The Midwest(s) Farmer's Daughter

Introducing: The Midwest Farmer's Daughter blog. Daughter M. got a camera for Christmas and is learning to use it well. She wanted to start a blog, but is "underage." Since I can have two blogs on my account, she started it under my account. You can see it at midwestsfarmersdaughter.blogspot.com Note that the address uses midwests (with an s)  We had to use "midwests" because the other address was already taken by someone else.

Lap Blankets

I made a couple of small blankets out of thrifted yarn from second-hand stores. The purple and yellow one will be a baby gift and the rainbow one was for W. It is all single crochet, following this pattern, more or less. I used white yarn and colored yarn doubled for the rainbow pastel one. I only used double yarn on the purple stripes of the first one. The yellow was a very heavy baby yarn.

Musical!

Drama Camp ended on a high note last week with our first home school musical performance. The large cast presented the melodrama "No, No, A Million Times No!" It was a rollicking story of young Nellie Quackenbush, a farm girl lured to the city by the devious promises of a dastardly but attractive city man. All was well in the end, when she returned to her hometown love, Noble Heart.

L. was a lovely young girl in the milkmaid chorus. (Photo collage by Ana B-H.)

Headband

Little Friend Elizabeth was a flower girl this weekend. Her mom (Friend Sandy) asked me to make her a little headband to complete her flower girl outfit. Isn't she angelic?

Say Yes to the Dress

L's friend Hannah had a brother get engaged this week, so weddings were on the girls' minds. During M's confirmation brunch, they got to talking about wedding dresses and they wondered if they could try on my wedding dress.

It fit pretty well. It was my mother's wedding dress. I had planned to have it altered before my wedding, but after I found my new veil (hers had disintegrated from age and poor packing) it looked fine, so we decided not to change it. The veil cost about $50 in 1981.

Here is a picture of my folks (and the dress) on their wedding day. I had to steal the image from my sister's blog because I can't locate my hard copy of it.

Confirmation

Sunday was a busy day too.  M, Jacob and Rhig were confirmed this week. Pastor Ron arranged a nice service.

Great Niece Natalia was one year old, and her Grandpa (my brother) led the congregation in singing to her. Our church sings to you when your birthday/anniversary falls on Sunday. Her little sister Noel Joy slept through it all. We had cake at church and then came here for a confirmation brunch: hard boiled eggs, smokies, cheesy potatoes, glazed cinnamon rolls, strawberries and pineapple, grape salad, juice, coffee, tea and milk.

Beautiful things: I picked up a couple of stems of lilies for the girl's dance recital. Paired with some of our peonies in a thrifted vase, they made a beautiful, impressive and highly scented centerpiece for the confirmation meal. Daughter A. and the sons were out for confirmation. She has recently taken up kickboxing and is buffing up. Note her trademark sparkle and smile.

After some downtime (read: NAP!), several of us (not I) headed to a service project for church. Afterwards some of the young cousins came back and had a bonfire. Oh, and we snuck in a haircut for cousin Aldon. I used to cut  his hair when he was little. Right now he is in college and working, so the price was right. 

Drama Performances

On Saturday morning at 9 L. had musical practice, at 10 W. was due to dress for her dance recital, at 11 was the recital (after running back and picking up L. at the musical practice,) and at 1 was the drama camp performance. W. was in "Effigy in the Outhouse," a one room schoolhouse farce. (Three of the moms had walk on parts with small lines.) Maren played a smitten home ec teacher competing for the Principal's attention with three others in "Bachelor of the Year". The plays were great. L's musical performance is later this week.

Wedding

Last weekend we attended my cousin Mark's wedding. He is 57 and it is his first marriage. The church was full and we all enjoyed being there. It was fun to see lots of family. Husband and I got to go out for supper afterwards with my cousin Dawn and her husband. (below)

I made this beautifully colored, extremely soft and squishy throw blanket as a gift for the newlyweds. I looked up quick crocheted blankets and found this great recipe. (My poor muddled brain keeps saying recipe instead of pattern.) Basically, it is this:

Quick and Simple Afghan
Finished size approx. 45" x 70"

You need:
*8 skeins Lion Brand Homespun yarn-I used 4 skeins each of #368 Montana Sky and #302 Colonial *This blanket uses two strands of yarn at a time while making it, so I used one strand of each color paired throughout
*Jumbo plastic crochet hook, about 15.75mm

*Use two strands of yarn to crochet this blanket.*
Ch 75
Row 1: sc in each chain to end. Turn.
Repeat for the next 60 rows or until it is the size you want. Finish by running a color coordinated ribbon through every other stitch near each end and secure.

It said it would take about 6 hours for one blanket, but I think that means only if you don't cook any meals, do any wash or clean house.

Semi-Mini Marthas

Maren had her friend K.B. over this week. "Could we cook something?" they asked. They thought maybe something with real whipped cream and strawberries would be good. I got out my Martha Stewart Living magazine and they wanted to make the sponge cake on the cover. We had all the stuff, so they did.

And then we ate it, and sent some home with K.B. for her family. Yum! Look out Martha!

Dance Recital