Kitchen Face-Lift Pt. 3......or not enough room in the corner for drawers

I love having my Easter decorations out.....after 2 weeks of rain and clouds at least inside my house feels cheerful and springy!  You can save this piece of clipart if you choose.  I would click on it and when it opens in a new window.  Right click on it and save it to your computer.

Back to the kitchen and what this posting is suppose to be about.  I know I got side tracked.....story of my brain. Partly why this has taken me so long to do, is I knew I took pictures of the things I wanted to post and every time I went to work on this.....I would look and look and look and could never find said pictures.  Grrrrrrrrr.........

So when I recently had a conversation with Jan and she asked me what happen to that.....I hung my head in epic fail position.....yea, I know, hasn't happened.  So I was off on Plan B, or C or lost count.

Here I thought I would make quick work of this and do a video instead of pictures.  Clearly didn't do that right because it spent most of the day processing the video.....need to evidently figure out how to make the file size smaller.  Here is the last of the kitchen update and I added in some of my Easter things at the end.  Enjoy!

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!!!!

Easter Is Past & Spring Has Finally Sprung

Well this is long overdue....as you can see.  I shot these a long time ago and between my health issues and some family health issues.....blogs and extra stuff get set aside.

Even though Easter 2013 is past, I thought I would go ahead and post my pics any way.  We are finally seeing spring-like weather here in Ioway!  It has been a loooong time coming.  

I am wanting to do a give-away some time soon.  When this blog reaches 50 google followers, I will do a drawing.  So if you just follow with your email, please consider signing in as a google follower, it is easy to do and makes writing a comment very easy.  I might even let you pick your gift, how would that be for fun!!!

 Chicks, bunnies, & eggs, oh my!

The ceramic bunnies, eggs, and chicks were made by both my grandma's.  Can you find the one with my name on it?

I have several dozen ceramic eggs from the grandmas, they are all so cute!  You can also see several cross stitch ones that I did many years ago.

I have been filling my grandpa's toolbox with more eggs, chicks, & bunnies.  The tins have easter puzzles in them for the grandkids to do.

Even more ceramic eggs on a deviled egg plate....lots of spring quilts on my ladder and Easter postcards.

I love vintage postcards, I bought this postcard collection book at an auction years ago....love to display them in this book!  We had all of our local family here for Easter and the grands had a great time hunting their eggs.  We had a great day just being together.

One of the three table-fulls we had set up for the day....I think the big kid fits right in!

This is my cutie patootie.....she is my girlfriend!  I miss her!

What a sweetheart and oh that beautiful hair!!!!

Then these two nuts....playing with the old glasses that are in the dress-up box....gotta love those faces!

Then we had entertainment.....

I love that boy.....he played the guitar for us too.....what a hoot!

This would make a cute little cupcake poke, if you printed out on cardstock half facing right and the other half facing left, cut them out and glue a toothpick between.  Very sweet!!!  Or a larger one stuck in a Easter basket....or a bunch of them on a garland or glued to the top of a place card on your Easter table or.........

Flower Easter Egg

Want to do a fun little Easter project with a few supplies that you probably already have among your craft supplies?  Pastel felt scraps, pearls, pins, an egg Styrofoam shape, and a small flower shaped die.

 I don't know about you, but it is so much fun to get out a few basic supplies.....with a general idea and see where it goes and how the project develops.  

 I just bought this Sizzix lilac flower die recently, just for the shape and size of these flowers.  I know this is old school, but I have been using these dies lately to cut felt or wool.  It is so much fun and it cuts it so well.  Here I am using up some scrap pieces to get a few more flowers cut out. 

 I just cut up a bunch of these flowers in both sizes....in several different pastel colors that I had in my felt stash.  A couple of them are wool felt, which I love.  I don't have much of that because of the cost.....but it is wonderful to work with and has a more beautiful look to it.  Aren't they sweet?

This is what I ended up with....adding little pearls with pins and a piece of ribbon for the hanger.  I dip the ends of the pins in a little craft glue before inserting them into the Styrofoam to secure them well.  You could leave the ribbon off, if you don't want to hang it.  I think doing one all in the same color-way would be wonderful too.   I included Miss Chicky in the pic too....this is a Mill Hill kit from a couple years ago.  She is a hoot!!!  I often take something like this to work on when we travel.

We are enjoying an unbelievable spring here in the Midwest....so I hope this little project brings some "spring" into your life.  Isn't this Easter postcard wonderful?  ....as always right click on the image and you can save it to your computer.  I just saw a garland made from postcards that are machine sewed to a piece of rick-rack.  It was wonderful, I haven't gotten to that yet.....so many projects, so little time.......

Felt Easter Baskets

I bought these adorable Easter Buckets last year at Target on clearance after Easter.  I had planned to make something similar for the grand kiddos......but when I saw these at 75% off.....buying was a lot easier!!!!

To personalize them, I embroidered their names out on felt, cut them out, and sewed them to the handle of each bucket.  How easy is that!!!!

Aren't these colors wonderful?  .....they would make a great quilt palette.

I haven't looked in Target or any of the other stores to see if you can purchase anything similar this season.  I would think you could find something like these.  Let me know and I will pass it on.

I am so excited to have the kids use them in a few weeks.

Happy Easter

May you have a blessed Easter weekend with family & friends!!!

I have included a special piece of Easter clip art for you to download.

Enjoy!

Quilt Therapy



A sweet bunny pincushion I did for a pincushion exchange for our local quilt guide. (Sue Spargo Design)   I made one to exchange and one for me to keep because it turned out so cute.  This is made from recycled wool and vintage rick-rack.  In the background is another small  basket quilt I did several years go from my Grandma K's 1930's stash.

 I am in quilt therapy right now.....what is that you might wonder?  Well I cannot say it is cheaper than cigarettes or booze, or any other substitutes your might want to name, because that may not be true.  But it is certainly better for you than those things.  I find myself in a place where I need to do some emotional and spiritual healing.  I was reminded of that this AM while talking to a dear friend, who is also living in the same abyss.....we are in it together....only many miles apart.  So we are together in a like situation, but not together in locale.  And that is a total bummer.  I sense we will be OK and even thrive at some point, but this place we are at right now is hard.  And not something either of us would choose.........I digress.....




Easter Egg Table mat, I just finished....a fun afternoon project!!!


Quilt Therapy is like stitching with purpose and a realization that time is precious.....working on pieces that are important to me,  give me a sense of accomplishment, or encourage those in need around me with a gift of sewing.  It is methodically and systematically, repeating over and over, the same motions and hear the same sounds of my sewing machine as it chugs along.  BTW hearing different sounds from your sewing machine is most often very BAD.  I hate it when that happens!!! 

Anyhow, I sometimes listen to sermons I have recorded, music, Phantom, Les Mis, or favorite shows that I have Tivo'd.  But sometimes it is just better to have quiet and be reflective and allow my mind to use the silence....to make decisions, give understanding and in the long term, healing. 

I wake up (when I don't have a migraine....) ready to jump into my projects where I left them and I am finding this time to be well spent and like a healing balm to my soul.  I am reconnecting with who I really am, after a long absence because of several  recent outside pressures in my life. One thing I know for certain is any healing takes time and it most often takes longer than we thought or want. 

BTW, if you don't quilt....you can substitute this with exercise therapy, hiking therapy, biking therapy, knitting therapy, cross stitch therapy, writing therapy, etc.....use that time productively and maybe creatively.... it will nurture your soul and heart and mind to a healthier and better balanced you.

A little close up showing the Happy Easter I wrote with my machine and a few decorative stitches that I added.



Hoppy Easter Quilt

Hoppy Easter Quilt

I have gotten this stack of fabric out every spring to do a fun Easter quilt and until this year always ended up putting it back in my cupboard because I didn't get to it.  So I was so excited to cut it out a couple weeks ago and then be able to hang it up totally finished  two weeks later.  It all started with the border fabric.  I am a sucker for vintage looking prints and pictorial fabrics.  Then getting them home and what to do with them is always the struggle.  Also having the right yardage when I finally do come up with an idea is either a stroke of luck or providence.  I found this pattern in a magazine and thought it might work, but really didn't have enough fabric to do the small square border, so instead of strip piecing that section.  I did it by cutting out squares and rectangles...... because I was hoarding fabric so I would be able to complete it.  Not exactly the easy way, but it worked.



Close up of the border fabric.....also showing the rick-rack in the binding.

I got to the binding and decided to add some vintage rick-rack within the binding seam.  I didn't have enough of one color to go all the way around, so I used orange, yellow and green.....blended well with the border fabric and the vintage colors are just unique hues, I can always pick them out vs. current shades.  So it was a good place to use some of my grandma's stash of trims.



A closer view of the center section. 
This was a very fun project and I am enjoying seeing it hang in my hallway.



When I was looking for rick-rack to use in the Easter quilt, I ran across this package of  "Prudence" green rick-rack.  I love this label.  I didn't have the heart to open it, so I tucked in a basket with some commercial patterns from the 40's.  I did think I should do a quality scan of it, so I could use it as a piece of sewing clip art.  :)



Easter Tree

Welcome to spring on this very rainy day in Iowa.  Unlike most, I enjoy cloudy days.....probably because I seem to be very light sensitive and have frequent migraine issues....it seems to be slighly less problematic on cloudy days.  Another reason I like cloudy days, I have several small lights and lamps through out my house that are on all the time and the house has a magical atmosphere during those days that are more gloomy.  It makes me happy. 

I have also been referred to on one of my quilting lists as "Our Lady of Perpetual Tree,"  in reference to a christmas tree that I have up year round and decorate seasonally.  I have done this pretty consistantly since the girls were in school.  The white twinkle lights look just as wonderful with easter and patriotic as they do with christmas.  I remember several times when the girls would bring their friends home with them who had never been to our house before and the tree always got a stop in their tracks and then a closer look before resuming their play and activities.  I am sure their parents heard about that.  Now the "grands" check out the toys, books, etc. that I have under the tree each time they come as I change that all the time.

Here are some trinkets on my easter tree, including a smocked egg far left and several cross stitched pieces.

I love the glass carrots and knitted chick vest.

Under the tree I usually have some puzzles and the Little People Easter Set by Fisher Price, books and stuffed bunnies.....all the things that the Grands can play with.

This is an Easter play book that includes a puzzle, matching game, an easter egg hunt and learning to tie a bow.  This are machine embroidered and I have done these for several holidays, very popular with the Grands.  The pages are put together with binder rings and LOTS of ribbon scraps tied around them.  I purchased these from My Fair Lady....http://www.secretsof.com/content/4393

A cute chick....a Mill Hill beaded kit and a couple other fun items some boughten, some made.

New Beginnings

I must say as I begin this blog, I am some what intimidated by it.  I did start a family blog several years ago and really didn't do that much with it.  I find myself needing a challenge and hopefully I want to develop some online friends through this means.  I need a new beginning, but after seeing the devastating pictures from Japan, my losses that I have endured last year seem small and insignificant in comparison.

Just to give a little explanation of the title of my blog 4 & Fifteen.  It comes from my four beautiful, grown daughters, who are in the trenches of motherhood and raising our 15 grandchildren.....hence the 15.  I consider them my treasures.  If you remember the movie Sarah, Plain & Tall, she referred to her spinster aunts in Maine as the "unclaimed treasures."  I always loved that, so my 4 & Fifteen are MY claimed treasures.

What better time to talk about new beginnings, than March in Iowa and the end of winter.  I always enjoy my Easter decorations so much.  I thought I would share with you some of my fav Easter decorations.

I finished a couple towels last week from two pieces of vintage huck toweling that I had from my Grandma T's stash.  I found this darling machine embroidery design and have the towel draped over an old scale with a vintage child's chick bowl.  In the bowl is a egg toy that you push a button with your thumb and the egg spins around and opens and exposes the chick inside.  A fav with the little kids.

Here is the green towel, I used it to line a napkin basket.

Here is my serving basket on my dining room table in my kitchen.  You can see some of the plastic eggs that have cross stitch little bands around them with simple designs.  In the background is a tablecloth I bought on a trip to Germany.  On the far left corner you can see one of the salt and pepper shakers that has a beautiful pink flower on the top.  They are so sweet.  The basket is lined with a 60 degree star quilt made out of 30's reproduction fabric and it was English paper pieced by a friend.