Good Morning Sunday-Slow Stitch Progress

 Good morning Friends,

   It has been very windy here, so not working outdoors this weekend. Today we warm up to the 80"s but still windy.

  Congrats to the KC Royals baseball team for making it into one of the wildcard spots for the year's championship. They have had  some injuries, lots of new players, were so close to getting in and then they started losing lots of games-so I stopped watching them. over the last couple of weeks. Watched the game that would get them in and they lost-ugh, but another team lost so they got in haha.  First in 10 years since they got in the playoffs.

  I think I have more time in pinning my slow stitch project than sewing so far. I had bought some short applique straight pins as the instructor I am following really likes them. So, I was online hunting some down-they are hard to find.  I did find some I really liked and two online shops had them-but for both the shipping and taxes were higher than the pins-ugh. So I scoured Amazon-found one company that had them the review was good.  When I got them-I liked that they were short, but these were Not sharp at all-so no good for this project.

  I went back to the silk pins my Mom bought me years ago-they are thin and veryyyyy sharp and long pins-perfect for quilters.  I started to sew and kept getting  stabbed by these sharp pins that will draw blood as well. So ok now what to do??  I went through my bag of sashiko items that I bought two years ago-and found two little boxes of small no coil safety pins. These are sharp and will work-but what a job to change it all. These will be a pain to move around as I sew, but at least I won't get stabbed and the patches are now secure.

I changed the pins after sewing this little bit.  I had to keep taking out my stitches as they were too small-being used to hand quilting stitches. Not even, but I am not going to worry about that-as this project is to be fun and hopefully relieve some stress I used a stick of white chalk for a rough line to follow.

I did finish up the second wolf block-stitched it per the pattern this time. But instead of everything being one color-I used different colors for the outline stitches. I think I am liking this better than the first block. I may just turn these into pillows. I am thinking of a tea or coffee dye to get rid of all that white though. Those of you that have followed me for awhile-know I do not care for white. I have not rinsed out the blue pattern as of yet.

  I did search online for a good price for Melania's new book. I watched an interview about her book, and decided I wanted to read it. The prices are all over the place along with shipping added. This morning I checked out Thrift Books-they had the best price with free shipping. It pays to "shop" and look around for best price.

Happy Sunday and have an awesome new week.

Slow Stitch Project-Ready to Go

   Good afternoon,  Today my allergies got the better of me, so I watched more videos from the slow stitch site I shared yesterday   I love listening to her and have learned a lot so far. I was working on the wolf embroidery panel at the same time. This second panel is almost finished.

  While watching her tutorial on how to make a fabric bag with slow stitches---- Wow it just all came together for me in my mind, on that project I started to put together almost 2 years ago now. 

  Remember when I shared a Sashiko book with a pattern for a little bag?  I had cut out probably enough for 10 bags from my hand dyed fabrics---that was kinda crazy to do, but  I remember now I decided it was time to get my hand dyes out of their bags and use and share them. My plan was to gift these to my slow mail friends. I have not kept up with my slow mail writing either this past year-so will see how that goes going forward. I do love mail in my mailbox, and I enjoy writing the letters too.

  So watching one of her videos, I remembered I had already laid out a pattern of my hand dyes for one of the bags-just had not decided how to stitch it all together so it would be a cohesive piece of fabric Inside, the bags will have one full cut piece of one of my hand dyes.

     This afternoon, I dug everything out, and looking at this piece now,  I will swap out a couple of the fabrics, but watching the video I now know how to slow stitch this.

  Back then. I was looking at Sashiko stitch patterns to use, but I am going to do this piece all over in a running stitch, and then perhaps add Sashiko patterns in some areas-I will see how this goes. Stitching like the fiber artist has shared-this will be a more durable bag.

  That carpenter's table I really wanted to bring home-Larry still thinks I was crazy-but it gives me a long narrow table now to work on and this being in my computer-weaving -storage room it is not in the way either.

This is a bag full of my hand dyes, rust dyes, and some gift hand dyes from my friend Mary

My Mom was a master seamstress, and loved making bags of all sorts. This is one of hers that I have full of Sashiko threads and other threads plus an assortment of Japanese needles for hand sewing. My Mom liked this little bag for her purse, she made them for all the different seasons. She included several zippered pockets too.

This is another bag my Mom made-using vintage buttons. she kept this one in her car and it holds an umbrella in the back as well  I use it now for sewing projects.

 It does feel good to have a plan haha  This project has been on my mind for awhile too.

    I think the rain has stopped for now, we had sunshine this afternoon, so hoping I can finish up the grass cutting in the next day or two.

  Enjoy the rest of your week!

Good Morning & Life's This and That

  Autumn has arrived here for sure this week-cooler weather, a little rain, more water fowl on the lake-loving it. The oaks are dropping their leaves and their acorns. Still not much in fall colors though.

  Last week Thursday was our 6 month appointment with our family doctor. Larry's suburban has not been driven for months-our friend helped us get and put in a new battery, I washed up all the windows, and our friend drove us. I love the suburban-has such a nice ride but it is just too big for me so I haven't tried driving it.  The doctor's office had wheel chairs there-so the appt went pretty smooth.  I was happy our doctor offered to request more physical therapy at home. Larry was due to re apply for that a month ago. Have not heard from them as of yet. For some reason this office does not have the shots-so I need to get Larry into the drug store near us for the flu shot and that new one for seniors with the three letters. I had talked with them when I got my last shingles shot if they could give Larry the shots in his car do to their steps-and they said they would.

   Yesterday I got my renewed drivers license in about 15 minutes. It was raining all morning so not many people there. No matter what I do my photo is always so horrible on my license-ugh. Oh well I am good now for another 4 years.  Close by I had  my dentist appt. After that I needed a couple fresh items from Wal mart so I drove there and also got my flu shot there.  This Wal mart is not a super Wal mart but a much smaller one. This summer they did a redo to add more merchandise. To achieve that, they made all the aisles smaller, they also added a deli. They had the space for a deli but never used it. They have some interesting things there now. They also upgraded the produce-more local and organic produce which I like. I found huge mangos so had to bring two home with me. My preferred fruits are berries and those are now way too expensive to buy fresh.

  It rained lightly most of the day yesterday-this area really needed the rain. More rain today too.

For those of you that enjoy slow stitching- I found someone I really enjoy watching and learning new things on her You Tube channel-k3n clothtales   She is doing a series right now that she is adding to her cloth journal-I will start from the beginning now as she is up to week 39.  Listening to her is like being right there with her as she talks about her cat etc while creating a block and slow stitching. I think she lives in England and is a fiber artist that displays her work. I originally found here on Instagram here

  I find a lot of inspiration for my crafts on Instagram-many artists and craftsman there, just have to sift through things there and put in topics you are interested in. 

  In a couple weeks it will be one year since Larry's bad fall from the stone wall. I have been an emotional wreck most of this year, and not able to concentrate on my letter writing or my crafts. I am working on getting back to "normal" again.

  Wal mart had big bags of fresh green beans that looked really nice and were fresh-they snapped-so will be blanching and freezing those this morning. I am having issues with my directv streaming on my tv-so need to get "in the mood" to contact them this week. I don't use cell phones so couldn't find their text on Larry's phone-ugh. They connect with you through the text somehow so they can see your tv and what is going on.  The nice thing about streaming is that I can watch any of my shows on the computer-so I did that last night.

  I have rambled on enough already-Have an awesome day!

  

Update: Just finished steam blanching the green beans. Really surprised how nice these were coming from a Wal mart store. We have been married over 40 years now and Larry did a lot of Japanese cooking way back when we first got together. He had a very large steamer he would use for different dishes. I also used it for steam blanching lots of fresh veggies for the freezer. On one of our garage sale shopping trips  I found this matching small steamer which I use for small batches.  I prefer the steam blanching over the veggies in the boiling water to prepare for the freezer.  I steamed for 4 minutes and dropped into ice water to cool fast  Then freeze.

These come with two trays but I use one at a time for blanching That way the veggies are just above the boiling water. 

Below-green beans now ready to bag up and into the freezer

Happy Autumn

  Wow can you believe it?? Today is first day of Autumn 

Most of last week was very hot and humid, waking up today-light rain, cool, perfect for the first day of Autumn

Happy Autumn!!

Beautiful Weather

   Lovely weather here the last several days. No rain so far which we could use but want to get more grass cut before it does.. I can see the end nearing-finally-a few more days of cutting. 

  I did make an upside down fresh apple cake yesterday morning-very delicious! I shared a quarter of it with our close-by friend that helps us a lot. I usually make us apple crisps so this was a nice treat. I used a Bob's Red Mill Gluten free yellow cake mix-used light olive oil instead of butter and added in more vanilla extract. The cake is very moist using the olive oil.

 Strange-Google is acting up and won't let me place the cursor under the photo so will close this post-Happy new week everyone

For Me It's Tea Time Weather

 Good morning Friday (the 13th) I just realized yesterday that today would be Friday the 13th.

   Cooler mornings now, so I am enjoying drinking hot cups of tea. Yesterday afternoon, I straightened up my tea corner. I ran out of cabinet space for a spot for my teas-so it takes up this space that is near the refrigerator and to the left around the corner the electric stove. Some of these teas are many years old but are still good.

 When I get a chance to visit the Amish store  I always check out their teas as they are usually marked down under two dollars. I have collected over the years lots of Gevalia coffee ceramic containers, and at garage sales I had picked up different sizes of blue jars with the hinged glass lids and other containers. I have a few tins as well.

  I had several boxes of teas that I just tossed on top of the containers, so it was time to clean and straighten this up.  I was able to get them all into tins or inside these containers.

   I have never used that light under the cupboard-there is no plug there so needs a long cord to reach one. I should see if I can get that off. Under the light area is my medicinal teas, recipes in front and I keep the coconut oil here as easier to get to.

The drawing was given to me as a gift from a very long time blog friend that lives in Paris France-Agnes

     There are two jars of homemade cocoa mix. One made with powdered  milk and the other one made with coconut milk powder

another close up of that corner under the light. In front of medicinal teas are jars of ice tea, and lemon or fruit instant beverages for cold drinks

After I recovered from the dairy attack to my system-I have lost 10 pound since then. I like hot cereals so I have been making up one for my breakfast several times a week. I found a jar of local honey I purchased at a market years ago-at least 6-8 years ago. It had not crystalized so am adding to my cereals  

    Enjoying a cup of Bigelow vanilla decaf black tea this morning as well

Happy Friday and weekend

Grass Cutting & Sunrises

 Good morning Thursday,

  We are back to high 80's and low 90's with humidity again this week. With the grass being so thick and tall and with the cooler nights-I need to let it all dry off a bit. So instead of going out at first light I wait til close to 9 am now. 

  I got another good section cut down. The larger battery will last 45 minutes to an hour and then I grab the normal smaller battery to finish up an area.  Am hoping to keep at it before the rains come, and really hoping no more cutting til next Spring. If we get rain and warm temps I may need to do one more cut.

  I grabbed the camera to show the area I am working on this week-facing the lake to the right of house.

  I liked this property as it has more than normal lake front land with at least two lots. Most lake homes are right on top of each other-could not deal with that at all being a country girl used to land smiles. If turning around and looking towards the left we have just as much property that way as well with steeper hills and lots of trees.

   It took me about an hour and a half to cut all the section to the right to line up straight with the rest. This summer was just soooo hot and humid that I couldn't deal with grass cutting-I must do better next year.

This is looking by the lake towards that other direction. Our land goes up to those trees in the back.I cut this area last week.

I took this photo to show the electric company that owns this lake to make electricity is now beginning the lowering of the lake-that rock is evidence that they have started doing this now   In a couple weeks lots of huge rocks at the edge will be exposed.

a surprise dandelion blooming

This is the time of year with lovely sunrises

  I stopped feeding the birds around June as the numerous squirrels were driving me crazy haha They cone in and eat All of the food-they do not share. They started going after the hummingbird feeders and the large seed feeder-that was it. I took everything down and stopped feeding all summer.

     I just started to throw a little seed and peanuts-for the woodpeckers and blue jays-on the ledge this week. After the third day one squirrel arrived so I chased him off. So far has not returned.   The squirrels would not bother me as much if they would eat a little and share with the birds instead of eating everything. The peanuts probably draw them in too, but we have numerous species of woodpeckers that love them too.

  Enjoy the rest of your week

Do You Have Books You Love-so Re Read Them?

   Good morning Monday, I am waiting for it to warm up this morning so I can get more grass cutting done. Hoping once I get through all of it-I won't have to do this again til next year.

 I wanted to share a book that I really enjoyed and am reading it again now. Back when covid began another friend from  Wisconsin was going through her books and offering them for free. She would leave them out on her porch to be picked up-so no people contact back then..  One of her books was a paperback The Oregon Trail a New American Journey by Rinker Buck.  This one intrigued me so I asked if she would mail it to me. She would not let me pay the shipping.

  I loved the book very much and suggested to Larry he might enjoy this too-as it was very informative with lots of history and the brothers journey was just so interesting. 

    I loaned it to another Wisconsin friend that saw it and wanted to read it-he lost the book before he read it. I was Not happy So I bought the kindle version so I would have it.  I started to re read it last night, and thinking for this book I want to read as an actual physical book.  So I browsed on ebay and found a hardcover with free shipping for less than 6 dollars-I grabbed it haha

  This is about two brothers that grew up with their family taking road trips in a covered wagon with their mules-so this adventure was not entirely new to them. They have totally different personalities and life styles so that was a big challenge for them on this long journey.  I loved all the history thrown in.  So I am anxious to read this again. I will wait till the hardcover book arrives to re read.

 

 We bought a book again recently that Larry loved and loaned it out and never got it back. We were talking about it again last month so I ordered a copy. and we loaned it out to our nearby friend. sigh why do we do this?. I asked him about the book-he hasn't had time to read it so I asked for it back. 

  We need to stop loaning out things as most times they do not get returned frustrating. Does this happen to you?

Erika recently shared her book list and Catherine the Great sounded like a good read. I found a hardcover book for around $5.00 no shipping so that was a good find too.  I am happy to get back into reading more again.

   We are getting lovely sunny days here with very cool nights so it takes awhile to get warmed up in the mornings. I am not ready to pay for heat just yet-since we are warming up during the day with sunshine

 I am enjoying a hot decaf coffee with a slice of my pumpkin bread while I write this.

 Happy new week!

Good Morning Sunday & Pumpkin Recipes

 Good morning Sunday, hoping you are enjoying your weekend so far.

   I am enjoying the much cooler weather. Yesterday I started on the grass cutting with the weed eater. Lots to do, but I learned from last time-don't over do. I have a large battery that goes almost an hour, and then I used one of the small ones until I started to feel sore and then I stopped. So didn't get sore from over doing it this time-a good thing.

  Friday I went in to the pharmacy to get my second shingles shot. The first one I had gotten a very very bad reaction from it, so I was not looking forward to this one. This time I still had a very very sore arm that turned bright red for about 12 inches, and I was really ill that evening-but after that it was not as bad as last time-thank goodness.  Next up is the flu shot, I won't get another covid shot though.

  I am waiting for it to warm up a bit and the dew burns off before I go back out this morning. It is 45 degrees F here around 7:30 am. So fall temperatures have arrived for the evenings for sure.

   This morning before I go out to "mow", I decided to browse on Pinterest this morning for more pumpkin recipes to share.

   Healthy Soft Pumpkin Cookies with Salted Maple Frosting link here  This one sounds good and does not have a crazy amount of sugar-although that could be changed over to a sugar substitute.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake-This one looks really moist, and again not crazy with the sugars. link here

Baked Pumpkin Donuts  again not too crazy on the sugars link here

   You will need the mini donut pan for these. Years ago I had bought a set from Publishers Clearing House of all places haha  that included the mini donut pans, the large donut pans, and also a jelly donut pan-I need to get these out and bake us up so donuts-smiles  Sometimes the donuts are hard to get out of the pans, so I have learned to let them cool in the pan first

    This last recipe share looks and sounds so good had to share it too-I don't think I can convert this one to gluten free for me-but these would be delicious for Thanksgiving Dinner

   Honey Pumpkin Dinner Rolls recipe here

Happy Sunday and have an awesome new week

Do You Stock up on Foods?

   Good Morning,

      I was brought up by a farmgirl Mom. My Mom grew up with no indoor plumbing in the house-Her parents put that in when she left for college.  Sooooo I was brought up helping with a large veggie garden, and in the next town over there was a huge farmer's market that was in a permanent building. Farmers had stalls from Indiana and nearby Michigan. Mom would get bushels of fresh fruit to can or freeze.  So "putting up" fresh food has been in my "blood"  I have always enjoyed this task over the years. Even when I was working many hours with long driving commutes.

  Retiring to Missouri, trying to have a garden has been a major challenge I am used to good midwest soil for growing, and here in SW Missouri-it is Not the same. Clay and lots of rocks .The weather here is more unpredictable too-less rain and hotter than the upper midwest.  I did manage to amend a small area at the woods house that we had to fence in-but growing food in this area I think would be better in a greenhouse haha   Moving to the lake-growing food has been impossible-bad soil, and so many critters eating everything-squirrels and chipmunks and even the deer passing through. I have given up on a veggie garden. Also the weather here is usually very very hot in the summers.

  I was hoping the Amish store about 45 minutes away would provide bushels of fresh fruits etc, but no their foods that they sell looks like what the grocery stores sell- So that has been disappointing 

  Soooo, plus the fact I need to change the electric stove to a gas stove to handle the large canning kettles-what to do to stock up???    

   The last several years about this time of year I stock up on organic, no salt canned items-like different beans, and fruits etc. I wait for a big sale from Vitacost and also shop the 365 brand on Amazon. With free shipping the price is good for these heavy boxes. I started a pantry in the basement on shelves-with canned veggies, beans, fruits.  I have also stocked up on what I use for baking, gluten free pastas, crackers etc. I also have sealed buckets of different rice and dried beans. Flours in the freezer

  Under the current mismanagement of our federal govt-food prices are soooo high now, not sure how a struggling family can manage the food bill.

  I have always "put up" food for a year ahead except for fresh items  When my order I placed over the weekend comes in-I will be pretty set for another year or more.

  Do you stock up? Are you able to have a garden??

Below photo I found on Etsy Ode to my farmgirl Grandma

 

Pumpkin Recipes

   I love pumpkin in baked goods, so every fall I search out new recipe ideas.  Years ago I followed a blogger that was a self taught chef and she loved pumpkin too-so we would all share recipes-this was back before Facebook days and we were blogging on Yahoo 360 and then on Multiply. Multiply was an awesome platform-ahead of it's time-before Facebook but then got sold off to a foreign company that got rid of all of our blogs. that was sad.  My friend has since passed on from cancer, so in remembrance,  I still like to search out new recipes.

  Thought I would share some here, you are most welcome to share pumpkin recipes in comments.

I scrolled a bit on Pinterest this morning.

Donut Pumpkin Muffins  recipe here  This one for me I would change to gluten free flour and also change the sugar to a non sugar

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies recipe here  This one for me, I would change to gluten free flour and also change the sugar to a non sugar

Flourless Pumpkin Muffins  recipe here  This one is made with almond flour and I would change to a non sugar

Happy new week-Today we have cool weather no humidity-glorious!

Welcoming in September-Pumpkin Bread & Football

   I have been soooo ready for September and hopefully cooler weather.

     We do still have high humidity, no rain-it passed on by-so the 80's still feel very warm here at the lake.

To welcome in September I made gluten free pumpkin bread. I had found a recipe online that I double so I can use up the whole small can of pumpkin to make two loaves.

  I grabbed the gluten free baking pans I bought several years ago from King Arthur. These are tall and more narrow for a better gluten free bake. I have also learned to grab the instant read thermometer to know they are baked through. That was a game change when I read about this online: needs to read 195-205 degrees F I usually aim for 200 F Even with the gluten free recipes the bake needs 10 to 15 minutes more to be baked in the middle  In the past I have tossed so many breads cause they were raw in the middle.

Once the loaves are cool, I cut them in half and freeze all but one.

I added in dried tart cherries that I found at Sam's club-these are large and moist

   Being someone that loves to watch sports on the tv-I found the season opener game for Notre Dame. I grew up near Notre Dame University in South Bend Indiana-and was my introduction to football as a kid. I was the only one in the family that watched it   They played Texas A&M What a very loud and packed stadium-They screamed loudly-over 100 thousand there. I have never seen anything like it.  Exciting to the end and Notre Dame won. I was exhausted after watching the game lol Really something else.  I was glad I could find the game here in Missouri hopefully I can watch most of their games like I was able to last year.

  I made Larry homemade blueberry pancakes-with real maple syrup. He would eat these several times a week but I limit all these sugars to once a week for him.

  I will be making baby back ribs today-there will be leftovers for tomorrow. Not sure what the sides will be-thinking to keep it simple with less carbs and perhaps simmer up some cabbage.

 Starting Tuesday most of the summer lake homes will be locked up til Memorial Day. The Lake will be more peaceful-mostly fisherman, and all the water fowl will be returning too Looking forward to that and hopefully this high humidity will go away too.

Happy September!