Hippity, Hop, Hop!

Two pretty spring flowered teacups and saucers and three little china bunnies hippity hopping down the bunny trail.  


The teacups were my paternal grandmothers.  My Dad bought the three little bunnies to put in a Easter Lily plant he gave to my Mom on Easter years ago in the 1980s.  I happened to be visiting them in Florida over Easter and went with my Dad when he purchased the gift for my Mom.  It's a memory I cherish now that my parents have passed. 

Isn't the Easter bunny place mat cute?

  I like to put out place mats like this one at Easter too.  Usually I hang this one over our fireplace.

Lovely - isn't it?

 What a sweet pair of teacups!

The backs have a stamp of a crown:  

Bone China

Made in England

One of these days I will run out of teacups to show you!  But I don't think I will ever run out of my bunnies!


I'm hippity, hop, hopping, down the bunny trail from my home to yours!

Mrs. Twins SIBOL Cause

This is my second post today but I just had to tell you the news. 

 I mailed off my eight granny squares (shown above) to Sue (Mrs. Twins) for her charity project Sunshine International Blankets of Love (SIBOL) for the elderly last Friday and the squares arrived at her home today.  It was the first package we ever mailed over seas.  Sue very graciously posted about all the packages she received today on her blog and also posted photos on Flickr.  

I'm so glad she liked my squares.  As a beginner crocheter I may think  they are great when actually they may not be to a more experienced crocheter.  Sue is so talented at joining the donated squares into beautiful throws and crocheting the most lovely edges too.  If you are a crocheter take a look at Sue's blog.   

You will be so impressed and perhaps eager to make some granny squares to donate to worthy cause too.  

Come join the group!

   

Crazy about BUNNIES!

Can you tell I'm crazy about BUNNIES!  

From my Bunny throw on the back of our sofa, to the Bunny Doll and finally to the Bunny Mommy with her two bunny babies..I'm someBUNNY nut!

Do you like to decorate for EASTER too!  

Any other BUNNY nuts out there like me?

SomeBUNNY's Peeking at You!

My cute fuzzy Easter chicks sitting on their nest of green grass and nestled in a pretty, blue china Easter basket (passed down from hubby's parents).  

SomeBUNNY is peeking at you!

Count Down to Easter

I hope to find enough photos to celebrate Easter and my love of Bunnies from today to next Easter Sunday!  

These are bunny wood cutouts made by my late FIL.  I painted them and placed them on the door frame above the door in our dinette/kitchen that leads into our finished basement.  I leave them out all year long.  Why?  Because I love them!

Do you have seasonal decorations you leave out all year?  

Crochet Open Work Hand Warmers

I don't know about you but my hands are cold quite a bit of the time.  I have even taken my hubby's old socks and cut off the tops to make into hand warmers.  I have been searching the internet to find free patterns for hand warmers.  I found this pattern which is crocheted with an openwork stitch pattern (like a granny square stitch) and has a scalloped finger edge.  They were easy to stitch up - I could make one in an evening.    I used 3 ply sport weight Red Heart 100% virgin acrylic yarn in pale rose and a F hook.   

Here's another view.

These are just perfect for mid-season weather.  

Aren't they cute?

New Blogger Template

I have a new Blogger Template!  

It all happened when I received an email last evening from Blogger about the new Designer Template.   When I first started blogging I picked a template called "Sand Dollar" from the new template selections.  I liked it except for the header photo showing up in the left margin - I couldn't get the header photo to be centered.  So image my surprise when I received this email telling me about new Blogger features.  I didn't know there was a Blogger draft mode that let one select the Designer Template tab where you could play with brand new templates.  But I thought let's give it a try.  I found this new template called "Watermark".  It was so easy to pick my new template and try different layouts, backgrounds and fonts (although I would have liked to have more fonts available) with the new template and apply my final selections to my blog.  I am so happy my header is more centered now.  I also made my first photo collage in Picasa and posted it here.  

How do you like my new Blogger template?

Look What I Did Yesterday!

I didn't post yesterday because I was busy reorganizing my craft area and making my first EASTER egg wreath out of colorful spring colors.  I used a very old straw wreath I had by taking off the old decorations.  I didn't wrap the wreath I just started hot gluing the plastic eggs directly onto the straw wreath working from the center out and then adding to the top all around.  I left an open space at the bottom to tie the two bows I made out of Easter ribbons purchased at Michaels.  I used light green Easter grass I had on hand to fill in the cracks between the eggs.  I used the end of a pencil to lightly force the grass in with just a touch of hot glue on the end of the folded grass.  I found these cute small yellow and pink fur chicks at Michaels and hot glued their feet to the wreath.  And the final touch was an adorable yellow furry larger chick I found at Michaels (first saw at Tina's Cherry Hill Cottage blog) that I also hot glued to the front of the bow.  Even my hubby thought it turned out well.  The whole process took a little over two hours to complete.

Now to decorate the interior of my home for Easter.  For anyone who wishes to try this project there are several tutorials on the internet just google Easter egg wreath.   


If I can do it - you can too! 

Sunshine Granny Squares

I worked up four more granny squares for the Sunshine throw project I posted about (here).  I know they aren't "sunny" but they are the colors of the sky.  I blocked one and have the rest to do.

I added another round of orange to my original four to make the squares six inches by six inches.  We had a run over to Michaels today so I could pick up some quilt T-pins for blocking (unfortunately they aren't stainless steel but I'll watch for any rust).  I bought some more plastic EASTER eggs and some cute chicks and ribbons to make a wreath.  

Remember my posting about our shed (here).  My brilliant idea for laying sticky back tiles in the shed fell through today.  The guy at Lowes said with the extremes of weather the shed goes through he didn't think sticky back tiles would stay down.  We looked at rubber garage tiles but that was expensive (almost $500) to do the shed and we didn't want to put that kind of money into any shed.  Two ways we can go is to paint the floor or buy another sheet of linoleum to tack down.   I'm thinking we will hit Home Depot to see what they have for linoleum - see if we can find some large pieces on sale.  If not, maybe bite the bullet and get one large piece.  So much for thinking I could finish this project by the weekend!  Does this happen to any of you? 

The Shed

It's the most beautiful SPRING day here!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the trees and shrubs are starting to POP out.  It's suppose to rain the next two days so I thought it's a good day to clean out the shed so we can install sticky back tiles to the floor.  Hubby had his day out yesterday so I was able to talk him into starting this project with me.  And I don't want to be out in the shed when summer comes with that nasty humidity.  Then it is too hot and miserable to be out there.  We cleared out 2/3 of the shed floor and pulled up the old cheap linoleum sheets.  Tuesday we plan to get the tile.   I hope to get the tile installed while we still have this nice spring weather.  Hubby and I sat out on our screened in porch for lunch today.  It was just perfect weather for being out there.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.      

Sun Colors!

Hello!  Hurray it's the first day of spring and it's going to be beautiful here today.  Our trees and shrubs are starting to bud out.  

I'm working up some new crocheted granny squares which I hope to donate to a special sunshine blanket project (read about here).  

These represent the colors of a sunrise and/or setting in our skies - from the yellows to pinks, to orange and finally to red.

  

This reminds me of the old sailor's saying:

"Red Sky at night, sailor's delight.  Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning."

English Cottage China

My little China doll invites you to a cup of tea this lovely March morning.  She is hand-painted (Litton China - made in Japan).  Isn't her dress with the pink flowers, bows and green lace lovely?    

The China doll is a music box which I discovered isn't working this morning so I can't tell you what tune it plays.  Oops, she has an on and off switch I forgot about.  Her tune is pretty but for the life of me I can't think of the name of it.   

I bought this English Cottage teacup and saucer in a gift shop (ASKWITH GIFTS) for $15.99 in Sault St. Marie, Michigan while on a trip around Lake Superior years ago. 

The teacup is Regency English Bone China (Made in England).  

I hope your morning is as lovely as mine.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Oh, what a beautiful morning here!  

The sun is shining and it's suppose to be a lovely St. Patrick's Day with highs in the 60s F.  As I mentioned before I'm hosting our neighborhood monthly BUNCO group tonight so it will be a busy day for me.  For those of you who don't know what BUNCO is it's an easy to learn and play dice game composed of 12 players.  There are three tables of four players each where players rotate up or down between high, middle or low tables depending on their wins and loses.  We usually play three or four sets and then stop for dessert.  It's a great excuse for women to gather for the evening and catch up on the news.

My fireplace mantel all decked out with St. Paddy greenery!  

I'll leave you with some Irish humor.

A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink.

"Why of course," comes the reply.

The first man then asks: "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Ireland," replies the second man.

The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland." 
"Of Course," replies the second man.

Curious, the first man then asks: "Where in Ireland are you from?"
"Dublin," comes the reply.
"I can't believe it," says the first man.
"I'm from Dublin too! Let's have another drink to Dublin."
"Of course," replies the second man.

Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks:
"What school did you go to?"
"Saint Mary's," replies the second man.
"I graduated in '62."

"This is unbelievable!" the first man says.
"I went to Saint Mary's and I graduated in '62, too!"

About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar.
"What's been going on?" he asks the bartender.
"Nothing much," replies the bartender. "The O'Malley twins are drunk again." 

Shamrocks

More Shamrocks for my interior front door.  I bought this decoration at Michaels.   I like the pretty green ribbons.

Something to brighten another dark, overcast day here.  

My Vintage Ginger Doll...

This is, I believe, a Cosmopolitan Ginger doll, a small 8 inch doll from my childhood in the 1950s.  For some reason I never was good at thinking up names for my dolls so the other two dolls I had never had names.  So I must admit I wasn't very clever at naming her Ginger.  But Ginger is one of my favorite girl names (the other is Amber).  She is unmarked - her arms and legs are jointed and her small eyes are blue - it is cloudy here today so her eye color doesn't show up well.  You can read about Ginger dolls (here) and (here) - my Ginger is like the second one except for the color of her hair.  I played with this doll a lot and as you can see her socks are missing.  
This red dress was one of several beautifully hand sewn by my sweet maternal Grandmother.  She had eight children and 14 grandchildren.  She was widowed at age 62 and lived to be 88.  

I use to love to sit with my Grandmother, my Mom and all of my Aunts around the kitchen table and listen to them talk.   We always had fun with my Mom's family and did they all love to play games.  So many wonderful childhood memories.  I will have to post about my Miss Revlon doll and walking doll one of these days.   They are boxed away so I will have to get them out of storage.   

Do you have any of your childhood dolls?

Stormin' Here

We have awful weather here.  The heavy, hard rain and gusty winds came last night, continued through today and are suppose to be worst tonight.  Our electric power went off at 6 A.M. this morning, finally came back at 11:30 A.M.  We had power for just an hour and it went out again for two more hours.  It is so dark in the house I couldn't take any interior photos so I open the front door and took these photos of our St. Paddy decoration.  Sorry it is a little fuzzy.  It's the best I can do today.  Our neighbor called this morning and told hubby when he was out and about this AM he saw power lines down just down the street from us.  

The Top o' the Mornin' to All of You!

Shamrock Pins

I found this free cute and easy crochet pattern on the internet to make SHAMROCK pins for St. Patrick's Day.  I'm hosting our neighborhood BUNCO group for the month of March which just happens to fall on St. Patrick's Day.  So, I decided to make everyone a SHAMROCK pin for the evening that they can take home with them too.   I lined them with green felt and just have to sew the pins on the back to finish them. 

(Sorry - It's rainy here today and very dark out so I had to use the flash.)

Here's all twelve of them!  

Are you doing anything special for St. Patrick's Day!  

Pop of Color!

My granny squares popping in white, lime green and red - I'm adding some non-granny stitches and hope to sew them together for a doily.

Or maybe I will continue making more to have a small throw.  

I like the lime green color rather than the traditional darker green.  What do you think?

More BLUE

The Blue French Chef Cookie Jar belonged to my maternal Grandmother.  I remember taking cookies from this cookie jar in the 1950s.  My Grandmother made the most mouth watering sugar and molasses cookies.  Big, soft cookies - just yummy.  

And, of course, these are special Morton Salt mugs from the company's 150th year anniversary - not too many changes to the girls over the years:  1921, 1914, 1968 and 1956.  You remember the saying "When it rains, it pours."   "It" meaning the salt.  

It's a lovely day here - 67 degrees F. out and sunny!  I wiped down the furniture on our screened-in porch and swept the porch out.  We have rain coming towards the end of the week.  It was so nice to be outside today.   Now back to watching the Academy Awards I DVR'd - one hour down and two to go. 

Introducing...

My EASTER BUNNY Pins....

Rose, Tulip, Bluebell, Clover, Pumpkin and Violet.

All finished with white cotton tails, embroidered eyes and pretty colorful ribbons!

I've made these for a special Blogging friend and her five granddaughters for EASTER.  Well, they are thisclose to finished once I put each bunny's name on the back of her pin.   I started the project here.    

Gosh, these are lovely SPRING colors... aren't they?

IKEA Laptop Table

I love my Apple MAC Laptop.  

It was great to use on my kitchen counter top if we were looking something up quickly but it was tiring if we spent any amount of time there.  It also worked well at the kitchen table if I was surfing or blogging until it was time to set the table for meals.   

Clearly I needed a table just for my laptop.  We looked at desks but they would have stuck out too far into the dinette area.  So, we journeyed to IKEA the other day to see what they had.  

This is our kitchen corner BEFORE photo:

Now the AFTER photos:

We had a small dresser in the corner.  After moving it out we had this blank space:

 Hubby started to install the new IKEA laptop table.

After bolting the support bracket to the wall hubby inserted the felt drawer.

And then put the top on.  This is the top in the closed position.

And this is the top in the open position with the black felt drawer showing.

  The pulled out position gives room for the computer top to open up.

And this is my computer laptop table all hooked up.

 The drawer holds light weight items:  a pencil, memo pad, camera thumb, portable backup hard drive and IntelliScanner (handheld unit that reads barcodes for inventory gathering).  

I have lots of natural light from the Pella French doors and I can watch TV too.  Now my dining table and kitchen counter are not cluttered with my laptop.  This laptop table doesn't intrude into the dinette area at all.   

I love it! 

My Collection & 100th Post

In celebration of my 100th post I thought I would share with you my collection of miniature china pitchers - many vintage.  

This collection was started by my paternal Grandmother, added to by pieces passed down by my MIL..and enhanced with others that I collected on various trips over the years.  

It hangs proudly in my dining room where I can view it easily and often.  Each piece either holds fond memories of loved ones no longer here or memories of trips enjoyed with my beloved hubby over the years. 

Do you have a collection that is dear to you?