A baby shower for Amanda....

My good friend Jane's daughter, Amanda & her husband Brian are expecting their 1st child in Sept. and it was time for a shower. So Frannie (her beautiful house), Bev, Annie, and myself decided we were up to the task. Annie caters as one of her many jobs so she did the amazing food. She had to leave early because she was catering another party for over 100 people Sat. evening. All I can say is that very little food was left.

Amanda received some beautiful gifts but the most wonderful one was a quilt that her grandmother (Jane's Mom) had made for her before she died several years ago. She knew she probably wouldn't live to see Amanda's first baby born so she made it while she still could.

This was a baby carriage I found in Iowa and purchased knowing that Jane would love it. The dealer said it had been found at an auction in the Amana Colonies. Jane bought it for Amanda to have for the baby's room. I'm going to make a cushion for the bottom in case Amanda actually wants to use it. It was so cute with the pink quilt and loaded with presents.

This was the floral arrangement that Ron from The Thicket made for the table. He does the most amazing florals. This stork was solid white flowers and it was carrying a little basket that was given to Amanda. It was not only visually gorgeous but it smelled wonderful.

This is beautiful Amanda and her equally beautiful mom, Jane.

Where's SPRING?

Is this weather crazy or what! I can't even get my garden tilled. Everything is budding out & the forsythia are in full bloom along with lots of other blooming trees
& we're suppose to have snow. At least the temps aren't suppose to go that low. It's so sad when you see what's going on in other parts of the country. My heart breaks for all those up north who are worried about flooding & I'm certain all those out in Kansas have blooming things up & growing and now having feet of snow. Then there are those down south enduring tornadoes & torrential rains. Just seems like our weather gets crazier and crazier.

This was spring break for the g'kiddos so Stella took her turn to come to g'ma's. I had to make 20 hemmed napkins for my friend Annie so Stella wanted to sew too. We got out an old Holly Hobby sewing machine of her Mom's & she practiced her sewing. She's very patient & deliberate when she's learning a new skill. Someday soon I promised we'd learn to do some handsewing.
This beautiful flower is from Judy's magnolia tree. It has an amazing aroma. Seems like every year since she planted it, we've had one of those freaky coldsnaps & ruins the blossoms. We're hoping this year it will make it.

This is one of my wool Easter eggs that I love to make. The flowers & inside of leaf is actually hand-dyed velvet.

This is a cloche that Annie gave me with a bird, nest & eggs inside. She got it at the Thicket where either Ron or Mel designed it. The Thicket & The Nest are two of our real treasures in Springfield. If you're ever in Springfield, do yourself a favor & check them out.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I plan on staying in & maybe do a little sewing. I'm so wanting to get my backporch perked up so maybe I'll start some pillows -- or maybe I'll just take a nap. With any luck, I can do both.

A day with Allison!

Allison and I spent the day together today & it was such a nice break. Just a week ago we had Mike's service. It's hard to have much time to talk when there are 3 little ones so John & his Mom took the kids to Arkansas for John's Grandmother's birthday and Allison & I got to go to the bookstore and out to lunch and then back to the house for awhile. We had a good day. She's the best daughter a mom could have and I can't imagine what I would do without her. Luckily, for me & for her & the kids, she found a wonderful man to marry & I'm so thankful for him.

Anyway, there's a chance for an ice storm on Monday night through Wednesday. Hopefully, they're wrong again & we can get on with watching for spring. We were going to have the trees all trimmed back but kept putting it off so if we can avoid this one, I'm calling the tree trimmers.

I had a delivery tonight from Debbie at The Nest and this is what I opened. It was from Debbie & her husband Ron who own The Thicket and The Nest in Springfield. I have been blessed with truly the best friends & I'm so grateful for their love & support. They had no idea what this surprise did for me -- let's just say I needed it tonight.

Allison's birthday!

Allison was badly in need of a day out & since it's the day before her 38th birthday we decided to go to the Christmas open house at the Thicket. It's a wonderful shop in Springfield owned by Ron & Debbie Johnson. They always give an ornament to the first 500 guests so we had to get there early. You wouldn't believe the amount of people that can crowd in his 3 stores that set next to each other. It was like a wonderland!

Ron has now written the coolest book with amazing pictures of their home. It's all about decorating for Christmas. We're planning on carrying it at Leola's so I'll tell you all about it in a couple of days. He's always been "the one" to have decorate your house for Christmas in Springfield. And rest assured he's never decorated mine -- I firmly believe in doing everything for myself (it's called being poor). He did do Allison's wedding though. I worked for him at the time & he did a truly incredible fall wedding at a truly incredible price. He did a wedding for a very wealthy client earlier in the day & had to remove all the flowers after the service so he just brought them to our church plus tons of candles. Allison & I will always be grateful to him for all the work he put into it.

Anyway, I wanted to show you these pictures of his gorgeous shop. Enjoy!