Welcome, We are Glad you are Here!

This Pie has made quite a showing lately...it has become my new welcome to the neighborhood gift. We live in a community that does a lot of moving around, so I try to make an effort to be welcoming to new friends, and old!! I am not perfect at this...but there are some cases when they are certainly going to be part of our life here and I/we want them to know that we are glad to have them. It is a old church recipe from when i was a kid....how can peaches and cream cheese be bad?

Peaches and Cream Cheese Pie (aka Welcome to the Neighborhood Pie)

3 T Butter, softened
1 Egg
1/2 c. Milk
1 pkg. Vanilla Pudding(not instant), small
1/2 t. Salt
1 t. Baking Powder
3/4 c. Flour
15-20 oz. can Peaches, sliced
1 8oz. pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 c. Sugar
3 T. Peach Juice
1 T. Sugar
1/2 t. Cinnamon

1. Grease and flour a 10 inch pie plate.
2. In large bowl, combine the butter, egg, milk, vanilla pudding(not instant), salt, baking powder and flour. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed and pour into pan.
3. Drain peaches into bowl or cup....BE SURE TO SAVE THIS! Place fruit over batter, leaving a 1/2 inch edge.
4. In a small bowl, mix cream cheese(softened), 1/2 c. sugar and peach juice. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon over batter, but leave a 1/4 inch edge.
5. Combine 1 T sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 for 30-3 minutes until outer crust is brown.

Slow but Sure

Here is something i have been working on for a little while now. A few months back i was seeing lots of paper pieced hexagons and i really wanted to give it a try. I found some easy directions to follow and went for it at Cia's Palette. I have been using all scraps, so far. I envision this as someday being Avery's wedding quilt...by virtue of how tiny all these pieces are(about 1.5 inches) and that she is only 7 now... so you can tell i am figuring in lots of time for this one. Of course there is the chance that this plan will go bust if i get overwhelmed by the sheer volume that i would need, but there are enough of them currently that they could be something else, right?

I have been keeping them on and in my sewing bag in my purse, working on them when i get the chance...at the doctor's office, at the library, at my sisters house, just wherever. You can see my idea plan in the top picture. I am thinking about bordering all of them in black hexagons and then outlining it all in white. What do you think? There is something about a project totally done by hand that is on one hand soothing and on the other really daunting!!!!

I LOVE Old Junk!!!

I had the pleasure of taking a sister trip to visit some really fun antique places in VA. This one was so pink and polka dotty and fun!!! Just imagine it. A whole barn full of goodness. It was perfect there. Be warned, this is a picture heavy post!! and you are going to love every last one of them. :o)
. We did bring the kids, and plying them with lollipops only worked for so long. They were hot and hungry. Not a good combination.

We had been planning on going to some of these places since we drove by them on the way to a homeschool convention several months ago. Right as soon as we saw these amazing places we promised that we were going there, come you know what or high water.
Not a bit of this place disappointed. By chance i just happened to be there the week that this same little town had their yearly antique and craft fair. How prefect was that?
This place and all these piles was and were full of potential. Potential loveliness. Am i gushing? Really, it was that good!!!

One of the main shops in town had a yard full of little antique sheds that were sort of set up like little vignette's. Each one had all different kinds of things....furniture, tin tiles, old frames, old doors, old windows(i especially love these), glass, decorative stuff...everything!

The prices were amazing. So low i was shocked. There were so many things i wished i could get home with me, but they were way too big to get into the trunk of my Outback. It was not going to happen. Beautiful, antique dressers for like 150. Since this is about how much the junk dressers my kids already had, i thought this was awesome.

There were so many things i wished i could bring home with me, but a girl can't have it all...so instead i took lots of pictures and tried to find lots of inspiration. I tried looking at things from a different perspective. I did find a few little wonderful things, but those will have to wait for another post.

But Of Course!!

...you know i can not make a trip to my sisters house without stopping in on all the local fabric stores to see what is new and wonderful! And i definitely found wonderful. Orange was calling me, not for a reason,but for the stash. I have been dreaming about having some of this fabric called Red Letter Day by Lizzie House for some time and they had wonderful bundles of it at this shop. There are some reproduction fabrics in there as well that i could not resist. Deanna, stop calling me names! :o) If you click on the picture you can see the cute little kids with umbrellas there in the middle a little better. It is really cute, sorry it is upside down. I guess only lots of time will tell what these pretties turn into.

We Are Back!!

Oh Bloggy blog how i have missed you...we have been apart for so long!!! Even though i missed you i was having lots of fun with my sister and her family. One of the best things was family pizza night...sure we did lots of other things, but this was fun for everyone.

Colleen let all of the kids knead and stretch their own dough, then sauce it and cheese it up. They even got to choose from an array of toppings. Way to go sister, we should do that again. Not only was it fun but man it tasted good!!!
All the kids got into it, even the big ones. They were all being a little camera shy at first but then they relaxed and i got a few good shots of everyone.

When it was time to eat their own creations they were ready and nobody was disappointed. Kids really do eat more if they make it themselves. **Note to self... get the kids involved more often then perhaps there will be less complaining at dinner time!**

Good idea Colleen! We miss you all already.

Home Decor Happiness

I have a few new treasures that i wanted to share with you!

When i was a little girl my mom had a set of a giant fork and spoon. I have been wanting hers for a long time but she has long since been rid of them. I love etsy because I found these perfect old red ones that were just right for my house. They are bigger than you think...about 2 feet long each!

Then the other day i found this great vintage looking tin sign at Homegoods. Love that store. It fit perfect on the end of my boring, ugly kitchen cabinets.

Now, one of my favorite etsy purchases is this vintage ruler coat hanger. I bought it from Susie at Bienvenue shop. She has so many wonderful ideas and when she made this one i knew i wanted one, but it would take me too long to make it myself...so i went ahead and ordered it from her etsy store. It is more fabulous in person!

And last but not least i found these these vintage flat close pins. I have plans for them. I want to frame them and hang them in my laundry room...to make the room more appealing and then perhaps the laundry will not seem so tedious or never ending!!!

**on a side note, i will be going out of town to visit with my sister this week. I hope to have more adventures to share and pictures to post when we get back. See you here when i get back!**

Start to Finish

My little quilter was at it again!! This time she was wanting to make a birthday gift for her favorite little cousin....i am pretty sure that since she is a baby she is not going to be checking the blog and finding out the surprise before the party!! Sister, pretend that you did not see this!

She took this project on from start to almost finish...i helped with one thing. First things first we spray basted the quilt so we did not have to deal with pins. Then she very carefully smoothed out any wrinkles.

She knew what she wanted to do so we threw it in the machine and away she went! Hello Kitty is definitely not designed to quilt, but she tried hard and made a really excellent effort. It turned out beautifully, and more importantly she told me how proud she was of herself.

When it came time for binding she raided my fabric closet and found just what she wanted. Good thing i have a stash!

She purposely folded the corner back so that everyone could see the backing fabric she had chose. These were two fat quarters that she chose herself at the fabric store. The only help she got was my hand sewing on the binding. She decided that would be too hard for her.

Family Vintage

Look what my Gram gave me. While we were visiting this weekend she came down the hall with a little something folded up in her hand. My mom got excited, i think she thought it was for her, and then realized that it was probably for me. Were you a little bummed mom? I jumped and squealed when i saw a hint of vintage something in her hand, because i did not know what it was yet. I grabbed her and hugged her. I think she might have laughed at me. If i had found this apron in a vintage shop somewhere i would have fallen in love but to get it from the hands of my Gram made it even better. My aunt was there and said she remembered it....so it must have been something she used during the holidays. I probably should have found out the whole story but i was way too excited. Cover your ears if you love christmas...but it is not my favorite holiday. My family has names for me. But this...this could make it way more fun!!! Thanks Gram!!!!

Grandpa Bear

We got news this past week that my grandpa was not doing so great and was in the hospital. We are fortunate to live pretty close to them right now so we packed up and headed out for the weekend so that we could drop in and say hello, love on him a little and make sure he was doing ok. Mitch felt the need to snap a picture of himself!

We got to visit and the kids made him pictures and we brought him apples, his preferred snack!

We just wanted the chance to be there for him. It also was a great time to visit with my grandmother, lots of aunts and uncles and cousins from in and out of town. It was a short trip but there are so many people, even if the visits are quick, that it seems like you were there way longer. In a good way of course.

I wanted to get some pictures of him, even in a hospital bed. He is a good subject, don't you think? We love him and just hope that he feels better and gets back on his feet.

We love you Grandpa Bear!

Improv Inspiration

My sewing machine and i have not been spending that much time together lately, but yesterday i needed to sew. I knew that i had to sew something, anything. Right away i was drawn to my scraps from Heather. I took them out and looked them over...all sorts of shapes and sizes...and figured out right away that the best plan was some improv sewing. When i got these the other day a good friend saw them and wondered what on earth i could do with such small pieces, so it was exciting to show her what i had made with them.

I considered looking online to see if there was some kind of tutorial...but knew that would only end in me wasting valuable sewing time on the computer, being inspired by other peoples ideas and never getting to my own. I needed to free myself from being dependent on the internet and blogs. With determination and lots of excitement i just started sewing. Out came these improv scrappy log cabin blocks.

I have not done a sewing project that has been so freeing or so fun, ever. I did not worry about straight lines or perfectly cut blocks. i just sat and created. It felt good. I struggle with the differences in being crafty and being creative. I want to create but sometimes i feel so stuck in thinking about it that i get nowhere. This time i just went for it, and it turned out amazing!! I love it!! I think it is going to end up hanging in my living room and if i don't like it there i am going to use it for a table runner.

Making Maps

Mitchell is my dress ups man. Every morning when he wakes up he has a plan for who he is going to be that day and what exactly he needs to wear to be that. Well, yesterday he woke up and he was a pirate. Then we watched a pirate movie, Muppet Treasure Island. While we were watching he wished he could have his friend cole's treasure map...that got me thinking. Why don't we do a beat the boredom kind of project and make treasure maps.
It worked....i looked around a little bit to get some ideas and then we got to work. Take a paper bag(cut it so it is the part with no writing) and tear off the edges to make it look aged, and then crumple it, crumple it and crumple it some more. Then start making your map with as little or as much detail as you like.
Once it is crumpled good and written on, make sure you use a sharpie so it does not bleed off when you get to the water part...now get it wet and crumple it more. Be careful not to tear it. The water ages it. Now let it dry and then roll it up and go on a treasure hunt! Sorry the pictures are out of order....it is way too late to be blogging!!!