JANUARY...THE BEST

Tuesday E and I went 30 minutes east of us to a Post Office (tiny one) to get new passports. I was kinda nervous and why I have no idea, it wasn’t like we would show up on the FBI 10 most wanted list, I have never even had a speeding ticket( E has). It was all so easy and our pictures actually turned out good. After submitting all the paperwork ( we took along every legal document proving who we are and that we are US citizens) and paying a rather LARGE fee we walked out free as birds and hungry. We stopped in the towns’ local cafe, Gray’s, a authentic small town greasy spoon sorta a place filled with local ole’ timer ranchers and the decor pure gun loving conservative dye in the wool GOP (trump) supporters. Listening to the conversation E and I just smiled and ate. The food was great and the place entertaining if not a bit weird. We did say on the way home “I eat there again” though.

January, where did it go? We had an ‘eat through the freezer and pantry’ month here, grocer shopping only to buy fresh produce and milk. I am happy to say our January food bill totaled $73.06. I had set a budget for $100. It was easy too and though we made very little of a dent in the big freezer,  the freezer upstairs I can see the bottom of the drawers. February we will continue are freezer/pantry eat down but we do need to stock up on a few things to continue this winter project.

 

I have a quilt retreat coming up and am busy cutting out two large quilt top patterns to sew up in 3 days of quilt heaven. 1) Soldiers Cross(civil war pattern) and 2) Shoo Fly pattern. I am a reproduction quilter and can’t make enough.

The cardigan my DIL is wearing -Felix cardigan, knit in Nutiden Yarn from Honerocheir in Sweden. Love the yarn, single plied. Wasn’t overly thrilled with the service but I may order more at some time.

I belong to a Featherweight sewing  machine group and a women told me as a resident of Colorado I can get an Ecard to just about any library in the state, I now have an Ecard to the Denver Library! So many books to look through and no or little wait time. 

Books Completed-

The Churchill Sisters(Rachel Trethewey)-  excellent

Founding Mothers(Cokie Roberts)-excellent

The First Conspiracy(Brad Seltzer)- very good

February will be a good book month I feel.

My rug hooking project is so close to being done. Maybe it will be a PJ day to finish.

-20 this morning! 

Please join Kat at

Unravel Wednesday

 

THE BEST TIME OF YEAR

Folklore shirt

 spacing button gadget

Yup, it’s January 2023, no denying it any longer. Time is flying by -especially winter, my favorite season! Winter is my season to tuck in and do all the things I love- sewing, quilting, knitting, rug hooking and spinning. Far too many hobbies for this women to get all the projects done that she has planned. But, I have a start;

I have finished sewing the Folklore shirt and I am very happy with the results. I am not a detail anything kind of a person, (depend on my hubby for those skills) so doing buttons evenly is always a challenge here. No more, I have this new gadget and it does all the thinking for me!!!! Also, putting buttonholes in, well my new Bernina does all the math on that as well, all I do is hit a button. Sewing life is good here. Another old invention, new to me to use is Fray check. Sew in a button hole, fill with fray check, let dry and when that button hole is opened it’s perfect!!!! How did I not know about that!!!!

 On the Knitting front;

Ozetta Highland Slipover-Brown Sheep yarn from stash 

Gnome Pun Intended by Sarah Schira  

Hat completed . Planning on a monthly gnome project (will see how many actually get done. Remember I am not a detail, fuzzy anything kind of a person. This will stretch me(thank you Kat, I fell in love with your gnomes))

Several more projects started but we will talk about those later in the month.

January is a great month to eat down the freezer and pantry foods. It’s the month for lots of soups, homemade breads, roasts and …….

I love cooking in January and so far this month we have only spent 4 dollars at the grocery store.  The challenge is on as to how little we will spend this month on food. I am sure we will be doing this in February as well. 

linking up with Kat

unravel Wednesday

UNRAVELED WEDNESDAY

Pin strip flannel Folkwear Shirt

It is a busy time of year here at Little House. No matter how I try to slow down December, I can never slow it down enough. Keeping up with ‘normal’ things and then the decorating, baking, events, etc., I ask myself why oh why don’t we spread all this ‘fun’ across 12 months? This year I am making a consorted effort to remember Christmas is a season, not a day or a week.

I do have one plan for January, we are going to eat our freezer food down. I am planning on a 100 dollar food budget for the entire month of January. This means we will only be buying fresh produce once a week and milk. Eric is on board, we will see how it all works out. 

In the making department, I continue to work on the Hexie quilt (so close, so close.) Of course there are other quilts needing some attention but they are moved to the back till Hexie is finished.

I am going to cut a shirt out for me, a night shirt will be how I wear this, it will be sewn in a flannel that I picked up second hand. I have made several Folkwear patterns in my time and this shirt I have made at least two other times. Hope I remember how to do all the details.

My Christmas/Winter jacket I found at a Flea Market recently and fell in LOVE! Look at that embroidery! Not sure when this was made, but we believe it is fairly vintage (50’s-60’s?)

Knitting: Half and Half is worked on in the evening sharing my time with Groovey. Both of these knits are mindless, which also means boring so easy to get distracted.

Wishing everyone a calm week as we carry on.

Pop over to Kat’s for some great knitting and books.

 

CHRISTMAS SEASON

Eric ties flies! LOTS OF FLIES! EVERYDAY!

He is very good, teaches classes and spends afternoons at the table tying with people that need encouragement. (not sure what this one is called (yes, they all have names) Woolly Booger?)

Post Thanksgiving Turkey broth.

Total=14 Qrts

 Thanksgiving this year was a hit in the 'pie biz'. Caitlin said they made approximately

600 pies. Each year the numbers grow and grow. This year even the youngest was put to work sorting boxes alphabetically and an amazing job she did.

The Christmas Season could not start here in my house til after Gus's 5th Birthday (a rule made by the littles) and an excellent rule to be followed. I started going through quilts on December 1st, pulling out the obvious Christmas ones and hanging them about the house. Slowly, ever so slow, the vintage Santa mugs, Santas and Snow Men large wax figures and white lights are making an appearance. 

On the Making side of life:

Finished a quilt for Interfaith Quilting group 

continue to work on my Hexie Quilt

picked up a UFO scarf-Groovey (a fav)

and a few more rows on my Half and Half.

In Books:

The Pioneer Women- the stories of Kansas women and their struggles settling the grass lands of the Kansas frontier.*****

The Three Graces of Val-Kill: Eleanor Roosevelt, Marion Dickerman, and Nancy Cook in the Place They Made Their Own*****     If you love reading about amazing women this book is a must.

Bunny Mallon-  Halfway through this book and I am enjoying reading about this new to me figure in American 'style' history.

Joining up with As Kat Knits

(oh good lord, I forgot how to do all the link ups;-/  

will do better next post, or not!)

AND, SHE IS OFF AND RUNNING

It's PIE Season here at Me Oh My Pie and Coffee! Caitlin and her bakers put out hundreds of pies between the Monday and Thursday noon of the Thanksgiving week. It's all hands on deck! Mr.P and I have the kids during the week, (not old enough to work yet in the kitchen or they too would be enlisted.) Instead the littles get to help us do the Thanksgiving feast shopping. Costco was crazy, Eric and I commented that we had never seen such crowds and lines to check out. While Eric waited in line, I took the kids over for pizza.. Once home they emptied the car, first of course with some discourse and then a fun game was made up while bringing all the goods in the house. Kids and imagination-its AMAZING.

Being the week of Thanksgiving, kids and pies, not much making will be done. The pineapple square was made at a recent Quilt Retreat and the Star block-finished on a Zoom quilt together on Sunday. 

On Thursday we will be gathering family and friends for a BIG Thanksgiving dinner(~35 people) after the shop closes.

Many thoughts on all I and my family have to be grateful for this year!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

IT'S BEEN AWHILE

(this is not my quilt, my inspiration)

 It's been awhile....

What have I been doing? A little of this and a little of that. I joined several Guilds; sewing, knitting and rug hooking-all the things I love to spend time working on. So many amazing new friendships.....COVID is over and life is being lived again. 

Having just returned from a long weekend quilting retreat, one quilt I saw at the retreat moved to the top of "I have to make this quilt". I  am rarely moved to run out, buy fabric and start on a quilt by actually following the pattern. The pattern is a BOM from a guild I am a member,

I will be using French General. 

Also worked on a paper piecing pineapple blocks. This will be a year long or more work in progress. I need 50 blocks, and am using scraps from stash. 

Took my first spinning class this fall, (I have been spinning for 20+ years), and love what I learned. I have a bin of odds and ends to be spun into some amazing yarns. As always, knitting is a constant companion of mine, and my grand babies

are my favorite people to knit for, (they are small enough that projects go fast).

Feels good to be back. 

JANUARY

                                         Colorado has seen a little snow and I mean a little, maybe 15 inches total thus far in January. Nothing to claim bragging rights. 

 At my house, we are in isolation, 'dry dock' as my family calls it. No one has been sick, just need to stay COVID free to meet a surgery date for Eric. We went into dry dock on Christmas Day and will resurface mid-February. We are home bodies here normally, but something about 'CAN'T' go out that gets old fast. 

Sooo.....I have been quilting, knitting and SPINNING every.single.day!  Dish clothes, six finished, we needed new ones badly. I have not had a store bought dishcloth in my entire married life....43 years just celebrated. Column sweater: finished. Not in love with this sweater but am wearing it often, guess it can't be that bad, (no pics yet.). The other hand knit that has been moved up in regular rotation is Altheda sleeveless sweater. I love this vest, great for these mild winter days and keeps the core nice and warm. Now, please don't think for a minute that any time is spent on daily out fit planning, zero thought goes into my wardrobe planning, jeans, cotton long sleeve shirt, (I only own 5 cotton shirts), Column sweater or Altheda vest or sweatshirt, [the sweatshirt usually wins out.]  I like to keep things simple and stress free;-]

 I am back to spinning, need another color for my 'Color Spun Shawl", am on a blue BFL spin and enjoying this fiber, nice and sticky. 

 Finished is another scrap quilt, unsure of name, I didn't use a pattern. This quilt gave me higher blood pressure. It's not constructing the blocks but quilting on a table top machine. I think the problem is, I am having trouble handling BIG quilts and doing free hand feather quilting, [which I love.} I fret and fret over the quilting, and all for naught. Once washed, the quilt is beautiful and the quilting pleasing.

READING: The War Of the Roosevelts.  This family intrigues me, especially Eleanor. Great book. 

The House of Gucci: The Gucci family...lets just say I am glad I am not related to them. Interesting but creepy book.

The Rockefellers: I have a like/hate feeling for this family. The Rockefeller foundation has done some amazing things in the USA as well as some horrifying deeds. 

Christmas Bells: just a mindless story for me and I have read so many of Jennifer Chiaverini books, I know all the characters.

Watching, all the shows on BritBox!

Cooking: Homemade Bread, Pasta, soups, roast, anything that is in the house. Good time to 'use up' all the pantry and freezer food. Even putting together an inventory [on a spread sheet] of pantry and freezer! Life has certainly a bizarre twist for me.

Joining Kat this morning