Merry Christmas

Homemade Gifts Finished!

Here are the first table runners & hot mats that I made for my friend, sister & Dad's wife.

Front

Back

And more table runners & pot holders for the people that work for me.

The table runners are all reversible with fall fabric on the back. I made 23 various 'cookies in a jar mixes' & attached the potholders to them. Didn't get a pic though.

I've also continued to find fabric at bargain prices from estate sales. Here's a pic of my latest purchase:

This was about 1/2 of the entire box ($25 for all). I plan on making a wedding quilt for a cousin that is getting married next June out of some of this. A simple 5 or 6 inch square pattern. I'm still a novice.

For now, I've put it all away just to get my dining room back. It's very addictive but taking a break is essential to hopefully keep me from burning out. Would love to have a room to keep it up all the time but that isn't possible right now.

Oh well, gotta get back to wrapping presents.

It's been one year.

And I still miss her so much.

What God took from us. Will we ever know what he gave back? I still have hope & dreams for all those to follow but I crave the forgotten memories of those gone.

Moving In-laws - When you try to "Do it Yourself" with Help from Others

We started this waaay back in November 2012.

In-laws (remember they are in their 80's) had a vacation trailer in one part of the state & they requested, due to circumstances beyond their control, to move it to our place in the Country. We were thrilled they would be nearer & agreed.

Along with the trailer, there was a porch, a small BBQ shed & another storage shed for storage.

The first step was moving the actual trailer itself which they hired someone to do.

The electric company then ran the lines to a new junction box & an electrician connected the lines from the trailer to the box. Greg dug a 300' trench to our well & got the water connected.

Weather then set in, remember the driveway delays? Well, it caused this to be delayed as well. Fast forward until February 2013.....

The second step was moving the porch. Rather than taking the porch apart (our preference), FIL decided it would be easier to just cut it in half & move it that way ... not.

Lining the 1st 1/2 up to put on the trailer.

Justin is a whiz bang trailer backer upper.

Here's a pic w/the 1st 1/2 of the porch 'installed" using the drive through method.

The 2nd 1/2 was a bit more difficult to move for some reason. For one, it almost slipped off the trailer while in the 3 hour transit, due to an uncle not tying it down well & Greg not double checking. If it had fallen off, Greg said he would have set fire to the sucker & called the fire department. Regardless, they got it moved & since we couldn't do a drive through my Dad used his tractor to lift it off the trailer & put in place. Thank goodness my Dad was available & my BIL was there to help as well.

Thank goodness for BILs. See FIL supervising?

Next was the buildings. Greg tried to move the small one but just didn't have the 'power' needed to get it on the trailer. So, we went back to the guy that had moved the trailer to begin with. He kept telling us "next weekend" then again "next weekend" & on & on. We just had to wait tight. In-laws could at least get in the house with water & electric.

So we put the crepe myrtles in & watched them bloom:

And, then waited & waited for the trailer mover guy to call again. In July they finally! got the the other buildings moved.

They then hired a local guy that was as slow as the trailer mover guy, to get the porches straight & to add screens to the porches. Finally in November 2013, they are settled ... only 1 year later!

This is just to our left of our Country House & we are so glad they are moved in to their new 'vacation' place.

Note: We were up there couple of weeks ago when In-laws were also up & heard the tiller going, it was around 5:00pm & getting dark. We had just gotten there & Greg said "I'm not going over there to see what he's doing now". Turns out that FIL was trying to 'surface' till the ruts that were there from the movers tires. That tiller can jerk you around like nobody's business, especially in clay soil.

He . never . quits (remember he's 84). 

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.