"The Not So Excellent Adventure"/Wildfire!

Screaming Tree
 

~~~~SO~~~~

That's how I felt yesterday, like screaming!!!

As Mrs. Threadgood would say,

"you just sit back awhile honey and I'll tell you the story".

(Reference from the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes).

 

The great-grand baby was here, we're minding our own business.

I was sewing, (making her a taggie), she was in the playpen, taking the clothes off my vintage dolls.

 

Typical babysitting day.

 

Little did I know of the goings on outside of my little bubble.

 

The youngest daughter, (Ginger) calls from work.

 

"MOM"! "ARE YOU OK"?

 

(All dramatic like).

 

I'm confused, why wouldn't I be ok?

 

She goes on.....

 

"There's wild fires out by you"!

Whaaat?

 

(This child always knows stuff before anyone else).

I didn't hear any sirens, but, the dogs were acting strange.

I go to look out the front door window, yep, I see fire trucks,

I go to the back door window, yep, I see fire trucks.

Yep, the fields just to the side of me are on fire.

 

Oh crap!

 

I call my neighbor, her house is in a direct line of that fire.

She's outside watching, assures me that the fire people have it under control.

I'm thinking, and you couldn't have called me???

 

I'm here with three dogs and a baby... With no vehicle.

The winds were gusting up to 35 mph, not a good day for a fire.

(The wind was blowing away from my house thank goodness).

 

She, the daughter, has my truck, she's 30 miles away.

 

She's on her way to get us out.

 

I'm putting the computer, camera and related gear into the briefcase,

packing up the diaper bag, looking for dog leashes, grabbing the bug out bags,

piling everything at the front door, buckling the baby into her carseat....

I'm in my jammies....

 

That done....

 

While I'm waiting for my ride, I'm looking out the front door window.

I can see the road, lots of vehicles exiting out of the area.

Then I see/hear a helicopter. It's circling the fire area.

All very exciting, if you're not in the mix....

 

She, the daughter, gets here, grabs the baby,

buckles her into the front seat of the truck.

Starts grabbing all the bags.

I'm holding two dogs on leashes who are acting all crazy.

The german shepherd is hiding in the shower.

 

Once caught, the german shepherd has to be lifted into the truck,

all 85# of her!

She's not wanting to get in,

probably because, the only time she goes for a ride, it's to the vet!

The other two hop right in. Good thing my truck has a back seat.

We bug out.

I'm still in my jammies.... Covered in dog hair.

 

We take the baby to the other G.G.

Spent the rest of the afternoon at the daughter's house watching a movie,

 hoping the wind wouldn't change directions.

 

The dogs and I picked up the hubby from work.

I call the neighbor and inquire as to the state of things.

No houses burned, just the field.

 

But....

 

The daughter calls me today with a story.

Seems there was a body found, something to do with a meth lab!

(NO spell check, I did not mean math lab).

 

Again...

This child always knows stuff before anyone else.

I'm sure she'll have all the details before the day's end.

 

I hope you' all are safe.

I think I'll go sew something.

 

Till next time,

Bonjour

Screaming tree

 

 

Free Baby Blanket Tutorial/What I've Been Sewing

~~~~~~SEW~~~~~~~

 

Handmade baby blanket, bibs and burp cloths

The Great-grand-baby's 1st birthday is coming up,

so I decided to make her a few cute, but useful gift items.

The weather is turning cold here in Texas,

and when I saw this cute fleece at the fabric store,

my mind went to baby blanket.

I bought 1 ½ yards of it, plus some quilting cotton for a ruffle.

The bibs were made out of fat quarters.

 

The thought was,

the blanket could be used length-wise in the crib as a normal blanket,

or, used width-wise to put over the baby seat/carrier.

 

It was quite easy to make, and,

if you would like to make your own, here are the specs.

 

Keep in mind....

It is near impossible to get a decent photo in this house,

the fleece fabric is a pink, brown, blue, yellow and white paisley/floral print, and the quilting cotton is a brown background with pink flowers.

I did my best!

 

Supplies: 

1 ½ yards - 45 wide lightweight fleece/main body
1 ½ yards - 45 wide quilting cotton/ruffle
thread, scissors, cutting mat, rotary cutter, ruler, sewing machine, ETC.

 

Method: 

1. Using the cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler, square up/trim the raw edges of the fleece.

Trim off the printing on the selvages.

2. Cut 5 - 8" strips of the quilting cotton, selvage to selvage.

Trim off the printing on the selvages.

You will have about 14" of the quilting cotton left over, set aside.

3. Using a small plate as a template, trace a curve in each of the four corners of the fleece. Cut on traced lines.

4. On the fleece, cut down the length-wise fold line so you have 2 pieces. Using a ¼" seam, with a normal stitch length, stay stitch each piece separately, around the edges. Set aside.

 

Rounding corners/cut strips

 

5. With a ¼"  seam, using a normal stitch length, with right sides together, sew 2 of your quilting cotton strips together ( on the 8" side). Continue adding the strips until you have them all attached to each other. You will have a long circle.

 

Joining strips

 

6. Press the seams to one side. Now, fold your joined strips, wrong sides together, making the width 4". Press.

7. Using the longest stitch length, baste ¼" from the raw edge.

(This will be your gathering threads to form the ruffle).

Since this is such a long piece, I chose to break up the gathering threads into 5 sections, starting and stopping between the seamed pieces..

Just be sure to leave yourself enough tail ends.

8. Lay out your ruffle piece around one of the fleece pieces and start gathering.

Make sure you leave extra fabric at the corners so it lays right, I

didn't leave enough, and the ruffle wants to curve inward and not lay flat! Lesson learned...

 

Basting the soon to be ruffle/fitting to the blanket front

 

9. Once you have the ruffle gathered, with right sides together,

start pinning the raw edges of the fleece and ruffle together. (The finished side of the ruffle will be facing the inside/center of the fleece). Use lots of pins!!!!

 

10. Once you have the ruffle pinned in place, take it to your sewing machine and sew ¼" from the raw edge, using a normal stitch length. Take out the pins as you go, you don't want to run over them.

11. Now lay the other piece of fleece on top of the ruffled piece, right sides together, with the ruffle to the inside, and pin in place.

12. At your sewing machine, in a ½" seam, using a normal stitch length, stitch the front and back pieces together, leaving 3" or so un-sewn on one long edge for turning. Again.... Take out the pins as you go.

13. Trim the raw edges, except where you left it open for turning. I like to leave that section alone as it leaves you more fabric for turning under later. 

Give the blanket a few stiff shakes to get rid of any stray threads and turn right side out.

 

Fitting front to back/ turned right side out

 

14. At your ironing board, turn under that 3" raw edge and press.

Press the whole top, pulling the ruffle away from the fleece to get a good flat edge.

15. At your sewing machine, using a normal stitch length, topstitch, on the fleece, ¼" away from where the fleece and ruffle meet. This will close the 3" opening and give you a crisp, clean edge.

Clip away any stray threads, give it few stiff shakes and you're done!

16. Use that leftover, 14" piece of quilting cotton to make a bib or two, or to run down the center of some diapers to make burp cloths.

 

Well there you have it, easy birthday present for baby.

If your in a colder climate you might think about adding some quilt batting also.

 

I hope this tutorial is helpful and if you have any questions/directions weren't clear, let me know, I'll be glad to help. 

 

Till next time, happy sewing.

Bonjour







The Ennis Bluebonnet Trails

Bluebonnets

COUNTDOWN...

My town is the Bluebonnet Capitol of Texas.

For the whole month of April everywhere you look you'll see bluebonnets.

On the side of the highway, in open fields, in my yard,
acres upon acres of bluebonnets.

Mixed in with the bluebonnets are indian paint brushes and
a host of other wildflowers

that I should know the names of but, sadly I don't.

You can go to the Ennis Visitor's Bureau and pick up a map
that lists over 40 miles of drivable trails
for viewing this bluebonnet phenomenon.  

I live on one of these trails.

There's even a sign at the top of the hill that says so!

On the weekends there's a steady stream of visitors
out viewing and taking pictures of the wildflowers.

When I first came to Texas, and this little town, I did the same,

 yep,

 had my picture taken sitting in a patch of wildflowers......

Sounds sweet, doesn't it?

Know what I got?

A bad case of chiggers!!!!

What the heck is a chigger, I had never heard of a chigger!

(Any of various small, six-legged larvae of mites of the family Trombiculidae, parasitic on insects, humans, and other vertebrates. The chigger's bite produces a wheal that is usually accompanied by severe itching. Also called chigoe, harvest bug, harvest mite, jigger2, red bug.)

Gnawing, biting, itchy little critters is what they are!

I was miserable for weeks.

 (Well maybe not for weeks, I am a bit of a drama queen).

Don't even know what happened to that picture.

Anyway,

Every time I see a family, with their cute little girl, dressed in her Sunday best,

out taking her picture in the wildflowers, I think to myself,

YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY!!!

So, keep my story in mind if you have a hankering 

to have your picture taken in a field of wild flowers!!!

So,

 this weekend is,
 "The Bluebonnet Arts & Craft Festival"

where tens of thousands of people (said so on the visitor bureau's website)

come to pick up maps of the trails and purchase bluebonnet related stuff.

I have bluebonnet related stuff....
I carry a bluebonnet soap.

I guess you know where I'll be spending the next two days.
(Booth # 9 if you want to come visit me).

We always do well at this show

and,

 there really are a lot of visitors

 and,

 since it's in my home town,

it's a no brainer!

Soap Display

Time to label some soap and pack the totes.
(Oh no, the rhyming thing again).

See you'all Monday!
Bonjour

The Way We Were



Pensive



First Communion 1963?











Mem'ries,

Light the corners of my mind

Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were
Scattered pictures,
Of the smiles we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were
Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Or has time re-written every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? Could we?
Mem'ries, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...
The way we were...
The way we were...
The Way We Were,
Lyrics by Barbra Streisand

So...

My sister Carol was going through Mom's things and ran

across these antiquated photos of me.

Like most old pictures, they had no names or dates on the back.

I run across old photos like these all the time when I'm out thrifting and wonder,

who is this person, where were they from, what kind of life did they have?

It's sad really, no one will ever know who or when they were.

Well, I got busy putting info on the back of all the photos she sent me.
Can't have my photos floating about without any info,
people need to know who I am, who I was!!!

School and special event pictures are always fun to look at because

someone took the time to fix your hair and make sure you had decent clothes on
and generally looked presentable.

And isn't it funny how one year you think you're looking pretty good

and the next year your thinking OMG what happened???

7th grade 1965
(check out the bad eye)

8th grade 1966



Sophmore year 1968

Kind of like this one!!!

And I really thought I was stylin with that hair!
I like the First Communion one,
I wish my hair was still red like that, not this gray stuff.


1972- ish. Chicago beach



2010 Ren Fest with Nathan

I still feel young, my body doesn't hurt, no arthritis happening,

 not too many wrinkles yet, generally feeling ok.

I was supposed to be wearing my glasses in all of these photos,

notice they only show up in one?

Looking over these photos I realize, I was a dreamy child,

not really connected to the real world.

Not much has changed in my 57 years! 

Sometimes when I'm sad, I wonder,

what have you done, what have you accomplished,

will anyone remember you?

What about you?

How has your life been?

Till Next Time,

 Bonjour



Rosemary and Parmesan Madeleines



ROSEMARY AND PARMESIAN MADELEINES

 

Don't Panic....

I got the butter scraped up and
the oven is as good as new!

Another vacation day, can't get out, icy and freezing in north Texas.
Some baking is in order.

I saw this picture on Lorrie's blog a few weeks ago and thought
this sounds good, maybe I'll give it a try.
She didn't list a recipe so today
 I googled and found one at Williams - Sonoma along with the picture.
I don't have a madeleine pan but
I do have corn stick pans, just as good I'm thinking.

So....I'm going over the list of ingredients,
have everything except the cake flour.
What's the difference between cake flour and all purpose flour I ask myself?
Another trip to the computer.
Seems cake flour has less protein (8% or less)  and is made from the softer endosperm of the wheat.
 All purpose (10% protein) is a mix of hard and soft wheat. Bla, bla, bla.
Humm...
Is there a substitute?
More googling!
Why yes, there is.
For 1 cup of cake flour you can substitute
7/8 cup all purpose flour with 1/8 cup cornstarch.
Ok then.
Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

1 cup cake flour

3 tsp. finely minced fresh rosemary

(I am not going outside to clip rosemary, dry, smooshed is good enough.)

1 tsp. fleur de sel (very expensive salt, normal sea salt will have to do!)

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (I used lemon pepper instead.)

4 eggs

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

2 Tbs. sugar

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°

Brush two madeleine corn stick pans with 2 Tbs. of the butter, set aside.

Sift the cake flour into a bowl and gently stir in the rosemary, salt and pepper, set aside.

In your mixing bowl wisk the eggs until fluffy. Add the cream of tartar and sugar. Wisk some more.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour and cheese, then fold in the remaining butter.

Spoon the batter into the buttered molds so the batter is even with the rims.

(Keep in mind, I'm using corn stick pans so there was no spooning, I had to scrape it off the spatula then spread it with a  table knife. Very thick batter!)

Bake for about 12 minutes. Immediately remove from the pans and cool on a wire rack.

Sounds easy enough, right?

WRONG!!!!

BUBBLING, BUTTERY MESS!!!

I'm sitting on the kitchen stool waiting, I hear sizzling, I see a flash in the oven.

What the hell heck?

Open door of oven, butter is dripping everywhere, trying to ignite the element, crap darn.

Smoke alarm goes off!!!

Quickly get the cookie sheets out and put the stick pans on top of those.

Back into the oven they go. (gotta keep that smoke contained)

Smoke alarm stops.

After about 15 minutes total I guessed they were done,

it was hard to tell with all that butter floating on top!

There was no quickly transferring to a wire rack happening,

more like wait a few till all that butter stopped bubbling.

Meanwhile I'm waiting for the oven to cool so I could scrape up the butter.

They taste ok, a little heavy, and suprisingly, buttery.

Probably would have been better if I'd used cake flour.

After more googling I found that cake flour is better able to absorb fats,

maybe I should have paid attention to the bla,bla,bla?

Steve faired better with his Confetti Corn Bread.

CORNBREAD WITH GRATED CARROTS, CHOPPED ONION AND JALAPENOS

I will try this recipe again, only next time, WITH cake flour.
Hope your day is going better than mine.

Till next time,
Bonjour

BREAKING NEWS

HELP!!!!

Rolling blackouts, driveway impassible, icy roads, cold, cold and more cold.

I've lived in Texas for 35 years, what the hell heck is a rolling blackout?

Only heard of them  in New York or California.

GEEZ!!!

Spent most of the day without power, lot of good all that canned stuff

does ya without the means to warm it!

Where's the wood stove?

Barricaded ourselves in the house, put on lots of clothing, am at the computer (finally) wearing a long sleeved shirt, sweater, hooded coat, fingerless gloves and three pairs of socks plus house shoes and I'm still cold!

Last weekend high 70's.

I would rather be hot than cold.

Hope I make it.

At least I have quilts on the bed!!!

Canning And A quilt

33 PINTS OF PINEAPPLE/PINA

Oh my gosh!!!

We've been canning since last Friday,
a few hours here a few there. (After work)



We finally finished up today.

7 QUARTS CHILI, 3 QUARTS VEGGIE BROTH



2 1/2 GALS. TOMATO VEGGIE MIX

The pineapple will be lunch bag snacks,

kabob fillers, diced for cookies, ham additive,

could even be squashed and simmered for syrup over pancakes.

(Use your imagination.)

The veggie broth is a beautiful amber color,
looks like a French Onion Soup starter.

Onion and garlic skins/ends with celery ends

simmered then strained and canned.

(Used the waste from the Tomato Veggie mix.)

The Tomato Veggie mix is toms, celery, onion, garlic,

mixed color bell peppers and dried chilies.

No seasonings, we'll use this base for tacos, spaghetti sauce,

pico de gillo, guacamole, lasagna, spanish rice ETC. 

Even managed to make a few batches of soap,

mow some of the lawn weeds, clean house and do laundry.

The temps. have been in the high 70's for the last 3 days

so I was able to hang the laundry out and

open the doors for some much needed fresh air.

Snow predicted on Tuesday, damm darn bipolar Texas weather.

Steve planted the carrot seeds, the lettuce, spinach and more of the onions.

We're spacing the onion plantings so they don't all come in at the same time.

Sure do want to finish that quilt.





THIS IS A CRAZY QUILT I DID YEAR BEFORE LAST



CLOSE UP







I think I spy some of the rose fabric from the placemats in the lower left corner of the quilt close up.

Frugal me.

Well, thats all I got!!

Till next time.

 Bonjour

Sewing The New Placemats and Napkins

FABRIC WAITING TO BE TRANSFORMED

OK......

The holidays are over, the festive adornment is put away......

Plain dining table now!

What's a girl to do?

Sew of course!!!

4 placemats, 4 napkins and 1 table runner to be specific.

Are you ready?

What you need.

Sewing machine (optional, but very useful)

Thread

Fabric

Rotary cutter and mat (optional, but very useful)

What you do.

1. Cut 8 rectangles 15 1/2" X 12 1/2 " (mats)

2. Cut 8 squares 10 1/2" X 10 1/2" (napkins)

3. Cut 2 rectangles 21" X 11 1/2" (runner) 

4. Place 2 of the placemat rectangles right sides together and stitch a 1/4" seam around all 4 edges, leaving a 3" opening in the middle of one of the seams.

5. Remove from the sewing machine and press to set the stitches.

6. Clip corners.

7. Turn right side out through 3" opening.

8. Press again, tucking in raw edges on the 3" opening.

9.Top stitch close to the edge around the whole rectangle.



TOP STITCHING ALMOST DONE

10. Continue this same process for the rest of your placemats, then move on to the napkins, then the runner.

FELIX LIKES!!!

VIOLA

You now have beautiful table top adornment!!!!

I made my placemats from a different fabric on the back because

I didn't have enough of the rose fabric for both sides.

The napkins are a little small for this same reason
but look very nice folded in half.

The napkins and runner match the placemat's back fabric.

(runner not shown)

This project was quick and easy and you might
even consider adding some ribbon trim to the edges.

The rose fabric used to be throw pillows and
I don't remember what I had the swirly fabric for.
Fabrics come and go here, today curtains,
tomorrow throw pillows, the next time placemats.
I never get rid of fabric!!!!

I've also been working on a quilt.

WISHING TO BE A QUILT!

HAPPY SEWING.
Till next time,
Bonjour

Dallas Farmers Market

TOW MATERS

SO......

I had to make a trip into north Dallas yesterday for soap supplies and since

The Dallas Farmers Market is on the way we decided to stop.



PINEAPPLES CANTALOUPES AND ORANGES



Lots of local greens, onions, south Texas grapefruit,
farm fresh eggs and honey.

Also plenty of the more exotic fare, pineapples, mangoes and papayas.

FARM FRESH EGGS

Well needless to say I parted with a little green!
We came home with 25lbs. of tomatoes, 14 pineapples, 10lbs. of oranges,
5lbs. of grapefruit, several bell peppers, (yellow and green) and, (I'm not saying how many) onions.
Guess what we're doing tomorrow?
Stay Tuned for canning day!!!!

Till next time,
Bonjour

Food and Knowledge...These are a few of my favorite things...

YUMMY GOODNESS

SO....

The goodies have finally arrived.

No more onions from the BIG BOX PEOPLE,

small box delivered right to my mail box!

(My, that's a lot of boxes for one sentence)

I didn't know there were short day, intermediate and long day onions, or that some were better for storing than others, or that you leave them to dry in the garden after you pick them.

Seems I knew nothing at all about onions.

After some research I now know that in Texas, we need short day onions.

And there's a local supplier in east Texas. Brown's Omaha Plant Farms Inc.

I like to shop local when I can.

We are now the proud parents of,

TX 1015 - Y Supersweet

Red Burgandy Hamburger

My husband's choices!

The snow has melted so maybe tomorrow we can get them in the ground.

I'm still doing research to understand which ones store better. 

OTHER BREAKING NEWS!!!

KNOWLEDGE

We subscribe to Backwoods Home Magazine and they had a few books we've been coveting.

I finally loosened the purse strings and ordered one for me and one for Steve, the third one was free.

My choice was,

Jackie Clay's canning book.

This is not your run of the mill canning book, this is the SUPREMEO CANNING BOOK!!! (I'm sure that's a word)

I have several canning manuals but not one covers the range of foods to can as this one does.

Canned cheese, meat, milk who knew?

There's tips on growing a wide range of foods, recipes and even info on raising animals.

I can't wait to put this book to use.

I love knowledge.

Steve got,

 Butchering Smoking Curing and Sausage Making.

I haven't looked at that one yet so I have no opinion to share.

The third one is,

 Recession Proof Your Pantry

It starts out listing everything you'll need in your pantry to survive for one year, just in case you can't get to the market.

You never know what will happen, flood, hurricane, snow, ????

Great info on how to store different types of foods.

It lists the requirements for most veggie, how cold, how much humidity etc.

Also gives you ideas on where to store if you don't have a root cellar. (NOT)

I haven't finished reading it yet but so far I'm learning alot.

We do ok in respect to canning but I feel that we need to take it to the next level.

In addition to what you grow why not take advantage of the market sales, buy it on sale, can for later use.

That's one of the goals I have for 2011

Self reliance is a good thing!!

 Till next time,

Bonjour

I live In Texas For Pete's Sake!!!!

RED DOG

THE SHED

SO, HERE WE HAVE IT....

MY POOR TRUCK

THE DECK

VIEW FROM THE POND





I think tomorrow should be a vacation day
with a dose of Nancy's sugar cookies!!!
And Brendie, you are a lucky gal!!!

Till next time, if I make it...
Bonjour

Where Has All The Laundry Gone, Long Time Passing!!!

SO...

When life things happen to me, my mind usually goes to a song.

Such as,
Where Have All The Flowers Gone by Peter, Paul & Mary.

That's where my mind went today when I ventured outside to retrieve my laundry off the line.

I hung it out late yesterday afternoon.

I said to myself, it will be Ok till tomorrow. I pegged it down really well,
I swear!

Well, today was very, very windy.

I guess you know where this is going.

Where has all the laundry gone?

Sheets, quilts, pillowcases.

M.I.A.

I thought about taking a photo but I didn't want ya'll to see how tall my
grass weeds are.

If it wasn't for the tall grass weeds,

 my laundry would be in Walker Creek!

Reminder to self, you live on a hill, out in the country, in Texas, it's windy!!!!

Hope ya'll have a happy and bountiful Thanksgiving.

Till next time,

Bonjour