Pieces of my Heart

Earlier this month a new piece of my heart was claimed when Grandchild #6 was born. He and the other five have taken up residence there, but as you can see, there's still plenty of room for more! God has blessed us!

Linking with Scribble Picnic, where this week's theme is Hearts.

Spring Storm

     So often storms bring the threat of heavy winds, hail, or even tornadoes. But sometimes a storm is just a brief passing of some wind and rain. That's what we like to see and are grateful for... rain to sustain the crops and pastures with no significant damage.

     Life is that way, too, isn't it? We go through stormy times that threaten to undo us, but other times our "troubles" are short-lived and really of no consequence. Praying that your life's storms are mostly of the latter variety!

     Linking my watercolor pencil storm with Michael's Scribble Picnic. Check out this page to see other storms that may have threatened to cancel the picnic!

Quilts - a sketch and a barn quilt

I've always thought it would be fun to piece together a quilt, but so far that hasn't happened in my life, though I've made plenty of crocheted afghans, and appreciate having quilts like the one you may have already seen here made by my grandmother.

I drew this colored pencil Cat Quilt sample, but take no credit for the idea for it, as it's completely influenced by the actual quilt you can see here.

Now, if we're talking Barn Quilts, I have painted one of those! It hangs on our barn. "Cross and Crown" is the name of the pattern.

Linking with Scribble Picnic. Go here to see what others have stitched up this week.

Egg Hunt!

Have a blessed Easter this next Sunday as we gather with fellow believers, family, and friends to celebrate the risen Lord with songs, with praise, and even with egg hunts!

Joining the Scribble Picnic egg hunt with my colored pencil drawing. You can see what others have scrambled up here!

Edited to add this photo taken eleven years ago of a chair I painted. It's made a good conversation piece, and no one has broken any of the eggs after all these years!

Creams Sampler Box

Chocolate creams... Y U M !

I do love a good chocolate candy, especially dark chocolate, but milk chocolate works just fine, too! Chocolate cream, caramel, coconut, fudge filling–yes please! Just please don't ruin that delicious chocolate with a nut or fruit-flavored cream filling. What's your favorite chocolate filling?

You can see what others came up with for the "Creams" theme here where I've linked my colored pencil drawing with Scribble Picnic.

One of a Kind

I could have drawn a person, since each and every person God made is one of a kind. Didn't feel quite up to that challenge this week, so instead just went with a simple abstract!

Linking my water colored pencil drawing with Scribble Picnic. You can see other "One of a Kind" interpretations here.

Through a Window (in my dreams)

Is is Spring yet? Well, certainly not in our part of the country. After all, it's still February, so what else can we expect? But I can still dream about those pretty flowers to arrive in due time!

Linking with Scribble Picnic. You can see how others "Fill(ed) in the Blank" here.

Promenade Your Partner!

     Okay, I'm laughing out loud here, so feel free to join in! Did you ever see such tiny heads on such tall, skinny bodies? :-) Guess that comes from not sketching this out in erasable pencil before starting in with the watercolor pencils. Is that what most of you who use watercolors do? So, yeah, I can hardly believe I'm actually posting this, plus linking with Scribble Picnic, for all the world to see!

     Anyway, the "Let's Dance" theme had so many possibilities, but I went with the first type I remember learning clear back in grade school–the good old square dance. When I got to high school, in a much larger town, it was even taught as part of the physical education classes. The school sponsored "barn dances" in the gym a couple of times a year, and I always loved going with the group of kids I hung out with. Talk about your aerobic exercise! Of course we (teens in the mid '70s) wouldn't dream of wearing the "typical" square dance flouncy skirts and such. Blue jeans and t-shirts for everyone worked just fine!

     Dance on over here to see what the other Scribblers are sharing this week.

Hot and Spicy!

     Thinking about "spicy" for this week's Scribble Picnic theme makes me immediately think of hot peppers or chili. I didn't grow up eating much that was spicy, and subsequently don't cook with very many "hot" spices. (Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, etc. used in baking are another story!) According to an entry in Wikipedia, "Many spices have antimicrobial properties. This may explain why spices are more commonly used in warmer climates, which have more infectious diseases, ..." And perhaps that has just a bit to do with why my Louisiana born and raised daughter-in-law grew up loving her hot spices. Bless her heart, she has been known to tone down her use of them a little if she knows Benny and I will be joining them for a meal! :-)

     You can spice up your life a bit by visiting other contributions to the picnic here.

Yep, It's a Tablecloth

     Today's activities included hosting a few ladies for our monthly gathering of Friendship Club. It's a club that has been around since the 1930s, when my husband's grandmother was one of the original members. Many ladies have been part of it over the years, but there are very few of us in the group now. We always try to have a comforter or quilt made and ready to give in case we know of someone who has had a fire or something. Fortunately that doesn't happen too often. At our meetings we visit, send cards to people who are sick, plan occasional outings, play some simple games, and of course have something tasty to eat! This afternoon I served a Cinnamon Roll Cake that turned out quite tasty!

     At the end of the day I realized the Scribble Picnic deadline had arrived again, so I pulled out my trusty pencils and focused on trying to make a sketch that actually looked like a tablecloth. Went over the original pencil sketch with a water color pencil, then pulled out the Aquash water brush (thanks, Michael!) to see how that would change it. My mind didn't take me on any creative journeys, so it's just a tablecloth this time. You can go here to see how others covered the Tablecloth theme.

     Ah, I should have used a tablecloth for our Club lunch this afternoon. Maybe next time!

A Nod to Sweden

With this week's Scribble Picnic theme being "Finland/Scandinavian" I hardly dared to not join in and give a nod to the Swedish heritage and community I married into almost thirty-five years ago! Rendered rather hastily with colored pencil... a Swedish flag, Santa Lucia, and a Dala Horse. Sorry to not take time to expound on them, but the links should provide some basic information if you're not familiar with them. I elected not to draw any lutefisk–you're welcome!

Visst, you can sail on over here to see what the theme inspired others to share.

Had to squeeze in one of the few Swedish words I know-certainly! :-)

Generosity

After missing a week, then having Thanksgiving week without a prompt, I almost forgot about getting anything drawn for Scribble Picnic. Oops! Just barely managed to get something done in time to link, using my watercolor pencils. This turned out to be a learning experience (which I'll need to practice more) for how to get white lettering on a solid background without painting over it. Obviously I didn't quite have my spacing all figured out either, but didn't have time to start over. That's okay--I think everyone gets the idea!

Check out other interpretations of "Generous" here, and remember to practice it year-round!

God Bless You for Your Generosity!

Cookies Are a Snap!

Gingersnap cookies have been a family favorite as far back as I can remember. Mom used the recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Sometime in junior high or high school I typed the recipe (using Dad's trusty manual typewriter) onto a pink 3 x 5 index card. I couldn't begin to count the number of times I've pulled out the card, mixed up the ingredients, rolled the dough into balls, dipped them in sugar, and baked up dozens of the tasty treat!

Scribble Picnic theme for the week is cookie, so of course I had to give these gingersnaps a try with my watercolor pencils. Couldn't figure out how to get the sparkle of the granulated sugar on them. I'm anxious to see here what deliciousness the other participants have stirred up for their cookie jars!

I was curious to see if BH&G still has the recipe, so went to their website. I see the recipe they post now is almost

the same as mine, but not quite. Plus, they call them "ginger cookies" instead of "gingersnaps." So, I'll just post the recipe with the ingredient amounts the way I grew up with it!

Gingersnaps

1 1/2 cups shortening            1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar                         4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup molasses                   2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs                                  2 teaspoons cloves

4 cups flour                           2 teaspoons ginger

Cream shortening and sugar; add molasses and eggs; beat well.

Add sifted dry ingredients; mix well. (A wooden spoon works great, since the dough will be stiff.)

Shape dough into small balls; roll in additional granulated sugar; place 2 inches apart on greased (or lined) cookie sheet.

Bake at 375º until light brown and puffy. Do not over bake!

Let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to wire racks.

Makes around 8 dozen cookies.

Scribble, Emphasis on Scribble

     I needed to come up with an idea for a drawing to fill in the blank/negative space of

                         

for this week's Scribble Picnic. There was plenty of extra room on a sheet of paper from the blanket project, so I started scribbling ideas on it. Didn't originally intend do the "real" drawings on the same page, but that's where they landed. Nor was I going to post the top part of the page, but if I cut off the "scribbliest" part where I was practicing my initials, it would also cut off some of one of the more finished scribbles. So, you just get it all! I'm looking forward to seeing what others came up with here!

Turn the Radio On

In the late 1960s/early 1970s, my parents had a transistor radio, almost exactly like this one, except it was green instead of brown. Look at that nifty flip-out stand!

By Joe Haupt from USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Probably around 5th grade, I remember desperately wanting a small transistor radio and a wind-up alarm clock of my own. I absolutely did not want one of the new clock radio combinations, as I wanted to be able to carry the radio around with me. One December day my parents had gone to a big city (west to Pueblo, Colorado?? southeast to Garden City??) for a day of shopping while my brothers and I were in school. When they arrived home I went out to the car to help them bring things in the house, and there was a receipt, the kind where they used to write every purchase out by hand, that I couldn't help but begin to read... "1 radio  $?.??" Oh dear! I wasn't supposed to see that! There was a brief moment of excitement knowing they had bought it, but as Christmas approached that changed because the fun of not knowing what I would receive was gone. The receipt I saw may have actually listed both the radio and the clock, I'm not sure now. At any rate, they were both Christmas gifts I received that year, and I enjoyed many years' use of them. Since then, I've always been careful to try to not figure out what gifts are ahead of time. It's much more fun that way!

The hand-sized radio I carried around had two rolling dials, one to turn it on and control volume, and the other to tune in your favorite station. It came in a black leather case. Kids today would surely be aghast to have to use such an antique thing, but it brought in the tunes of the day, and was the coolest thing ever at that point in my life!

These are similar to the radio and case I had, though I remember my radio as being black and silver.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/guest-column-collecting-vintage-transistor-radios-of-the-1950s-and-60s/

https://www.vintagetoys.com/toys/classified/30030

Here's a page from my little sketchbook portraying that magical little box of electronics.

Visit this page of Scribble Picnic to see what others are tuning in on this week.

In the Cross

What a privilege on Monday, August 21, 2017, to have been right on the path of the total solar eclipse that crossed our country. Some of the family camped out then spent the day at the pond to take in the once in a lifetime (where we live) event. Others drove half an hour north where the time of totality was about a minute longer. The view through the special viewing glasses as the moon passed in front of the sun was spectacular. Then as it came to the point of being exactly in front of the sun we were able to take off the glasses for those fast couple of minutes for the awe inspiring sight, including a 360º sunset!

I heard of one person who was fearful of the event, thinking Jesus would return that day. Oh, my heart breaks to hear of anyone who is afraid of that. For anyone who has accepted Christ as their Savior, his return is something to look forward to rather than to fear.

For Scribble Picnic this week we were to "Fill in the Blank" by starting with a box with an X in it. I considered a quilt or a barn door, but settled on a stained glass window. Enjoyed using a permanent black marker, watercolor pencils, and an "Aquash" water brush for this. Links to other "X in a box" drawings can be found here.

Verse 1:

Jesus, keep me near the cross; 

there a precious fountain, 

free to all, a healing stream, 

flows from Calvary's mountain. 

Refrain: 

In the cross, in the cross, 

be my glory ever, 

till my raptured soul shall find

rest beyond the river.

"Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross" was written by Fanny Crosby (1820-1915) long ago, but her words in this and myriad other hymns she wrote continue to express the beliefs of Christians over the years.

Flower Bed

It has been much more dry than usual in our little spot in the state this year. For that matter, it's more dry than other parts of our county even. We try not to be jealous when glorious three-inch rains fall at the other end of the county and we receive maybe ten hundredths of an inch. We do know that God will send the rain in due time, and meanwhile we dream!
My colored pencils got a workout for this week's Scribble Picnic "Flower Bed" theme. You can see what others have growing here.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

Did you ever play "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" It was another simple party game I haven't heard of for years, but played many times as a child. I won't go through the details of the game, but if you've not heard of it you can read a simple explanation here. Games don't have to be complicated to be fun!

The Scribble Picnic theme of Buttoned also brought to mind times of going through Mom's collection of buttons, then later of my own kids going through my collection. At some point I came in possession of a small basket labeled "button basket" and started throwing buttons from old shirts in it. Mine actually has handles, and most of the buttons are white, but it is similar to this colored pencil sketch.

See how others buttoned up their posts this week here.