Happy Dancin-Cool Down & Embroidery Etc (Long)

   Good morning mid-week 

    Yesterday afternoon I could feel the cool down coming-finally-it's been over a month with highs in the mid 90"s. Am thinking though that a lot of the USA has had a hotter summer. Here in this part of Missouri these types of summers since we have lived in this area come around every 15-20 years so nothing new for these parts. 

 Yesterday  I did leave after 6 am once it got light to vote early-but sigh no one at my polling place. Never got a notice in the mail that it had changed. So I did my food shopping at Wal mart and then in the same city is our county court house so stopped in there. I could no longer vote there  but she apologized that I didn't get a letter and told me the new place-which was close by but not  marked very well. Now being held at the Methodist  church.  They have a one lane drive to the church so I am thinking come November I will vote at the courthouse instead-less stressful as the polls should be packed-hoping so.

 Yesterday I did finish up the first wolf panel. I soaked it in soapy water last night to remove most of the blue markings, I wanted to see what it looked like without those markings.  I struggled with the X's in the wolf especially that I marked in-but in the end will be ok. I rinsed it out this morning and laid it on a towel to dry on top of the dryer.

   I needed more white showing, so I outlined the stars and moon with white thread but did not fill in with the X's . I had marked lines with a quilting pencil for the moon and those markings did not come out yet-hopefully in the wash those will. Now that I think about it-I could still go back and fill in with  the X's and would still be white with the thread.

 There are 6 of these panels so I think I will stitch another one like this one, and then each two will do them a little different-maybe just also outline the trees instead of filling them in, not sure yet. Also thinking of using different colors for the wolf too-shades of browns, darker greys.

  Last week I had apples that needed to get used up in a crisp. I added dried tart cherries to them.

  You are all probably getting bored with seeing apple crisps, I won't make another one til the fall crop comes in-these were not as nice being last year's crop. I grabbed my largest cast iron pan to get most all of the apples used up. This is the first time I struggled with the heavy pan-getting older-ugh 

  Yesterday our friend that also helps Larry with outdoor work projects was here yesterday. One of the things I really wanted done-is if they could get down the hill and steps-Larry's Grandfather's rock. Larry has moved this rock where ever he moved for close to 50 years. It is a unique rock, and back years before we retired -a friend of ours that was a taxidermist for a museum asked if could make a cast of it. Was perfect in many positions for displays.

  A few weeks last autumn before Larry's fall, we moved it to the lake house but it has been up on top of the driveway since-then our neighbor didn't like where it was and without asking moved it next to his small rocks. I told him about the rock and that one day it will get moved-and that he had it upside down too..

  It is rather cloudy outdoors right now so didn't capture all the colors in the rock-love the spots that hold water for the birds.  This was extremely heavy-they had it on a dolly and going down the steps the strap broke-but Lesley was able to save the rock-yikes. It did chip the concrete steps a bit.  

  I told Larry about it, and he says "why did you have them bring it down?"  So we could enjoy it here. He was wanting to get it moved over from our neighbor's property but our side right there starts the steep downhill driveway-steep hill on the back side as well-and we couldn't enjoy seeing it. Plus it could roll down the hill I was thinking too.

  So anyways long story but am grateful-told Lesley this will probably be the rock's last resting place.

 On that same trip to the woods house, I saw Larry's woodworking table. I love old wood pieces especially and said I want that piece. My thoughts were to place it in the living room-but at the time did not realize it was so long. Larry left so much of his shop behind that I just really wanted this piece. So of course he was having a fit over it. The only spot I could find that was long enough was in my already too full computer-weaving-food pantry room.  It is cramped in there a bit but I have the table-smiles

  So the guys brought that down too and set it up. I cleaned with Murphy's oil soap  and then rubbed in a wood preserver. It is a lot darker now after doing that. I can still get into the two pantry cupboards behind it-the bookshelves there-and Lesley made enough room to the left so I can use the weaving warping board-this was all set up when I came home yesterday On the floor behind are the quilting poles that go into a quilting frame.  

Our friends from Wisconsin have not been down for a visit in a couple years now, but when they do-they sleep in this room on their air mattress-I am hoping there will be just enough floor space still. If not will need to figure something out.  Originally I wanted a bit larger house-one more room would have been nice to fix up for a guest room.

  This ended up being a long post but was good to write a post to share.

  The cool down today is "heaven"

T Stands for Tuesday

 This post is for Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T for Tuesday where we link up and share with friends with a drink related photo in our post-find link in my sidebar.

  Still cold and rain here at the lake. There were allot of fisherman on the lake this past weekend here at Lake in the Ozarks even though it was quite chilly and very little sun. We are getting into the low 20's degrees F here again for  the beginning of this week in the evenings. Brrr too chilly for us to do anything outdoors-so I have been blending fibers and spinning every day still. I switched back to blending fibers into the rolags off the blending board. I like this better now that I am getting better at pulling out the fibers to make one very long piece for spinning.

  Sunday  I finished up with the dark green Shetland wool roving-blended it with other fibers, turned out pretty I think. This was 4 ounces of the dark green-Still not spinning thinner yarn but I am improving, and since most of my other spun yarns are on the thick side it will be ok for the rauna project. I am deciding on what I want to use for the warp for this project (the yarn that is threaded onto the loom) Looking in my stash to see if I have something I can use up.

  Next up is blending and spinning blues.

  I was quite surprised to learn that Sunday was the day to change our clocks-again-this time forward. For some reason I was thinking this happened in April and read about it late Sunday afternoon on Facebook haha. That's ok as the time didn't matter to us. We are retired and really don't get out of the house much any more when the weather is not warm outdoors.

  I hadn't made a fruit crisp in awhile so I made us an apple-raisin crisp on Sunday morning. These always turn out so delicious. 

   I finally got the super bowl mug that I had ordered the day after the super bowl- last week Friday. It had gotten sent to the wrong city out of Kansas City and sat there for over a week-it finally showed up.  The last Chief's super bowl win I had bought a mug at the Wal mart store and was not happy with it-the edges of the top of the mug were not smooth-so this time I ordered one online.

I added a little whipped cream to my apple crisp-smiles

 Sorry I do not have any new lake photos to share,  but we have seen loons almost every day, the pelicans are traveling through-they are always fun to watch, and one of the eagles flew real close to the window in my husband's work room-big surprise haha. I heard him say "wow that was close" We also have seen groups of crows which I enjoy seeing too.

  The birds know spring is coming-more arguments, courtships starting, and the red headed woodpeckers are back eating the seeds I put out, along with blue jays and a dove pair. We always get up early an hour or so before sunrise-just habit from our past work schedules-so we look forward every morning to the sunrises and watching the birds after I put the seed out for them

  Enjoy your week and Happy T

Good Morning Sunday & a Little Catch Up (updated w/ photos)

 Good morning, and also Happy Autumn as it is now official that Fall has begun. We did get a bit of a cool down for a few days, we missed the rain but got lots of wind instead. At the woods property-that area got Lots of rain, so didn't get back there on Thursday-it would be a muddy mess along with very high grass to drive through to get to the scope shop.  I will be back there on Monday.

  We have already gone through 1500 coin size paper envelopes packing up scope lenses. I needed to order more this weekend. It's going well, we work hard for 3-3 1/2 hours before my friend needs to leave to pick up grandkids from pre school, and Larry doesn't want me there by myself so it's going slower than I want it to. Hopefully we can get lots done this week.

  I didn't get photos but we did find a father and son team to cut down two dead trees at the lake that would either fall on our house or most likely on our boat and dock. The father was a lumber jack out west so he is a professional. They are Native Americans so they enjoyed all my Native American themed plates and paintings, Larry's mountain man pieces too.  I think we found some new friends.

 The doctor visit went well, it's a long drive from the lake house, and its an area we haven't been to before-it's the main hospital for the lake area. The doctor was honest about everything, but he was clear what needed to be done is very painful would take 8 weeks or more to clear the pain, and doesn't have to be done yet. Larry is in so much all the time, more so now than before-so he opted out of this, I would have too.  Next month we drive to Springfield, Mo for heart tests and to see his cardiac doctor, which we haven't seen since covid-He has been doing video chats instead.

  My flowers are still pretty but many are dying back now. My zinnias and marigolds are lovely now. I have been collecting seeds from the calendula and cosmos.

My pineapple sage got so large, I think it's because there is a drainage spout for excess water nearby. It finally started blooming this week-it will be so lovely once covered in these red flowers. and here is Jan Berry's site for what to make with this plant here She is my go to reference for recipe ideas using herbs.

You can see the red blooms up on top to the left

The calendula is in the front-I am waiting for the seed heads to dry so I can collect them

Am very happy with the creeping thyme I planted from seeds, I will be able to take plugs from these and transplant to other areas

There is an area up on top of the driveway in front of a row of bushes along our driveway going down the hill. Part of it is the neighbors so I already talked with them about it. I killed off the grass, so now I need to dig that up add some soil, and decide what to plant there. Too many park there-not a good idea as they could easily go down the hill into our house if not careful. Hoping to get that area planted this fall. For ground cover thinking mints-they spread well and smell good too. Mine really grew so that needs to be transplanted to other areas. I will pick up some bulbs too for that spot.

  I did bake up a yummy apple-rhubarb-jumbo raisin crisp yesterday. Turned out yummy. I may bake us up some brownies today.

I did bake up gluten free brownies using King Arthur's mix (all natural ingredients)

 Hope you are all doing well, this week looks like another very busy one-need to take advantage of the nice weather.  Happy Autumn and new week from the lake

Saturday's Sunrise

  

T Stands for Out of Boxes & On to the Walls--Long

   Happy T Stands for Tuesday Everyone,

      On Tuesdays we link up over at Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog and share a post with a drink related photo. You are most welcome to join-the link up is in my side bar.

    Larry decided it was time to get some of our pieces up on the walls. Our Wisconsin friend Rob does such a nice job of this-but I keep forgetting to ask him when they visit. Larry said no let's just do it. We have a friend that helps us out on projects and Larry pays him. Larry's health has never gotten back to where he should be after his last heart operation-a valve replacement in September '20  He tires so quickly now.

  After my Yellowstone trip in 2017 I bought a couple of Trent Sizemore's photos and had them framed. I still follow him today on different Yellowstone photography groups. He lives outside of the park and now has an Etsy shop too, and posts gorgeous photos especially on the Facebook group Yellowstone Photographers-I have always loved his work.

  We had also purchased a painting-depicting the fur trade era, before we retired to Missouri, and a couple pieces from a Native American artist as well. I also wanted to get my art picture made with hand dyed fabrics, wool, silk and cotton appliques with needle felted textures back up on the wall too.

  I had trouble with the flash-these are the best ones I could get for now

These two went together so well with the matching blues. These really are straight on the wall-I was working around the glare and flash I put the eagle back up here too.  The two small gifted paintings fitted nicely along the right side of the wall of windows-near our  "bar" Hoosier Cabinet.

The two below are prints from the Native American artist's artwork-frames are so expensive that I picked up these two heavy wooden frames from a resale shop. This first one I had to take a name plate off-and will cover that space eventually with turkey feathers and beads

   This first one shows the Native American tribes I believe these were done with pen and inks and watercolors. These are prints

Many of you have seen this piece already that I did awhile back. My Wisconsin friends bought the frame for me for a Christmas Present one year. I really should do another one of these-I really enjoyed this    sorry for the flash

  Our friend also put up four curtain rods-two long ones and two for regular windows. Now to make the one set of curtains that will go in front of our clothes closet, and the other three will go in my computer room-two regular windows-and one to go across the sliding doors for privacy when our friends stay over nite here. I am still hunting to buy those curtains.

  So we got allot accomplished on Sunday. Saturday Larry hung up my weaving warping board so it is no longer sitting on the floor. 

    I have a corner in this computer/weaving room full of boxes yet.  I will be going through those soon to see what we want to put up on the walls. There are allot of different plates-so I may need to order some plate hangers.  This winter is getting things like this accomplished.

    When we moved here I was not ready to downsize at all-so I brought things over to the Lake House that I should have left to sell-I am ready to do that now. (I really wanted a bigger house-haha)

  Larry also suggested to bring my gnome collection over to the mantel over the woodstove so I could enjoy them more.  I am loving them here very much-before they were sitting on the dresser in our bedroom  The cardboard goose is a vintage decoy. The little porcelain lady gnome to the left is a bell.(ah yes I have a small bell collection too haha) The others are from one artist 

  Saturday I wanted to use up the last of the apples so made up another apple crisp-the apples were totally full to the top of this deep cast iron pan.

Of course I added whipped cream to mine-smiles

for my drink share today, I have a pottery glass of ice tea while working at my computer You can see my black walnut salve to the left-that works so well for very dry skin.

It has been so cold here most of last week. I covered up a rod iron table with an old picnic tablecloth and taped it around so it wouldn't fly off-and added left over cornbread along with some black oil sunflower seeds.  The crows spotted the big chunks I had that ended up frozen-so after they flew off with half of it, I crushed rest for the smaller birds.

  First photo is after they flew off with most of it haha-we actually watched them fly to our neighbor's dock on the right and eat it.

Sunday  morning early

Sorry for the long post, if you missed my first Cast Iron Saturdays post for 2022 find here

  Happy T and hope everyone having winter right now can stay warm with the lights on as well 

Page for AJJ Heavy Metal

 Good morning everyone,

   Still very very cold here and now we have wind and ice. This is to last for the next 7 days or so, colder over the weekend in the minus digits. We just are no longer used to these deep freezes.

   I decided to take a break from reading this morning and see if I could come with a page for AJJ's Heavy Metal challenge. I had the idea of doing some hand sewing with metallic threads, just needed to find a magazine photo.

  I found the perfect page from a very old Ideals magazine. It looks like a hand drawing even. So No I did Not draw this pretty bird.

  I grabbed a couple metallic threads (I have a big bag from my Mom's sewing stash) and stitched around the edge, and then found a metallic pen by Crayola-most of you know I am not crazy about white backgrounds. I may go over that a little bit more.

     I just wanted to do a little something again for the challenge.

   When it's really cold outdoors, a perfect time to bake. I emptied the refrigerator of the remaining apples-pears-and blueberries and made a very deep crisp I used gluten free oats, gluten free flour, butter, coconut oil, and keto sweeteners for the topping

  Stay warm everyone

A Journal Page for February at AJJ & Apple-Pear Crisp Anyone?

    This month's new theme is heavy metal over at AJJ. At first thought I Had no idea what to do for this challenge. Then one of Valerie's suggestions was rust. Ahh I can do this as I still have a big bag of my rust dyed fabrics from back around 2005. One of my first fun dye projects when I had retired in the fall of 2003.

    At the time I was doing allot of different dye projects using interior design fabrics that a friend had gifted me. I saved all the cottons and linen samples.

   I chose this piece as it fit my journal page perfectly, just needed to cut a little bit off of the bottom.  I grabbed a couple stamps that also represents love for February.  After stamping I used ink pens to fill in, and then I decided to grab my watercolor pencils-I wish I would have grabbed those first.

Amid the Chaos Always Time For Tea   (with a friend)

    I am pleased enough to submit this over at AJJ

We are still getting allot of rain, and I made a apple-pear crisp in a deep cast iron pan

Thank you for dropping by for a visit

Happy Friday Apple Crisp Baked in Cast Iron Out of the Oven

  Happy Friday Everyone,

      When I took my walk this morning it was quite chilly, but after a mile I was pretty warmed up. I needed to take a week off from walking as I had really over done it-I called up Nancy to let her know. I met her on the "trail" early this morning. So a nice catch up.

   Cooler weather means baking-I love the foods of fall and I really love autumn when it's in the highs 60's and 70's F  I decided to bake up an apple crisp in one of my cast iron skillets-it turned out yum

  You are  most welcome to dish out some, before I start serving to us after our 2 pm main meal of the day.

   Apples and oats are Not keto friendly both being high in carbs, but since we aren't totally doing keto-just cutting way way back on carbs and using keto sweeteners instead of sugars- I am not feeling too guilty haha. and we love apples.

    I made this crisp with two different apple varieties, apple pie spices, lakanto sweetener with a little coconut sugar, and instant tapioca for thickening.  For the topping I used gluten free oat flakes-but the smaller size not the old fashioned, apple pie spice, butter, coconut oil, lakanto sweetener and a little bit of coconut sugar and baked it up.  

   I will be topping mine with whipped cream for sure 😀

   I did get fabric in my mailbox yesterday that I had purchased last week from the quilt shop in West Yellowstone, it's already been washed and cut into squares and I am loving the bears on the selvage

   This first photo is more true to the colors-and being not seen in person matches in well with my other fabrics-yeah

    I am hoping today or tomorrow the fabric I bought first almost 3 weeks ago now will arrive in my mailbox

   Yesterday our mowers came to cut grass and weed eat the places the lawn mower won't go.  First cutting in over two months.

Happy Friday and weekend everyone. Lots going on around the lake this weekend, a huge motorcycle event that will bring in over 100,000 riders they are saying, Saturday another boats for Trump parade going on, and Sunday Biden supporters will do the same.