Are you celebrating this holiday weekend?

I went to Walmart yesterday and got myself some "treats" along with groceries.  It was packed in there yesterday.  Evidently some people took Friday off or everyone had the same idea as me to get shopping done before the weekend.  Anyway, remember how I say that I get to eat anything I want on holidays?  Well, I got chips and some great artichoke dip made with yogurt...very good, I already tried it.  They had my Heavy Melon beer I enjoy, I got some blue tortilla chips and salsa and a cantaloupe...first of the season for me.  I love melons!  I usually eat pretty healthy anyway.

 Today I peeled and cut up the melon  and put it in a container in the frig so it will be ready for breakfast tomorrow morning along with my Pillsbury orange cinnamon rolls I'll make.
I had extra "stuffing" left from those terrible "cabbage burgers" so I decided to make them into tacos! The cabbage will replace the lettuce and I added the taco seasoning and I have the shells crisping in the oven.  We'll see how it tastes.  It's got to be better than the "cabbage burgers".

I forgot to show you a picture of my needles yesterday............

I also got these at Walmart...........

Aren't they pretty?

I finally got some stuffing for the giraffe..........

Organic cereal!  At Walmart no less!!!!!

And this magazine............I haven't bought a magazine in several years now but this one was a premier issue of a new magazine by Taste of Home publishers so......it was my 4th of July celebration present to myself! LOL!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend and treating yourself like you deserve to be treated!
Happy Trails!
P.S. Remember...tomorrow is the first Week of Year of Projects 2016-2017!  The first week we reveal our plans and projects for the coming year...so exciting!

I waited and waited and today was the day!

My treasures arrived from the U.K.!  Royal Mail no less!  Before I forget, I want to wish all my Canadian friends Happy Canada Day!!!!!!  Yay!!!!!  I love you guys, your country, and your fine looking and liberal thinking Prime Minister and his family.  Could you clone him and send him here?  Anyway, I hope you have a great day and weekend and just keep celebrating with us on Monday! LOL!
Okay, now for the treasures........my supplies so that I can get off to a rip-roaring start on Year of Progress 2016-2017 which starts this Sunday.  If you want to join in please do!  Here's the link
If you don't have a logon id you can set one up for free and then once you have your id just click on the link again and it will take you to the YOP page.  It is so fun and we do it all; knitting, crocheting, sewing...you name it!  So please come join us.
Okay, now really, here are my treasures.............I know it's a bit early but here is my Christmas sock yarn.  Little Bobbins podcast has a Christmas Eve cast on for socks every year and this year I am joining in!  I saw this yarn and thought it was perfect so these will be my Christmas Eve cast on socks. The yarn is by West Yorkshire Spinners and I have heard many good things about this yarn.  Everything you see today I purchased at Deramores in the U.K. and I qualified for free shipping!

 I also purchased this yarn for my Sandra Paul socks but I cast them on with my Kristen Nicholas self-striping.....but...........I may cast on with this yarn as Sandra's pattern (Cherry Heart is her blog and she is also on Ravelry) has a pattern and it is not going to show up very well on the self-stripping.  This yarn looked a little heathered but we'll see as now that I have it in my hands it is not as "heathered" as I thought.  But the pattern will definitely show on this yarn for sure!

 

In addition, I got this sock yarn for my Summer socks as it reminded me of watermelon. 

 These yarns are Stylecraft Special DK in the first colors of a giant granny square that I want to do and also some cream colored yarn to finish my Maybelle blanket.

 And last but not least more needles! I have wanted to try some Karbonz needles for awhile now and so I ordered them for sock knitting and I ordered a set of dpn's and also circulars in a 40" cable.  My dpn's are a size 2 U.S. as I evidently knit tightly and the size 1 was to small a gauge for my socks.
What a wonderful treasure trove of knitting delight right before the holiday weekend!  Guess what I'll be doing?  Along with cleaning for company and working on birthday gifts for others! LOL!
What are your plans for the holiday weekend?
Happy Trails! 

 

Working along on birthday presents.............

My daughter said she would not look at my blog until after the birthdays and their visit so I am free to share with you...........it looks like a deflated balloon right now but actually it is Grayson's giraffe I'm making for him.  I need to go buy some stuffing as I am out.  I made Sam one last year in blue with navy blue and Grayson's will be yellow with orange. 

I think you might have seen some of these squares before but my daughter had no idea they were for her.  She is an art teacher and one of her favorite artists is Frieda Kahlo.  In fact, during college she went for a 6 week school art session to Mexico and visited Frieda's house.  These squares need blocking for sure but they are large...almost 12" square.  It is called Frieda's basket and it will be a basket.  I am on the 4th square and then I need to block them and assemble.

This last square i goofed on and need to take back to the black...I  missed a row or 2.....oh, boy!
There is a fabric I saw that has Frieda Kahlo on it that I want to get to line it.  I hope it turns out.
I also goofed last week on my sock.........I was on the heel when I noticed the pattern wasn't right so....you guessed it.....I had to start over.....me and knitting!  But rather something for me than a gift for someone if I'm going to mess up.

This is another kristen Nicholas self-striping sock yarn..........love!
I finished Black Coffee audio, an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot mystery and it was really good.  I started listening to this one today.......it's good but they talk fast with a thick English accent which is hard for me to assimilate that quickly.  Maybe I'll get used to it.  I hope so otherwise I will miss out on the story line and the jokes.

This bird was out on my neighbors fence today and I have no idea what it is..do any of you know?

It was like a rusty red color with a long curved beak and I think there was some black on the wings and a spot of white.
That's all for today.  I hope you had a great one!  Happy Trails!

Best Spinach Quiche evah!

I've made some bad recipes lately!  No more Pinterest recipes!  Thay make it sound so good but most just aren't.  I made these cabbage burgers which the gal said her grandmother used to make and they were wonderful.  Really?  Do they not have taste buds?  This was so BLAH I ended up with more salt and some worchestershire sauce just to give it some taste!  I dirtied every pot and pan in my kitchen too and the work?  Holy cow, it took all afternoon!  So if you see a recipe for "cabbage burgers" pass it by for sure!

There were a few others these past few weeks which I won't go into but now I'm going to give you a real WINNER!  This recipe for spinach quiche is the best I've ever had and I've tried several over the years.  It is easy and not even any chopping to do.  Absolutely delish!

It is Green Chile Spinach Quiche from All Recipes  
It is the first one on the left 5 stars by Nica36, I think.  The recipe makes 2 pies so I only made one but it was so good I ate 1/4 of it last night!  I will be making 2 pies from now on! LOL!  I have used All Recipes website for years and I should have never "strayed".  They are the best!  I'm off to heat up another BIG slice for supper tonight.....

 Happy Trails and Happy Meals! (Not the McDonalds type either!  LOL!)

Tidbit Tuesday

I have a bunch of miscellaneous items to share that never seem to make their way into a full blog post so here they are..........some interesting websites I discovered ........
Kathy Schmitz
who has such pretty embroidery patterns
Boys and Bunting
has some darling crochet from the U.K.
www.CraftyQueens.nl
a great crochet blog from the Netherlands
Joybilee Farm
celebrating a natural handmade life
Free Pretty Things For You
Just what it says!  Lots of printables and papers....so pretty!
Ginger Schatz
She doesn't blog regularly but she has some great crochet projects if you scroll back through her posts
Coco Rose Textiles 
another blogger who no longer posts but her archives are awesome for crochet
Handy Crafter
Okay, more crochet....I guess I'll quit for now

I ordered the grands birthday gifts today....part of them.  I ordered subscriptions to Ranger Rick magazine for Uriah and Sam and Ranger Rick Jr. for Grayson.  These magazines are put out by the National Wildlife Federation and are wonderful publications for children to learn about wildlife and nature.  My Mother subscribed to Ranger Rick for my children when they were little and they remember those magazines with great fondness and I have to say, all my children grew up to be nature and outdoor enthusiasts.  So, today, I continued the tradition.  I'm sure my Mother is smiling.

What?  A blog post with no pictures?  I guess there's a first time for everything!
Happy Trails!  

It's Monday...what are you reading or watching or listening to?

I finished this book...do you remember when it was all over the bestseller lists?  I think I'm past the stage where transformational literature has an affect on me.  I'm not saying I can't learn but at my age I figure if I haven't learned life's lessons there's not much hope for me. 

 I decided I'm going to read library books too.  Simply because I go in and pick up books I wouldn't necessarily read if I had to pay money for them.  It allows me to step out of my reading "box" and do a little exploring.  I have read this author years ago and he was very good and so far I am enjoying this book.  It is like confirmation of my own personal beliefs that have been with me all along.

The other library book I got was a book I spotted that Diane over at Lavender Dreams 
had recommended to me a while ago.  It started slow but after the first chapter I got into it and I am really enjoying it!

 My current fiction is this old book...........I was watching The Bakery Bears podcast and Kay was talking about her favorite book of all time...........I knew I had it somewhere but had never read it and I found it!  This was a popular series several years back.  Probably while I was going to school, raising 4 children and/or reading stacks of technical manuals for work.  There were years in there when I really had no time for "reading for pleasure" so I am now reading all those books that were bestsellers "back when"! LOL!  So far so good...........there are quite a few books in the series too but I only have the first one....we'll see.

I'm almost done listening to this audio book and it is really good...you can't beat Agatha Christie and the reader for this one is very good.  I'm on the last of the 4 tapes.

Still reading this magazine...........hopefully I will finish it this week.......

and my non-fiction..........not so interesting as I think she assumes you have knit a lot of sweaters.......I have never knit a sweater........ the title is deceiving but she is very famous and is now passed on and her knitting books are considered classics.  Maybe some day it will make more sense to me but right now.....not so much.  I should finish it up this week too and then what?  Oh, the possibilities!

Happy Trails!

YOP Roundup Week #52

 July 2015 - Finished quilt for my grandson Uriah's birthday

, 52 hats to the University of Iowa NICU, started my Hudson Bay sock, Miss Peeps taking up a lot of "project time"....she was a project all by herself!

 Organized fabrics............

 Uriah and his quilt.............

 Giraffe for grandson Sam's birthday

August 2015............this is the month of shame as everything you see here is STILL a WIP (work in progress!)

September 2015............again...lots of WIP's

  but there was a lot of organizing which I was hoping would help me...........

 but what it did was "unearth projects I wanted to make and hadn't started! LOL!

1 FO but still needs to be framed or mounted...........punch needle.............actually "unearthed" this one when organizing.............

October 2015............. more blanket squares but still a WIP

but look at these....some FO's???  Coffee or tea coasters

2015 Annual Collectible Halloween ornaments.............

and a set of washcloths......gifts.....

November 2015............working on still secret project...............

 more washcloths.........

 more blanket squares

 fingerless mitts for my son, Benjamin, finished for his birthday in January not sure I got a finished picture but maybe.........?

2 of these got finished for Christmas for Grayson and a blue one for Sam but  not sure I ever got pictures of them finished..Christmas time can be hectic!

coasters for Ben for Christmas........

Cowl for Amy for Christmas...............finished by Christmas.....

December 2015.................the month of FO's............

and a blue one just like it............GRayson's is the green and Sam got a blue one

This is for Uriah....the shark lover................... a crocheted zippered pencil case (filled with colored markers, of course)

finished the coasters for Ben.........

and the cowl for Amy...............

January 2016...............

Back to fingerless mitts for Ben whose birthday is in January.........

 and a larger Hawkeye hat for my SIL who also has a January birthday........

Plus, there is still work going on with a secret gift.............you won't see that until next August probably.......
February 2016.........starting some house blocks (quilting)...color planning stage

actually sewing!

 block pattern but I am not making a quilt....only 3 houses..........

Found my children's clothing quilt top from when they were little.......I need to quilt it up!

more projects will be comin gout of this book............

more patterns that I need to utilize...........

old WIP that needs finishing..........worked on it some

Finished the fingerless mitts for Ben

the Hawkeye hat for my SIL is still a WIP..........

another WIP (secret project)

a doll for me.............

the middle one...........by Susan B. Anderson

March 2016...........

Worked on cross stitch........

old WIP

 secret project winding down.............I see a FO in my future!

 more washcloths...................

 a small blanket..............

 a BIG blanket...need yarns first...............

 painted roses pillow squares..............

 I really need to sew for myself..............

 more cloths.............I designed these myself...............

April 2016..................all 6 painted roses crocheted for pillow.........

first set of 3 self designed washcloths done........

Happy Hooky pillow all crocheted..............

working on 2nd sock...Kristin Nicholas for Regia self-striping yarn

Start of a new little blankie...........

a gift project ......secret............

Japanese knot bag for socks..............

May 2016.............

finished socks............

pillow finished, blocked and sewn together.....need pillow form

Maybelle flowers for small blanket...........

2nd sock for Hudson Bay socks............

June 2016..............
Prepping for YOP 2016-17

Finished Hudson Bay socks.....

and of course I had to cast on another pair!

That's my year in review and it was not a very organized or committed one and I apologize.  This coming year will be better....did I say that last year?
Happy Trails!