Go Royals!

 Just in case the neighbors had any doubts as to

which team we will be rooting for in tonights final game of the World Series...

C'mon Boys in Blue,

Let's slay some giants!

Go Royals!!

Pure Delight

Pure delight.

Total happiness.

Big smiles.

Wild sunflowers.

One reason to love this place I call home.

Purple, Of Course

Starting up a baby afghan. (Giant granny.)

Yet another wee one about to make an appearance in the family.

Shades of blue, green, gray, cream AND purple, of course.

Using liberal doses of my niece's favorite color!

:-)

Strawberries And Ice-Cream

One scoop of ice-cream with strawberries on top.

Simple.

Perfection.

Treat yourself to something sweet this holiday weekend!




(sherbet cup-   Franciscan, Desert Rose)

Black-Eyed-Susan

A little bit of sunshine to start your weekend.

Masses of Black-Eyed-Susan 

growing in the rain garden 

at the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Ohio Quilt Barn

I stumbled across this wonderful old weathered quilt barn 

on my way to my niece's wedding. 

I haven't been able to locate this barn on the Quilt Trail map

but it was near Hillsboro, Ohio. (Brown or Highland Co?)

 This starry block is sometimes called "Milky Way".  

If you are from the southwest corner of Ohio and have more info, 

please let me know.

Watermelon And Cantaloupe Baby

Isn't this just the cutest?

A friend made this delightful fruit presentation for my daughter's baby shower. 

A cantaloupe baby in a watermelon stroller.

All you need is:

  watermelon (stroller)

 cantaloupe (baby)

 orange (wheels)

blueberries (eyes)

other berries/fruit (red grapes and strawberries shown here)

a few toothpicks

a pacifier 

and a little bit of time to carve, chop, peel, and get creative.  

:-)

Wild Roses Growing Along The Fence

I went to visit my grandfather yesterday.

The flowers in my hand could not compete with what nature had already provided;

Wild roses growing along the fence,  just steps from where he rests.

Lilac Time

Damp earth and sweetly scented garden flowers 

infuse every breeze that frolics through my open window. 

Its lilac time of year!

Remember Me

Hanging On The Line

What are you wearing for Easter?

Something pretty in pink?  Maybe green or blue?

The darling outfits hanging on the line are only about 5-6 inches high

and are part of my vintage potholder collection.

(See more of my potholders here.)

Happiness

It's International Happiness Day!

What's bringing big smiles to your little part of the world?

No, we don't actually have daffodils, yet.  (The picture is from last year.)

But a warm wind is blowing and pretty flowers will soon follow.

Parade And Garden Of Daisies #2

We went to the St Paddy's warm-up parade yesterday to watch these talented kids:

The Irish dance school that my daughter danced with for many years.

The big St Pat's parade will be downtown tomorrow, but I'll be at work

As you know, I love Irish music and dance

and have taken a few ceili classes myself,  because it's so fun! 

A few weeks ago I gave you reason number one (of three) 

for naming my blog "Garden Of Daisies".

Well, here is reason number two: It's the name of a favorite traditional Irish set dance.

I'm including a video of that dance, found online.
Be sure to wear green tomorrow and enjoy watching Garden Of Daisies.

(You can watch them all, or just skip ahead to 7:55 for Garden of Daisies)

Cotton, Flannel and Minky

Here are the last of the gifts that I made for the shower. 

A trio of baby blankets.

Cute cotton whale print backed with soft yellow minky.

Aqua cotton zig-zag backed with aqua animal flannel.

Soft green polkadot cotton backed with yellow and green alligator flannel.

With so many cute and unique fabrics available,

I don't know why anyone would buy a generic blanket from a store. 

These are soooo easy to make.
Wash and dry the fabrics to pre-shrink.

Just cut (2) a generous square or rectangle

(Size might depend on the width of the two fabrics you are using.) 

With right sides together, sew all the way around, 

leaving a small hole (about the size of your hand) to turn.  

Turn right side out and use a decorative top stitch close to the edge to 

give it a finished look and close up the hole.

Done.  

And one last look at everything together. 

I love you sweet baby and can't wait to meet you!


* * *

I just started up a Garden of Daisies facebook page
so please follow this link and like my page.
Thanks so much!

Interlocking Ripple Baby Afghan

I can finally reveal the ripple baby afghan I made

to give to my daughter at the baby shower.

 This is the first time I've made a ripple 

and I'm delighted with how well it turned out!

I used Baby Bee Sweet Delight yarn in 7 colors:

Peapod, Mint Charm, Baby Blue, Infant Teal, Surf Baby, Sunkisses, and Angel. 

I used  a 6/G/4.25mm hook.

I made ripples (hills and valleys) with sets of 14 stitches.
My initial chain was 14 sets of 14,  plus 2.
It's 80 rows long.
And has a row of single crochet all around the edges to finish it off.

I found inspiration for the interlocking ripple design at Lucy's Attic24.
And I learned how to crochet the ripple with Mikey at The Crochet Crowd.
He's a wonderful teacher.  I highly recommend his youtube videos.



*  *  *  *  *



If you prefer to follow me via Facebook,
click here and "Like" my page. (under the header picture)
Thanks so much!

Baby Shower

Minature Daffodils.

Little bluebirds.

Baby showers and spring colors just seem to go together.

Really looking forward to meeting this baby.

Star Garland

I'm making star garland to hang at one of the baby showers.

I cut stars in two sizes from white, blue, green, yellow and silver card stock 

then sewed them into a long chain on the machine with a large stitch length (4). 

I doubled the large stars and gently folded them on the stitch line 

to make the garland three dimensional.

I'll tie the thread tails to paperclips for ease in hanging.



* * * * *

I now have a Garden Of Daisies Facebook page
for those who prefer to follow me that way
Follow this link and click "like".
Thank you!

Smiley

I took this picture a while ago, 

but I still grin from ear to ear every time I see it. 

Don't you just love these huge Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls? 

Hope you all are having a smiley kind of weekend.   

♥



* * * * *

Please stop by my new Garden Of Daisies Facebook page and "Like" me.

Thank you!

Garden Of Daisies

I've shared this before, but newer followers may not know 

why I use this as my profile picture.

It's from a prized set of tea towels, made for me by my Grandma.

She loved to embroider.  When I was little girl 

she asked me to pick the embroidery pattern I loved most, 

and said she would stitch up a set of towels for me. 

I picked this one: 

a cute Little Miss working on her weekly chores in a garden of daisies.

And this is what she made.

These treasured linens from my Grandma are displayed in my kitchen

and are a visible reminder of how much she loved me.

And they're also one reason why I picked the name Garden Of Daisies for my blog.

I'll have to save the other two reasons for a future post.

* * * * *

A few days ago I started a Garden Of Daisies facebook page

for readers who prefer to follow via Facebook.

Please follow this link and click on "Like".  

Thank you.

Baby Ribbon Blanket

My daughter asked if I would make her a baby ribbon blanket.

Sure!

That's a quick and easy project!

I used a 10 inch square of flannel, soft minky cloth for the reverse

and several coordinating ribbons.

Arrange all your loops on the right side of the flannel square.

(loop of ribbons facing in towards the center)

Pin then machine baste in place. 

Remove all pins. 

Nothing worse than giving something to a baby with a pin left in it! 

Sew Minky cloth to flannel square, right sides together ,

leaving a small opening for turning.

(Keep all those ribbons in towards the center as you sew.)

Trim away corners and any excess ribbon.

Turn, right side out. 

Sometimes I use a pin to help make nice neat corners .

Top stitch close to the edge to close up the turning hole.

All finished!

Ready to tuck into the bag along with the other shower gifts I've made.

* * * * *

I've just started up a Garden Of Daisies Facebook page.

For anyone wishing to follow along that way, stop by and "like" my page.  

Apple Blossom

Who remembers Kiddle Kologne?

This is Apple Blossom.

She's missing some of her pink hair ribbons, but she's still in pretty good vintage shape.

I had one when I was a kid, so I did the happy dance when I found her.

I had a Lily of the Valley Kiddle Kologne, too.

And I think my sister(s) had Honeysuckle and Violet.

How many of these sweetly scented Kiddles were there, anyway? 

Apple Blossom, Lily of the Valley, Honeysuckle,Violet,  Sweet Pea, ...????  

Can you help me remember all of their names?

I have such wonderful memories of fun play with these tiny dollies.

* * *

You'll find another Liddle Kiddle post here. 

 And Liddle Kiddle Paperdolls on my paper doll page.

Little Basket For The Nursery

The baby shower is just a couple of weeks away

Actually, there are two of them.  Showers, not babies.

Very lucky Little One to have so many people celebrating along with us.

I'm using all the spare time I can find to finish up my projects and get ready for company. 

Can't show too much yet, in case she looks here.

But this one little thing won't matter.

A simple, yellow, crocheted basket to hold odds and ends in the nursery.

(baby nail clippers, thermometer, diaper pins etc...)

I used  Lily, Sugar and Cream cotton yarn in Vanilla Cream and White. 

It's about  5.5" across and 2.25" high, after it was folded down. 

(But you could keep adding rings to make the basket any size that suited you.)

The bottom is a simple chain 4 slipstitched into a ring, with 8 singles in it.

Then put two singles in each stitch.

Next, single crochet in one stitch and two single crochets in the next. Repeat for that round.

Then two singles in every third stitch,

and then two singles in every fourth stitch,

etc...

Switch to all singles when you are ready to build up the sides.

Add any border you like to finish it off.

Stamped Cookies - Lemon Mace Rounds

Cold days are perfect for turning on the oven and baking.

So bake I did.

I wanted to show you how I make my stamped cookies.

You may use any smooth dough that you can drop by the spoonful, 

such as peanut butter, or soft sugar cookies.  

I mixed up a batch of Lemon Mace Rounds.  (recipe at the bottom of this post) 

You can find actual cookie stamps at kitchen specialty stores. 

Or 

you can do what I did:

Look around the house and find a glass or dish that has a cut or pressed pattern.

Butter the bottom of the glass pieces, getting butter into each little crevice.

Dip the buttered glass in a sugar mixture.

Then stamp each ball of dough with the buttered-sugared-glass. 

(Dip back into the sugar mix between each cookie.)

 Bake according to directions.

And Viola!

So pretty!

(I had trouble getting the pattern on the baked cookie to show with the camera flash,

but you get the idea.)

* * *

Lemon Mace Rounds

(from Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies)

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon mace

2 eggs

2/3 cup salad oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon mace

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and 1/4 teaspoon mace together. Set aside.

Combine next 6 ingredients:  eggs, oil, sugars and lemon juice and peel.   Beat until thick.

Stir in dry ingredients.

Drop by spoonful about 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet.

Combine 1/4 cup sugar, nutmeg and mace.

Lightly butter bottom of glass.

Dip in sugar and spice mixture and press cookie flat.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes, until lightly browned.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Notes:

You may use nutmeg and mace, or just nutmeg.  

You may use just white and brown sugar or just white.

These are easy and delicious.
Super fun to make with your kids.

From Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, 1972 edition.

We baked from this same cookbook when I was a kid, only it was the 1967 edition.

My sister has that original cookbook now, 

but copied down all the notes we wrote into the margins of our favorite recipes. 

* * *

PS.
For anyone who is not familiar with mace, it's from the same plant as nutmeg.
And it's the flavor used in donuts. So if you like donuts, you like mace.

Snowy and Cold

It is snowy. 

And it is cold. 

Winter in Kansas.

:-)

Backwards

Ok, girls,

ALL of the hangers in my closet have been hung backwards.

 I will turn them around as I wear each piece.

By December there will be no doubt about which clothes I have worn 

and which clothes I haven't, and therefore don't need.

(I promise to donate all the unworn clothes to charity.)

I once heard someone say that we wear the same 40 pieces, over and over, 

and everything else in our closet is just a waste of money and space.

It will be very interesting to see how it all turns out for me.

Whoever thought of this was a genius!

Easiest way to sort out a closet!

I can just sit here and let time do the work for me.

:-) 

Anybody want to join me?