Dec WIPocalypse

I'm a few days late on this last WIPocalypse of the year, but want to go ahead and post it. Better late than never, huh? I've had a bit more stitching time on my hands here lately, so I did get a bit done on this. This is 'Fishing' from Bobbie G. Designs, and if you can't already tell, this will be for LoveQuilts. This will be my first that is designated for a specific child. He is a 5 year old boy and all he really wanted was a quilt with the color blue in it. They also said he liked trains and action heroes and all things 'outdoor'. Well, trains must have been easy to find since many ladies signed up for that, but this one just screamed '5 year old boy' to me:)

 

 

I also got some good news. The ankle break is stable, so no surgery will be needed so long as I don't mess it up any further. Thankfully my hubby had taken an extended break and so still has a week before he needs to be back at work. Unfortunately, I broke my right ankle, so this means that I won't be driving for the next 4 weeks or so. My hubby and daughter are taking really good care of me, and I'm hoping to have a quick recovery:) Until then, I'll just keep getting on with my stitching and getting some rest. I was hoping to have a 'end of the year' stitchy finish, but I took a nap today instead!! Well, I guess that means I'll have a 'beginning of the year' finish tomorrow:)

 

Until then, I hope the New Year finds you all in good health and with extra time for your stitchy/crafting projects!! 

Unexpected rest

Well, my stitching friends, I've gone and done it. Sunday as we were leaving my parents house and getting ready to head to my in-laws, I decided it would be a good time to race my 13 year old dd to the car. I twisted my ankle in the process:(

I thought I had just badly sprained it, and refused to go to the Dr as I would have had to go to the emergency room in a town much bigger than our own. I've sprained my other ankle several times in the past so I figured I could wait it out and if things didn't seem better in a day or two, I'd get it checked out.

The swelling on the ankle started going down, but I had some odd swelling on the top of my foot today, so we decided that I had waited long enough, and dh and dd took me to the Dr this morning. The Dr. agreed that it was probably sprained, but wanted to take x-rays just in case, sending me home with the intention of calling if the x-rays showed something other than a sprain. Well, she did call me back. It seems that I have actually fractured a bone in my ankle. This is the first bone I've ever broken!!

I'm in a 'boot' now with an appointment to the orthopedic dr tomorrow to see how bad it really is and what I'll have to do about it. Hopefully it is minor and will heal rather quickly.

All this to say that my body isn't as young as my mind thinks it should be:) I guess this means I'm down for a little while, but I should be able to get a bit more stitching done now!! I was hoping to get some stitching shopping done this week, but I guess that will have to wait for a bit.

Otherwise, we had a wonderful Christmas. It was really nice to see the family (both sides) on Sunday and then have a couple of quiet days for just the 3 of us. We have watched movies and played games, and of course, opened presents. I was very blessed this year with some money, gift cards for the (not so) local needlework store, a vacuum (greatly needed), a floor lamp that has a small light that points down to my stitching:) (from hubby), and the prettiest coffee cup, that I really wanted:), from our dd. A few other things as well, just so blessed.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well!! Next year I'll have to remember that I'm not 13 and try to stay up on my feet!!!

Another Crochet Project

I just can't stop myself from starting new projects!!! I'm at a point now that I'm not sure if I love cross stitching or crocheting better, I guess I love each in it own way. Cross stitching is great when I have a bit of time on my hands, but I like crocheting for the fact that I can work on it for a few minutes at a time.

 

 

So you all know that I have been stitching for LoveQuilts, and I truly love to do that. I was also thinking that I would like to do a bit of crocheting for some kind of good cause as well. I have a friend that does respite care for children not yet placed in foster care. This means that the families themselves are coming to the organization that my friend works through and they help the family in whatever ways are needed. Sometimes that includes child care for a few hours up to a few days. I asked this friend if it would be possible for me to start making blankets (crochet or quilted) for these little ones (she says most of them are 3 and under) to help make the shifting from one home to another during the family's transitions a bit more bare able and she thought this was a good idea.

 

 

So this is the first blanket that I started for this cause. I had the yarn already, which I had started making a blanket for ourselves, but it was one of the first crochet projects I had worked on and the blocks are a bit wonky, so I thought I use the rest of the yarn for this. I think this will make a lovely cuddle blankey for a little one:)

Dec IHSW

This was a busy weekend, so not a whole lot of time for stitching. I knew this would be the case this weekend, and I almost didn't sign up for 'International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (IHSW)', but I'm glad I did, because thankfully I was just about done with one of my projects, so I do have a finish!!!

 

 My progress on the Autumn Saltbox Scriptures from LittleHouse Needleworks as of last Friday...

 

And the finished project!!! :) This was the last in this series that I needed to stitch, so now I need to finally decide on how I want to display these.

I also have another finish to show off, but this isn't technically part of IHSW since I finished it last Thursday, but here it is...

 

This is 'Crowning the Tree' stocking from Blackbird Designs. This chart was a gift from my SIL, Marianne Meyer (of Midnight Stitching), last year for Christmas. I'm hoping I can finish this off into an ornie before Christmas this year.

These were the two I was really hoping to get done before Christmas, and since I did and I have a whole week to spare, I've pulled two more projects that I'm going to put some work into and see if I can get them done as well. After Christmas I will be going back to working really hard on some block for LoveQuilts, but it has been nice to work on a few things for myself:)

Dec TUSAL

I can't believe Dec is here already! I am so not prepared for Christmas, but am ready for the family time and the time off that my dh has and the break that we will be taking from school. After a couple of activities this weekend, that requires my organization, we should a have a couple of weeks of nice, quiet, family time.

 

 

And on to the last TUSAL of the year!!! I had lots of bits of strings this time since I finished up the Race Car project, so all the extra strings got pulled and put into my jar. I've been stitching away the past few days as well and I will have a finish (maybe two!!!) to post in a day or two:) Love when I have a few finishes right together, it makes it feel that I am actually getting something accomplished with the stitching.

What I'm working on right now

I have an inability to work on just one crafty/sewing/stitching project at a time. I get bored of one thing and wonder off to work on something else.

Actually this behavior follows me through all parts of my life. I think I'm going to work really hard on our finances which leads me to think that I really should start doing better on housework which make me think that I should probably start an exercise program and try to loose a little weight. It almost always leads me back to a crafty/sewing/stitching project.

I am also very good at ignoring what really needs to get done:)

While this behavior is obviously not conductive to getting the 'important' things done (like house work and the exercising), it does work well for me on the crafting. It means I usually have several different type of projects going and if I get bored with one thing, instead of walking away from crafting all together for a bit, I just pick up the next project and work on it.

So here are a few of the things I'm working on right now...

 

I've gotten a bit done on these two stitchy project. These are ones I'd like get done before Christmas. The first is 'Crowning the Tree' from Blackbird Designs and the other is the Autumn Saltbox Scripture from Little House Needleworks. I have also just started a block of a little boy fishing for LoveQuilts.

 

And this is almost all of the panels for my daughters blanket. I have 6 more blocks to crochet to finish the 4th panel. Then I have to tuck in all those thousands of ends and then figure out how to connect each panel together:) I'm fairly confident that I can get this done by Christmas (I hope!!!).

So what are you all working on?

52 Things in 52 Weeks

After searching the web to find some challenges to do next year, I came across Kincavelkorner (aka Lady Kell's) blog and her post '52 Things in 52 Weeks'.   For this challenge Lady Kell has come up with 52 weeks' worth of goals for the 2013 year. Everything from reading goals and crafty goals, to weight loss goals and time with the kiddo too. I think this is a really awesome idea as it incorporates a challenge with list making, and really the only way I get anything done is to make a list and challenge myself to get it done:)

I posted on her site that I would also join in. Most of my ideas are my own, but I did steal a few, and one of my ideas is exactly opposite of hers (she wanted to stay away from chocolate for a time, I would like to eat more - though varieties that I haven't had before:). LOL

I will create a tab on top of this page, so that a running tally can always be found, and I'll update this throughout the year. To be clear, this isn't a list to do in any particular order, some of these items will take all year and some can be done very quickly. I also will be doing this in lieu of any yearly aspirations/resolutions as it really does incorporate anything I'd aspire to do anyway:0)

So here is my list...

In the Kitchen (or to do with food)
1. Figure out an all purpose and a baking blend of gf flours that I can make myself (0/2)
2. Find a good gf bread recipe that I can handle eating:)
3. Can or freeze 3 new food items that I've never done before (0/3)
4. Can the equivalent of 30 quarts of food (0/30)
5. Make 2 new recipes a month (0/24)
6. Try 6 new kinds of chocolate (0/6)
7. Grow and eat from our garden

Charity/Community Service
8. Volunteer to help out at County Fair
9. Community service project with 4-H group
10. 6 stitched blocks for Love Quilts USA (0/6)
11. 6 crochet items to give away (0/6)
12. 4 quilted items to give away (0/4)
13. 2 dolls/stuffed animals to give away (0/2)

Sewing/Crafting/Stitching
14. Finish stitching 6 current x-stitch projects (0/6)
15. Participate in 2 x-stitch exchanges (0/2)
16. Participate in 6 FNSI (0/6)
17. Participate in 8 IHSW (0/8)
18. Learn to sew a doll or stuffed animal
19. Learn 6 new crochet stitches (0/6)
20. Learn to knit - beginner
21. Sew curtains for living room
22. Choose and create 6 Pintrest projects (0/6)
23. Finish a quilt for us

Health and Wellness
24. Lose 20 lbs
25. Exercise 4 days per week (0/208)
26. Walk a total of at least 300 miles (0/300)
27. Bike a total of at least 200 miles (0/200)
28. Buy good tennis shoes
29. Buy a good bike seat

Art and Photography
30. Spend time drawing each week (0/52)
31. Fill up 1 sketch book with drawings and practice
32. Take photos every other week (0/26)
33. Take a photo to the county fair

Reading/Education
34. Read 12 books for fun (0/12)
35. Read 12 books to learn from (0/12)
36. Read through the Bible

Blogging
37. Double my monthly readership
38. Double my followers
39. Blog on every WIPocalypse (0/12)
40. Blog on every TUSAL (0/12)

Family Fun
41. Go camping 2 times (0/2)
42. Go on 2 day trips (0/2)
43. Take dd to a pool (public) 4 times (0/4)
44. Take dd to the movies 3 times (0/3)
45. Take dd to a play or ballet
46. Take dd skating
47. Take at least 4 photos of dd each month (0/48)

Christmas Time
48. Hand craft at least 6 Christmas gifts (0/6)
49. Send out Christmas cards
50. Come up with one new Christmas tradition
51. Make 3 scrapbooks of dd's pictures from the year to give to Grandparents
      and 1 for ourselves (0/3)
52. Stitch and finish 6 Christmas ornaments (0/6)


Big surprise that the Sewing/crafting/stitching is the longest one!!! Well, we shall see how much of this gets done, but it will be easier to see any progress that I do make this way:)

If you want to join in, visit Lady Kell's blog and sign up, and let me know too so I can follow along on your journey as well.

I fell off the wagon!!

Well, that didn't take long at all. Just as soon as the blogging challenge was over I stopped posting. Didn't mean for that to happen:(

What have I been doing since I stopped posting?

Well, I've spent many hours on line looking for challenges and sals to participate in for next year. I think it was easier to find these last year. Actually I'm having a hard time finding things I want to do. I know I'll stay with TUSAL and WIPocalypse, but not sure on anything else. If you know of any good ones (even reading challenges), please let me know.

I have been working on a few stitchy projects. I am trying to finish the autumn portion of Saltbox Scriptures from LHN and am also working on 'Crowning the Tree' from BBD. I would like to get both of those done by Christmas. But I also lied:( I did go ahead and start the next block for LoveQuilts. It took all of one day before I was ready to get back at stitching for the kids:) This time I am doing 'Fishing' from Bobbie G. Designs for a little boy who just wanted a 'blue' quilt. Actually I got so excited to start some more kids' blocks that I signed up for two other blocks. Thankfully none of them are due until April/May/June.

I have also been trying to finish up my daughter's crocheted blanket. I have about 8 more blocks to crochet (I'm doing 1-2 a day as I have to do it when she's asleep), then I have to join the 4 panels together. I've never done that part before and am a bit nervous about how it will turn out.

And finally, I have been trying to organize group activities for the 4-H group and my daughter's secret sister group. Nothing like waiting until last min to get all the details together:) But I think everything is about ready now!!

Oh,Christmas Tree

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo, and I do have to say that even though I didn't quite make it, I'm still very happy that I did as well as I did. It got me more interested in blogging, which really was the point of it after all:0)

 

 

I wanted to show off some pics of the other things we were working on during the Thanksgiving break, while I was not feeling well. First off, we put up the tree. Last year our old tree was falling apart, and while we have been saying that we need a new tree for the past few years, we just didn't do it. But last year, the tree really was done, so we went out and bought a new one after the Christmas season (and got a good price on it too). This one is pre-lit which is really nice, and only 3 pieces too, which I like:)



 
Over the years my hubby and I have hand made almost all the ornaments on our tree. Our dd has started adding to our tree here lately too. There are several rows of beaded garland, and over a few years, I hand painted each bead and strung them. Here are a couple of stitchy ornaments that I have made...

 

 

And these wooden ones are some that hubby has made. A few of the ornaments we have on the tree were made by my brother-in-law or were from a stitchy exchange or two:)

 

And here is the finished bookshelves that our daughter helped to make. They are very simple as hubby and dd wanted to get them up fast, but they do the trick. This is only a fraction of dd's books, but these had been on her floor and stuffed beside her bed, so this gives her some much needed floor space!!! :)

I've been web-surfing today, looking for some SALs and Stitchy Challenges for the 2013 year. Found one that is really interesting at 'To Stitch or Not to Stitch', but I'm not sure if I have time for it or not. Will have to give it some thought:) Will post soon on whatever I decide to do soon!!

November's WIPocalypse post!!!

Just finished stitching for the night about 30 min ago. Then off to iron and get some pics for my post tonight:) I am SOOOOO excited that I finally got the race car done!!!  But I did end up getting just a bit more done as well sooo....

 



This was my start last January (one of my Crazy 15 projects from this year) of 'Crowning the Tree' from Blackbird Designs. Not much going on here, but I didn't get much done on any of the 15 projects.

 

And here is my finished race car that will be mailed off to LoveQuilts tomorrow!!! And a bit more done on 'Crowning the Tree' as well.

I have a few Christmas and maybe even one Autumn project that I'd like to quickly finish before I get started on the next LoveQuilt project (the pattern for the next one I'm doing just came in the mail too:). But I feel so much better knowing this one is done and ready to send off!! :0)

Some Thanksgiving pics

I was thinking that today was the full moon and thus the WIPocalypse post, but it is actually tomorrow. This is a good thing as I didn't quite get the race car project done. It'll be done tomorrow morning, just in time for the REAL WIPocalypse post:)  For now, I was able to post some of our Thanksgiving pics...

 

This is cranberry cornbread, and let me tell you, this was SO GOOD!! I made it a bit on the sweet side as it used dry and fresh cranberries. WOW, and I used a new (to me) gluten free flour mix called 'Cup 4 Cup' that worked great in this. Couldn't even tell this was gluten free. The recipe for this can be found in the Dec issue of Eating Well.

This is/was Carmel Apple Cheesecake. Oh, my:) I used a gluten free snicker doodle cookie crust (just crumbled up some gf snicker doodles that I purchased) and homemade the apple pie filling (I think you can find some apple pie fillings that are already gf, but I didn't have any, so I made it). This was incredible!! Hubby and I ate it up really quick. Poor dd has some issues with dairy, so I bought her a apple strudel pie from the store, she says it was really good too:0)

And here is our table. Yes, it has a cutting mat on it, but it's to protect the puzzle underneath it. We started the puzzle as a family a while back, working on it a bit here and there. With the cat mostly in the house now, we had to find a way for him not to mess it up, so this was the solution. None of us wanted to destroy our work, so we just left it there and ate on top of it. :)

We had other food as well, of course. Like a brined/smoked turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans (not the casserole), cranberry sauce and an autumn themed green salad that was interesting.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well and are starting to recover from the bloat that so often comes along with this holiday:)

Shame on me!!! :)

It's been several days since I've been on here!!! Shame, Shame :0)

Between being sick, Thanksgiving (which I stayed home because of being sick), grocery shopping and fixing our big meal the next day (then dropping into bed half dead that night), putting up the tree on Sat, and having company, shopping and helping install bookshelves on Sunday, it's just been a busy week!!!

I have pictures to show off of some of our big meal, our tree and my daughter's new bookshelves, that she helped to build, but my computer is being super slow tonight. I've been trying for the past half hour to post pics, but it just won't go!!

So I failed with the NaBloPoMo, but I'm going to finish out the month and maybe I'll try again another time.

For now, we've got more sickness going through the house. Hubby has the cold now, and he started overtime today, so he was really not feeling well this evening. A bit of dinner, some Nyquil and a shower and he was off to bed before 7:00pm. Granted I don't think he slept at all last night, so I hope he gets a good night sleep tonight. Our Daughter seems to be getting it again as well, and I still have some congestion and a bit of coughing yet, but I do feel much better.

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures tomorrow, as I plan to have a stitchy finish to show off for my WIPocalypse post tomorrow!!! Fingers crossed that I can stay awake long enough to get it done:)

Stitchy spot

Still not feeling very well here. Hoping I sleep well tonight and wake up feeling better in the morning so I can participate in Thanksgiving at my in-laws tomorrow. We will have to see though.

Since I've not been doing much more than lying around for the past 2 days, I thought I'd use a writing prompt from the NaBloPoMo website for today. I did have to change it just a bit though:) I do read in this chair as well, but I thought stitching was more appropriate for my blog.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012Where is your favourite place to read stitch? :)



 

 

As I might have mentioned before, we have a super small house. Our living room serves as our living room, computer room, school room/library, crafting room and dining room. And it's only about 15x16 feet in size:)

So lots of things packed into this room and we are every changing and rearranging trying to make things work a little better for us. This little spot is perfect for me though as I can store my current projects in the basket there and I have my lamp light and a nice comfy chair. The biggest problem with this spot is that it is every one's favorite spot as well:) My dd likes to do her school work here and hubby likes to relax here after work. Luckily I do the majority of my stitching in the morning after hubby leaves for work and while dd is still in bed:)

Just in time for Thanksgiving:)

I hope all is well where ever you are. We are getting geared up for Thanksgiving and getting the house ready for the Christmas decor. I think we are going to move things around quite a bit this year so that the tree and/or the dining table doesn't end up in the middle of the living room this year!!! (No, we don't have a dining room, and the table was more important to me than a couch, so it's in the living room:).

However, and I do believe this happens every year, the sickies are going around our house. Thankfully our daughter is over it for now. She has asthma and any kind of cold or allergies goes straight to her lungs, so I am thankful that she was able to get through hers. My dh and I had been fighting it off and on for a while now, but my body finally gave in and now I have the upper respiratory stuff!!

So I've been doing little to nothing today. Lots of playing on the computer, drinking tea, and a bit of napping. Oh, and HAED is having a 25% off sale, so I've been looking there a lot as well. I really need to NOT buy anything though!!! :)

Actually I'm going to start a 'Stash Diet' in 2013. I found this at Joy's site , The Busy Stitcher , earlier today and she is going to be our fearless leader!!! I decided that I would 'pay' myself $3.00 per project that I finish to go towards new charts, fabric and such, but that I can't buy anything new until I 'earn' the money for it. As I usually get a gift card for our LNS (local needlework shop - for all you non-stitchers:), at Christmas, I am not going to officially start until 2013. Plus our LNS has a sale right after Christmas and I can't let that go to waste!! Goodness knows I have enough WIPs and UFOs to keep me busy for a long time before I actually NEED to buy anything new:)

I have several more ideas for goals in 2013, none of which will include a January 2013 Crazy Challenge!!! Nope, NOT going to do it!! :) Besides, I don't have enough stash (or money) to start 15 more new projects all at once. I'm pretty sure I will keep doing the WIPocalypse. I want to see about maybe doing a new start at the beginning of each month (though I'll have to 'earn' the money to buy anything new:), and maybe join a Christmas Ornie challenge of some sort. Does anyone know of a good one?

I also am thinking of making a few small changes on my blog, including a separate 'page' or 'tab' (whatever it is called) on the top to post finished projects for the year and maybe a wish list too that I am working towards with my 'Diet'.

Hmm, lots to think about, but for now, I think I need another nap!! :)

IHSW Pics!!!

A bit late posting tonight, but I have some progress pics to share!!!

 

 Last time I posted pics of this (on the left side) I was about half way done with the car. The pic on the right is where I was when I started this weekend. Lots more done!!!

 

And this is where I am today. Not a huge amount of progress this weekend as we had company and I had some running about I needed to do as well. But the green back ground is finished and I did just a tiny bit more of the red on the car as well. Hoping to get bunches more done this week so I can mail this out next week. THEN... I'll be able to do some Christmas stitching and crafting!!! YEAH!!!

I did order the next chart that I will do for Love Quilts, but it's not due until April, so I'll give it a bit of time before I get started on that one:)

Thankful Sunday

Another week of thankfulness...

Monday - For a Hubby who goes to a job he'd rather not, so that dd and I can stay home.

Tuesday - For a Hubby who still likes to come home and cook:)

Wednesday - To live far enough in the country to not have ANY traffic or close neighbors, but to live close enough to town (within 30 min) to still have activities for our daughter to be a part of.

Thursday - For a break from a few of those activities for the time being:)

Friday - For a small house. Even though it gets tight and you are nearly on top of each other at all times, it does help to keep the family close and not all off on our own.

Saturday - For the little time I get to myself as I go grocery shopping on Saturday morning. I love being with my family, but it's nice to get away for a short bit too.

Sunday - For the chance to have our daughter's friend over and to get to hear them giggle and goof around. Reminds me that I need to loosen up and have fun with our daughter more too:)

Daybook Entry 11-17-12

Coming up short on things to post here lately. I went to the NaBloPoMo website where they have daily writing prompts, but they don't have them for the weekends, so that was no help:)

So I'm going to do a Daybook Entry today. Hoping I'll have some inspiration here soon for other things to post in the future!!!

Outside My Window - It officially looks like winter out there (without the snow!!). In town the trees are still colorful and pretty, but we mostly have elm trees and they are bare at this point. And with the very dry weather we've had for the past 2 years or so, most of everything else is dry and brown. The only color out here right now is the new wheat coming up. But it is still pretty in town, so that will have to do:) At least it hasn't gotten super cold yet!!!

I'm Thinking - I'm not sure if I'm super excited for the holidays this year or if I'm super dreading it. I keep changing my mind!! One minute I'm all excited and making plans and the next I'm thinking "How will I ever be ready?!?!?" Hoping to get a bit of time this week to really think through what I'd like to see happen for this year and make plans to get it done.

In The Kitchen - I am excited to try a few new recipes this year. I found a website for a new gf flour mix called Better Batter and there are several recipes on their site I want to try. This week, though, I'm going to start out with one I found on Pintrest for gf Breadsticks (this blogger uses Better Batter's flour mix). I will be using a different gf flour mix, but I'm hoping they turn out half as good as they look on the blog:) We are also going to try out a recipe for a Cranberry Cornbread and an Applepie and Carmel Cheesecake.

Around The House - I skipped 'Creativity' because I'm still working on the race car stitching (only a bit more than a week to go on that!!!). I've been doing a bit of cleaning and re-arranging in preparation for putting the tree up next week. In our house, ever square inch counts:) So some things have to go out to the storage building while others come in for the holidays. The really good thing about such a small house is that there isn't so much to clean!!!

Our Daily Bread (take 2)

Yesterday I wrote a bit about my attempt to make bread and the mess that resulted from that:) Today I bought new yeast and gave it another go and had much better success!!

 

Yes, this is wheat bread (whole white wheat to be specific), and no I can't have any of it, even though it smells so good in the house. I used to make a bread fairly often before I decided to go gluten free. My family (and I) really preferred the homemade bread to store bought, even my daughter would choose my homemade wheat bread over white. And about a month before my change over to gf I bought a Bosch mixer with the intent of making all of our bread/bread products.

 

I had been hurting for several months in all my small joints (feet, toes, fingers, wrists, etc) and kind of achy all over when I went to the Dr to find out why. I thought maybe I had some kind of infection or something going on. When the blood samples came back she asked if we had RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) in the family line, and we did - my mom's father developed it in his mid 40's.

 

So off to the Rheumatologist I went for him to tell me that I had the beginnings (mild) of RA and wanted to start me on meds. I wanted to do some research and wasn't sure at the time if I wanted to start the meds. In doing my research, some places suggested going gf to see if it improved symptoms. I knew I was allergic to wheat since I was a child, but since it didn't seem to affect me I still at normally up to this point.

 

Well, now I can say that for me, going gf really has helped a lot. I don't very often need to take any pain meds (Advil) like I had been doing before, and while I can still feel some pain and swelling here and there, most of it has gone away.

 

I'm at a point now though, that I'd like to start making my family their bread again. At the point where seeing and smelling homemade bread doesn't make me want to grab a loaf and hide in the back room eating the whole thing:) I know how I'll feel in a few days now, so that helps!!!

 

 

 So it was pretty disappointing when I went to make bread for the first time in a while and it turned out like the front loaf here!!! I knew even after the first rising that things weren't right, but I went ahead and tried to bake it. Nope, not right!!! The back loaf was from my attempt today, much better!!!

And here are the rest of them from today. Hubby says they tasted good too:) I didn't use any fancy recipe, just a basic whole wheat bread recipe. Hopefully I'll keep up with making this week after week and be better about it than I am the peanut butter!!! :)

Unscheduled Post :)

Tonight's post will not be what I had expected to post today. I had planned to make some homemade bread and post on that, however something went wrong with it. Not sure if it was that I used a bit more oil instead of the egg it called for (because I wasn't thinking and feed our daughter the last of the eggs for lunch), or if the yeast wasn't active enough. I went ahead and baked it even though I knew pretty much right away that there was a problem. I ended up with baked dough loaves. Like really dense, flat, warm dough :)

So instead of that huge mess I made today (maybe I'll try it again tomorrow), I will use a writing prompt from NaBloPoMo. Today's is...

Thursday, November 15, 2012
Tell us about your favourite pet

Not sure this is super interesting to all of you, but it does make for an easy post for me:)

We've had lots of animals since we moved out here. Some have been small and very fluffy cute.

 

 
Some more that were tiny and so cute:) These were born 2 summers ago and we still have all but 2 of them. One went to our niece and one ran off.

Some have been bigger. These were a lot smaller when we got them, but still a lot bigger than the
kitties or chicks.

Some we've had for a long time. Gracie, the yellow lab is 10 years old and Titus, the chocolate lab is 8 years old.

 

And some that are new to the family. (Fargo the Holland Lop).

We've had lots more animals, including goats, ducks and even a baby skunk (for a few hours anyway, we took it to the zoo).

But my favorite is this guy. I even let him sleep on my stitching basket:0) We have lots of cats around here and I really do care about all of them, but every now and then we get one that is super cuddley. This is the first one that my hubby (an offical non-cat guy) has allow one indoors. 'Paws' still likes to spend some of his day outside, but he also loves to crawl up in bed with me in the mornings after hubby goes off to work:)

So what about you? What is your favorite pet?

IH&SW Coming Soon!!!

 

November's IH&SW is coming this weekend!!! Basically this is an excuss to sit around and stitch all weekend, then blog about your progress on Monday!! Okay, so that never works here, but I do try really hard to set aside a bit more time than normal to stitch away on some projects. If you want to join in as well, click the above button and it'll take you to the sign up for the month.

November TUSAL Post

ACK!!! I just almost forgot to post today!!! I also almost forgot about TUSAL!! Thank goodness I finally remembered:)

 

I did a bit better this month, though all those snips are from the race car project. I'm pretty sure I didn't put one stitch in anything else this past month. I am getting closer on that project though, and then I'll be able to move on to other things!!! :)

Baked Apples - YUM!!!

Hubby decided that we should do something a bit more healthy for his (and dd's) dessert project this weekend, so baked apples it was. Oh, and they were so good too:) You'll have to forgive the picture quality. We have very poor lighting in the house and it was already dark when we got started on these. I used the best pictures that I got, but they still aren't all that great.



 

 

 First hubby cut off the top of the apple and scooped out the core, but not all the way through, you want the bottom part attached to the apple so the filling doesn't fall through.

Then he mixed up the filling. This was an experiment as this is the first time he has made these from his own mixture and we weren't sure how much of the filling it would make or how much we would need.

Then he stuffed the apples full, really pushing it into the apple to get as much in there as possible.

We smoked our apples to give it a hint of smokey flavor, which was really good, but these could easily be done on a gas grill (indirect heat) or in the oven as well.

We only made 3 apples as there is only 3 of us :) but the filling made enough for at least 5 apples. I think I'm going to add a bit of coconut oil, shredded coconut and some diced apples and bake it to make a small batch of granola with the leftover filling!!!

Here is the recipe...

1 c. oatmeal (we used gluten free old fashioned rolled oats)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
5 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 c. dried cranberries

Mix dry ingredients together and then add melted butter. Mix until all ingredients are moist. Add cranberries. Stuff as tight as you can into large apples. Should be enough for about 5 apples. We used honeycrisp apples.

Cook in a smoker grill at 200 for about a hour, then turn up the heat to 350 for about 30-45 min longer. Or cook indoors at 350 for about a hour. Check for desired tenderness. Our apples were mostly soft, with just a bit of crunch left.

Like I said, these were really good, but would have been slightly better if we had vanilla ice cream to serve them with!! :)

Thankful Sunday

Here is my thankful post from this past week -

Monday - Thankful for having a quiet, slow week ahead of me.

Tuesday - Thankful to live in a country where my voice is heard.

Wednesday - Really thankful that this was a slow week as dd is sick and we don't have to worry about needing to be anywhere.

Thursday - Thankful for the meds that help my dd breathe better.

Friday - Thankful for the furry babies in the house that gives dd lots of critters to play with.

Saturday - Thankful for the great friends that our daughter has made through her youth group. They had lots of fun tonight!!

Sunday - Thankful for the rain last night. Lots of wind and some hail, that even took down a power line, but all is well, and we really needed the moisture.

Daybook Entry 11-10-12

Been a busy day with lots of running in town and a youth group meeting tonight, so I'm going to do a daybook entry today:)

Outside my window - Well it has been super windy here. Okay, it's windy here a lot, but man it's been bad for the last couple of days. Warm though, so that has been nice. Cool front just hit us with some rain and even harder winds. We still have power, but there is a power line partly down just down the road from us, and it took a bit for us to find the dumpster lid!! :)

I'm thinking - That I'm really not ready for the cool weather that is coming. Down to 19 degrees tomorrow night!!! Brrr!! I really hate the hot weather and I really hate the cold weather, so I'm not happy with the weather much:) LOL We have had a really nice autumn so far, and I'm hoping it warms up a little after this cold spell. It was nice to get a bit of rain though!!

In the kitchen - I've been spending a bit more time in the kitchen as my hubby has been working on other projects around the house. He and our daughter have been looking at doing another dessert though, so I'm hoping I'll have something yummy to post soon!! I *think* it'll be baked apples:)

Creativity this week - The only thing I've had time for has been that race car project. I have SOOOO many ideas of crafts I want to be working on though!!! Hoping that I'll be able to work some of those in right after I get this stitching done!! :)

Animal Happenings - I usually do a 'In the barn' entry, but right now there is absolutly nothing in the barn (except some mice). The only animals we have outside right now are cats, and they only had one set of litters this summer, so not even as many as we usually have. Kind of boring out there!!! But we do have lots of critters in the house. We have fish (and LOTS of snails!), dogs, a part-time cat, a guinea pig and now a rabbit. The house feels even smaller than it is, which is saying a lot seeing how the house is only 700 sq ft. LOL But we love having them and it does give dd something to do (like clean cages and argue with the dogs;).

Stitchy Update

Today I was having a hard time coming up with something to blog about. So far this whole NaBloPoMo has been going rather smoothly. Much better than I thought it would anyway. However, I didn't have anything in mind today, so I finally decided to blog about what I've been spending most of my extra time doing...

 

Last time I posted a pic of this project you could hardly tell it was to be a car, but I've made some major progress since then (though not enough, it is due in 3 weeks!!). I can't say this one has been lots of fun as it just isn't something I would normally stitch, but it makes me feel good to know that it will eventually go into making a quilt for a sick or disabled little boy. I've posted about Love Quilts several times now, but if you haven't already, please visit their website. You can at least get a look at some of the work they do and some of the kids they do it for. They are a very nice group of stitchers to work with too:)

Hubby (and daughter) in the Kitchen

A couple weekends ago my hubby and daughter got a sweet tooth and decided it was time to try another pumpkin recipe. It just so happens that I get Better Homes and Gardens e-mails and had just gotten one that had lots of pumpkin recipes. It was REALLY hard to choose just one of them!! :) 

 

 

We ended up deciding on Chocolate Glazed Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake.

 



 

Of course, we had to make a small change to the recipe to make it mommy friendly (aka, gluten free). This was a very small change this time though. Instead of using chocolate wafer cookies (which I could not find gluten free, though I do believe I may have been able to order), we used gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies. This turned out really good, and I'm pretty sure I would have been fine just eating the whole box of them:)

My hubby is getting so good at baking, but he insists on doing all the baking on his smoker grill:) Again, I will say that at a temp of 300 or higher (and using a non-flavored wood like oak) there is very little to no smoke, and so it really does act very much like an oven. You can see on the left that we had a bit of extra batter which we cooked crust-less in another glass bowl. On the right is the pie all nice and cooked. We had to let it cool all the way before adding the chocolate glaze and then we had to let that cool to set up!!! This was incredibly hard to do!!!

 

 

As you can see, we lived and ate it all up within a few days:) We did cheat a bit and shared that crust-less pie while it was still (very) warm, so we had a little to hold us off.

 

I will say that while I liked the pumpkin flavor of this one better than the Hazelnut Pumpkin pie we did a while back, I thought the chocolate overwhelmed the pumpkin flavor. So I really liked the crust-less version of this, but wasn't as impressed with the full version. It was still good, but didn't have a strong enough pumpkin flavor to compete with the chocolate.

 

BTW, my dd was trying to practice her drizzling skills, so that is why the white chocolate is on top:) 

A stitchy finish

About a month ago, right about when I was starting the race car block for LOVE QUILTS, a message came across one of the stitching Yahoo groups I'm on that another member just found out she had cancer. Now I do not know this other member, and the truth is that I'm not very active on this board, but when a different member suggested that we stitch up some heart blocks that could be made into a small snuggle quilt, I thought that would be a great idea. I found this free pattern at Luli, but had seen it stitched up at Reve de fil as well, and I really liked it done up in blue with the small heart in a contrast color so it would stand out. 



 

 

I hope that enough people joined in to make this a success, but either way it was a fun pattern to stitch. Maybe something I'll need to do for myself at some point:)

Weekly Crafting Post#????

I had been doing really good with my weekly crafting projects, so where did they go? Well, as I am getting closer and closer to a dead-line for a LOVE QUILT  cross-stitched block to be done, I've given up on just about all other activities to make sure it gets finished up. I have 3 weeks left before I need to mail it out and I'm not nearly close enough to being done. So I thought I'd take a pic of some of the crafty projects that I had hoped to finish before the New Year. I'm still hoping to have a bit of time in Dec to finish a couple of these, but we will have to see:)

 

In the upper left-hand corner there is some crocheting in spring colors. This is one of what needs to be 4 panels (I have just started the 4th panel), of what will be a blanket for my daughter. I started this last winter hoping to get it done for her April birthday:) HAHAHAHA!!!  Okay, really, I do still hope to get this one done for Christmas.

To the right of that I have a few rows of a quilt that I was doing for myself. Not getting anywhere too fast on this one either. I really would rather do just about any other craft than sewing, but we really could use a few extra blankets around here. No set time frame on this one.

In the upper-right hand corner you can see some brown/cream/green crocheting. Again this was to be a blanket for myself/my family. Gee, I can't even remember when I started this one:) I have ripped it out several times as I started this one when I was just learning to crochet and I was unhappy with the first few blocks I did.

Just down from the brown/cream/green 'blanket' is a red crochet bag I was trying my hand at. This is even older than the blanket. I got both the front and back panels done on it and then gave up as I couldn't figure out how I wanted to attach them. I should look closer at this now that I have a tiny bit more experience with crocheting.

Along the bottom I have many cross stitch projects that are all stitched up and in need of some finishing. I counted 9 projects. Some are for ornaments and some are a bit bigger. Really need to work on these too:)

And finally, if you look really close on what will be my daughters blanket you will see the beginnings of a stuffed bird I was working on. I think I originally made 2 or 3 (though I didn't finish any of them), but I think our cat got to a couple of them:) He thought they were great even if they weren't all sewn together!!

Like I said, I still REALLY want to get my dd's blanket done, and hopefully a couple of the ornies as well before Christmas. And we could use a blanket or two for the winter. We will see what I can get done, but first I MUST finish the race car block I am stitching!! :)

Pantry Basics #2

Well, not exactly a 'pantry' basic, but more a freezer basic or a food prep basic. Not sure if I should separate these or re-name all these as 'Food Prep Basic'. Will need to give some thought on that:)

 

As I've written before, we didn't do a garden this year. With the VERY dry conditions and heat here, it just seemed a waste of time and energy. However my father-in-law loves to garden and he kept at it. We received lots of onions, tomatoes, potatoes and sweet potatoes and lots and lots of peppers from him this year.

 

 

We do love peppers and use them in lots of our cooking, but I just can't use as many as I'm getting before they go bad. So I decided to chop them up and freeze them.

This is pretty self explanatory. I cut the peppers up into strips, place them in a single layer on a cookie tray lined with aluminum foil (they are easier to pull off the aluminum foil if they freeze to it), let them freeze and once they are frozen, I store them in a plastic bag. The reason I cut them into strips instead of chopping them up is because my daughter doesn't like peppers so usually we put strips of peppers and onions in our food and that makes it easier for her to pull out the veggies:)

I have, in the past, just cut the top off and seeded the peppers and frozen them whole to be used in a stuffed pepper recipe, but none of these were big enough to be used for that.

I had enough to freeze two batches from this bunch of peppers. I would rather eat food from a local garden (that I know) than the stores, so this will help to get us into the winter a bit before I have to start buying peppers at the store again:)

Thankful Sunday

This has been going around on Facebook lately. I'm thinking it is a goal of posting something you are thankful for each day up until Thanksgiving. I didn't get started quite as soon as everyone else did, but I thought I'd start putting up a post each Sunday of the things I am/was thankful for during the previous week.

Nov 1 - For my LORD, my family and friends and for my country and the freedom we have (in that order:).

Nov 2 - For the beautiful Autumn that we have had so far. It's been far too dry where we are, but still very nice weather.

Nov 3 - For the animal friends that we have. They are a lot of work and sometimes are a pain, but I just love that we always have something to suggle up with!! :)

Nov 4 - For my daughter's friends. She has met some really great kids through church activities, 4-H group and her homeschool group.

More to come next Sunday :)

A new family member

Yesterday I wrote about us going to look at a rabbit for a possible new 4-H project. We didn't know if we would get one yet or not, and dd wasn't even sure if she wanted the responsibility of another animal. After meeting this little guy and giving it some more thought, we did end up bringing him home.

 'Fargo' is a male Holland Lop and is almost 6 months old. The breeder we got him from has already started showing him and has handled him a lot, so he is very friendly.

He came home and settled right in. Now we just need to slowly introduce him to the rest of the
in-door crew. He didn't do too well when introducing him to the cat:) But we'll keep up with it a little at a time and hopefully they can all be friends before long. (NOTE: we are not allowing the animals to be together outside of the cage. I'm pretty sure that would be a bad idea:).

Well, I just barely made my post in today. It's 11:10 pm, so I have officially posted 3 days in a row!!! Just 27 more days to go:)

Busy season in our lives

It seems that no matter how much I plan and try, I just can't squeeze enough hours into the day (or enough sleep into the night:). I really don't know how parents with 2, 3, 4, 6 or more kids keep up!! I *think* next week will be a slower week for us, but I've been saying that for months now, LOL!!

Today was MOPS meeting, and of course, I don't have a preschooler anymore, but my teen aged daughter just loves working with little ones and she has been volunteering in the nursery for the MOPS group. She just loves it:) I think it is great since she doesn't get the experience here at home taking care of siblings so this is a really good learning opportunity for her.

Tonight is our 4-H meeting and I think we will go and look at a rabbit tomorrow for one of her 4-H projects. We have been trying to re-arrange her bedroom to fit the critter in and I think we've figured it out. Hopefully there will be pics to show off the new addition by the end of the weekend.

Well, I know this isn't a normal posting for me, and I've been lacking in the picture department on the last couple posts, but I was bound and determined not to have messed up the NaBloPoMo on the second day!!!

More interesting post tomorrow, for sure:)

NaBloPoMo

After a extended break from blogging, in which time our county 4-H had our carnival and I was finishing up the process of enrollment for our club, I'm back. And what better way to come back but by taking up a blogging challenge?



This stands for National Blog Posting Month. The goal is to write a blog post for everyday in the month of November. Okay, this may be a huge stretch for me, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

I look forward to coming up with some creative ideas to write about. Won't you join me? Just click on the button above and get started!!

IH&SW

This past weekend was the International Hermit and Stitch Weekend (click above button for a link to Joysze's blog who hosts this). I think this is the first time I've actually done this and posted about it. It was a lot of fun to have a *small* excuse to spend a bit more time stitching than I usually would on a weekend. I started off wanting to work on these two projects...

 

 

The one on the left is Little House Needleworks' Autumn Saltbox Scriptures series. This is the last in the 4 part series that I have left to do. I posted a while back about the color issues I've had with this project, but I wanted to carry on with it.

 

 

The project on the right is 'Rally Car' from Pinn Stitch Designs. I'm doing this one for a boy quilt for Love Quilts USA. More about this particular project once it's closer to done. 

 

These are my progress pics. You can easily see the progress I was able to make on the LHN project. I only spent a couple hours on it as it's for me and I always feel guilty working on something for me if I have a project I need to get done for someone else. The rally car is a bit more difficult to see the progress on. Despite working on this one for about 8 hours this weekend, with all the light grey, white and tiny detail stitching that I needed to do on it, the progress just isn't as impressive. It is, however, really starting to look like a car finally :)


This really was a fun weekend of stitching. I wish I had been able to spend more time stitching, but weekends usually don't work for me to get much done with dh being home. I was able to spend a bit of time on Friday and a good deal of time on Sunday getting these worked on. Hopefully I'll remember to sign up for this next month as well:)