Chats

Chats on the farmhouse porch with Patrice.


Questions
1. Are you doing anything special for Valentine's Day?
 We are having Stir-fry and Chicken Dumplings/Pot Stickers for dinner and chocolate fondue with strawberries.

2. When you attend something that isn't totally casual, are you likely to wear dress pants or a dress?
Dress pants

3. Do you use a regular toothbrush or a battery run kind?
A regular toothbrush

4.Did you have valentines in school when you were a child?
Yes--We made our boxes either at home or in class depended on the teacher. I remember making a maypole one year.

5. If you could learn a new craft tomorrow, what would it be?
Rug hooking is high on my list of crafts I want to learn. I love all the primitive hooked pieces I've seen.

Pinned It, Made It! Monday!

The stump prairie doll is like the Christmas ornies I made a couple years ago and a bigger version of some I've made for other swaps. I usually free hand a pattern but I had this one from a past project when I made a pumpkin man. The thought was to cut out two and it would be easier to make myself one later. Sometimes it works out and other times I find pieces neglected in a pile. So I just stuffed  and added the clothes and bonnet. As many of these as I've made I've never ended up with my own. This one was made for a recent swap. I googled  primitive prairie dolls since I couldn't find the one I thought I pinned.  This is a link to one I liked but it doesn't link up. I also found this one and my doll is similar except with no arms. This is a link to a Pinterest search. So if you sew there are a ton of ideas and if you don't there are a lot of shops selling prarie dolls.

There are so many Prim heart ornies on Pinterest to look at here is a link to one of the searches I did. I see so many more hearts I want to make. Another link with just heart ornies in the search. When I cut out the hearts I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them. I grunged them up (in the picture they don't look as grungy), I ripped tea stained muslin and used a marker to write the words.  They are pretty simple, I meant to add rusty pins and bells.


Don't forget to check out Tammy at Country Girl at Home.

Chats

I'm linking up with Patrice at Everyday Ruralty.
Questions

1. What is your favorite time of day to read? If you don't enjoy reading, then what is your favorite time to watch TV/movies?
2. Did you watch the Super Bowl? If so, what was your favorite commercial? If you didn't watch it, what did you do Sunday night?
3. Have you been watching Downton Abbey?Who's your favorite character? If not, have you seen any interesting TV or movies series lately?
4. Do you enjoy home parties for selling items? (like Pampered Chef, Southern Living, Mary Kay)
5. Please finish this sentence. If I work very hard, I can_________

Answers

1. Anytime! I love to read and when I find a few minutes I'll be reading.

2. I did not watch the Super Bowl but I've seen some of the commercials.  I love the Budweiser one with the horse, I cry every time I watch it. We were playing cards with my in-laws. 

3. I love Downton Abbey, three of my girls like it too, so I always have someone to watch it with. My favorite character that's a hard one-- I love the Dowager, and Mrs. Pattimore cracks me up. Sybil was my favorite sister.  

4. I love home parties--I love them more when I have money. :-) I haven't had one lately but I do miss having my friends from all the different areas in my life together. My favorite parties are Pampered Chef. I also like Party Lite and I don't know what it's called now but I had so many Home Interior parties back in the day.    

 5. I can finish some projects. 

Pinned It, Made It! Monday

I have a pretty exciting Pinned It, Made It!~~ Laundry Soap, not very exciting! :-). I've used this recipe that is not pinned by the blogger. I've been making it for a few years, this time I had a bar of Mrs. Meyer's Basil soap, it smells so good. My liquid soap is in an old kitty litter container when I double the recipe it will fit in here and if I tripled it I use an old detergent container for the third one. 

I had a free coupon and used it on this soap. I had a little leftover soap so I adjusted Soule Mama's recipe to fit what I had on hand. I made two of the first recipe and one of the dry. My clothes smell wonderful! 

Don't forget to check out Tammy at Country Girl At Home.

Chats

           
I'm joining Patrice at Everday Ruralty, for her chats this week.

Questions

1. Have you ever been on a boat? (Motor boat, sail boat, cruise ship, ark, or Good Ship Lollipop)
2. Do you need an alarm to wake up in the morning, or do you wake up naturally? If you have an alarm, tell us what type.
3. Have you ever had a yard sale?
4. Do you like kitchen gadgets? What are some of your favorite?
5. Do you read labels at the grocery store?

Answers

1, I have been on a couple boats. We have a boat down at my in-laws lake house, it's a small one that fits about 6-8 people. We use it for tubing and cruising.
2. I use an alarm on weekdays and not on the weekends. Weekdays I'm usually awake before it goes off, and weekends I sleep a little later.
3. I have had many garage/yard sales. 

4. I like some kitchen gadgets, I try  to not  buy gadgets that have only one purpose. I do love my immersion blender and this old fashioned food chopper that you can only use in cast iron or steel pans. It really gets your meat chopped if partially frozen. I also forgot my garlic press, love it. ( I didn't think I'd be able to fins a picture of the chopper-- I had to find it online.) I would like to add my children do the dishwasher and nobody knows what happened  to our chopper. I hope it shows up soon.    
5. I do read most labels---we try to not eat hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrups and dyes. I also avoid a lot of gluten/wheat products. I'm not gluten free but maybe in the future. I refuse to read the Vanilla Cream Peeps label. I love those and you can only find them around Valentine's Day!!  
 

What did I say about the weather?

 After my post on Monday --the temp was in the 70's, windows open, ceiling fans running. Look what Wednesday brings---It's snowing and blowing out there today. This was our walk to the bus stop this morning.

This pile of rag quilt squares is almost done. I have it sewed together but it needs another row, so I'm working on that. All the sewing should be done by tomorrow and then it's on to the cutting.

Pinned it, Made it! Monday

It's hard to believe it's January today the temperature in Kansas City is 78 degrees, but it will be back to 35 by Wednesday. The windows are open and there is a nice breeze blowing in. I've always heard "If you don't like the weather in Kansas wait 5 minutes", some weeks that is so true. Last summer not so much with that hot, hot summer. I hope you are enjoying a nice day where you are.  

I've been working on these Angry Birds since umh-- December, they kept getting moved to the back burner. I bought enough material to make quite a few besides the ones pictured here. I found this blog with patterns and directions for making all the Angry Birds.
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I also made this wonderful gravy Saturday night. I pinned this recipe  looked at the gravy recipe and the word horseradish leaped out at me, I knew what I was going to do with a few pieces of leftover steak we had in the fridge. I didn't get a picture but let me tell you it was wonderful, well Jim and I thought so-- the two children at home skipped the gravy---they don't know what they missed out on. On the recipe I didn't have lemon, thyme or pan drippings. I used butter in place of the pan drippings, I used Simply Organic's Chophouse Steak seasoning, and black pepper. I also used regular horseradish. Try it- it was wonderful!    

Don't forget to check out Tammy at Country Girl at Home.