Canned Oranges... Yum, Yum!

Today is:  Thursday, March 1, 2012

I got up this morning:  after listening to the sounds of trucks whining by since around 4:30 am... What's up with that?

I was dreaming of a great little place to sit and talk, eat a bit.. great ambiance with a water feature filled with something that looked a lot like bamboo...  Youngest son John was there (there were several of us)  and he was ordering paper bags full of olives.. We would talk a while and I looked down and saw the most adorable, hefty looking frog sitting on my leg and just looking up at me.. Everywhere I went in the little deli I would find a little frog just sitting and looking at me.. ;o)
I looked it up this morning in my book of "Dreams" and found that dreaming of frogs means you will have a pleasant and even-tempered friend as your confidant and counselor.. ;o)  Love that part..

Dreaming of your own child denotes cheerfulness and the merry voices of neighbors and children.

Eating the olives with a merry band of friends foretells favorable results in business, and delightful surprises.. ;o)

I've had this book for years and every now and then it's just fun to go thru it.  I really can't see that much of it has come true, but it all sounds really nice today.. ;o)

As I look out my windows:  the sun is shining and today the weather man says we will have temps in the low 80s... wow.. It will be a lovely day for our Red River Fiber Arts meeting this afternoon, but I have to wonder what will happen to the lovely pear trees that are all in bloom when we have that usual hard freeze around Easter.. ;o/

I am thinking:  that I have way too much stuff..hmmpfh  I think it's more of an organization problem than really having too much of a good thing.

Creatively: it's been a busy couple of weeks.  I have this quilt top started and need to finish up.

 This quilt has been tied and is ready for the binding... that I am hand drawing and coloring in.. This seems to be taking more time than I had anticipated..lol  This one is for our soon-to-arrive  Great-Grandbaby. 

 I've been stuck in Pinterest ever since I first found it.. ;o/   But... I did find the coolest little quick pattern for DIY little baskets.  Here's the one I made...You can find the templates and tutorials at Craft Passion.com

 Today I am thankful for:  creative and fun friends... They keep a healing and healthy smile on my face.  This is include those on the net who share their activities and thoughts through their own blogs and pop over here to share mine.. ;o)

Plans for the rest of the week:  include doing a little more thrift store shopping.  I found these lovely egg coddlers in perfect condition (Royal Worcester Porcelain)  at one little shop here in town.  Too much fun to wander around and find hidden treasures..

  Something I'm happy about: .... In Arizona the oranges, lemons and grapefruit all ripen in December.  When our son bought his house in a suburb of Phoenix, they were lucky enough (or was it planned?? ;o)  to have several orange, lemon and grapefruit trees growing in the back yard.  This pleases me no end because he sends me some!  ;o)

Did you know that it is remarkably easy to can oranges?  Amazing.. and so luscious!
 Here's the website that shows how to do this... CLICK HERE!

Well... I think I should stop here before this becomes a book!  I hope everyone has a lovely day.  Spend at least a part of the day either talking to or visiting with a friend.. ;o)

Pumpkin Bread....

When the kids were small I would make pumpkin bread and it never lasted out the day...lol Last week I made some and without them around, it still would not have lasted out the day if I hadn't finally just made myself stuff it in the freezer... Do love that stuff... However, this is a rare occurence since DH has diabetes.

The weather is warming up and that's good. It's off to McKinney this morning to the allergist and I'm hoping we can stop off at the Londoner for lunch...but not holding my breath.

I've been working on this take-off of the basketweave stitch scarf for a couple of days. It is 100% Merino/Romney X handspun. It's turning out well. I found a site that talks about an abacus you wear on your wrist... so, I had to try to make one...

And what does this have to do with the basketweave scarf...

I am forever having to stop and count rows.. and then I miss every now and then and wind up with uneven basketweaves. Believe it or not, this really works. I must work on this some more and come up with a better one or find someone who makes them. This is great. And it would be wonderful for card/tabletweaving also to count the turning of the cards.

Blue Basket Weave Stitch Afghan Finished

The blue afghan is finished. I find that I like this one better than any I have made because of the size (smaller) and the feel. The basket weave stitch has always been the warmest that I have found, but it always seemed a little stiff...perhaps that was the yarn I was using. This one, with the pattern laid in from the top to the bottom, is softer and drapes better. I wanted to put a larger white border around it, but alas... I was too frugal when I bought the yarn. So I opted for a crab stitch border that makes a wonderful cording around it.

Now I must find another evening project...grin

Evening Crochet Project & "Birds on a Limb"

I did get a little work done on the "Birds on a Limb" wall hanging yesterday before I took to the workroom to work on the Split Rail Fence Quilt. The embroidery around the birds is simple back stitch. There will be another round using a darker thread to bring them a bit more forward into the foreground and emphasize the beaks a bit more. The leaves are bonded on for now, but will be completed with a blanket stitch. For a larger pic, click on pic and it will take you to my Flickr site.

Another project in the works... for the quiet evening of watching television with DH... crochet in a basketweave stitch using Bernat Camouflage in Blue Frost and Natural. I find it very interesting that the Natural is much softer and has a more pleasing hand than the multi-hued Blue Frost. This one is being crocheted along the length instead of end to end and has a much softer drape than the last one I did. Using this pattern, I crocheted one side to the half size mark, then turned it over and using the beginning chain, started again to work the other side in the opposite direction. The joining is invisible, but the basket weaves are going in the other direction. This is quite pretty. I like it....