Summer Purse

Recently finished making this colorful, small, lightweight purse from some of my favorite batiks. Love it! The pattern is called Lily Pocket Purse from LazyGirlDesigns. This is the front view.









It has a small outside pocket that is just perfect for keys.



















I attached the handle on the outside, as handles tend to wear out faster than the body of the purse itself. So I can change out the handle if needed, without tearing apart the purse.


I think I will make at least one more.

Buckwheat Cereal

As my bio says, I am gluten intolerant...double-gene gluten intolerant in fact. And based on that, the dietician told me I might as well consider myself as having Celiac disease. So I gave up all the gluten grains and dairy foods over four years ago. It didn't help my skin all that much. At the beginning of 2011, I finally decided to try eliminating ALL grains, as advised by Loren Cordain, PhD., author of "The Paleo Diet". He advises this for anyone suffering from any of the 200+ autoimmune diseases...and it has seemed to help.

When I want something grain-like, I cook buckwheat, which is not "wheat" and is not even a grain. It is a fruit.

I buy whole organic white buckwheat and grind it in a blender so it cooks faster. To cook it, boil one cup of water, then add one third cup buckwheat and cook til thickened,... only a couple of minutes. I add vegan margarine, local honey and occasionally, Lydia's Organics sprouted cinnamon cereal for crunch, (which is mostly seeds, but does contain a small amount of quinoa). Satisfies my simple carb cravings wonderfully!

If you would like to know more about "The Paleo Diet", go to http://thepaleodiet.com

Ouch!

I fell HARD on my knees today, and it wasn't in prayer. In fact, I did a face plant on hard flagstone and cement.

Two days ago I ran out of honey. And since honey is my sweetener of choice, I made a trip to my local honey company in the next town down the highway. And since I was in that town, I also had to visit my favorite quilting store. I bought a fat quarter of a gorgeous rainbow batik with a leaf print on it. Over the last two days I decided I needed some yardage of this beautiful fabric, so I braved the 60+mph westerly headwinds buffeting my vehicle to go back to the store.

I usually park in back of the store because it is easier to find a space and walk down the gravel driveway to the back door, but I had just the slightest concern that the store might not be open on Memorial Day, so I parked in front of the store, actually one store down from the entrance to the quilt fabric shop.

As I walked toward the shop, I had my eye on the storefront, looking for the OPEN sign,...and completely missed the step from the curbside sidewalk level to the store level sidewalk. In other words, it is a two tiered sidewalk, with alternating step area and garden spaces every so many feet going down the block. It was like a trip wire. I just went down before I knew what hit me. Came down so hard on my left knee, that I couldn't immediately move, from the pain. I did a survey of the damage. Two knuckles were skinned, my upper lip had barely touched the sidewalk and my knee hurt like hell, but I didn't think anything was broken.

Two ladies walking into the same store witnessed the whole thing and came to my aid. The store owner brought me a bag of ice for my knee and wet paper towels for my knuckles, while I sat in a wooden chair just inside the entrance. Fortunately, I had brought the fat quarter of the fabric I wanted with me, so I asked the store owner to find it for me and cut the yardage.

Unbelievably, a lady who was in the store while I was being ministered to, walked out the door and fell down the step, kind of...she mainly stumbled but managed to stay on her feet. She came back in the store to tell everyone!

As I was writing this, I realized how lucky I was not to have broken teeth, or busted open my lip, broken a bone, etc., etc. Thank you, GOD!

The Royal Wedding

Like a couple billion people, I watched Will and Kate marry today and wish them many happy years together. Loved every minute of it. Kate's Dress was exquisite and loved Pippa's dress. Carol Middleton's dress and coat was so elegant. The Queen looked lovely in her daffodil yellow outfit and I pray I can have skin THAT smooth at eighty-five!

I had never heard the term fascinator for a hat before, but the name fits. There were a few that were fascinatingly hideous. And a few awful dresses, worn by the same hideous hat wearers. I won't mention names, I'm sure you know who they are.

The entire ceremony was romantic and beautiful. Will and Kate seemed so happy.

I laughed when the Happy Couple was driving from the Palace in the Aston Martin. I'm sure each of my three sons, in the same position, would have said, "Honey, look, the bobbies have cleared out the people. Let's do some donuts around Queen Victoria's fountain while we have the chance!"

You think I'm kidding?

Anyway, it was a beautiful, wonderful wedding that I don't think I'll see the likes of again in my lifetime. Many thanks to all the hard working people who made it all happen so flawlessly for the world to enjoy.

Pansy Garden

Our lamp post garden is the easiest garden I have because

A.) it is always planted in annuals and
B.) it is relatively small and
C.) I don't have to work around any tree roots or shrubbery

In past years I have tried zinnias because I love them and they are such a great long lasting cut flower, but they are warm weather plants that grow best from seed after the last frost...and even if I do buy them already in pots, they take so long to get established that it is late summer before I see a profusion of flowers.

So I went with a cool weather annual this year. The pretty pansy.

I didn't get all the leaves raked up last Fall and decided to use as many as I could to "compost" under the pansies as I planted them. Get two things done at once...leaf cleanup and planting.



One garden planted... and now on to the perennials.

Apron Appreciation

My mother learned to sew when I was in fourth grade. Back then, it was cheaper to make your own clothes, so she made dresses, mostly for herself, but sometimes for her daughters. One of the first projects I remember her doing was matching mother and daughter dresses for herself and the three of us girls. Sleeveless A-line dresses with a ruffle along the bottom, in a beautiful white fabric with large red daisies on it.

Here is a piece of the leftover daisy fabric, which I found recently. I absolutely love it! Always did. I wish Mom had saved the dresses, but they are long since gone.














When I was in sixth grade she offered me sewing lessons given by a local department store. I was good at it and liked it, though by high school I rather resented being expected to make any new clothes I wanted. I was envious of girls whose Mom's made them lots of pretty clothes. But, honestly, with five kids in my family by then, I knew that was beyond my mom's capabilities. In any case, I got enough practice at it that by high school I was able to take a basic pattern and make some creative changes to it. Like the time I copied a dress worn by Barbra Streisand in "Funny Girl". LOL

For decades I did not value or appreciate my sewing skills, even though in my early twenties, I was able to make my wedding dress from a beautiful Vogue pattern. It had a gorgeous French lace and hand glued pearls. (I couldn't find anything I liked off the rack.) I thought sewing skills were pretty mundane... "traditional women's work", but I've come to appreciate the talent and skill required. Mostly, I like the creative aspect of it and the uniqueness of whatever I've made because I almost never follow a pattern or directions exactly as they are presented. I haven't made my own clothes for decades, though I do have a few special pieces waiting to be made now. I gravitated to more artistic sewing...quilts and such.

I inherited all of my mom's fabric, most of it scraps, because she pretty much bought a pattern and fabric and made it, before she bought anything else. But there was a pretty little flower patterned fabric (three and half yards) that she bought and never got around to making whatever she had planned for it.

I decided to make matching aprons for my sisters and I from it. Two of my mom's skills and favorite things to do were baking and sewing, so this seems like an appropriate way to honor of her and put the fabric to good use. Here is the first one.




P.S. I just realized, as I was reminiscing about that first dress I made in sewing class that it was made from a daisy fabric also! Tiny white daisies on a turquoise background. How funny!

The Vintage Kitchen Apron

I bought a book with patterns for vintage style aprons a year and a half ago, but couldn't find any fabric that I was crazy about for an apron, until a couple months ago. That's when I found this lovely flower seed packet design on a 100% cotton at a local quilt fabric shop. Instantly, I knew it was just perfect for an apron.




A view of the back...




I will make a few more with this pattern. As the book suggests, one can have aprons for every occasion and holiday!

Quilt Show

I visited a quilt show today where the featured artist was Linda Hibbert. She is a wonderfully talented quilter and quilt designer. The detail in her quilts is amazing! The flowers are all paper pieced. (The quilt was hung around an inside corner, so it was a little difficult to get a photo.)








A close up of the daisy.













What I love most about her quilts is the fabulous quilting.












The purple pansy and the red poppy.

A Pillowcase Dress

Today, I was privileged to participate in a Girl Scout troop project making a dress from a pillowcase for a girl in Uganda. This troop partnered with the Dress a Girl Around the World organization and enlists the help of volunteers from churches and the community. My church donated the space to work and asked for volunteers. That's how I got involved. It is a wonderful program...giving dresses to orphan girls who may be wearing rags because that is all they have. The dresses are very simple to make...it just takes a pillowcase, some bias tape for the arm holes and some ribbon to tie the dress at the shoulder tops. Cute little dolls are made to put in the pockets of the dresses, also.

I brought home some donated fabric to make some more dresses.

You can read more about the organization and how you can help at this website.

http://www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/

You will never look at a pillowcase in the same way again!

African Tote Bag/Purse

I loved these fabrics the first moment I saw them. They came in a kit to make this purse and I had to have it. The sample purse in the store had matching "pictures" on both ends of the purse, meaning you had to use two panels for one purse, and then have a bunch of leftover "pictures". I changed the pockets on the outside of the purse in order to use all the pictures on a panel of fabric. I also wanted different sizes of pockets on the outside.




One of those pockets was wider than the given measurements for the "ends" of the purse, so that meant making a wider bottom. That ended up changing the measurements for the inside lining pockets too, AFTER I had already sewn them. It turned out to be a happy mistake though, as I then had four skinny slots on the inside corners that are perfect for storing pens in the purse. No hunting for them.

Here is the back of the purse.


Anyway, I just love how it turned out...I am so organized with all these pockets. And this is my favorite thing on the purse...the chicken button.

My Lucky Day

Yesterday, I went to my local quilt shop's anniversary sale. They offer some great deals at their sale and to make it even more fun, they have "cake walks" through out the day, where prizes are given away. Quilt designs are printed on paper and taped to the floor. Music is played and when the caller hollers "Stop!" you step on the nearest "quilt". Since I shopped for two and a half hours, I participated in several and won two prizes, this little fabric wallet and a Primary Colors fat quarters fabric roll of 14 fabrics Woohoo!.

Strange Conversation

I wanted to find out how the Calculus final went for Number Three Son this morning...so I called him after I picked up today's mail.

Me: You got some money in the mail, your tax refund.

Number Three Son: Cool! (pause) Whoa...I have to go 'cause I might fall off a cliff. (click)

Me to Myself: I guess "now" is not a good time to ask about the Calculus final. (And what are you DOING? You're afraid of heights!)

Lemon Zesties Cookies

If you like lemon, you will LOVE these cookies with their intense flavor. They are gluten-free of course...this is my modified version of a recipe from "Bake Deliciously" Gluten and Dairy Free Baking by Jean Duane



Lemon Zesties



Wet Ingredients



1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup agave nectar

4 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. liquid lecithin

1 tsp lemon oil



Dry Ingredients



1 cup whole grain sorghum flour

1/2 cup whole grain amaranth or rice flour

4 TBS arrowroot powder

2 TBS lemon zest

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Optional: Sprinkle tops of cookies with turbinado raw cane suger before baking.



Mix wet ingredients in small mixing bowl by hand, making sure the mixture is well combined. Add dry ingredients.

Drop one teaspoon of dough per cookie onto parchment paper. Leave room for cookies to spread. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 12 minutes, til edges of cookies are just barely browned. Let cookies cool for a few minutes after removing from oven before removing from the parchment so they won't crumble.

Delicious served with fruit.

"What's this word mean?"

As a child, if you asked your mom or dad, or teacher, "What's this word mean?", they likely said, "Go look it up in the dictionary."

And no kid who asked that question EVER wanted to take the time to do that. Otherwise, they wouldn't have asked in the first place, right? They were impatient to know, so they could get their homework done. Or understand the sentence they just read in whatever they were reading. Probably a good book. Maybe one by Madeleine L'Engle. She never wrote "down" to kids.

I'm pretty sure Ms L'Engle never used the "most looked up word" on Dictionary.com this year. The "most looked up word" on Dictionary.com was actually not even in my Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. Are you ready for it?


It is cal·li·pyg·i·an (kāl'ə-pĭj'ē-ən), an adjective meaning having beautifully proportioned buttocks.
Seriously, I'm not kidding. What teacher would put this word on the weekly vocabulary list? And how does a person use this word in a sentence?
I wonder if that guy is attracted to callipygian women?
I joined a gym so I could become a callipygian woman.

It sounds like a nationality, doesn't it? Or a body of water

[From Greek kallipugos : kalli-, beautiful (from kallos, beauty) + pugē, buttocks.]
Word Origin & Historycallipygian
"of, pertaining to, or having beautiful buttocks," 1800, from Gk. kallipygos, name of a statue of Aphrodite, from kalli-, combining form of kallos "beauty" + pyge "rump, buttocks." Sir Thomas Browne (1646) refers to "Callipygæ and women largely composed behinde."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper


Just out of curiosity, I used the reverse dictionary and looked up every other body part I could think of to see if there was a special term for a "well shaped _______". There is not. Only the buttocks have the special privilege to have a word for their perfection.

Making Fabric Covered Boxes

The shoe boxes with flip lids that my sons' shoes come in make great storage boxes. I decided to buy some cheap fabric to cover them and make them suitable for use somewhere other than a closet. I chose a patterned fabric that came in many colors because I'm all about color coding and I wanted them to be coordinated. It's much quicker than reading a label, though I'll probably put some kind of temporary labels on them.

After an attempt to fit the fabric around an intact box, I realized the project would go faster and look more professional if I took the box apart, so that it would lie flat and I could make a pattern for it. These boxes don't use glue at all; they fit together using only slots.

First, I traced around the box on some paper that had been used as filler in a parcel we received. I cut out the paper pattern and pinned it on the fabric, then cut out the fabric.

Then I used double sided tape to attach the fabric to the shoebox. Pull the edges tight for a nice smooth look. I tried to have a generous half inch of fabric on the inside edges, so as not to be short somewhere. You can always trim off the extra. Here is the box about halfway completed.

After you've taped all the edges, reassemble the box. I am very pleased with how my first two turned out. Now I have turquise, purple, blue and pink to do.

Green Christmas

I found some pretty fabrics today that I thought would be great for wrapping Christmas presents. No sewing needed.

I bought a yard and a quarter of each of the three fabrics. Just cut on the lengthwise fold line down the middle of the fabric and get two wrapping pieces. Each piece will cover a normal size clothing box. Perhaps leave one or two of them uncut to cover large boxes.

Wrap around the box until you've used all the fabric. If it wraps around three times...who cares. And two of the three are black backgrounds, so the recipient can't see through. Tape, and put a ribbon around it!

No wrapping paper to gather up on Christmas morning and no waste going to the landfill. Just fold it up and put in your wrapping paper box til next year. My family will love this.

Meeting Pioneer Woman

Yesterday, I got to meet Pioneer Woman aka Ree Drummond in Denver at The Tattered Cover for her first book signing outside her home state. And her mother-in-law, Nan and sister-in-law, Missy.

PW held a thirty minute Q & A session, then got down to business signing books. In the Q& A we learned that Ree is going to publish a book on her romance with Marlboro Man. Yeah!

It was no surprise to all PW's fans that hundreds of people-- I heard the figure of 500 tossed around--showed up, but the bookstore was caught off guard . The bookstore ran out of books sometime after I bought mine ...whew, I would have been upset if I hadn't been able to buy a book. All seats were taken by the time I arrived, so people lined the walls and filled the stairways on either side of the room. An employee said they would have picked their bigger store had they known.

I did not get my book signed til 11 PM. I did not mind the 3 hour wait though. I passed the time very pleasantly talking with Blair and Tara, whom I met at the signing. And I also got to speak with Nan and Missy for a while. (I'm kicking myself now because I didn't think to ask them to sign my book and magazine.) I had Ree sign my cookbook and the People magazine that had an article about her and her family. She did not rush anybody through the line even though it was getting very late. (There were probably 40 people after me, so she was there til at least midnight I'm sure.)

The cookbook is absolutely gorgeous with lots of yummy recipes and has lots of beautiful photos of Ree's family too. Thanks , Ree!

The Magic of Kale

Dietary experts are always saying, "Eat lots of dark greens." I recently noticed that my skin seemed to improve when I ate kale. Was it my imagination that kale helped? I did an internet search for "nutrition of kale" and came up with this great site...

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2461/2


Not only did it tell me all the vitamins, minerals, calories and percents of fats, carbs and proteins, but it also provided the glycemic load AND inflammation factor. Kale has an extremely high anti-inflammation factor. So it was not my imagination. Kale was helping the psoriasis calm down. A magic food. I must eat more of it.



I'm not real crazy about plain kale, raw or cooked, so I came up with this simple one dish recipe to make it tastey. Baked chicken on a bed of kale and whatever other veggies you like. I use chicken with the bone in and skin on because of all the wonderful flavor the kale soaks up comes from the bone and skin. I don't eat the skin, ( I feed it to the dog), but it really keeps the chicken from drying out.

Chicken and Kale

Lightly oil the bottom of your roasting pan. I use extra virgin olive oil because that is the only oil I ever use. Wash the kale and cut away the thick middle stem. Chop into bite-size pieces. Fill the bottom of the pan with the kale. It cooks down like spinach, so be generous.

Lay any other veggies you are using on top of the kale. I used zucchini coins here. Then lay your washed and seasoned chicken pieces on top. I season with garlic powder, dried basil, and salt. Drizzle a little olive oil over the chicken pieces, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees F. or whatever temperature you normally bake your chicken at for about an hour. I remove the foil after approximately 45 minutes so the skin will brown.

M Stands for Mountain

I had to deliver a couple of items to Number Three Son at college this week. He's only been there for three weeks and misses driving and riding in a car. We made him leave his car at home for several reasons.

a.) He has no need of a car. He has to walk all of about 100 feet from his dorm to the dining cafe. It is a small campus and it takes him less than 5 minutes to walk to any of his classes.

b.) He won't waste time and gas driving around when he should be studying.

c.) We can use the money saved by removing his car from insurance to put toward his college costs.

d.) He won't be "drifting" around the hairpin curves of Lookout Mountain in his car. This wasn't one of the reasons we ever considered, but it is now that I've driven this road!

Lookout Mountain is where Buffalo Bill is buried. In the thirty years we have lived in this state, we have never visited his gravesite. Every time we'd see the exit on I-70 we think, "We should go visit that sometime."

So when we finished the task I came to campus for, he asked if we could just drive somewhere, even just around town, but immediately suggested we take a drive up the mountain to the whitewashed "M" made of thousands of stones near the top. The road they had had to walk up, with a ten pound rock to add to the M three weeks before, part of freshman orientation. Good idea, let's go.



The M can be seen from miles away, even at night, as it is lit up. And it looks high up. But it doesn't look nearly as high up when you are at the bottom, as it does when you are at the top looking down on the campus, ...and downtown Denver and probably Colorado Springs on a clear day. I don't think I have ever driven on such a steep mountain. I lost count of how many bikers I saw pedaling up the mountain road. Number Three Son said he heard it is about a 38% grade mountain. I just call it Sheer Dropoff from one side of the "hairpin curve" to the other.

This view is from the first pullout I stopped at. ( Click on the photo to see details.) See the tiny litle red and white sign in the distance... behind the athletic fields? That's the famous Coors Brewery. If you build a brewery, a college will come.





That group of buildings in the upper left corner is downtown Denver. Those are tall office buildings. They look like kids' toy buildings blocks from half way up the mountain.




This is the view from the place where Buffalo Bill is buried. You are truly at cloud level here... gazing down at plateaus, towns, cities, and roads like a map brought to life. We never did actually see the grave site because we ran out of time. Son had to get back to campus for a meeting. Next time we'll see it and the Boettcher Mansion, which is further up the mountain.

Multi-Tasking

The older I get the less I tolerate tool noise, so I trim the grass edges by hand. While carrying out this chore along side flower beds, I get to enjoy the flowers and check for any disease or bug problems, but it can get a bit boring when cutting the grass next to sidewalks, the patio or the cement garage foundation. I used to try to talk on the phone, but sometimes no one is available to talk or the conversation ends before or extends beyond the chore. What to do?

Resume Beth Moore's Bible Memory Verse Challenge to memorize 24 verses (2 per month) in a year. We pick our own verses so they have personal application or meaning to us. I'm not very good at sitting myself down to do scripture memory, but I am finding myself looking forward to cutting the grass now because I get to work on my memory verses. In fact, I think of it as memorizing time and I just happen to be getting the grass cut at the same time.