Posts Tagged ‘books’

Our little grandson, Drew loves Curious George as you can see here.

He got George this past Christmas (actually he found his gift early, so his mother didn't have the heart to take it away from him!). The two have been inseparable since first meeting.

George has had some interesting experiences including a couple of showers and a swirly. George is very helpful to have around. Sometimes in the evenings or at naptime when "George is tired" Drew will very happily crawl into bed so that he and George can get some much needed rest!

I recently found this little George and purchased him for Drew's birthday which is coming up soon. This George is in his pajamas and is holding a little teddy bear. I'm not sure he will be as well loved as his predecessor, but perhaps he can stand in when George I is drying out from his next water adventure.

Another gift that is going into Drew's birthday package is this little gift set of the book Corduroy and a little Corduroy bear wearing green corduroy overalls. This set is in honor of Corduroy's 40th birthday.

So, if you see Drew, please keep these new friends a secret. Fortunately he doesn't read my blog, so I'm safe sharing these pictures with you.

Becka

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Several weeks ago I wrote a post about a new book I had received for Christmas. Last night I finished up the first of several aprons I hope to make from the book, A is for Apron. During Christmas vacation my daughters and I went out to Hobby Lobby (where the book was purchased) and while we were there Megan chose some fabric for an apron. Since then Nora has purchased some fabric and chosen a pattern that she would like and I plan to make one for myself as well. So, I should be in the apron business for a while yet.

The first step in making the apron was to get the pattern from the book enlarged 400%. The friendly woman at Kinko's figured it all out and printed my pattern for me on a large sheet of paper.

I thought the apron turned out pretty well and hope Megan agrees. This apron is cut on the bias and I did have a slight bit of trouble stitching the waistline seam without puckers. I think if I make this one again I will add a little bit of gathering on either side near the ties. I did find the general directions in the front of the book for working with the bias tape to be excellent. I had fun making this and am looking forward to trying some of the other designs.

Becka

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Not much cooking went on around our house this weekend since Rob and I were at our churches' annual deacons' retreat up at the Wilds Christian Camp in Rosman, NC. We did eat very well while we were up there, however. The Staff did their very best to see that no one languished from hunger.

At the retreat we had two general sessions and two sessions geared toward the ladies to encourage us in our role as wife of a deacon. The meetings were excellent and I think we all came away encouraged to do more to meet the needs of others in our church.

Since I don't have a new recipe to share, I thought I would do a post about another one of my new books, Mice on Main. It's the little skinny book on the top of the stack that I forgot to turn so you could read the spine. (Bear with me - I'm new to this!) Here's a picture of the book:

This one is a children's book that I got from my son Mark and his wife Katie. I had mentioned this fall that I would have to get the book sometime to have on hand for when our grandson, Drew, is a bit older. So, thanks to them I am all set. Here's a picture of Mark and Katie from this Christmas:

The book tells about the nine bronze mice which inhabit Main Street here in Greenville. Here is a picture of all nine of them:

The city has written out directions that are available in many locations so that you can have a scavenger hunt up and down Main Street trying to find them. It's a fun activity and I would encourage any of you to try it sometime.

I will close with a quotation from our retreat:

The crown of the home is Godliness.
The beauty of the home is order.
The glory of the home is hospitality.
The blessing of the home is contentment.

Becka

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I love aprons. I have made many aprons over the years, both to wear myself and to give as gifts to other apron-wearing friends. For the last few years this has become my favorite apron pattern:

Here is one of my current favorites made from this pattern:

Knowing my love for aprons, DD Nora (pictured here with her dog, Paisley)

got me this book and fabric for Christmas:

The book contains a section on vintage aprons, basic construction techniques, making aprons from other items such as dishtowels and skirts, and patterns for 25 different aprons. It is chock full of apron ideas. The patterns are included in the book in miniature form and you have to enlarge them 400 percent. Megan and Nora have each chosen a design and fabric that they like, so I will keep you posted on any finished aprons in the coming months. I've got my fabric washed and ironed and now I need to go to a copy store and get my pattern enlarged.

How about you - do you wear aprons and do you have a favorite style or pattern?

Edited to add: Attempting to use another pattern in this book I ran into great difficulties with the pattern. I decided to check at Amazon to see the customer reviews and find if others had run into similar problems. I was amazed/dismayed at all the bad reviews! Most people feel like the book has great pictures and ideas for the aprons, but many of the patterns do not go together well and the fabric requirements that are listed are not accurate. I can give an illustration of that: for the apron I was trying to make the pattern listed 1/4 of a yard for the waistband and ties. It then proceeded to tell me to cut a piece 7" wide by 70" long. As you can see, something is missing here. So, as many of the people who commented on the Amazon site wrote I would recommend that you get this book from the library and use it for inspiration and then buy a commercial pattern if you actually want to make an apron.

Becka

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We had a few new items on the menu for lunch today.

I had made an appetizer for New Year's Eve and had more of the ingredients on hand so I made another batch for today. They are called Broiled Stuffed Pepper Wedges and I found the recipe at Tammy's Recipes.

Here they are before broiling:

Here they are ready to eat:

The next new recipe was from this book that I got from my friend, Marge, for Christmas.

It is basically a stir fry of asparagus, snow peas, frozen peas, and green onions with a sauce. The sauce was OK, but the next time I plan to just season the vegetables with soy sauce and sesame oil after a quick stir fry. I thought the combination was really pretty and tasted good.

Here's a picture of the finished stir-fry:

The final new recipe was from this book that I got for Christmas from my friend, Sandy.

Sandy knows that Rob and I both have read a number of the Cat Who... mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun. The beauty of this particular recipe was that it used up the half can of leftover jellied cranberry sauce that I had in the refrigerator left from my DSIL's recent visit. You just make a box of jello with one cup of boiling water, 1 cup of sour cream and one cup of the cranberry sauce, let it thicken slightly and pour into a baked pie shell. I did have to run the mixture through the blender because the cranberry sauce wouldn't blend in with a whisk.

We had all these new dishes with an old family favorite - Pizza Rolls. I will have to post that recipe on another day.

Becka

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