Just a Little Funny

I took the picture of this snowman that was a gift from a friend intending to show her I found somewhere to hang it for the rest of the winter.  I am always trying to cover up part of this mirror.  It was left by the previous owners and is mounted really well. And I almost forgot to mention it is hung upside down and upside down hooks on the bottom of the frame.  When I am ready to paint this hallway hubs promised to take it down and cut the funny tips off and shape it nice before putting it back up.  The mirror inside the frame is really nice so I think I will continue to use it in this spot.  Oh yes, here is the picture.

Yep that would be me sporting a snowman's head.  Guess I have lived in Michigan for way too many years!  Happy Monday!  Blessings!

Borders Cut

Good Evening friends!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful Sunday.  Took the afternoon off from painting and cut the border for the quilt I talked about here

And I had time to sew them on too!  It still is not wide enough for a king size bed.  I am finding it hard to imagine how it will look after making the adjustments I need to make to change the size from a full to king size bed. If anyone has any suggestions it would be appreciated.  I got an idea while looking at a Gooseberry Patch quilting book to add a scrappy type of border using the leftover fabric from the butterflies.  It is strips sewn together and then cut  to use as a border.  The other problem I have is the quilt top is already pretty close to the length it needs to be.  Do I add the border all the way around or just down the sides?  Do I make the next border wider than the one I just added or the same width?  Quite the dilemma isn't it?  Well I  am off to crochet and watch a movie with hubs.  Stay warm!  Blessings!

Snow

It is not as much as we usually have surrounding us this time of year but it is here.

Path through our woods.

Love the snow on the branches.

 

 

 

Today I have been painting the wainscoting and trim hubs has been putting up in our kitchen/dining area for the last two months.  This is something I have said I would start each week for the past two months.  Nothing finished to show today but I sure made a dent in it.  Hope you are all having a great weekend!  Blessings!

Finish

I like to visit Mama Sparks World daily.  I enjoy seeing what she is working on, she is a wonderful quilter, and what else she has going on in her life.  When I leave a comment she always gets back with me and is a good bloggy friend.  Yesterday when I visited she was talking about her word of the year which is Happiness.  She had chose a word after visiting Charming Chatter's Word Up post.   In my comment, I mentioned I should pick the word Finish, and Mama Sparks World encouraged me to do just that.  So friends, my word for the year is Finish!  I have quite a few projects that are incomplete and I am going to work on completing them this year along with finishing my commitment to loose the 20 pounds I want to loose by April 1'st.  My weight on the 2nd was 154.5 today it is 152.5.  Two pounds off.

 

Some of you may remember my post about this quilt top last year.  I started it for my second daughter over three years ago.  It was started for a full size bed, then their bed was changed to a queen and then a king size.  I bought the gold colored fabric to the right side of the picture for a boarder and plan on using the pile of fabric left from the butterfly appliques for a second boarder to make the quilt top large enough.  I've had the gold fabric for at least a year now and still have not cut it.  It is washed, it has been pressed.  The problem is I always shy away from cutting long strips of fabric.  I am always worried I will not keep it straight.  But my word for the year is Finish and this weekend I am going to cut.  I hope you check out both these wonderful ladies blogs that I mentioned earlier in the post and that you all have a wonderful weekend!  Blessings!

 

Another Project Started

Started on Grandson number two's afghan for his birthday.

 Our 2nd grandsons birthday is in April which gives me plenty of time to finish this afghan but his cousin our oldest granddaughter's birthday is two weeks later.  I better get some bionic crocheting powers to finish one for her also.  It is almost the weekend!  I am so looking forward to it.  Have a great Friday!  Blessings!

Doll Cloths

You know how a couple of posts back I said I was going to work on next Christmas's gifts early.  Well I was not kidding.  I crocheted a lot of Barbie doll cloths for my daughters when they were little and I have decided to start now and get as many done for my grand daughters and our youngest niece that celebrates Christmas with us.  I actually have some of the original patterns I used many years ago but I did some on line searching and I found some really sweet patterns that are being shared for free.  This first outfit I have finished you can find at Lullabies and Lace . I could not find size 2 yarn when I went to the city so I bought a size 3 baby yarn.  The cloths turned out a little big but usable.  I have found 2 ply at Herrschners on line so I have some on order and should receive it in a few days so I can make a couple more of this pattern in some different colors.

I did not have a Barbie in the house to try the cloths on, so Sunday while I was working on my projects, hubs stopped at the dollar store in our little town and bought one for $5.00.  It was so sweet but she was a ballerina Barbie, very stiff, and she just did not seem to be of the same proportions as the normal Barbie.  I picked this one up today while shopping for some paint supplies at Menards.  I could not believe it, Barbies are sold at Menards and for only $5.00.  Gotta love a deal and even better, one stop shopping.
Hope you are all having a great week!  Blessings!

A Favorite Soup Recipe

Hello friends!  Winter has hit us here in our neck of the woods.  It is unusual for us to watch all the states surrounding us get more snow than we do here in Michigan but we have not had much on the ground here in the middle of the state where we live.  It is certainly soup time for me.  Tonight I am warming up a can of  Progresso Light Chicken Vegetable Rotini.  I know the title says a favorite soup recipe, but that will follow.  I am eating the Progresso because I am trying to loose the weight I have promised myself and all of you readers out there I am going to do by April.  I am not doing Weight Watchers but the can says 1 point, that sounded good to me and it is 70 calories.  I'll let you know at the end of this post if it was good or not.  The recipe I am going to share is a soup recipe I cut out of a local paper many years ago and made it for my children when they were growing up.  They liked it and hubs likes it still.  Even though I cannot eat it right now I can share the recipe with all of you.  I even have a picture of it since I did make it a couple of weeks ago before starting said diet.

Chunky Potato Soup

2 chicken-flavor bouillon cubes

2 cups boiling water

4 cups cubed peeled potatoes

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup scraped and diced carrots (I use the baby carrots we like big chunks)

1/2 cup chopped onion (I use more onion because we like onion a lot)

1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes or 2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup flour

1 quart milk

salt and pepper to taste

Optional: dash of dill weed, 1-2 tablespoons chopped canned pimiento, 1 cup diced ham, 1/4 pound Velveeta-brand cheese cubed, grated Cheddar cheese, bacon bits

The only optional item I include is the ham.

 1. Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water.  Combine with potatoes and other vegetables in large sauce-pan.  Bring to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, melt margarine in 4 quart Dutch oven or kettle over low heat.  Blend in flour:stir mixture until smooth.  Gradually add 1 cup milk:  then stir in remaining 3 cups milk.  Stir constantly until slightly thickened.  Add cooked vegetables to hot milk, and heat to boiling.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Ladle into bowls.  If desired, sprinkle with grated Cheddar cheese and bacon bits.

Yield:  serves 8.

Note:  For variation, flavor soup with dill weed by adding to vegetables before cooking: add pimientos or ham, or both, to cooked vegetables before combining with milk mixture; stir Velveeta-brand cheese into hot soup until blended.

When I first made this soup I took the recipes instruction to add vegetables and the fluids in the pan with them because it did not state otherwise.  It has always worked out for me.  And I usually add some Mrs. Grass seasoning or something like it for some extra flavor. 

I hope you try this and enjoy it!  The report on my Progresso soup tonight is that it is very good.

Have a great evening!  Blessings!

Shopping with Friends

I have a group of wonderful friends that I love to spend time with.  I have joined into a couple of those big girls sleepovers the first ever for me this past year.  We go to quilt shops and quilt shop hops together and just love to spend time together crafting, laughing and having some good talks.  During our December road trip we came upon a quilt shop quite by accident and I found both some fun and pretty fabrics.

There is a red work panel that I think I might cut apart and stitch right over the print, possibly for some pillow tops.  I found some Christmas Scottie fabric I just had to have, may be making Ladybug a stocking out of it for next year.  There is also a very pretty set of fat quarters, a laminated card with a table runner pattern and another fat quarter to add to my stash.  That is a lot for me to walk out with at a random stop.  It was a great shop called Elaine's Quilty Shop and I hope to go back there someday maybe a little more prepared with a project in mind.  How did every one's first day of the week go back at work after the nice long weekend?  I cleaned out my incoming and worked on some of those things that keep getting put on the back burner.  I am hoping you will see more of me this month.  I joined up with NaBloPoMo again this month hoping it will keep me on task and I will try and post every day this month.  I tried in November and only made it everyday for half the month. 


Have a wonderful week!  Blessings!

Handmade Gifts

Hi friends!  I put away the manger and took down the trees and all the Christmas decor today.  My house looks empty now, how about yours?  I  made a couple of New Years resolutions that I am planning on keeping.  I am planning on posting on my blog more often.  I tried that in November but fizzled out about half way through the month.  Weight loss is on my mind lately.  I am going to try and lose 20 pounds by the first of April.  And I am not going to wait until October to begin making this years Christmas gifts.  All of my friends that I hang out with knit.  So this year I made needle rolls for Christmas gifts.  We did not get together until after Christmas which gave me just enough time to finish their gifts up.

I still have a couple to make for some family members including myself.  If you are interested in making one of these for yourself you can find the tutorial at Lupinbunny here.
Also, I finished a shawl for my best friend of thirty years for her birthday.  I used Homespun in Pesto and it is the first large knitted project I have done since learning to knit this last year.  I just tried to start crocheting another shawl with this same yarn but found that it does not work as well in crochet so I am going to knit another for a family member I must leave unnamed at this time.

It is hard to see in the picture but there is a boarder and a pattern in the rest of the piece.  It is actually large enough to be a throw.  Have a great week everyone!  Blessings!

From Our House in the Woods

Happy New Year to all my friends!

Granddaughters

Blessing in this New Year to everyone!