My First Basket Weaving Class

I was thrilled to try my hand at basket weaving, this basket is 13 inches wide, 18 long, and 11 inches tall. I also weaved straps to the side. I use it to carry my art supplies, I like that I can see whats in it easy.

This is where we weaved the bottom of the basket.

My friend Nan taught the class.  This is where I started weaving up the walls, the clothes pins give you an extra pair of hands.

You can see the wall starting to take shape.

This  the top of the basket where I put the inside reed, the rope in the middle gives the basket a more finished look.

The last part is the reed that wraps around the top.

Calla Lily Quilt

This what I spent my winter nights working on I am pleased with the result, just love painting with fabric.

My daughter in law loves the purples, plums, and reds.

This is the picture I got my inspiration from.

Sausage Potato Spinach Soup

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This is another good one a hearty spicy sausage potato spinach soup. It's also a good crock pot soup. Serve with crusty bread such as french.

Ingredients:
1 lb hot Italian sausage cut into bite size
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper flakes
1 large onion chopped fine
2 teaspoons chopped garlic fine
10 cups of water
5 bullion cubes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 potatoes chopped into bit size
2 cups frozen spinach, or a bunch of fresh kale
1 small bag frozen Lima beans
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon butter
3 strips of cooked bacon

In frying pan melt butter, adding chopped onions, and  garlic until translucent. Place the rest of the ingredients in crock pot except for the cream, and bacon.
Cook on high for 6 hours. Add the cream at this time or it will curdle if added too soon. Cook for last 15  minutes on low. Add bacon lastly it gives the soup a little bit of smoky taste.
Enjoy : )

Cherry Blossom Quilt

I am really having a wonderful time creating applique quilts, to me it's like painting with material.

My kids love any thing to do with cherry blossoms. This is what I came up with.

Hello Kitty Patch

My granddaughters are big Hello Kitty fans, I was looking for a large material patch which could be sown on to their quilts, but all I could find were the very small ones.
So here is my fix for that. My patch is 13 x 19 inches large. My granddaughter just love their quilts.

Materials:
White cotton fabric
Black crayon
Black floss embroidery thread
Black, red, and pink felt squares
Quilt low loft batting
White paper
Scissors
 I first drew Hello Kitty onto my material with a crayola

Cut out bow shape out of red felt, eyes out of black felt, and nose out of pink felt by using white paper to make a pattern. Pin pattern on top of felt, and cut.

Do blanket stitch around bow to attach, as seen in photo, repeat procedure on eyes, and nose.

Do blanket stitch around outline of Hello Kitty face.

Cut Quilt batting to be placed between blanket, and patch.

Pin into place and attach to quilt by turning material under at the hand basted blanket stitching around patch.

Happy Quilting :)

Chicken Brian

This is my version of Chicken Brian, I am not a big fan of goat cheese because of the game after taste.I also prefer the sweet wines like Muscato. Let me know what you think.

4 chicken breasts thin out
olive oil
squeeze fresh lime or lemon
Montreal steak seasoning
salt

sauce
1 cup Muscato wine
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1/4 cup fresh lemon
1 cup diced butter (cold)
2 tablespoons of cream or evaporated milk

2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes,
Feta cheese for garnish, can also use goat cheese

To prepare sauce place 1/2 cup of butter in sauce pan with green onions fry til translucent, add 1 cup of wine  let cook until it reduces about 25 percent then add minced garlic, 1/4 lemon juice, and cream. Remove from stove and add the other 1/2 cup of cold butter the sauce should thicken slightly.

Place chicken breasts on grill after squeezing lemon juice, salt and  Montreal. Grill for 30 minutes.

 chop sun dried tomatoes for the top of meat.
when meat is cooked tablespoon some sauce over it garnishing with sun ripe chopped tomatoes, and  mozzarella cheese

1

Supplies. stainless steel large pot

Metal whisk

vinegar for neutralizing any lye or soap that may splash on you

wooden spoon for stirring 

weighing scale

recipe:

12 oz lye

21  1/2 oz cold water

5 lbs 7 1/3 oz lard

optional 

oatmeal 

lavender

honey

 I have wanted to make homemade lye soap for quit a while. I even bought the book on soap making that sat on my shelf for the last 3 years. The prospect of using lye was scary. especially after reading all the precautions written in the book so I decided to wait...

One of my friends Ronnie offered to do a hands on tutorial, it is fascinating to think that lard turns into soap by just adding lye, and water to it.

Lard was melted in a enamel pot.

Lye was mixed with ice water in a high temperature resistant glass jar, until the lye water was clear.  Making sure you wear safety glasses, and have vinegar on hand to spray in case of lye water splashing on the skin. The water actually reaches 180 degrees.

 The lye water is then poured into the melted fat, and stirred.

And stirred, and stirred, and stirred... for  4 hours to be exact , until the soap looked like thick gravy. That's what is called the trace stage when you pour some of the soap on top of the soap, and it lays on top for a moment before disappearing. At this stage is when we poured the oatmeal, and lavender.

Ronnie then poured it into a plastic lined cardboard box. It had to harden to fudge hard stage. Which took 12 hours.

I cut the soap into bars. It has to cure for 3 weeks before using. A chemical reaction process occurs in that time where lye dust appears to the surface of the bars. The dust is cut away, the soap gets mellow.
This soap is the best feeling soap, it's slick when wet, and does not feel scummy like store bought soap. The glycerin is not removed in homemade lye soap. I added the oats for exfoliating dead skin,the lavender was added for scent, and texture.