"Quickie" birthday gift for a boy

Have you seen these awesome towels at Costco?

Well, I hadn't. (And wasn't it "special" to have the check-out gal tell me yeah - we had a $3-off coupon for those that expired two weeks ago...  ummmm -- thanks?)


(Did you see the SIZE of this?)



So, I gets me towel home; & while my guys were off doing this

I set about the difficult time-consuming arduous task of monogramming. Yes, the time spent creating the design can easily be double (for a simple thing like 3 letters...) the amount of time the embroidery machine is running.

I decided to use script appliqué for his name. Not over-joyed by the look of the capital "I", oh well...

Because it is quite difficult to hoop a heavy towel (ok, near impossible) I hooped a medium tear-away then basted the towel & WSS topper after it was in the machine. (Because the loops in terry cloth can poke through embroidery, you've got to use some kind of a topping... The topper also helps when trimming appliqués. )

Embroider letter outlines

Trim close to stitching

Return to machine to finish the satin-stitching around each appliqué

Clean-up on reverse

Trim away excess WSS

Rinse WSS & dry towel

Fold, wrap & give your gift!

I'm loving...

patriotic 2 year olds

a bit of (healthful) goodness from Costco to my pantry

I usually have to find this at Sprouts.

a finished project

yummy batch of hot wings drums

and Auggie guarding the grub on the grill!

Thank you, Paisley Jade, for another time of reflecting on God's goodness!

Getting ready to

DUMP blogger & jump over to WordPress or something more useful! Any suggestions?

We Remember

I have memories of a brave man who left for Iraq in September 2006.

Waiting for him was his darling wife and five beautiful children. Complete devastation occured after that knock on the door changed her blue star to gold. Our hero died protecting American ground troops under fire.

Tell me, does a building here, another there; an overpass, or a church's welcome center named in his honor... do they provide comfort for a widow & the fatherless? What about posthumous medals such as the Purple Heart or the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor... Can his mother have her grief alleviated by holding the neatly folded flag which draped the casket?

Unfortunately, this story is played out many times every day. Why do we have but one day a year to memorialize the sacrifices of many?

We are only free because of the brave! I'm so grateful for every man, woman (& sometimes child) who fought for our great country. From our Revolution which freed us from England, to today's attempts to rid our citizens from the effects of terrorism -- Thank you, thank you for serving. Thank you for that "last full measure" you gave for me, for my family, for our future...

Things I'm Loving...

I might have two weeks-worth... but I'm loving that blogger is working today! (Now if they'd just fix the dinosaur that is posting pics...)

I'm kinda sorta loving that I now have two teenage boys living with me. Mr.-in-the-middle turned 13 this past week...

He & my wonderful Daddy have birthdays 3 days apart.

I'm loving that my youngest helped make the pizzas for the birthday celebration.

(He even made the dough batches in the bread machine!)

Loving a late-arriving Mother's Day gift from hubs. Whereas our Chipotle Tabasco bottle was always close-to-empty, now it can always be full!

We loved having "Cousin Barney" come visit Auggie for a week.

I loved taking dinner to a man who came back from the dead. Literally! His doctors marvel (ummm -- God's not surprised!) at his miraculous 47 day recovery from what turned out to be a severe allergic reaction to a medication they gave him during routine surgery. Even his gangrenous toes they wanted to amputate are coming back to life! What an incredible testimony to our Creator!

I'm loving the slight spring-like reprieve we're having in our weather.

Loved finding this guy & his brothers waiting on the vine...



(grilled eggplant is a fave at our house!)

Totally love the new banner in the gym!

Loving that Aunt Cita gets to spend a little time with boys who haven't seen her for three years!


May 2008 - Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast



(May 2011 - her one food request...)



But what I'm loving most is that we're finished with the Virtual Academy -- so now I can have my computer back!

Just want to thank PaisleyJade for her weekly reminder:

I wholeheartedly believe that no matter what is happening in your life, there is always something that you can be thankful for... no matter how simple it is.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

Do you need a quick-fix (I mixed by hand...) goodie for brunch or tea? A little something not too heavy or overly sweet? These muffins fit the bill!

 I combined advice for quick breads from various friends like Paula (you know, Deen...) Martha (yes, her!), Fannie (the Farmer) & Joy (of Cooking) plus a bit of experimentation to create my recipe.

Aside from the dog-eared aspect of my cookbooks, I have another disclaimer -- only the finest ingredients for this cook! (Finest meaning items with very good flavors purchased in bulk at Business Costco!)

Why yes! That is a 10# bag of chocolate chips & a 5# keg of peanut butter! (Mr. Footballer is supposed to be weight training & eating five PB&J sandwiches a day... We use a lot of peanut butter!)

Oh, I've been busy, alright...

Notwithstanding, I had a boy turn 13 this week. I had an out-of-town father-in-law in town house-hunting this weekend. I was on the schedule to bring snacks to class on Sunday. I baby dog-sat my aunt's schnauzer last week & blogger pretty much sucked stunk was worthless ...

But, I did complete a couple projects:

My Auntie Faith was in town for a brief visit, so I made her a lovely little tea towel to take home for her darling tea parties with granddaughter Caylin.

Doesn't it look like this was hand embroidered a century ago?

My dad's birthday is tomorrow -- I graciously parted with this

extracted from one of my Mother's Day gifts from the hubs which was this

YUP! That's a gallon of the good stuff!

I also made this for my parents' wall ('cause their 52nd anniversary is less than a month away...)

Another lace cross...

My sis was over the other day & saw the cross bookmarks I was making for the teachers here.

"You know-w-w, I collect crosses..."

So -- I whipped her up a sweet bobbin lace hand-tatted vintage lace cross with the same design. By using a cotton from YLI, I achieved a hand-made look.

I also promised her I would make her one of my faves, like this:

Asked her what color & she replied, "oh, whatever you got lots of - black, purple?"  Well Sweetie -- you're talking to an embroiderer -- I got lotsa "whatever you got lots of" in my stash! Oh well, purple it is!

I really, really heart Criswell's lace designs. I bought this CD several years ago to make the cloth for the communion table at church. (alrighty -- when I find my pic of that, I will insert it HERE!)

(BTW - I made the angel ornament for a friend two years ago...)

Soooo -- back to my cross --

I didn't rinse the WSS out completely because I wanted the cross to have a little more body.

Add a ribbon & we're go...