Mosaic Table Tops

Years ago I was so blessed to trade a clay pot that I had mosaiced with pieces of tiles.  I received 3 boxes of tiles that had pictures painted on them and was so excited.  The tiles were beautiful!

That was before the blog so I do not have any how to photos.   However, I did break up some of the tiles with the tool pictured below.  The ones I could not cut, I put inside a thick towel and hammered them into small pieces.  Just don't hammer too hard or the pieces will be very very tiny and unusable.  I used Henry's products to glue the pieces down to the pieces of wood that were cut to the size I estimated; and to make the grout with that filled in all the spaces.  I have since changed adhesive and grout products....not for any specific reason, just wanted to try out different ones.

 This tool is also available at building supply stores.

To estimate the size, I laid the whole tile pieces on a big piece of wood, estimate space I wanted to frame around them, and Jerry cut the wood to that size.  I also estimated how much space I wanted between the tiles that make the painting.   I then glued the bigger tiles down and the cut up pieces and glued them on.  The tiles do not need to have a lot of space between them as the grout can easily fill in narrow spaces.

Sidenote:  The wood warped several times over all these years and I had to redo each table top until a friend told me about HardiBacker Board that professional tilers use.  It does not warp and is fantastic to work with so I did redo each of them the last time on it...Yea!)

I used 4 cylinder blocks to lay the final mosaic tabletop piece on and they sit outside as end tables on our patio.  They have lasted remarkably well even though they sit outside in all kinds of weather.  I completely enjoy seeing them on our patio, using them and seeing them shine when I clean them.

 The 6 tiles in the middle of this mosaic all had beautiful flowers painted on them.  The rest of the tiles had leaves painted them.  I chose to surround the flower tiles with pieces of tiles with the leaves painted on.  It reminded me of a garden.  You can see the cylinder blocks sticking out behind the mosaic.  They usually sit directly under the mosaics but did it this way for the photo.

A closeup of the pretty flower paintings on the tiles.

Another closeup of the other 4 flower tiles.

 The next mosaic table top is a scene, a very peaceful scene of a village, perhaps in Mexico.  This is Jerry's favorite.  You might notice the crack in one of the painted tiles.  It was broken but I didn't mind....just put the pieces on broken to create the painting.

 A closeup of part of the scene.

 Another beautiful closeup of this scene.

Creating mosaics is so enjoyable and relaxing.....

Car Track by Henry

Quite some time ago, my grandson Henry was over.  He called for me to see what he had made and when I came into the play area, I was astonished at his creativity!  He had taken a few vertical blinds that had fallen from our sliding doors and made them into the greatest car track!

At first he stuck the blinds into the edge of the play table but then I helped him use the blue painters tape to tape them down.  Of course, he helped me.  It was so much fun!

I can't find a picture of the original one, but we had it laying on the chair seats.  Later, we put on our engineer hats and changed it to go under the backs of the chairs and then lay on the seats.

 We taped it really good to the edge of the play table.

 Then carefully put it through the back of the chair onto the seat and floor.  We taped the two blinds together all the way down to create two tracks.

 The start of the race!

 And the winner is!!!!!....................

 HENRY for creating this fun car track!

Please see another of Henry's inventions here

Nightshirts and Pajamas for 2013

The past few 2 years I started a tradition of sewing pajamas, a nightgown and nightshirts as Christmas presents for our grandchildren Corey, Henry, Canaan and Evangelyn; and also for our two neices Stella and Zoe.  Along with the nightwear, we give them books they are currently reading.  It makes a very nice present for them.

Jerry always goes with me to choose the fabric.  He has a terrific eye for color and fabric pattern.  We always get flannel when it is on sale at our local JoAnn's Fabric store. 

Nightshirts are for the older girls Corey, Stella and Zoe.  I used the same pattern as last year, McCalls Pattern M4963 .  It is a terrific pattern, very easy to follow and true to size.  I use Version C Size 10/12 for Corey and Stella, and Sixe 7/8 for Zoe.

The nightgown is for Evangelyn who loves to wear them.  She is so darling and says she feels pretty in them.  I use Simplicity 2831, Size 4 combining Version B sleeves and placket with Version A nightgown.

Pajamas are for the boys, Henry and Canaan.  I use Simplicity 3584, Version C, size 3 for Canaan (Henry has outgrown this pattern) and McCalls M6458 Version D, Size 6 for Henry this year.  I surprised the boys and used the same fabric as last year.  They loved it.  Henry even requested for me to make him a larger pair of pajamas out of it when he outgrew last year's pj's. 
                                    
It was so precious....when they opened their pj's (after all the fabulous toys they got) I wondered if they would just put them aside....but they really surprised me...they both made the sweetest faces and actually hugged their new pj's.  Sure blessed this nanny's heart!

Group Photos are below of Henry, Canaan, Evangelyn and Corey......they were having a sleepover at our home...

These cute photos of the "cousins" can cheer up anyone:):):)
 Especially in their cute new nightgown, nightshirt and pajamas......

It is very special when cousins can be together!

Embellished Red Christmas Towels

Every year my daughters Jessica (sunnystitching) and Mary and myself host an Ornament Party.  We make most of the food for the main course.  Candace brings a big delicious salad each year.   Wine, sparkling cider, champagne, hot cider are the usual drinks of the evening along with the delicious appetizers that some of the guests bring. Mary always makes some of her famous cookies...have I mentioned what a fantastic cook and baker Mary is.  We are looking forward to her blog starting up soon.

We can't even remember how many we have hosted but an estimate is 12-15 parties.

Several years ago we started having raffle drawings and I committed to make a raffle prize each year.  One year I crocheted a pretty cowl.  Another year I donated a set of cards I created to be the prize.  This year I had noticed a pattern in an old 1994 issue of Crochet Collection magazine that someone gave me years ago for a really pretty Festive Towel Trim pattern, and decided to make two of them as prizes.

I then decided to make three more.  One for Jessica, Mary and my son's wife Candace as Christmas presents for them.  Thus, I could not post about them until after Christmas.

I hope you enjoy seeing the photo of them.  The Christmas trees are first crocheted with Classic 10 Forest Green Cotton Thread by Aunt Lydia's Yarns, and then the gold stars from Aunt Lydia's Metallic 10 Gold. 
I hand sewed on more beads than the pattern called for to decorate the trees and then hand sewed them to the red towels.  I was not able to find red finger towels that were used in the magazine, so I used these beautiful hand towels that I purchased at our local K-Mart Store.

 The red beads are sparkly...so they were a beautiful contrast to the gold ones.

The two winners of these at the Ornament Party Raffle Drawing really seemed to like them.

More important, Jessica, Mary and Candace were joyfully surprised with their towels on Christmas morning when we exchanged presents.

Handmade Thanksgiving Cards

I must apologize for all these end of 2012 events being posted here in 2013.  But what more can I do....I was simply too busy to post them along the way.  Especially some of the ones about things I was making.  I was sending these cards to my daughters, etc and did not want them to see them ahead of time.

I decided at the last minute to make them.  I found a very creative YouTube about making them and really had fun.  Click here for the YouTube link for Finally Friday who made the cards.

I did not have the beautiful paper and all the supplies to use but was so motivated by her simple instructions to use what I had to make them.

 Outside of the cards

Inside Greeting


I hope they were joyfully received.

Henry, A Brave and Creative Fireman

I am blessed to get to have my grandson Henry come over several days a week.

One day we were playing fireman (yes....I get into the action, costumes, hats, etc) and he left the room.  Then he came back in with the light from his Black and Decker Tool Workbench and had decided to use it as the hose to put the fires out with.

He asked me to tape it to his back and we proceeded to do so.  I love these kind of days!

 Henry's great creative way to make a fire extinguisher hose!

 A small fire was extinguished on the wall!  Whew...thankgoodness it could be put out!

 Some posing by my brave fireman as he holds the warning alert horn!

 He is enjoying these photos!

 Yes, he is a very handsome fireman in his uniform!

 Our photo session was interrupted by a car fire, but Fireman Henry quickly put it out and saved the car!

I tell you.....he is very inventive and we had a blast using that hose to put out many fires that day!

Thanksgiving!...Yes, Thanksgiving!

By the title of this post you can tell how long it has been since I have written.  I am determined to catch up this afternoon and tonight.  My blog is also a journal of wht happens in our family and that is why it is important for me to talk about Thanksgiving.

It started out to be mostly our immediate family that lives here.  My son and his family of 4, me and Jerry, and Jerry's sister and her husband.  Now, we do have an open door life style so gradually we all invited others until we had around 13 for diner which included 3 children.  14 seemed ideal since there have been many years when the count was 20-30.  After dinner our great friends Liz and Elecia (mother and daughter) stopped by for pie and coffee.

It was a wonderful day.  The meal was delicious and the conversations and being with friends and family was meaningful and joyful. A few pictures are below.

 I decorated the walls in the area where we would all be eating with drawings that the grandchildren have created over the last several years. They are so cheerful!   I scattered them around the paintings our daughter Jessica did many years ago. 

 More of the precious artwork above by our grandchildren!

 Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans cooking on the stove.

 We put to use a beautiful potholder and oven mitt that my precious friend Barbara, who lives in Texas gave me!

 The beautiful apple dishes that I grew up with are used at each holiday.  They were my wedding gift instead of china.  I think of my childhhood, mom and auntie when I look at them.

 The tables are set.  Used vases from each of my daughter's wedding with artificial flowers from the local 99 Cent Store and Michaels Arts and Crafts in them.

 Used one of the Thankful Trees that Henry and Corey made for the centerpiece on this table.

 Our friend of many many years, Daniel visiting with Jerry after eating the pie!

 Joan and Al, Jerry's sister and her husband.  What a grand time we had visiting with them.

 Our most kind son, Joel and the left and wonderful neighbor Richard on the right!

 Liz and Elecia bring "JOY" into our home!  Uh Oh...I think Jerry is having another piece of pie!

 Sera, Richard's wife and wonderful neighbor; and Emma her sister who joined with us.

 Jerry and Daniel petting our cute dog Brandy (she wasn't into posing for the picture)

 Joel and his wife Candace....resting after a wonderful meal!

Jerry and Daniel still trying to get Brandy to pose!a

We all missed our daughters and their families being with us.  Mary and her husband Kyle celebrated in Indiana with his family; and Jessica (Sunnystitching) and her family celebrated in England!  

In spite of missing part of our family, it was one of the most fun Thanksgivings for us.

I feel so grateful to live in the United States and be able to enjoy life and holidays.