Church in the Valley

This painting is now owned by Leon and Rita Tracy.

Vacation, etc.

I looked at this blog and thought I had disappeared off the face of the earth. I don't think I can cover every thing that happened this summer...but, I will say it was a very quiet summer with out the GrandGirls here. There was a very bright 12 days. We (David, Leon Tracy, Rita Tracy and I) had a big adventure. We traveled to Arizona. The trip was full of excitement and laughter.

February Mini Vacation

I am way far behind!!! To catch up a little. Here are a couple of pictures taken in Tennessee. We had a great lunch prepared outside by some very talented cooks.....no I believe these may have been Great Outdoor Chefs. Everything was cooked over an open fire.

Last year I started plants for the hanging Baskets and Ella and Jadon's garden from seeds. As soon as March gets here I am starting seeds in the mini (I do mean very, very small) greenhouse type planters I bought last year.

ATC

I haven't done any ATCs in a long time. I love doing those little works of Art. While browsing through my pictures I found this one. It reminds me of Spring and I am so looking forward to Spring. I am ready to dig in the flower beds and plant!!!!

Wicked Winter Weather

Our Electricity is back on. Hurray. Here are a couple of pictures that indicate why the electric service was off. The first picture is hwy 395 the second one is our driveway. There is a lot of ice hanging around...

More Bracelets

Vintage buttons sure make cute bracelets. And get the buttons out of the jars where you can enjoy them. Tonya, daughter, has crocheted some bands, which are the base for the bracelets. Others I have knitted.

The Moods of Ella

I received these pictures this morning. Our son-in-law sent them. He sures knows how to warm old hearts. Our granddaughters are half way around the world from us. So pictures are so important. And these show most of the Moods of Ella!!!

Button Bracelet

My sister, Jo, daughter Tonya and I went to an auction back in October. I bought some beautiful antique buttons. I made this button bracelet for our daughter Tonya for Christmas. This scan doesn't really do it justice. It is very sparkly.

Oh How Cora has grown

She is a very sweet baby. Not fussy. Likes to cuddle. I miss her!

Summer is over

We have had a great summer. We have laughed we have cried. Made funny faces, had birthday parties. Swam, played dress up, read books...and the list goes on and on.. I don't want it to end.

Brown and Pink Purse

Don't you just love yard sales and auctions! I picked up a little brown purse at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. I have jars and jars of vintage buttons from yard sales, auctions, flea markets, and antique malls and shops. Now those button are pretty in glass jars, I enjoy looking at them. But you know the purse just needed a little something to make it complete. Or maybe a lot of something like, lots and lots of buttons.

I spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging the buttons..then knocked them all of the purse, accidentally. After that I just started sewing them on pretty much randomly. The last picture is the end result.

Linda has a Little Lamb

Another Christi class...ok...not really a class. A how to article (on making the lamb) in Bead and Button Magazine. Right now I am hooked on clay...especially anything that resembles Christi Friesen's work.

Dragon Necklace

It is finished... I enjoyed another wonderful class with Christi Friesen.

Cora Diane

Here she is "Cora!" 5 lbs 12 oz, 18 3/4 inches long. Born July 2, 2008 at 7:35 am.

Triple Trouble Dragon Class

When the babies are sleeping....I find a little time to create. The dragons are my first attempts in Christi Friesen's class at Dollstreetdreamers.com. I haven't applied any patina yet and they are only partially baked.

We have a new member of the family...Cora Diane Coffey was born yesterday morning...I will have pictures later tonight.

I found this cute paper doll in a December 1986 issue of BH and G Christmas Ideas. I loved paper dolls as a child. I hope my Granddaughters will feel the same. I copied her on the computer. I made a book that flips from the top. Used some scrapbook papers to decorate it and then glued the doll inside...Cut out a profile of the doll with the shape of a dress. Then had a good time making dresses, skirts and blouses to dress the doll. All the girls will have to do is lay the dress on the doll shut the cover of the book and their doll will be dressed.

Grand Girls

A little game of peek a boo with Ella in their bedroom.

Ella and Jadon playing on the front porch with Pa. There is almost always a breeze on our front porch...it feels good but it is hard on the hair do. And it seems they have both lost their hair barrettes.

This picture must have been taken early in the morning the girls like to get up between 6:30 am and 7:00 am..looks like Pa still has on his pj bottoms. And that shirt doesn't compliment the pants any.

The landing

Now the play area. The little green bed I bought at the 127 yard sale several years ago. Never really had a good place for it until now. And the cat is very happy with it. The table and chairs should come in handy for Little hands to do art work. The very, very, short book case will soon be filled with books and there is a small trunk for toys. I hope it isn't too small. The turtle back trunk was my great grandmothers.

I'm very tired and very happy. Tomorrow night I will get to hold my granddaughters for the first time in 16 months.

Jadon's and Ella Room

I transformed my sewing/craft room into a bedroom for our Granddaughters. I shouldn't say I did it. Because there were so many helpful hands on this project. Not to mention backs, etc.

First everything had to be taken out of that room. And the dreaded closet clean out. I worked very had but just couldn't get it all done by myself. Enter my daughter, Tonya. To avoid two sets of step. Tonya parked a trailer by the front porch and we loaded it with fabric and then we loaded it with some more fabric...well you get the picture. Oh, so you don't get the idea the fabric was just laid out on the trailer, we had plastic bins and plastic drawers. Well, way too much fabric and all the stuff that goes with sewing. Then we drove around to the basement and unloaded.

Did I tell you first we had to do a major cleaning of the basement first. Whew...where does all that stuff come from and why did we ever save it in the first place.

Once the room was empty. Then more work. Patrick, our son-in-law redid the ceiling taping mudding and new basket weave texture. Paint next. David painted the walls...well the first coat. It took two. I did the next coat. While we were at it, we tore the paper off the hallway and painted it. Tonya painted it.

The carpet was old and not in good shape. David and I tore it out and hauled it off to the dump. We got sticker shock when we went to purchase the new carpet. Wow

I used the landing for my paint projects. We cleared all of that out too. And it is now a play area for the girls.