It's been a few weeks...

New Patterns...All patterns can be found at ZaneyMay's

Ladder Stitch Bracelets, seed beads and bugle beads and of course using ladder stitching.

Diamond Necklace, bugle beads and seed beads, using right angle weave.

Tiny Diamond Ornament Cover, seed beads and bugle beads, right angle weave and netting.

Lace Ornament, bugle beads and seed beads, ladder stitching.

By The Sea Earrings, seed beads and gem stone chips, netting.

By The Sea Bracelet, seed beads and gem stone chips, netting.

By The Sea Anklet, seed beads and gem stone chips, netting.

Ladder Stitch Rings, seed beads and bugle beads and of course ladder stitching.

By The Sea Necklace, seed beads and gem stone chips, netting.

A few more beads...

Camping over Labor Day Weekend. I made my famous Campfire Bundles, recipe here. The place where we were camping had a DJ one night and we went dancing, came back to the campsite very hungry, so I made up some Pineapple Shrimp Packets.
Canned pineapple slices, 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled & divined, 1/3 C chopped sweet red pepper, 1/3 C brown sugar, 1 TBS seafood seasoning, 3 TBS butter, softened. Place on double heavy-duty foil a pineapple. Top with shrimp and red pepper. Combine brown sugar, seafood seasoning & butter, dot over shrimp. Fold foil & seal tightly. Grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes.


Last week I made Blueberry Streusel Cobbler with Blueberry Sauce and served warm with ice cream. This is a family favorite, it was gone in 24 hours after making it. I did get two pieces.

1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries (fresh is best), 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk), 3/4 C plus 2 TBS cold butter, 2 C biscuit baking mix, divided, 1/2 C brown sugar. Oven 325. In bowl combine blueberries, sweetened milk. In large bowl, cut 3/4 C butter into 1 1/2 C biscuit mix until crumbly; add blueberry mixture. Spread in greased 9" square baking pan. In small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 C biscuit mix and sugar; but in remaining 2 TBS butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over cobbler. Bake 1 hour and 10 min or until golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and blueberry sauce. Refrigerate leftovers.

Blueberry Sauce for Blueberry Streusel Cobbler-1/2 C sugar, 1 TBS cornstarch, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 pint fresh blueberries. Combine ingredients in saucepan. Gradually add 1/2 C water. Cook and stir until thickened. Stir in 1 pint blueberries; cook and stir until hot.




Went to a birthday bash a friend was having, it was a lot of fun, seen few people I haven't seen in a while.

Tami and Nikki

Wax Bomb!

And of course Bob and I took Kayden to the Blueberry Festival.

Stitching, I finished a card that I will send to Kayden for Halloween. I am also stitching on Hang Ten by Raise the Roof. I have one page stitched!!! Sorry no pictures of that.

Dancing at the birthday bash.

Wax bomb at the birthday bash. Sorry the video is sideways.

Labor Day Weekend

Finished EEK, a San-Man Originals 2003 Freebie.

So, then I pulled out the Garden Fairies is what I call them I had been stitching Calico Crossroads Flora Greenleaf, Sophie Springfield, Crysantha Mumford and Rose Buddington all on one piece of material, I worked on them until I had as much as I could, without stitching the Kreinik, because I didn't have it in my stash. But Debra H was kind enough to send me the floss I needed to finish them when she was my SS at ILCS group. I finished Flora Greenleaf, then almost finished Sophie Springfield, just a little more back stitching and she will be done too.
Friday was the start of the Blueberry Festival. Every year since Dara had been four years old

she had performed at the Blueberry Festival with Daphne's Dolls (batons). She had been teaching a couple of classes all summer and the next two pictures are the group of girls that she had taught. You can see Dara in the picture in front of the stage, in the pink shirt, coaching the girls.

Video is of Dara. The group she preformed with. I think she did a great job, she didn't drop her baton once and she had some of the harder tricks. Sorry the video isn't clear.

Then it I was off to the camp grounds where we (Bob & I) were meeting some friends for the weekend. There were 15 this time. Picture of Bob and Darrel, playing one of the many games.

Saturday morning I had breakfast again. Everyone loved the breakfast I made last time so I made it again. This time I made up the packets at home and added the potatoes right before I put them on the fire.

Campfire Bundles-1 onion-sliced, 1 each large green, red & yellow pepper-cut up, potatoes-cut up, carrots-cut up or baby carrots, 1 head of cabbage-sliced, tomatoes-chopped, smoked polish sausage-cut into 1/2 slices, 1/2 C butter-cubed, salt & pepper.
Place the vegetable in order on double-layered heavy-duty foil. Top with sausage, dot with butter, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Fold foil around mixture and seal tightly.
Cook 30 minutes on each side.

Ron & Linda

Then it was time for the river float. This is the first time I didn't go on the float. I was having was having muscle pain and I didn't wait to be in a boat for 4 or more hours, not being able to move around if I needed. So, I stayed at the camp, kept the fire going and I took Brooke's Books, Hannah The Happy to stitch. They had a great float. Bob really must of missed me, because he brought me back flowers. How sweet!!!John washing a pan!!! We were all in shock so I had to take the picture. Nikki was in the shower and there would be no way she would believe me unless I had a picture. I was asked by several people there if they could get a copy of this picture. LMBO!!!John, Ron and Rick shucking corn.At the camp grounds they had a band playing so we went up to listen to them and played Frisbee. Picture of Bob.We did a little dancing too. Picture of Kelly.Picture of Nikki with one of the flowers in her hair.Sunday morning. Ron was in charge of breakfast. Boy did I give him a hard time for sleeping in. I told him, if he is going to be on breakfast duty then he had to get up early to start cooking. LOL! He made camp slop, bacon, ham, potatoes, onions and eggs. It was good.

Nikki, Roxanne, Linda, Rick

Jessica, Darrel, Roxanne, KarenAs soon as we were home, I ran in to see Kayden and he was sleeping!!!

Monday-Labor Day
We decided to go watch the parade. Picture of Kayden waiting for the parade,

Kayden watching the parade.

Then we walked to the Blueberry Fastival.

County Fair

Progress picture of Kayden's Christmas stocking. Working on the last section. Yeah!!!
I received the other two witches that I ordered from the ILCS retreat.

Picked up my fair entries last Saturday. On the tin I received Reserved Grand Champion. What a surprise! Because it was a last thought entry. LOL!

Remarks from the Judges... all Excellent are checked and handwritten in Workmanship " one more stitch on "H" would help it be different than "N".

I don't know if you can see it good enough to tell in the picture or not but then is an extra stitch on the h's.

On the left-from the Judges...all Excellent are checked and handwritten at Choice of Color "wonderful color, lovely pattern" then in Workmanship "letters very good-consider french knot @ ends, work on stretching /blocking-top pulls to right-not frame great! even @ bottom"
Hen & Chickens-from the Judges...General Appearance Neat & Clean-needs improvement and handwritten "presentation is very important". Then Excellent in Choice of Color, Choice of materials & trim, Workmanship, Usefulness and Originality. Handwritten in workmanship "stitch work very nice, letters are good". In Proper Finish-needs improvement.

This is the one that I framed the night before and I had a really hard time getting the masking tape to stick to the backing paper and frame.

From the Judges...all Excellent are checked and handwritten in workmanship "stitches very even, nice work".

Then just for fun I entered two beaded ornaments. They both received all Excellent and "Very tiny, fine work!" was handwritten at the bottom.
From the Grill! Pineapple Shrimp Packets and Baked Apples.

Pineapple Shrimp Packets-6 canned pineapple slices, 1-1/2 pounds med shrimp, peeled and deveined, 1/3 C chopped sweet red pepper, 1/3 C packed brown sugar, 1 TBS seafood seasoning, 3 TBS butter-soften.

On heavy-duty foil (12" sq) place a pineapple slice, top with shrimp and red pepper. Combine brown sugar, seafood seasoning and butter. Dot on each packet. Fold foil and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over med heat for 10-15 min.

Baked Apples-4 med tart apples, cored, 1/3 C raisins, 1/3 C flaked coconut, 1/4 C packed brown sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Place each apple on heavy-duty foil (12" sq). Combine ingredients, spoon into center of apples. Fold foil over apples and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over med heat for 20-25 min.

Enjoying Summer

What a great surprise to come home to after a very long day!

Dara made cookies! They were great!

Chocolate Crackles

Things are slowing down with work and we can enjoy our summer now. We were invited to a pool party Saturday night and had a great time. Someone said they were looking for toddler toys in a yard sale. Then someone said have you been by Bob and Deb's backyard, it's full of toddler toys. LOL! I also power washed the front porch the other day and had Kayden's front porch toys in the front yard, while I cleaned the porch. I had a car slow way down and check things out. I thought for a minute they were going to stop, thinking I was having a yard sale. Sunday after worked we cooked on the grill.

Bacon-Wrapped Hamburgers-1/2 C shredded cheese, small onion (chopped), 1 egg, 2 TBS ketchup, 1/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese, 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper. Mix well. Crumble beef over mixture and mix with hands. Shape into patties, wrap bacon strips around each, secure with toothpicks. Grill, covered, over med-hot heat for 4-5 minutes on each side.

Grilled Hash Browns- On heavy-duty foil coated with cooking spray. 3 1/2 C frozen shredded hash brown, chopped onions on top, sprinkle1 TBS beef bouillon granules, salt, pepper and drizzle 1 TBS melted butter on top. Cover and seal foil tightly. Gill, covered over indirect med-heat 10-15 minutes, turning once.

Green Beans- On heavy-duty foil coated with butter place a few strips of bacon then fresh green beans. Cover and seal foil tightly. Gill, covered over med-heat until bacon is crispy.

Cabbage Salad- 1/2 head cabbage chopped, 1/2 bunch broccoli chopped, 1/2 head cauliflower chopped, 4 green onions chopped. Toss veggies in large bowl. Toast 1 pkg Ramen chicken flavored noodles, crumbled, 1/2 C slivered almonds, 2 TBS sesame seeds, until golden on cookie sheet. Add to salad. Dressing- 1/2 C veg. oil, 3 TBS cider vinegar, 2 TBS sugar, 1 tsp salt, seasoning pkg from noodles. Shake well in jar, pour over salad.

Mini Apple Pies- 1 12 oz refrigerated buttermilk biscuits, 1 med. tart apple, peeled and finely chopped, 1/4 C raisins, 3 TBS sugar, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 2 TBS butter. Flatten each biscuit into a 3"-4" circle. Combine apple, raisins, sugar and cinnamon. Place flatten biscuit in ungreased muffin pan cups. Place a large tablespoonful on each biscuit. Dot with butter. Bring sides of biscuit to enclose filling and pinch to seal. Bake 375 for 11-13 min. or until golden brown.

We also made corn, but didn't have any on my plate.

Corn- On heavy-duty foil coated with butter place fresh off the cob corn with a few green peppers and/or red peppers chopped. Seal the foil tightly.

Kayden being silly!

My Mom called the other day said she found a turtle sandbox along side the road. She said it set there for about a week. She wanted to wait and see if whoever lost it would return for it. But no one did. So, now it is Kayden's.
I even had time to put a few stitches in!!! Yeah! Progress picture of Kayden's Christmas stocking.
Here is a picture of Myrtle escaping for the outdoor pen. The little stink escaped while I took Kayden up and down the little sidewalk in the backyard (3 times). I went to check on the turtles and Myrtle was gone! Bob and I looked and looked for him. He was all the way to the front of the neighbors house, almost on the sidewalk, just moving as fast as he could.
Kayden does a pancake dance. When you ask him if he wants a pancake, he stomps his feet and goes a little giggle. I tried to get it on video, but this time he did it so fast, it was hard to get it.