Wow another Tuesday is upon us. This is where we share a drink related post with friends. You are most welcome to join us. Please visit our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth at the link in my right hand column.
This last week was pretty much spending lots more time watching the Olympics. I really enjoyed the winter Olympics this time around. I had picked up the sport channel nbcsn in my satellite package so I was able to watch so many more events live and many many events not shown during prime time on just nbc Allot of exciting sports to watch.
I did receive my Olympic pin and my Twilight movies in the mail last week, but not my light box. I got a notice late last week that it just got shipped and should arrive tomorrow (Tuesday)
So since I am still waiting for my light box to get here, I have still not been working on my fabric art journal. I do have several ideas to finish up my February pages though.
I ended up stitching up just 5 of my hexagon rosettes while watching the sports. I have another one laid out ready to stitch but decided I needed a break from hand sewing. Soooo I grabbed my big bag of bison roving and started back on hand spinning some more. I would like to get it all spun before I decide what I want to weave with it-pretty much thinking some warm scarves.
This is really fragile to work with-breaks easily so this is getting spun a little bulkier. I am sure a more experienced spinner would get nicer yarn but I am happy with it. Makes me smile when I spin it and it is soooo soft.
We have had so much rain over the last few days-huge puddles of water every where and our long driveway is rougher than it was. Much flooding all over in my area.
I did get a photo of a nice visitor-the young 4 point buck stopped by over the weekend with a doe. It was early in the day so no corn left for them. They walked around a bit and then left right away I was happy that just happened to look out the window while they were here.
The green poking up is a thick row of daffodils that so much need to be dug up, seperated, and replanted-someday haha
This next photo was taken on one of the rainy cloudy days.
Sunday I decided to make a blueberry upside down cake on top of the stove. I will share how I made it on my cast iron Friday post
March 1st I will be walking in the virtual race for Yellowstone Park's birthday. I signed up for 3 miles and have not walked that for several months now.
The weather today was in the mid 60's f so a perfect time to enjoy a walk. I guess I am so out of shape again that it took me an hour and a half instead of my usual hour. The air here is still quite heavy so that was part of it I think.
I bought a hiking stick, which really keeps me from tripping on vines etc and is much lighter in weight than a tree branch-which I was using before.
I brought along my water bottle-that was a gift from my author friend Peggy when I was in Yellowstone last May So this is my drink I am sharing this time
And Miss Calico had to check out what I was photographing haha
Happy Tuesday everyone. So glad you stopped by
Happy Friday,
Most of you all know how much I enjoy using my cast iron pieces for cooking and baking.
I grew up with cast iron, and when I got married my Hubs loves it too so we have been collecting pieces together for over 35 years now.
I thought I would share links to recipes and more on Fridays using cast iron.
I have had neighbors tell me I need to get rid of my cast iron pieces since I am a senior now. No way I tell them haha
It now takes two hands now to pick up a piece but I love it too much to stop using it now. It is pretty much all I use too except for my vintage revere ware pieces.
Yesterday I wanted to bake up something with apples but didn't want to make a crust or use the oven. So, I am thinking years ago when cooks used a wood cook stove or even hearth cooking there must have been times when they didn't want to set up the oven.
So I decided to make up a pie filling like I always do-apples, apple pie spice, instant tapioca, and a sweetener this time I used agave. I also added in a few dried rainier cherries.
I got out one of my seasoned cast iron skillets; put just a little bit of water on the bottom. Set my gas flame to low and poured in the apple mixture. Placed a lid on top-I have cast iron lids.
Once the apples were almost cooked through, I mixed up a big handful of gluten free old fashioned oats, a tablespoon of melted butter, a couple tablespoons of gluten free all purpose flour, cinnamon-mixed that up and put it on top of the apples. Placed the lid on top
I was working on supper at the time, so I just checked everything about every 10 minutes or so. Turned out delicious. With the addition of the instant tapioca you can see the dish absorbed all of the extra liquid.
I will be making this again with other fresh fruits.
Here is a link I found for cast iron desserts these recipes say for fall but they all look good enough to me for eating any time of the year.
If you think you might be interested in joining in to share cast iron recipes let me know and I will look back into setting up a link up
T Stands for Tuesday is an event where we gather together and share a drink related post with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth. You are most welcome to join us-find the link in my right hand column.
I do have several ideas to add to my January pages in my fabric art journal but I am at a standstill for the moment.
I did order a light box so I could trace images to make appliques or to embroider. Wow they have really changed over the years too.
I also got the idea to look for a 2018 Olympics pin to add to my page. I found two that I loved but lost both bids. The most I wanted to pay was around $15.00 tops. One pin I was looking at will go well with my mountains I checked on Amazon and wow this pin is being sold for $50.00 no wonder I am losing the bids haha.
One seller must have gotten allot of these to sell, so I tried one more time and lost that bid as well-surprise in my email box he sent me a second chance offer-I could buy the pin for what my last bid was-so I got it for under $15.00 with the shipping. That so made my day.
Soooo with today (Monday) being our President's Day our post offices are closed. No mail
Tomorrow the pin and the light box should both be there-However we may wake up tomorrow with everything iced over. If that is the case we will not be venturing out of the woods to drive to the post office. I will need to remain patient haha
I also splurged and bought the latest boxed movie set of the Twilight series.I loved those books and have re read them several times. I have caught some of the movies on the tv but I think they have been cut allot and all those commercials too ugh. So I have a bunch of happy mail coming in this week-can't wait.
Have you read the Twilight books or seen the movies? I loved Edward better in the books-but I loved that the movies seemed to pretty much follow the books.
In my last post you can see how I decided to add the snow to my mountains-I am loving it. I used white wool thread instead of the puffy paint.
Since I am using wool threads to hand sew in my journal I really needed to pick up those cheapie needle threaders-you find them in those mini sewing kits. Like Elizabeth mentioned these break so easily. I had picked up one package of three that ran around a dollar a piece-and they do break, even though I try to be really careful with them.
So I went on Ebay to see if could find a better price-as I will be going through allot of these-- and You will not believe this-I didn't-from China (and these threaders are made in China) I could buy 100 for $1.25 and free shipping. I don't know how they are making money on these. and instead of waiting a month to get them they came in around 2 weeks.
So this problem is solved. smiles
I do love watching the Olympics and have been watching many hours of it-the weather is not nice to be out in and I am retired so I am just enjoying lots of it on several different channels. Also the events live are either super early in the morning or after midnight it seems too.
I would have to say the only winter sport I am not crazy about watching is the speed skating-but that can also be exciting too.
Watching so much of it this time around, you get a feel for the different athletes-some I think are obsessed to get a medal and others just want to enjoy the Olympic experience. I really felt for the figure skater in Germany-this was her 5th Olympics-20 years and she finally got her gold medal. I really enjoyed the mens and womens biathlon and the snow boarding, and downhill.
While watching the games I have been sewing the hexies. I am getting a little faster but at this rate I may not live along enough to finish haha It probably takes me 8 to 10 hours to complete one of these rosettes perhaps longer. I am using silk thread so that is taking me a bit longer too-hoping I will get faster.
So far I am enjoying this project as it is a quilt I always wanted to make.
We did get a surprise wildlife visitor a couple days ago. After putting the corn out and was inside and then looked out the window Wow a little 4 point buck. He stayed eating for over half an hour
When the temperatures a bit warmer we get a carpet of doves that fly in for the bird seed. If you enlarge the below photo you will see more doves.
My drinks this week: on a cold evening I made myself hot chocolate with heart shaped marshmallows on top, and for the week I opened up another red wine-not as dry as the merlot
Happy T For Tuesday everyone! Thank you so much for visiting.
Do any of you happen to use a light box for tracing things? I could use one for tracing around to make appliques.
If you do can you recommend one? I used to have one years ago but I remembered it was really small so gave it away.
I have used the window but thinking it would be easier to have the light box. nothing very expensive.
Last night I came up with an idea for snow for my mountains. I am loving it. Wanted to do some different than the puff paint.
I used white wool yarn and split it down for threads
Wow
Sunday morning we woke up to ice every where. It was so bad I could Not walk on the gravel. The ice will stay til late Monday. I went outdoors to feed the wildlife and could not believe how the ground was thick with ice-I needed to walk around a different way on leaves and frozen grasses.
This first photo has a reflection of our vintage dining room lights-kinda cool. As you will see a very grey day today
photos will enlarge just click on them
Miss Calico is talking to me about the ice haha she likes to follow me out when I feed the wildlife and birds but not today.
T For Tuesday is where we share a drink related post. You are most welcome to join us. Our hostess is Bleubeard and Elizabeth, the link is in my right hand column.
This weekend I decided to make stuffed poblano peppers. I picked up two at the store on Friday they were so nice and fresh. They turned out good-I could have spiced the filling up a little more than I did. I used ground sausage browned, fresh mushrooms, and pearl onions, my canned tomatoes, ricotta cheese.
I served it with steamed fresh pea pods-I found at Aldi store
Above photo I added the ricotta on top with a bit more rice
Deer getting watermelon rind-they love fruit I took this from inside Saturday night when the ice started falling
I have been working on my February pages and finished the page with the hearts. I am glad that I decided to stitch all over the piece. I added two little roses, also a heart pendant I found in my beads and buttons stash. ( a little more information about the hearts in my previous post)
When I finished I decided to look into my bag of vintage laces and trims and found this pretty cotton piece. I decided to sew it on around the edges.
Of course that threw my borders off a bit but I think it will be ok when I start stitching the pages together.
I had a small piece of trim left that was just the right size to add to the side of next page.
The top little piece was stamped Love I needed to tuck it under the trim a bit
The lighting was not the best for these photos-sorry.
and for my first time I am also linking up with Try It On Tuesday-thank you Jo
Today I started working on the left side of above.
I love to watch the Olympics and will be glued to the set watching the different events not shown in prime time especially with these cold days, so I wanted to add that to my page.
I am happy with the torch
I found this torch as a coloring page for kids so managed to get an outline of it and then I embroidered the outside lines and then grabbed some pens and inks for fabrics and colored it in.
Now to figure out the rest-I cut out this mountain wool applique, wanted to add a skier not sure yet. The mountain piece is not sewn down yet. This wool piece I had darkened with my homemade iron mordant-several years ago. I may just add some more puffy paint for snow again on top of the mountains.
Tonight, I opened up a bottle of Merlot-a dry red wine.
Happy T For Tuesday
Thank you so much for visiting and commenting
This week I have been helping out in Hub's shop, so not as much time in my craft room.
I did start on one of the February pages worked on it late last night-it's addictive haha
I remembered a technique I learned about when I was learning about crazy quilting-use a rubber stamp to imprint an image on to velvet with a hot iron. It worked out well and I sewed a blanket stitch around the two velvet hearts. I then stamped two images with the same stamp. I am using linen fabric as the base-re purposed clothing from the thrift shops
Last night I decided to hand stitch all over around the hearts like random quilting
I should be able to finish this part tonight while watching the Olympics
I always look forward to the Olympics especially the winter ones. Do you love to watch too?
I cut up a honeydew melon late this afternoon and put the rines out by the stump The deer love them
super nice weather break today and tomorrow-mid 50's Loving it, but over the weekend winter returns, nice thing about this area as we always get breaks in the cold temps-makes winter more tolerable.
Happy Thursday everyone
The photos I just shared in the previous post were taken yesterday-our Sunday. The Muscovy pair of ducks usually arrive around 7 am each morning.
I kept watching for them, and then around 9 am I see just the hen Muscovy. I am feeling sad as she must have lost her mate. We do have eagles and hawks here and other wild critters so anything could have happened.
I am feeling very sad for her this morning. These are not wild ducks but rather domestic ducks so don't know what will happen to her now.
The pair usually slept up by the house-just outside the big bay window where my computer is. The hen is resting there at the stump. I wish I could reach out and give her a hug.
Update: the male has arrived but he is away from the hen I feel so much better now still a mystery though that didn't come in together and later
It is very cold here right now
and this is cute a squirrel eating corn from deep in the cracks of this old stump-was here when we bought our property in '98
We have wintry weather with very cold temperatures and strong winds again. I guess Tuesday is suppose to bring us some ice and snow.
I took a couple wintry photos yesterday just enough snow to make things pretty with strong winds.
The deer are keeping an eye on the ducks they are not sure yet what to make of them haha
T Stands for Tuesday is where we share a drink related post with friends. You are most welcome to join us with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth. Find the link in my right hand column.
I want to thank all of you that answered my question about glues to use with my rubber-wood stamps. Looking my stamps over again I am thinking they used the sticky papers to attach but then might never had used the stamps and sat a long time. Don't know if that is why they are coming apart or not.
I have always had wooden-rubber stamps that are already glued down more permanately.
I started using a second set of stamps and they are doing the same thing-sigh I have never had this happen before--I have rubber cement glue on hand already so I am going to try that first. I did take notes on your other suggestions too.
Sunday morning: I have a finish with my opening page and my January pages for my 2018 Fiber Art Journal.
This past week I have taken things apart, and have done several stampings. I now know that synthetic fabrics causes the ink to really run. I got around it a little bit by stamping very very lightly.
The synthetic ribbons I had purchased really spread with out being super careful. I also coffee dyed a vintage package of polyester tape for use in sewing. That also ran with out being very light on the stamps.
I brewed a very strong pot of hub's coffee brought it to a simmer in the pot and let the tape soak in the coffee "dye" bath overnight. I took out the tape and hung to dry-no rinsing.
(All photos will enlarge just click on them)
I forgot to take a photo of my first attempt when the ink really spread-the bottom tape was stamped on the coffee dyed tape-I tossed that piece.
Cotton fabric though will stamp nicely without running
Here are some photos:
I used cotton fabric-the same that is under the handmade corn husk paper-to stamp January
I did add the date to the wolf moon but I used yellow wool thread so it would not take away from the wolf stamp
I used a chain stitch around the vintage yellow silk fabric-that turned out so so I didn't want to take that apart again.
And the quote "Excuse me but we need more corn" came from our CJ Kennedy in a post reply-I had to use it as it just fit so perfectly. (yes she gave me permission)
I really wanted to add in a Muscovy duck to this page as they still visit us every day-actually the pair arrives early in the morning, eat a little from the left over corn from the day before, sleep by my computer desk window, and then eat again in late afternoon and fly off. We are hoping they will stick around and nest here.
I looked online for a stamp and only found one-it was too large and too expensive. So I looked online for a coloring page and found this one. I printed it on vintage Eaton typing paper which is kinda cool it has texture and it has an emblem stamped into the middle of the paper. After printing it I took a black fine point sharpie and traced on top of the image. (One of these days I will look into the right ink and figure out how to copy on to fabrics)
I sewed on this vintage beaded lace around the tree for snow. In my stash I found these snowflakes that I sewed on with wool thread.
I added the white puff paint around my Thinking of spring which was stamped on the coffee dyed tape This was my third attempt of stamping lightly. Still a little spreading of the letters but not as bad as before.
This is the opening page completed now with the wording
This is how the pages will be sewn together. The left side of opening page will be sewn to the cover piece. then the above page (which is on the right hand side) will be sewn to the back of the left side of the January page-and then you continue on that way to finish.
I want to thank Elizabeth again for helping me figure out how to sew this together. (my head just could not get a grasp on it) I want to add the little beads to the edges too. I found a couple bags of seed beads in my stash.
I already have some ideas in mind for February and will do something that happened this month too.
I feel I am caught up now with this project. (smiles) Today I will write down the materials and what I did for these pages, will do that for each month and then I think I will type up a page and add to a pocket at end of book.
I am not sure if I need to add cotton batting between the pages or not. The blue wool is twice as thick as the plaid wool pages which will work out perfect alternating them. I will decide when I start sewing them together.
I have lots of the plaid wool left so I am thinking of cutting pieces to lay in between the month pages-to protect them from rubbing on each other-like my handmade papers or the puffy paint.
This past week we changed our diets to eating our main meal at 2 pm I am really loving this allot. It works well since we are retired now. I also find myself snacking in the evenings Less now-which am happy but surprised about. Eating fresh salads every day now too Last week when I went food shopping I found really nice fresh veggies and fruits-they do not always have them as I only buy USA or Canada fresh produce.
Yesterday I made a big pot of potato soup with leeks, ham, and mushrooms-sooo delicious. We will have that again today as I forgot to take out the baby back ribs last night to thaw.
The ducks come right up to me when I put out the corn-so I grabbed the camera-they are really fun
For my drink I am sharing a bottle of wine I picked up at Aldi store. It is a dry red, I will finish it up tonight.
Another hexi rosette almost finished.
Happy T Day everyone.
Thank you so much for visiting
