my back hurts

and i say to myself "as it should"! yesterday i spent 3 hours machine quilting my first larger than doll size and i hated it! my thread constantly balled up and broke. it was as if the needle was shreading it. anyway, then i spent about a half hour sewing in all the ends where the thread broke. i called it a day and got up this morning and was so excited to bind the quilt but spent 1 hour looking for my binding and i gave up. i did clean a little so that was a possitive.

the reason my back hurts is i spent 4 hours working on tops and didn't realize how long i was bent over cutting and then sitting funny to sew the pieces together. maybe laying on the floor will work out some of the kinks.

for dinner i tried to make peanut sauce. i say tried because i didn't have all the ingredients and just used what i had and hoped for the best. when james goes out of town i tend to play around with foods he will not eat.

i had a quiet thanksgiving and am looking forward to Christmas.

hot sauce

i canned hot sauce this am. it took forever to cook down. my thumb nails are still burning but i sure hope it is worth it. canned 5 4 oz jars, 1 pint and 1 "ice cream topper" jar (this is the only one i'm waiting for to seal).

the story goes like this: tons of free pepper plants but they are all hot peppers. i've picked and picked and given away so many peppers you'd think i'd not have any left BUT if you know the large pinkish bowl from tupperware (the extra large one that came in a set of 4) that is 3/4 full After i canned 1 batch of hot sauce.

i'm going to food saver them and put them in the freezer. which will cause a problem because it will make the freezer smell like peppers and the food will have an extra little nasty flavor added.

toamtoes

it's all about the tomatoes. i picked friday am and started canning around 930. i finished at 245 pm. Reprocessed 7 jars on saturday afternoon and 2 didn't seal in the end. I went to put them away and realized 2 more didn't seal, they just pretended and then the tomatoes fell in the jar and that i usually the clue.

I really think i'm close to being done. i'm pulling out plants and putting them in a pile to burn, just incase the fungus is in my garden too. i haven't had tomatoes mold on the vine like some but i'd rather be safe than sorry.

i happened to look over at my pepper plants and noticed that i've got some red ones out there. I usually don't have the patients to let them turn on the vine. i'll probably put up peppers at the end of the season and not pickle them like i have earlier this summer.

my muskmelon, the one i posted at the begining of the season that the rabbits mangled, it produced 4 melons and i picked 2, a little over ripe but oh so yummy. my watermelon produced 2 and one is ready to be picked but i looks really heavy and the other is on the small side. my patty pan squash produced 6-7 squash. not great in my openion but it was my first try. my pea plant gave me about 20 peas. i think you know the rest. don't miscount plants and plant to many. i do love how the bhot peppers look infront of the house. james will take some to work tomorrow and get rid of them. i need to clip my herbs and dry them. 2 of the 3 plants are getting out of control.

haven't worked on quilts in a while. i borrowed a yo-yo maker and have about 30 completed, just "watching" tv.

tomatoes

canned 5 pint salsa and 9 pint of tomatoes that simmered for close to 9 hours. i've given away 30-40 lbs of tomatoes and still have more turning in the garden. i will have to pick today as i haven't pick this weekend.

i bought my first kit at a quilt store. by some maricle i had just enough bills in my purse to pay in cash, took me quite by surprise. need to purchase the back for my husbands quilt and find a pattern sutable for 4-5 prints in charcole, aqua, 2 char/aqua prints and one dotted fabric. cancel a class i signed up for and put a border on my crazy messed up quilt that turned out quite nicely.

if i listed everything on my todo list i would be here the rest of the day and get nothing done. off to finish laundry, guessing 3 loads today.

When will I be done?

Last night I canned 23 small jars of banana peppers, only 1 didn't seal. It took way longer to do because of all of my distractions. This am i canned 9 q tomatoes and 2 didn't seal. I dislike when the jars don't seal.

So, i'm going to stop counting jars and i might be done canning for the season. i still have tomatoes turning red but i'm feeling like i'm done.

canning :(

Ok, so we all know i am a touch crazy for canning. i am a touch crazy for every craft i get into and when they all happen at once i go major crazy. i ordered a bushel of peaches thinking i had a week between canning my tomatoes and the canning class on tomatoes but it turns out that the peaches are coming on MONDAY! they will come after VT and before a baby shower. one of my friends came friday so we could can together and she decided that it would go a whole lot faster if i just put the tomatoes in a jar and processed them. 15 q plain tomatoes on friday. there are more tomatoes coming every day in my garden and i'm to the point that i didn't even go out and pick today. it is like i'd rather not know what is there to be done.

i worked on my crazy messed up quilt today and all i have left to put together are the boarders. i'm making it a crib size and it is deffinatly a boy quilt except i put a paper doll material in that is all girl. i might rip it out, i think i'll still do that tonight. i am taking my doll quilts to CC tomorrow to show a friends' mother-in-law, says she will go crazy for them.

james had a scout campout and bike ride today. let's just say that i'm surprised he was still walking. i'm not sure he will make it to church tomorrow. i went in to check on him at 8:30 and he was sound asleep. he did find a bike for me somewhere close to where he works. this is a good thing. i've not been on a bike in years! speaking of bikes, i need to put his in the garage...

Adoption

Many of you know jams and i are trying to adopt. tuesday i spent 2+ hours searching a website looking at children who are legaly free for adoption. i stumbled upon a sibling group of 3 and LOVED them. the middle child reminded james of me. as i read the bio i cried. as i talked to james about the children i liked, i cried. as i talked about the children the next day to friends i cried again. then i got a call from the site and they informed me the children are still available for adoption and gave me a number to call.

i called the number and the lady said "oh, i think you are to late, they were chosen this morning and are no longer accepting homestudies". of course i was crushed, i still am. However, the good or bad news is there is a set of 3 siblings but they are some medical challenges. that is pretty much all i know. i don't know race or gender. i know where they live and the age of one of the children. There are more people i need to call and way more paperwork that needs to be completed. Red tape, i am swimming.

a give away

http://macyaugustus.blogspot.com/2009/08/4500.html

cute purse!!

what is a scrap?

i should take a pic but i have not the time. hehehe, not really, i just don't want to walk upstairs and take one.

how big do you consider a scrap of material? some say a fat quarter. I say 3/4 " X 3/4" is the smallest piece of material i will use, sometimesit is considered a scrap and sometimes it is the size of a piece for a block. actually even that statement isn't true. I will use 1/2 " and make very scant hems. i love making doll quilts out of scraps. it is my newest passion. i also enjoy making quilts out of scraps but find they become SO heavy because of all the hems.

I want to know what you all think but i don't know how to create a poll on here.

my dog

This is my crazy dog. would you believe she forgets to jump at times? for instance, the other night my husband took her out and on the way back in she forgot to jump up the front step. totally smashed her face into the concrete porch. we are surprised she still has teeth.

we also think she can't see very well. we feed her treats by tossing them on the floor and she gobbles them up. yesterday james was feeding her goldfish crackers and she had such a hard time finding them. you'd think she'd be able to smell them but sometimes that doesn't even work.

i love her anyways! beautiful dog.

elephants

i made an elephant for a friend back in Feb for her baby shower. it is the cutest thing but everytime i sit down to make another i forget how it is put together. monday i cut out 2 more and have not had to rip anything out, before that i think i had to rip off an ear. the elephant before that i only had so much material and after i had everything cut out and laid out i realized one ear had to be sewn on upside down. james noticed it right a way but no one else has looked that close and maybe no one else will.

so a lady asked me to make her 2. it has taken me 6 months to do so. now why is that? because i lost my pattern! but please, is my craft room that messy~ yes, yes it is!!!! not only is sewing set up in there i've got scrapbooking, card making and quilting going on. so i've resolved to not go to joanns or hobby lobby or hancock fabrics. i will only purchase material when it is on sale at quilt shops or when i need something to finish a project.

i need to work on my red/white and my blue/white and finish them. they are to cute to let lay around as tops and i'll get to practice machine quilting as i do it. my question about machine quilting is: how does one go about tying off the ends of thread when one is done with a line or squiggle and you don't want a continuous line on the quilt? a bit wordy? sorry. backstitching shows, knots show so what is one to do?

is anyone interested in a quilting bee to hand sew a crib quilt i'm working on?

more pickles yesterday

After going to bed around 1130 again i'm still tired. the thing is, this am i didn't wake up at my normal 730, i woke up at 824. my first thought was "poor dog" second thought was, mom hasn't called me. so i took care of the dog and went to check on mom and she is sound asleep. (20 min. later not asleep anymore, i just heard her close a kitchen cabinet.)

my friend did come yesterday. we canned 24 pint for her and i got 5 pint from her cucumbers. it was a good day, took 4 1/2 hours. she only cut herself twice, one was pretty bad but said she didn't need stitches. realized i've been hot packing my cucumbers and peppers this summer. that is a NONO. i've got wiggly veggies now. james said it doesn't matter, he sometimes likes a softer pickle so not all is lost. why do i make directions waltz in my mind instead of line dance like they are written?

i wanted to take a break from canning for a while (i'm sure you can guess why). then i checked my email and a different lady from church has requested help with her canning because she only started last year and isn't confident enough yet (which i totally understand) to do it by herself. another reason is she doesn't own a canner. of course i emailed her back volenteering my services. i so love to can and it is because i know the joy of having just the right abount of salt or sugar in something and knowing i made it. knowing what is in that jar and not having to ask someone else to pronounce a big long word and asking what it means. anywho, i'm not taking a break even though i should. i will slow down but not stop!

pickles

yesterday i canned 13 pint of pickles and 9 pint of zucchini pickles. it took all day. i went to bed at 11 and got up at 530. tomorrow i will can pickles with a friend from church. in 2 weeks i'll teach a tomato canning class here at my house. i want to can beef next. actually, next i need to organize my basement storage area.

mom had her surgery today, it seems to have gone well. i dislike the inconvience of perscriptions not being signed and therefore not being able to be filled.

i've been working on "my messed up quilt" and a tiny quilt made of cast off quilt scraps.

canned chicken

I have never been a fan of the pressure canner. With that said, i purchased one yesterday because i found a great deal on chicken and knew it wouldn't fit in the freezer. lets just say that when people look in my freezer they stare in unbeleif (for a full minute or untill i tell them to stop)at how full it is. i like to be prepaired.
Anywho, i canned this chicken and have 7 q waiting in the fridge that didn't get in. I love to can, i have found a way to can in the off veggie season.

update: i've picked 8 peas from my pea plant.

I have canned

So far i've pickled cauliflower (5 quart), made 4 pint low-sodium dill pickles (2 pint didn't seal), and 5 pint pickled banana peppers for pizza! I've not canned any of these before so i'm a little leary of how it will taste.

i'm excited to get going. it's not so bad when I do 1 batch at a time but i like doing more at a time just to get it done.

today i need to foodsaver green peppers. I picked tons from the garden but the I purchased 24 from wal-mart when they were .50 each. I've got to go get busy!

garden harvest

I've got to brag a bit. I canned 2 quarts of pickled cauliflower Saturday, purchased from my amish friends a few weeks ago. I then canned 5 pints of banana peppers, all picked from my garden.

here is the pic of my garden harvest sunday afternoon. it is only going to get better from here. Mandy, did you see the 2 peas? I have atleast 2 more growing. hehehe eat that!

give away!

I would choose the black and white fabric. I LOVE the dress cut for a shirt. It is so cute.

Check out http://the-fabric-shopper.blogspot.com/2009/07/giveaway-honey-girl-pattern-3-yards-of.html

My day out (alone)

I have to say i had a lot of fun yesterday driving around by myself which usually doesn't happen. i hate to drive, anywhere. A quilt shop was having a sale and i had found some dotted fabric there about 3 weeks ago. I walk in and *gasp* they had rearranged their fabric display. I think i'm not the only one who HATES that. I didn't find the fabric so i saved myself some money.

I did find 3 bolts of red/white for my little quilt. one was stripped so it gave me around 8 prints for the cost of 1. i usually dislike fabrics like that but in this case it is perfect!

I purchased a brown to go with the queen quilt i'm sewing for my DH. again, i usually dislike batic fabric but it matched in the sunlight. so instead of cutting and sewing yesterday and today i've spent the time browsing quilters blogs and putting up the pool.

This is the cool part. I found 2 outdoor play toys for $8 each. the sad part was the GW was having a garage sale but NOT during the hours i was there. they wouldn't sell the items at the discounted price within a 30 minute window after the fact. I figured why not have an all day sale instead of splitting it up. Oh well, now I need to sanitize the toys so they are ready for Tuesday. Another thing i found (they sold it seperate instead of with the outdoor toys) was an outside chair for kids. I thought "oh great, they will fight over the chair but atleast there will be a chair".

I was gone for 6 hours and met my DH for lunch for the first time sence we were married. Fun fun fun.

Pool is up

The pool is up and running. This time i can't get in without a ladder. still slightly uneven but i think i'll still be able to float around in it. The filter was leaking water so quickly i was sure it was coming out as soon as it was going in. The ground is SATURATED with water from the hose that leaked and from the filter. It is a mess!

Now the bummer is that it has been SO cold (60-70's) that i'm not getting in until the sun has smiled for 2-3 days.

not drama really, just annoyed!

A guilty pleasure that i've not yet gotten to use is our new easy up pool. We take it out of the box and dump it on the ground. THEN we read the directions (that is how it normally goes). 2 hours in sunlight then 1/2 inch of water to make sure the ground is level (it isn't) and then move it until it is (we didn't). I really should have taken pictures but let's just say a pool half the height it was intended is NOT what i call a pool. I call it a bug bath because that is what they are using it for.

so, we are going to have company next week. My sister and her children who wake up every morning saying "Margaret's pool" over and over. Now, the pool has been turned over on it's self to drain. I climbed in the pool clothed to pull the inner plug once it was hooked up to a hose (i had hopes of watering the garden (the easy way) but.....). After hauling buckets over and over I got the little red wagon out of the garage and made about 15 trips with 3 buckets sloshing all over the place. My mom and I didn't even empty 1/3 of the pool.

Long story short, this time my husband will level the ground (tonight) and then fill the pool. hopefully it works or a neighbor (3 miles away) will get an impromptu visit from me asking how in the world their easy up pool actually made it up and didn't get sent back to the manufactor.

promises to miss kitty and sydvishous that the pool will have water in it when they arrive, I just can't promise the need of a ladder to get in and out of the pool.

give away by ryan

Here are the loot/booty/goodie packages you can win (in no particular order). I am giving away 4 (OR MAYBE MORE!?!?!) different prizes to four lucky folks.

PRIZE #1: A set of six (6) patriotic theme fat quarters. HAPPY JULY 4th!!

http://imjustaguywhoquilts.blogspot.com/

Nada

I haven't posted in a while but everything keeps happening anyway. Normal things like watering the garden, mowing the lawn and housework is where it's at.
nothing exciting or new so hang in there and check back in a few.

Quilts

These baby quilts are for Doodle and Mr. T. It took about 2 weeks for the Jungle and around 4-5 months total for Holly Hobby. I've completed 4 other baby quilts and have 1 more to go.

My first shot

Ok, really it took me 3 tries but I got it and I got it good. Not bad for my first time shooting a gun(a 22).

The first picture you see is where James shot it 3 times after I blew a hole in it.

beautiful honeydew

Beautiful honeydew, Oh how I will miss you. I was looking forward to harvesting at least 3 melons from this vine. This came in at a close second to the largest plant purchased to transplant. Third is a watermelon plant which hasn't been touched..... yet. Tomorrow always follows tonight.

It is a sad day when a beautiful garden plant gets destroyed. And then not eaten, that makes it even worse. What a waste! At least eat what you've destroyed rabbits!!! James saved the garden from one rabbit. Which lead to my first shooting lesson.

Foster Care

Getting started for/with Foster care has been an interesting ride. I thought it was going to take a year or more to get all the classes in that we needed Just to be considered to be foster parents.
It took 3 1/2 months! We got the call on Thursday last week that we have been approved to foster to adopt up to 3 children. We got a call the next day saying we were approved to foster up to 3. We won't get our paper certificate for another week yet but there is so much I need to do to get ready because this is happening fast!

I've got to purchase mattrises for the bunk beds, i've already got sheets. Now I need kid friendly meal suggestions.

James and A friend put grass seed down after he came home from work last night. We haven't gotten to the pond area but the thistles sure have. It looks like grass until you get close enough to see that it is all thistles!

Yard work

I've just got to say that mowing isn't really any fun. I do count it as "me" time and that part I really like.

Yesterday my mom and I worked outside from 11:30 to 6 pm. We both raked little limbs from fallen trees until that job was done and then we hopped on our mowers and rode like cowboys. Seriously like cowboys! I hang on for dear life and brace myself against the front of the mower and I charge over the ruts and uneven ground. If I were to guess I'd say we mow roughly 5.5 acres.

The "builders" graded our property but didn't seed so the rain has washed away our dirt for a good year and a half. They also left ruts from their crane or backhoe that make for one jaring ride.

Anywho, the main point is we got sunburnt. Again. It seems that each time I mow I get red, red and more red. Then at the end of the season I turn a little more brown than red and I'm done mowing and done tanning.

Today we were to go out and burn branches and items that pile up that we don't send to the landfills. We both decided to take a break for today and call it good.

Well, here goes. Sit at the ponds edge and dip my toes in. Maybe I'll take the plunge soon.