I got a gift yesterday from my daughter

                                           

                                                     What could it be?

 

A HAM BONE!

with lots and lots of meat still on it! 

 

To the soup pot, Batman!

So I cleaned off most of the meat, sauteed some onions, diced up some celery, carrots,

 

and a green pepper from my garden.

 

Everybody in the pool!

I'll simmer this until the rest of the meat falls off the bone, then I'll add potato and some split green peas......

Pea soup...yummy on a cool day or any day for that matter.  Now I need some bread...fresh made would be nice, but I tried last week to find dough I can bake myself.

Maybe I'll just get some fresh baked from a bakery.

Daughter dear wants a container of the finished soup.......that's okay...there is lots.

Everytime she buys a ham and she likes to buy these hams, she brings me the bone to make soup and share it with her.      

The soup is delicious!                                                                           

Block #71

Finally ....  I have been trying and trying all summer to get  block # 71 done in the FWSQ.  I don't know what was blocking me or why.  It wasn't a hard or difficult block, actually it was really easy, but I dithered about the colour...couldn't make up my mind...I leaned toward purples...tried blues..I would put it down a do something else.  Like making all those doll clothes for Courtney.  Now that was fussy!  I  hemmed jeans for Courtney and shortened the sleeves on her new blue pleather jacket by 5 inches..I did some sewing on the spiderweb...anything but work on that block.  I guess I just wasn't ready!
But now it's done and I can move on to the next block. LOL!

I really don't understand how one little block could and did block me..paralyse me... on to more!

I made 4 of these years ago for my sewing buddies....I gave one to my mother, when she passed away,  I kept it for me...hangs in the kitchen!         Of Course!

Gremlins again yesterday .....When I checked the blog it wasn't up and saved as a draft..   Boy I am going to have to watch it closely..........anyway

At guild my friend Jackie showed off her skills.....she has been busy this summer.
She called me a month or so ago and asked "Do you have the pattern for the 'Tulip Wreath'?".  I said "YES!".  I had actually kept the magazine that it came in...I didn't scan and save on the computer...glad I kept it because it would have lost in the crash....I scanned and emailed the whole pattern for her and she had this to show for it.

A lovely runner and some coasters.
She also showed and miniture wallhanging she had been working on.

Applique is her love...hand applique and hand quilted....beautiful!

I had guild the other night...I got everything ready and forgot the mags I had for door prizes on my work table...oh well...we had a lot going on tonight anyway.  I will draw for them next month.
We had a great speaker tonight...she has an in-home shop for notions.  She talked about all the notions she had and we could buy...which we all did!
I bought some stuff..a new seam ripper...this summer, for some reason I used my good seam ripper to pull the dried glue from the tip of the glue bottle.  So the next time I tried to use it ...it was all messed up.  Why would I do that!?  I have lots of crappy ones...so  I bought a new one.
I bought some needles and some pressing solution called best press and a couple of other things.
My lemon squares were well received, although I did bring some home.  I'm sure the girls will like them.

We had a lot of really good treats for break, and Jen, our new social executive (she makes tea and coffee, signs up members to make goodies) wants me to let you know what a good job she is doing ....lol  You're doing GREAT Jen!...lol

These are all charity quilts that were made by the ladies who participate in outreach.

I had to bake for guild the other day.  As I said before, I don't bake very often.  I usually buy something, get a rash from the additives, then swear I won't eat that crap again......except for Walmart's white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.  lol

So I really didn't know what I wanted to make for guild....or buy....  I have been cruising pinterest and found a recipe for lemon squares...Easy lemon squares...hmmmm...so I thought I would give the recipe a try. 

You use a angel food cake mix and a can of lemon pie filling.  Mix the two together and bake.  That's it!

I didn't have a can of lemon pie filling, but I have a a Sheriff pie filling mix and an angel food cake mix.  I searched and searched on-line, and didn't find any recipes or anyone else who used a package of pie filling.

I decided to give it a try....

First I cooked the pie filling, it took 2 egg yolks plus 2 1/3 cups of water.  I decided that I would whip the egg white and use them too.  When I cooked the filling I thought I would reduce the water to 2 cups and added a big squirt of Italian lemon juice. ( I like lemon).   I let it cool, then added it to the whipped whites, then added the cake mix.  Mixed it throughly and it started to puff up right away.  Poured it into a foil lined 9" x 13" pan,baked it according to the package directions.  It looked nice, smelled great!  I sprinkled powdered sugar over it.  And we had a taste.  

 YUMMY!  It's too moist for the powered sugar.  It just melted and you never knew it was there..Next time, I'll leave it off.

You might have missed some blog...gremlins caused this blog to be posted out of order and if you didn't scroll down...you missed Thursdays.
I really don't know...these gremlins are really screwing me up....I am getting so I don't want to write a blog in advance for fear that it will be posted out of order, which happened this week.  Everything was post-dated...or scheduled but came up out of order...yet the blog between came up at the right time...very strange...
I quite often will write a blog with a good idea of what I want to say, but will go back, spell check, add photos or other info...change things around..even change the date the blog comes up to add in another blog.   So when I talk about yesterday, it could have been last week.


TGIF....looks like we are in for some cooler weather.

Whenever it gets cooler I feel like cooking.  I want to make soup, I want to make homemade brown beans...start making bread again...I try to hold myself back on that...I love it too much and would eat it all.

The other day when I made leek and potato soup, I went out to get some bread dough.  I never got any...I picked up a two- pac of bread that you bake for about 8 minutes.  Even though I would have preferred to have a loaf that I completely bake, this was fine ....cause we ate the whole thing ...hot...with butter and the soup..

I also want to start cooking pork roasts with sauerkraut...crispy potatoes and squash, carrots.  Hmmm...all comfort foods.

I feel like baking...but I hold myself back...don't need the calories...

I used to make peanutbutter cookies a couple of times a week when I was a kid..I loooove peanutbutter cookies....we 5 kids would eat them all in a day..they were my favourite, but once I got married the mister isn't big on baked goods...except for blueberry pie and sugar pie.  My son is deathly allergic to peanut ...so..no more cookies or even peanuts in the house.  He's a grown man now.... so I have a jar of peanutbutter in the cupboard.  Courtney loves her PB&J, but we have to be very careful not to contaminate the house or Kevin cannot come home for a visit.

So back to nesting, cocooning..whatever they call it nowadays...lol

I made soup for dinner the other night from the leeks I bought.

Yummy..The mister really enjoyed it.  Daughter wants some too, so I set some aside for her

Guild tonight...

do I have everything ready?  I think so...

 Do I have everything I need?  I think so.. 

I have my box all set to go....I think..lol..ooops  ...almost forgot my library books!

I gotta bake today for tonight!  The exec's always supply treats for September.

I don't know what I want to make, though.  I have really lost my touch with baking..I just don't do it enough anymore.  I don't need the extra calories.

I need to take my camera!  I need the card for the camera out of the computer..

I have a few door prizes for tonight...some magazines and other stuff...can't forget that.

And I think I will need some money.  We are having a speaker tonight and she is going to demo notions and have some for sale..I am a gadget girl for sure!

I am amazed today...two posts posted ...both of them scheduled ..one for today and one for Friday.  Both of them dated...one today and one Friday....
So, obviously there are GREMLINS again today..and since you got Fridays post on Wednesday...there will be not post on Friday...
So, actually instead of one, two,post today...this is the third..lol....
Stupid gremlins....

I finally finished the blouse I was making.  It looked really nice on the pattern envelope, and on the model..I didn't realise how very low cut it was.  I will have to fix that. I don't like my bra to show....I don't care what the style is!
The instructions had me putting a bias binding on the armholes with the seam under the arm....ouch...I  moved that to the shoulder seam.  Nothing like having a lump under your arms to chafe.
I was glad to get this finished and start wearing it while we have nice weather yet.  Oops, too late ...rain called for all week long...

We have been eating some of the beans and potatoes I bought at the market.  Oh my gosh are they ever gooood.  Fresh veg like this make me want to take out the flower garden and plant veggies.  I usually only plant 2 or 3 tomato plants and one pepper plant. 
I farted around with my serger for a few hours today...the tension is off.  I made sure it was clean and threaded properly.  I always vacuum it out after each use.
My sister brought granddaughter Courtney another sewing machine today, she brought her a celery featherweight  last week, but it was so musty smelling that we wouldn't let her near it.  This little girl always has things go right to her chest.  And she already has picked up something at school, she's coughing like crazy now.

So, my sister brought her another one.  An older White.  A heavy mechanical machine.  One you can't adjust width or length on...  I cleaned and oiled it, wiped the case down and ran through all the stitches.  I could hear a noise...only on the widest swing to the left..

oh oh...what was that?   I thought maybe timing....I opened up and watched the bobbin area and I could see the needle hitting it and sliding past.  I thought ...timing..then I thought...hmmm...needle.  It wasn't in properly.  I fixed that and the machine almost purrs...I think Courtney will like this one.  Tomorrow after school I will have her practise threading it...winding bobbins and changing the needle.  Maybe I should let her hear how it sounds when the needle isn't in right.

I gave her some oil, needles, pins, thread and extra bobbins.  And some thread snips and a small ruler.

I picked up some fabrics when we were in Elmira.   A little general store run by Mennonites in a place called Floradale, with fresh baked bread and other goodies.  The mister picked up a couple of loaves of bread and a little blueberry pie.  Bread was great!  As good as mine used to be...and the pie was good too...very good pastry.  Good thing it was only a little one.

I bought some fabric....the last time I was in this store some fabric was downstairs and some upstairs.  They have renovated the upstairs by removing all the walls and putting in rows and rows of fabric. 
I would have liked to stay a bit longer.  I should have looked for some muslin.  I have a quilt top that I need some more for.  I find it's hard to come by now.

Of course I had to buy  some...my only regret was that I didn't bring more cash so I could buy more fabric.
Four of those fabrics are the same line, different colourways.  The other two are hand dyed blues.
Now I want to go sew.........

The mister and I had a day excursion with a couple of friends today. 

Our friends R and J picked us up around 9:45a and off we went to a (locally) famous farmer's market.

I'd been to St Jacob's Market before so I knew what we were in for.

I had a few things I wanted to get and then there were a few things I got that I didn't know I needed.

I picked up some tarp clamps....when I saw them, I knew we could use them on the winter cover for the pool.  The guy went straight into his sales pitch...wasn't to be deterred from it.  I finally had to say...okay...I sold already!

I purchased some lavender sachets...hopefully I can use some to help me sleep...put one in my dresser drawer.
I really do love the smell of lavendar!

I used to pick some up at the CNE but we haven't been in years.  Then I grew some, but the plant didn't survive for very long, only a couple of years.  I didn't really harvest much.

I think I will take the sachets apart and put some stuffing in the sachet with less lavendar, then I can have more sachets.

Jackie and I both saw some dresses that we liked..bias cut and tie dyed rayon..so nice and cool for a late summer afternoon on vacation or around the pool.

We saw lots of clothes, but neither bought anything else.

Both couples wanted some leeks.  We got some beautiful ones.  I am going to make leek and potato soup.  Jackie and I are very alike and so are our misters...

I picked up some beets.  The daughter said that if I bought her some, she would make pickled beets.  I LOOOOVE pickled beets.  I love not having to make them! lol!

I bought some green and yellow beens....so nice and fresh!..nicer than I've seen in the stores!

And some little potatoes.  I wanted some squash, but the mister didn't want to carry it.

We left not long after, Ron was anxious for lunch.

Off we went to a resturant called CrossRoads and had a buffet lunch.  And, of course I ate too much..but it was lovely and so tasty.  Bonus was.... I didn't get a rash...so all the food and baking was freshly made! no preservatives!

Oh Thank Goodness it's Friday....and the mister is gone golfing.....he has been dragging me out for a walk twice a day.  We have been walking for a total of 1 1/2 hours each day!
My feet are sore!  I'm tired.  I need the rest!
One day we went out for a half hour walk and I only had a little fruit and some yogurt for lunch...I was dragging my butt the whole way.  I was exhausted.  Later, after dinner, I was fine, we went for another hour walk, but I gotta make sure I eat properly.
We are trying to lose weight....again....I know I can do it.  The weight fell off the last time I did this.  I stuck to my diet, counted my calories, made sure I got enough protein, never...ever.. missed a meal and we walked most evenings for an hour.  and the weight fell off.  I gotta do that again.  This time keep it off.
One thing that I found helped me immensely was a nutritional scale.  This scale weighs food, but it also tells you EXACTLY how many calories is in that food...the amount of protein, carbs, fats, sugars...everything you need to know when you are dieting.  And I used caloriecounter.com.  This is a great site.  I was able to make sure I was getting a well rounded diet;  this site will let you know if you are low in any nutrients.
I don't know if I've lost much this week with all the walks...cause I'm having a small glass of wine everynight...okay..okay ..a big glass of wine! lol

I have not been in my sewing room at all this week.  The mister is on vacation and we are doing a whole lot of nothing this week.  I try to go to my sewing room...but I never seem to make it.  I have a top all cut out and ready to sew.....gotta get in there!
I have all sorts of odd jobs for the mister to do. He has all sorts of things to do that he has put off for a long time...I have all sorts of stuff I have been waiting for him to do...like help me clean windows.  I am too short to get them out and they are too heavy for me.  We have changed all the windows and now I need him to take out the screens for me.  I can't get them out.   I would like the kitchen window replaced... again....he had it replaced and the frame is so big I can't see outside anymore....and I don't like not being able to see out the window over the kitchen sink.   I told him when he was having them replaced that I didn't think it would be good...so now I want it replaced...again....good thing he is in that business, or I would be out of luck...and I would like it done before he retires...
yesterday we spent the afternoon out the back doing a bunch of little chores.  Still a whole lot to do.

Today is grand daughter Courtney's 9th birthday.  I can blog what she is getting because she doesn't read my blog.
I hear she and her parents and sister are meeting her other grandparents for dinner.....So ...no family dinner tonight.  Last I asked she hadn't decided where she wants to go for dinner.  She is gonna be tired...boy oh boy...she is signed up for 2 hours of dance Tuesdays.
I got her 2 pairs of doll shoes.....I gave her a small birthstone ring, we had to have it enlarged a size.  It's hot still, her hands are probabley swollen with the heat.
Mommy got her a really nice blue pleather jacket.   It's really nice, and I hope it fits her.  She seems to be built like me ...short and chunky...hope she doesn't stay that way...I hope she grows TALL!  I keep telling her "GROW! GROW!"   lol

As I said yesterday, I usually pick a bad spot to sit at guild. 
Next week I have guild again and I am going to sit right at the front.  I need to get up and speak to the membership so I am going to lay claim to some different real estate this year!
I have some more pics of quilts our Halton members made.

This is a gypsy bag that our president made from 6 fat quarters...She says it holds all her stuff that she needed to schlep in tonight.   Fabrics are beautiful Japanese prints .  Pic doesn't do it justice.  Sheila changed the pattern a bit.   If you like this bag, the pattern is at www.favequilts.com.

Jo-Anne made a cute baby quilt for a new arrival.

Another cute kiddie quilt...can't remember whose...

Lynne made 3 quillows ...I believe for brides'maids? 

       

A quilt for the maid of honour...Mom says she has lots of quillows 'cause she's made them for her.

A cuddle quilt for outreach!



double sided quilt

 Guild tonight!
 



We had a really good turn out for guild tonight....I was overwhelmed with all the books coming back to the library...we have thousands of books in our library.  It's a great resource for the group, and members could take out 5 books each this summer.

Yellie, our head librarian buys numerous books every year, she travels to the states and picks up lots of books for the guild.  You want a book, she will get it!  What a great lady!

Working in the library myself, I see all the books that come back in and can get dibs on them....I have never used the library so much as I have these last 2 years.

I had 10 books over summer.  2 books again tonight.

I actually won a door prize! A pack of sewing needles!

Our program tonight consisted of demos...one I was very interested in was Jayne's.



a canada quilt



She showed things that she was making for Alzheimer's patients...baby things, like a tag blanket. A 12 inch square of minky with tags sewn into all the edges.  It apparently soothes these patients ..she also had a large quilt that she made with all sorts of different fabrics, appliques, textures, fringes, stuffed animals unstuffed and sewn into a square.  Busy aprons...aprons with zippers and laces different textures to keep their hands busy.

I could see these things would be great for Alzheimer's patients, just judging from what my father was like.  Again, silly me...I didn't take pics of Jayne's quilt...never even thought of it. 

But I did get some pics of show and tell.  I kept having to ask Karen to turn our way..they always forget our side of the room.

When I first arrived I choose a table close to the stage so that I could take pics; by the time I got back to my seat, the area was crowed and very hot.  I told the ladies, sorry, I was moving...it was just too hot there for me.  It wasn't as good for pics....next month...I am sitting on the other side of the room!

  I wandered around the room checking out the other ladies giving demos and decided to sign up for the ATC (artist trading cards) exchange.  I will have to make 7 cards, maybe 8, and I will share those as I do them.  I haven't decided if I will to do them all the same or each one different.  I have until June to make them.

The mister is on the road up north (I hope he brings home BLUEBERRIES)yum!, the grand daughters back to school and my sister has left for home (she was visiting again).
The cat and I are all alone!
What to do? What to do?  So much to do!
 Well, it's family dinner night tonight, so I do need to cook dinner for all us girls.  Pasta it is.  I can make sure there are leftovers for the mister for dinner tomorrow night.  I have to leave early for one quilt guild I belong to.  
There is a lot of cleaning I need to get at.
  Vacuuming...tidying up, changing beds, doing laundry.  The house needs a good thorough cleaning and ...
I still have stuff I need to do for the other quilt guild I belong to.  Gee, I know summer is over when guilds start back.
  I had the membership cards printed (instead of me doing them all on my computer) and they look very nice.  I still have to enter members names and sign them all.
I have my attendance sheets all made up and set to print.
Almost all the members renewed in June...hmmmm...I wonder if it was for the chance to win their membership?
Anyway..it worked!  I shouldn't be overwhelmed at the front door by renewing members.
I am looking forward to our speakers this year..we are splurging and having RaNae Merril come for our October meeting.

We live with 500 feet of a public school. Actually 3 schools, one is a Catholic school and a high school in the other direction. This is  the school my grand daughters go to.
They are actually supposed to go to a school in their area across town, but we started them here and here they will stay.
At any rate, the city tore up the roads over by the high school, redid storm catch basins and still had not finished the road work; also this summer, work was started at the school.  Work on the roof and on the blacktop part of the playground.
I can't see the school from here, but I can hear what's going on over there.
All summer long, not much work was being done, or so it seemed.  Last week there was a flurry of activity over there.   Wednesday night, they worked all night long...dumping and dropping stuff.  Both the mister and I were awakened numerous times by the noise and VERY bright lights.
They better get it done fast....talk about hazardous for the kids
I went by the school Friday afternoon and they have finished paving and it looks like they are finished the roof.  Now all they have to do is remove the construction trailers and garbage bins.
And ...
Friday evening all is cleaned up and ready...
The town paved the road by the high school in half a day!...hmmmm! When the mister went out at 9:30 am it wasn't even started..when I went out at 11:00 it was finished!  Looks like they can do stuff quickly!  Why can't they do it like that in the first place?
Thank Goodness school is back in!  for me and the GD's


School started yesterday...

First day of school for the girls ...yah!  I finally can get some sewing done.
I had planned to sew some yesterday, but got waylaid by a bug.
Still got a bit of an upset tummy, but not like yesterday.
I was able to go into my sewing room today and do a little sewing on my spider web quilt.
I made a birthday card for my daughter...need to make one for my grand daughter.
I have been making doll clothes for the GD this summer, her dolly is very well dressed, but in need of shoes.
I have been watching some videos on making doll shoes...it looks easy...I made her a couple of pairs and then I went out and bought some for her.  EXPENSIVE!
 I've made her a small doll purse and a pair of boots...I used some vinyl that I had here and they didn't turn out as I would like.  I don't know if I will make more for practice or not.
My sister is here for a visit again.....I hope I can get back into my sewing room tonight!

Such a beautiful weekend, the last long  weekend of summer, and I got sick.
Not just a little bit, ..I started to notice Sunday that I felt over tired, neck sore, hands and feet sore...by nine o'clock at night I was ready for bed.  The mister made me wait until 11:00.  I showered and got into bed and fell right to sleep.  I never fall right to sleep!
I got up in the morning and everything went down hill from there.
I worshipped the porcelain god "Ralph" quite a bit today. Then I slept on the sofa until 4:30.
 I ate the same as everyone else yesterday...no-one else was sick. So I don't know what it was. or is..I still feel really weak.
The mister took good care of me, made sure I drank enough, and that I ate when I starting feeling better...such a good man!

Talk about GREMLINS!
Wednesday afternoon I picked up the laptop to write a blog..(can't remember about what right now)
My blog was GONE...REMOVED !  plus a little one with pictures of my quilts GONE all gone!  REMOVED it actually said!
So, I went about trying to find out what had happened....I got a message when I tried to log in that there was suspicious activity on it.  HUH?  I had said I was p'ed off in the blog that day, but really...would it be removed for that?
I did all the steps they said to recover the blog, they would send me a recovery code.  Didn't happen.  I tried again and again.  Five hours later, I thought...hmmm..maybe if I give them my cell number.
That did it ....not even a second after I gave it to them , I got a text with a verification number.
Strange...very strange

No blog today.
It's a holiday and I am taking the day off.
Talk to you tomorrow!