Category: Sewing, Knitting and Other Projects

Making Butter and Lemonade

Hello friends how was your week and weekend? Last week I went with my sister to Knoxville and we picked up little Sadie’s ashes. It was a very small box. She had lost so much weight. A sad time for sure. It makes me so paranoid about all the other fur babies.

The weekend was good. My sister, nephew and I went to the Mennonite farm market for the first time this season. They have just opened and they still haven’t got a lot of veggies in yet. They did have some beautiful strawberries. I have never been a big strawberry fan so I didn’t buy any. I started to get some for freezer jam but I knew I probably wouldn’t get around to it before the strawberries went bad.

We also visited a couple of local antique stores while we were in the town of Tellico Plains. Whew!! a little too rich for my budget in several of the shops. We did stop in at a little shop where the owner also does interior decorating. It was just a lovely shop. I bought these little butterflies to hang. I started to put them on a curtain but hung them on this sign instead.

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day for me. Weekends are really hard for me because they were always so special to me and my husband. Last week was my birthday and our 36th wedding anniversary. I got through it but it was pretty hard.

I have been crocheting a cardigan. I am making the panels and will put them all together. Hopefully soon. I spent most of the morning yesterday working on that while I listened to an audio book. The babies sleep all day. It is their favorite sleeping time. They occasionally look up at me with sleepy eyes and go right back to their napping.

I love these colors. I can’t wait to put all of them together for the cardigan

Along with cheating on my knitting with crochet I have also been watching a lot of needle point videos. Needle point is really hot right now. I still prefer cross stitch and embroidery. I ordered these stamped embroidery kits from Amazon and was really pleased with them. I got all four stamped patterns and thread and a hoop for $20.00.

I can’t wait to work on these but I’m trying to finish my sweater first.
The kit comes with everything you need. It would be easy to put this in a bag and take it with me to work on while I am out.
I may even learn a few stitches I am not familiar with.

Of course Kitty Kitty is enjoying the box from Amazon.

Have you seen the videos of people making butter from heavy whipping cream? I decided yesterday to give it a try. This is the brand I used from Walmart but any heavy whipping cream will do.

Put the cream in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Start the mixer on medium speed. This entire process will take about 15 minutes. You can also use a hand mixer if you don’t mind holding the mixer the entire time. I think it’s interesting that this is the way people churned butter many years ago. They would collect the heavy cream from the milk from their cows and put it in a butter churn. It took much longer than 15 minutes.

This is the stage where you could stop and add powdered sugar and have some yummy whipped cream.

Soon liquid will appear, this is buttermilk and you need to drain it off. You then scoop the butter and put it in a bowl of ice water. This will rinse the butter of any remaining cream that could cause the butter to become rancid.

You can use this buttermilk for making biscuits or pancakes.

I patted the butter out and added some sea salt. You can add any herbs or flavoring you like. It fit perfectly in my butter bell. I was very happy with it. It is so creamy and delicious. But I will say it it a bit of a messy process.

I also made some lemonade on Sunday. I had a bag of lemons that needed to be used. It was great with some toast and fresh butter.

I leave you with a picture of Millie my porch goose sporting her Easter outfit that I crocheted for her a couple of weeks ago.

Millie

Have a great week and always remember:

Love your day your way!!!!!

Hello Monday

Last week was a quiet yet busy week for me. I was off work all week. We decided not to go on a trip and just hang out at the house. I loved every minute of it. I think it was a great preview for retirement.

We are so enjoying our new girl, Bunnie, if you missed my post about our newest family member you can check it out here. The kitties are adjusting. So far Gus has been the least friendly and he has been so territorial. We are trying to introduce Bunnie to them slowly. it is taking some time.

I finally finished the afghan I was working on for my niece. I couldn’t show it before I finished because it was a surprise for her for her Birthday which was last week.

Not the best picture but you can get an idea of what it looks like. She loved it.

My hubby and I decided to take a little road trip last Thursday. We went into the mountains to look at a local waterfall, Bald River Falls. The road leading to the falls has been closed for over a year so that a viewing bridge could be built. The road opened back up last month and the new bridge was opened. We went to check it out. It was just beautiful. Because of all the rain we have had, the waterfall was flowing fast and hard.

We decided to get a Frappuccino to start the trip into the mountains. It was delicious.

We stopped and had lunch in Tellico Plains at Ironworks Grill, and then stopped at the local Mennonite Market.

Beautiful vegetables. We will go back on Saturday and stock up for the week.
This was our haul from the Market. Mark wanted some local honey. I love the oatmeal raisin cookies.

I had to take my sister in law and her daughter and granddaughter to the airport on Friday and then we helped another niece move into a new apartment on Saturday. So a busy and fun filled week. It’s back to work for me today and the usual summer crowds.

I leave you with a picture of Bunnie enjoying a walk with us and a picture of Gus who has claimed Bunnie’s new bed.

Sweet Bunnie
This is the bed I bought for Bunnie but both Gus and Kitty Kitty have claimed it.

Have a wonderful week and always remember

Love your day your way.

Sunday Afternoon Coffee Share: Quilts and Basket Making

Last Saturday my niece and I took a coiled basket weaving class in nearby Etowah Tennessee. We signed up for it several weeks ago.

We took off early Saturday morning and decided to stop at a quilt shop on the way to the class. I had been to the shop several years ago and was happy to see that it was still there and owned by the same sweet family. Not only does this shop sell quilting supplies but also beautiful hand made quilts and other quilted items. They also do quilting classes.

I even bought a set of quilted placemats.

We continued on to the basket class. It was being held in the old Etowah Depot.

The basket class was a lot of fun. It lasted for about four hours. This is a beautiful old building and there is so much history within the walls. The woman who taught the class, Tonya, was just a true gem. She is so talented and teaches lots of classes locally and even travels to other states. She teaches a beaded bracelet class that I am interested in. There was a lunch break but we kept working through because we wanted to finish our baskets. The baskets we made were small. It was just to give us a lesson in making coiled baskets. I am going to put rings or earrings in mine. I have already bought the supplies for making another larger basket.

The instructor went from table to table helping us with our baskets. She was so awesome.
Most of the group after working on their baskets and some showing their finished baskets.
Some of the supplies for the class.
My basket. I can’t wait to try a bigger one.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Happy Memorial Day!!!

I am joining Natalie The Explorer over at Weekend Coffee Share and wow you should see the beautiful flowers she has to show us. You can check out her post here

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Goodbye March and Hello April!!

I was thinking about the month of March. It’s hard to believe it has ended for another year. March came in like the proverbial Lion. The weather was terrible the wind was so strong it blew our outside furniture all over the deck. We had tree limbs down and lost power one night for about six hours. We had a hail storm that left our deck littered with hail so thick it looked like snow. And then it, March, went out like a little meek lamb. Goodbye March. Until next year.

March was a full month of work and reading, knitting and crochet projects, dinners with family and then with some friends, I was the guest speaker at a hospitality training seminar, my husband retired and is loving it, I was able to visit with my niece who was in for a time from California, I visited a farm that grows tulips, my tulips are blooming and several of my orchids are blooming. So wow!!! Quite a month. I would expect no less I guess.

The Reduds are also blooming. At work we have several visitors who come in and ask “what are the beautiful purple trees that we see all along the roads.” I tell them they are actually Redbuds. Redbuds? but they’re purple, and then I show them the picture of a Redbud when it first blooms out and it is definitely a red bud.

See how red the first bloom actually is?
I passed a house that had this beautiful tree blooming and just had to get a picture.

And of course just like clock work we experienced Redbud Winter. The temperatures took a plunge last week which is always what happens when the Redbuds bloom. I truly believe in all the winters that we experience in East Tennessee. If you haven’t read my post explaining them you can read it here: The Five Winters of East Tennessee. Many people I work with, even my husband, poo poo this and don’t believe that the trees budding, and other signs have anything to do with the weather, but I firmly believe they do. My parents always believed this and so did early settlers, for them it was the only way they had of knowing when the last frost had occurred and it was safe to plant crops.

A few weeks ago I became obsessed with the crocheted Easter eggs that are all over the internet. I spent several hours watching a YouTube video while working stitch by stitch with a yarn, turns out was much too thick, to make one of these eggs. You crochet one side and then the other side separately and then slip a small plastic Easter egg inside and slip stitch the two sides together. My first one turned out so large, because of the thick yarn I was using, you could have put three Easter eggs inside of it. Back to my computer and YouTube I went. The second egg wound up on the floor because I got so frustrated, I may have actually yelled and stomped a little, with the yarn. I had picked a thinner cotton yarn. Wrong. The cotton just didn’t work. It kept splitting and it was still too thick. For round three I chose crochet thread, it is super fine. I am using a size 2.75 crochet needle. I finished it and I think I sort of like it. I would like to make a few more and hang them across my kitchen window.

The third attempt. I think I am better off sticking with the crochet thread. I hung this one in my window and would like a few more. Maybe I will get better with each one.

If you want to try one of these eggs, just put crocheted Easter egg inside your search bar and lots of them will come up.

So here we are in April. The weather has been so nice and soft. The trees are turning about a million shades of green. Flowers are blooming, and the pollen is going crazy!!! I guess you just have to take some of the bad with the good.

I leave you with one of my favorite April poems.

Have a wonderful week and month!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!