Favorite new old toy

My dad had this great old typwriter and asked if I wanted it. I said yes thinking it would be really fun for me. I didn't even think about how much the kids would love it. They love to write on it and think it is just the coolest toy in the house right now. He sat down the other day and typed out all the Greek Gods he could recall from memory so not only is it entertaining, it is educational too! I can't believe the ribbon still has ink in it. I need to order a new one soon though. Note to self: call for haircut appt. for him next week...

And how pretty are these dalhias? Cafe Au Lait dinnerplates? I think they look so great with the chocolate cosmos but I think everything looks great with chocolate cosmos. And dig my new vase. 50 cents at a rummage sale last weekend. It has orange gladiolas in it right now and I love it.

DQS 7 Received!

I LOVE the houses! Here is my doll quilt that I received in the swap. Handmade by the lovely Lois.

I love the colors and the log cabin with the sweet little houses. I love doing swaps like these because you always end up with something different than what you would have put together yourself. Just a different way of looking at things. And I love it!

Love the orange in this one and the sweet little tree.

DQS 7

Here are photos of my Doll Quilt Swap 7 that I sent out. I made the block from the Spider Web Quilt that is in the recent Sew Hip. I just bought the magazine not too long ago so you can probably still get it. It looks like a really fun quilt. You would actually put several of these blocks together to make the spiderwebs- you can see them forming in the corners. My partner said she liked black and pink and lime green and I had lime green fabrics to add to this but they never made it in. I hope she likes it!


Here is the full view with the binding. I was able to use all fabrics from my stash, which is always fun. I can't wait to get mine in the mail. I keep looking at the flikr group and finding ones I like and hoping that one of them ends up on my doorstep!

Like little quilts

I showed my 10 year old son all of these and he said, "I love those- they are like little quilts" which I though was very sweet for a ten year old boy to say. All that lavender has been going to good use around here.

My Granny was in town this weekend which I always love and when she comes we have dinner one night with a couple of her friends who are fantasticly wonderful company. I wanted to take a little something over to them (and Granny) so I made lavender sachets for all the women in attendance that night.

I like this one the best.

My sister is a mushroom type of girl and she got one too.

Mom and Granny like red and I love that center print. I believe it is out of print and I use it one little bit at a time to stretch it out.

I also made eye pillows for the kids and one for a friend. I made one for my daughter but already can't find it. I can follow the smell and I will find it though because they are very strong smelling right now. I mixed the lavender we got from the neighbor's bush with flax seed and that is what I put in all of these little treats. I still have a ton of lavender left so I am sure I will make more of these. They are sort of addicting. I have a very nice neighbor lady who is one of the hardest working Moms I know so I think I am going to leave her an eye pillow and a note from a secret admirer. She deserves a treat.

I'm a squirrel

The first day back at school is always a little bittersweet for me. Mostly bitter this year because we all had so much fun together this summer. Now that we are on day two and the kids came home happy about their teachers and classes, I feel better. I spent sunday being a squirrel so that the freezer would be full of good things to feed them in their lunches and for breakfast. I made four loaves of banana bread, lots of ricotta pancakes, 5 loaves of zuchinini carrot apple bread and 2 dozen of these little muffin tin quiches. I will say that I could have eaten all of those ricotta pancakes hot off the griddle that day. I didn't tell them that they had cheese in them, only that they were pancakes because you never know what will prevent them from eating something. They are heaven. It is a recipe from Martha Stewart Everyday Food and you can find the recipe here. I omit the orange zest and add almond extract and a little vanilla extract. They are sweet and don't need syrup that way. I want to try them savory - maybe with a little pesto mixed in and brushetta style tomatoes on top. Or pesto ones with tomato soup. Yummmm. These little quiches are the best. Both kids will eat them!

I guess it is a sort of nesting in a way- making all that food. I do like a full freezer. I think I may need to start making soups for the freezer too because it is too cold in here! I don't want to turn the heat on yet!! It is supposed to be 90 this weekend so I am hoping to make it another week or two without turning the heat on but we will see.