Dear Jane C-3 Rayelle's Fence

OK, my little Janiacs......you are doing awesome.  Plugging away and getting lots of blocks completed.  I am so proud of you ALL!  This week is another easy block and it won't take you long, if you haven't completed it yet.  C-3 Tips

C-3 Rayelle's Fence

Look at those little 4 pack blocks in the corners and a couple log blocks, then sew it altogether like a 9-patch.....another one crossed off the list!

April 29th in 1862 was the scene of the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi.  We visited there several years ago and it was an important hub for the railroad, so very strategic for the Union to get control of that area.

photo from the Library of Congress

There you can see the "X" across the middle of the map where the railroad lines cross through the area.  They have a interpretive center there, that is wonderful......worth the stop.

Cabin Fever Friends

Sorry about the gap at the top, for some reason, I can't seem to get rid of it.  In my editing screen, I am at the top, but when it posts.....I've got all this space....I apologize.

Tonight my Cabin Fever quilt buddies are coming....oh what to make....when cooking is increasingly not my thing.  I spent a few minutes combing through a few cook books and entertaining several ideas.  I finally came up with Poppyseed Bread baked in my flower Nordic pan, a Mother's Day gift from one of my girls several years ago.  This recipe is from my friend Betty. She shared it will me many years ago and it has been a family favorite ever since.

Need to start with beating 3 eggs together.

Do you have any of these?  I keep one in my flour tin and another one in my sugar tin, then you can scoop out what you need or using the markings you can measure as well.  Very fun, you may need to get a couple of these, when you are out antiquing.

Here is the batter all mixed up with all the ingredients together, except for the sugar glazing.  You will mix that later.  It is a fairly runny batter.

I don't think I have ever shown you where I keep my mixer.....love, love, love this cupboard. It has these special springs and brackets on the side, so it swings up and locks in place like it is, I do move my rug underneath while I work, because "stuff" happens.  Then when I am done mixing, I pull the latch and it swings right back down into the cabinet.  If you ever re-do your kitchen.  I would get me one of them again in a heartbeat.  Very nice! 

Here is the topping mixture all ready to drizzle over the bread, hot from the oven.

Don't they look yummy right out of the oven.....

I had some batter left over so I filled a mini loaf pan.

If you use one of those Nordic pans, you will need to turn the little flowers out and you might need to trim the bottoms, so that lay flat.  I can't tell how good the kitchen smelled while I was drizzling them with the sugar glaze.

Karan, Helene, Dee & Mary.....love my besties!!!

Well doesn't that look yummy, wished I could have ate one too!  But glad my friends liked them!

Poppy Seed Bread Recipe Card 

If you print this out on card stock, it should be ready for your recipe box.

Celebrating Easter

What a special time of celebration with our church family this morning....then we enjoyed part of our family for lunch today.  And it was a beautiful day here in Iowa....80 degrees!  Can you believe it?  So wonderful to have our windows open and the birds are singing today!  

I found this piece of clip art recently, so sweet.  I have been making necklaces with clip art lately.  I used this for one of them.  I buy tiny little frames with slide glass in them at the craft store and I printed out a whole bunch of different pieces of clip art various sizes that I thought would be close to the size I needed, then printed it out on matte photo paper.  Auditioned the clip art and cropped them if I needed to, cut them out and put them in the frames.  Then I also bought ball chain necklaces that went with the finish on the tiny frames.  I also bought some word charms and added them too.  So very cute and inexpensive!  In the boutiques, these necklaces are $25-30.

The Easter buckets all ready for the hunt!

Kirsten all dressed up in her Easter finery, with my dolly bed not quite full of doll quilts, but I am working on that.  

My vintage postcard album, displaying some wonderful vintage Easter postcards!  Both of my grandmothers enjoyed doing ceramics, so I have quite of few of ceramic Easter eggs....such pretty colors!

In the footed candy dish, the red egg on top is hand painted and the marbled eggs below it are from the Amana Colonies.  I made them probably 30+ years ago out of furniture glue and dyes.  Check out the link, if you would like to order them for yourself!  It is a tradition brought from Germany.

All ready for our 16 guests!

A ceramic bunny with a sweet face done by my Grandma Thedens, a little knitted chick done by my Grandma Kullmer and I crossed stitched the eggs in the basket many years ago, still love them!

A dear friend, Karen, just gave me this little bib set and it came folded up in the little embroidered pocket.  So darling!  I have never seen anything like it.  She gave me two of them, the other one is embroidered in orange thread and is just as cute!  The pictures are of my Grandma Thedens as a baby/child.....love the hair bow!

The eight of the fifteen that were able to be with us today!  We ate lots of good food, hunted lots of eggs and ate lots of candy!  Good day all around!  Easter love to those who were with us today and those we were missing.  We love you ALL!!!!

Dear Jane D-13 Field of Dreams

I hope you are still progressing with your blocks with or without my prodding.

We some how went over our limit of data with our internet....when to our knowledge we are not doing anything different and have never had an issue in 7 years.  So they slashed our speed to non-existent till we dropped back to 70%, then you had to wait another 48 hours, don't ask me why. So we have been like this for the last 2+ weeks.  I have been driving to any where that has free Wi-Fi and checking my email, etc.  And we are paying $80 a month for this service......grrrrr!  Can you tell I am irritated by this?  Also called the local phone company to beg them to get our fiber optics hooked up, but looks like it will be at least another 6 weeks......at least we are finally back to our normal speed which is nothing to brag about and certainly hardly worth what we are paying.  But that is my tale of woe and why I have not been on line much.

This soon shall pass, right?

Today's block is very easy and also would make a great one for a signature, inking a piece of vintage clip art or adding any other type of information you would like.  I happen to take a workshop with Brenda at the very beginning of my Dear Jane journey and had her sign a piece of fabric.  So included it in this block....adds a nice touch to my quilt, I dare say!  D-13 Tips

I am working down the right side of my quilt, two blocks in and the triangle borders too.  I haven't counted, but I think in about 2 weeks, I should have that section all quilted.

This photo was taken just weeks before his death.

One hundred forty-nine years ago today was the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  And if you have any inclination to what happened to Lincoln after his death......check this out, when you have some time!  I watched this when it first aired and could not believe what this documentary was reporting....it is so bizarre, that it is almost comical.  You can't make this stuff up.