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.

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.

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 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.

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 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.

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.