Blue Granny-Stripe Baby Afghan

Another baby afghan complete; A blue granny-stripe.

I finished this one just in the nick of time.

The baby shower was last night, so now it's in the new Mommy's hands.

 I crocheted a granny stripe rectangle with horizontal stripes

 (84 rows, with colors in varying widths) 

then added a border (10 rounds)

and finished it off with triple-V-edging. 

Hook:   F / 5 / 3.75mm 

Baby Bee Sweet Delight yarn in 10 colors: 

Meema's Blue, Baby's Blue, Infant Teal, Surf Baby, Surf Mommy, 

Sugar Plum, Sun Kisses, Angel, Baby Sage and Mint Charm.

(I used two skeins of the Meema's Blue.)


Now it's time to plan what to make next.

Turtle Park

Turtle Park. 

This delightful little playground is home to several large concrete turtle sculptures.

If you're ever in St. Louis, be sure to stop by.

I guarantee kids (and parents) will burn off a lot of energy
scrambling around on the turtle's backs. 

These pictures were taken several years ago, and bring back wonderful memories.

(Turtle sculptor- Bob Cassilly)

Sunflower Quilt Barn

I have completely fallen in love with quilt barns!!

Lucky for me, several of them are just a hop skip and a jump from where I live. 

It may take a while, but I hope to visit all of the ones in my area.

Yes, you have to get off the blacktop and onto some gravel roads.

But it's worth it!

This little blue hay barn with the bright yellow sunflower block was especially appealing to me.

(See the sunflower-metal-art along the fence, too.)

This farmer grows mostly corn, soybeans, wheat and hay.  

Up until the late 90's it was a Holstein dairy.

Holly Hobbie

In the late 60's an artist/writer named Denise Holly Ulinskas Hobbie  

submitted a few of her illustrations to the American Greetings Corporation.

A.G. liked her pictures of a little girl in a patchwork dress and bonnet,

and decided to put "Blue Girl" on a line of greeting cards.

And with that, the sweet and spunky character we now know as "Holly Hobbie" was born.

Then the world went crazy for Holly!

She was made into dolls, games, bedding, dishes and calendars

and just about everything you can imagine.

I have several Holly Hobbie paperdoll cards which show a bit of her

evolution towards the modern day Holly she is now.

She was redesigned in 2006 to appeal to a whole new generation of little girls,
and now wears blue jeans and t-shirts.
(I must admit that I like the old Holly best.)

 (American Greeting/Forget Me Not  1969)

(American Greetings 1972)

(American Greetings/Laurel 1974)

 (American Greetings /Forget Me Not 1976)

(American Greetings 1977)

(American Greetings 1978)

(American Greetings/ Forget Me Not  1979)

(American Greetings/Forget Me Not 1983)

 (American Greetings/ Forget Me Not 1987)

(American Greetings 1989)


For some online paperdoll play with the modern Holly Hobbie, click here.

Did you (or your kids) have a Holly Hobbie doll?

Sunflowers On Main Street

 I found these cheery, yellow sunflowers blooming on Main Street,
in a pretty little town near me.

And around on the corner on 5th Street, too. 

I sure do love sunflower time of year!

Haymakers Jig

Earlier this week I took a Ceili dance class.  

We learned three dances:

Siege of Ennis, Bonfire Dance and the Haymakers Jig.

Goodness knows I am way too old and out of shape for this sort of dancing.

My ankles were not happy with me the following day.

But still, it was soooo much fun!

We had good natured teachers who kept smiling even when we made lots of mistakes;
the young ladies of  Ceili At The Crossroads.

(Many of these girls are my daughter's friends, from her Irish dancing days.)

(I did not take this picture.  It is from their web site.)

I could not get any pictures or video from our Ceili class.
I was too busy trying to figure out where to put my feet!

But I did find a couple of youtube videos online
that show other people dancing the Haymakers Jig and the Siege of Ennis.

Just image it with regular clothes, many mistakes and loads of laughter

and you'll have a pretty good idea of how our class went.

Daisy Tea

I didn't plan it, 

but this outdoor tea for a friend just kinda turned into a daisy tea.

I guess that's what happens when one uses leftover daisy napkins from some past event,  

and sorta daisy-ish looking cupcakes, 

and green, leafy dishes,

and yellow lemons, and...

:-)

A perfectly happy and wonderful daisy tea for me and my bestie.

Hope you're having a happy, wonderful, daisy kind of day, too.

Barn Quilts- Missouri Star

I've always liked barns.

And I've always liked quilts.

Well... someone got smart and put the two together.

Painted quilt squares mounted on the side of a barn!

This is the Missouri Star, 

a barn quilt on the Boonslick Trail. 

I loved this glimpse of the barn through the fence and wildflowers

You can learn more about the amazing barn quilts all across this country
at Suzi Paron's blog, Barn Quilts And The American Quilt Trail.

Or click here for a map of Barn Quilts in your state.

Joining Barn Charm.

Come on over and see all the other barns featured this week.

Blondie!

A couple of weeks ago I received a package in the mail from Tammy (Tammy's in Love).

She found these wonderful paperdolls and thought I would appreciate them.

I sure do!

It's Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead!  

And their children Alexander and Cookie.

Do you remember the Blondie comic strip by Chic Young?

This particular set of paperdolls was published by Whitman in 1954.

I love all these fantastic 50's fashions.  Don't you?

In researching Blondie paperdolls, I discovered All Paperdolled Up.

 This web page shows seven different Blondie paperdoll sets published between 1941-1954.

It's so fun to see how their looks evolved.

If you are a Blondie fan, or a paperdoll fan, be sure to take a peek.

Thank you so much, Tammy!

I'm having a lot of fun with these. 

Picnic Perfect!

It's a perfect day for a picnic!

Join me (and the bugs) at the park.

I'll bring the sandwiches.