Dinner and a...work?

Out in blogland, Chookyblue has a blog entry on dinner. I want to go to her house for dinner! She would have to share the mushrooms though!

I started thinking about the meals that have graced our table over the years. There have been so many meals. If you think about the meals at your table what kind of memories do they evoke?

When my kids were in high school, my dh was retired from his job, I was in college during the week and fulfilling my military obligation on 1 weekend a month...dh was the chief cook. The kids began whining about the same old stuff. Since they were on the verge of a strike...mom stepped in. So, each of the kids were assigned dinner night. I can't remember if they came up with this recipe but it did prove to be a staple at the table.

When I cut chickens up at home I save the thigh portions and refreeze them until I get 4-6 of them. I can also find chicken tenders in the chicken aisle. Little pieces of white chicken meat in @ 1/2 pound package. Cut the bone out and cut the meat into smaller pieces. Place the meat into an electric frying pan. Add 1 cup salsa, 1 can whole kernel corn with the juice too, 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper powder. Stir well and cook over high heat until chicken is done. Turn the pan off, add 1-2 cups instant rice, stir well, top with 1-2 shredded cheddar cheese. Put the lid on, set the table and 5 mins later....dinner!

If you try this, let me know. Enjoy, go quilt something, Elaine

Remembering our fallen heroes

My father was in the US Navy during WWII, my brother was also in the Navy during Vietnam and I joined the Navy reserves during the Gulf War. Yes I know..."kinda old weren't ya?" Ahhhh, yeah, kinda old.



I am greatful to live in this great nation. I love the USA.



My heart fills and the tears spill over when I see the cemeteries during Memorial day. So many flags, so many heroes.

Thank you soldiers, from a greatful citizen.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and dates back to the Civil War era. In the USA, It is a day to commemorate our fallen soldiers and to those that have died serving our country.

You can read more by googling Memorial Day or checking out your library.

Thank a soldier today...many have given the ultimate sacrifice to make sure you can blog, talk on the phone, wear shorts to the mall, vote, have Christmas and many other indulgences.

Now, go quilt something...Elaine

Flea spray recipe...kinda!

I am loving this going green type of thing and have involved the dh and doggies too. The whole house smells like what I might assume a lemon orchard smell like, lol.

So the recipe...

Lemons and water.

Thats it. The original recipe calls for a lemon quartered into a pint jar, cover with boiling water and allow it to steep for 24 hours, pour the liquid off into a spray bottle. Well I have 5 dogs and 2 extras for the weekend. The kids are camping this weekend and left their 2 kids with us, so now it's 7 funfilled dogs. A pint jar? Someone was wishful thinking on this one! I used a gallon jar, cut 4-5 lemons up into six pieces, covered with boiling water, set the lid on and waited 24 hours. The lemons turned into a strange gelatinous muck that my goats wouldn't even eat, go figure. I strained the liquid with a strainer and paper towel and that was it.

Looks like dh was busy as I see he has found some other goodies like garlic capsules, borax for the yard, etc. If you want to do some surfing check out: how to rid fleas from carpet and furniture or try Garlic Valley Farms for more info on fleas. Cool stuff out there.

Dh said he just started googling, found more info then I wanted to know, lol! Gotta run, work awaits my body, go quilt something...Elaine
Let me know if you guys try the lemon thing. Oh, and the pic is a baby pic of my grand dogs staying this week end! You know grandmas and their pics, lol.

Lemon Tea spray results for dog fleas

Very strange indeed, results are in on the lemon tea spray for doggies.


It works.


The spousal unit and the dogs are thrilled to death. The sweet son of ours dropped by last nite with his two dogs~~~~omg, now we will have 7 dogs in the house~~~was not thrilled to hear of our dogs being the social dance sit outs but left his darlings anyway. (ahhh, is this how my grandma felt about me being dropped off at her house!). So Big Daddy, aka: spousal unit, dh, etc., and son sprayed the dogs, every last little sucker, and found the fleas slowed down to zero, nearly packed their own bags to move out. Way cool stuff. BD is going to hit the net today to find a natural cure for the damn things hiding in the grass. Can't wait for that one.
Have a great day and go quilt something, Elaine

New quilt, back to work and a wonderful surprise from my fabulous husband~~~!!

Oh dear, what was I thinking...yep, I am now gainfully employed, waaaahhhh!! I secretly miss working with patients. My friend, who works at the hospital where I left @ a year ago, keeps telling me some of my favorites keep asking for me. That is sweet. I like knowing that I have made differences in some lives...I am just not sure about followers, lol.

I have been working on my 9 patch block a day that is going on over at crazymomquilts.blogspot. I have also been trying out a new pattern that has been rattling around in my head for about a week. I want to see if it's feasible before I reveal it!

We have a fairly spread out home...and 5 fun filled doggies. The said doggies appear to have been out in the humid hot weather enough to have picked up a flea or two. omg, what a nightmare. We went thru this @ 3-4 years ago and used a ton of chemicals, washed, vacuumed, boiled and darn near poisoned the poor dogs to rid our little family of these pests.

Now, keep in mind my husband is not a typical green works person. So you can only imagine my surprise and total elation to find he had not only found but printed out

natural rememdies for ridding fleas from dogs but from other areas in the home! I am very pleased with his finding these recipes.

The spray for the dogs is very simple. Cut a lemon up, place in a pint jar, cover with boiling water and let steep overnight, pour into spray bottle and spray your dog avoiding his eyes, face and "tender" areas.

I hate chemicals. We are trying this, will have an update in a few days with the results. We are also trying other things on the list. I am not sure what is going on with my pc but when I "insert" names, blogs, or other stuff into blogger, it refuses to show up on my post, I don't get it!

Here is the website for natural dog vs flea remedies:
www.caninenaturalcures.co.uk/fleas.htm.

My little hexies!

Thanks to Lucy, at the attic24, I dug thru my crochet hooks and found what I hope is the correct size hook. Wouldn't it be nice if crochet hooks were universal? I finally found a G and dug out my cotton yarns. I know I am doing this all wrong. My yarn choice is the same yarns I knit dishcloths from, but I am liking the way the little hexies are turning out. The fun upside is that I have bunches of varigated yarns and plan on using those too.



Yes I am also working on my WIPS and UFO'S and crazymoms block a day and repairing some of my vintage quilts and applique.....oh, nearly forgot, and am going back to work next week, lol.




Here are my hexies so far. Now, if you want to see very pretty hexies, go see attic24 or Stinas. I like mine to, although it may take a long time to finish. I hope to keep this blankie...go quilt something, (or hook) Elaine

Repairing vintage quilts

***Not all quilts should be repaired or washed. You have to make the decision about it's care. If you want to preserve a piece of family history or have a treasured quilt...perhaps you shouldn't do anything with it. I would encourage you to contact the American Quilters Society, if you are inquiring about an American Quilts' value, find an apraiser in your area. If it means a lot to you, then get a professional apraisal. If you're not concerned about the monetary value and this is something you want to drape over a chair or bed and a hole or ratty binding is keeping the "quilt" from being displayed..read on***




I found this wonderful vintage quilt at an antique shop and had to buy it because it is so "me". I have seen this before but can't remember the name of the pattern. It reminds me of Christmas candy! It has a hole large enough for my chubby grand-dog to put her head thru, what am I going to do with that girl? Dh said to just go ahead and lop off that whole row but I just cannot do it. I am going to try and repair the hole. I have some vintage flour and sugar sacks that have been waiting.





I cut the raggy pieces away from the quilt top right up to the seam. Now trim the batting. I Made some templates from a milk carton. I use milk cartons, plastic ones, because they have slight curves in lots of spots and it's easier for me to hold the curvy pieces to the quilt to trace the pieces needed.





I have a fun little stash of feedsack fabrics to go thru to find something that either matches or something I really like, make sure it's clean and pressed. Try to chose a fabric that isn't too bright or new looking if you are working on a vintage quilt. You want something that will blend in and not stand out. If your fabric choice appears to bright consider a lite tea bath. (oh Lordy, where did she come from....oh, must be PLQ...pushy little quilter, lol!



Now, examine the batting. It should be cotton. Hold the quilt up to the sunlight or light...does the batting look like it's shifting? Is the batting evenly spaced...no globs...do you see any weedy looking things? Some of the older quilts were made from the cotton picked directly from the field and used in the quilt without the benefit of being in a like little package!

Go through your batting scraps (THIS is why you saved them, lol) and find a chunk of cotton batting that has the same thickness and weight of what you just cut out. Find a piece @ 1/2-1" larger then your hole piece.

Match your backing fabric with unbleached, bleached muslin. You may need to really look around for something that comes close to matching. I have used a vintage tea towel on one and have twice used shirting fabrics that were almost dead on with the back...go figure! If the backing or the front fabrics are to bright...dip in tea dye until it appears to be a little to dark. It should be the right shade once it dries.

I start with the back. I make a patch the same size with @ 1/4" seam allowance. Press the seam allowance inward, pin in place with the excess seam allowance facing inside. I pick a cream-tea thread, which ever matches the fabrics, and blindstitch in place.

Turn the quilt over, lightly stuff the batting inside. Don't be afraid to trim a little if you need to, to make the batting lie flat. Pin to the backing fabric from the outside, otherwise the pins will be be caught on the inside...yes, I have done that not once but twice, lol.

Now, press the seam allowance to the inside of the fabric patch from the front of the quilt, pin down, blind stitch to the patches surrounding the new patch. Remove pins from the front and back. Check your quilting lines from the original quiltmaker. This particular quilt was done in a hand Baptist fan. I use a hera marker and hand quilted the "missing" quilt lines.

All done, now all I have to do is re-bind the quilt.

Have you ever repaired a quilt? Did you find my info helpful? I have never done a tutorial before had fun with this one...sans pushy little quilter, lol!

A new giveaway

Lizzie told me about http://thegourdqueen.blogspot.com/ giveaway. Very cool painted gourds, really quite unbelievably awesome! What I wouldn't give for 1/2 the talent of this nice lady. Check it out...Elaine

Fun and Games on Etsy today...NOT!!!

I checked out my usual blogs this morning, drooling over the fabrics, staring at awe inspiring quilts, jotting notes on others on living frugal, laughing at others because they can make me blow bubbles with my nostrils into my coffee...oh, don't tell me you have NEVER laughed that hard before! Then I decided to upload pics to my etsy store and that is when my meltdown began....

...do you have dial up? Do you have an etsy store? Do you have to drive more then 25 miles to the next county to buy wine?

Dial up sucks. We only live 6 miles from one town, in the country, and 8 miles from another. Both towns have high speed. We live 3.1 miles from the interstate and 4.7 miles from the interstate rest area with~~~guess what~~~high speed wireless is AVAILABLE! Oh, and the very bestest funnest thing ever...we also live 1 city block, I swear, from the verizon, yep I did say VERIZON



VERIZON

....................

VERIZON...!!!

substation, relay station, whatever, it has an anteanna...but we have no high speed. I get met with...."Oh, I am sorry, it is not available in your area yet", "no, I sure don't know when it is coming". So, sign up for Hughes...sure, no problem. The thing that troubles me is you pay a little extra for for each level of higher speed. Did I miss something here? I mean...a company can regulate speed of high speed? For real? Am I just 2 bricks short of a full load? I had assumed high speed is what, high speed.


I guess I need to perhaps take a class in computer high speed and why you should be thrilled to death to spend a mega amount of money on phones, computers, answering contraptions, and other stupid "things" I could really do without.

What do the rest of you do for online services?? Now, where is that corkscrew, lol!

I forgot to mention the reason behind my tirade today is because it took me 334 minutes to post 7 items with pictures...umm, that would be @ 5 and one half hours to upload pics and post to etsy....ugh!!

When you get lemons...make pie!

My mother used to call this KERVORKIAN PIE, since she was diabetic and simply could not resist this pie! If you are from NE Washington state, or I should say, The Northwest, and you have ever eaten at Cyrus O'Leary's and have had their Lemon Sour Cream pie...omg, this is good stuff!

LEMON SOUR CREAM PIE

1/4 CUP OF CORN STARCH
1/2 CUP OF SUGAR MIX BOTH OF THESE IN A PAN.

ADD:
1/4 CUP OF BUTTER
1/4 CUP OF FRESH LEMON JUICE
ONE TABLESPOON OF GRATED LEMON PEEL
ONE CUP OF MILK
3 Egg yolks

STIR CONSTANTLY OVER MEDIUM HEAT UNTIL THICK. COOL OFF IN REFER. ADD
ONE CUP OF SOUR CREAM AND MIX WELL; POUR INTO A BAKED PIE SHELL. TOP
WITH COOL WHIP OR WHIPPED CREAM.

If anyone has any questions comment me. If you have leftover pie, invite me over!
Enjoy, Elaine

The new baby tub...have you seen it?

I have got to buy at least 2 of these little babies but cannot get into the website. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to order these? The tub in question is on MSN and was demoed on the Today show. It looks like a cross between a bucket and a flower pot. You put your baby in it and it mimics the womb and the little buggers calm and love it! I tried the website, bathedwithlove.com but was denied permission to enter...like my home pc has a problem? Oh dear. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this, or tried it. Or even tried the website. Thanks, now back to quilting for me...happy weekend, Elaine