A couple of days ago two of my grandchildren who live next door showed up with plates of goodies so I could sample and enjoy what they had baked after school. Its not unusual for them to share what they make and its always fun to see what they've been doing. I had no reason to think this time was any different than another! Of course they wanted me to eat a brownie and eat a piece of chicken pot pie right then and there so I could give them my opinion. Oh, I forgot to mention - it was April 1 and we all know what they could mean. One problem with getting older is the memory doesn't always remember even what day it is, so I proceeded with the yummy offerings. Below are pictures of these goodies. First they got me with the "sponge" brownie and then the tempting chicken pie. One bite into the brownie and I thought it was made with pound cake or sponge cake because it seemed rather dry. Boy was I right about the sponge cake. A few minutes later after feeling like the April Fool, I fell for the chicken pie - or what I really thought was chicken pie. Turned out to be a sweet pie made from something that was maybe pudding and peas and carrots cut in veggie shapes from Starbursts. Next year I've got to put April 1 on my calendar and refuse to be tricked again. These kids are so clever!!
The first is a Spicy Spiral which I have made before, but this time I just wasn't concentrating and ended with 2 halves exactly the same. Fortunately I had enough fabric to make a correction and all is well. The picture is a little fuzzy, but perhaps you can see that the fabric is all fruits. Previously I made one with all vegetables. They should look good together (eventually)!
We got some exciting news about a long time friend from our Ward in Connecticut. I have known him since he was 8 years old and have remained in touch with him and his parents since we left Connecticut. His name is Ryan Murphy and he was appointed last Friday as the new Associate Director of the Tabernacle Choir!!!! He has always been a wonderful musician - even at 8 years old when he couldn't even touch the pedals. I was in charge of a large children's choir for a conference when he was about 9 years old and he was the accompanist. The congregation was flabergasted that such a small child could play the way he did. Not only did he play, he actually changed the music to adapt to childrens' voices. He has worked so hard during these years on his education as well as having a darling family and serving in the Church in Boston. He will be completing his doctorate in May and will be moving his cute family to Utah to take on his new position. We are anxious to find out when he will make his "debut". We will all be there on the front row! For the past few summers he has come to St. George to be the musical director at Tuacahn Ampitheater and we have enjoyed his company - and free tickets!! We will miss seeing him in the summers in St. George. Congratulations Ryan - you are the best!!
Last night I attended the David Archuleta concert with my daughter and granddaughter Ashley (in the above picture). It was such a pleasure to see a young performer singing good clean music, keeping the standards he has been taught and also causing lots of girls to scream!! My ears were ringing for hours after - but it was fun and also fun to see kids having a good clean time. The only violation I saw was people using cameras when they were asked not to. No announcement was ever made about the use of cameras, but just rent-a-cops strong arming people with cameras and then only people on the ends of rows (which is where we sat) . How can anyone go to a concert and not take pictures?? That is unreasonable! I don't think the security people got their marching orders correct. Normally cameras are allowed but not video recording. It was rather entertaining watching security people trying to enforce the "rules". It was an impossible mission! Anyway, fun was had for all.
I recently had the chance to consume a "professionally" made cupcake at a restaurant and it was so good - and $$$ I might add. I decided I could do this myself. Many years ago when my children were young I got into cake decorating and turned out some really cute birthday cakes. I did the doll cakes, the race cars, etc. For many years until this past year I made and decorated award winning gingerbread houses. This provided a really nice Christmas gift fund for our family when the kids were little. We made a couple hundred each year and had them all finished and ready for sale by the first of December. I know that cupcakes are all the rage in different parts of the country and there are volumes on the internet with recipes, decorating styles, etc. The one site that I decided to use is 
Ta da!! They are beautiful and they taste even better! I guess using the real unsalted butter and whole milk (which I never buy) paid off.
I was asked to provide a table decoration for our church's women group at tonights fancy dinner. I decided to incorporate the cupcakes into the birthday theme and add a few balloons and confetti. Since it was a quasi birthday party, I made a little gift for everyone sitting at my table. Each person received a cute potholder! We were also asked to participate in an activity that resulted in a service of our choice to be auctioned to the highest bidder based on a point system. I was in a quandry as to what I could donate and at the same time be realistic about being able to complete it. I decided on providing a dozen gourmet (ha) cupcakes for the occasion of their choice. The goodies actually received a very high bid. I later found out that the person who did the final bid is a master cake decorator and since becoming confined to a wheelchair hasn't been able to bake and decorate any longer for her children. She thought the cupcakes were really cute and pretty. I'm glad she is getting them and hope she likes them.
All sliced and ready to make more! This is fun!
Washed, dried - its a miracle! They look so cool. Hard to believe they are all made with the same fabrics. Its a surprise to see them after the wash and dry process. Its just a matter of how they are stacked before sewing. I did all 4 bindings differently and decided the one on the left (below) worked the best.
Our new chapel (across the street) is ready to be dedicated this Sunday and there has been lots of chores to be completed by then. One of the jobs is to get the kitchen stocked and organized. I never realized what that meant until this past week. Zillions of dishes, bowls, plates, etc. etc. (very heavy stoneware by the way) Of course all items needed to be washed, dried and stored away. This new chapel has a small kitchen so it was took a lot of creativeness to make it all fit. One of the chores was to unwrap all the silverware, wash and dry all the pieces. Ugh! I volunteered to take them all home and put them through the dishwasher. I didn't realize what a big job that was going to be. Nor did I realize that each piece was individually wrapped in plastic sleeves that were full of static! There were 25 doz. knives, 75 doz. forks, oodles of spoons and serving spoons. You do the math! Plus 48 sets of salt and pepper shakers to be washed! I started in by unwrapping 12 doz. knives and felt very overwhelmed. I decided to convince my little granddaughters that they could make a big contribution to our new building by helping with the silverware. They were anxious to come home from church that day and start in. They unwrapped all the rest of the utensils. I was so happy that they were so willing and excited to be helping. You can see from the following pictures what a big undertaking they took on. Of course a nice Sunday dinner and lots of ice cream sweetened the pot! Who says bribery doesn't work?? It took 3 days to put them all through the dishwasher but they are now safely deposited in the kitchen drawers waiting to be used. The irony of all this is that the 3 wards that will be sharing this small building will never be able to use the facility for ward dinners because it is too small and large events will have to be held at the larger facility down the hill - and - who uses real silverware anymore at large functions?? Plastic and paper is the way of the times. I told the girls that whenever we do use the silverware at the church they can think about the time they helped in this service project. I appreciate their enthusiasm, willingness and sweet attitude - and the Lord does too.
Over and over!
Over and over again and again...
til finished. Pull out the ruler and now I have a nice neat bundle. I can count the folds and figure I have 1/4 yard for each fold. Of course that is approximate because 1/4 yard is 9" not 8.5", but is a really good estimation.
Onto the shelf neat and tidy. I try to stack fabric by color or theme. This picture is not a good example of that, but just wanted to take a quick picture. This method has made my closet very manageable. Needs tweeking every now and then, but ordinarily is tidy.
Well, I suppose I should post a picture about something quilty. Here is the One For The Money I have just put together. It is waiting for the black borders and barberpole binding. It has been a lot of fun coupled with lots of head scratching! 
This afternoon, I used Google Maps to find the hospital
in Ghana, where Claire has been working.
It's been incredibly inspiring to hear how much she's bee...
1 week ago
