Randomness

Didn't get a lot of quilty sewing done this weekend - too many other things going on.



Jessie is hard on her bed. 2 years ago I got her 3 sets of sheets - she is now down to 1 set only. Somehow, while she is sleeping, she puts holes in her fitted sheet, and then over time proceeds to shred them to pieces! She is not the quietest sleeper - she is all over that bed, in it and out of it. So this morning, I dug through my sheet stash and found 2 twin sheets (a fitted and a flat sheet) that she now has on her bed. Funny, these sheets that who knows how old they are, seem stronger than the sheets you buy in the stores.......so I'm going back to Goodwill this weekend to see what else I can find for sheets. Paying $1 - $2 for a sheet at goodwill seems much better than paying at least $20 for a sheet set. Jessie doesn't care if they match, I certainly don't care (as long as it's not something totally horrendous together)......





I've been painting Jessie's headboard and footboard for her bed. I can't remember if I blogged about finding it in my in-laws barn, covered with cobwebs and dust....but, it was free and it's in excellent shape - which is the kind I like! I primered it last fall, then the weather got bad before I could take it back outside to paint it white. Well, I just decided heck with it and painted it in the basement this weekend.





Hopefully tonight we will get them bolted to her bed frame, and she won't be hitting her shins on the metal bedframe that her waterbed sits on.


This afternoon I wanted to do something different. I had seen a very cute doll in an antique store in Ashland - but no way was I paying $30 for a doll. So I dug out a pattern that I had ordered eons ago (from Primfolks by Judy), and made this:





Made from muslin and extra fabric, she is tiny - 16" long. I think I need to find some jute rope out in the barn for the ties to her bonnet - ribbon just seems to dressy for her....I might try and coffee dye her at some point to make her look older, but for now.....she'll sit on my chest.



Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
Kris

Blessed

Millie gifted me with the life is Grand Award.

And I have to come up with 5 reasons why my life is grand! Here goes:

• I have my family - Todd and I have been through good times, great times, rough times, bad times and have stuck it out and dug in for the long haul. I have the best 2 kids around who bring love, joy and understanding to our lives every single day. I have wonderful parents and siblings, in-laws, grandparents, etc.
• We both have JOBS! In this economy - that is a feat in itself I think some days. And both of our jobs are pretty much recession proof.
• We have our little slice of heaven - idiot neighbors aside. Complete with veggie gardens, animals, flower gardens, quiet, space, plenty of room to roam.....
• We have wonderful friends - who we connect with instantly and it doesn't matter if we last saw them 5 minutes ago or 5 months ago - the connection is there and will always be there. We have 1 couple - who it's like psychic waves or something - she called me the morning I found out I was pregnant with Tyler - before I even had the chance to call Todd because she felt something was going on (litterally, it was like 2 minutes after the test). Some day I'll have to scan a picture of their daughter and Jessie into the computer and post them here - it's freaky that these 2 girls - 12 years apart - look like they could be twins if they were the same age. This of course, leads to numerous jokes and questions among the 4 of us - and some wierd looks from others....
• I have my hobby that Todd enjoys supporting me with and seeing what I have made.
• We all have our health - Jessie's broken bones aside:) - hehe
• I am so blessed with this blogging community - to have met so many wonderful people.

Ok - that is 7 but really, I could go on and on.

And now, I will pass this on to:

Judy, Scrappy Quilter, Janice, Julie, Gina, Amy, Kristie, Katie .... honestly, I could go on and on and on here but I'm getting tired:)

Thank you Millie!!!!

Friday night sewing

Last night I had a bunch of stuff to get ready to mail out:

And I volunteered to make 2 - 12" blocks for a donation quilt to Australia:

And I had to do some blog reading - I am so far behind!

So I finished everything up, boxed up what I needed to send, and this morning Tyler and I will make a run to the post office. Christina, Carol and Tracey - your packages are on their way!

And Judy - I did go to bed around 11:00 - and slept until about 7 - hehehe. That is a short night of sleep for me:) I'm usually the one in bed (on a Friday night no less - how sad!) by 9:30, and I can easily sleep until 8 or so if given 1/2 a chance.....

I've got the housework done (for the most part) and I am off to work on some fun stuff now...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Kris

Bears in the Farmhouse

I joined another Quilt Along - this one with Judy Laquidara - for a design she created for Bears in the Farmhouse. I love this quilt. I've loved it since I first saw her EQ design of it weeks ago.

And the greatest thing is - all the fabrics except the stripe came from my stash.

Which is fast diminishing. I'm not sure about the yellow, and I have more blues and greens that I can pull from my stash once we actually get started cutting.

Tonight was a fun night. Jessie is at a campout at COSI with her girlscout troop, so Todd, Tyler and I went out for pizza. Now I'm going to do a little sewing and call it a night.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Kris

Mud

What do you do when it was 70 degrees out yesterday afternoon?

You kick all the boys and girls out into the mud and give them a couple squishy pumpkins to peck at:

You get out the 4 wheeler and yard card (after putting said 4 wheeler into 4 wheel drive so you can get through the yard to get to the chicken coop without making big ruts):

And you proceed to empty out of the chicken coop 3 heaping yardcarts full of ....stuff.

Then you have to keep the chickens out in their run until your husband gets home with the lime and another bag of shavings so you can give the chickens a nice, clean home. Which they will not thank you for - they will in fact be royally ticked at having been locked out of their house for 3 hours!

And here is how Jessie's quilt is coming along. I have the blocks done. I have the sashings and borders all cut. But....with 42 blocks, I need to find a larger place to lay it out to make sure the colors of the blocks all look good together.

And of course, today will be back down into the 40's and rain. But at least it will give me a chance to get inside and get some sewing done!

Kris

Glass Jar Saurkraut

• Remove outer leaves from cabbage - wash, drain and cut into quarters - discard cores
• Shred 5 lbs. of cabbage at a time - should be no thicker than a dime - I shredded mine right into the kitchen sink to mix it up with the salt in the following step.
• sprinkle 3 1/2 Tbsp. salt over cabbage and mix thoroughly
• pack into clean, glass jars, pressing cabbage down firmly - fill to within 1 1/2" - 2" from top - Juice will form with packing; add water to cover cabbage in jar
• wipe off jar top, put on lids, but do not seal tightly
• set filled jars in shallow pan to collect overflow; keep at room temperature for 10 days. Keep cabbage covered with brine (1 1/2 Tbsp. salt - 1 quart water)

To process, clean jar tops; add new lids; process Quart jars in boiling water bath for 30 minutes

A few words to the wise - pack very tightly - I did not pack mine tight enough - after the 10 days, my jars were only 3/4 of the way full. Still tastes the same, but need more.

Your house will reek to high heaven of cabbage/saurkraut smell after day 5. Just warning ya that it will smell - but not in a bad way (but at the same time, I was oh so glad to get to day 10:))

Pork and Saurkraut

Some of you may remember when I first tried making my own saurkraut. We opened our first jar over the weekend.


Oh. My. Gosh.




I have never liked saurkraut (that you buy in the store) at all. In fact, I wouldn't eat the pork that was cooked in the saurkraut. That all changed Saturday night. In fact, I should have opened 2 jars, as the kids could not get enough of it.



And to think, if I am being honest here, the only reason I made it was because our Amish neighbor gave me 7 heads of cabbage for 50 cents a piece, and I couldn't stand to see them go to waste. Guess that will teach me.





And since we had a surplus of eggs - I had to hard boil about 3 dozen eggs. At least the kids think a hard boiled egg is a good snack. Tonight I'm making beet eggs out of the rest.....

Kris

PS - as for the piggies. We have corn that we grew - so I think we are just buying the rest of the ingredients for the feed and are going to mix our own feed. But - they will only need about 6 weeks of finishing so it might be easier to just buy feed. And there is only 2 pigs coming - which shouldn't be too bad.