Wall Hanging

Today I sewed up this wall hanging flimsy and managed to make it all the way through without a migraine. I had a little one yesterday, but I pretended it wasn't really there. Denial can be a really good thing at times. (I do try not to write about the migraines because they are such a downer.)

Tomorrow I'm going to make another wall hanging, but a vertical one instead of horizontal. Tonight I need to search up some tutorials on how to make the hanger part of the backing. I know this is a very simple design of tree trunks in the mist, but I figure I can always come back and do applique. But I don't think I will, I like the calm and simplicity.

There is one goofy chicken that lays her egg wherever and whenever the mood strikes her: in the driveway, out in the chicken pen, or in the woods, etc. I had hopes for her to decide to lay in the closed in nest boxes, but today I found another egg by the feeder. She is so strange. I mean she sits by the corn feeder and lays an egg?

So, counting the corn feeder egg (which I had to toss) there were 10 eggs laid today that I could find and they were all laid in the closed in nest boxes. And Kristine said that when she checked the nest boxes this morning that she was very surprised to find the Hen/Roo in the top nest box. We thought/read that when hens take on rooster characteristics that they stop laying. Maybe she is just going through the motions?

[10 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

What day is it?

- but, but, it's Jan 2 and the persimmon post says Jan 1-

I am finding out all kinds of stuff about blogging...

1.  The :) doesn't make a smiley face-

2.  I don't know how to get rid of the underlines yet in the

persimmon post-

3. And evidently the date you first save photos to your post is the day it says when you publish the post, because, I just published the Persimmon Butter blog and it says Jan 1.,

but it is really Jan 2

I thought I could get a head start on editing my posting. Oh well.

I put in the photo of the persimmons on Jan 1.

That was a no no.

I will go ahead and post a photo of something. Excuse me while I go check.

View from the loft.

Here is my very first quilt.

The wedding quilt in the making.

What you see is the backing fabric (right side to the floor)

taped down on the floor.

Then the batting was taped to the backing.

And then the pieced top is taped to the batting.

I used blue painters tape.

Wow... that took a long time, to get the fabric and batting laid out tight,

(but not stretched,)

so that it had no bumps, etc.,

so

I could baste it all together.

That took me 2 days.

Give me a break... I'm old.

I used my table for the other two quilts.

(the beige and the blue and yellow)

But the floor method

works the best for me.

I don't use a hoop or frame

so it is important

to have the everything nice and smooth.

Tomorrow I hope to do better with this blogging, edit, posts, business.

Smiles!

Lemons and a Quilt

My makeshift double boiler.

Hey, it works!

First I put this together and heated the water, 

then I added the eggs, sugar and lemon juice

to the smaller pan and placed the pan in the

bigger one with the bottom

in the simmering water.

And then whisked away nonstop!

(for about 10 minutes)

The recipe said until it thickens to the

consistency of sour cream...

eh... it was more like soft pudding

when I quit.

Here are the ingredients:

3 eggs

1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh)

(I strained the lemon juice)

3/4 cup sugar

1 tb lemon zest

1/2 cube butter

I had to keep whisking so the eggs

wouldn't turn into

scrambled eggs.

After it thickened I poured it into the bowl,

(I skipped a step here and didn't strain it to

get out any eggy bits --- guess I was so

good at whisking there were no eggy bits)

I then added the lemon zest and butter and

mixed it in until the butter melted.

I had everything room temp

so no problem.

Here is the finished product and boy does

it taste yummy!

I love lemony stuff!

I covered it and put it in the fridge

and the next day

it was just like pudding only better.

We had the lemon curd for breakfast

 on our buttermilk pancakes...

well Dad had jam, but that's just him.

There are lots of lemon curd recipes on the net

with more specific instructions,

so go ahead and give it a try.

All you need is a good arm,

or some help.

As promised...

Here is the blue and yellow quilt.

Isn't Jean cute!

I took this on Christmas evening 2008

Love + Hugs

I have to give my mother-in law a call

and find out if it is OK with her

to put her and her quilt

on the blog.

No eggs!

This is the second day the chickens have let me down.

There is still snow outside

so maybe they are cold

or

they are laying their eggs outside in the oak leaves?

I want to make the persimmon pie

so I sure hope we get some eggs tomorrow

or I am going to have to figure out

something else to do

with the persimmons.

Yea! it is raining!

Smiles!

Happy New Year 2009! and DIY

Well, almost... it is still Dec. 31st, but I don't plan on being up to post at midnight. So, I'm wishing us all a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!

Here is a one day old Brahma chick to help bring in the New Year.

Peep, Peep, Peep!

We are going to celebrate with Pizza fresh from the best pizza

joint in town... well, the nearest town. I'm not looking forward to hearing gun shots and the sound of fireworks at the stroke of 12. Well, at least with the snow bits laying around I won't have to worry about any fire danger. Maybe this year things will be quieter. hope hope

After I have some pizza and post this, I'm going to make lemon curd, because we received a bunch of free home grown lemons and Fuyu persimmons. I have to do something with the

lemons... there is always lemonade, but I'll resort to that only if I mess up the lemon curd. Next I 'll have to figure out what to do with the persimmons. I tried one and it was so sweet! Kinda like a very, very, very sweet cantaloupe. I think they are 25% sugar. I need to find stove top recipes because the oven is not online. I'll let you know how it all turns out... hopefully with photos.

I said I would post about the Christmas quilts, so I will begin at their beginning: a photo of the hand pieced beige block and one of the layouts of the blue and yellow. My sewing machine broke and I began hand piecing the beige block out of scraps from the wedding quilt. I found that I loved hand piecing. I don't think I did a great job of it because it was my first attempt, but there is something very satisfying about holding the fabric close and taking your time sewing. When piecing or quilting, I hold the fabric in my hands and lap, no hoop, and use quilting thread and a long size 10 Milliners needle. I would like to use a size 11, but I can't thread the things. I try for even stitches and get about 5 to 7 per inch if you count the stitches on one side.

I wish I had been able to learn to quilt from someone in my family, but I learned mostly from searching for helpful quilt sites on the internet. I'm glad I did because I have found that my quilting leans heavily toward what is called Liberated Quilting. I do love traditional quilt patterns, but even more I love making up my own quilt patterns. I have only made three quilts. The wedding quilt was from a pattern, but the other two were from blocks I made from patterns, some blocks I made up, and then arranged them the way I wanted.

I have decided that if I want to get a quilt finished quickly I need to machine sew, and that is OK too. I have a new sewing machine that I love called The Heart Truth. Pretty nifty machine with 50 stitches and it makes great button holes. I'll have to get a photo of it and make a Heart Truth post. The sewing machine in the photo is of my old Singer Touch and Sew... the one that jammed. sniff sniff

I have included a photo of my built-in ironing board (from an old house in San Francisco) that I built into the wall here in my book/computer/sewing room. That was a fun DIY project.

Here you can see that while sitting in the chair I have access to the computer, sewing

machine and ironing board. Pretty neat! I built the shelf out of old doors and put the bookshelves on top. Needs painting.

The books are due to be sorted through this year and the dead computers need to be fixed or taken to where ever dead computers and monitors go to lead their afterlife.

I am going to try and post 5 photos with this post, if that doesn't work I will post the photos by themselves. I'll get the hang of this eventually. oh yeah (PS ... my daughter informs me that 5 photos are too much for blogger to handle, but I am trying anyway. So far I have three photos posted, but the two of the quilts keep going poof... Yea! I just got the last one! Save Now! Bye)

Summer 2008

This summer I went to my nieces wedding. I made my first quilt for her wedding present. I had always been afraid of quilting because of having to do perfect little stitches. I got over that and just tried for even stitches; I got the quilting bug and went on to make two more quilts for Christmas presents. I'll post about them tomorrow.

Click on the quilt and you will see the ties. I tied the quilt and then hand quilted it in the ditch. And like the quilt ladies at the quilt store told me... it is a lot harder to quilt in the ditch since there is more fabric to pull the needle through.

Now I will attempt to add two photos. Fingers crossed...