We had good news today for our family. My mother who had surgery for cancer several weeks ago was told today by her doctor that she is cancer free-pathology came back clear. Surgery took care of it.  Also we have a new addition to the family.  My nephew John and his wife Kandy  had a baby girl this morning – C-section 4 weeks early.  She had a difficult pregnancy and they had to have the baby early.  It was feared that she would be under 5 pounds and possibly have to go to the ICU but little Zoey weighed in at 5 pounds 6 oz. and in excellent health!  Much bigger than the doctors had thought.

My 87 year old mother now has 27 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren ( one more is due in early April) – wow we just keep growing and growing and some people ask if I make baby quilts for family – no way – too many to keep up with!!

Work on Joseph’s Coat, I am sewing the circles down this evening on that last diagonal row that I was going to do yesterday and didn’t get around to it.

Dizzy is coming along but I didn’t get done with as much of it this afternoon as I had hoped to, I got off to a late start on it – I had to get the grocery shopping done, then there was laundry to do also.  One thing after another and I was delayed.  I will try to finish it up tomorrow.  Right now the 2 rows on the end in length need to be sewed on and then the border fabric.

Several have asked about the Double Wedding Ring quilt hanging on the edge of the photo.  It is queen size, a Judy Niemeyer pattern.  It came with the paper piecing patterns but at that time I had no sewing machine working and I didn’t do paper piecing –I hand pieced it all!  The applique is needle turn. Hand quilted as always, I got best of show with it at the county fair in 2002, here it is.  It took me 410 hours to make from start to finish – and that isn’t the longest I have taken to make a quilt

Now I think after NCIS is over I should have all the circles appliqued on Joseph’s Coat and I might move back into the sewing room and put the tv on back here and get more quilting done on Star Crazy. I haven’t put as much time into it lately as I had intended to.

Only one thing left for me to bake and that is my coffee cake that I always have for Christmas morning.  I made the dough yesterday – it sits in the refrigerator for a day and then I bake it in the evening.  Here is a link to it from several years ago.  It is called Potica, there are a lot of recipes for it.

If you do a search they are all going to be different.  I believe it originates in the Scandinavian countries.  I found my recipe for it over 35 years ago and have made no changes to it and grateful that it has turned out every year.  My daughters love it so much that they make it also for their families if they are not here for the holidays.  EDITED:  Not from the Scandinavian countries – more from central Europe – here is a link

If you are like me you have finished your shopping ages ago and can sit back and relax – do a little cooking and preparation and be ready for family.   Today other than getting some food ready for this evening – finger foods – I need to give the house a little cleaning and I’m relaxing.  I have some more of the melons cut out for Joseph’s Coat ready to put on the design floor so I can pin some pieces together.  I want to have some hand work for off and on the next couple days for in between visits.  I will also get some more quilting done on the Star Crazy quilt.  We do not have a lot of family around for Christmas so it is a quite holiday.  Our daughter that lives in North Little Rock and her husband will be with us for part of the evening.  Then they will go visit with his mom down the road from us and be back in the late morning for some visiting and late lunch then back to his mom and home they go from there.  Melanie is in retail and needs to be back for the bright and early day after Christmas sales.

I hope you all have a great holiday and get everything from Santa that you wish for

I don’t make a lot of cookies anymore for the holidays – I used to make dozens and dozens and probably 12 different kinds at that.  I started to bake cookies back when I was about 10 years old!!  My mother was not into baking, she made bread and an occasional cake, but cookies was not something she enjoyed making a lot.  As soon as my sister Vicki and I were old enough we took over the kitchen at Christmas time for making cookies – shortly after when the two brothers that were directly under us in age were old enough they started to make them too – we were stair-step ages about a year and a half between all of us (12 total, one set of twins).

When I married and had children of my own I continued making cookies and candy for Christmas time – forgetting that we only had a family of 4 compared to the family of 14 that I grew up with!!  I made way too many cookies, they would be in the freezer for weeks afterwards until we ate them all up.

Before the recipe though here is a photo of my grandchildren after they made a snowman in Wisconsin (where they live) this morning.  Just enough snow to get the front yard cleaned up!

One of the favorite recipes that my girls always liked and they both make them now that they have families of their own are called “Golden Thumbprints”  we all love them.  I am not a Martha Stewart type of baker, my cookies are not equal sizes the jam in them is not the same amount – you can tell they are homemade!

The recipe (I have no idea where I ever got this recipe, I have had it for years)

Golden Thumbprints

1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 egg, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the first four ingredients.  Save the egg white for later use in recipe. Stir in the flour and salt. Refrigerate for an hour or two.  Roll the dough into little 1 inch balls (or close to).  slightly beaten the egg white and roll each ball in it and then and roll in the chopped nuts.  Bake for 5 minutes, take out of the oven and quickly indent each center with your thumb, fill center with a small spoonful of jam of your choice – I usual use raspberry.   Bake again for 8 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

This recipe doesn’t make many – I usually double the recipe and I got 3 dozen cookies.

Ready to get started on the second baking sheet of cookies, as you can see you do get sloppy after awhile, I get chopped nuts in my egg whites, but that is ok – it all turns out right in the end!

Fill with jam and put back in the oven to bake.

Another tray ready for the oven.

We have each sampled these already of course – now I am putting the remainder away for when our daughter and her husband get here on Christmas Eve.

While I have been visiting we made a trip to the zoo, something kids and adults can like.

My grandchildren and I.

Kids getting along and having fun!

Although slightly more than 2 years apart in age they have been nearly the same size for a long time.  Utah being one of the smallest in his class and Ciera being one of the tallest in her class.  I’m sure Utah will hit a growth spurt soon.  He will be 11 next month and Ciera won’t be 9 until fall.

Jessica and the kids.

The baby lion at the zoo with it’s mother.

Leaving the park and still getting along!

What a wonderful ceremony was held yesterday for the graduates getting their black belts.  The students put on quite a show full of skits and demonstrations.  It was a proud moment for all attending to see what hard work was put into their training.

Utah with his new uniform and black belt

One of the parents wanted the kids from the school to go to the ceremony in style and splurged on a limo ride for the kids taking them to lunch first then on to the auditorium where they got ready for the afternoon events.

Excitement in the limo of my grandson and karate friend:

with friends after ceremony – now it is time to relax!

with one of his instructors – he has looked up to this young man for 4 years now and he got home from college in time to participate in the testing and the ceremony.

This is it from the karate activities – today is my last day here visiting.  The kids are staying home from school today and we are going to be busy doing things today – not sure what – but I’m sure we will be busy.  I’m so glad I was able to be here for this important moment in my grandson’s life!  Next time he tests for the next level – black belt 2nd level – will be 3 years  from now – he intends to stick with it at this point of his life and says he will be a karate studio owner when he grows up.  I will have to put May 2014 on our calendar to plan to be here again for the event and make sure Mike is off of work so he can come too.

My 8 year old  granddaughter Ciera decided that karate was not for her and recently quit that activity.  Now she is learning how to swim and is going to be playing softball.  She is looking for what activity is right for her.  I got to go with her yesterday to see her in the pool.  Later when we got back home she decided to get her box of quilting blocks out that I sent her for Christmas to have me help her.  She is really doing great on it but doesn’t have the interest to stick with it for long.

So once again these photos are mainly for family to see but feel free to stick around if you want.

At the pool ready to jump in.

In the water:

Enjoying herself:

She had 3 of these rows sewed together since Christmas! Plus she had 3 more rows of blocks sewed in strips.

Busy with the needle.  I had just sent her fairly good size needles to work with as I thought  small needles would be too small for her to handle but after seeing the trouble she was having with the large needle I had her try a smaller one and it worked much easier for her – the larger needle was harder to work through the fabric.

She now has 5 rows sewed together.  Next she will put a 2 1/2 strip around the edges and then it will be ready for quilting.  It will be a small doll quilt.  I think we will try to work on it tomorrow – the kids are being given Monday off of school to visit with me for the last day so we will be out running around and I hope to make time to help her with the quilt too.

Ok – enough sewing now it’s time for a snack!

Jessica, Ciera and I went to Millhouse Quilts on our way home so I got to do some shopping, I will post photos of what I got later.  Maybe while I am waiting for flights on Tuesday.  Jessica will be dropping me off at the airport on Tuesday here in Madison on her way to work so I will have a 2 1/2 hour visit to the Madison airport and then I fly to Chicago where I believe I have a 3 hour wait.  Plenty of time to get on the computer I bet.  I love how the airports have tables here and there next to electric outlets so you can plug in and get your daily fix without running down your batteries too much!  Tomorrow I will post photos from Utah’s belt black ceremony.  As you can all believe I am not spending near as much time on the computer as I do when I am at home

This post is just karate photos to share with family that read the blog – if you want to stay and look feel free

Yes this is a quilting blog, but I’m busy with the grandchildren and family this weekend.  Last night was my grandson’s last Karate testing for his black belt before graduation on Sunday and getting the belt in a ceremony.  It was expected all that were doing their final test last night would fly through and they did.

These are the kids in testing for the last step before receiving their belts – as you can see a wide range of ages – some have been doing karate since they were 3 years old in kinder-kicker class.  My grandson will be 11 next month and has been in the karate school for a little over 4 years (since they moved here to WI) he is 5th in the first row here.

It is so hard to get action photos with my camera as I don’t practice with action photos – far cry from quilts!  Here he is doing some kicks – he is the first one closest to the camera with the very short hair!

Self-defense – the girl is bigger than him and a higher belt level – they helped out last night with the testing.

Getting ready to get her to the floor -

And he did it! down to the floor she went.

After testing is done all go through the line of instructors to receive a certificate and congratulations from the teachers.  This one he is receiving a hug from is the oldest black belt in the area.

The owner of this school – very proud of him.

The class from his school (3 area schools tested together) my grandson is in the front there being the class clown

Jessica with her kids

These kids are on the Team Eclipse team with him, they go around doing demonstrations and tournaments.  Looks like they were proud of him too.

With one of his pals – she is a black belt first level and was testing for her second level of black belt – red uniform, now will go to white pants – Utah will be a first level black belt now and his uniform will go to the red color now.  The color of uniform determines the level they are at and testing was being done for numerous levels last night.

Utah we are all very proud of you!!  Good job.

Just a quick check in – got here yesterday with two uneventful flights – just the kind you want. 

The chalkboard wall in the kitchen:

The granddaughter:

The grandson:

Not sure what all we are doing today – the kids are at school and I think Jessica and I are going shopping and I hear I am getting a pedicure for a late mother’s day present!

Russellville Arkansas has a nice nature trail called Bona Dea.  There are criss-crossing trails, the longest is about 3 1/2 miles.  It has two entrances one by the front parking lot and one in the back that isn’t used as much.  This is the area that the swampy area is located at and sometimes you can spot an alligator like my daughter Melanie and I did 3 years ago – seen here. I really haven’t a clue what we would ever do if we actually spotted the alligator and it wasn’t in the water but on the trail!! I had never heard of that happening though and I think it (or they) spend all their time in the water.

Yesterday I picked up my 12 year niece Lily after school and we spent the rest of the day together as her mom had to fly to Chicago and  my brother (her dad) and her brother had out of town activities with the high school band.

First we went to the Bona Dea Trails to the swamp area that she had not been at.  On the way to the swamp there area walls of rock cliff area that you walk to first.  We climbed the stairs to the cliff area that don’t quite make caves but almost – here she is in the “cave”

At the above photo looking down you see the swamp by the trail.

Looking back you can see the stair and railing – it really isn’t very far or high off of the trail.

She wants to get into the rocks a bit more – but nope – Aunt Karen doesn’t do that kind of rocks! not in good shape for it and also no rock climbing here allowed.

Back to the trail we go – this is a side shoot off trail called “Beaver Dam” a little walk through the woods avoiding the poison ivy and keeping watch for snakes.

Back to the main trail now and almost back to the parking lot – we had gotten busy talking and weren’t watching where we were walking quite so much and almost stepped on a copperhead snake (poison) that really looked like a fat brown branch – had to do a little hop, skip to get around that quickly – will teach you to watch where you are going a little better!

See the markings – this one is darker than most I have seen – more brown than copper – used the zoom lens on the camera – we watched it for awhile but it appeared to be scared of us and wasn’t going to move much until we left.  EDITED 4/10/2011:  I have been told by several people that this might be a cottonmouth snake instead of a copperhead.  I am not a snake expert and have only seen cottonmouths in the water where they appear to be black which very well could be the water making them look black – either way it is poisonous so I am glad we got out of the way fast. I know it looked different in color and fatter – I just assumed as it aged it might look different.

Back to the parking lot we went.  Mike met us for pizza and then home .  Raiders of the Lost Ark with Harrison Ford (back from 1981!) was on tv – yes an old movie now and we had all seen it but we watched it anyhow — laughed at the places in the movie where he mentions hating snakes!!  A late night as my brother didn’t get to the house until 11 – they had a busy weekend planned with more school trips – Mike and I on the other hand are taking it easy – he is doing taxes and I am planting plants and relaxing!

Hope you all have a good weekend – we are having a heat wave it seems – 85 yesterday and 90 today they say – too hot too fast – where did the 70’s go that is normal for this time of year?

Well I told you all about two weeks ago that my 8 year old granddaughter called me up to ask for scraps as she wanted to make a doll quilt.  I quickly got supplies ready for her and picked out a box to put it all in and sent it off.  I got pictures last night from my daughter’s cell phone of what they are doing It has been snowing like crazy up in Wisconsin so last night they were making a quilt.  It sure would be nice to be up there visiting and seeing this quilting going on in person but these pictures are the next best thing (and I don’t have to put up with the snow – the cold weather and wind we are getting today is enough for me and tomorrow will be even colder from what we hear)

Ciera deciding on a design.

Two pieces pinned together and some quarter inch tape to mark the seam:

Figuring out how to stitch – mommy (my daughter Jessica) remembers how to do this and is teaching her (Jessica just doesn’t have the patience!).  Ciera has also gotten plenty of lessons from my visits but we only see them about 2 times a year on average so the last lesson was some time back.

Look at this Grandma!  Two blocks stitched together – don’t you just love this smile

Now big brother Utah has gotten lessons over time also and he has decided to help:

Don’t you just love seeing kids picking up fabric, needle and thread being creative!

(the postage size blocks were leftover from a project I started – I sent those blocks along for them to use)

I got another triangle done last night – only 2 yesterday – that leaves one to make today and the triangles will be finished!!  I will get busy putting that row of triangles for the final 4th border today and then get busy on the four corner pieces.

#11

#12

Jessica is the daughter that will eventually be getting this version of Dear Jane “Insanity Revisited” as my older daughter Melanie has the first Dear Jane “Insanity”.  The grandkids know this quilt is coming to their house eventually and are looking forward to “getting another quilt”.