. . .from the handiwork journal

 Instead of moving an entire basket (again), I decided to just tackle what was in the basket, and store the basket away. One project will be taken apart (beads will be donated to a kiddo), one needed edged together, and the other two needed ends sewn in.  One was from 2017!  

A doily I made, and most likely was a porch project, as it is with #10 crochet thread.  Done!!  The doily was no slow project, as it is 11 x 16 inches.  I had a place for it years ago, but now I have no idea just yet.  I can't believe it let this project go so long unfinished.

The other unfinished projects?  A single hot pad.  The story behind it?  Why there is only one?

The story?  Well, I used to sell what I made.  I had a blog where I used to share and sell items, a social media page (since been deleted), and sold items at the Farmer's Market and Holiday craft shows.

My Mom was my biggest fan, supporter, and purchaser.  She found so many people who would buy what I made, and I supplied.  However, one woman wanted an entire lavender kitchen set for her daughter.  I had some lavender, so I started on the hot pad set, but had to order more of the same color to crochet the second one, and then one XL (9 x 13 size) hot pad.  

If you crochet or knit, you know that if you want the same color lot, you need to order enough, or buy enough for the project all at the same time.  I ordered the same color, and same brand, and the color did not match the one I made above.  I had to start over.

Oh, here is the kicker to the story....

The woman didn't want them after I had finished them all.  She told my Mom, that it was not lavender and looked like "gray."  Sigh.  My Mom giggled, and gave me the "don't worry" wave, and she either sold it or gifted it after that fiasco.

So, I finished the single hot pad, edging it with random leftover yarn, and gave it a home.  

One baby pacifier holder, which only needed ends sewn in and blocked. I think I had plans to make numerous amounts to sell, but never had the time to get more made.  Done and done!  The hot pad went in the camper.

I have much more to get back in order, so I will not run out of rainy day organizing/purging and whatnot.  In the process for searching for extra crochet supplies for a daughter, I found a more craft supplies that can be purged and donated (on the rainy day list).

I have come up with one more way to use my cotton yarn stash.  Well, a small bit of it anyway.  More on that later.

. . .from the handiwork journal  © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Chit Chat

Nothing really exciting on the news front.

 I dehydrated more oregano to make sure the new dehydrator worked.  There are things about it I like, and other things I do not like.  It is much quieter than my last one.   

I can say that I am glad I saved my trays from my older one.  The new ones are thinner, and the way the metal is twisted on the trays, the oregano stuck to the trays.  I had to layer the counter top with sheets of waxed paper, so I didn't make a mess, and didn't lose any of the dried oregano in the process of removing it.   I dried some oregano for the kids, and I was thankful to find a drawer full of saved lids to top the canning jars with.

How I found the lids?  Well, funny story.  I have one daughter who just started to learn to crochet, and asked for some yarn and supplies.  I went rooting around in my craft drawers, and low and behold, I had used one drawer for empty baby food jars and lids that fit canning jars (peanut butter, tahini, and other jar lids).  

I used to use the baby food jars for gifting extra dried herbs, and making homemade salves and hand creams.  I no longer use the jars, so those will find a new home soon.  Oh, one year I filled baby food jars with homemade taco seasoning, and gifted that one year.

Essentially, I found an entire drawer of items to get rid of, other than the lids I can use for when I open canned items, such as pickle relish, jam, taco sauce, ketchup, etc.

I not only found the lids, I found a pattern template that, for some reason was in a plastic bag, and tucked in a drawer with other half finished craft projects (yes, more unfinished, ha ha!)

The pattern is for a handmade Chicken Christmas ornament.  More than 4 years ago, I made one for our tree, and never did make the intended amount of them.  As you can see I found the painted clothespins with eye screws already in them.  I have no idea what I'll do with it all yet.  Most likely see if one thrift store will take it.  I have no plans to finish them, as my family has a ton of homemade ornaments from me already.

I have yet to locate my extra set of crochet hooks for the one daughter, but I now have more rainy day purging to do.  I found more craft supplies that need a new home, ha ha!  I thought I purged all of my supplies, but nope.

On another subject, I finally got the potatoes planted in the garden, but we have some more hot peppers to plant. I plan to get that done by the weekend.  My foot hurt yesterday, and actually swelled a bit, so I'm taking it easy for a day.  I will be getting another x-ray later this month.  At least the garden will be completely in by the weekend.  We didn't even know if we'd have one this year.  I did not plant popcorn or sweet corn this year.  We'll be buying it this year.

My husband bought some dragons breath flowers, so I got those planted, and more mulch dropped.  We had to buy a new broom for the porch, so porch cleaning can now resume.

Chit Chat  © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Yarn Colors ~ Lap Afghan

 I completely forgot to mention the yarn colors for this lap afghan, in case anyone was interested.  I am donating this one to a person living in an assisted living facility.

Two colors had no labels in my yarn stash, but I am pretty sure I am correct.

Caron one pound - Cream (guess)

Caron one pound - Peach (guess)

Red Heart Super Saver - Persimmon 

Red Heart Super Saver - Flamingo (not sold in stores from what I can see, only online currently).

Pattern is 6-day Kid Blanket.  I chose to do two rounds to edge it in cream and peach.  The person who created the pattern gives you other options to edge the blankets (and other sizes as well, as changing your colors more often).

Yarn Colors ~ Lap Afghan  © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Sticky-note-itis and The Case of Lollygagging (not by choice)

May flew by way too fast for us.  June rolled in quick, so I hope it sticks around longer.  In fact, we are almost halfway into June already.  We woke up to a crazy 49°F this morning.  

Grab a cup of coffee, it's a rather long post.

Fracturing my foot caused everything to simply get so far behind, that the sticky notes piled up everywhere like a heaping mountain of dirty laundry.  Six weeks is a long time to hobble around injured, and then be told another 6 weeks before hikg, long walks, or weight bearing exercise.

My medical boot, shoe leveler for the other foot, and medical boot covers, are officially stored away finally.

I had so many sticky notes(and some for my husband), and more were being written daily, and in various locations of the house.  I just decided it was easier to write things down, per room, in a ten cent notebook.  Crossing those buggers off never felt better too.

The case of the lollygagging (all done by force) was put to an end, and all things had to be caught up, things put away, things donated, things returned, things cleaned, things put in order and so on.

Logically, all of my library borrowing was put on hold.  Blogging took a back seat.  Sorry if they are lacking and/or boring lately.

Of course I went head on with all of this orderly homemaking, and housework, while we were planting the vegetable/fruit gardens (a battle between rain storms).  Everything of course everything remains "iffy" until we see what the weather brings us.  I have added some Thai basil to the herb garden this year.  Oh, and we found tomato plants, but not the same amount of them, and replanted.  I had to replant two serrano hot pepper plants too.

We installed a new fence around one of the vegetable gardens.  We plan to do the same with the other garden later this year or early next spring.

We purchased two blueberry plants.  We cannot grow them in the ground due to too much lime stone.  It's an experiment, to see how well they produce in pots for us.  

We didn't realize how much more soil we needed for the flower bed.  They are not completely finished.  We need some stones for the walkway and a few more for edging (we were given most of the landscaping stones over 2 years ago).

The regular chores still needed done amidst my dedication to rid the chaos.

Needless to say, there was a grand amount of coffee consumed.  Not to mention numerous ounces of water to day hydrated, especially during the garden work days in 90 degree weather.

                                                 

One corner of a counter was the "drop" spot, and these jars were hidden for the duration I was hobbling around.  Just for the record, our indoor repairs, renovations, upgrades, painting etc. are still not complete, so hence a terrible pile up.  I have moved the tote with painting supplies to the next room.  Hey, it's a start, ha ha!

Note to self:  Label stuff!  I have no idea what I put in the container on the left.  I searched my blog for ideas, and found nothing.  I think it's self-rising flour I mixed myself, but cannot, for the life of me, remember what it is.  Good grief!  Apparantly six weeks unseen is not good, ha ha!

There is much more to do around here overall.   

Sticky-note-itis and The Case of Lollygagging (not by choice) © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Happy Homemaker Monday

 

I had a few extra minutes in the kitchen, as my husband was called into work on Sunday, and our outdoor work took a back seat.  I made them in between flash freezing the last of the strawberries.

I made these healthier version of a peanut butter "cup" from a recipe online (no bake peanut butter oat cups by Hungry Happens).  You keep them in the freezer, but they do not freeze solid.  They are good, but I'm not sure I'd make them again.  I used a non-gmo dark chocolate for the top.

Today I am joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

This will be my last link up/join with this.  The new link asks me to sign into facebook or something to link my own post.  Enjoy it as the last post in this manner.

The weather . . .

Strangely cool, and no sun this morning.  Temperatures range from 67° to 93°F this week.  The low tonight could be as low as 49°F and that is very cold for June (and not good for the garden).

Right now I am . . .

Sipping coffee and writing this blog post.

Thinking and pondering . . . 

I'm thinking, that having a phone book again would be useful.  Our internet has had way too many outages, and one day I could not get a phone number pulled up on my cell phone.  Not even with 5G (cell service outage?).  Way too many outages in our area lately.  We used to get a free phone book delivered, but have not gotten one in years.  We don't have a land line, so that may be the reason.

We are trying to connect with local farmer's market gardener's to see about buying their garlic for this year. I know it won't come in until later, but we are working on it.

I did however, ask one produce stand if they grew their own garlic, as I have purchased it from there years ago (which rotted very quickly).  I never asked, as I assumed (never do that) they grew everything.  They do not.  Always ask at the produce stands.  Many ship items in from other states, and the items are not fresh.

How I am feeling . . .

On days I am working outside for hours on the garden, I have zero energy to do intentional exercise. Does that happen to anyone else?  Or is that just me?  Is it even necessary, after all that labor?

My foot is still healing.  Some days it bothers me and other days it's fine.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Sweet potato/sausage and egg scramble.

On the lunch plate . . .

Chicken salad with boiled egg over swedish bread crisp. Blueberries.

On the dinner plate . . .

Not sure just yet, but it could be Southwest Quesadillas.

On the menu . . .

-sheet pan cod with vegetables

-grilled jalapeno popper smash burgers, grilled brussel sprouts

-leftovers

On the reading pile . . .

I have not had a lot of free time to read lately.  I finally finished book #3 in this series.  I have found that our library interloan system has the remainder of the books to the series, so when I get more books read off my own shelf, I can go back and finish the series via the library.

. . .picked this up for free at the library, so I'm currently reading this book.  I feel like one of my bloggers has met this author. It's not my typical fiction book, but so far, I am enjoying it.

I'm also reading online reviews for food processors and madolins.  I need both replaced soon.  Especially my very old mandolin.

On my TV this week . . .

Whatever looks good on netflix.

Looking around the house . . .

It's a hot mess.  It's garden season, along with strawberries and peaches to put up.  It'll take some work to get things in order for sure.

To-do list . . .

-sweep and mop floors

-dust

-water porch pots and house plants

-go through yarn for a daughter

-get the house back in order

From the camera . . .

I finished this lap afghan.   I'm suprised I did too.  Some days I am so tired after garden work, that I don't want to do anything.

Devotional, Prayers, Bible Verse. . .

Happy Homemaker Monday  © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

Strawberry Season ~ Peach Season (Wham-Bam!)

I wish there was 6 of me to get all the "things" done around here right now.   Work has been done based on the weather and needs.  Basically, there are projects/jobs around here not completely finished.  It drives me bonkers, but we work on them daily.  If my husband was retired, it would be much different, but it's not the case.  

On top of losing the tomatoes recently, we have a plethora of rabbits. Apparantly this is a wide case issue in the area this year.  Rabbit stew?  They are a huge problem if they continue to eat my herb garden and get into the vegetable/fruit garden.  It may come to that if grocery prices continue to rise.

Is it me, or are prices soaring again?  I could not believe the cost of blueberries at the grocery store the other day.

I actually considered going back to work vs. doing the garden/homesteading thing this year.  I also contemplated getting a part time job and still maintain a smaller garden.  Everything is so high on cost right now it is sickening.

We were blessed with some cool breeze days after the rain finally quit, and the 90 degree heat left us.  It was nice to open windows and let fresh air in.  The heat is returning, and our AC had yet to turned on.  If it's been tolerable, we just run a fan or open windows, to save on that summer electric bill.

It's strawberry season in our area right now.   June bearing strawberries are just what they are - bearing fruit for a short time in June and that is it, so putting up time is about a week or two.  However, the season is about to end as fast as it started.

Canning reduced sugar jam is done, and freezing what we'd like, is in the process.

South Carolina peaches are starting to appear at our local produce stands as well, and all at the same time this year.  I asked around, and no one is getting Georgia peaches.  They are telling me that they have not gotten them over the last two years (which we know due to weather).  We are trying the South Carolina peaches this year.

We do have one peach tree, but we've only gotten peaches from it once.  It's still alive, but has not done well here.  We may plant more fruit trees next spring.  Our apple trees did well last fall.

I absolutely love Strawberry Margarita Jam (link goes to the online recipe at Better Homes and Garden Canning Recipes), but it is loaded with sugar.  I gifted it one year I believe, and even did a barter one year.  Some year I will can it again. Just not this year.  

Of course, we are enjoying the strawberries fresh as well, as we await for the peaches to become a good ripe stage.  I keep having a talk with them, and that I need them to ripen sloooowwwwllly during this gardening season.  

So much to do.

Strawberry Season ~ Peach Season (Wham-Bam!) © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart

What's Cooking?

 

Got leftover quinoa?

The recipe actually made 8 fritters, but we finally got around to trying them, and we love them!  They are called quinoa-feta fritters with labneh sauce.  You only use 2 Tbsp. of avocado oil to "fry" them.  They also re-heat nicely in an air fryer.  I have not yet tried reheating them on the stove top, but I am guessing it would work as well.

Here is where I used some of that "creamy cheese" (called labneh) with organic greek yogurt.  I made a sauce using the recipe in the same cookbook, with juice from a lemon, dried dill and salt/pepper.

I will be making them again, and they are a great way to use leftover quinoa.

I typically use leftover broth to make the quinoa too.

Leftovers are part of the weekly meal plan around here.

I did not find the recipe online, but in a cook book I borrowed from the library. 

One draw back in making the fritters?  It's messy.  A lot stuck to my hands, so next time, I will lightly grease my hands with avocado oil, while handling the mixture to form the fritters.

I added a bit of fresh kale to ours.  You don't want to add too much, or you will have trouble making a "firm" fritter to fry.

The most recent, very hot days, involved salads.  One of our favorites is a copy cat version of Wendy's chicken apple pecan salads.

However, finding blue cheese that is not expensive has been a chore.  I will be checking the price at Aldi's the next time I am out for errands.  Our main grocery store has it at $5.49 for a measley 5 oz.  I have yet to check Wal-mart or even Meijer too.

They use a pomegrante vinaigratte dressing, and this year, not one store in our area sells the non-gmo dressing.  I will be working on trying some homemade versions of the dressing for this salad.  

If you have a good, homemade recipe for a pomegrante vinaigrette dressing, please share.

What's Cooking? © June 2024 by Kristina at Pioneer Woman at Heart