It's HOT!

Well, Mother's day, then Father's Day have both come and gone.  4th of July will be here in a couple weeks.  Next thing you know it will be fall.  Life just goes too fast for me!

I have spent the last month sanding, painting, papering, cleaning, sorting, tossing, also digging, planting, cultivating, pruning, staking, well, you get the idea.  I'm pretty much done with the hard stuff.  One of the coolest things I did was the simplest in a way.  I changed the handles on my kitchen cabinets.  I had gold ones and now they are bronze.  Beautiful.  Amazing how it changed the look.  It was no small feat actually as I had to remove the doors, and spray paint the hinges to match because they showed and they were gold.  Then I cleaned the cabinets with orange oil and while the doors were off I cleaned out the cabinets.  It actually took a few days to get it all done but it looks great!

One of the things I found in cleaning is my old Kenmore receiver.  It was packed away in a box for years.  I purchased it in 1977 for about $300 and it still works today. It was a really good one and I made payments for a long time to pay it off. I'm glad I've kept it all these years.  I always liked how cool it looks in the dark- with all those red, blue and green lights.

All I have to do now until canning season is maintain and relax.  It was worth the effort.  I haven't taken pictures recently but I will in the next few days and add them.  I have a lot of herbs in pots this year and even though we keep getting rained on, everything is doing fine.  We got about 11" of rain in June at my house.  Last year drought, this year excess.  You just never know!

One of my new plants I purchased is a citronella plant.  I've never seen one before this year so I had to buy it.  It smells like lemon and looks really pretty.  I got some chocolate mint also and you guessed it- it smells like chocolate. The pineapple sage smells like pineapple.  I'm loving this deck!  I made little plant sticks so I could remember which plant is which.  Besides those, I also have peppermint, sage, lemon thyme, oregano, chives, cilantro, lemon balm, parsley, basil and lemon grass.

I was able to finish the latest line of fabric during the month so it should be showing next year.  I am ready to finish a few new decorating projects for my living room, you know, table runners and pillows,  in my leisure time.  I have also been drawing up new ideas for future patterns.  I have new deck furniture and plan to spend a lot of time out there as I have a boat load of books on my kindle that need my attention.

Awe, summer, don't you love it?

OK, now back to winter.... here's a picture I grabbed of the new Snowfolk fabric panel I designed for Benartex.  The entire fabric line is found by clicking here:  Snowfolk

It's Just a Busy Time of the Year!

Happy Mother's Day coming up.  The weather has finally turned around in the mid-west.

Flowers, veggies, house cleaning, oh my!  It has been so busy around here.  I am repainting half of the house and spring cleaning the other half.  It's such a good feeling and I am on a roll so I don't want to slow down now.  I can also see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm just about done.  I guess I won't have anything else to do then but go back to work afterwards, imagine that?

My grandson is in T-ball and had his first game tonight.  It was quite entertaining!  Nathan was the first baseman and every time the other team hit the ball, he took off running to second base.  He just couldn't get it that he had to stay at first!  He wanted to run.  Three year old Patrick took a spill into the only mud puddle around.  He was screaming, covered in cold, wet mud.  His mommy was covered also after a big hug to calm him.

 My grand daughter Grace just took me to a Mother's Day Tea last week.  They preformed and we all had tea and cookies!  Grace plays t-ball also but I haven't been to her game yet.  I hopped down to Memphis for the weekend to see my mom.  I endured the driving rains all the way home.  The Memphis area is just as flooded this year as it was two years ago with the big flood.

My 18-year old just graduated from high school.  It's a relief on one hand, but a sad thought on the other.  I am not looking forward to being an empty-nester.  Life just goes too fast!

The Snow is Replaced with Lots of Green

Our snow finally melted and good riddance!  I am so longing for a garden this year.  This winter seemed to go on forever.  It's probably the fact that it was so mild for months and then the snow started in February.  I am more ready than ever  for my garden.  I started tomatoes, cucs, zuchini, butternut squash, green peppers, hot peppers, lettuce, romaine, and brussel sprouts in flats spread across my living room windows.  I added a few more flats of herbs and flowers and now there's a regular greenhouse in there.  It'd be nice to get them in the garden but there's another frost expected tomorrow night.  I bought some pink clematis and a couple of trellis'.  We are going to power wash the deck and put a finish on it then I'll be ready to attach the planters along the rails.

The gold finch are back and I guess it's time for the hummingbirds so I need to get those feeders out and filled.  It's hard to get into designing as there's so much to do around the house.  It's a spring cleaning kind of thing I guess.  Last week we took all of the screens off and washed them and the windows.  I love it when the house is really clean!

I'm planning to paint the kitchen and the master bedroom in a few weeks.  I just can't seem to get out of the spring cleaning mode.  I am not going to quilt market in Portland- I just didn't get anything finished.  Maybe it's my old age but I am enjoying playing (and cleaning) a bit more these days.

I got some new planters and I am wanting to paint them so they all look similar.  I found glow in the dark paint which I'm thinking about using.  It goes on white(ish) but looks green at night after it soaks up the sun.  Sounds fun, huh?  I don't know if it will actually glow but my patio furniture is green so it should fit in.  Anyone used it?

Another Week, Another Snow!

Well, I spoke too soon.  No sooner than the second snow melted, we got a whopper 10" snow that stuck to everything.  It's still out there ~~ sigh~~

It's pretty though!  Funny, we've had the best weather all winter until mid-February.  Then the snow started.  

My seeds are all up and growing.  I know it won't be long now.

I went to the Genealogy Conference in Kansas City with my sister and thoroughly enjoyed it.  We learned quite a bit about the search.  Ancestry.com has a lot of search bases that make searching for loved ones easy.  Not only can you search census, birth and death records, but you can search things like court records, land records, deeds, probate records, passenger lists, military & pension records,and the list goes on and on.  

We lost another uncle last week and our opportunities are running out for first hand accounts.

If you haven't already started searching your history, I encourage you to speak with older members of your family and write down family history & memories while you still have them around.  

Those are priceless memories!

Spring is in the Air!

The weather has finally turned around I think.  The snow is almost gone.  You know, I bought a bunch of seeds a month ago since the weather was so nice all winter and THEN we got 2 whopper snow storms.  Figures, huh?  I jinxed myself.  I did start a bunch of seeds in flats and they are positioned in front of my living room windows.  No sprouts yet but they should be there any day.  I am so ready for a garden.

I'm being really lazy these days or shall I say domestic, and the designs are on the back burner again.  Maybe it's my old age or maybe just the winter blahs - I must be ready to get outside.  I decided to go through my recipes.  I have piles and piles of paper printouts with great recipes on them, some from Martha Stewart, some from food.com- you know the routine - before you make something, you search it and print out what you find.  Most have been tested and the pages are no longer clean anymore, if you know what I mean.  So, I decided to retype them and put them in page protectors in a binder.  It's a huge undertaking but moving right along.  Someday I will have a great, organized binder full of favorite recipes.

Here s a favorite for Chicken Taquitos (from Chevy's Tex Mex)-

Chevy’s Salsa Chicken 

5 tomatoes, cored & halved

1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded, halved

1 yellow onion, peeled & quartered

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp Fuego Spice Mix (see below)

3-4lb cooked chicken, skinned & chopped

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Broiler: half an onion, tomatoes & jalapenos cut side down, roast 8-10 min or until almost blackened.  Transfer with liquid to blender, pulse until thick & chunky.

Dice remaining onion, garlic & sauté for 5 min. Add spices mix & sauté 4 min longer.  Add chicken & sauté until chicken is heated.  Add tomato mixture & cook. Add cilantro & simmer 10 min.

To make the Chicken Taquitos

16 corn tortillas                      Make the Salsa Chicken above

*** Preheat oven to 375°.  Heat tortillas for 3-4 min.  Put ¼ cup of chicken mix down center in a line.  Roll up into tight cylinders and line up parallel.  Cut skewers in half and use to attach four cylinders together.  Do not let them touch each other.   Heavy skillet: heat 3” oil to 350°, place one set of skewered cylinders in pan,  deep fry 2-3 min until crisp.  Remove, drain on paper towel.  Serve with jalapeno jelly.  YUM!

Chevy’s  Fuego Dry Spice Mix/ Rub

¼ cup paprika

2 tsp cayenne

2 tsp ground white pepper

2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp black pepper

2 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tbsp chile powder

2 tbsp oregano

**Combine, mix well. Stores airtight for 6 months

This weekend I'm hanging out with my sister in KC.  We are visiting the Ancestry Days Conference and taking a few classes on genealogy.  It should be a fun time.  This is her birthday gift from her husband so I get to go and enjoy also!

I've had trouble getting Steam-A-Seam light- Warm Company is completely out and don't have a date for receiving more.  I have a few of the regular 4 yard cuts left but I'm completely out of the light.  The fabrics are just about gone now also.  Thanks to our regular customers, we are moving out a lot of quilts and runners.  

It's like spring cleaning around here.  I actually wake up thinking about what to clean! Next I'll want to paint the house.  Actually, I'm thinking about those kitchen walls.  Hmmm.  Any suggestions?

More Winter Blues

 We have a nasty flu strain running through our town and my son got it a week ago.  I've been waiting to get it myself but so far, so good.  We all had flu shots but the shots only cover a few strains and not this nasty stomach flu going around right now.  Spring- where are you?

I ordered a bunch of seeds, just couldn't contain myself.  They are all here spread out on the table and I'm deciding where to plant them all.  I think we have to enlarge the garden to fit everything in.  It will be another drought season I'm sure but I'm craving home grown veggies right now and I'll risk the watering.  I'm starting a few new flower beds also.  My husband doesn't know it yet but he will!

We scrapped the trip to Houston to visit Memphis instead.  I took my daughter and two granddaughters down to see my mom.  It was a cold and windy trip but my mom enjoyed it!  It was the first time she got to meet Miss Lily, who just turned a year old.  The trip was actually a great one considering we had a 6 year old and one year old on a nine hour drive.  The girls were great and no one made a fuss at all.  We would have gone sooner had we known!  We stopped at Lambert's Restaurant in Sikeston, Missouri to have lunch.  They are famous for "throwed rolls" and I caught a few myself.  The only problem is that they are hot when they throw them and the rolls kind of mush in your hands if you catch them too tightly!  It was fun though.

We are expecting measurable snow this week, though not like the whopper the northeast got last week, it will be sufficient for us Mid-Missourians to count it as winter.  My husband is excited as he has a snow plow! 

I finished converting all the quilt patterns finally and have a few craft patterns to go.  It's been a long job, taking about nine months actually.  That's what I get for having so many I guess.  They will all go on the website soon.

I have actually been working on a some new designs and ready to start pulling fabric to get started.  I have new fabric line coming out the spring.  I'll post pictures when it's ready.

The Return of Winter

Well, winter has returned here in mid- Missouri with -1 wind chills tonight.  Brrr.  Good excuse for a warm blanket, a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.  While I still go through the seed catalogs at a slower pace, my focus is moving towards making pots of home-made soups and chili to freeze.  It's still soup weather and time for my 20 quart stock pot.  I made a pot of Fagioli (similar to Olive Garden) and it was great!  I didn't add the noodles since I was freezing it but they can be added once I make individual pots.  Chicken noodle soup works out great too- just cook the chicken, carrots, celery and onions and freeze it in 2 quart containers.  When you are ready to eat it, heat it up and add a package of pre-cooked noodles.  Its fast! 

I am thinking about a winter trip to Houston to visit warmer weather but the gas prices recently shot up again.  That could put a damper on things. I haven't been down there in a while and I'm itchin' to go see my sister! 

I am still playing with the new computer but I have found there are issues with the new programs (64 bit) and older files.  Seems I am still spending time upgrading all of the old-old pattern files but it's a labor of love.  I'm updating the graphics also and they all look much better.  I have had a lot of requests for PDF's and hope to offer them on the website soon. 

Winter Blues

It's winter, I know, but it was 65 degrees here in mid-Missouri yesterday.  At  11:00 p.m. last night, it was still 58 degrees.  This is crazy!  Today, however, it will snow.  That's usually the way it goes.  We do need winter to move on to spring.  I am already looking at seed catalogs and planning my garden this year.  We are expecting another drought so I will have to keep that in mind.

Christmas came and went way too fast this year.  I must be getting old but I am not ready to be done with it.  It was one of the best Christmases I can remember.  Very laid back and drawn out.  We still have our Christmas tree up, in fact.  It's not that I'm so lazy that I didn't take it down but we have all been sick since Christmas and just haven't felt up to it.  The stomach flu and influenza B, among other illnesses, have been running through our town like a wild fire.  So much for those flu shots we got since we all got sick anyway!  I'm feeling like today we might tackle the tree.  After all, January is almost half over.

I got a new computer last month and just love it.  I normally get them through our local computer place but  their quote was so high this time that I decided to check around.  I found some bargains on Amazon.  The first one I purchased was an HP and it was a beauty- about as big and loaded as they come. When it was on, it had a red light inside that made it look alive.   The only problem was, every time I tried to load a program onto it, it crashed.  I had to send it back.  The next time I ordered a Dell and I have to say, for my first Dell, it's pretty nice!  My son calls it a "bear" as it has about everything in the world on it.  I'm still adding programs and setting it up.  Such fun!

I guess it's time to get back to work.  Ever since I finished school, I have been playing and I have no more excuses.  I will update the website and add some quilts and runners for sale.

Sunday before the Sunday before Christmas!

Well, I'm still singing the song that doesn't end and so is Nathan.  Funny how those catchy tunes stick with you.  I heard on the radio (ok, it was John Tesh) that it happens because you don't finish listening to the song. They say if you go back and finish the whole song it will go away.  I'll have to watch Lamb Chop this week I guess.  The only problem is, it's the song that never ends.  How exactly do I hear the whole song?   LOL

My sister is here to celebrate with me this weekend, I graduated yesterday with a BSM-HR degree, who-hoo.  It was fun!  I didn't pass out or fall off the stage or do anything embarrassing.  I might have been the only grandma graduating though.  It looked that way.  My husband was sure dressed to impress- he's been buying himself good looking clothes these days.  Who knew he had that in him?  He has been shopping for himself and getting the best looking stuff.  He's on a wool kick right now and he has tweed jackets and sweaters in many colors now.  Not many years ago he'd buy clothing and I always compared his purchases to Starsky and Hutch from the 70's.    He's getting better with age!

Now I get to decide if I want to pursue an MBA.  It's tempting since I have the whole study thing down now and my study partner from the last degree has decided to do it.  I'll think about it through Christmas.  I have a few new cross stitch designs in the works and some quilt patterns underway.  The new year starts in 2 weeks.  Life just goes too fast for me.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the young victims in Connecticut on Friday.  Also the families of the heroic teachers who were killed, everyone in the school who was safe and the first responders who were traumatized.  The local community will never be the same.  Such a heartbreaking tragedy.