It's here!!! Finally, Fall is here!

 This is what it looks like here today except our trees haven't changed color that much yet.  It's a very cozy day and it's only 62 F!  Yippee!!!

I have been doing some decorating............

The pink lights of Summer have been replaced by orange and the fireplace is all set to be lit....maybe tonight? 

If I remember correctly this came off the stovepipe in my kitchen on the farm......F  for Farm and Fall

The 2 gourds are dried by me years ago....I used to grow gourds in my garden.....the big one is an 'apple' gourd.....

I've had this little triptych for years...I think I got it at a college art auction my daughter was helping with....I still love it..........

My Dollar store scarecrow and my pumpkin warmer that is filled with those scent beads in the apple fragrance.....those beads are so nice compared to the wax melties....no muss and no fuss!

I have a thing for fiber optics and I love this scarecrow who turns different colors..........he's been around for awhile too..............

It wouldn't be Autumn without Susan Branch and her wonderful illustrations and recipes.....I'll be looking at this tonight for some Fall inspiration..........

I added one new item this year so far...........I was at the dollar store and they had these 2 pumpkin doilies for $1 for 2...........I couldn't resist!  BTW....they're on a bench/table in front of my armchairs but it looks like it's on the floor....lol!

I will be posting more as I am missing some items like my big pumpkin candle, my hand crocheted gourds and leaves banner.  I keep some things back for Halloween so those will come out later.
I'm having a great day decorating and listening to the Iowa State game and now I am off to  make my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season and do some handwork.  I hope you are enjoying your first day of Fall!
Happy Trails!!!

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall!!! Are you ready?

I dragged up my Fall decorations (not Halloween....that's a whole separate decorating adventure) from the basement for tomorrow's festivities.....I have my Pumpkin Spice Latte ingredients all set and candles for the celebration...........

There will be more pictures tomorrow!  The rains are coming...thunderstorms and flash flood warnings in some parts but I'll stay in and have a cozy time of it.....perfect Hygge weather and then the AC will go off after the cold front comes through and hopefully we can say good riddance to Summer 2018!
I went to the library hunting down books for some of  the series I'm reading and made lists in a notebook of what I've read and all the books in each series in order...am I anal or what? LOL!
But I do lose track.  I got one book for one series and then a few others that looked interesting......
this is the next one in the Agatha Raisin series by M.C.Beaton.....love these books! They're light hearted mysteries.

  and then I saw this one that looked interesting............

This was a new one and I'm not sure I can or should read it but I must prepare myself for the eventuality of my girls future and mine too!

This was also a new book and it might help with my landscaping issues..........I can only pray it does!

I made a nice comfort meal for myself for the next several days.......meatballs and spaetzle.....an old favorite of mine............I should have taken a picture of the recipe card but I forgot....I'll do that tomorrow or else copy it right onto the blog post...........it's a long recipe and it takes awhile to make but it is so good!
The meatballs could be made ahead of time and they are good with spaghetti and sauce too.......

The spaetzle gave me fits this time.....I must have used a different collander as it would not go through the holes or else I had a pan that would hold the collander above the water...anyway I ended up scooping a bit of the batter on a whisk and stirring it into the boiling water.....much easier and not so messy......it's like homemade noodles.  I would say that the whole dish is like a poor man's beef stroganoff but it does have caraway seed which gives it a distinct flavor that I happen to love.

I also made some gingersnap cookies...these are all Fall favorites of mine...........

In addition earlier in the week I made a Marguerite pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and my fresh basil.............it didn't last long at all!

I am onto the gusset of my toe up sock (1 of 2)....Sockmatician's instructions (which are free if I remember) are the best!  His video of Judy's Magic Cast On is also the best.....he's a great teacher whether written with pictures or video....I highly recommend!

That's all for now folks!  So excited and grateful for all my blessings of my girls, great food, great books and handwork for my hands and my blogging friends of course!  I hope you have a cozy evening and a Hygge weekend doing what makes you most grateful and joyful.
Happy Trails!!!

Thifty Tuesday

 Yes, Fall is coming and it is arriving this coming Saturday!  We're supposed to get rain Thursday and Friday here in the Ozarks with a cold front dropping the temps into the 70's as opposed to the 90's.  So excited!  I can't wait!
Aside from that great news, I have been trying to be aware of waste and trying to re-purpose and reuse when appropriate.  For example, I had 1/2 of a lemon left from a recipe and usually I put it in a container and find it weeks later covered in mold...wasted!  So, this time I took the 1/2 lemon and made myself some homemade 7-Up!  I had accidentally bought some little bottles of what I thought were water but ended up to be club soda.  I  squeezed out the lemon juice added some sugar, the club soda and ice and Voila!  7-Up!  Maybe not exactly but it was tasty and that 1/2 lemon did not go to waste this time!

 I also do the same with egg yolks or whites when I have a recipe that calls for one or the other but not both.  This time I had whites left over.  Not enough for meringue but I made scrambled eggs the next  morning and threw the whites in and whisked them in with a few whole eggs.....light and fluffy and they did not go to waste like they usually would.
The next item you've heard me mention...mending my fitted sheet.  Well, I kept putting it off because I really didn't know how to do it.  I had looked on You Tube but they took the old elastic out of the casing.  I tried but it was so old and 'baked' onto the sheet itself that I put it up for several weeks. But I needed that sheet so today was the day!  I decided to sew the elastic on top of the casing and having never worked with elastic (except 40 years + ago when I made clothes for my kids) I figured I must have to stretch it and use a zigzag stitch..that much I knew.  So, my bobbin ran out, the light bulbs in my kitchen light had to be replaced and I threaded the machine wrong but after I got that all straightened out I dove in...........and it worked!  Now next time, I think I would get a heavier duty elastic but considering I used what I had I was super pleased!  I only did the corners and then I had 2 strips about 12 inches long each left over so I sewed some on the long sides of the sheet too.  Woo Hoo!  These sheets were all stretched out but there was nothing else wrong with them so that saved some serious money....have you priced sheets lately?

    That's all for my Thrifty Tuesday.  The next picture is for my daughter...she wanted to see my Falling Leaves scarf.........here it is Amy....well, half of it anyway.  I'm working on the 2nd half and then you sew them together with a Kitchener Stitch.  Meanwhile it is hanging out on waste yarn...the red.

 Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #12

I spoke too soon last week....it's been in the high 80's and low 90's...go away summer!  I am forging ahead with Fall and Halloween plans regardless.  I've spent a lot of time on the Internet this week!  And I updated my Ravelry Projects page...finally.
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Here are my goals from last week:

1)  Merry Monday XS - We have a FINISH!  Unless you count the finishing into an ornament which to me is a whole other project! LOL!  I will wait until I have all the ornaments done for this year before I 'finish' them.  I have the next ornament pattern and it is a wreath with the Chicago Cub's insignia and that is for Uriah. It will be 'kitted up' this week and hopefully started. I need to find an Iowa Haweye pattern for Sam.  The one below is Seven Pines (all information is on my Ravelry project page) and is for Grayson for his 2018 Christmas ornament.  He loves the color pink so when I saw the pink in it I knew it was for him!

2)  continue working on toe-up socks - I did a bit on these but I have a really sore finger...........Miss Peeps got the fatty part of my index finger which I use a lot when I knit....like a finger prick at the lab!  She could get a job there!  Anyway, she didn't mean it....she was going after a plastic bag I had in my hand.....so I didn't knit much this week.

   3)  Start the second half of the Falling Leaves scarf (20 rows of 80) - I did start the 2nd half of the scarf but had to refresh my memory on the knitted cast on and have only gotten about 3 rows done.....you've seen it enough! LOL!
4)  Cut material for next pickle dish - Yes...finally I cleared off my cutting mat and got these cut out to work on in the evenings..........

Here's a closer photo of the fabrics.......the light one will be the center and then the flowered and then the dark red........

 5) work on Witchy Wednesday x-stitch - a slow boat to China this one.............

6) work on Fall Friday x-stitch - this one is lovely to work on...........I finished the pumpkin, did a few leaves and some more of the vines...

7) work on Stars and Stripes Saturday x-stitch - I'm done with the main design and now I just have to finish the border...........

8) work on Santa Sunday x-stitch - I finished the sky and now have about 1/3 left of the skating pond...those boots will look like skates when I finish....hopefully! LOL!

9) work on hexies for Pickle Dish block #3 - these will get worked on this week...maybe even tonight.  They're a great t.v. watching project.
10) surprise project even to me! -  It's still a surprise but here's what's on the 'back burner'......... I'm trying to focus and finish..last year my word was 'focus' and this year it is 'finish'.
The Pumpkin MAL started yesterday and I still don't have a project but it may be this..........love!!!

 Then I want to make a Halloween project bag for myself........with this...........and some coordinating fabrics.........and then there's Halloween progress keepers....oh my!  I love retro and/or vintage designs because, to be honest, that was what was "in" when I was little....lol!

I also found this in my stash that will be used for something Halloweenie.........

 I want to make those hats like Becki showed last week for the grands and then some flannel pajama bottoms for them and maybe pillowcases?  My head is swimming with ideas for the holidays!  But I have outside painting and lawn work to do once it cools off a bit so we'll see how far my 'big ideas' get. I did finally trim my Sampler quilt and have the binding material ready to cut..........
I can't tell you how many years this has been sitting around! 

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Here are my YOP goals for this coming week:
1)  Merry Monday XS- kit up and start work on Cub's Christmas Wreath
2)  continue working on toe -up socks  
3)  Start the second half of the Falling Leaves scarf (20 rows of 80)
4) work on Witchy Wednesday x-stitch
5) work on Fall Friday x-stitch
6) work on Stars and Stripes Saturday x-stitch
7) work on Santa Sunday x-stitch
8) work on hexies for Pickle Dish block #3
9) Pumpkin MAL - choose and kit up
10) cut binding for sampler quilt

That should do it for this week folks!  I hope you had a wonderful week and enjoyed working on your projects.  Please stop by and see all the other fantastic projects that other  YOP'ers are working on.
Happy Trails!!!