Receiving blankets

I hope you are enjoying the weekend! Our weather has been really nice. I got out into the garden yesterday to contend with some weeds that are already raging. Sigh.


We have a new baby on the way in my family...my brother and sister-in-law are expecting #2 sometime in the next few weeks! It's a complete surprise (no gender and no name), so we all can't wait to meet the new baby.


We had a spa outing and luncheon with the girls in my family to celebrate. I made some blankets for the new baby for a gift. I searched for a tutorial and found this one here. This is probably one of the more major sewing projects I have tried to do from scratch. : ) I'm still new-ish at sewing.


I bought my flannel at Jo-Ann Fabrics....they had a fairly good selection of cute but not too baby-ish prints. I bet you could find some great prints online. I bought enough for one really big blanket and one smaller blanket.


Here goes.


I cut the fabric to size. I am so a huge fan of BIG receiving blankets after I got a really big one from my sis for my 2nd. The little ones do nothing to hold in a wee baby.

I pinned the ricrac around the edge, about 1/4" from the edge. If you got really good at this, you could probably hold it while you sewed it.

Sewed on ricrac, with the seam along the bottom curve edge of the ricrac.

Put the other side on, right sides together. I love the rounded corners....I used a bowl to trace it and cut. I pinned it together to try to line them up.

You then sew the sides together, leaving a hole to turn right side out.

 Then....topstitch around the edge. Makes it look nice.

The finished product with both sides. I really like the green mod print.

You can see that the ricrac sort of "peeks" out of the edges (except please excuse the right  side where you can see more of the ricrac).

I also did a bigger one with pastel green prints and BIG ricrac. I am a huge fan of the big ricrac. It is a bit more expensive, but I found it easier to work and I love the big curves. I bought the small ricrac in brown because they didn't have the big ricrac in brown....I did the light green one first, which is why I took pics of the 2nd. : )

Edging and fabric up close.

They turned out great! The tutorial is much more detailed than my comments/pictures, so check it out if you're interested.

Can't wait to meet Baby B #2!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Hey! Happy St. Pat's to you. Or should I say....top o' the mornin'!


We had some fun at school this week, learning about Irish music and learning an easy Irish circle dance. They have some beautiful music and instruments in their music.

I have a new houseplant....one of those shamrock plants. My friend very thoughtfully gave it to me to thank her for helping her out at school last week. I love it! I've never had one of these before and I really like trying out new houseplants. 


Many people don't grow houseplants because they don't have a green thumb....but there are some super easy plants to grow. Houseplants improve the quality of the air inside your house.


Here is my plant....I put it in an old antique crock.

I'm enjoying it on the counter for a bit before I'll find a permanent home for it. It's pretty cool...the leaves close up at night and then open back up in the morning.


I guess it's the plant's way of saying "top o' the mornin' ".....: )

Time change

Well, did you enjoy the spring forward this weekend?


It's interesting to me how much complaining there is about this. Like....."I lost an hour of sleep!!!" Well, sort of. Or you just woke up late if you had nowhere you had to be. Or went to bed an hour later if you set your clock forward before you hit the hay.


I do think the adjustment to this time change is much harder than the fall back. It seems to take a few more days to get used to this one.


I think it's totally worth it, though, to have the sun stay out so much later. Not just now....but until after 9:00 in the summer. Nothing better than that! I quite enjoy sitting outside as the sun is setting, the kids are in bed and the temps are cooling. I might even be enjoying a beverage.


Beats the hell out of losing that hour of sleep....that's for sure.

Best in show....Home and garden, that is

A few weeks ago, we visited the Cincinnati Home and Garden Show. For my birthday....yippee! We had a great outing...the kids were well-behaved and there was much to see at the show. My husband watched the kids play on the trampoline and playsets for a while so I could walk around at my leisure. It was lovely!

I brought my camera so I could snap some pics of the great plantings. First up, nothing says spring like a weeping cherry and tulips.

I would love to plant a hellebore in my yard....but I'm not sure I have a spot that is shady enough.

I am not sure of the name of this plant....I think it might be pieris? I like the variegated leaves and pink blooms.

I also love azaleas....but have never had much luck with them in my yard. Even though I picked a nice, winter hardy variety in an eastern-facing planting. Oh, well.

I have no idea what this plant is...but I really liked it!

L.O.V.E. this heuchera. So cool with the dark maroon centers.

Bald cypress....I like how these needles are so soft, but look prickly.

Fothergilla....I miss this plant that was planted at our old house. Coming soon here at our new house.

Love hyacinths. Such a beautiful smell and so pretty. Luckily, the deer also leave them alone.

Really enjoyed this container planting with willows and liatris adding visual interest. Although these two plants would never be in bloom together in nature.

A plant new to me.....nandina. A type of bamboo. Small and shrubby. Great color! Considered planting this, but was looking for something with blooms....but I will keep this one in mind!

Tulips....so pretty! Too bad the deer eat them and they don't reliably rebloom.

This hardscape was so cool with the edges planted with a type of thyme.

This bed was nice with the colors laid out as such....

This example showed nicely how uplighting makes a huge difference in how the landscape can look in the evening.

That sweet heuchera with a nice coleus.

Beautiful double tulip blooms.

Of the non-plant features, this inset light was pretty neat.

I really loved how these wine bottles were stored and backlit so the light shone through the wine bottles!!!

And the most disturbing thing I saw that day????

Wait for it.....

I didn't know what to make of the weird mannequin lounging by the hot tub. Really kind of disturbing.

All in all, it was great! As impressed as I was with all of the plantings, I was hoping the average homeowner was not walking though, thinking how their yard could totally look like these. Even though the plants were so beautiful, none of those plants would ever be in bloom together at the same time in real life! It is amazing how the landscape designers manage to force those blooms for exactly the right time, though.

Thanks to my wonderful husband for a lovely birthday outing!

Downtown walk

We had a family outing a few weeks ago for my birthday. It was a great day. I'll share some more pics from that soon.....but here are a few shots I took that day.

As we were walking a few blocks on a pretty, sunny winter day, we walked by a beautiful old Art Deco building. This building now houses Cincinnati Bell's downtown headquarters....I am not sure if that is the company that first built it.

I am just amazed at the amount of craftsmanship that goes into work like this. No one would have the money to build something like this today.

And here is a beautiful old iron fence in front of a downtown brownstone.

Happy Friday. : ) TG,

Corn and sausage chowder

As spring arrives and warmer weather comes, the time will come to give the crockpot a rest. Not that you have to, I just tend to. And the grill will make its debut, which is so nice! However, putting the crockpot to bed makes me a bit sad....I really love chili. I'm kind of obsessed with it!

So, I thought I'd share one of my favorite crockpot soup recipes. It's also a pretty healthy soup recipe.

Corn and Sausage Chowder

1 lb turkey or pork sausage, casings removed/browned OR tube sausage, cut into 1"    pieces

1 can creamed corn

1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup

2 c frozen carrots or can use fresh

1-2c frozen corn

3c frozen shredded hash browns

salt and pepper to taste

add water to desired consistency

Cook on low 6-8 hours.

I didn't have any hash browns on hand, so I used some frozen diced potatoes I had in the freezer. I also used some frozen sweet corn I had on hand from last summer. Yum!

Enjoy!

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings
Sunday Roundup at A Rosie Sweet Home

You can grow that!

Good morning and happy Sunday. Kind of amazing that we are just one week away from the big time change to Daylight Saving Time. This always lifts my spirits considerably! I have been noticing that it has been staying light until about 6:30 or 6:45....what a nice change from 5:30 in the dead of winter.


Today I am posting in honor of "You Can Grow That Day," a new group I have joined on Facebook. On the 4th of each month, garden bloggers will be posting about something that you can grow in your garden.


So, here goes!

In honor of the first mass posting, I am choosing lettuce and greens.

We are getting really close to sowing lettuce seeds at my house. I am in zone 6b (old zones, not sure if I'm the same) and I typically direct sow seeds in mid-March.


I must be honest and tell you that I first did lettuce seeds in containers and it worked beautifully. Really, you can grow lettuce anywhere and containers are perfect as well. We love fresh salad greens at my house, so I buy a few packets of different varieties and go to town. If you're a novice gardener, start out with a container with some potting mix.


Here we are sowing last year. My kids like to help...

Once you have sown your seeds in the ground or the container, water them if needed and wait for them to sprout and grow. You may need to think the seedlings a bit so they won't be crowded, but I typically am a bit lazy and don't worry about that and let them grow right next to each other.

By the end of April or so, you should have some lettuce leaves big enough to eat. You can harvest them by taking a bit of each plant (so it will continue to grow).....or you can chop off the whole plant and use all of the leaves on one plant.

I bought an inexpensive salad spinner at IKEA to clean up my leaves.

One of the great things about growing a cooler weather crop like lettuce is that it's not going to last into the hot summer. Just in time to plant something like tomatoes!! Lettuce will go to seed when it gets too warm, so you can pull it up and plant a warm weather crop. Spinach is another cool weather green that you can plant soon.


My recommendation? Plant more than you think you will want! Lettuce? Spinach? No need to buy it in the store in the springtime.....you can grow that.