Today I want to share with you a new pattern that found it’s way into my mailbox. It is fairly easy and you might want to make it for Christmas. And while here, enjoy looking around her sight. You’ll find the complete pattern by Debbie Kratovil: http://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/2016/09/christmas-in-september-free-pattern.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DebbyKratovilQuilts+%28Debby+Kratovil+Quilts%29
I’m making it in colors and animals for fall. If you do choose to make this quilt, make a note that “c” on the pieced block should be 6.5″ as it is incorrect on the pattern.
Also just a reminder to mark the sewing lines on the light fabric to make the half square triangles.
Here is the photo I promised yesterday – of Juliette and her two lambs who are slightly bigger at 4 months than mom.
The sourdough bread turned out so good, that I made another batch today. Today’s dough was even better than yesterday’s so I’m anxious to see how that turns out. I have to wait because this rises 8-24 hrs in the refrigerator and is than baked.
Oh, and this is exciting to me. This is the first red pepper that I got to before the slugs.
a
a
After breakfast and feeding the sourdough culture, the gym was first on our list today. On our way home, we received a call to come look over some house papers.
Then it was time to make our first sourdough bread as the culture was ready. As I was finished kneading it, the hay arrived along with Juliette (sheep) and her 2 lambs. Photos will be tomorrow, because when I get busy, I forget the camera.
Lunch was a stir fry as the rice was cooked and the refrigerator is full of vegetables.
Dessert was thawed strawberries over zucchini bread. We often eat seasonally.
Then it was off to the bank and the grocery store. I needed olives to make olive bread. As we were leaving, we received another phone call about more papers, only these had to read to be signed. So we picked those up on the way out, went to the bank, where the machine ate some of our deposit,(bank official is taking care of that), then off to the grocery store for olives. Above is the bread, which the directions tell me to rise overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature in the morning before baking.
We signed the papers and returned them on the way home. Now the title search should be set in motion. I love these full days, but I feel like I’m watching life whiz by.
Slowly, but surely, with little minutes here and there. The gussets are nearly done. I think I’m a slow knitter because it takes me 18-20 hours to do a pair of socks -time dependent on how much cuff and how many stitches I drop and have to pick up and how many times I have to lay the project down and pick it up again.
No photo, but I spent an hour in the dentist chair this afternoon having 2 small cavities filled.
On the way there, I stopped and bought 2 gallons of honey from a friend who has many hives of bees and has them at various people’s farms. I learned that our hardware store now sells food grade buckets for food. And guess what, their logo gets spread around. DH believes that everything one sells should have something to help sales. This qualifies.
The last thing to purchase was a storm door for the hoop house which will be recovered this weekend.
And here’s a HINT: for all these holidays coming up. Buy yardage, serge or hem the edge, pop it on your table to look all cheery and when the holiday is over, you can save it for next time, or make something else from it.
The morning started with mending 2 pair of pants. These turned out surprisingly well for daughter. Then it was off to give a bit of supervision to someone who was going to help me today. He did get the “wee barn” swept out and the sleeping area for the three sheep all cleaned. It looks and smells good in there now.
Look at these silly ducks. Why would you go outside the fence to be able to put your head inside to get water? Silly, silly ducks.
I asked my new helper to dig up the potatoes. The ground is hard, but there are about 100# of potatoes in a 30′ space. We had a lot of potatoes that didn’t get eaten in time this spring, so we just planted them. And had the best harvest ever. I think we’ll get another 100# out of each of the two rows we have left to harvest. No we don’t need that many, but we won’t starve. Well, he dug about 30#, decided it was lunch and came and asked for his money after lunch. Ah, help is not perfect these days. So instead of sewing or quilting, I dug potatoes, picked tomatoes, picked a few raspberries and a couple cabbage. (but you are probably as tired of photos of these as I am of taking them). Then it was time to fertilize and water the hoop house and the raspberries which are looking rather shriveled from lack of water. Next the front yard and driveway plants were watered and supper was simply leftovers. There was my day and when did I sew or quilt?
But winter (sewing/quilting time) is coming and the way this harvest has been going, I won’t be spending much time at the grocery store. I was lucky that all the running around took care of half of my steps for the day – I’m over my 10,000 goal, and yes I did work in 5 minutes on the elliptical. I need that exercise to be able to do the other things. Who has time to grow old?
My claim is there are very VERY few recipes written in stone. In fact, those would be canning temperatures and times in my book. So with that information, today I made up new basic type recipes that you are free to alter to your tastes.
Rest for 2 hours or until cool. They are meant to be eaten cold or at room temperature with a yogurt/cucumber dressing. (that I have not worked up yet.)
Look what came today!. A tofu press and instructions on how to make it. Whole wheat sour dough starter and yogurt starter for vegan yogurt. Now I will need to find the time to use these items.
Another 2.5 hours of digging potatoes this morning, followed by lunch and a brief rest in the sun (before we lose it for winter). The afternoon was spent sorting about 2/3 of the 300+ pounds of potatoes and company came for a bit. I promise you this is the end of potatoes for a long while.
Shelves have been replaced, so now I can load them up with jars again. That fiberboard just doesn’t hold them. I have been to Lowe’s several times to get this wood cut, but their saw has been down. I get them to cut the right size and then I can put them in myself.
I am drying the parsley I picked Friday and decided to freeze the kale. I just freeze it whole and when frozen, it is so easy to crumble off the stems. Then it is easy to add to various dishes.
This is the Lemon Squeeze jacket I showed you earlier. I finally threaded the serger and sewed this up. It still needs to be hemmed, but it is all in one piece.
There’s not much to report tonight as the entire day has been spent canning peaches. We now have 7 dozen pints and 14 quarts for the winter. There is still half a box of peaches left in the refrigerator – some for jam and some for fresh eating.
This was lunch – everything from the garden – and oh, so good. (salad, carrots, beets, potatoes).
The bear is finished. Next week he will go through a wash and dry cycle and then into the charity pile.
We spent the morning driving into Seattle to get 6 boxes of peaches from the co-op. They aren’t quite ripe and look like it maybe Monday before I can start canning them. I can already imagine how wonderful they will taste mid winter.