The Weekend Ramblings

On Friday night, Leon went night cat-fishing with Meri and Josh.  I set an alarm and picked him up at 1am so he could get a little sleep before Saturday's adventures.

He caught a big one and then released it.  and according to him, he had his first kiss that evening.  He kissed the fish on the lips!  ew.

On Saturday, Ryan, Leon and myself headed to Mason City to attend an Art festival with Maddy.  Had so much fun!  And bought a lot of artsy stickers.  

All of mine are on Aggie's Barbie Jeep right now.  She placed them.

Since Mason City is the home of the marionette maker that did the marionettes in the movie, The Sound Of Music as well as lots of other memorable events, there is a big display of marionettes there.  Leon tried out his hand at one.

Maddy and me

On Sunday, after church, I stopped by Sam's Club and took a lot of pictures of the antique cars that they had out on display in the parking lot.  I sent them to my brother-in-law, as I'd promised.  He's into that sort of thing!   I just want a car that runs, I'm not picky.

They had some doozies out there!  I could be tempted to drive some of them.  I mean, if it follows my criteria of having to be able to run.

On Saturday, I realized that my cheesemaking endeavor was not quite right.  So I turned the settings on my garage fridge down to the lowest setting, which is 47 degrees, by the way.  And I put in thermometers and humidity sensors.  I can access one of them with an app on my phone.  Cool.

So anyway, THAT is now my cheese cave and it's cheesing up nicely.  I sealed them with my vacuum sealer yesterday, but air is oozing into them...  Not sure what I'm going to do.  I might spring for the cheese wax after all.

While at Sam's Club, I also noticed that their pork butt sells for $1.98 per pound every day!  I've been waiting for Fareway's to go on sale, but if it's always this price at Sam's, I'll just do that.  As soon as I got home yesterday, I put it in the Instant Pot for 90 minutes with some seasoning and a bit of maple syrup.  Then when it got done, the meat just fell off, so I canned it up in 5 pint jars and the remainder of the broth (with the fat sucked out) with some beans for quick starts to a meal for me.

OH, I finally finished the Mickey Mouse dress for Aggie that I made from a thrifted t-shirt!

It turned out SO stinking cute!

And she refuses to try it on.  The story of my life.

That's exactly what she did for the dress I made her last week.

And since Mickey's a licensed character, I can't put it in the fair. sigh.

This morning, I canned up some sun tea I had out on the deck yesterday.  I made a simple sugar syrup for it and they're sitting on the counter now cooling down and sealing.  Leon likes sweet tea!  If I can get him hooked on this instead of pop, I'll be happy to make them for him!

I might look into making some with a no-sugar variety for me.  We'll see what happens.

My new riding lawn mower just arrived today!  It's still in a crate out in front of the garage.  I'll have Leon break it all down in a while and we can gas it up and try it out.  It's a beautiful cherry red!

Anyway, talk at you later!

Italiano, Cheese & Sewing

Have you heard of a cheese cave?  This is what I think of typically.

A nice stockpile of cheeses waiting to age and cut into.

The one below is mine.

This is my second attempt at making cheese and PLEASE don't say Third time is a charm because I don't want to waste anymore milk!  I skimped on the last hour of heating the curds the last time and it showed, literally.  Mold started growing within a week and not the good kind.  I had kept it too moist.

THIS time I followed the directions to a T and it took about 5 hours, not including the 2-3 hours of letting the milk sit on the counter to get to room temp.  And not including the cheese press process of 12-15 hours.  And the green pan above is actually for growing microgreens but just perfect for this.

Also, with my little cheese press, it was awkward to put a 10 pound weight on top, I'm using some dumb-bells and they kept sliding off the rounded upside down metal pan I had on top.  So I devised a way to put the press inside the big metal bowl with towels around it to keep it steady.  Then a stone pizza pan and THEN the 10 pound dumb-bell on top.  That worked great!  and the sudden slamming of the dumb bell sliding off onto the table stopped.  It had to sit like that for 12 hours!

So this is my cheese cave!  In a few days after it's not weepy anymore, I'm going to seal it up in a vacuum seal bag and store it back in this "cave" for a few months.  In the meanwhile, I'll probably try some more, but only if this is looking good.  Online, some people paint the cheese wheel with wax but others swear by the vacuum seal bags.  Hey!  "I" have vacuum seal bags!  So that's what I'm doing.

I got back into sewing, as I mentioned earlier.  I made Aggie a dress that she hates so I COULD have entered it into the fair, but did a short cut on a few areas of it so it's not quite fair quality. 

Eh - live and learn.  It should have been pink.  

Or yellow as she'd requested when she saw the fabric I'd already cut out.

Hey Aggie, do you like this dress that I'm making for you?

I like yellow.

sigh.

I repurposed a t-shirt that I'd thrifted that sports Mickey on it!  She loves Mickey Mouse!

And cut it out the other day.  I was hoping to get back to it yesterday but the cheese took so long and I had my Italian conversation table to get to so it just didn't happen.

The Italian table last night was so fun!  There were only 4 of us there so the conversation didn't flow past so quickly that I couldn't get a word in.  We took turns reading Italian song lyrics out loud and translated them.  Some of the phrases were funny.  Caldo come il pane.  Hot as bread. as in, you're as hot as bread.  lol!

Those Italians!  Bread is EVERYTHING!

Back to sewing, this is the dress I'm making with the Mickey Mouse t-shirt, in her size.

Maybe I can get more done on it tonight!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sew not eating the seeds

 No tenants yet!  Can you believe it?

This is exactly how I left it yesterday.  I took this pic yesterday afternoon and every single seed is in the exact same spot today.

I did notice a wasp nest in the tippy top of the outside roof corner above my window, so if I am able to get some work outside done tomorrow, that might be whacked and I'll need to reset my seed benchmark.

So much I want to do outside!!!

Over lunch I opened the front door thinking, maybe just sit on the porch for a few minutes.

Well, the wind just whistled shrilly at me and seemed chill before I even pushed the door open,

so NOPE!

I cut out a t-shirt for myself last night and messed with the serger a bunch to make the little air loops go away.  No good.  This is as good as it gets.

sigh.  NOT fair quality.  I might have to go find my manual and see what settings needs to change.  I'm sure it's a tension thing or maybe one of the levers on the side.  

Anyone have a Brother Lock 1034D serger?

Eh - it doesn't HAVE to go to the fair.  I might just sew it up anyway.  I've worn clothes with wonky serging before.  It holds.  You'd only notice if you turn it inside out.

UPDATE!  I figured it out.  This little thingy on the side was the culprit!

Much Better!  not perfect, but hey.  I didn't claim I was.

Anyway, it's Taco Tuesday!  I've got about a half pound of leftover taco meat in the freezer from last week for Leon. He is a slave to routine.  But I'm making my sister-in-law's Chicken Tortilla Soup for supper for whomever is here.  Jen and Aggs are out town.  Might just be me and Ryan eating it.

And that's ok.

Have a beautiful day!

Weekend Wrap-up

We celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday on Saturday. 85 years old!!  It was great seeing everyone and meeting a new grand-nephew as well as an older grand-nephew that I somehow hadn't met yet.

Then on Sunday, I found a substitute Sunday School teacher and went with Maddy and Matthew to Minnesota.  They still had two yarn shops in the annual yarn hop to hit and then their mission was complete!!  I think Maddy had hit her limit that Friday when they'd gone but Matthew found lots of Cashmere/Merino wool blend fibers for his spinning hobby.  Don't you love Maddy's sweater?  She knitted it and used Matthew's spun yarn for the patterned part.

And then, they were so gracious (and patient with me) to stop at the Burnsville SR Harris so I could browse a bit!  

I found a few great pieces for 50% off and also a doll pattern kit for Aggie in the $2 bin. 

 I got it cut out last night.

BEFORE she came upstairs wanting to watch BEAST with me at my desk/sewing table.

Comfy, ain't she?!

Looking forward to taco night and a little light sewing today!

Sewing and Mullets

 I was in the Dollar Tree on Sunday and came across these!!!  My sister-in-law uses these to make darling bags and I made 3 myself for Christmas gifts.  The pics are below.

They didn't have them when I needed them, or I was looking in entirely the wrong place, but you repurpose the zippers from them to make bags with the drying mats from the kitchen department!  I just used zippers that I had in my stash.

Here's the video if you want to make them yourself!  VIDEO

Maddy's

Meri's - Meri was with me so she got first pick of dryer mats.

Then a few weeks ago, the girls and I went thrifting and I found a men's coat for $1!  I needed something halfway professional for my business trip this week so I bought it.  I looked like a football player in it until I altered the shoulders.  I brought it in an inch or two on each shoulder and it fits so much better now.

I've been agonizing over what to wear for the business stuff and think I've got a good selection of outfits.  Oh well.  It is what it is.

Anyway, I'm heading out on the road in a couple hours and will try to remember to post on Friday.  My sister has a Taco Tuesday night planned and I'll also get to meet up with another sister tomorrow night!  

So business during the day, party at night!  A regular "mullet" kind of week!

Have a good one!

SOME of the Stuff I made in 2023

Proof that Aggie liked to climb under the tree and sit WAY back on the window sill.

And the huge push to get the quilts made out of Robb's shirts commenced on 11/23/24.  I had been cutting, squaring, fusing with interfacing, tons before that.  Cutting up t-shirts have become 2nd nature to me now. I'm sure I'll do more of that in the future!

I could NOT have done it with without a rotary blade...

Here was my first blanket laid out.  The bottom layer of flannel was supposed to make a nice pattern but some squares got mixed up in the process.  and THAT'S OK!  

The 2nd layer of flannel spells out the word DAD and I thought it would be subtle.  BOY WAS IT!  You can't tell at all so I shouldn't have stressed about that...

Then the top layers were his shirts.  10 inch squares. 

I bought a new Fiskar snipping scissors and my hands still ache from all the cuts a bit.

All the flannels came from the American Sewing Guild ASG free tables.

These two were for the girls.

These were the squares for Leon's.  All the rows were ready to make the X's on and sew together, row by row.

I had to take them to the laundromat, due to excessive shedding.  I got the heads up early from a FB group I belong to.  Plus the weight of them was so heavy wet, that I had to put them in the super sized heavy duty washer.  I also did 10 batches of our clothes at that time because our washer was on the fritz.

The flannel squares for Leon's, the one with the dragons, came from my mother-in-law's bag of squares that had already been cut.  I watched a LOT of Grimm and In Plain Sight while making these.

So ultimately the only money spent on these were my time and the labels that take you to a youtube channel playlist with videos of Robb.

The kids seem to like them!  It was definitely a labor of love.  I plan to make one more for me and possibly one for my mother-in-law for her birthday in March and possibly one for Aggie's birthday in July.

Sew behind

So I hightailed it back to Iowa from Kentucky and made it to Maddy's house JUST in time to head out to the barn quilt painting night nearby.  We were each given a free token from a drink. :)

and then got to work!  Matthew arrived later but watched us work while he enjoyed a drink too.

Our finished products.  Mine graces the entryway table.

And because Matthew's sister was getting married over the 4th weekend, I dog sat the "girls" for them at their house for 5 days.  I DID come back home to have an outting with Leon on the 4th though. 

and I got to see Aggs a little too!  She is walking now!

 I borrowed Maddy's kayak and then piled Leon's in with it and we went to a lake nearby.  Had a great time!  We didn't figure out the kayak launch thingy until we got back from exploring the lake though.  It would have made getting into them easier and not gotten my feet wet.

And every time I want to get a pic of this kid, he tries to strike a pose to discourage me.

And when he's NOT looking like an alien, he comes off looking like a child model!

While dog sitting, I did as much sewing as I could.  I finally finished these compression leggings!  I started them 3 years ago at a sewing workshop, using a flat-fel stitch with my serger.  I screwed up and left my blade on and it practically had fallen apart on me when I tried them on back then.  Plus they were super tight.  But I guess that was their intent anyway.

So I pulled all the seams apart and just serged them up like normal.  I felt like Sandy in the last scene of Grease.  REALLY snug!  But wow, they made my legs look great!

Since then, I've cut them into shorts length, and they'll be the bottoms of my swimsuit for the cruise.

Of course, now, I can't find them... but I'm sure they'll turn up.

And through one of my widow groups on FB, I met up with another widow who is staying the summer in the town near where Maddy lives.  After a false start to watching fireworks together, due to absolutely NO parking within 1.5 miles of the lake, we met up a couple days later to go on a cruise around the lake.  I had seen where Maddy had been on it a few times and it looked like SO much fun.  Maddy had encouraged me to actually go on the cruise while I was there, so I did with my new widow friend and her boyfriend.

However we never left the dock...  We sat on top of the boat sipping on drinks for 1.5 hours until we saw the "captain" plug the boat back in. Um hey...  are we NOT going out?  Nope, something was wrong with the starter and if we wanted to wait until 4pm, we could go out then or get our money back.

Well, I needed to get back to the pups, and they had other plans too, so we parted ways and I headed back to Maddy's.

This is the paddle boat part that WOULD have been working, if it had started.

And this is the boat.

Someday...

Anyway, I didn't get as much sewing done as I'd wanted over the 5 days, but that's ok.  As long as I get two/maybe three things done by fair time.  I've got more snaps on order for a toddler jumper, need to do the buttonholes on the jacket for Matthew and stitch up a coat for me.  And then after the cruise, hem a dress for Maddy for her other sister-in-law's wedding!  So many weddings!

I guess that's what Saturdays are for.  Sewing catch up.

Cats, Fairs and Babies, oh my!

Cat sitting for Meri and letting each cat get the cuddles they need or will allow me to attempt.

This one, Curry, is the cuddliest.

I brought home my porch goose from the fair yesterday!  I enjoyed the comments and they liked the serged edges and for 20 minutes I couldn't figure out their handwriting for one comment, but realized much later that they said, "Good use of "... "wire".  Looked like woorre.

BUT they liked it.  I'll try something even MORE glam for my goose for next year and I'm taking suggestions.

The kids offered me Agnes today and I'll take her whenever I can get her.  I didn't see her at all yesterday and was having Aggie withdrawal.

Sated.  Now to help them find the pacifiers that have gone missing!

Oh and Taco Tuesday people!  Need to thaw out some hamburger.

Grands, Vacations and Judgey Much

 Spent Friday evening with my grands.  Leon was working on a blue candy and his lips were totally blue.  Aggie was just hanging out.  Ryan described her as carrying around a beanie baby that sometimes cries.  

Remember those water babies of the 90s?  Kind of like that but she wets more and is a smidge bigger.

Leon rediscovered his love of the magnetic pieces and we each built some pretty amazing stuff before it accidentally fell down or he destroyed it.  I think he was a second away from doing a demolition. 

I'm petsitting Reedus and his feline siblings this week until Meri and Ryan (bf) get back from their cross country extravaganza.  So far they've hit the Kool-Aid museum in Hastings, Nebraska and totally missed the SAPP brothers truck stop with the robot toilets!!  They spent a day at the Stanley Hotel of The Shining fame.  They enjoyed drinks in the hotel bar and got a tour.  I can't wait to hear all about it!

I think they're canoeing today.

On Saturday, I met up with Maddy in Iowa Falls at a quilt shop.  She's very into quilting these days and has inspired me to get going on sewing again.  Hoping this will pull me out of my no-sew funk and into some fun projects.  The quilt shop recommended an embroidery shop and a coffee shop so we obliged and hit both before heading off in our own directions.

Ada called me at 12:30 and I suddenly remembered it was Monday!!!  We had a lunch date where I was bringing the food and I should have been there by 11:30!!!  WHOOPS!  And since she'd already told the chef at the nursing home that SHURRELY her friend was just running late, Ada needed food!  I stopped by a Kwik-Star and grabbed something quick for us both and she eventually forgave me.  But not before rubbing it in quite a little bit about how hungry she had been.  

The brownie I brought helped her get over it.

Off soon to pick up my State Fair projects and be either totally humiliated or pleasantly surprised by the judge's comments.   I'm banking on the first one.