Got two done!

This past week hubby and I made a couple of Ottomans.  Got the great idea from a tutorial that Marty did awhile ago over at "A Stroll Thru Life".   We needed one to use with our new sofa.  I'll be getting a matching chair, but won't pay $399.00 for the ottoman that goes with it.  Besides that, our living room is too small for both a bigger chair and big ottoman!  Our living room is only 11' x 16', so is rather narrow!

We made two ottomans, a smaller one we'll keep, and a larger one  for Leah for her birthday.  Also made her some tapistry pillows, (she took them home already!).  The smaller one is 14"x18" and the other one is 22"x22".  In our small living room, the small one is just fine.  Leah has a lot of open space in her living room to use the big one.   

Sewed a piping that goes between the box and the top cushion. 

After I got done, (forgot to take  pictures of when I was putting the batting and foam all on!)  I stapled on the bottom black material, and poked a pencil into the hole Steve had earlier drilled for the feet. Before putting the feet on, I dribbled a little seam sealent on the material at the hole, so the material wouldn't fray more. Here Steve is screwing in the feet he made and stained. Then he screwed on gliders that covered the bolt to make it easy for moving on carpet, etc.

I found these little feet at the upholstry place in Fargo, but they didn't have bigger diameter ones that I wanted for the bigger ottoman.  I'm lucky to have a handy hubby to make them.  His turned out so good, that he now has the job of making more!

My ottomans are a little different than the one Marty did her tutorial on.  I made a top with a fitted seam instead of folding at the corners.  With solid colored material, I couldn't get the fold to look good, and with the faux suade the thickness became a problem.  So I used a seam at the top, and top stitched it.  The only folds are where I turned the material under the board at the corners, then stapled it all around.  I had some trouble with the folds on the larger one; and redid it several times!   It still puckered a little, but with use , ha ha! and in the dark, no one will notice!

In daylight, the color seems brighter red.  Of course, each brush of the hand, or blanket, makes it lighter or darker. A suede characteristic. 

Have a GREAT weekend!

Happy Birthday Leah!

Today is the birthday of our eldest daughter!  Wow!  Happy Birthday Honey!   Hope you're home soon from your snowmobiling weekend.  Dug through some pictures and here are a couple I found.  What a cutie!

You at 2 years old, with Grandma Helga's dog Baber in your new buggy!  He was very patient and let you dress her up so cute!!! 

Then your 7th Birthday in 1974 when Grandma Helga made you a Raggedy Ann & Andy.  I know you blogged about them not too long ago.

(((having trouble getting pictures to come forward!!!)))

We always played games when we got together for birthdays and other events.  I'm not sure what game Grandpa Nilson was showing us! 

I hope to finish your birthday present tonight.  Will get together for B cake yet this week.  I know you're tired after your long ride home!   Happy Birthday and love you lots,  mom

Pup sitting!

Daughter, Leah  and Steve, along with his brother Bill are snowmobiling this weekend out at Deadwood,  South Dakota in the Black Hills!  While they are there having fun, we got to puppy sit while Amanda was in school on Thursday and Friday.  I went over to their place (about 3 miles from us) to let the three dogs out for awhile and then brought new puppy over to our house to play with our dogs and us for a couple of hours in the afternoon.   She is growing so fast and is  already bigger than Hooch.  I got a few pictures, but not the best, as she was real busy and didn't sit still for me!!!!

She is so friendly and calm.  Hooch and Odda like her.  She and Hooch play "bitie face" for awhile, and then she went to play with Odda's tail!   She got a hold of her big fluffy tail and just shook it.  The look on Odda's face was so funny.  She then pulled her self and tail away from the pup "Kodi" and laid down.  It was pretty funny.

Her cute face, so dark you can't see her eyes unless you are really close to her!  She loves the snow!

Take you time snowmobiling Leah - dogs are fine!!!!!!!  I've called and talked to Amanda several times.  She is fine also! 

Wishing everyone a great weekend.  We're suppose to get about 5 inches of snow today, and further south in MN it is forcast over a foot of new snow!!!!    What's happened to our few days of spring!?!?

A Valentine Card!

 We got our first card for this Valentine season!

Isn't she just the cutest pup!   Leah, Steve and Amanda got a new puppy yesterday.  Leah is our oldest daughter, blog site: livingitupcountry.blogspot.com, and they had several pets and horses.  They lost a beloved pet Rudy, and this little girl just happened to become available, so a new member to their family, and of course, they visited this morning to meet Odda and Hooch.

Pretty soon, she'll be larger than Odda!  She is so soft and cuddly.   A different kind of hair than Odda.  Of course, she has her puppy coat, so I wonder what it will be like when she gets bigger.   She liked our dogs, so I'm sure we'll be visiting often!

I'm busy getting food and stuff ready for our card party.  Will post some pictures tomorrow. 
Have a great evening.  Our day has been wonderful here temperature wise.  It's in the high 30's!!!!!   whoopee!!!

Your Cereal Is Better Than Mine!

I got up and walked into the kitchen to see this! 

Odda thought that Steve's cereal was better than the dog food she was suppose to eat.  Steve had gotten up to get his toast buttered, and Odda must have put her paw or mouth by the bowl, because she tipped it and milk and cereal spilled all over.  She had a great time licking milk up from the floor.   Neither one of us saw it happen.   Opps!    I let her help clean it up a little before I dug in and cleaned the mess up!  Another good reason to wash the floor!

Had bell practice tonight at the Catholic church.  They are short on players because so many of their players are on vacations South, so I've been a substitute player there on Wednesday evenings, as well as playing for my church on Tuesdays.  We play bells on the third Sunday at our church, (Methodist) and I'll be playing for the Catholic church again this month on the fourth Sunday.  It's fun to play different bells, and have the challenge of different music.  I've been moving around the treble and bass clef music and that's a good challenge.  Just to remember which bells I'm playing sometimes can be a challenge!  If you've never heard a bell choir, you're missing out.  The music is beautiful.

Also have been busy making a couple of things for prizes for our Whist card party we're having this Saturday evening.  A Valentine party!  It's been so long since we've played whist, that we've had to practice!  It should be a good time.  I've invited 5 other couples, so we'll have 3 tables going.  It will be tight squeeze for our house, but that'll make it more fun also.  Will have 2 tables in the kitchen, and 1 in the living room.  I have to take out one lazyboy rocker to make room.  But we'll all be within talking distance, so no one will be off in another room somewhere.  I'm going to have a female and male prizes for winners, and losers.  I suppose I should decorate a little for Valentines too!  Don't have that done yet.

Oh, already mid week -  it's getting closer to spring!!!!!!!

February - The Month of Love!

I remember getting ready for Valentine's Day as a child.  So fun to make a Valentine box out of an old shoe box.   Sometimes a Kleenex box.  We'd use red and white crepe paper - construction paper.  I wish I had one of my boxes now.  But can't save everything!  Every kid had a Valentine box, and we made or used store bought cards like I have in my header picture.  We'd take our box and cards to school and the box would go up in the front of the class room.  We'd take turns putting all our cards into a box for each and every child.  We didn't just give to our special friends. 
In cleaning (boy the things I've found!) I brought out an old paper sack to the kitchen table and Far Side and Gene, and hubby and I looked through all the old cards and post cards that was inside.  There were these Valentine cards.  I think these may have been from the 50' or 60's.   There is one little "puppy" valentine (actually there are 3 of those cards, that I'm going to be sending to Granddaughter Renee. 

Click to enlarge picture.  The wording on the mail boy card is cute!

I think these cards are so cute.  When I tried to find a card the other day in the drug store, I had a terrible time picking one out.  Got so frustrated, that I decided I was going to use some of these cards.  Might as well, they just sitting in the brown sack and would probably be thrown out some day later when someone else would have to go through things! 

Hope you're all warm and snuggly inside.  Sounds like that snow storm is hitting a lot of my blogging friends!

We're having a chilly, but very sunny day.  No new snow here.  Minneapolis/St.Paul is 4 hours south of us, and they got about 4 inches.  Our snow settled a little after last week when we were in the mid-30's for a couple of days.

Keep warm, Jo