~February Lady Sweater done~

~Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits~  I am done!!!!

It only took almost 2 years… I started the first time at least a year ago, it would have had to been in the fall/winter … I started and I don’t remember why, but I stopped and frogged..

I remembered the yarn and my previous plans this September and I was more determined this time around..

I will say I am not loving the make 1’s .. those holes are not so good.

But as my grandmother would say (she is almost 97)  “a man on horseback…” she always says that for whatever I make.. it is not perfect, but it will do.  It seems like when you knit you learn a little something each project you do … at least I seem to!

~here is my action shot… If you are here from the Moments group… I will have you know I barely cropped the photo’s… just trying to keep it real ya’ll!

~So, on just a side note, I finished my sweater up and wore it for the first time yesterday.. as I was in the carpool line at school,  my car died, just died .. dead.  Oh me.. it was kind of  a scene, but at least I looked cute!.. right?

 

~Today I have a new powerful battery supposedly good for 7 years.. we’ll see!!

~Have you heard the news? Block Party Quilt- Along is having a giveaway!!~

    ~Alissa and Kirsten are writing a book together. The book is based on their online quilting bee named Block Party.

I have long admired these ladies style of quilting so to me this is an exciting piece of news…. I hope you will join in and go check out their Block Party quilt along  post.    Some quilts made in the quilt along will also be featrued in their book!  This will happen over the course of a year, so their is plenty of time to get involved and learn some new skill~

 So cool!!  (Fabric pictured are the giveaway bundles)

 

~ Family Dinner Swap!~

Amy at Park City Girl is hosting a Family Dinner Swap!
What a great idea!!

 Normally I would post a recipe for soup because that is my favorite all time food, however, I now have a close second!

~Pizza~!!

Love it, and with this easy recipe you will love it too!

I have used my favorite cook book, Honest Pretzels and yes, it is a children’s cookbook that I had hoped my eldest daughter would use, so far it is only me using it. Quite honestly, I am fine with that because I just love this cookbook!
Seriously!
Ok, the recipe:

Make your dough:

1 cup lukewarm water,
1 tsp yeast

mix in a large bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes,
then add 1 tbsp olive oil
then add 2 1/2 cups flour, * I used half white, half whole wheat
1 tsp salt

Mix together by whisk at first, then your hand.  Then you knead your dough for about 5 minutes.

Now, clean your bowl and then put 1 tbsp of olive oil into your cleaned bowl. Cover and let rise for about 1 hour.

*I will make my dough in  the morning, and let it rise all day until I am ready to use for supper. It works great that way.

You also will want to go ahead and sprinkle either corn meal or I use wheat bran to coat the baking pan.

After your dough has risen, you spread it out on a baking sheet. Cook at 450 degrees for 8 minutes, then take it out and top with your choice of toppings..

Then return to the oven and bake for an additional 6-8 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbly!

I have done basil/olive oil, red sauce,  I have even  just used olive oil for a base. We’ve used leftover chicken, pepperoni, sausage, and a variety of different cheeses. There is no way to mess this up! So easy, and so so good!

This pizza is so much better than store-bought, even better then a restaurant.   No lie. It is hearty and delicious! What is also great is that most likely you will have the simple ingredients on hand, and this is a great way to use up leftovers!

Now go try it & let me know if you like it!

    ~notice the thumbs up going on there?!? She is my toughest critic!

Big thank you to Amy for hosting this great recipe swap, I am always in need of new ideas for supper!

~Moments and a wonderful new Giveaway!!~

First, a new three part giveaway!! Garden Mama is hosting another fantastic giveaway! Her guest is Hip Mountain Mama who lives and blogs and runs her shop from her home in Colorado.  This is an inspiring interview  and the giveaway is so cute! If you have children, or have a special little friend, then you must go check it out!!

Now, this is where we get real!!!

You will often find me in the afternoons sitting at my desk. This is the time between doing homework and preparing dinner.

~If I am lucky, the afternoon sun will stream in~

I  seem to be able to many things at once, cook, supervise, cast on and blog surf.  I seem to have a little trouble keeping things tidy…

 Especially when you have little helpers always bringing you things you just don’t need…. ie: that green hairbrush,  “Yes I just bought a new brush so, no I don’t need it here at this desk right now, but thank you.. I will take it from here.”

Then there are the bits and bobs of paper, thank you notes, bills and what not that just needs to be sorted.. oh how messy life can be.   It does not help when all you want to do is focus on things that are so much more fun! 

Like casting on for a new project! 

In honor of our moments project, and keeping things more real ~ this is how it really looks~

I will get to that cleaning pronto!!

I work a couple of days a week, and when I get home you can often find me collapsed in my chair, however, you will not always find my friend napping with me!   Seriously is he not a mess?

~here we are, power napping the both of us, how silly!

So it goes.. these little moments  ~ they are precious to me…

Do you remember the Fall Quilt Festival?

I neglected to show you what I won from Quilternity.   If you have not read through Amy’s Fall Quilt Festival, you must do so soon! Fantastic posts showcasing some wonderful quilters!  Thank you again Terri!!

I really look forward to working with these lovely fabrics as well as using the color wheel helper!!

Just a lovely prize!!

Enjoy your day!  I am off to fire up the oven to bake some bread, yum!

~ We left supper on the stove – and went for a walk~

“Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”
-   Elizabeth Lawrence

 

Lately we will have a day of rain then a day of sun…

Such was the case Tuesday it rained all day, cloudy grey skies and buckets of rain fell.  Wednesday sunny and dry and the forecast for Thursday and Friday well, rain again … hence the reason we left supper on the stove on a low simmer….

The sun and a walk in the park was calling our names…

Seriously, sometimes you  just have to carpe diem~ you know??

   ~this is our Overton Park and it is right across the street from where we live.

~there is a lot of fall going on out there

  ~we were ready to walk and to gather

~the light is so beautiful in the early evening

~we saw fungi and we saw ferns

~ we explored close up

~I love the long views~

~fall only lasts a minute here, so I am glad we got out in it

~and our soup was just fine when we came home to it…

Emma made her nature display and all in all it was a very good afternoon!!   These are the moments you have to make time for. They are there for you to hold on to and cherish – if you can let your “supper” go for a bit..  It can be hard to stop the work that must be done, but in the end it can be so worth it!

Enjoy your fall!

~Moments- Keeping it real~

So, Amy at A Commonplace Life started this discussion last week It really resonated with me. In oh so many ways..

Ok, I have a lot to share in my imperfect world, house etc., but today let me just be real, really real. 

I made this quilt, I worked on it all last week and I finished it up Saturday morning.  I will say I am pleased with the way this quilt turned out.  Really quite pleased.

 

Ok,  so the auction/ Fall Fest is tomorrow, Thursday night.. today is Wednesday.  I just now got the courage to call and say I had an item… WHAT?  Yes, I just got off the phone with the lady in charge of gathering items.. and yes she was really nice about it all..

Ok, so why could I not pick up the phone and call? Craft anxiety. I have it.  I just never really think my things are good enough.  I am certainly my own worst critic.

I know, I am so silly.  I just am a mess really.

I worked hard, I like the outcome, but yet what is it with me?  I just have no confidence in my ability and that is pathetic, really just all around…..I just seem to have a lack of confidence  and I do not like that about myself.

I am not right and  I know that  

My confidence will come one day, maybe I will get it all together maybe by acknowledging my shortcomings I will be able to overcome them and perhaps be able put them in their place, but until then….

 

I’ll just try to keep it real ya’ll.

~ Quilt for Silent Auction check it !!~

~Love love love !!

~ So I got it together this past week and came up with this little quilt ..

I am so happy with this quilt.  I have really wanted to make a solid quilt. My inspiration came to me from One Shabby Chick’s Quilting Festival entry.. I loved that quilt from the first moment I saw it.

I used all Kona cotton fabrics. I improved each color block, and after seeing all of them and studying them it came to me that they all appear to me as wonky crazy doors.. Which I love, this being a quilt for my daughter’s school Silent Auction, it fit.

  ~front of quilt.. light is very difficult today… I was chasing it…

  ~ back of quilt.. love that big block!

  ~ okay, maybe this is too out there, but this phrase was in my mind.. when I think of her school, the children, the faculty, the parents… their mission this is what comes to mind…

~I fought with this blanket stitch, my cranky bobbin and I was down to the last bits of thread…. but I am letting it go~

Here are af few of the “doors” ~

  ~the color is a bit off here, the block is not red, it is more magenta?!

ok, you get the point…

I quilted each color block in a different pattern, but I have to say my hat is off to all of  ya’ll who straight line quilt, that is no easy task! It looks so simple, but it is as hard as the dickens.. Seriously not easy..

I had to back to my first love, stippling  for the main body and I love the overall effect. It works for me.

Matching sham check…

one happy little helper… check check~

We’re good!

Enjoy your weekend!

~Oh my gosh I won!~

Seriously, this is my first time ever to win anything.. it just never happens for me!

 NEVER!!

Remember  Amy’s Quilt Festival?
I posted about my Nie Nie quilt.. well, as I was reading her post listing all of the winners, I almost fell out of my chair!
I saw my name!

Turns out I won a few goodies from  Quilternity  I am so excited!!!
Like this little helpful tool… wait until you see what I am working on… I really could have used this! Also, a set of 5 hand dyed fat quarters!!  

Are you kidding me?     

Thank you Quilternity and thank you to  Amy for hosting the Fall Quilt Festival, it was so much fun!

Remember it is never too late to learn a new task or to develop a new interest. If you think you want to learn to quilt, just go for it! It is easy, rewarding, forgiving and in the end you will create something beautiful.. what’s not to love?

 

Ps, doesn’t that coffee look super great???

It is not just a latte, no it is a a Pumpkin Pie Spiced latte from The Yellow Door Paperie oh my stars.. heaven in a cup and that is for real!!

So good!

   ~ and I made this recipe from the Soup Swap

So good! By the way, that is parmesan and steam on the picture.. I don’t know why, but lately I have been putting parmesan on everything.. what’s up with that?

~ Autumnal ramblings and a GIVEAWAY!! ~

I pulled out my fall runner yesterday that I made last year~

   partly because it is getting cold and well, because it is October and there is  no time like the present…

When I noticed a little theme going round….

 

You can tell by the activity around here the temperatures are beginning to drop, all animals have claimed their spot~

Any of our three dogs may be found on a couch  either cuddled up or  just curled in a warm ball …

The kitties are no exception … they have been spent all of their time sleeping and bathing each other on my fall runner.  Of course as soon as I just pulled it out they think it is just for them, well of course they do.. they’re cats!

We brought in some of the roses ~  surely they will not be around much longer.. 

Emma gathered a lonely walnut, maple leaf and set out some of her great grandmother’s sea shells to decorate the flowers.

I love these antique tea roses, pictured are Mrs. BR Cant, and Mrs. Dudley Cross along with a few blooms from our Vitex/Chaste tree. Lovely!!

Speaking of our garden,  wait until you see the giveaway information below it is awesome!!

First a little recordkeeping~   I saw my last hummingbird on Monday, the 12th.. This is important  as I like to keep a record my little friends coming and going’s.  I am always so sad to see them go.  It will be a long few months until they are back.. see you in March little friends..  Godspeed.

   ~sorry so blurry!

 

Speaking of  knitting, did you see this giveaway by GardenMama? She is featuring handmade items by Down in the Meadow  Wow, I am in awe~ what fantastic work! You have to go and check it out. The giveaway ends tonight so hurry! Of course I am late to the game..

So cute!!!

I need to be sewing but all I want to do is sit and knit.. that’s it.

It might be a problem, but for now~ not so much!

~ Dinner ideas and thoughts of many quilts ~

“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on 
the feelings, as now in October.” 
-  Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

I am loving this October!! We are on a two week fall break which so far has been lovely even though the grey and drizzle.   Fall is my most favorite of seasons.  Soup is always on my mind and yesterday was no different. I made a vegetable soup that was awesome!  If anyone is interested I can write more about it, but just know that is a powerhouse of goodness!

 

 

I am always in search of dinner ideas.. you know it is hard to come up with something good every single night..

I have made this pizza before  and it is easy and really good.  Last night I made another one and I basically used leftover baked chicken, basil from the garden, olive oil and cheese along with a mix of whole wheat and white flour.

 

So easy and so delicious, even Miss Picky Pants ate it!

I am working on my Scraps to Treasure project. I am slowly working on it.   The project was due October 1st.  Needless to say I have been delayed in a horrible horrible way. It is slow going at times but I am hoping to get into a groove very soon.

I have been commissioned  for a baby quilt by my cousin. She reports that she has really enjoyed her Sand and Sea quilt that I made for her baby Elio, (he is gorgeous!) so much that she would like me to make one just like it from  these fabrics!  Aren’t they cute?? Yay!! I am so happy to do this…!!

I am contemplating trying to put together a quilt for a Silent Auction for my daughter’s school… however I am so undecided on ideas. I am a little unsure if anyone would be interested in such a thing.  I am kind of leaning towards an all solid Kona cotton quilt if I decided to do it, but I am still thinking on this idea.  I also don’t have much time….

Also,  Jade from Craft Hope has project 5, and this is a really good one!  This project not only helps little children, but also children that are here close to us all.  I am excited about this one!

I have lots more to chat about but it will have to wait. I hope your day is blessed!