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.

Folk Art Quilt

About in the 80's I was watching Sewing with Nancy, she was showing how to make a lone star quilt. I decided I was gonna try to make one too. After I got the quilt top finished I didn't know what to do with it. So I bought a double size flat sheet, using  the sewing machine I proceeded to sew the quilt only to have a big jumble mess the quilt had a wow in it. In other words it didn't lie flat.
This is the 2nd quilt that I have completed. I am real happy with the way it turned out. I found the pattern in a book by Clare Kingslake, called Folk Quilt Applique. I love her work. I was truly inspired by her work.

I have now joined a quilting gathering, am learning what mistakes I had made with my first quilt.
to make an applique quilt I first drew the shapes onto freezer wrap, then the shapes were cut out and placed on the color materials which I had chosen for each item.

Using a dark thread I turn the edges under by hand, and put a running stitch in a dark color thread. After I press the material with a iron I remove  the tread.

Here are some bird cut outs ready to go on to the block of material.

At first I was pinning them into place, while I hand sewed them on, I didn't like the fact that those pins kept poking me...

So I discovered this stuff called wonder under transfer web, I cut little pieces on to the objects that needed  sewing, which eliminated having to use pins.

Here's a peek at the double sized quilt top before  quilting has begun.  My friend Pam showed me how to sandwich the quilt. First she took the bottom material laid it on a large table taped it down with masking tape , so it would be flat, and tight.  The batting was laid on top next, then finally the quilt top last.The quilting was done in a random pattern, using a hoop to keep it tight.

When the quilting is finished trim the quilt, square it off cutting away the unnecessary material and batting.  Cut material for the binding 2.5 inches wide. Iron in half, and again in half to frame the outside of the quilt. I sew one part to the front, and hand stitched the  the back part by hand.

This is the progress of the binding first the strip, then the folds ironed, then the end result, binding.

 The back side of the baby quilt. Happy sewing : )

Knitted Felted Purse

This is  the first time I have tried to make a felted purse, I must admit that I like the feel, and look of felted purses. Besides the fact that they are strong, and light the shapes of the purse are as varied  as your mind dream.

The pattern called to make 2 sides, 2 bottoms, and 2 side panels.

 The bottom panels I did in different colors.  The side, and front measured 9.5 inches high, the bottom measured 7x20 inches square, the handles measured 25 inches,the width of the purse was 20 inches.

This was the result of felting.  It shrank too small, more of a clutch size.

Being this was my first time felting, I just put the purse in a pillow case, filled the washing machine with hot water, and a squirt of dish soap. I let the washing machine agitate for 20 minutes before I checked my  purse, it was too late. I tried to pull it larger without success.
The size of the purse is 16 inches wide, 5 inches high, the bottom 3x16 inches square, the handles 18 inches. I'm going back to the drawing board...

So I bought more yarn, and decided to knit a round piece that I can sew into the clutch size purse, to enlarge it.

This is what it looked like after I cut the clutch in 2, and sewed the middle piece on. I had a piece left over so not to wasted I made  a small purse.

By laying brightly colored roving in round shapes. Take a empty bottle  dish soap fill with hot water, squirt a bit of dish soap. It should feel real soapy between your fingers. Dribble a generous amount of soapy mixture on top of felt, and roving.Wrap in bubble wrap tie ends together, rolling back and forth. and forth until the roving sticks to the felt piece.

You can see how the roving has intertwined with the felt piece, rinse allow to dry.

I added glass beads, and a large button.

This purse I felted with a felting needle, laying the roving in shapes of flowers, and leaves. The inside of the purse was lined with cotton fabric, and I sewed 2 pockets on each side.

This is a close up of the decorations on the purse, I added glass beads, and embroidered around the felted roving, I really learned a lot from this purse, and it was so much fun : )