Been busy .... quilting, avoiding the Bridge traffic & such

I haven't posted in a while. I have been filling my working time (corporate bs) with quilting table runners for Christmas gifts.

I have the unfortunate situation of having to deal with traffic from the recent bridge issue that happened in our fair city. So, I have been either going in very early or very late. When I go in early I come home around 4:00p & actually have energy & time to work on projects. When I go in late ... not so much.

If home early I sometimes find time to work on my mini projects:

Small runner 48" x 12"

I have 3 tops made, all from scrap or estate sale fabrics & 1 more to go. I also have fall fabrics to 'back' them with.

I have planted a fall garden again in a different spot in the city with hopes of having enough sunshine to actually grow something. I put in a couple of raised beds which have now sprouted 'volunteer' tomato & 1 habenero(sp?) plant. I'll post pics this weekend of the beds.

Enjoying a rainy Tuesday night, getting ready to have pork tenderloin, potato cakes & fresh sauteed green beans (from CSA). Will hopefully have another post this coming weekend. Hoping the cool weather comes in like predicted.

Quilt(s) & Shams

First I made a lap (fireside) quilt from donated (& some I contributed myself) Crown Royal Bags.

It is all messed up but will serve it's purpose by the fire. I learned a lot during the process. 1. Sew along the seam lines. 2. Make sure your corners are square. 3. Have many sharp blades to cut that unforgiving felt. 4. Many more that I won't mention.

I also made a quilt & shams recently. I built the quilt top at the retreat I went to a few months back & decided that I would try my hand at machine quilting since it was all (mostly) straight line. I then decided, since I had left over squares cut the appropriate size that I would fabricate shams in miniature squares. I need fluffier pillows to fill out the shams but am happy, over all, with the turnout.

The quilt is a bit wonkeyed but the shams actually are quite uniform. I am learning as I go.... Anyway, the quilt fits the futon perfectly & is perfect when the occasional extra guest needs a bed.

Note: I bought the quilt/sham fabric at an Estate Sale a while back. I think I spent $4 or $5 for about 6 yards. I have much left, even after this disaster.

I am now on to table runners, place mats & pot holders for Thanksgiving/Christmas gifts.

It's a pleasant way to pass an afternoon. Just wish it had rained so I didn't feel so guilty for not getting my fall garden planted.

There is a lot of math involved in quilt making which is definitely NOT my expertise. But, I can follow patterns which have it already figured out.

Remembering ... My Way

I was in the air on the way to Chicago for our fall conference. Our flight left at 8:50 & we landed in Atlanta around 10:00a & I had to find a way to my Sister-In-Laws house, where I stayed for the next 3 days.

It's one of those days that play back in my mind like a power point presentation.

Click ... First class upgrade, yeah!
Click ... Seat mate - Yousef (yes, he was Palestinian)
Click ... Flight attendent telling Yousef that he didn't need a newspaper with a lady sitting next to him.
Click ... He's headed to Puerto - Bacardi headquarters. He's a VP with them.
Click ... Really nice guy. How did we get on the subject of Tree Surgeons?
Click ... Oh no, we are in a holding pattern, we will most likely miss our next flights.
Click ... If we do, we can at least grab breakfast.
Click ... Finally land but stop on runway for a long time.
Click ... At the gate but doors not opened.
Click ... Pilot "Everyone, there has been an incident, exit the plane & then immediately exit the airport."
Click ... Yousef & I look at each other confused ... "What the heck is he talking about?"
Click ... Exit plane & notice everyone gathered around TV in concourse restaurant.
Click ... Oh my God, the towers are burning!
Click ... Had forgotten to bring new cell phone. Head to Crown Room Club to get in touch w/Greg.
Click ... All circuits are busy. Call work 800 #, get Assistant to patch me over to Greg.
Click ... Greg answers & I start to talk then get disconnected.
Click ... Repeat patch. Greg - "Thank God you are alright! You need to get out of there."
Click ... Me - Looking at a TV in the lounge area "Oh my God, one of the towers just fell!!!!!"
Click ... Greg "GET OUT OF THAT AIRPORT NOW!!!!"
Click ... Me "All the rental cars are gone. I can take Marta, please call V to meet me at Sandy Springs."
Click ... Tram not running. Eerie feeling walking to exit. Had never looked closely at the marble statues.
Click ... On Marta. CDC employees get on, they had been ordered to evacuate. That really scared me!
Click ... Waiting on V. Call my boss from the pay phone. He was in Milwaukee headed to same conf.
Click ... V picks me up (thank God for helpful relatives!)
Click ... The 60" TV in their house never shut off for the next 3 days.
Click ... Driving to Southern GA to meet up w/Greg ... No planes in the air. Not right for Atlanta!
Click ... Met up w/Greg in Southern GA at one of his cousins restaurant (Captain's Corner - Vidalia).
Click ... Relief to be coming home!

The whole experience seems very surreal. Especially when I think that I was in NY just the week before & happened to have stayed at the Marriott that sat between those towers. After dinner one night, we actually went up to the Windows on the World for an after dinner drink & walked around looking into several of the conference rooms just to see the views, which were spectacular at night.

Yousef & I met up a few times for lunch & I still keep in touch w/him, although he & his family have since moved out of the country.

Labor Day Nemisis(s)

It really is just one nemesis but in two different forms ...... WEEDS!!!

We knew the garden was going to be bad since it had been 3 weeks since it had been weeded. And, we weren't disappointed. (Double click on each pic to 'biggefy'.)

But, we also encountered them in our pond. Our pond is spring fed so it has a good supply of fresh water. But when it rains it obviously raises the level. To compensate & keep it from overflowing the pond dam, we have a drain pipe with a galvanized wire cage above & around it, to keep out weeds. The pipe drains into the branch area & eventually away from the property altogether.

When we got up in the morning, we noticed that the pond level was very high & it didn't seem to be receding. Plus, we can normally see the upper portion of the cage sticking out above the water, but we couldn't see it at all. Greg got in the fiberglass john-boat & paddled to the drain pipe. It was BARELY draining a trickle & the water level was about 2 inches from overflowing the dam! We would really be in trouble if that happens, as the dam would erode & eventually break & drain ALL the water out of the pond.

It had rained so much lately that the suction of the water into the drain pipe was originally very strong & on top of that the pond weeds wrapped themselves around the weakened cage & caused it to collapse on itself thereby stopping the pipe from draining. Greg started pulling weeds away from the cage. I was standing on the dam at the time & could hear the exit pipe start to gurgle very loudly. I wasn't sure what the sound was at first as it was a guttural sound like an animal stuck in the mud trying to get out. Finally a huge blast of water pushed through, (I couldn't see it, only hear it) & eventually the water started draining steadily again.

These are part of the weeds pulled away from the cage.

About 1/2 5 gallon buckets worth.

After about 3 hours, you could see about 2 inches of the, now bent, cage.

And, the water was receding from the dock as well.

Greg pulled a few more weeds the next day & before we left you could see about 4 inches of the cage.

My Dad will be up this week & will check it to make sure it isn't stopped up again. We'll need to replace the cage apparatus. We are looking to replace it with stainless cage so it doesn't erode.

After working on the drain pipe we decided to tackle the garden. This is what it looks like. There are hedgerows growing! This is War!

I have newspaper in the some of the block holes & initially thought that the weeds were growing up through the paper. However, after either pulling or string trimming, it appears that the newspaper is helping keep the weeds in the holes, at bay. There are a few coming through but nothing like in the beds.

Almost all the beds have newspaper or cardboard, leaves, hay & a layer of compost but as you can see the weeds don't care. They are definitely worse & harder to pull in the beds w/less 'matter' in them. The 2 higher beds in the front (eventually the asparagus beds) have a thicker layer of compost on them & the weeds seem to be mostly surface weeds most likely brought in by birds. I pulled the weeds out of those 2 beds by hand.

We decided to try an experiment with black 6 mil plastic. We had a few leftover old warped boards so we measured and put a frame of board along the length of each bed & stapled the black plastic to the boards & then put block on the ends. We only had enough boards to do 4 beds but we'll see how it goes & cover the others if it seems to work.

I still want to put down cardboard or landscape cloth & wood chips in the pathways. But need to find a source for wood chips.

Oh well, at least I don't plan on planting anything in most of the beds until the spring of 2015 we will keep fighting until we have conquered the blasted weeds!

Oh, and a note on the grapes. Yes, the other vine is definitely the white variety.

I got about 2 quarts from it & about another pint from the last of the red ones!

Wild Grapes

We have wild Muscadines & Scuppernongs growing along our fence line at the Country property. They have been there for a long time. We decided to build a couple of arbors to try & train them to grow where we can pick them instead of putting a ladder in the back of a pick-up truck to pick them.

We built a couple of arbors on what I hoped was 1 of each. Here's the Muscadine arbor (very basic) waiting for the vine to spread across the top.

I had grapes on it soon after.

But they just didn't ripen very fast.

Greg went to the Country House to mow in preparation for our Labor Day long weekend & harvested some that finally ripened for me.

This is the Muscadine vine which he brought some home for me to have for a snack today.

Here is the Scuppernong one that I had only hoped was the white variety & it seems to be. I will find out this weekend.

After only pulling a few vines from each wild plant, they seem to be taking hold. Cross your fingers that we will have enough to make wine in a few years!

If I knew you were coming I'd a baked a cake.

I can't remember the last time I baked a cake just for the heck of it. I saw this on social media recently & realized that I had almost all the ingredients on hand & decided to make it. It is fabulous! I would make it w/just canned milk & sugar the next time as I am not a huge fan of caramel, but the cake itself is delicious! I couldn't find toffee bits & used Heath Bars candies & that just added a new dimension. It is sooo good!

Brown Sugar Caramel Pound Cake

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups butter softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 8oz bag toffee chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Caramel Drizzel:
1 – 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 spray a 12 cup Bundt pan with cooking spray with flour

Beat butter until creamy. Add sugars beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. In medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mix to batter alternately with milk, beat until just combined. Stir in toffee bits and pecans. Spoon batter into pan and bake 85 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean. To prevent excess browning, cover cake with foil while baking.

Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan, and let cool completely on a wire rack. Spoon Caramel Drizzle over cooled cake.

Directions for Caramel Drizzle
In a medium saucepan, combine condensed milk and brown sugar; bring to a boil over medium-high heat, whisking frequently. Reduce heat, and SIMMER for 8 minutes, whisking frequently. Remove from heat; whisk in butter and vanilla. Let cool for 5 minutes before using. NOTE: Make sure you drizzle the caramel while it’s still HOT. When cooled the caramel does somewhat harden.

A Quilt Top

I went on an adventure last weekend ... a Quilting Retreat!

I met some wonderful women at the CITR Retreat I went to last year. Like minded individuals who practice what I want to preach. They have their own animals, love to can, dehydrate & generally preserve their own food.  Here's a lovely picture that J took of a quilt top in progress.

Since the CITR Retreat isn't being held as a whole anymore, a few of these women decided to do their own thing & I decided to join them. I have never quilted in my life & didn't get a chance to this time but I did get a quilt top & back built. I was proud of myself considering I haven't even taken my sewing machine out of the box in about 10 years. And, that was for simple curtains for heavens sake. But, one of the ladies posted a beautiful picture of a quilt that I thought I would love to make. My colors weren't the same as what she posted but I had some really cool material I had purchased at an Estate Sale & thought it would work great, and it did!

The retreat was in VA & was associated with a Threads Run Through It Quilt Shop. It is out in the middle of nowhere & was a wonderful place to be for 4 nights & 5 days. They offer a house to rent to do your sewing & is easy access to the shop which has the most amazing fabric choices. The house beds were covered with quilts from the shop & had matching sheets & luxury quality hotel towels to use. Here are a couple of pictures.

I went to my friend's house in SC first & spent the night before heading to VA. She & her husband have a wonderful property located in a rural area & is just beautiful ... the house, grounds & her. In addition to the beautiful & well maintained property, she has several dogs, cats & a couple of horses that she & her husband absolutely adore. It was a pleasure visiting them.

All the women attending were most helpful, patient & kind with the newbie sewer among them. I even learned a few new terms along the way, but messed up a few more. Anybody out there know what a "Fat Quarter" is? I didn't and kept calling it a "Fat Bastard", one of my favorite wines. They got a kick out of it at my expense which was just fine. The lady at the quilt shop (Lori) kept trying to teach me the correct terminology since I was obviously so uninformed.

These women were awesome & very determined in their work. There were 5 of us & three of us all had the same first name (Debbie) which got kind of confusing & humorous as the days went by. Most of them did several projects & all were most beautiful.

Also, there was a very inspiring young lady there who is amazing in her own right. She is the 19 year old daughter of one of the Debbie's & loves all the same things we do. I swear she is a 30 year old in a teenager's body. She made this amazing quilt top which the shop owner quilted for her before we left!

We sewed & sewed but also went on an afternoon trip to a dairy goat farm & then into 'town' to buy T-shirts & then the 19 year old saw a restaurant that she had been for a special birthday celebration recently. It was very very good with Martini's & Cosmopolitan's to boot. The chef/owner had just come back from the coast & had a wonderful grouper dish. Sorry, no pic. Also, had a wonderful coconut cake & key lime pie that was to die for!

Anyway, it was a most enjoyable time away & I am now thinking about what I want to do for next year!

Peanuts & A Stove

I got up this morning & headed to an Estate Sale. Beautiful Craftsman style house that sat on a corner lot across from a neighborhood private park on the river. They had some beautiful furniture but I don't need that right now. Why do I keep coming across things at really good prices that I will need in about a year & have nowhere to store yet?

Decided to stop by and say hello to Stephen since it had been a while since I had seen him. We had a nice chat before I headed home. As I was driving I came upon a guy selling boiled peanuts on the side of the road. Since I hadn't eaten lunch I stopped & got a bag. I know a lot of people find them gross but in my mind it is a right of Southern passage to eat warm, salty, soft peanuts ... while standing up. I have to eat them that way because the juice runs up my arms if I don't.

Anyway, got close to home & saw an Estate Sale sign that wasn't there when I left earlier. When I got to the location, it was obviously NOT an Estate Sale but a Yard Sale. What a tease. I decided to get out anyway. I was glancing around the tables & happened to look underneath & guess what I saw?

It was in the original box & they wanted $15. I offered $10 & they agreed. It's not an old one so not as well made but it has only been used a couple of times. Now I need to get some cannisters. I usually see new ones, still wrapped in cellophane at Estate Sales. What do you want to bet that I'll never see them anymore?

Pesto (updated for Sandy)

Made Pesto yesterday. Very easy. Toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan cheese, garlic, basil, olive oil, salt & pepper Plus a splash of lemon juice. I made two batches & froze one for later.

The one on the left was made first. Already darkening.

Update:

Pesto Measurements

1/3 c. pine nuts (or any kind you have on hand)
1-2 cloves garlic
2 c. washed dried basil (packed very tightly) I used just a bit more because that was what I had picked.
1/3 c. olive oil
1/3 c. parmesan cheese (+ a bit more if you really like parmesan)
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 t. lemon juice

Pulse nuts & garlic until crumbly.
Add next 4 ingredients & process until desired consistency. I added a bit more oil at this point.
Stir in lemon juice.
Can be frozen.

We did go to the country last weekend, but the guys moving the buildings only got 1 moved. They were supposed to arrive around 4:00p but didn't get there until after 6:00p. So, they just left it & came back on Monday to unload & level it. The other building still sits on a broken trailer waiting for them to fix the wheel so they can eventually move it (if we're lucky) .

The Crepe Myrtles are doing great, one even decided to go into full bloom!

I'm taking another vacation day today & will be making eggplant parmesan. Might even head over to a couple of nearby Estate Sales.

30 More in the Ground (Plus Gladiolas!)

Last weekend wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. We arrived at the Country House Wednesday evening, July 3rd. With no plans for picnics or barbeque's the next day, we sat on the back porch a while before retiring a bit late, for us at least (it was around 10:30p).

We got up early the next day & headed to Lowe's to pick up posts, lumber & screws for fencing on either side of the gate. Once back we set about setting the posts on either side. Once we were at the gate to start work, we weren't sure if we could get both posts in because one side was exceptionally wet. We measured & set the first one. Since we were only going six foot out we decided that we could, in fact set the other one.

Once that was done we set out to plant the 30 smaller Crepe Myrtle trees we had brought with us. These are from the same Mother trees that FIL had grafted his from. We had dug the holes two weeks prior & some had caved in a bit & needed to be dug out. Easy compared to digging from scratch. We got them planted in about an hour & making the wells around each since we were on the ground anyway. Next, I got leaves & compost & commenced to put in the wells around each tree. Greg unwound water hose to lay along side. He secured the hose with some stake wires & drilled a tiny hole in the hose at each plant. We hooked it up to a timer to run 15 minutes 3 times a week. We should be able to remove the hose & reuse in the garden area by this fall.

Looking out from the carport.

Looking back down old driveway.

From old gate.

They are about 1/2 the size of the In-laws trees but they were free & things are now starting to look like a homestead with defined spaces. I want to plant some fruit trees in that large field this fall. Thinking about peaches, plums, pears & maybe an apple, if I can find one that grows in the area. Oh, and a table grape vine as well.

The weather was quite nice for July 4th. Not too hot with a steady breeze. After lunch Greg decided to go ahead & mow since rain was predicted for later afternoon. I decided to clean house a bit. It gets very dusty with farmers in the area plowing & cars & tractors riding the dirt road that runs along side the property. I shook rugs, washed rugs, swept, vacuumed & dusted, glad to have that chore behind me.

We got up the next morning & worked on the fencing, trying to decide what to do as we worked. We finished what we set out to do, that weekend, but realized we put the boards too close together. We'll space them out when we put in the next section. The gate is a crooked as we are having a time swinging it open across the drive because the drive is higher in the middle. We'll find a solution for that in the future.

As we were riding to the gate we looked to the side of the drive, about 1/2 way & saw something bright red in the woods along the fence line. Since it was about to rain we decided to high tail it to the house & come back later.

After the rain, the ditch by the gate.

Later, we stopped by the red sighting & realized the red was gladiolas! There were only two blooming but there are hundreds in 2 or 3 different spots.

There is an old well head almost directly in front of these in my Dad's field. There used to be a house there years & years ago so we guessed whoever lived there must have planted them. There were also yellow buttercups in the wooded area but I didn't get a pic of them.

So, in addition to passion flowers, we also have buttercups & gladiolas!

We got a solar driveway light put up as well as a game camera. We've seen bobcat, hog & deer tracks along the driveway so we are hoping to catch a picture of something or another.

As we were leaving on Sunday we noticed these mushrooms growing in the side of a tree. They are about 5 inches across.

We've also been finding rusted junk treasure here & there. I can't wait until we live there!

It is now Sunday, July 14th & I canned peaches (8 pints), made peach jam (12 1/2 pints) & peach butter (7 1/2 pints) yesterday all.day.long. The jam didn't set very well but it's thick enough to use as an ice cream topping. The butter came out perfect. I don't like to peel peaches but I love the end products.

Today, I got tired of jockeying all my bags of frozen vegetable pieces & meat bones & meat pieces so I've got 2 large pots of stock going. I am taking next Friday off so I'll probably spend the day canning the stock.

That's all I've got for now. Have a great week everyone!