Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Project Update and Making Jam

My neighbour brought us more plums yesterday so I decided to make plum jam. Can't let that free fruit go to waste now can I. We are now the proud owners of 10 lovely jars of jam for the winter or to give as gifts to our sons.

Look at that lovely colour!!! We even have some for nibbling on.

I haven't had much time to do work on my counted cross stitch project, but I do try to do a bit each and every afternoon. I am taking little bites of this big elephant and will eventually get it done.

Here is what it looked like last week.

And this is how far I have managed to get this week.
I can see a slight difference, but the changing of colours every few stitches seems to take up much of my stitching time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Sticking Close To Home

The harvest of tomatoes has started. The plants are producing once again and I am busy picking, finishing the ripening process in the house. Since the big hail storm I have been a bit leering about leaving produce outside when so close to being ready to pick.

So today I did up 12 pint bags of tomatoes.

Here are the last six bags just waiting to cool down enough for me to place them in the freezer.

At noon I decided that I would make a quick trip to the ProLife Garage Sale at the Church Community Center.

For the first time ever I was disappointed in what they had for sale. Things seemed pretty picked over even before the sale started (I got to peek earlier today when I dropped off some produce for our church workers). I did manage to find a few good deals though.


The woven basket was just $1.00 and is perfect for putting my rolls of Aida and linen that I use for counted cross stitch projects in. It will even be large enough for my rolls of stabilizer for my machine embroidery projects. I managed to pick up 3 pieces of Aida for future projects as well. Total cost for those was seventy-five cents.

The glass jars are going to be used for storage in the sewing room. I think they will be perfect to store coloured pencils and fabric markers in. Total cost for the jars was fifty cents.

I managed to scoop up two balls of Fun Fur yarn in black. I saw another woman eying them just as I picked them up. Cost for the yarn was another fifty cents.

I even found some heart shaped cookie cutters in various sizes. I may just use them in the sewing/craft room as templates for applique. Cost for these was twenty-five cents.

All in all a pretty good haul for $3.00.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Menu Monday

This day seems to come up way too fast!!!

Monday

Leftover Roast Beef made into stir fry. Serving it over noodles.

Tuesday

Ham Pasties.

Wednesday

Meatballs in Mushroom Soup. Serving this with the remaining noodles.

Thursday

Leftovers from the week.

Friday

Fish fillets, oven fries and peas

Saturday

Chicken Wings, oven fries and cole slaw.

Sunday

Roast Pork, roast potatoes, roast carrots, and some raw veggies from the garden.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

This morning when I woke up, I got to watch the fog roll through the valley.


It quietly rolled through the valley, one minute there and the next minute it had gone. Kind of reminded me that summer is almost over and even though things are still nice and green soon things will become brown and the weather will change.

It has been a quiet day, with both Harvey and I relaxing and getting a few things done in the house and yard.

I managed to cut out a loose fitting house dress that I hopefully will begin to sew tomorrow. I also visited various forums and laughed at a poster who was trying to get people upset over the idea that someone else has numerous names and Facebook pages. This from a person who has at my last count 7 names she posts under. Hmmm, is she complaining about herself???? Anyway I got a nice laugh over that one.

Supper tonight was Harvey's. He decided to cook our ham on a spit over coals outside. This is what he came up with to do the job.

The ham was tender and juicy. Couldn't ask for better. He used a dome cover (lying just in camera range) to keep the heat in.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Fresh Fruit and More

Even though our cherry trees did not produce much this year, and what was produced the greedy Robins decided to feast on we still managed to get some free fruit. Free is always good.

Our neighbour has plum and apple trees in her yard and always shares. Today she brought over a partial bag of plums. Irene informed me there will be more that this is just a start. I washed up about 3/4 of the bag and put them in a bowl for us to munch on.

Harvey has already been munching on them.

Our cucumbers have decided to start growing once again. Today Harvey picked 8 large ones and I decided it was time to make Pickles in a Bucket.

Started to thinly slice them.

Added them to the brine mixed in an ice cream pail.

They will be ready to eat in about 3 weeks.... Kris should enjoy them as we will be on our holidays at that time.

I still have lots of large cucumbers left (and a few smaller ones), so I think tomorrow I will be making Cucumber Salad to go with the leftovers for supper.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Thursday, August 22, 2013

Thursday Tid Bits

We got our vehicle back from the shop today. They could not find anything wrong with the air conditioning. Quite frankly, on the way home it seemed to be working quite well. Theresa told me to keep an eye open for leaks and if one is spotted to bring it back immediately.

Boy is it nice to have wheels once again.

I spent the morning in the sewing room and finished another two projects.

Here are photos of my newest creations.

This is a picture of my patterned knit skirt.

I like the way this one turned out. Not that I don't like the bright yellow one, but I have way more I can wear this one with.

Here is the winter white stretch cord one I made.

I can see me wearing this with tights this winter.

Next up, the grey cord.

Another skirt that will be perfect for wearing this winter.

My last photo of the day is of the cream crepe backed satin one I made.

 A bit too dressy to wear everyday, but nice to wear when we are entertaining, or out for the evening.

I made all these skirts with a bit of time and at a total cost of around $20.00. The material were either pieces I picked up at yard sales, the thrift shop or on deep sale. Actually the cream was a piece I had leftover from another project. So for a cost of about $5.00 each I managed to expand my wardrobe ten fold.

These projects have also kept me out of the stores and spending money. I have two more skirts to make and then a couple of dresses. Should keep me out of the stores for awhile.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Otherwise Known as Hump Day

It has not been the best of days for us on the old homestead. We took the vehicle in this morning because the air conditioner wasn't working right. Turns out that it is a bit more than just a filter and the car is still in the shop. Lord only knows what this is going to cost! Thank heavens we have money put away for emergencies.

I spent some of the day in the sewing room and tomorrow after I finish my next two projects I will post pictures of the finished products.

It is time for an update picture of my cross stitch project. I don't think I really got much accomplished as every few stitches I had to change colours. Hopefully I will be finished these few sections soon.

Here is last weeks picture.

This is this weeks.

I can actually see a small difference. Hopefully next week there will be even more of a difference.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Dog Days of Summer

We are down to the last few weeks of summer and it has been exceptionally hot here in South Eastern Saskatchewan.

Up until last week we had only had a couple of 30C days. The last 4 days have reached 34C and our poor window air conditioners are having to run steady. They are managing to keep the house cool though.

On Saturday we started to have a problem with a very important part of our every day living.

Our phone seemed to develop a terrible static overnight. It also started doing one abrupt and very short ring. I never knew how much a person depended upon this modern device until these problems developed.

We unplugged everything, and replugged everything. Added items one at a time and even disconnected our cordless phone. Nothing worked. I phoned Sask Tel and set up a repair appointment on Monday morning. Later that day I went out and for some reason checked the phone lines leading from the back wall to the side. Hmmm, they were lying on the damp ground (really shady over there and it takes a long time to dry). We put them back on the house with the clips. Checked the phone and it was perfect.

The wires were still down in behind the rain barrel and of course Harvey wanted to get those up and off the ground as well.

Now if our rain barrel looked like this,

there would have been no problem moving them.

Instead we have a 300 gallon rain barrel. This made it necessary to empty it totally. That took most of yesterday. The water was not wasted though as we watered the front lawn with it. Today we shifted it, Harvey attached the wires and then decided to clean out the rain barrel.

We now have an extremely clean barrel, and a working phone. The working phone makes me happy as we would have ended up paying for a very large service call. Having an empty rain barrel when it is this hot makes me and my plants a little less happy. I will have to use city water and our usage bill will go up on that. The forecast is calling for a bit of rain on Friday, so perhaps my rain barrel will fill up once again.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Menu Monday

I had to change my menu for Sunday as when I went to get a ham out of the meat freezer I discovered.....there were none. I remembered that there was no good sale on them the past few weeks. Hope I can pick one up this week.

Monday

Leftover Ham, with Scalloped Potatoes. Served with sliced cukes and cherry tomatoes. I have one last bag of frozen ham in the fridge freezer.

Tuesday

Leftovers from fridge. Sides to be decided later.

Wednesday

7 Layer Casserole.

Thursday

Chili served with toast points.

Friday

Salmon Balls (These are made like meat balls only using rice to hold them together). Veggies decided on later.

Saturday

Leftover 7 Layer Casserole.

Sunday

Hopefully Baked Ham, mashed potatoes, boiled carrots (or perhaps beets).

So there it is, my menus for the upcoming week.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.


Sunday, August 18, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

The end of one week and the beginning of another always makes me sad. Especially when it is getting close to the end of a season.

This summer has either been very short or has whizzed by on the wings of a mosquito (can you tell we have a mosquito problem right now). I do know that our temperatures have been way below normal this summer. Very few days reached the 30 C mark and we have had way more rain than usual. While this has kept everything nice and green with very little watering involved I a beginning to dread what it means for the upcoming fall and winter.

One thing I can say is that we in Saskatchewan know how to manage a bad winter and now that we have a snow blower I am even more at ease. No more shoveling snow!!!! Considering we can have 6 months when snow is on the ground this is a good thing.
This is a picture of our snow blower. I am sure it will get lots of use this winter as I have a bad feeling. Could be wrong of course, but I am not the only one to feel this sense of unease.

Harvey and I are both getting very excited about our trip in September. Jolly old England is going to be a blast.

 Today I spent some time pulling out fabric to continue with my wardrobe additions. I have quite a stack to get through. I also picked out my yarn for some further projects to work on in the evenings.

I should have plenty to keep me busy over the next little while. For the next while I will be working on baby afghans. Kurt likes to give my handiwork away for gifts and since I still have lots of yarn for this type of project from my Mom I am more than happy to use it up.

Off to do some knitting and perhaps watch a bit of senseless television.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Saturday, August 17, 2013

Busy, Busy

Today started out being one of the busier days this week as far as working around the house.

I cut and dried some of the mint and oregano. Pulled out the remaining cabbage that had been damaged by the hail storm and made Cabbage Bread.

I also pinned and cut out the next three sewing projects that will be done during the upcoming week.

Now I am relaxing.

I am having my version of a white wine spritzer and planning on curling up to finish the book I started yesterday.

I am enjoying my alone time. Harvey went to a football game in Regina so I can more or less do as I please as long as the regular chores and planned chores are done. It is amazing how much a person can get done when they don't have someone hanging over their shoulder!!

I know that I will be happy when Harvey gets home safe and sound, but for now I am enjoying the peace and quiet.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday, August 16, 2013

Getting Caught Up and A Bit of This and That

Yesterday I decided to pay a visit to our Salvation Army Thrift Store. I came away with some lovely yarn and a piece of material.

$

I can not believe that someone did not pick up this yarn before I saw it. The two in the forefront of the picture can be used to make the ruffled scarfs that are so popular right now. The pink is going to be used along with some white to make a baby afghan and the piece of grey cord is enough to make me a new winter skirt!!! I got all this for $2.50. Hmmm, I may have to visit a bit more often.

Today I managed to finish the plaid flannel skirt for my winter wardrobe.

I had picked up this piece of fabric last year at the church rummage sale with a skirt in mind.

I moved on to picking out material for my next three projects.

The pink knit and the patterned knit (the patterned is already spread on my cutting table) will be made into skirts to take on our trip. The cream.... Not sure if there is enough for a winter skirt but I am going to try and get one out of it. Tomorrow I cut them all out, and then on Sunday I will start to sew them. Slowly but surely working my way through my fabric stash and replacing items that have gotten a bit thread bare and having fun using up those bits of fabric bought at rummage sales or left over from other projects.

It was very hot here today and next week looks to be the same. I am looking forward to spending time sewing and working on my other projects.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Thursday Tid Bits

We ended up having 2 inches of rain after our storm last night. The large puddle (or should I say lake) behind us grew once again. It had almost dried up before the deluge last evening. The mosquitoes are terrible and going outside is a challenge to say the least.

Today I took my shopping list and bills and ran errands for most of the morning. Bills are all paid until the end of the month now..... I will be paying ahead when we go on our trip.

I have managed to finish two of the three skirts I cut out a couple of days ago.


Here is the yellow knit. It turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself. I plan on making a patterned one using the same pattern.

Here is the grey green crepe one I finished today.

It is a bit shorter than I thought it would be and probably only suitable for wearing in the summer. I think next time I will make it a few inches longer.

Both need to be washed and pressed.

Tomorrow I plan on sewing the last skirt I have cut out and then starting to cut out a few more to replace some older skirts in my wardrobe. I need to fit this slightly overweight body I have developed over the past few years.

When a person is able to sew their clothing there is not only a saving of money but you get a better quality of clothing than what you can buy in your local Walmart, Target, or JC Penney store.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Rainy Weather and An Update

After supper tonight dark clouds and rain with hail rolled in once again. I watched it cross the valley and come up the hill.

This is what it looked like out our front south facing window.

You can even see that the driveway has turned into a river!!!

The storm is still going on in so far as rain coming down. It is even getting heavy once again.

Here is a picture of my cross stitch project from last week.

And here is the updated photo from this week.

Hope you can all see the difference. I can!!

We have a thunderstorm rolling in now so I will have to go.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Getting More Projects Underway

Today I started three new sewing projects. None of which should take much more then a session each with my sewing machine.

The first project is this one.

A nice bright yellow knit skirt. Two pieces of fabric with an elastic waist (most of my skirts have an elastic waist). I am hoping it is nice enough to take with me on my trip to the UK.

The next project is another skirt.

A grey green crepe just above the knee style this time.

The third project and yes it is another skirt.

A plaid knit this time. It is longer in length and has a waist band with a tie.

All the material and patterns came from my stash and I have the matching thread in my stash as well. The little bit left of each material has been put away for future use. Could end up being used in a quilt or for a contrast edging on another garment, no wasting here if at all possible.

I am really trying hard to make my way through all the fabric I have bought over the years and this year could be the one I make a bit of headway. I have to replace a few things in my wardrobe for this fall and I am sure I have just the right fabric to do so.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.



Monday, August 12, 2013

Menu Monday

I am a bit late getting this posted today, but I had a wonderful conversation with our new priest this evening.

So as the saying goes, better late than never.

Monday

Hamburgers, veggies and dip, and creamed new potatoes.

Tuesday

Leftover Chicken and as it is going to be warm this will be made into a Chef's Salad type of thing.

Wednesday

Leftovers from the week or Leftover Ham in Scalloped Potatoes.

Thursday

Pork Ribs, rice and corn

Friday

Glace (German dumplings/noodles), fried eggs

Saturday

Since Harvey will be at the football game I plan on a light supper of toast and soup.

Sunday

Roast Ham, mashed potatoes and beets.

So that is my menu planning for the upcoming week. Sides may change but the main course will stay the same.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God Bless.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Sunday Ramblings

I woke up this morning to this.

The fog was so thick that I could not see down into the valley below.

By this afternoon it looked like this outside.

It even got nice and warm out.

I took my daily walk after mass when it was nice and sunny.

I had a laid back day. Worked on my cross stitch project and the machine embroidered butterflies. This time I allowed my machine to rest a bit between each butterfly and things seemed to go much better. I managed to get 6 butterflies finished and at least 100 stitches done on the cross stitch.

Mass today went very well. Our last priest was moved very quickly from the parish. Turns out that some parishioners came forward with concerns as to his behavior. The rumor was that he was doing things unbecoming to a priest. Never saw that, but I am not always at the church or doing church business. A letter was read as to the allegations and how no evidence was found to support or deny the allegations brought forth. After much discussion, it was decided that since the trust aspect between the parish and priest had been broken it was best to move him to another parish. I hope this settles things down here, but I have visions of another upset like a few years ago happening. I really don't think we can heal our parish if that happens.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.




Saturday, August 10, 2013

Bit Of A Scare

No pictures tonight, just a post about my day and the scare I had.

Today I was busy doing the machine embroidery of the butterflies when all of a sudden my machine shuddered and stopped working.

The computer screen flashed the message that a safety device had engaged because something was wrong!!! Oh my heart stopped (this machine cost way too much to have a problem with it after only 2 years). Well I finally got that fixed up by doing the things that troubleshooting told me to do.

I tried to start once again but my machine was stuck in what the computer told be was the down position. Hmmm, so I fiddled around, greased a couple of parts and got that fixed.

Started again. This time the material bunched and I got a large knot of the top thread balled up between the feed dogs and the bobbin case. Arrgh. Nothing worked until I finally took it apart again and cleaned the bobbin case, cleaned the lint from under the bobbin case, and cleaned the race. This time I made sure that everything was lined up correctly and nothing was overly tight.

I waited until about 30 minutes ago. Crossed my fingers and set up to embroider another butterfly. Thank goodness it worked.

I feel so much relief and so much pride that I managed to fix it myself. Guess I can do some things on my own without Harvey's help after all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Friday, August 9, 2013

Is It Fall?????

The last week has been extremely cool here in Saskatchewan. This morning when I got up the temperature was 8 C. Brrrr.

On my daily walk through the yard I noticed a few things.

The leaves on my honey suckle are changing colour.

Also the leaves on the Virginia Creeper are changing.

Harvey figures that it is from hail damage, but I don't know. On my walk this morning I saw lots of trees with their lower branches changing colour. Also the cars have a heavy coating of dew, more along the lines of what we get in September.

Now I am going to get whiny. We have not had summer and after the very long winter we endured I want some heat and lots of sun. Instead we have gotten rain and more rain with very few warm days. I am really hoping that things warm up very soon.

Tonight I finally made the Lazy Perogies.

Here they are before the final cooking in the oven. Good old comfort food for a sunny but very cool day.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Finally Started

Today, after much procrastination I started the machine embroidered squares for a quilt I want to make for our bed. Our bed spread is 20 years old and it is time for a new one.

I set up my machine, picked the pattern, sized it, and picked colours. Whew, the choices that I had!

Here is a photo of the first butterfly.

It is only partially done in this photo. Lots more layers of colour to go.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

I need to press and cut the threads yet, but I am waiting until all of them are done.

I only got 5 of them made today.... only 25 more to go. Hopefully tomorrow will see more then 5 being finished.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A Finished Project and An Update

Today I finished my sewing project.

I have had this blue tunic cut out just waiting to be sewn for at least 3 months. I finally have it done and can move on to the next project.......

The next project will involve the use of my embroidery machine. I will be starting the squares to use in the quilt for our bedroom. I can hardly wait to start.

I have an update on my cross stitch project to share.

This is what it looked like last week.

And this is what it looks like as of tonight.



Can you see a difference? I can. Slowly but surely getting it done.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

When The Weather Is Lousy..........

This is what the sky has looked like for the past few days. Guess this is all a part of living on the prairies. One never knows what the weather is going to be from one instant to the next!


Yep, every night we have had rain. Last night was an inch and a half, today so far we got another tenth. The garden really needs a few days of sunshine and warm weather. By this time last year I was already picking ripe tomatoes and freezing the excess! Now all I have are large green balls hanging on the plants.

The sun did come out long enough today for me to pick this for our table.

A bit of colour for a rather dull day.

One good thing about days like this is that I get to work around the house. I also get to work on some knitting projects.

Finished the dish cloths.

And managed to get a baby afghan started on my needles.

I have also started sewing the blue tunic that I cut out months ago. Hopefully that will be finished tomorrow.

My afternoons are spent (well at least one hour) working on the cross stitch project. I will do my weekly update of that tomorrow.

I also started to tidy up and make my sewing/craft room a little more conducive to creating. I have a pretty good start on it, and have managed to make a bit more space to work in. More about that in another post at a later date.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.




Monday, August 5, 2013

Menu Monday

I had company this weekend and they kinda took over the computer. Now things should be back to normal and I can actually use it once again.

Here are this weeks menus (well at least the main courses and perhaps a few sides).

Monday

Baked Spaghetti and cole slaw. The spaghetti and meat sauce are leftover from Saturdays meal.

Tuesday

Leftover pork made into a stir fry and served over rice.

Wednesday

Leftover Ham. Not too sure if I will make a casserole or just warm it up and serve with veggies and mashed potatoes.

Thursday

Any leftovers from the week. I also have two frozen sausages that I can cook up as well if there are not enough leftovers for the two of us.

Friday

Lazy Perogies. These are going to made this week.

Saturday

Grilled hot dogs, baked beans and a salad.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots and the remains of the salad from yesterday.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Lazy Cabbage Roll Recipe


I promised Mama Bear that I would post the recipe for my Lazy Cabbage Rolls today. Here it is.

Lazy Cabbage Rolls

1 medium head cabbage, shredded
2 1/2 lbs of ground beef
2 medium sized onions diced
3 tins tomato soup
1 tin water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
3 cups cooked rice

Place 1/2 the cabbage in a buttered 9 x 13 dish. Since I used the tinfoil trays I skipped the buttering of the pans and just divided 1/2 the shredded cabbage among the 6 trays.

Combine the soup with the water and pour about 1/4 on the cabbage. I spooned it over to cover most of the cabbage.

Saute the onions, brown the meat.

Mix the meat, onions, garlic powder, salt, pepper and cooked rice. Add about another 1/4 of the tomato soup mixture. Place this mixture in a layer on top of the cabbage.

Top the meat layer with another layer of the shredded cabbage and pour on the rest of the soup mixture.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.