Weekly Roundup

 

It has been a busy week here on the old homestead. I have been not only doing the household tasks, but also helping Harvey with the carport set up. That is done for awhile as we are getting lots of rain, and the cement footings need to harden and season before we anchor the posts down and put the roof on. I would say at least another two weeks of work need to be done before we can say it is completed.

Then there was a problem with the plumbing that Hubby did on the bath/shower. He used regular steel joints instead of stainless steel and that caused rust to flow out of the taps.... I had thought I would need to turn into plumber's apprentice but Harvey managed to do so on his own.

That gave me time to do a few more harvesting tasks.

So today I dehydrated onions and lavender.

The lavender is for eldest and I hope to get another three trays done tomorrow.

The onions have been ground down to make onion powder.

Other dehydrating took place as well. I did the sage, oregano, thyme, parsley, and probably what is the last of the basil. 

Then I moved on to dehydrating jalapeno peppers.

I also dried more goji berries.

Lots more ripening that will need picking.

I made chili sauce and salsa (didn't get a picture of the salsa before I put it away).

Oops made an error I did get a picture of the salsa.

What I didn't get was the 5 pint bags of frozen tomatoes I also processed.

When I wasn't processing garden harvest, I was knitting, or refashioning some of my clothing. I managed to change two of my dresses into skirts, and one top. Plus some of the clothing had already been taken apart to be used as fabric for other projects.

I visited a friend in the hospital, did the shockingly high cost grocery shop (hope not to have to do another until the beginning of October). I also paid the middle of the month bills, and did a bit of sorting in the sewing/craft room (more work needs doing). 

Pretty sure next week will be much the same as this week, minus the carport, and plumbing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

I have closely been watching prices rising, mostly because of the cost of fuel to ship things. I am also noticing more and more Canadian goods on shelves, which is a very good thing. There are times that I wish I lived in a bigger center with more choice, but I will continue to save costs grocery wise where and how I can.

So far the thrifty and frugal things I am doing is making the most of the harvest. I have frozen carrots, and beans. Dehydrated herbs, scraps from onions (ground to make onion powder), and have started to freeze tomatoes (the skins will be dehydrated to make tomato powder). I have made pickled onions, relish, Cowboy candy, salsa, and chili sauce. The way the tomatoes are coming in I will need to find something else to can with those as well. I even froze some corn on the cob!!!

Soon I will be making pumpkin puree as well. I will also be dehydrating lavender leaves. 

Life is just one big harvest right now.

I am using the appliances to cook more of our food, and hope to get used to doing that a great deal more. 

I made a great many ready meals for the freezer and am going to be making a few more. These are in tinfoil containers that I can throw into the toaster oven to reheat.

I am only purchasing meat that is on sale, and trying to stock up on canned meat that is on sale as well. 

I purchased a make your own K-cup and will soon give up purchasing the ready made ones. I need one more plus the paper filters so I can make some ahead and store in airtight containers to save time.

I refashioned one dress into a skirt, and the other dress into a top and skirt (it was a very long dress). 

Walking for exercise and watching what I eat so as to keep up the weight loss.

Not turning on the heat as of yet. It isn't that cold when I get up in the morning that my robe and slippers won't keep me toasty.

Mending some seams and hems, fixed a few buttons, and patched a pair of Harvey's work pants. 

Hung clothes on the lines.

The air conditioning hasn't come on in a couple of days which is great.

That is pretty much all I can remember right now. I will share pictures of the garden processing perhaps tomorrow.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

The usual thrifty and frugal practices are happening here. I did go out and purchase what we needed for our trip and probably on Sunday I will venture out to the grocery store before picking cherries and getting the one tree processed.

I mended a pair of pajama pants for Harvey. Another pair has been put into the sewing/craft room to make into rags. Those rags are very needed right now.

Sewed two dresses, pictures of which I will share on hopefully Friday. I make a very simple shift type dress for summer as those seem to be the coolest to wear. Some are made of a light cotton, and some are made with knit fabric.

Found fabric in my stash to sew Harvey a pair of summer weight pajama bottoms. Those will be completed tomorrow.

Pulled out my old tablet, powered it up and tried to get it to work. Not going to happen as it kept freezing on me. It is just too old. I guess I will be taking my notebook with me on holiday. Or perhaps I will struggle through with my phone. I can manage many things on that.

Visited our cell phone service provider and will be going back on the Saturday morning we leave for Regina to get a package put on so as to be able to use it when we are traveling for the 15 days we will be gone.

So other than eating up bits and bobs, making new lists, processing what I can from the garden, sewing, and planning on how to keep my plants watered and alive while we are gone, this is all I can come up with.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless. 

Tuesday Tidbits

 

It has been another couple of cloudy days here in Saskatchewan. Right now though it looks like the sun is going to try and peak through.

Since it has been so cloudy, I have been on a sewing spree. I did put the dress aside to work on some other sewing projects and now that they are done, well no more excuses. I will just take it nice and slow on the next two more complicated patterns. The sewing encyclopedia will be my side while working on these. 

Also been working on getting the cupboards cleaned and organized. Slow going, but things are getting done. 

Things are also getting used up in the fridge and our various freezers. Getting everything under control and back to pre-pandemic levels of cleanliness and good stuffs.

I guess it is time to share some pictures of what I have been sewing....

 A very simple, pull over the head knee length knitted dress. 

My first knit tunic top. I love this pattern and the sweater knit fabric I used for this one is so very soft.

The sweater knit top I just finished today. It isn't really this red, more a deep rose colour. This was made with some fabric I bought at the church fabric sale. 

Once I get the two knit dresses done I will be pulling fabric to make some shorts, capris and perhaps a couple of summer tops. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Asked To Share

 Margie asked me to share my pattern for the face masks I make. So here it is with my own directions. We don't like ties, which the pattern instructions give so I changed it to suit.

I use this site for the pattern piece to cut out.

https://blog.fabriclandwest.com/face-masks/

Then change the pattern slightly.

Where it says to cut 1/2" off the inner piece I cut off an inch. After sewing the curved centers on both the inner and outer pieces, I turn the edges of the inner lining piece about 1/2" and sew it down as I would a hem. 

Then I pin the outer and inner pieces together right sides in and sew them together (ironing that 1/4 inch is a waste of time to me) using a 1/4" seam. 

I then turn the face mask right side out. Now the extensions on the outside of the mask once turned right side out I sew a 1/4" hem on the top and bottom up to the hemmed inner lining, after ironing the edges of the masks so that they are even. I then turn the ends in 1/4". Once that is done I turn the hemmed (folded edge in to just meet the lining and sew close to the inner edge forming a casing for the elastic to be threaded through. 

I cut 1/4" elastic into a piece 6" long (you can cut them shorter) and using a small safety pin thread the elastic through the casing and sew the elastic together to make the ear loop.  

I know people that edge stitch the face portion of the mask but I feel that the less needle holes in the mask the better so skip this. 

To shape the nose I cut a piece of pipe cleaner, put it in the mask and shape it to my nose. It can be removed that way for washing. I have also used them without any nose shaping and as long as my glasses cover the top of the mask they do not fog up.

Use good quality cotton (quilting cotton) to make these. Prewash the fabric and iron it before placing the pattern piece, and wash on delicate or by hand hanging to dry after they are made and you have worn it.

I have made filters to go in the mask from the blue shop cloths you can buy at an auto supply store or if you live in Canada at Canadian Tire. They slip into the pocket nicely and seem to be stronger than a paper towel or coffee filter which you can also use.

Hope this helps. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

What I Have Been Up To

 This post will be mostly pictures just to show you all some of the things I have been up to.

Supper tonight was some leftover roast beef made into a lovely Beef Vegetable Soup.

I have also spent time dehydrating. All my herbs are now done and I even managed to dehydrate some of the green bell peppers.

I have no idea why this photo is so blurry.

I worked on the masks for Kurt's students. Still have more to do.

Kept right on knitting on the temperature blanket.

I also knitted on Harvey's Christmas sweater but that picture will have to wait until it is completed.

Started to gather ripe tomatoes together to make tomato soup for the freezer.

I need two more pounds and then I can start.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Completing Projects

 Finally getting around to a few projects that were languishing in the sewing/craft room. If I want to concentrate on masks, I needed to get a few things done.

First was a tidy and reorganization of the room. Still working on that, but things are at least navigable for the moment. 

Next was gathering the denim squares that I had pinned together and getting them sewn together. I have managed to get to this point over the last couple of days.

I wasn't as careful as I usually am at matching corners. This will just be used outside around the firepit on those cooler nights (those are coming fast). Tomorrow will be the sandwiching and some easy quilting. I hope to be able to do the binding as well. 

The blanket was done between heading out to the garden to pick tomatoes.

Freezing tomatoes, even if it is just a couple of bags (keeping up with them for a change).

A few more bags and I will be done. Then it will be moving on to either soup or spaghetti sauce.....

Between sewing and freezing I have been working on the front of Harvey's Christmas sweater, and doing even more straightening of the sewing/craft room. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny (today was cloudy and we even got a bit of rain) and so along with errand running I will be putting some herbs into the dehydrator. Supposedly the temperature is going to fall to just above freezing by Monday and so the more that I can get out of the garden the better I will feel. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless

Sunday Ramblings

I am home once again and using my regular laptop computer instead of the tablet. I find it very difficult to edit on the tablet, so hopefully this is a much more readable post.

I went to Costco this morning for a bit of a stock up on the items I usually purchase there (and of course found some others that are way less expensive). Missed a few though as they seem to move things around an awful lot. Still I was in and out in less than an hour and managed to make it home in a decent amount of time. 

I am not going to leave Harvey at home by himself any more. He is easily bored, and will go out and spend money. 

This time it was dealing on a new vehicle (well we do need one). He actually got a fairly good deal on it, and it is one I pointed out to him as something I liked. We head to the dealership tomorrow and do the paperwork. I just hope it does not take too long.

Our oldest son Kurt will be home the beginning of July for a week or so. Hopefully surgery for me will not take place until later in the month. Kris says he will drive home on the weekend and spend a bit of time bonding with his brother, and hopefully setting up a computer on my television. Harvey says perhaps he would like one for Christmas to do the same thing...... Actually a very good idea since we no longer have loads of channels to choose from. I will need to do a bit of saving over the next few months.

Kris and I watched our Archdiocesan online Mass this morning. Special blessings for the fathers in our lives. I really enjoy this as I am staying away from the Masses at the church until after my surgery. I definitely need to stay healthy, I am wearing a mask when out and about. 

Speaking of masks. Kris loves his Minion masks and filters. This week I will work on Kurt's skulls and some superhero type. Then I will move on to more masks for Harvey. I may even get a few more made for me. Preparing for that second wave.

 Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

The one thing physical distancing has done is enable me to get projects finished. So today I will post a few pictures of the finished projects.

Two of the 15 masks I made.

Two  dresses which I have shown you all before.

A jumper with a machine embroidered bear.

The dressier tank top made out of a crinkled silk fabric.

A sleeveless knit tunic shirt.

I have continued working on my temperature blanket and the second prayer shawl. My counted cross stitch is coming along as well. I will share a photo of those next week.

Still have one more cut out sewing project to go and then I will start some new projects for the summer.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Wednesday Happenings

On our way home from visiting Kris we got to see two rather large flocks of geese resting in the fields before carrying on with their flights. This is a picture of the smaller of the two flocks. The biggest one was on the wrong side of the highway and I couldn't get a decent picture.

This is only about half the flock.

I have also been spending much of my free time sewing.

Some more masks. These are going to be mailed to Kurt tomorrow.

Another skirt because I love to wear long skirts in the spring and summer. It does make walking a bit more difficult but I seem to manage okay.

And two dresses. 

This leaves me 4 other cut out projects to get done this month. I am slowly but surely getting caught up. I will be making some summer clothing next. Good thing I have an extensive stash of fabric to choose from. But boy or boy when the fabric stores open again I am going to really stock up, especially if it is true about going through waves of Covid-19 until a vaccine is made.

Still knitting dishcloths and will have a picture of those to show you all very soon.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Wednesday Social Distancing Post

It is a beautiful day here in Southeast Saskatchewan. The sun is shining, birds singing, woodpeckers pecking at the power poles (why do they do that when there are trees available).

I did our shopping today, rather then tomorrow, mainly because I wanted to pick up Kris a few things and once again Shania (our elderly cat) is not well. This way I can keep an eye on her for the rest of the day (she is hiding in her tent right now) and if necessary be available to take her to the vet tomorrow. Hopefully there will be one open or at least they will open for an emergency.

I have noticed a lessening of vehicles on the road as well as shoppers in the stores. I think people are starting to take this Pandemic social distancing to heart. We still have those that think it is fake by our Liberal government, but the vast majority of people are heeding the governments directives. While social distancing alone will not totally prevent you from acquiring the virus it will make a difference on how many get it.

I spent yesterday sewing some masks. 

I managed to get two made and tomorrow I plan on making a few more. Providing of course that my machine decides that it is going to work correctly. Had a few problems with the first two and what could possibly be a dull needle. 

I have put aside the second knitted baby dress and pulled out some leftover cotton yarn from my stash. It amazes me that with all the dishcloths and washcloths I have made for Kris, he does not seem to have very many at all. Two are finished and I am on the third one.

Kris's specialist appointment has been changed to a telephone conference. We will still go up on Friday, take him some groceries, do a bit of a clean up in the apartment and find out the news. 

Off to work on the dishcloth and watch television.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

Quiet day once again here on the old homestead. It started with snow, but I took my morning walk any way. Bad thing was the snow hid ice and I did feel myself starting to slip a couple of times, caught myself though so nothing untoward happened. Since this is a weekly round-up I may as well tell all of you I managed to get out for at least two walks every day.

I also managed to get my "lady wipes" finished today. I was going to do a rolled hem, but decided that a narrow zig zag stitch all the way around would be enough. Now after washing I am beginning to wonder about my choice.

Here is the stack of leftover flannelette fabric I found to  use.

There are 36 rather large squares that I can use. I decided that they will be a last resort if I can't find any toilet  paper and am close to running out. If they are never used I will recut and use in other projects.

I have done some of my  bucket list. Made the heart for my front window.

Cleaned up the pots and pans. I think I will make some fabric inserts to put between them at some point during this period of social distancing.

I have also done a bit of baking, more to follow over the next few days.

Today was two banana nut loaves and tomorrow I plan on making 2 rhubarb loaves. Got to get the frozen rhubarb used up to make room for the fresh this spring.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

I have been promising you a few pictures of the sewing projects I have actually managed to finish.

A multicoloured tunic top.

The wrap skirt that I am still not too sure about. I don't really like the way it hangs, but it could just be the material.

Gold, wide leg pants and they are a very wide leg. They should go nicely with the first tunic top.

The purple sweater knit fabric t-shirt I just finished. It needs pressing and washing.

I hope to have some knitting completed by Sunday as well as a few more clothing projects ready to go. I do have a rather simple dress cut out and will start on that tomorrow. Sewing will be by the wayside very soon as Kurt and Kris will be home, preparations for Christmas underway, and company stopping in to visit.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Freezing Cold, Snowy and Winter Has Arrived

Once again it is really cold today and then later in the afternoon the snow moved in. We will definitely have a white Christmas unless some strange weather pattern moves in.

I spent the day cleaning, knitting and sewing. My crafting mojo seems to be dissipating the closer it gets to the holidays. I really need to get things done before that final week. The boys will be home and I will want to visit (though I can do so with knitting in my hands, not so much sewing).

Tomorrow is errand day so I hope that the accumulation of snow is not too great (by the end of tomorrow we are supposed to have gotten another 4 inches). I need to do a bit of travelling as I will be going to SaskTel to get a new cell phone and sign another contract (mine is done). That is all the way across town (a 5 or 6 minute drive when the roads are good, much longer if they are nasty).  So I am keeping my fingers crossed that roads are in pretty decent shape.

Once I have finished braving our roads, I plan on getting things put away, helping Harvey mount our upstairs television on the wall, finishing all the hems on my tunic top, and rethreading (as well as changing the needle to one more for sewing knits) my machine. I need to get at least three more items sewn before the week ends. Then I might just cut out a couple of other patterns that have been begging me to try them out. My stash is slowly going down and replacements are going into my closet.

Today I made it a great day.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

This has been a week of finishing up a few Christmas gifts and a couple of items for me as well. I don't have a picture of one of the items for me as it is in the basket waiting to be washed on Monday. 

This is one of the items I finally finished for myself.

Just a little shift dress to wear next spring or during cooler days in the summer.

Next are Harvey's Christmas presents this year.

Two pairs of flannelette pajama bottoms.

The BBQ apron. Perhaps his clothes will stay a bit cleaner after his episodes of being a Grill Master.

A sweater vest to ward off the chill in the basement.

I cut out lots more patterns over the last two days. I hope to be busy in the sewing/craft room until the sewing mojo disappears once again.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

We are going to have our second water shut off in the past week. Rather than buy bottled water for the week after the main is fixed (yet again) I have filled almost every container we have with water from our taps.

Still making good use of all the bits and bobs in the fridge freezer (with a few new meals interspersed between the use it ups).

Working on the Christmas gifts for Harvey. They have helped me use up some more already purchased fabric in my stash.

Went through my yarn stash and started another prayer shawl.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.