T Stands for Tuesday & Pretty Morning Sunrise

 Our Last T Stands for Tuesday already for September '19.

    You are most welcome to join us for T-just share a photo with your beverage and link up with our hostess Bleubeard and Elizabeth-find link in my right hand column.

  I don't have much to share this week. The last few days I have been finishing up painting the white trim in our bathroom and the folding doors that hides the washer and dryer when closed. There is also some good deep and long shelving above the machines-so that's perfect for storage. Today I got out the brown paint that I painted the doors with and painted up some trim around the bathroom door. I have a little brown paint left so will just use it up by giving another coat on the doors-so the paint does not go to waste.

   This morning probably around 6:30 am the sky was gorgeous so I grabbed my little digital camera, and a cup of my chicory beverage and sat at the patio table enjoying the sunrise and the start of the day.

    I forgot to take a photo of my beverage then, so took one just now. This is what is left after drinking a big cup of hot and then switching over to adding ice cubes for the rest of the morning. It's hot here still-in the 90's f

Just before sunrise
    Wow these two photos are inspiration for a weaving or needle felted project or I have been wanting to try watercolor painting-we'll see totally out of my norm

and the sun rising

I had a taste for a fall dessert today even though we do not have fall temperatures as of yet. So I made an apple crisp in cast iron.

This was sooo delicious all it needed was a little whipped cream

To keep the carbs down since apples are already high in carbs-I made this with no pie crusts but made a topping with gluten free oats, a little gluten free flour, a little butter, coconut oil with the apples I used splenda, coconut sugar, apple pie spice, instant tapioca for thickening.

Happy T everyone!!

A Book Instead of a Movie

   I just finished reading a very interesting book about the mountain people living in the Appalachian mountains along the line of North Carolina and Tennessee especially.
     I had read an article about the author in American Frontiersman magazine and was intrigued about the author and wanted to read at least one of his books.

   I chose Our Southern Highlanders by Horace Kephart (1862-1931) researching online I found this article about the author here  This is really worth reading first as he was an interesting man, and also helped to create the Smoky Mountain National Park which happened a year or so after his death
  I found he has a trail named after him and found this online Give a tip of your hat along the way to the trail’s namesake, Horace Kephart. Kephart celebrated Smoky Mountain culture in his widely read Our Southern Highlanders and advocated for the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Killed in a car crash in 1931, Kephart is memorialized in a few other regional place names—not least 6,217-foot Mount Kephart to the northwest. found here

I found the book free on amazon for kindle and also found it free to read online here

   I enjoy reading historical fiction novels, and also some history based books. The author is easy to read, and he has written allot of books. Here is a link for more about the book and author




  There are allot of pros and cons about this book. That he spent too much time on the feuds, or the moonshining, and that they were for the most part unchanged from the peoples in Daniel Boone's time.  I found it enlightening and a very different "take" on true pioneers. He walked into this environment, lived there for a time and I believe wrote what he saw-and he was also a trained historical librarian before hand.  He described what the log cabins were really like-not fantasized as we would like to believe. Talked about the politics of the time-how the "law" worked in that area, compared them to the clans of Scotland.  I felt the book was worth  my time to read it and gave me a new perspective on our history. So I would recommend this book.

A Recycled Sheet Recycled Again

  I totally forgot to take a photo of this sheet before I started cutting it up-thought of it afterwards lol

   It has probably been around 15-18 years ago at least back when I first found blogging at Yahoo 360. One of my friends that lived in New Mexico (state in USA) worked at a historical site. One day she found in the trash this sheet and thought of me. She said she couldn't believe they just threw it away with all the beautiful crochet all over it and it was in excellent condition.
      I have a vintage 1800's iron bed where for the top sheets or quilts especially they would cut out the back sides in the corners so it would lay nicely around the poles-don't know if I am explaining that right or not. Anway's this sheet was made perfect for my vintage bed.
   I was thrilled to enjoy using this sheet, the cotton is so soft and luxurious and of course I always loved the crochet around all the edges. My friend thought that this was a vintage sheet,  but I found the tag made in China. I told her about it and we had a good laugh over that.
   So she rescued it from the landfill and we have been enjoying this sheet all those years.
   It now has a few torn areas and bad stains that won't come out so I decided to start ripping it apart in panels and make into a big bag liner for my vintage hamper.
   A couple days ago I gave the hamper a new paint job along with this magazine stand for the bathroom.

   I just jumped into this trying to save as much of the crochet as possible-with trial and error it turned out pretty nice.

  I couldn't get a real good photo but here it is draped over my quilt cabinet as you can see I wanted it really big

I am very happy with the results

and this is what is left of the queen size sheet This cotton is so nice I may just dye it

For a break before our dinner I grabbed a little bag to collect more black walnuts. Surprise I found this turtle on my left of a path that leads to the lake-and then Wow on the right was another one.

The squirrels have been opening up the black walnuts to eat, as you can see what is left over after I picked up the larger pieces for my dye-ink stash making

Happy Friday and weekend everyone

I Am Trying a New to Me Craft

  Have you ever made a toothbrush rug or heard of it??

This has been offered as a class by different teachers at the Fiber U event I attend in July. Have not taken this class though.
     Turns out the teacher I had for my woven bracelet teaches it and makes beautiful needles from different woods. She sells them in her etsy shop here  Of course I decided to buy two of them-one curved and one regular with the large hole and I chose Ozark woods-ozark white oak and osage orange. I love tools-can you tell?? haha We have become friends on facebook-she is so helpful with any questions her students may have-so I have a teacher when I need one-love that.

Our pioneer forefathers made these rugs from recycled clothing. Back in that time period they would hand carve their own toothbrushes, and add boar hairs for brushing-when those wore off-someone decided to remove the worn hairs and carve a hole to use as a needle, and make a more pointed end on the opposite end.

Some still take old toothbrushes and carve them into the needle shape, or buy them.  Here is an article about it-the author I think was known to start this craft up again.

Most tear strips of old sheets, recycled cotton/poly clothing, or even denim or wool. I want to try wool first and make into a chair pad which I need two of.

As you know my craft room is full of reclaimed fabrics of all sorts. I think the men's cotton shirts I was using in quilts would work out well for this project too

  My Fiber U teacher sent me pdf's on the how to's  and also how to make a scarf with this technique using lace, beads etc-that sounds like fun too.

  I watched several videos, as I needed a visual-this one is really good for really seeing how to do this.  These are also referred to as no sew rag rugs. I do not crochet or knit-this is actually just tying knots to begin and then using the needle to tie on more stitches and make into any shape you want.

This is another good video with clear instructions

So that's me getting into a new project this fall and winter.

I looked on the Etsy site and searched for finished rugs that are for sale-here are a few of them so you can see how they look finished up



from here

this one is made with fleece


from here


from here 

I think these look allot easier to make then the braided rugs.

Also I want to apologize if you didn't see your comments posted this past week or so--we were away about a week at hospital and then when we got back I totally forgot to check comments here in settings-sometimes they do not come into my email for me to approve and I need to visit settings to approve them to get published. I only thought of it because there was no comment from Elizabeth for T which I knew was not right-haha  there were about 10 comments waiting for approval-so I apologize for that.

T Stands for Tuesday & a Couple of Sweets

   We are back having T with Bluebeard and Elizabeth this Tuesday.
We gather together and share a post with a photo of our beverage. You are most welcome to join us-find link in my right hand column

   It is good to be home again-if you missed my first post back which also has a video of my December 2018 Fabric journal page completed here is a link

   Hubs is catching up on lack of sleep in the hospital, better quality foods, and beginning the healing process.  He did have open heart surgery back 20 years ago that was a really rough go-ending up in the hospital from mid November to March-hopefully this won't be a repeat of that, but he does have 3 months of cardiac rehab coming up in another month or so. The biggest concern for me is the medicine they gave him to keep blood clots away-that has to be monitored constantly as Vit K foods effect the test.

   Not too much new to share this week. We are having a gorgeous Monday here at the lake-in the Ozarks, not too hot, not too humid, no rain, but sunshine. So I got outdoors and swept down the new brick walkway of leaves and acorns, and also the deck this afternoon.
     The leaves are just beginning to come down now. Before we left for the hospital we found someone to clean out gutters for us-which haven't been done in years at the looks of it.
    I grabbed a small plastic shopping bag and was able to find quite a few black walnuts with those green husks still on, some already turning dark. I still need more to have enough for a good batch of dye or ink. There are lots of little grey squirrels getting them first haha-but it is food for them.

  I tried a new cookie recipe that a friend of mine gave me. She is doing really well on her keto diet. I think she has been on it now for almost a year and is closing in on the 100 pound weight loss number. I am so proud of her for sticking to this and finding a diet that works for her.
      She was 400 pounds at the start.(no fault of her own-came from a complex health issue)   I think this keto diet really works well for those that have lots of weight to lose and stick with it.
      I do like trying out some of the keto baking recipes as they are gluten free, and they are using different types of sugar alcohols that has no or very little sugar or carbs-so good for diabetics too.

   This was a chocolate chip cookie, using sugar free dark chocolate chips. almond flour, coconut flour, butter and I used half coconut oil instead of all butter and I had on hand stevia naturals for the sweetener. It did have a bit of an after taste to the cookie which I didn't care for. Other than that I will try these again.
    I just ordered the erythritol to try-many of my keto friends like this one the best for baking.

My beverage reference-my decaf coffee being brewed

This morning, I used my gluten free yellow cake mix that I make into all sorts of things-to make us fall cupcakes. There is sugar in the cake mix, but the cupcakes make more servings so stretches out the sugars per serving. I added three fresh blueberries to each one plus lemon and almond extracts.
     For the frosting I used Swerve confectionery sugar alcohol with almond milk and butter and lemon extract. and sprinkled on some fall sprinkles-those have sugar

  Thought they would be perfect for T

Happy T for Tuesday everyone!!

Happy Autumn & Dishes

Happy first day of Autumn



(photo found online)


  We have been so hot here in Missouri most of September has been in the mid 90's with very high humidity-so I am so ready for fall.

  Actually I think fall is my most favorite season of the year. I love the deep blue skies, fall colors in the trees, pumpkins and apples and I love snuggling in warm cotton sweaters and sweatshirts.-So I am ready and happy it has arrived.

  Do you love Autumn (fall) too??

    Remember when I mentioned my dishes when we were first getting moved into the lake house? I still had a few of my sister's set and I have an autumn pottery set that was originally my Grandma's on the farm until they were too heavy for her to use. So I got them and for gifts back then my Mom picked up allot of serving dishes, cups and saucers etc. to go with the fall dishes.
    I only have two dinner plates left from each set. So Sunday morning I went hunting online in hopes to pick up these pieces.

from my sisters set-which I just so enjoy using as I love the pattern



   I found a seller that was meant just for me-I was only looking for 2 dinner plates but he was selling 4 plates in very good condition with shipping for $16.00
    I kept reading the listing to see if these were that much per plate but No. There is no way the seller is making any money at all on these-so It was cheaper to buy these 4 plates from him instead of 2 from another seller.
   We use salad plates too for different things so I looked for those and was able to find an affordable price for them as well-two prices combined together I was happy with the total price.
    I have really nice bowls and cups for this set still.  When my sister had passed my Mom used these dishes and really enjoyed them as well.
   These dishes were made in England by Royal Doulton and I have always loved them

    So then I searched for two plates for my autumn leaf set. These were harder to find and were more expensive. I did find a seller that was more reasonable and the plates look pretty good-these bleach up well too. So I am pleased with my finds. I am ready to use this pretty fall set for sure.





Also I am thinking of checking out your Art Journal Journey themes soon. am I understanding the rules correctly-page needs to be 4" X 6" or larger in a journal page form-and I am thinking since it is says also mixed media-that my fibers will be accepted?  thanks

   Also Try it on Tuesday-does this challenge also require something flat like a page or a tag etc Is fabric-fibers accepted??  thanks


Happy Monday and first day of Autumn

December Fabric Journal Page for 2018 Completed & Silk Hankies

Several weeks before Hub's surgery I engrossed myself into my 2018 fabric journal pages. This is one project I really wanted to complete by this year's end.

    At the woods home my florescent lighting above my desk in that craft room does not work in the summer time when it is hot. Never could figure that one out as we have the central air. So it was always too dark in there to work on a close project like this. Then we spent months looking for lake houses etc mid 2018 and actually most of 2019 just got away from us too.
   Sometimes this just happens in our lives.

  A few days before his surgery date, I worked on the December page-it really kept my mind from "freaking out" over everything.  I finished it very late the night before, and just now took a look at it and decided it was finished.
   Next up is sewing together the 6 months of pages into the second book.

  I took this photo a few days before the surgery-these guys are fun to watch-although they can get themselves into allot of mischief. We also seem to have lots of the small grey squirrels here too.
  To the left of those pots is where we buried our Miss Calico-covered a large area with many rocks-and my rock that I wrote on with permanent markers did stay on-just can not see it when wet after a rain-so that pleased me.

Also the day before we left for the surgery-I wanted to try spinning the silk hankies. I am not sure I would enjoy spinning any more of this.
    I even wrote to the seller that I was having difficulty seperating the thin layers-and found it very hard to draft out-into smaller roving to spin-the fibers do not slide apart like wool does. I actually thought when she dyed this her water was too hot for silk-I may try dyeing some white silk hankies and dye myself.
    She told me it is a challenge at first to get the layers apart, and that she would never spin it herself-she stretches it out and then knits with it that way.-so I think I will weave with it that way as well
   Always fun for me to try something new in fibers. Saori weaving style (free form-anything goes) will work out great for this spun silk
  I am spinning more buffalo and finally happy that it is not so thick. I can't get anymore of this as the person selling it below wholesale prices has moved from West Yellowstone and gave up her business. So I was glad I kept buying more of this roving at the time-I love spinning this buffalo fiber-very short fibers-very soft-just very hands on spinning experience for me. My mind would just put me back in Yellowstone and those mountain day pioneer days-haha If I could really time travel that is where I would go for sure.

  Happy weekend everyone!!

We're Home

   Seems much longer than 6 days but we are finally home from Hub's heart valve surgery.

     I was originally going to stay overnite in the hospitality rooms (furnished inside the hospital for family members that have members in the hospital and live out of town) for just a few days, and then drive back to the lake house.
     I decided it was much less stress to stay there, and at $20.00 a night, and a 16 hour cafeteria available it made more sense and was very affordable. I kept my food and decaf coffees, and a couple snacks below $15.00 a day and most days around $10.00  I was happy with their food for me-I had many healthy choices like a big salad with lots of toppings to choose from, or grilled food. I was able to work around the gluten free pretty well-and also keep the carbs down. Although one day I needed comfort food so I ordered really nice french fries with a grilled hamburger with swiss cheese (no bread) with lettuce tomato etc.
  Hubs menu was pretty bad. In my college days way way back when I studied nutrition classes for two years, I shook my head at the menu. They gave him a cardiac diet to choose from, but they had bad choices for someone also needing diabetic choices-everything had starch as a side with gravy-not very healthy-he ate mostly salads, soups, and fresh fruit, and jello. even their yogurt was not sugar free.

   I am one of those people that gets lost without trying-so since I was on my own I made it a point to take notes and pay attention. There was allot of walking and going up and down elevators. The main lobby is the South area which is where the cafeteria and shops, etc are and 7th floor was my room. ICU was the North elevators-so I am guessing at least a mile of walking if not more to get to that area. and then back again for food and my room. After ICU he was in a room where I had to walk down to the West elevators and then back to the South for my room. I didn't mind the walks. The biggest complaint was the entire hospital was freezing-and since we have been 95 degrees and higher with the humidity index never would have thought to bring a sweat shirt. The gift shop should have been selling some for sure, they would have made money. So I asked for blankets to wrap up in and they gave them to me for each area-waiting room for surgery, ICU, and his last room.  I ended up losing two pounds-watching what I ate and walking-so that was good haha

   The operation went well, but this is going to be a tough recovery-three months of cardiac therapy, and probably several weeks to get stronger, and less pain. They changed one of the heart medicines to warafin which I am not happy about. We already need to watch his diet for heart healthy and diabetic healthy and this pill adds more restrictions. We have to really watch the food on this one. Must consume very very small amounts of foods with Vit K in them-which is all your healthy dark green veggies. and this medicine has to be monitored with blood tests for a month-by a visiting nurse-I also talked with the pharmacist today when I went to pick up this medicine and she said it was key to eat similiar meals every day or the medicine doseage is off.
     We see the surgeon in two weeks so I for sure will have more questions about this medicine, it is also bad for the kidneys too. so I am a little anxious about all this.

  Just wanted to pop in with an update.

9/11

Soon after we first moved and retired to the woods back in 2003-there was a touring quilt show with a guard on duty.
    The one that came near us was about an hour away in Warrensburg, Mo in a park setting-that I told Hubs I really wanted to see.
    I found some photos I had taken in my Photobucket. I remember this being very moving-holding back tears viewing these quilts in such a peaceful setting. These were hanging in one of those sheltered picnic areas with a roof overhead but no walls, with a guard walking around the outside.

and I just remembered that this first quilt if you enlarge the photo-you will see the faces of the people that died that day

Back Online-Finally--November Journal Page--Sunrise--Eagles

Shortly after I posted my last blog post-we lost all the fiber stuff-no tv, no internet, and no phone. Good thing we at least had our basic cell phone.
      So 4 days total with not much communication available to us.
    I hadn't thought about everything being on this fiber stuff, here at the lake though there is no alternative as no "real" land line phones available here-I guess everyone uses their smart phones, or uses the electric co-op for these 3 things-phone-tv-internet. So when it's all working it is very good-but no so good when it all goes down.
   It ended up being pretty major-we got an advanced tech-who called in a bucket truck-the bugs and critters ate up the fiber wires-lol

soooo I am back
                           I am not hooking up with T today since I am online so late in the day already, but I did want to share some things and visit many of you this afternoon.

      Thursday we drive to Springfield, Mo-for pre operation tests, check in a room over nite at the hospital and then his surgery on Friday-the 13th and full moon-yikes-that does have me stressed a bit.

   I did get another journal page finished-November-and I have the December page mostly laid out and ready to stitch down. So I am happy about this, and helps with my stress level this week especially.

This morning a lovely sunrise-I took this photo through the window and was the better of the 3 photos, they all had that red circle in them but then the sun was very very bright this morning. Also two streaks from airplanes which I thought looked cool too

And a pair of eagles this morning-always on this branch is where we find the eagles sitting. Hubs has seen them fly past the big windows as well-that would be too cool to view.
      He also told me he was watching the squirrels chomp off the black walnuts from high in the tree and come down to eat them-so I may not get many walnuts for my homemade ink-we'll see how it goes haha.

These last two photos were zoomed in by 12x above about 6x
First time we have seen what looks like a pair-do any of you know for sure?? We usually see one, or one with a juvenile

  I have also been back to reading the Outlander books and finished up the fourth book-I love these books-very long, very in depth writing like you are right there seeing everything. Hard to put down these books but they are all 1000 pages or more so does take time to read. and I want to catch everything as well. I am off to the 5th book in this series.

Happy Tuesday everyone, we have always lived very rural and isolated so it feels good to be in touch again with friends online.

October 2018 Fabric Journal Page Completed

  I have been working on the October 2018 journal page-actually one of my favorite months of the year-these past few days.
  I completed it this morning and I am happy with it. I am on track to get this journal finished before the end of 2019. I am realizing how much stress etc we have been under since last March. I do enjoy my craft room so much.

  I decided to make a little video to share my page. It amazes me how my videos now upload in less than 30 seconds with our "real" internet service. When living so rural in the woods we had very high prices for very very slow speed-so I am so thankful to have this service where we still live pretty rural at the lake house.

For better viewing click on full screen

Happy Friday and weekend everyone.

T Stands for Tuesday and This and That

  Tuesday is upon us again-first one in September '19.  This is where we gather together and share a beverage photo and post and meet up with our hostess Bluebeard and Elizabeth  You are most welcome to join us-link in my right hand column.

  It's late Monday and the lake is winding down. Wow Sunday the lake had more boats on it than Memorial Day. I think everyone was out there do to the rain storms late friday, and all day Saturday, and many of our neighbors left early early this morning already. 
     As fall approaches Hubs will be able to enjoy fishing on the lake again.

  I made two slabs of baby back ribs just in case any one dropped by for Labor Day. We had invited our one friend who is home alone this weekend but he said his sister and family were driving up from Georgia-I told them they were all welcome.
    So I ended up with a slab and a half of ribs left over-kept out one more meal for us and froze for another meal.

  I smoked these over charcoal and hickory and them smothered them with sauce in foil to keep them moist-turned out delicious.

This morning I decided to make us a gluten free pineapple upside down cake-I baked this in the electric oven in a large glass pan-turned out really moist and delicious-I am getting the hang of this electric stove-finally

I can't drink most beers do to the gluten in them, but here is a stout my Hubs enjoyed with his meal

I had iced tea

Here is a photo I captured of the rain

One evening I got out the October 2018 calendar page to begin working on the next fabric journal page. I saw where we knew we won the bid on this lake house. So I dug out a quilt fabric scrap that looked perfect, some stamps, and then colored in with these fabric markers-had fun  These are not suppose to need heat setting, but since this fabric needs a good ironing I will go ahead and heat press too.

And in the mail I received the two silk hankies that I ordered-inspired by our artist friend Barbara-love the colors! I took photos of front and back side These are many thin layers that you pull off and then smooth out into roving for spinning-or just weave, knit, or crochet without spinning first. really anxious to try this. would all work out nice for needle felting as well.

I think these will be fun to play with.


Wednesday the washing machine saga continues haha
     Last week they were to put a new motor in-I waited all day and they never showed up-really not like sears to do this. I did get allot accomplished at the woods house but still. When I got home and called them they said "oh I see you were scheduled for today but they decided not to come"-what??? so of course they got an earful from me about how irresponsible they are-so I return on Wednesday and hopefully they will show up and get it fixed.

That's all for me this Tuesday Happy T everyone!!