Saturday Roundup

 

It has been a bit chilly today so I stuck close to home once again. Did some extra cleaning, some more candy making (I added so am not done with Christmas candy/baking as of yet), talked to my brother, and did a bit of knitting. I will be continuing the knitting after supper.

So since I am pretty sure that neither Kurt or Kris read my blog, I thought I would show all the table runners, and mug rugs turned out. Actually the mug rugs could be used as hot pads as they turned out to be larger than I thought.

Mug rugs on top of the table runners. 

Then once the sewing was completed...Baking and candy making started.

Almond bark first.

Chocolate Coconut drops (I usually make these into balls and roll in icing sugar).

Butter Tart bars were baked next.

Peanut Brittle and Chocolate Covered Pretzels happened the next day.

Took a break from candy and pulled out all the chicken carcasses from the fridge freezer and made Chicken Bone Broth.

Then it was on to Caramel Slice and Nanaimo Bars.

Cinnamon buns were next, but I am going to have to make another batch as the dough I get from my machine, just makes a bit over a dozen.

More candy making and baking is still taking place. I hope to be finished by Monday at the latest.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday TidBits

 I think I am over my shock and distress over what happened to our southern neighbours yesterday. I hope and pray that everything is over now and there will be a smooth transition of power. Though one never knows what will occur or set things off once again.

I promised you all some pictures from Christmas and so that is what you will get.

Gifts surrounding the tree.

Eiko standing guard at the door to where Kris was sleeping. She takes her duties very seriously and would not leave the doorway until he got up in the morning.

Kris opening one of his gifts from Kurt.

Kurt opening his gift from Kris. He was quite taken with the book, and other goodies included.

Harvey opening his gift from Kris. Turns out this is one of those bar globes, but this one is especially made for wine. It is now residing up in the dining room. Probably so I will be the one to dust it.

Me opening all my lovely smelly bath products from Kris. I even have metal containers which I will be using to plant various things in this coming spring. 

Harvey opening his gift from Kurt. He has another autographed photo for his collection of sports photos.

Opening my gift from Kurt. I got a lovely sleeveless lined vest to wear when I am walking, a 23 and me kit to send in (we were informed that eventually all of us would be getting this as a gift), and school pictures.

Kurt opening his gift from us. As you can see he really does not like getting his picture taken.

Kris on the other hand knows that I like to take pictures of gift opening and does not mind posing at all. Here he is with the card I made (which contains some cash).

Though this picture doesn't look like it, Harvey really did like his sweater. Mind you now he says it is extremely warm.

My gift from Harvey was a gift card to download books from the Kobo ereader store, and a Qray bangle.

Now my birthday falls 4 days after Christmas and because the boys are never (or I should say very rarely) still here I open my gifts Christmas morning.

Lots of candles from Kris. 

As well as some lovely bath salts.

This beautiful wax melter and some wax melts from Kurt.

Harvey got me a lovely sterling silver angel necklace. Didn't get a picture of that. Nor did I get a picture of our Christmas feast as the boys call the evening meal.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

It has actually been a very productive week on the old homestead. I am slightly surprised at how much I am managing to accomplish. Still behind in a few things, but I have faith that I will be able to get things done tomorrow (one letter still needs to be written).

So what did I actually accomplish this week?

The lotion bars have been made. I was asked if they were going to be gifts and the answer is yes. Some of course will be kept by me. I have a few more DIY bath and body products to try and make before Christmas (sugar rub, and some bath bombs). I am hoping they move along as smoothly as the lotion bars did.

I finished the quilt top due to finishing those lotion bars so quickly.

There are errors, but I have learned from the construction and will not be making those same errors again. 

Worked on the temperature blanket, a row of knitting every day has been done this month.

My sweater is moving right along. I should manage to finish it during the second week of next month.

The cross stitch is slowly coming along. I like to do my stitching in the bright sunlight and the last couple of days have been cloudy. No stitching has been completed.

I managed lots of extra cleaning and big batch cooking. Today for example, four containers of hamburger soup are residing in the large chest freezer and one in the fridge.

It has been a good week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

One Project Down Many More To Go

 So today saw me finishing off the beeswax wraps for part of  Kurt and Kris's Christmas gifts.

A cookie sheet was covered with a piece of parchment paper and the precut cotton piece placed on top. I then sprinkled some of the package of small beeswax beads over top. I needed to add more after the picture was taken. Make sure the edges have wax on them. After grating the bar of beeswax I recommend using the pellets. My arm aches, and I only got enough grated wax to do three wraps. Must grate more for another project, but I am giving my arm a bit of a rest for a few days.

This was put into a 200 F oven for seven minutes and when the wax was melted I pulled it out and using an inexpensive 1" paint brush, brushed the wax over the surface to make sure it was well covered. 

I removed the wrap from the parchment paper and waved it in the air for a few minutes to dry and cool it. 

Finished product which I trimmed the rough edges on. 

Two gifts made and a few more to go. 

The beeswax melts with the heat of your hands and forms to the top of the bowl. It is not recommended to use on meat, but everything else is okay. 

Wash with cool water and a bit of soap (more or less wiping off the underside of the fabric well). 

Now what will my next project be. I will let you all know when I "roll the dice" and what comes up. Hopefully not the lotion bars or I will need to work on grating that beeswax bar a bit more.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

 

I have managed to get quite a bit done this week. Some I have posted about and some not.

This week has seen me move my spring/summer wardrobe out of my closets and drawers. I now have all my fall and winter clothes situated in my room. While we might (notice I say might) have some nicer temperatures yet this month, the majority of the month seems to be fairly cool. There are a few items that need repairs, and a couple that I am thinking could use some upstyling.  I should be able to get to those at some point this month. 

We, or should I say Harvey, have made a new electrical outlet into the hall. This is something that I have been asking for. Finally after about 7 years it is done. One thing though, this meant reorganizing the room Kris uses when he is home. A major tidy and rearrangement have been done. Looks amazing. There is also a new light fixture in both the sewing/craft room and the spare bedroom.

New curtains were hung in our bedroom, and I am waiting for Harvey to change the rods so I can hang up the new curtains in the dining room. The old dining room curtains are now in the bedroom Kris uses.

I froze one small squash this week as the others need to ripen a great deal more.

Notice that there isn't that much. I hopefully will be adding a bit more to that bag later next week.

Worked on the temperature blanket and Harvey's sweater as well. Last sleeve is completed so tomorrow in the late afternoon and evening I will be working on the neck and sewing everything together. Christmas is coming so very quickly.

I was asked what I use my beeswax wraps for. I am using mine to cover bowls that I put in the fridge. While they are not supposed to be used for such things as spicy foods I am hoping that covering bowls with these instead of plastic wrap or tinfoil will help cut down on the usage of such things.

I also want to make Kurt and Kris some as well as part of their Christmas gifts. So today I started to get ready to make more.

First off I washed the cotton I had chosen to use to make these.

Since I really don't care about matching... Strangely I like to be very different and since these are going to be used for storage in the fridge who really cares, this is for some larger covers for me.

Here are two 15" pieces for the bigger bowls in my cupboard.

I chose this fabric for Kris.

I chose this fabric for Kurt.

Here are the cut out pieces.

Three different sizes. They need a bit of trimming and that will happen tomorrow.

Next I pulled out my block of beeswax and the grater I purchased at the Dollar Store. I put a piece of parchment paper under to gather the shavings.

Grating the beeswax was a bit more strenuous than I thought it would be. I have a feeling that I will need more, but my sore arm gave out. Tomorrow is another day, and more grating will probably occur.

Tomorrow I will start to put everything together and get that project goal finished.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

This week has been a busy one, full of family, laughter and food. Now things will get back to the normal boring lifestyle Harvey and I lead.

Kurt left yesterday. He is visiting friends north of Regina. Kris left early this morning. The house is quiet and the silence is strange.

Christmas Day went very well as usual I got spoiled. I always open my birthday gifts Christmas day as the sons always want to see me open them. They have most times already left by the time my birthday rolls around on the 29th of this month.

I thought I would share my haul with you all.

Kris got me a Google Hub for Christmas. I can use this in the kitchen to time my baking, play music when I am doing dishes, and even look up recipes without having to print them off.

Kurt got me this lovely angel for my collection.

Then came the birthday gifts.

Kurt knows how much I enjoy Margaret Atwood and so he got me my very own copies of The Handmaid's Tale, and the Testaments. He also got me some emergency items for my vehicle.

Kris got me a swift. 

Here I am using it.

I love it. It makes winding those pesky skeins of yarn so very simple. The picture of me is not too flattering, but that is life.

Harvey was told not buy me anything that the new chair was gift enough. Still he figured I needed something under the tree from him.

A gorgeous bangle bracelet. I told him he should not have spent so much, but he said I am worth it. I think I will keep him. 

Spending lots of time using up items in the fridge. Slowly, oh so slowly items are being used up. I don't think we will go out for supper this month. Instead I will use what we have and make some wonderful meals.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Sunday Ramblings

It has been a quiet day on the old homestead. It rained this morning so while the temperature was not really that high, most of the day was muggy and since the garden was soggy no harvesting was accomplished (did not feel like scraping mud off my shoes or fighting off mosquitos, left that until tomorrow when it should be a slight bit dryer out there).

Instead, I spent time in the sewing/craft room completing another project, much like I did yesterday. Today though was the finishing off of Christmas gifts for our sons.

A banner for the hockey pins we got over the years. For some odd reason I thought there was more for Kurt, but then again many times he played on the same team two years in a row.

Two blue bath scrubbies for Kurt, three cotton knit dishcloths, and a knit bag for all those plastic bags he usually leaves lying around the house.

Kris got the same things as Kurt only  he has some washed out purple scrubbies.

I am hoping this organizes them just a little bit and helps them get rid of the clutter.

I finished this 

a couple of days ago. Not quite what I had hoped it would look like, but it will make a lovely lap blanket on chilly winter days.

I hope to get more accomplished in the goal department over the next week. Wish me luck.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sharing

After promising so long to share some pictures of my various projects I thought that tonight would be the time to do so.

All of these projects are Christmas gifts. I still have a few more to make but the list is getting shorter and shorter.

These are the mittens I made for my twin nieces. One loves purple and the other loves pink. I will add a warm headband to these and call the gifts done.

This is one of the three rice bag sets I made for Kurt, Kris and Harvey. The longer one is for around the neck and the two smaller ones are to tuck into their mitts when they perhaps have to shovel.

The quilt I made from leftover fabrics and clothing for Kurt. I do hope he likes it.

Harvey's robe. It looks almost a pale yellow here when in reality it is a camel colour. 

More projects coming very soon. My fingers are flying trying to get everything finished. I have three pairs of mittens, and a rug to knit. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.