Sewing Projects, and more Cooking Exploits

 I've been continuing to work on my various sewing projects and even to invest in some more colorful fabrics for quilts, trivets or whatever else I can dream up. When we head out west I will have a bag full of trivet supplies to take for my amusement. The quilt topper is finished and now I just need to sew on the backing. Being as this is the first quilt I've made, I am finding this last step a bit daunting. I'm using a fleece throw and I'm not sure how easy it will be to work around the edges with. I know, it's 85° out and I need a quilt why? 😀 It will look pretty on the bed during the day and on the floor at night, lol.

Crazy bright puff quilt topper - tada! Each fabric square represents
material I used to make a trivet with, so I love them all so much.

I had also decided to downsize my cross-body purse to something more dainty. The big one is great for travelling and has, in addition to the essentials, every manner of things in it, like lotion, mints, a nail file, meds, & wet wipes, but around town for errands, too big & unwieldy.

I happened upon some fairly decent looking faux leather fabric at Walmart and figured that would do fine. $5 later, here's what I ended up with, a quick little bag with velcro closure. It'll hold wallet, phone, keys, lipstick, advil and that's about it.

The other night after a big shopping day, (grocery, drugstore, library, et.al.), I was pooped so I pulled out of the freezer an old standby - a beef and black bean burrito.  Add the fancy Tex-Mex rice w/onions, corn and cheese & you've got a delicious gem. I use a combination of enchilada sauce & salsa, plus a dollop of the chipotle sauce mixed in as a topper while cooking.

Believe it or not, we get 1 dinner each and 1 breakfast (w/egg)
each and we still feel like we pigged out a bit. So good.

I've been tackling a few pressure canning opportunities as I find meat on sale, (Ms. Frugal here 😊), and this week I found 10# bags of chicken leg quarters on sale for $4.70 a bag! I bought 2. There are about 10 leg quarters per bag, and sure, they have a fair amount of skin/fat on them and may have come from older birds, but they're great in a casserole, a stew, or even pulled off the bone for burritos or chicken salad.  I set some aside raw to grill later, and froze a few too.

I chose quart-sized jars and got 5 quarts.
Each quart held something like 3-4 drums and 2-3 thighs.

I can them using the raw pack method, so after rinsing, I skin them, take off excess fat and cut the drum/thigh apart. Most of them have a small portion of the back attached (with the oyster), so I cut those off too and use them to make broth. Into clean jars, bone and all, with just a skosh of chicken stock and some salt. They cook in their own juices. Great to have a few of these handy for soups or easy meals.

And lastly on the food topics, I was (finally) on the other side of town within easy reach of this fantastic Oriental Market - they are huge and have been at that location for many years. I was on the hunt for dried mushrooms. After trying to source them online, I decided I'd rather pick them out in person, and at a better price.  Eons ago, I took a cooking class with the emphasis on Chinese dishes and enjoyed using Cloud Ear mushrooms. I have wanted to round up another package, so we made a stop. I bought 3 different types to try, as well as some ultra fresh bean sprouts. We'll see how they do.

2 different types of shitake's and one of the cloud ear
 (black fungus is how it's labelled).

The reason we were on the other side of town was to freshen-up the funerary flowers on the family plot. We try to get by a couple of times a year. I can't believe it's been 5 years since Ed's Mom passed, talk about time flying by.. we certainly still miss her!

Finally, from my Irish roots and for my Mom & Sister, both born on this date, I'd like to wish you a 

Well, that's about it for today, thanks for stopping by and check back again soon. Appreciate you taking the time to read it. 💚

Azaleas, and our Cruiser's Potluck

 Once again it's that time of year for the big azalea bloom-out and boy, did they! The problem was that we had a spell of HOT weather shortly after they bloomed and within 2 weeks (or less) it was over; brown, spent flowers drooping then falling to litter the ground. Sad, so sad. I love seeing the bushes blanketed with the pink's, fushia's, salmon's & white's. Here's one pic of some bushes by the pool that aren't fully out yet but close.

The landscapers stop trimming the azaleas in the fall
to ensure a good bloom, that's why they look leggy.

Here's one right out front in the roadway median. There was a big uproar around here regarding a severe pruning of the common area azalea bushes. They had gotten to be 6' tall and needed to fill-out not get taller. Anyway, a severe "murdering" occurred a couple of years ago and they're looking stunning; short and stout with a ton of blooms! Good job grounds committee.

You can also see the storm security door we recently
installed which allows us to leave the front door open
for nice breezes through the house, and for
when we're sitting in our small courtyard area.

My friend Nancy is in the process of moving to a new apartment complex, so I offered her some moving boxes we had from my M-I-L's house. When she came by, we not only had a great little visit with her but she brought books! Many by my favorite mystery/thriller authors, thanks a bunch Nancy!

I generally don't keep many hardcover books, so I will 
begin whittling the pile down right away. Many are re-reads,
but I don't mind that one bit.

On the cooking front I made another beef pot pie, with Tex-Mex overtones - lots of cumin and cumin seed, california chili powder and some reconstituted dried chili's/garlic paste. So good, a big hit with the boss.

Beef pot pie with flourishes, lol.

I've also been stocking up on silk flowers (on sale) for spring/summer bouquet baskets. Surprisingly Walmart had some really gorgeous flower bunches they were selling for $1, and some full, pretty forsythia picks for $.25, I couldn't pass them up!  When I make up these baskets they go outside where they live until they are completely beat up by the brutal summer sun/heat. I toss them and make new ones using thrift store straw baskets or wreaths and silk flowers. I don't have the skill or patience for live plants anymore.

Really nice little find.

Now for the fun part. We went down to Rodman Dam to meet up with Marlene/Benno of http://marleneandbenno.blogspot.com/  fame, our long-time cruising friends formerly of m/v 'Diesel Duck' and Allayne/Dennis, our good friends from Venezuelan cruising days and formerly of s/v 'Audrey Paige'. They are from the northland and winter here in FL, visiting family in the area.

From the left clockwise; Dennis, Marlene, Benno,
Allayne, Ed and Harley chilling out nearby.

 The meetup location got mixed-up but we all ended up in a nice picnic pavilion with 2 tables, ideal for a potluck situation. Just by the river there were some folks fishing and tearing it up - catching mainly mullet, which are really good smoked. They were catching them left and right, we were jealous of all the good fishing fun. 

Perfect spot to chill out and fish from.

Just down from the dam the "fishing" birds hang out; cormorants, anhinga's, ducks and whatever.

In addition, there are always a few osprey around too.

After a few hours the heat got a little too brutal
so we hugged all around and went our separate ways.

It was a shame that Nancy couldn't make it but it's on again for next year, God willing (and the creeks don't rise).

Here are a few more shots.

Marlene with her doxies Reggie and Elsa.

Everyone except Allayne who took this great shot.
There's never any lack of conversational gambits with this bunch,
every time we see each other it's like no time has gone by at all.

It was a great day out and about and has been a fun few weeks as well.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. We love comments should you feel so inclined. 😄

Weather patterns, reading, cooking and sewing

These past few weeks haven't been much out of the ordinary, this tends to be the "nesting" season for us. Reading, reading, crafting, eating.

I've been thinking about the weather pattern lately and it's getting a chuckle (from me) but I'm hearing a *sigh* (from them, those folks who work). Beautiful and sunny, highs in the mid to high 70's Monday through Friday at which point it changes to gloomy, rainy and not so nice. By the end of the weekend it starts getting better. 

Arrgh - I remember getting so frustrated when this occurred during the time when we were working, and could only get out on the boat on weekends. Maybe we'll get a longer spell of glorious to push the dreary out to Monday or Tuesday. Don't give up workerbees! 😊

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I'm going to spend a minute off topic here to have a little show and tell about my Uncle Joe, a wonderful artist who was an oil painter, married to my father's sister, Betty, a favorite Aunt of mine. 

Aunt Betty and Uncle Joe lived in a beautiful spot in rural north central Maryland. Uncle Joe had his own studio in which he spent hours painting every little blade of grass in his historically-oriented paintings, and hand-making all his own picture frames out of old barn wood, then distressing them accordingly. I was fascinated watching him work and greatly admired him. There was a calendar company who used his artwork for their monthly pictures. 

I have a few of his paintings and I enjoy seeing them hanging on my walls. I thought I'd show you a few. The extraordinary detail is, unfortunately, only seen up close.

 "Marker's Mill near Mayberry"

"Engler's Mill - 1845"

"Mt. Lofty Homestead - 1796"

Memorial Statue of General K. Warren
on Little Round Top @Gettysburg

I didn't get to spend much time with my Aunt and Uncle nor my relatives in Maryland in general, but I always remember my Uncle's big walrus mustache and the twinkle in his eye. And my Aunt, well she was the fun Aunt. 😊

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We ate the last of the fruitcake a week ago and as I still had a half container of the candied fruit peel and plenty of pecans & raisins left, I decided to make another one - YAY. Turned out pretty and is busy getting mellowed with bourbon for the next few weeks.

In the other fun things department, I found a very cool, 3-tiered rustic plant stand which folds flat for storage during the off season. A thrifty thrift purchase for $5.99. Combine that with my overstock of silk flowers and you've got some nice decorations for the deck.

Neat bargain & 2 new floral arrangements

Found some really pretty florals out & about on the cheap.
I love how this one turned out, so cheery.

Still having fun with the trivets and the puff quilt. A couple of new trivets to show but still too far off for the quilt's photo-op.

Homage to Valentine's Day and matters of the heart. 

A bit of an Irish Triskelion flavor

When you end up buying a big sack of potatoes and are getting desperate to use them all, just make up a nice pan of scalloped potatoes. They freeze and reheat very well and make a sumptuous side for a grilled steak or chop.

If you're not familiar with the Greg Hurwitz 'Orphan X'
series you're missing out on a wild ride and a cool hero.

 Well, thanks for stopping by. Hope you are doing well wherever you are, and feel free to drop in again.

Nearly February, and Life Trucks Along

 Just thought I'd take a few minutes to write a catch-up post, although there really isn't much going on out of the ordinary. But life is what you make it, and we try to have fun any way we can, within legal boundaries of course, lol.

The weather here in North Florida has been pretty good all in all. We have our cold snaps that last a few days, and our rainy days which also usually last a day or 2 but otherwise mostly sunny and high's in the low 70's. In other words pretty darn nice. We get some nice sunrises around here, and some spectacular ones, especially during the cold snaps.

I'd relegate this to the "nice" category but even so..
very peaceful & a pretty good way to start the day.

Since we don't get that much cold weather and since we've gotten fairly lazy we decided to nix the whole wood-burning aspect of our great room fireplace and go with an inexpensive electric fireplace insert. Mainly for ambience but also for that little bit of heat when we want it. In our house, gas logs are not an option, but I have to say, for $160 @ Walmart, we're pretty happy with the results. We really got spoiled with our electric fireplace in Rocky and thought we'd try to replicate it at home.

All in all, not too shabby and after staring at a gaping black maw
for so long this is a very pleasant change. And to think, I used to
be the resident pyromaniac, fire-starter around here!

I've spent a fair amount of time in the craft room, working on my puff quilt and doing some beadwork. (Gratuitous selfie goes here).

But with the play-offs, I've been "triveting" too - (is that a word?) Hey, it's fun, they look pretty and are quite useful too.

Can you tell that blues are my favorite? You should see my closet, lol.
The bottom one is a work in progress that should be finished
by the time all the play-off are over today.

These are my remaining trivets. I keep them
stored like this so I can enjoy them.

My next door neighbor just had a 90th birthday and her daughters threw a very nice party for her which even included her daughter and grown grandson over from their home in Germany. She took a few trivets home to share with her family/friends. (Wow, they're global baby! HAHA 😁) I think everybody needs some pretty in their lives. I used to sell them when we lived onboard Dreamtime down in the Caribbean, but now I just gift them to friends. Here's a link here if you want to see more. TRIVETS.

In the kitchen, about a week or so ago I was organizing the freezer and almost threw away the frozen overripe bananas I had stashed in there (so tired of "tripping" over them, they're not exactly stackable!! grrr! 😖) but cooler heads prevailed and I instead made banana bread. So good - recipe on the Dreamtime site here just scroll down til you find it.

I do get out and thrift during a grocery run once in a while, and look what I found for $3 - a gorgeous, blue Pyrex deep dish pie pan! Well, I guess there must be a pot pie in the offing, right? 😀

What a score!! Hey, it's blue - cool!

Beef pot pie - for the first time I tried using an
egg wash and look how glossy!

Even with egg prices so high, we still have them nearly every day, and one morning while making breakfast they looked amusing - like cats-eye glasses, cross-eyed. 

Haha - couldn't resist the picture.

That's about it for this update, but I have more on tap, so check back in a while. If you feel so inclined leave a comment - I love hearing from y'all. Have a great day!
 

Food, Fabric Fun and Football

 It's been a busy few weeks around here. Lots of food fixing & freezing, plus a renewed interest in creating a few trivets. When we are watching football I like to keep my hands busy, and making trivets is akin to knitting in that way.

Football is ramping up with post-season games and miraculously the Jags not only won their division but won the Wild Card game against the Chargers! Go Jags!! 

Photo coutesy o Club Continental in Orange Park, FL

In the food department I've been having fun with Boston butt roasts, on sale, and very freezable. I usually take the pan drippings, stir in a 1/3 C or so of water, then freeze that in an ice cube tray. When reheating, drop a couple of the cubes in the covered pot with the pork and warm it up slowly. Keeps the meat very moist, gives you the prospect of gravy should you want it, and is super flavorful.

5.5 lbs and has a nice bit of "bark". I roast @ 450°
for 15 minutes, then drop the temp to 275° for the
remainder of the cooktime.

Another cooking project was a different kind of stuffed pepper. Walmart had these large, beautiful, 4-lobed bell peppers on sale, perfect for stuffing. I couldn't resist. Normally, I use ground beef, black beans, rice, cilantro and tex/mex spices. This time I had some ground turkey I had stocked up on (on sale @ Aldi), and I decided to make more of a turkey alfredo style pepper using sautéed mushrooms, cubed zucchini and onions, plus brown rice and alfredo sauce as the binder. Topped them with shredded parm and buttered panko bread crumbs. Wow, they turned out really good (I was kind of surprised since I was just winging it).

Baked @325° for 30 minutes, then under the broiler briefly
to brown the bread crumbs. Tasty, and 2 pairs to freeze.

One of the projects that I had really been putting off was re-organizing the upstairs linen closet/medicine cabinet. When you have a health plan that gives you a quarterly stipend for OTC drugs and supplies, you use it. Hence extras of bandaids, pain relievers, first aid creams and the like. It had been piling up and needed to be organized in the worst kind of way. Took me most of one morning. Here's the after shot, forgot to take a before (kind of glad about that, lol).

So much better now, but can we keep it that way

I went thrifting the other day and scored a nice, adjustable rolling tray table. It's perfect for my various craft projects and I can roll it aside when not working on it. That leaves my larger work table in the craft room open for bigger projects.

Rolling tray table has my newest trivet on it.

And speaking of trivets, here's a collage that shows the 3 trivets I sent over to our daughter's house, and the 2 newest ones. It's fun again, for which I'm grateful.

And last but not least, we had our 48th anniversary last week and celebrated with a wonderful steak dinner and some decadent desserts. FYI - If you have an Aldi near you, check to see if they have these there. Kind of spendy but worth it for a special occasion Absolutely fantastic!! 😊

The Lava cakes are imported from France and
the chocolate mouse cups from Belgium.

I think that about wraps it up for this post, thanks for stopping by.

Another Christmas means another year has gone by.

Throughout each year there are milestones; birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries and special days of various sorts, but when we get into the Christmas festivities, I start thinking about the year as pretty much being a "wrap". Soon, I'll start having to write '23 on the items that go into the freezer, and on the notes I jot down in the cards and packages I snail-mail out.  

I remember when I was a kid that it always seemed like a momentous thing - changing years 😮- and having to get used to writing the new year on schoolwork. Even in my twenties, it was a bit of a struggle using the correct year when handwriting checks to pay bills, and when writing letters to send to friends far and wide. Now, each year seems to fly by so fast it's like "what's the big deal?" I'm thankful that my life is such that starting a new year holds no trepidation for me. I know that for many, a new year means new worries; will I get laid-off, will the bills get paid and on and on. Life comes with no guarantees; just wishes, hopes and prayers. And on that note, I wish, hope and pray that you and yours have a safe, healthy, fulfilling New Year. I hope it's 'a cut above' what's come before.

Speaking of a cut above, that's the name of a show I streamed the other day while working on my sewing project. It's a competition for chainsaw carvers and boy is it cool to watch them go at it. It was addictive. I snapped a pic of 4 of the best carver's work during one episode. These people do amazing work in 7 or 8 hours. Check it out for fun. I'm streaming it via Xfinity on the Discovery network.

Courtesy of Xfinity/Discovery - I hope they don't mind.

My sewing project, a Puff Quilt, is a fun challenge. I've never quilted before and although I've worked on really large projects like the sailboat dodger this quilt has a lot of small pieces. Here's the dodger: (If you wanted to see other sewing projects, click this LINK).

The windshield section was over 16' long.

Shown stretched-out after attaching the side
triangle pieces to the center top section. Whew.

Anyway, the quilt project idea came from a post on someone's instagram page. I thought about how much beautiful fabric I had hanging around after tiring of making my trivets. Remember my trivets? I used to sew them while onboard Dreamtime. Here's a refresher pic, and if you want to see some of the completed trivets follow this LINK.

My Trivet "how-to" instructional pic.

So I did a "proof of concept" project for my sister, a cute & colorful little lounging pillow. I loved the way it came out and decided to dive into a small lap/nap quilt for myself. 250 or so square "pockets" later, I started trying to figure out my layout to determine whether I needed more of one color or another.

The colors will feature dark purples/reds and blues/greens
with a swath of lighter yellows/pinks coming in from the side.

While not pursuing this project, (it's going to take a while, lol), I made time to gen-up a big batch of french toast for the freezer. Also some lemon cookies with candied ginger and slivered almonds.

Just butter it up straight from the freezer and
nuke it for 30-60 seconds on high, yum & easy.

The candied ginger and almonds take this cookie to 
new heights. They're made from a cake mix! YAY!

Oh, I also made the pumpkin loafs we liked so much, one plain, and 2 smaller ones with raisins and pecans. My wonderful neighbors shared it with us.

Made from a Libby's Mix - so fantastically spiced.

We cheated with Christmas dinner and reheated leftovers from our big blowout Thanksgiving dinner. 'Sacre bleu'. I had vacuum sealed sliced turkey, baked dressing balls, and turkey gravy cubes (made in my handy-dandy 2" silicone ice cube trays). All I had to do was make rice, steam the asparagus and get the cranberry sauce ready. 

It all tasted fantastic and we enjoyed every bite, we even have enough for another round in a day or two. Note: most often, if I'm planning on vacuum sealing and freezing something tender like dressing, I'll put it on a piece of parchment paper and a plate and run it into the freezer to freeze. Then I take it out and vacuum seal it. Nothing gets squished or deformed that way.

We warmed up the Florida Room enough to eat out there.
Our temps on Christmas started out at 26° and didn't
get much warmer, but the skies were very blue and it was sunny.

Well, that's about it for this post, thanks for stopping by to read it. Hope your holidays were wonderful. See you next time.