A Gift for my Readers - The Winners!

Del helped with the drawing tonight and here are the lucky winners.

Third place, one of my knitted bath mitts,

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Second place, a set of two knitted dishcloths,

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And first place, my version of Inga's Bag, especially made for this giveaway,

goes to:
Congratulations! Shirley and Heidi, please email me with your mailing address, you can find my email address in my profile. The items will be mailed in the next few days.

A Gift For My Readers

Today the counter on my blog hit 10000! To celebrate this number I decided to give a gift to one (or more) of my readers. I can not show you yet what it is, because I have not finished it (we hit that number sooner than I thought), but I can tell you that it is handmade and useful. :)
So, if you would like to get a handmade gift from me, leave a comment on this post and tell me how long you have been reading my blog and how you found it.
That would be a good opportunity for all of you who are reading regularly but have never left a comment. So, come out, come out, wherever you are and say hello!
I will draw the lucky winner(s) on September 30.

Note: This post will stay on top of my blog until Sept. 30, please scroll down for newer posts until then.

New Material

Today I went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store to pick up some of those upholstery fabrics. I got lucky, they were only 50 cents instead of 99 cents per roll, no matter how much fabric was on the rolls. I got 6 different ones in patterns and colors I like. Each roll had enough material on it to make at least one bag, some had a lot more.

I also picked up some new yarn. I think it is a shame that Walmart is the only store around here that carries Peaches and Cream, which is made in NC. I like it a lot better than the other yarn with the similar name that is made in Canada. It is cheaper but it holds up better in the wash and I like to use it for dishcloths and my bath mitts. I bought a 1 lb cone in peppercorn ombre and 1 ball in earthtone because I wanted to see how that one looks when knitted. I also got some yarn for a scarf I want to knit for a friend and because it was on sale I picked up some for myself too. The candy pink Homespun yarn was a thrift store find.

Now I need to finish a few projects and then I will look for purse handles and start working on the bags I wanted to make for quite a while.

The weather here is still wet but not quite as cool as in the past few days. Fall is definitely in the air these days.

Fall into Reading

I found a link to this challenge on this lovely blog and thought it is a really good idea. I love to read but I always seem to be too busy for it, so a little kick in the you know what might help. ;)

Here are the six books I plan to read between now and December 20:

"Child of Light" by Beth A. Richardson
"Lighted Windows" by Margaret Silf
"The Power of a Praying Wife" by Stormie Omartian
"Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" by Joanna Weaver
"Women's Voices from the Western Frontier" by Susan G. Butruille
"Pioneer Women" by Joanna L. Stratton

I plan on setting aside a time for reading and tea every day.

Fall Sofa

To dress up my sofa for Fall I am using a cotton throw with a pattern from the Book of Kells (bought a long time ago in England) because it has some orange and dark green in it. I took the light blue covers off the dark blue pillows (I would have liked to make new dark covers but so far I have not found a nice looking dark blue fabric) and added my knitted orange pillow cover.

Yard Sale

On Saturday we finally had our postponed church yard sale. It was fun. The weather was nice and sunny but not too warm and I managed to get a sunburn on my face. I had brought my gardening hat to prevent this, but it never felt hot enough to be worried, oh well, once it peels my nose will be as good as new. :-)
We managed to get rid of a lot of stuff again and we also bought a few things. It was actually a kind of exchange, the lady we bought the stuff from bought a lot of our things last year.
Everybody agreed that you definitely noticed a difference between last year and this year, people simply don't have enough money to spend on stuff.
I had brought some knitted dishcloths and baby booties and sold 18 dishcloths and 3 pairs of booties.
We bought 200 Christmas tree lights for $ 2,- to replace the ones that were stolen from our self storage unit. I also found a little wooden corner shelf for 50 cents, that will hang in my kitchen after it has been cleaned and painted white. The round boxes were just too cute to resist. They are nice and sturdy and I will use them to store some of my crafting supplies. They cost me $ 1,-, as did the little Halloween bears. Del bought a wooden bread box that he will use to make the switchboard for his model railroad, can't wait to see how that will work out and he got the green bowls for free with the box (he is good at haggling). ;-)

Well, at least we did not come home with more stuff than what we left with. I like yard sales it is fun to see what people thought they needed at one time and then found out they did not after all and to see what people are willing to buy. I sold some of my silver jewelry and a lady asked me where I got all the jewelry. I told her that I bought it because I thought I needed it at the time and she agreed, we all do that now and then. I rarely ever were jewelry anymore these days.

Having to get up early on Saturday threw off my whole system for the weekend and I was constantly tired. We treated ourselves to dinner at a Chinese restaurant we had never been to before and were pleasantly surprised. It does not look like much from outside, but it is very nice inside and the food was delicious.

Anniversary

3 years ago today Miss K. and I arrived in North Carolina (Del arrived a week earlier to prepare the nest for us girls). I can't believe it's been that long already, time sure passes quickly.

In the Garden

Before we started our yard work on Saturday morning I took a few pictures. I like the way the little spider nests look all covered in dew.

More Fall Decorating

Well, the weather was anything but fall like this weekend, it was very hot and windy, good for drying laundry not so good for yard work, but we did it anyway. I put the rest of the Fall decorations on the mantel and I finished the table topper. Still have the mantel quilt to finish.

Purple Sky

I tried to take pictures of the evening sky with a very bright moon in it. My little camera is not really equipped for that but here is what I got.

A Day in My Life - September 14, 2008

There is usually not a lot happening on a Sunday at our house.
I got up at 7:30 am, which was half an hour later than I had planned. We did a lot of yard work yesterday and I can feel some muscles today I did not even know I had (I used the lawnmower for the first time ever). ;) I fed the little outdoor cat who was waiting patiently on the back steps.
Then I put a load of laundry in the washer to take advantage of the dry weather, it is supposed to rain all week next week. Took a shower, washed my hair, made pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast I hung out the laundry, got dressed and we left for church at 9:30 am. I delivered Charlie, the baby quilt, to the ladies who ordered it, they liked it, and I got paid. :)
After church we stopped at Lowe's to pick up a bag of bird seed. Came home shortly before 1 pm, Del brought the laundry in and filled the bird feeders, I cooked lunch (barbecue chicken and orzo pasta). While lunch was cooking Del put a load of towels in the washer, it is hot and windy, should be dry soon. After lunch we watched football and I did a bit of knitting.

Finished!

Charlie, the baby quilt, is finished, washed and happily drying on the line in the porch. I was just a little worried that one or more of the fabrics could bleed, but luckily they did not. Phew! Big sigh of relief. I am now offering that style of baby quilt in my Etsy shop. I like the idea and it was not all that difficult to make.

The weather is still wet here, okay, we need the rain, but the greyness of the day does get me down a bit and Miss Kitty is not happy about it either. I hope it will eventually stop, I need to do laundry and I really hope we will be able to have that church yard sale.

Bird on a Wire

If you click on the image to bring it up to full size and look very carefully you can see one of the itty bitty hummingbirds sitting on the clothesline.

Tomato Tart

Recipe:

1 pie crust (I made mine from scratch)
fresh tomatoes (I used 3 roma tomatoes)
2/3 cup of buttermilk
1/2 cup grated cheese, part parmesan, part mozzarella
2 eggs
salt, pepper, dried basil to taste

Put the pie crust into a 9" tart pan, pierce all over with fork and bake for about 15 minutes at 450°. Let cool on rack, reduce heat to 375°.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on the crust.

Mix the eggs, buttermilk, cheese and spices in a bowl and pour over the tomatoes. Bake for about 35 minutes at 375°.

Garden Memories

Weekend

The rest of my weekend went well. My kitchen experiment on Saturday turned out just right. I made a tomato tart, using a recipe I have used before for zucchini tart with a little change. I used a mix of mozzarella and parmesan cheese and added a little basil instead of nutmeg. It was very good.


Then I finished my itty bitty squirrel wall hanging and did some more Fall decorating.

The first round of quilting on the baby quilt is done. I showed a picture of it to the ladies who ordered it and they are very happy with it. I have until this coming weekend to finish it.

We spent Sunday afternoon watching football, Miss K. was limping a little but it looks like it is getting better, she attacked her scratch post this morning and does not show signs of discomfort but I will keep an eye on her.

A little Fall crafting

Well, the church yard sale was postponed due to iffy weather. We did get some rain and wind from Hanna, but it was not too bad in our area and we do need the rain. Since we did all our grocery shopping last night we were free to do whatever we wanted today. After a nice breakfast of pancakes with coconut and chocolate chips with fresh peaches, Del washed the dishes and then we headed off to our various projects. He worked on his model railroad and I decided to do some Fall crafting.

Remember the little doll that is sitting on my mantel? I bought him many years ago at an international craft fair and I think he is from what was then Czechoslovakia. His blue frock fits nicely in with my mostly blue living room.


Today I made him a new frock in Fall colors so I can keep him on the mantel with the other Fall decorations. I was searching high and low for a bit of lace I know I have somewhere that would have looked cute around the neckline but so far I have not found it.

And then I made a leaf garland for the kitchen. A bag of artificial leaves from the Dollar Store, inspiration from here, a couple of minutes at the sewing machine and I got this.

Now I am off to play in the kitchen, I want to try out something with tomatoes and cheese and buttermilk, I will post the result later (if it works out).

Baby Quilt Progress

Today I finished the top for "Charlie".

In the Garden

As I was out hanging the laundry, serenaded by crickets and accompanied by the little brown cat, I could not resist getting my camera to take a few pictures of the jungle that used to be my garden. I think I should have sat on that bench more often. :)

WIP Wednesday

Just a quick WIP Wednesday post before I head out into my very damp garden to hang a load of laundry and then get back to my current sewing project.

This is the tentative layout for the inner part of the baby quilt I have been asked to do. I will add borders and then applique the name of the baby on the top border which I will probably make wider than the others. It is for a little boy and I decided to skip the baby colors this time and go with brighter ones.

And because my mudroom is now so neat and clean I decided to do a little bit of Fall decorating in it. ;)