Monthly Archives: September 2014

2014
09/30

Category:
Knitting

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Whew – just in time!

I didn’t think I was going to get these done this month, but look – just at the end of September!   They are finished and are a nice dense, warm, wool, winter pair of socks.

P1020216 sock label

Yarn into socks.   This is the pair I paid US   75 cents/skein which equals 1.50 for this pair.  I love these bargains.

P1020334 greyblack socks

2014
09/29

Category:
quilts

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“I Spy” II finished top

I have to keep plugging away to get these done by the end of the year.   Here are some rows put together.  It looks blue because the white is actually a very pale blue.

P1020330 soem I spy rows tog

Putting the blocks into rows is pretty straight forward.   Accuracy at every step is really important, because after the blocks are put into rows, those rows will have to match each other to make the quilt top.     After the rows are all together, the border is fairly easy to measure and attach.

 

P1020333 indigo quilt

 

2014
09/28

Category:
quilts

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I Spy quilt

As you can see, the 88 blocks now have one side sashing with cornerstone and the bottom sashing on them.  After I arrange them, they should go together quite rapidly.

P1020326 one side on spy piece

Fortunately, the sun was shining and there were no emergencies or strange interferences this weekend.

2014
09/27

Category:
Life

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Foot rest

There’s nothing new to add today as I have been off the foot for 2 days.   I’m hoping it will feel like having a shoe tomorrow.

2014
09/26

Category:
Life
quilts

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I spy quilt and toenails

Little by little is the way I often get quilts done.   I spent a couple hours and did get the bottom on all of these quilt pieces.

P1020324 bpttp, pm [orvr

Then I sewed the cornerstones (Indigo color to light blue) to the side pieces so they will be ready to sew on as a unit

P1020325 navy to lt blue

Oh, and no photo here,  I did have to have two curling nails removed on one foot, so was told to stay mostly off that foot for the weekend and soak often.  The Dr. says they will grown back in 5-6 months, but it’s only the first 3 days that I need to be extra careful.   So I came home, had lunch and took a nap.  I’ll be good  and lazy so I can soon get back to normal.

2014
09/25

Category:
Life

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Garden day

It seems that the garden has an endless life.    That’s not all bad, since we continue to eat.  It would help if the weeds weren’t so dominant.  Here is one section of kale, lettuce and plenty of weeds.   I spent a couple hours pulling weeds.

P1020327 kale, lettuce weeds

then,  picked enough for a sinkful, which of course then had to washed and put in refrigerator and some of the kale went into the freezer.

P1020328 sink full of above

Then it was celery time.   You probably don’t remember, but I purchased two – 2 six packs of started celery as I didn’t need a lot this year.   Well, in each of those little holes, they scattered several seeds.   I planted more like 70 plants because I hate waste, so I just planted all of them.     Today was a day of reckoning and I pulled and washed and cut and put in the freezer about 20 stalks.   But since this is less that half of what is out there, I was very generous with the chickens and they got all the leaves that I usually dehydrate and then use for seasoning.   There really are limits.  And the celery will winter over.

When weeding, I found these three little midget personal size watermelon.   I mean these were even smaller than the cantaloupe.   I did not expect them to grow  and for sure they did not get the water they needed.   Next year I will do better.  I put a teaspoon by them so you could see how small – about like grapefruits.  But they tasted like the real full sized ones.

P1020329 small personal watermelons.

 And then the tomatoes.   I have another 3/4 of a 2 gallon bucket to deal with from the greenhouse and it rained so hard this week, I’ll assume all the outside tomatoes are done.

Oh, I can’t forget the raspberries.    I picked about a quart.    There will be one more small picking.

I am tired of the garden for this year, but it doesn’t have much time left and winter will be here and I will be so happy for a full freezer and what has been dehydrated.  God is so good to have provided the food our bodies need.

 

 

 

2014
09/24

Category:
Foods
quilts

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BANANAS and quilts

The bananas were ripe and ready for processing this morning.    It took about 1.5 hours to peel and put them on trays in the freezer.  3 banana boxes produced 10 trays in the freezer

  P1020322 freezer bana

and 8.5 trays on the dehydrator

P1020320 dehydrator bana

We moved them from the freezer to bags this afternoon and put the bags in the freezer.   The dehydrating ones aren’t done, but will make delicious sweet pieces this winter.

Then it was off to the sewing room where I chose and cut fabrics for 3 twin size “I spy” quilts.

P1020317 I spy fbrics

2014
09/23

Category:
crochet

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Little red hat

Today I opened my mail box to find this request for little red hats.   It just happens that there has been a skein of red yarn floating around here for the last week.   I have no idea from where it came or why there might be only one.   However, I did put it to good use.  I did one in newborn size, and 2 sizes for preemies.

P1020315 red hats

 

2014
09/22

Category:
quilts

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Back to mitten making

Denise Russert has a block of month going called “A Knitter’s Gifts” on which I have been working.   This month was paper piecing which I find very challenging.   Here is her drawing of the finish.

P1020314 Denise's drawing

I finished the other 4 mittens today as follows:

P1020312 #6 snowflake mitt

P1020311 #5 gre3reenish mit

P1020309 #3 red mitt

P1020310 #4 orange mitt

Here are the blocks I have finished so far.  Yes, I am up to date and will wait until mid October for the next update

P1020313 quilt so far

 

2014
09/21

Category:
Foods
Garden
quilts

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More food and Pat Sloan quilt bom

It seems during the summer that the week starts in the garden – most likely because we didn’t check on it the previous day.     We went to the garden with the intention of picking tomatoes, however, 17 of these personal sized cantaloupes filled the 5 gallon bucket.  They are incredible sweet and juicy.

P1020302 some of today's cantSo a second trip to the garden brought in some of the tomatoes.   I canned 7 quarts.   Now here is the problem:  with all the jars of beans, salsa, jam  etc which was well over 150 jars, I only had 2 that didn’t seal.   With these tomatoes, out of 7, 3 did not seal (yet) and I don’t know why.  They will get a chance to go back into the canner tomorrow.

P1020303 canned tomatoes

Did you know Safeway delivers?   After a two unsuccessful attempts to use my personal special price they emailed to me, in the store,  I called their delivery customer service rep.   She was very patient and we got it all set up and the first delivery is free.   After that there is a small charge – she thought about $6.  The driver arrived with the bananas just as the tomatoes started boiling and brought them into the house where l ‘ll be working on them – probably Wednesday as they are green.    The reason I wanted this many bananas was because we use at least 2 daily.   I wanted to be able to freeze some and dehydrate some for snacks.  It was also good I checked the bill as they had charged me $1.09/# instead of the .69, I was supposed to be charge.    When I called it to their attention, the fellow was really sweet about it and refunded the difference, saying he didn’t understand how it happened in the first place.    I met two lovely people on the phone and have the organic bananas that I want at the good price.   All worked out in the end.

P1020301 3 boxes bananas

 I was tired by now, but this blog is supposed to keep my fiber adventures motivated so, I put together this September block from the Pat Sloan Trip around the World BOM.

 P1020307 barcelona block

This is the placement photo.   We are now done with the large X interior block and all the small ones around it.   So we will probably beginning the sashing between the blocks next month.

P1020308 pat sloan center