I'm on Staycation

It's been kind of a nice holiday weekend. I worked my derriere off earlier in the week, so that for the July 4-5-6 holiday weekend, I could have a partial STAYCATION! Apparently, since gas is so costly, more and more people are opting to spend vacation time staying at home. A stay-cation!

I got it down to where I only had a little work for each morning, plus a workout, plus a few chores (floors, or dishes, etc).....and the afternoons were to be MINE!!

Apparently I'm not alone in the "stay at home and cocoon" method of holiday celebration. One person I spoke with wanted to sleep. Often.

Another wanted to do nothing. Slowly!

I was able to use my staycation to make a LittleBlessings quilt. I have wanted to make one of these for quite a while. I even found material online at a reduced price and bought enough for at least four of the smaller version. Plus my quilting buddies Yvette and Karene beat me to making this one, and passed me their leftovers. I may get five made! Of course, my plan was to make them in advance and then when I needed a baby gift.....simply walk to the closet and take one out.

Ahem. Yeah, right.

Well, I have a client with a baby making an appearance soon....so time was a-wastin'...

I had fun laying the pieces out randomly.....

I found a scrap of batting from another quilt that was the perfect size, so I layered, pinned, and tried the loop-de-loop type of quilting for the first time. I need lots of P3 (practice, practice, practice!) but I really like doing it that way! (Once again, the gardening gloves Karen gave me, which have never yet made it out to the garden, helped me grip the fabric while quilting it!)

I mitered the corners. It was the first time I had tried that, but I didn't have a bit of trouble with it. Yay!

All that's needed is the binding, which I hope to finish tomorrow.

And if I can find my notes about how wide to cut my binding for a machine sewn binding....I'll probably print it on a sheet and tape it to the wall in the sewing room. I can NEVER remember binding sizes. It's one size for hand sewn and one size for machine sewn..... sigh.

Also.... in other "staycation" activities, I had a set of coupons for Tall Mouse, and Michael and I hit their 4th of July sale. Wanna guess who's fabric is whose?

Yep! No mystery there! Mine is possibly going to be a purse (and a lining for it), and Michael picked out some fabric for one of the quilts I'm making for him. I've been collecting dog prints and I think I may do a quick Take Five with some of them, or one of those Disappearing-9-Patches that is so cute.

:)

Doing my best to spread the sewing/quilting addiction.....

Better known as, FINALLY SOME SEWING CONTENT FOR THE BLAWG!!

Tonight Laurie and Billy came over after work, for dinner and for a project. Poor Billy was pooped, as he had worked in the body shop all day, and then worked on his own car right afterwards, replacing his brakes. (I envy him the savings and the satisfaction of being able to do that!)

After recharging over a haphazardly created dinner (burgers, salad, ravioli with meatballs, and some strawberries and whipped cream we never got around to.... see? haphazard and completely discombooberated!), Billy and Michael watched some old Twilight Zone TV, and Laurie and I headed upstairs.

She made a bed for Bella! She layered the skull material, over batting, and stitched it onto a black background slipcover......

Which unfortunately we had zipped shut before she sewed the last bit, and briefly we panicked.... But Billy finagled it open and.....

We stuffed in the foam mattress and the bed was done!

Bella tried it out and apparently liked it just fine! She even shared a corner with Sadie....

It was a short evening, but a fun one! Wonder what Laurie's next project will be??

:)

Big Sister Sadie Helps Tuff Boy With His Training Workouts!

Tuff Boy's Secret Fetish

fet·ish
noun
1. An object that is believed to have magical or spiritual powers, especially such an object associated with animistic or shamanistic religious practices.
2. An object of unreasonably excessive attention or reverence.
3. Something, such as a material object or a nonsexual part of the body, that arouses sexual desire and may become necessary for sexual gratification.
4. An abnormally obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.

I think Jerry has issues.... When his crate door is left open, he goes around the house looking for things to put in the crate, and if I don't notice later, he curls up with them and sleeps with them.

It's always shoes and/or sox! And he never chews on them, just curls up and zonks out!!

:)

Morning Garden and my new Favorite Color

I took a few pix in my "garden" this morning. (definition of "garden": six lonely plants on an otherwise uninhabitable slope)

Something very exciting was going on. Keeping in mind my low threshold for excitement, this will obviously amuse those of you dear readers who happen onto this blog and have Real Gardening talent.....
















My cucumber plant was sporting yellow blossoms! I stand a decent chance of a cucumber, or maybe four! to put on my salad.
















My cantalope was getting into the sporty yellow blossom look also! I was too far away for them to show up well, but they ARE there!
















And my pumpkin plant (above) was hiding a Big Yellow Blossom deep in it's tangled vines. According to the information on the label (which we failed to read until it was planted) this blossom could turn into a Very Large Pumpkin. Like 50+ pounds. I'm contacting crane services to get estimates on future transporting of said pumpkin from uninhabitable slope, to front porch for carving!

Or straight into my kitchen for baking/freezing of pumpkin meat and roasted pumpkin seeds!















My zucchini (above) is just teasing me. Lots of growth and not one single flower.
















My watermelon is not even doing as well as the zucchini. It is looking fine but not growing very fast at all. I have NO idea if this is normal.















My tomato plants, the big variety (the name escapes me-not Roma, just round), are growing and sporting tomatoes and a lot more Yellow blossoms......
















And my cherry tomatoes which I planted for Mr. B.....they are also doing fairly well and popping out with Yellow blossoms.

Now, I never was a fan of the color Yellow. BUT IT'S MY NEW FAVORITE!

Here are a few pix of my flowers currently managing to stay alive....because, you know, steer manure, it is a wonderful thing!



















































And for Karen, in case she checks the blog while she is in NYC/Canada.....




















Le Tigre, she misses you!

And for Michael, who thinks I need to post more dog pictures...... Here's Max the Wonderdog.....out sniffing the morning air.....















Later today, my "garden" is scheduled for expansion! I will be adding a butternut squash plant to the lineup on the slope. (on left in picture below)
















Hopefully that will turn into butternut squash soup! Yum!

I think that's all I have to offer this fine summer day. I'm working very hard this week to try and stay caught up. I am hoping to spend the Fourth of July weekend celebrating by turning on the air conditioning, sewing, sipping iced tea, and sleeping.


It takes so little to keep me content!

:)

She's leaving..... on a jet plane...

She's leaving for New York City....




























and then on to Quebec

July 3 is the 400th birthday of Quebec City!

Happy Vacation, Karen! We miss you already!

<3<3<3

Useful FOs...

It was a sad day today. Nikki died just before we woke up (Michael estimates at about 5:00 this morning) and apparently it happened peacefully. We did not hear anything. She had seemed exceptionally tired the evening before and we were not at all surprised.

I got my work done this morning and felt lazy, so I took a rest day from working out. I decided to make the other beds for the two littlest dogz, Sadie and Jerry. I made these in sizes that can be used when they are actually in the crates (when we have company), but yanked out and tossed on the floor for the rest of the time. They knew what they were and pounced on them fairly enthusiastically. I guess our wood floors are kinda hard! But I would rather make dog beds than have carpet that I can't get clean, or has recurring spots!

Sadie got a "girly" ladybug print and seems quite happy with it, both in and out of her crate.




















And Tuff Boy? He got a nice dignified dark blue plaid flannel....




















I'm hoping it will encourage dignified behavior. He's been practicing his Tuff Boy moves in the middle of the night, and the racket can be fairly not conducive to sleep.....which was what prompted me to make his little bed/crate pad, to begin with! Now he can wrestle with his toys and practice his Mad Defense Skilz......without waking us up!

The beds are just foam from the "J" store that I trimmed to size with an electric turkey carver(!) and covered with a sheet of old vinyl table cloth. Then I made a "quilted pillow case" to slip on....thinking they'd be very washable in case of any mishaps). While digging in the sewing stash for material to use, I found two old pieces of material that I thought had pot holders printed on them. I put one together with batting, backing, and a middle sheet of teflon-coated material, bound it, and called it a pot holder, til I saw how big it is. I guess it could be a pot holder, but maybe it will also serve as a hot pad.















I have several more of these preprinted squares, so will finish them as soon as I get more Teflon. Our pot holders are old/disgusting, so when the new ones are done, I can toss a few old relics!

G'nite!

She wants pictures....

Sheesh.....I happened to mention to a certain someone that I was pretty much caught up with work and looking at two afternoons in a row to spend in my quilting room. She said, "I WANT PICTURES!"

Apparently she thought blog-worthy events would take place.

Well, I do have one FO (Finished Object) to report. The quilt for the wife of one of Michael's fellow couriers at Fed Ex is all done! It was just a simple rail fence, but it gave me some attitude while it was on the frame being quilted. However, after frogging one row of meandering and restitching it, I felt much better about it.

I think I'm really liking the machine stitched bindings more and more. I figured out how to mirror-image my blanket stitch so it was pointing the way I wanted it, and I was pleased with the even stitches of the binding.

I decided to further reacquaint myself with "Emma", my embroidery machine.

I made a label for the quilt, experimenting with various embroidered hats and wording, until I found a combination I liked, that we can use for all the chemo quilts we make in the Red Hot Sew 'n Sews.

I wasn't entirely pleased with this font, however, because it almost looks like Red HAT Sew 'n Sews.....we're the Red Hot Sew 'n Sews.....

I mean, after all, it was 104 degrees today. We're definitely hot!

Tomorrow, after some typing early in the morning, and a work out (before The Heat returns to bake SoCal for another day), I plan to cut out one of these. I love this pattern so much I got enough to make at least three......but with the left overs that Karene and Yvette passed along to me (Thank you!!) I just might be able to make four! Especially since I saw this variation! Scroll down the page to see a better view. Sew Cute!

Have a great weekend!

:)

104 degrees, at 1 pm!

Yuck!

No Wonder I Like Frogs!

The Muppet Personality Test for Muppet-Fanatics created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Kermit the Frog You're most like Kermit. A born leader, talented, and well-grounded, all you need now is to get your tongue fixed and you could makes millions of people happy. Kermit the Frog 94% Gonzo the Great 81% Scooter 75% Fozzy Bear 56% Animal 50% Miss Piggy 19%

Catching Up, Part 4

I set out to make my weekly batch of yogurt today.....

And then when I was finished, I was faced with a half gallon of whole milk I did not need. I decided to try a recipe I had found on-line to make my own ricotta cheese.

First, I sterilized my big dutch oven by boiling water in it (with the lid on, actually!) for five minutes.

Then I dumped out the water and heated that half gallon of milk until it reached 180 degrees. At that point, I stirred in 1/8th cup of white vinegar. Wow!

The whey separated and the clumps of cheese formed.

I ladeled the clumps of cheese onto several layers of sterilized cheesecloth I had placed over a sterilized can. The remaining liquid drained away, and I was left with the fresh cheese.

Never one to leave well enough alone, to that, I added garlic and Italian sausage spices, salt, and parsley for color. I tasted it and even before it cooled, I knew I had a winner!

I stored it in a sterilized container that once held ricotta (easy on my elderly brain later when I need to find it!!) That half gallon of milk made almost a half of a 3 pound container full.

So, I figure a whole gallon of milk, next time, would net me about 2 to 2-1/2 pounds of ricotta. I just priced 15 ounces of Precious Whole Milk Ricotta at my grocery store for $3.99. A gallon of the house brand milk is currently $3.59 at the same store. Even if I get just two pounds of ricotta from a gallon of milk, I've saved more than half! Whoo hoo!

And I'm already planning a vegetable lasagne! Yum!

:)