Sewing Bee Day!

 Sewing Bee Day.  Once a month a bunch of gather to sew, knit, crochet , create and laugh. So I headed toward Denver and the mountains and took my place in the city traffic. Yes, even on the weekend there are so many people on the road. Many are headed to cool off in the mountains. 

 

I picked up my mom and her friend and made our way over to sew. 

We began right away with show and tell. This is Myrna's quilt she made for her son. It's a T-shirt quilt.  

Susan was working on her wall-hanging today.  We are working on similar projects. 

Daisy is an elf today working on Christmas reindeer. 

My mom is embroidering another baby outfit to donate. 

Hi Melissa. She is creating a memory to snuggle with her husband's old shirts. 

Judy is knitting a blanket. 

Yep, this is my spot. 

Mary is showing me the twiddle muff she is making. It is a tactile muff for those with autism. 

I brought a couple of my show and tell. 

Susan was adding bling to her wall-hanging. 

I did get some sewing done. (In between some extreme belly laughs!)

Looking good Susan!

I took the long way home to see my grandson.  Well worth it! 

peace 

Cucumbers, What am I reading, and Cousin It

The list is long again and if you are homesteading you will find it is a lot of work.  But like everything else you need to love what you do.  Most of , well, all of the people I know homesteading do love it.  You are never bored and there is always something to do.

I headed out to rinse and fill all the water troughs. The sheep did not want to venture out at all. It is cool this morning and only in the 60's F. The temperatures are back on the rise and heading to 90*.

This was not the week to reduce my coffee consumption to one cup a day. I am a sleepy mess and keep telling myself to soldier on.  I can't get to the sewing room or crochet hooks until my chores are done! But first the porch, weeding, cut back roses, tomatoes, mop floors and put those dang books back in the shelf.  Oh... and tis the season, I hope to can pickles .

Reading-  I finished reading Octavia - The Parable of the Sower. Whoa. It was intense and hard to read but not implausible of happening.

Finished - Second Nature by Micheal Pollan.  I really enjoyed this book and very relaxing while reading the intense Parable of the Sower.  If you like gardening, nature or just reading about plants you will love this book.

Now reading - Bunnicular A Rabbit Tale of Mystery by James and Deborah Howe.  It is a story of a boy and a rabbit as told by the family dog. I remember seeing this book in my sons' room when they were growing up but I have never read it. Beware of the bunny! He was once the pet of Dracula or so it says, I will soon find out.  It is a Young Readers book, fun and funny.

“Harold: "It so happens I was discussing great works of literature with Toby."
Chester: "Since when is a Twinkies wrapper considered a great work of literature?”

My sister and I challenged each other to read Catcher in the Rye since neither of us has read it. I will finish it tonight. 

The floors are done! Dude got the two living rooms, dining room, kitchen and hall finished in three days. He makes things look so easy.  I spent most of yesterday and today putting the house back together.  (we got rid of extra furniture - like the piece behind the saddle -and anything stacked on the floor. Minimize!)

Our cantaloupe is really a water melon. 

Time to can. 

I got a few onions to add to the pickles. 

Picked some rather large carrots for Dude. 

It is so cool when you realized you grew this! 

Some were filled with garlic, dill, bay, peppercorns, and chili peppers... others dill, onion, and peppercorns. 

The first dozen dill pickles complete. Half with onions, half without fresh out of the water bath. 

Two enchilada casseroles one with my sister's sauce and one with mine. Don't ask Dude to get you cheddar cheese... you will end up with American. Well, I made due with the American cheese.  Both these are delish!  One will go to the sewing bee tomorrow. 

Dude was mowing the field so I ran out and got some flowers before they were gone. 

Oh, and my first attempt at Cousin It. 

I need more hula skirts! Tomorrow I will add to it. 

peace

Zucchini! and more stuff

I had two large zucchinis from the garden.  I used part of one for zucchini bread and the rest I shredded and put in freezer bags. I bagged them in quart bags measuring out one cup for each bag. 

I ended up with ten bags! These are great through the winter for muffins, bread, soups, and casseroles.

Tonight's dinner … from the garden, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. The cucumbers this year are very sweet. In years past the skins made the cucumbers very bitter. 

We still have a lot of roast chicken (one we raised) left even after eating it again tonight. 

Dinner potato salad, garden salad and barbeque chicken. 

I went to move a book shelf we had in the dining room.  The dang thing fell apart! The backing was simply cardboard!  I was shocked. I will go out in the wood pile and fix it right tomorrow. 

As you can see from my list it only says 1/2 done. I got the books out but couldn't move it.

Ugh...

Everything is getting in place.  Next we will need to paint the walls. 

I am following the Ultimate Beginner Quilt-a-long. I am not a beginner but it is fun to follow along. They are only on block three. I am using up my scraps for this one.  If you want to follow along too .   HERE  They only do one block a week, very doable. 

I hope to get some of my Sew Scary Quilt worked on this week. I want them up next month for Halloween. 

This is a different quilt I am working on. It is all cut out, I just need to sew it up tonight. 

peace 

Sunday garden and update on the floor - almost finished

This weekend I have been helping my brother go through the final stuff at my mom's house. It is all the little things... boxes of pictures, paper and all kinds of stuff.  She is in an apartment now and a senior community.  It is sure heck going through her life of stuff. I think one more weekend and we will be finished!

This is part of the garden at her house.  She was great at gardening.

I did manage to work a bit in my garden today.  My gardening is not the nice neat rows Dude makes but rather a jumbled mess. It's okay though because it still produces incredible edibles!   Everything has begun to take off.  Here are my cucumbers.  Looks like I will be making pickles this week!.

After I saw this little one laying down on the job I decide to put up another tomato cage for the excess to be draped over. 

Scallions are still going strong. My radishes and swiss chard are coming up. 

There is pushing and shoving going on in the rows of carrots so I thinned them out. 

My mustard greens are still producing and probably will through the fall. 

Getting low on onions. I know this is not the correct way to grow them but every time their heads begin to pop through I just cover them with more dirt.  I am not ready for more onions and this works great for me. 

Pumpkins and cantaloupe doing well. 

Tiny strawberries from the newest plants. 

And I found this tubby guy hiding under a leaf.  I will be busy this week baking zucchini bread. 

Tomatoes! 

Lots of tomatoes.

The teenage hens are healthy. They don't really understand when I throw scraps out to them. They don't eat them and basically just get scared when I am around. Silly birds. 

Dude got a big chunk of the floor done. He only has a tiny bit in the living room to complete. 

peace