God Bless American

Peach Dessert

North Carolina peaches are in! My sister took us to the Farmer's Market last weekend and we bought our first peaches of the year. Below is a
recipe that a friend shared with me.

3 cups sliced peaches

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup sifted plain flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 beaten egg

6 tablespoons of melted butter

Place sliced peaches in a deep-dish pie plate and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Mix dry ingredients and then stir in beaten egg until crumbly. Sprinkle this mixture

over the peaches and then top with melted butter. Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Love,

Marie

Hooray for the Red, White, and Blue!

I made this to hang on the wall on our front porch. The base is a 14-inch diameter green Styrofoam wreath. I purchased 1/2 yard of red, white, and blue $2 per yard fabric from Wal-Mart. I used my rotary cutter and cut the fabric into 3-inch squares. I gathered up each square around a size 7 steel crochet hook using the blunt end and pushed it into the wreath. You can use a small screwdriver. The directions said to use glue, but I did not find it necessary. I made the bow using left-over fabric.

Flowers from the Past

Before my husband's MS became as bad as it is today, his joy was working in his garden and flowers. I wanted to share some novel ways he grew his flowers.


We were riding along a county road and I spied this bed. There was a sign that said to take it if you wanted it. I had my husband turn around and get it. He put it in the garden and each year I had my "flower bed". I used different flowers trying to make it look like a quilt. The picture to the left was planted with two different shades of pink petunias.




The bed to the right was done with yellow marigolds and purple ageratum.













The bed to the left was planted with red and white salvia, yellow marigolds, and purple ageratum.











Below are two different years of the rocker being decorated. I found this rocker in my grandaddy's garage

The chair to the right was also found in my granddaddy's garage. The woven bottom was already gone which left the hole for the planter.




















I collect birdhouses. My husband painted an old ladder and placed some of my collection on the ladder along with some potted plants

Dresses for girls in Haiti Orphanage...

I was surfing blogs shortly after the earthquake in Haiti and came across a blog that was requesting pillowcases or women to make pillowcase dresses. These dresses were to be made and would be taken to Haiti by people going there on mission trips. I mentioned it to my friend, Naydine, and before I knew it, her line dance group took up the cause. The dancers collected pillow cases and all the notions that it would take to make them. These ladies met at the local art center on Fridays and worked from early morning until around four in the afternoon. There was a community spirit from people offering them food on the days they sewed, money for notions they needed, and postage to mail the boxes of finished dresses. Between the Princess Project and New Directions International, they funished over three hundred dresses. Another church requested some for their mission work in Guatamala and they were given 122. The group is continuing to make dresses. There were cotton panties also donated to go with the dresses.

Above are pictures of some of the little girls as they received their dresses that a group from New Directions International took over a few weeks ago. Most of the little girls are holding their dresses up in front of them. Aren't they so cute with their dresses and snazzy glasses!!!!!!!!! There is also a picture of Naydine with some of the dresses.

Love,

Marie

Prayers, please!

For those who have missed my posts, I just want to say "thank you". My husband and I both are having difficult physical problems right now. I am struggling just to take care of what I need to. I keep saying "this too shall pass". I will be back up and running soon, I pray.
Thanks!
Marie

Spring view at Melville Hill

Hope you enjoyed a look at some of our Spring views. I wish the beds were cleaned out but it is difficult for my husband with his MS to stay on top of every thing. In the bottom picture, he did get out on his scooter this morning and pulled up some weeds but as you can see, he gave out before he could get them up.

Love,

Marie

I WON!!!!!!!

The past two weeks have been a nightmare with my computer. This wonderful machine was bought the day after Christmas and has been giving problems off and on ever since. The other day, my DH finally had it up and running and I went to visit my blog. Much to my surprise, there was a comment from Faye at Behind My Picket Fence. Mr. Picket Fence had chosen #9 to win a pretty spring pillow. Wow! I was the lucky one. I love pillows on the bed so I placed my new pillow there--it is the one with tulips with the word tulips on it. If you have not visited Faye's blog, you have missed a treat. Go to my sidebar on the left and click on her blog. She is one talented lady with lots of talented friends. She has the most wonderful way with words. I can imagine it would be a hoot to meet her in person. Tell her that I sent you.

Thanks again for my wonderful gift!

Love you,

Marie

PS: Since I had found out that I won the pillow, we have made a complete restore on my computer twice. I just hope it will work this time!

More Knitting by my Great-Great Grandmother, Angeline

Angeline knitted six of these bedspreads, one for each of her children. This was done sometime between 1855 when she was married and 1908 at her death. She knitted it in squares and joined them. The yarn was spun by her, most likely. This was probably done by lamp or candle light.

This view of the spread shows the crochet border that was added to the knitted spread. We do not know who did that but it is beautiful.

This is my sister, the great-great granddaughter of Angeline, holding the bedspread.

Easter through the house...

This is my kitchen table finished. My mother walked .7 of a mile every morning. The year before she died, as she took her daily walk, she left one of the five bunnies in the yard by a bunny that I had on display. She did this as a surprise for me. The eggs on the tree are crochet and also the eggs in the grass.

These decorations are on a bookcase that I inherited at my mother's death.

This is the decoration in the center of the den bay window.

This is not a clear picture but it is done in pastel color with rabbits on every tier. I don't have candles, but then I never would light them.

Cross stitch eggs are hanging in the side window of our bay in the den.

This is a combination of cross stitch and hardanger and I have it on the fridge door.

I am sorry that the above picture it out of focus. I have these cross stitch pieces done for each month.

Cross stitch piece that I placed in a wooden hoop, added lace and ribbon. This is hanging on our back door.

Thought Spring...but snow came!

We had a beautiful day on Monday and the weatherman was predicting no more than a dusting of snow for us on Tuesday. The snow was to fall much further south. It started a light snow around lunch time and it kept coming into the night. This was such a beautiful snow and the roads did not get that bad right around us. The schools were closed on Wednesday but I really thought they could have just started classes a couple of hours late. While the snow was falling, I was working on some Easter crafts. I made the little rabbit from a wash cloth and a bar of soap. I printed out a couple vintage cards and crocheted an edge around them. I enjoy making and sharing crafts with my friends.
Love,
Marie

I am thinking Spring!!!!!!!!!!

We have had the worst winter in a long time. We had snow flurries a couple of days this past week. They are talking about the Snow word for us again this coming week. I decided to start decorating for Easter to bring some Spring into the house.
Love, Marie

Enough Mush.........

Back in 1969, we had been married 7 1/2 years on Valentine's Day. My husband gave me this large envelope with my name on the front and signed from him.
Well, I opened up this beautiful card and there was two pages of all these sweet words. I remarked that there was enough mush to last for years. His reply to me was that if that was true, then he would never buy me another Valentine. Well, here it is 2010 and he has held true to his statement. Each year, I bring out this same beautiful Valentine with all that mush. Now, come this August 18, we will be married 49 years.





You open up the card and here is the first page.
Below are the two inside pages. Notice that he
never signed the inside of the card. I am so glad
that I saved this card because you cannot find
them this beautiful now. We have had great fun
every year as the card comes out again.

Valentines from the Past

The valentines spread out of the table belong to our daughter. She received them from her kindergarten mates in 1967. In the middle of them, you can see the little holder with a handle that she made to place them in. Our daughter was born in 1963. I had saved our son's also but have not been able to find them.











This is a collection of valentines from the mid 1920's. They are valentine's that my mother received when she was going to school. Mother was born in 1912 and these were cards from her classmates.

My after Christmas gift to me

My mother, who passed away two years ago this month, loved to grow amaryllis. Our son and daughter-in-law took me to Trader Joe's after Christmas and I saw they had their bulbs on sale. I just had to have me one. It has been a joy to watch it flower and there is another stalk that will probably have a couple more blooms.

Above is a picture of what our bulbs look like after being planted in the yard. After the flower has bloomed, we cut the foliage back. Then, when the temperatures are about 35 degrees, we plant them in the garden. They need to be fertilized every two weeks after flowering with a 5-10-5 fertilizer. In August stop watering and fertilizing and allow the bulb to dry out. We cover ours with mulch before the first frost and leave them that way until the next spring.
Love, Marie