Gathering threads

I just wanted to share a great tip I learned years ago. Don't you hate it when you are gathering something? You have to make those two rows of gathering stitiches and then you start pulling and adjusting, pulling, adjusting and then the thread breaks? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....not good. My tip is this: Kite string. um hum...Kite string. Line the string up where you want to gather and use zig zag stitches to hold it in place. The zig zags are actually what determines the space between the gathers...anyway, after you've gone all around, pull the kite string and "walla" gathers. All you have to do is make sure you don't zig zag on top of the string because it won't gather if you do. BIG TIME SAVER!

New Felted Wonders

Here are a few new creations from my weekend home sick. I think the best part about felting is there are endless possibilities. As soon as I get sick of making something, I can make something else. I made some bookmarks too, but forgot to take them to school for the photo shoot. Enjoy!

Daffodils. I am not sure if I am 100% done with this one... I might come back to it. But it is cute all the same. I will probably mat it.

When we lived in Greeley, there was a little flea market store that we liked to go to. They sold bags of broken jewelry pieces. I have been holding on to them and found a perfect use for this little round guy. It makes quite a cute little necklace. I just have to figure out the clasp....

And here is my new favorite. Each bead is hand rolled with love. It looked great with my outfits the last few days too! This is another one, though, that I need to figure out something different with the clasp - a barrel claps does not work as good as I had hoped on a bracelet.

Have been having so much fun with this! If you have any ideas for me, please leave a comment! I am always looking for something new! Hope you like!

Until next time.....

Favorite Muffins

Here is a recipe from the vegan cookbook my very awesome and alternative friend gave me as a gift. I know, Mom, I know..... vegan? Don't worry. Perfectly wonderful and simply delicious.... and healthy too! Enjoy!

Applesauce-Oat Bran Muffins

3/4 cup soy or rice milk (I use vanilla)

1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 cup unsweetened natural applesauce

3 Tbsp. Canola Oil

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups flour (I use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat..... best flour ever!)

3/4 cup oat bran (get in the hot cereal isle)

2 tsp. baking power

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cardamom

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup dried cranberries or dried apple pieces, or raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Let stand for one minute to curdle. Add applesauce, oil, and brown sugar. Mix completely.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet; stir only until moistened. Fold in the dried fruit.

Bake 28-30 minutes.

Spring Is Here.... and Oh! How I Need It!

I know we are a week early (officially), but the crocuses are out and (apparently) I have tulips in my yard! It has been 60 degrees the last several days and should remain that way for the rest of the week! In just a matter of weeks (giving the weather stays warm) we will start seeing green on the tops of the trees. Chris and I cleaned and organized our shed and it is so nice to be able to walk into it without bikes falling everywhere! I dusted off all the desert dust (we have a lot of that in Rifle) on our patio furniture and it looks lived in (or on) again! The sun is shining through the windows from the extra hour of daylight and I am just so happy to be alive. I know that is corny, but after waiting out our first winter in the mountains - with limited transportation - and paying my own heating bill for the first time in my life, I am ready to crawl out of my hibernation den and get to work outside! And what a perfect day for this revelation: Palm Sunday - the first day of the most beautiful week in history. Here I am spring! I am ready!

Last fall David and I attended a local wine tasting event. We had not been before and were surprised at the overwhelming selection of wines available to taste from a large variety of vineyards both local and international. Glass in hand, I was ready to dive in but as you can imagine, after several tastes, and various palate cleansing foods the flavors began to mingle and I was no longer sure what I really wanted to choose to keep on my list for future purchase. David, who is not as adventuresome as I when it comes to trying new food and beverage mentioned that he really liked a Rose that was featured by 3 Horse Ranch Vineyard of Snake River Valley, Idaho. Delighted that he tried something new and liked it enough to suggest, I took special note and added the Rose to my list.

I decided to serve the Rose with dinner one evening to my unsuspecting husband just to see if he would comment again – and he did. This wine is a blend of Merlot and Grenache grapes, the latter having less acid and tannin but more sugars, making it a perfect choice to create this slightly dry, very versatile French style Rose.

3 Horse Ranch Rose, Reserve 2009, is very nice, slightly sweet, yet with a touch of tartness that has just a hint of raspberry. The beautiful light pink color would be wonderful be to serve with brunch, lunch or early dinners as it’s light color lends to a pretty setting and its subtle crisp characteristic would not overwhelm lighter menu choices.

3 Horse Ranch Vineyard has several selections offered locally. All are moderately priced at an average of $13 a bottle. I have tried a few varieties and so far the Reserve 2009 Rose is the favorite!

Sisters of the Quilt

Sisters of the Quilt

by Cindy Woodsmall

Sisters of the Quilt is a trilogy which includes “When the Heart Cries”, When the Morning Comes” and “When the Soul Mends”. Three very well written stories of a Hannah Lapp , a young woman brought up in the Old Order Amish community of Owl’s Perch, Pennsylvania. Maneuvering the confusion and trials of the teen age years can be difficult for any young girl but Hannah has the added pressure of her strict religious upbringing clashing with the less stern secular society that she is being drawn to. The boundaries drawn by her church and family are stretched to the breaking point by forbidden love, an unforgivable crime and the yearning of a young heart to know something of the despised “Englisher” world that lay just a short distance away. On one of the happiest days of her life, a brutal attack forces Hannah to search deeply in her heart for understanding, forgiveness and the strength to find her way in a new and terrifying world. Facing the consequences of someone else’s actions, Hannah struggles to follow the rules and beliefs that she was raised with while facing a situation that will never be understood by those she loves. As she confronts the toughest trial of her young life, she learns to trust her own feelings. She discovers how to be honest with herself and in doing so she learns that to withhold her deepest feelings from others, as she has been taught, can often lead to deep, sometimes devastating and irreparable misunderstandings. Hannah grows in this knowledge and finds the balance of respect for herself and for those that she loves so dearly and the ability to share her inner most thoughts.

Cindy Woodsmall’s compelling study of the Amish lifestyle will lead you to admire the commitment and devotion that these communities must practice in order to live in a world that is often uncaring and insensitive to those who hold very strongly to their religious convictions.

I would recomend this to all readers, including young adult.

The Help

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett , is a carefully crafted, humorously told account of the struggle in the hearts and minds of women of different races, trying to bridge the gap placed between them for generations before they were born. The Help, referring to the black women who were the paid to serve their white employers, attempts to capture the weight of the struggle and the strength of the love that grew between them and the white children that they basically raised. White children who would eventually become just like their parents, looking down, from the lofty heights of cultured society, on the black people that lived just over the tracks or across town. Well to do women, hiring “help”, to clean up their homes and the messes that they made of their children, while staying an arms distance out of the ugliness that happens behind the beautiful entrance of every perfectly kept , smiling family’s home.

The 1960’s was a tumultuous time in our country’s history, no more deeply felt than in the south where the age old struggle simmering between love and hate, white and black heated up to a full boil during the height of the civil rights movement. Stockett’s tale stirs the reader’s heart and conjures a gripping sense of loss, not for what is to come – but what has passed between countless babies and maids for centuries. The longing for the love that binds and that is needlessly stripped away by misunderstanding and ignorant beliefs passed shamelessly from one generation to the next.

The erratic mood of the nation gives an unlikely handful of women, separated by color but bound by ties of moral conviction, the opportunity tell the amazing stories of their stations in life. Taking the opportunity to rid themselves of the poison of bitterness that had tainted their hopes and dreams, a few black women, with the help of young, aspiring white journalist, Miss Skeeter, courageously join forces to make known the conflicting emotions that is carried by the women – The Help. Believable and emotional – mixed with a good dose of humor – The Help made me wanted to stand up and cheer when I read the last page. I hope that you will feel the same sense of victory, for the hearts of all women and pause to consider our equality with all people when you read this encouraging story full of heart ache, love, and the victorious hope of the courageous human spirit.

Felted Magnets

So I LOVE felting! Thank you Mom! These were a few little felted circles that I made last weekend. The burgundy one with the blue and green circle I made into a pin and is now living on my purse. The other three are a little too big for pins, so I am going to go the magnet route on those. I took them to school to take photos of them (my camera is dead) and already have a couple of commissions! I think I found my second job! Now all I need is more wool..........

Recipe Cards

I am so tired of having ugly printed out versions of recipes! I usually scribble in my own alterations all over them anyway. I really like the idea of a recipe box, mainly just because my mom has a really cool vintage wooden one. But from what I have experienced with the cool vintage recipe box is: out of sight, out of mind. My substitution is a cheep plastic photo album. At least I can flip through that and see what recipes I have used and which I liked well enough to add to the book. I think it is time for a new one, but before I do that, I decided to redo all of the ugly written-on recipes and make them into something a little more presentable. Here are some links to free printable recipe cards that I liked. Now all I need is a little card stock and some markers. :) Enjoy!

http://www.lafujimama.com/2009/02/recipe-cards-with-little-fuji-flair/

http://www.erinvaledesign.com/leo_on_the_loose/2009/07/diy-free-printable-embellish-recipe-card.html

http://freeprintablesonline.com/2008/05/retro-fleur-recipe-card-template/