Spring Flowers and a Creative Boy's Eye

David, who is 12, loves to take pictures.  He has such a creative eye (at least much more creative than his mother).  Here are a few pictures he took a few days ago:  www.hisworldinpictures.blogspot.com

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do :)

Key Lime Pie

My Key Lime Pie

I found a new recipe that my whole family LOVES! It comes from the back of this bottle:

Nellie & Joe's Famous Lime Juice


Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Pie

• 9" graham cracker pie crust
• 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3 egg yolks (whites not used)
• ½ cup Nellie & Joe's Key West Lime Juice

Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie crust and bake at 350º for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream, or meringue, and garnish with lime slices.

I like to add about a 1 teaspoon of lime zest because I like the extra zing.

So simple!


 

Frills and Fluff

My daughter is such a GIRLY girl! She loves anything frilly, fluffy and furry. So of course, she wanted a tutu.   After all, it makes twirling and dancing so much more fun!

So last night was the night to create her tutu with the colors she picked out - pink, purple and green. I gave it lots of delicate ribbons and attached lots of little roses on it since she loves her middle name soo much. ROSE.

This tutu is not made with elastic, but with a long 1 1/2 inch wide ribbon that I can just tie around her.  This makes it much easier for me to help her to get it on rather than fighting with the frills while pulling the elastic up to her waist.

(You can see her shorts in the back - her tie needed to be tightened.  It does cover all of her :)

Reasons for Not Blogging................

• Someone put the black food coloring container on the kitchen window sill - laying flat with the lid ajar. 
• Put Dad's "Do not dry-Lay flat" sweater in the dryer and am trying to stetch it out before its fully dried.
• Had to catch the parakeets that were accidently let out.  
• Teaching Sam the right way to head a paper for spelling.
• John wants to drive me to the bank to get driving practice.
• Cooking two different dinners - one for Dad and one for everyone else.
• Teaching kids how to deep clean (so I don't get so overwhelmed doing it myself.)
• Reminding Pete and Ben they love eachother more than they know.
• Re-organizing computer area to equip Amy how to help in Dad's business.
• Molly wants me to hold her and play Mommy Deer and Baby Deer.
• Bread maker smelled like it was making burnt toast. I think it's time for a new one.
• Got lost in Joanne Fabrics (not really, but I forgot about the time.)
• Correcting school papers.
• Playing Spider or building birthday puzzles after dinner clean-up; sometimes it helps my brain relax.
• Teaching boys the right way to open a pomegranate (and that it STAINS!)
• Trying to finish the laundry before the weekend, but this is only load six.
• I (not the kids) spilled 5 pounds of sugar all over the floor!
• Cuddling David's soft ears before he thinks he is too old for that kind of stuff.
• And the list goes on...............................................................................

"Actually, Godliness is a great source of profit when it is combined 

with being happy with what you already have.

1 Timothy 6:6 (CEB)

No Time for Crafting.............YET

This past month has found me upgrading around our home.  So rather than creating with fabrics and flip flops I have been up to my elbows (and hair) with paint!  My son asked if he could paint his room (it needed it) so he and I went to get paint.  His idea was to use black and red!  My ideas were a little less radical.  So between our brainstorming we came up with what I would call chocolate pudding.  The color is a very dark but nice brown and the whole time we were painting I kept saying that I felt like I am painting pudding on the walls!

After painting his room I remembered I had paint for the hall so I painted that.  Then realized I had paint for the laundry room too, so that was next.  Which then, of course,  led me to the boys bathroom, touch-up in the living room and so on!

Now after all of that we are endeavoring to redo our porch, which is somehow making me think of painting our ceilings.............I don't know if I will go that far.................yet. :)

I am glad for summer upgrades.  Crafting will come soon enough as does winter around here which is when I seem to have more time for crafting.

We have also had some family time which you can view here:    Beach Trip

Sam's Pillow

I have an eight year old who thinks he loves to sew!  He's been interested since he was about 6.  I even have a small sewing machine that I've let him use to sew pillows, bags, and other creations with.  But somehow when I moved my "craft station" from one room to the other, I misplaced the cord for his machine : (   This didn't stop him though, he asked me to teach him to hand sew!  He's certainly an aggressive young man.

The other evening he found me sewing and of course asked if he could sew too.  I had been saying no for about a month now, but I gave him a yes this time.  Sam had his own fabric that he had bought a while back (yes, he loves the fabric store just about as much as I do)  and wanted to make a big pillow with it. 



Sam's "Leather"



 I let him look through my patterns this time.  This is actually the first time I've shown him patterns and let him pin and cut.  Usually he does his own shape and cutting. He chose to make a bolster pillow.



Pinning the pattern

I let him use my machine this time and he did just fine considering it is a lot faster that the small one he usually uses.  He sewed everything but the last round piece.  I helped him with this since it was hard to sew once it was filled with the stuffing.

This project was quick from start to finish.  I had forgotten just how easy it was to make such a nice pillow.

My Pillow Case Dress

I've seen many pictures for pillow case dresses and have always wanted to try to make one.  They seemed really simple to make so last night I finally got a chance to make one.  They are really easy to make! And fun!  You can do all sorts of things to dress them up.  I had such a hard time deciding which ribbons to use to dress this one up.  I finally decided on the lavender ribbon for the ties and a trim at the bottom.  I have pretty sequins to put on this dress too, or should I make some cute bows...........................oh well, I'll decide later!

Her Yellow Dress

My lovely daughter recently picked out some fabric to make a dress.  She picked out a light yellow fabric.
This seemed a little out of character for her (to me anyway) so before we had the fabric cut I asked her if she was sure she would wear it once it was made........................She really likes it!

I let her pick out a pattern and will let her (try to let her) do most of the sewing on it.  She wants to sew her own dress but I know it will be hard for me to not want to "just do this part," or "just help you with this section." She is going to make the green dress that is shown-without sleeves.  Sleeveless dresses seem to be

her favorite no matter what the season is.  We'll post the dress when we she has it finished. : )