's all that and more. 

Good luck keeping it on hand for up to five days!

Gregory was happy to pose for the recreation of this photo from seven years ago. Sigh. 

Last evening Mr. Goodneedle and I attended the Winston-Salem Symphony for an evening with "Ella and Louis", we had a terrific time listening to vocals and trumpet music saluting the greats Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. We always love attending functions at the beautiful Reynolds Auditorium, for a high school auditorium it is amazingly special and, I dare say, unlike most others. 

One final little story from yesterday. Lynnleigh was sitting at the kitchen table and I mentioned to her that her face is elongating and slimming down and, at six, she's looking much more like a  big girl now than a little girl. She immediately replied: "Oh, that's probably because I'm sitting up on my knees!" 

Yeah, that's it. 😉

Life is Good!

Third In A Series

This past weekend was a repeat of our "one on one" grandchildren weekends, which, in actuality, should be called "one on two" as we've been hosting one child at a time with both grandparents! This past weekend it was Mason's turn. We picked him up on Friday afternoon in the Capital City and enjoyed every minute of his company. Now a fourth grader, Mason loves to read and play sports. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate for any outdoor activities but we made the most of being confined indoors. On Saturday, Mason surprised his cousins by attending Gregory's Pinewood Derby! Uncle Kyle even had a car for Mason to race after the Cub Scouts' competition concluded; Mason raced Lynnleigh in the "family fun run". Lynnleigh's little car turned out, surprisingly, to be super fast; but Mason ended up getting an even better prize at the end when Uncle Kyle let him keep the car!💗

Mason (lane 1) vs. Lynnleigh (lane 2) in the "Fun Run" race.

After the Pinewood Derby all the cousins were treated to the new Lego movie, they loved it. The rest of the weekend was spent playing games (perfecting those Cribbage skills), eating, church, and visiting; Mason is a smart and funny boy who's so much fun to spend time with, and we're not one bit biased! Before we knew it, the weekend had flown by and Mason was off, returning back home once again. 

Speaking of time flying-- another photo of Mason at another Chick Fil A 

(see now, in the photo collage above for comparison).

Wasn't this just the day before yesterday? Sigh.

Life is Good!

One On One... Again

Another weekend, another grandchild. This time it was the youngest; this newly-turned-six year old really keeps us on our toes! The activities included, but weren't limited to: homemade ice cream making with Paw Paw, practicing hand sewing skills with lacing cards, sewing skirts for her American Girl dolls, making a necklace hanging rack for her room and, of course, a tea party! The tea party table was set with a tea pot and cups from two of her great, great, grandmothers! In between all of those fun things lots of pictures were colored, crafts created, jokes told, stories read and memories made. 

We ate at Cracker Barrel on Friday night. She ordered a pancake and had a biscuit along with a side order of broccoli. Eating out with grandparents is a special time, she can order whatever she would like. We've already been broken in and worn down by picky eaters over the years, we weren't fazed.

Meet "Reese's Cup" and "Ice Cream"; these two "worm" creations kept her occupied for hours on end. Our "art box" filled with all sorts of odds and ends along with markers, scissors and glue is her treasure trove. 

All in all it was a great weekend that flew by much too quickly. She and I are already making plans for what we'll do "next time". 

Life is Good!

Whirlwind Weekend!

We had a wonderful, whirlwind of a weekend with our two youngest grandchildren. We celebrated Pawpaw's birthday in grand style with his favorite dessert: homemade apple pie. There was also some cookie decorating, a nap or two, box stacking/tower building*, creative arts, ice cream and many, many games of Otrio. This game is a new twist on Tic Tac Toe. Mr. Goodneedle and I were amazed at how quickly the children took to the game and marveled at their strategic skills; even at their ages they were quite adept at defensive moves. This is a great family game, check it out if you haven't heard of it.    

On Quiltkeemosabe's recommendation we all watched The Star on Sunday afternoon. This is a sweet movie of the first Christmas told from the animals' point of view. It is just precious, we all loved it. All too soon the weekend was over and our house grew quiet once again. And yet, reminders remain.

Last evening, after dinner, we were moving upstairs to settle down and watch TV in our converted attic space/entertainment area. It was then that I spotted this pinned to a quilt that hangs in the hallway outside the room. Gregory likes to announce what's playing in "the theaters"! Sigh. 

Yes, it's quiet around here today, New Year's Day.

I look forward to more whirlwind weekends and memory making in 2019! 

Wishing you peace, joy and fulfillment on this day and every day in the new year to come.

Life is Good!

* We have amassed an excessive amount of corrugated cardboard shipping boxes this year. I believe that I will invest in cardboard stock. This seems ridiculously wasteful to me. Mr. Goodneedle is looking at these as future fire-starters now that we have switched to a wood burning fireplace. I believe we have enough for a very long time!😉

A WHAT?

We had our youngest two grandchildren for two days this past weekend. Gone are the days when I had to worry about them getting into things that they shouldn't; now, at almost five years old, Gregory will sit all day long (if we let him) building things with PawPaw. The last time that he came they built a helicopter, this time it was a battleship; and, as far as Gregory was concerned, it was all-consuming task. They worked for two days before they were done. Gregory is learning a lot. I had no idea how much attention he paid to PawPaw until he was in the sewing room right before he left to go home. I have all of my pieces for the Metro Rings quilt cut out and strewn on the cutting table. Gregory inspected what I was doing and pointed to the pieced arc (as shown, below) and asked me if I knew what that was. 
"What do you think it is?" I asked him. I expected an answer along the lines of "rainbow" or "smile" or "curve" or "arch".  Oh, no. "That's a subassembly" he responded, smiling broadly. A what? I was floored. I asked my husband of they'd using that term in their building projects. "We sure have" he answered. PawPaw was thrilled, not only that Gregory remembered, but that he fully understood the concept. Wow. That was a happy grandparent moment.

Here's the proud battleship builder with his completed creation, a weekend's worth of work.

In case you wondered how Nana and Lynnleigh spent their time, we made lollipops!

Life is Good!

... and oh-so sweet...

.

Equal Time

It's been a busy weekend. Last week I posted about our favorite four year old grandson; today is all about equal time for our favorite four year old granddaughter! Lucy Ann spent the weekend with Nana and Paw Paw. While the highlight was a trip to the American Girl store, there were many fun times and precious moments with her. She chose fabric for Nana to make her a new dress for fall, conducted music classes for dolls and animals, had a playdate and dinner with her cousins, entertained us with endless fashion shows starring her doll, Sarah, and her mother's vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls, colored pictures and created elaborate sticker-sheet artwork. Our home is quiet and still this morning; we miss our spirited, spunky and happy girl. Even Hannes is moping... he enjoyed his little buddy (especially when she was seated at the dinner table!).  Now that she's gone back to the Capital City I'd better get busy on that dress, there's nothing like busy hands to cure the lonelies!

Life is Good!

Vintage Find

Saturday is Egg Day at our house. Both Mr. Goodneedle and I try to limit our cholesterol intake and decided a few years ago that we would celebrate breakfast with an egg only once a week (bacon only makes an appearance a few times a year); it's cereal the other six days. After the recent pantry clean-out and reorganization success I was spurred on to tackle more cabinets in the kitchen. You know how that happens... one thing leads to another, and another, and another. It's the If You Give A Mouse A Cookie syndrome; read it if you're unfamiliar, you'll understand. Anyway, during the height of this clean, purge and reorganizing frenzy I ran across this vintage egg cooker. I believe that we've owned it all of our married life (closing in on 40 years), leading me to think it was a wedding gift. I haven't used it in decades and decided to put it to use for poached eggs a few Saturdays ago, for old times' sake. I filled the receptacle with water, broke the eggs into the egg cups and pressed in the button. Uh-oh! I couldn't release my finger from the button without the appliance shutting off. I had already committed the eggs so I called quickly to Mr. Goodneedle to start the English muffins in the toaster while I kept the button depressed manually. The eggs cooked up perfectly, just like I had remembered; but I figured that the faulty on/off button had rendered the appliance defunct. Nope, not at all. After breakfast he took the egg cooker down to his "fix-it" shop and repaired the switch; it was a simple fix, he reported. We were back in business. This vintage find has been pressed back into service, at least on Saturday mornings. It will also hard boil eggs, with dyeing day coming up it'll see double duty this Easter weekend.

What treasures are hiding behind closed doors at your house?

Life is Good!

While Out And About, And Back Home Again...

While out and about this past weekend I snapped a few photos that I wanted to share here. This one was in a shop window above an outside porch bench.

I'm not sure I've ever used a public restroom with paper on both
the right and the left sides, but it's always nice to have options.

My first real, dedicated, time spent with my Accuquilt cutter yielded
boxes crammed full of perfectly cut triangles for my "Light of Day" project. 

There was very little waste!

A new crop of perfect pinwheels was the outcome of the cutting session.
I'm in love with the efficiency, not to mention the accuracy;
after all, what good would quick be if the results were sloppy?

...and one more weekend gem:
just when I thought that ear worm was dead and gone
a friend from church gifted me with a miniature,
ceramic version of the red Solo cup, lest I forget.

Life is Good!
Cue the music:
..."Let's Have A Party" ...

Sew Much Fun!

Here's a fashion show of creations sewed for this little cutie over the weekend; it was girls' time together, as she and our daughter came to stay while Mason and Daddy had their boys weekend,  fishing! What a fun weekend we had! The little pillowcase style dress on the right displays her Mommy's favorite colors~ War Eagle! (No, those aren't mouse ears or pigtails on her head, just a poorly chosen photography background... she doesn't seem to care one little bit!)

Gregory came to visit, with his parents, for dinner on Saturday night. These two cousins were right at home in front of the sewing machine. "Hi, Nana; we're not touching... okay, one of us is touching!" 

Our daughter did some creating of her own, using her Cricut and her God-given creativity.

Lucy Ann is adaptable; she's equally at home playing with a dollhouse in the fabric shop...

...or on PawPaw's lawn tractor in the garage!

And one more, priceless, photo from Saturday night. How does Gregory know to use my touch-screen stylus (machine is OFF) as though it's a screwdriver? Too funny! Lucy Ann isn't having any part of these shenanigans! We didn't finish all of our sewing for Lucy Ann before it was time for the girls to go, stay tuned for our sewing weekend report... part deux; they're coming back for a few days so that this Nana can help with one more cute outfit and get in some playtime with big brother Mason too!

Gregory needed some items just for himself too... I finished up some sewing yesterday after the children left to go home; some initials on his backpack, a pickle T-shirt and a fun play T-shirt.
Life is Good!

Weekend Highlights

New heights were reached in mitering, inside and outside angles are all perfect.
I need Mr. Goodneedle to give me tips for quilt borders, no ladders necessary.

The neighbor's horses were visited; carrot snacks delivered.

Everyone held still for photos.
Lucy Ann was properly adorned.

Stories were read.
Again, take note of the beads!

A summer wardrobe was sewn for little Miss Lucy Ann.

She's probably out jewelry shopping right now!

Life is Good!