ONE HOUR OF NEEDLE & THREAD ROUNDUP!

     This is the last report for Bonnie Hunter's September challenge. I'm happy to report that I completed my goal of finishing the hand quilting of my quilt!  I am now working on sewing down the binding. 

     Here are the pictures of my quilt.  (Please disregard the dates on the photos. I had to change my batteries in my camera and forgot to reset the date. I didn't notice it until I finished the photo shoot outside and I just wasn't going to go back outside. So, it is what it is.)

     Week 4,  I finished 7.5 hours of handwork.  I got in 33.2 hours for the entire month.  I'm still working on my annual Christmas ornaments (35).  This week I also got a large quilt top finished.  I'm also finishing up a UFO that will be a quilt top.  It started out as a challenge with a limited amount of fabric and was about 40" by 40".  Now, I'm adding borders and other elements to make it a big quilt. 

     If you didn't see my past blog posts for this challenge, you can find them here:  Week 1, Week 2, Week 3.  Also, go to Bonnie's latest post on the challenge HERE to check everyone else's progress to see how they did. 

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FIRST MONDAY OF FALL!

     It is a beautiful fall morning as I sit here with my cup of hot spiced tea writing this post.  This is Week Three of Bonnie's one hour of needle and thread challenge.  Click here to go to Bonnie's blog post to check on the progress of others. 

     We didn't link last Monday because Bonnie was teaching in Indiana.  I got in 10.2 hours two weeks ago. This past week I hand stitched for 7.5 hours. 

     I had been working on my 30's fabric quilt called "Granny's Stars" from Love of Quilting magazine. I wanted to hand quilt my outer border during this challenge. I should be able to finish it today, then I can add my binding!! To see more of that quilt go to my last blog post. 

     This week I've also been working on a couple of other projects. The first one is my October calendar block.  I have one for myself and one for my daughter's calendar. I'm not finished with them yet. I did get the binding stitched down for one. I need to finish the binding on the second one, then I will do a little hand quilting around the pumpkin and will hand embroidery the stems on the pumpkins.

     Before I retired, I used to make an annual Christmas ornament that I gave out to co-workers and other friends. Now, I still make them and give them out at my grandchildren's schools to the school staff, cafeteria workers, art, music, computer and library teachers.  (Their regular teachers get the ornament plus a little something extra.)  I've already started the ornaments for this year. I've got 35 going in various stages.  I finished all the machine work, paper pieced. I did most of the paper piecing during Bonnie's QuiltCam time!  So now, I have lots of handwork to complete them.  I can't show the front of them until I am ready to give them away, so here's a sneak peek at the back of them.  Come back in December for the reveal!

     Thanks for visiting!  What a fun challenge!  One week to go!  One last note, thanks to Bonnie Hunter for cluing us in about the word verification on our comment section.  I didn't even know it was "ON" for my blog, but it is now turned off!!  

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MY FAVORITE PLACE TO QUILT!

Out on my front porch!  The weekend autumnlike temps of 76 to 80 degrees were calling my name to come out. The weather was great!  Luckily I did my dishes and laundry BEFORE I went out or they would probably still be waiting!  I got in two hours Saturday and one hour Sunday.   The weather this week looks good also, so maybe I'll get out on the porch some evening before it gets too dark to see. 

How did you do during the first week of Bonnie Hunter's challenge?  Go to Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville to see how everyone else did this week. Thanks Bonnie for this fun challenge!

I got eight hours of hand quilting completed during week one.   I'm working on the same quilt, pictured above.  Here is the link to my post from last week.  I had only the last border to complete when I started the challenge.  During this week I completed one short side and one-half of a long side. It's kind of hard to show in the picture.  I'll try to make a better pic for next week.  So, I'm happy with my progress.  Moving right along...Got to go quilt!

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ONE HOUR A DAY!!

One of my favorite blogs to follow is Bonnie Hunter's,  Quiltville.   She recently said she is planning to hand quilt for one hour per day when she is home (and not on the road teaching classes).  In honor of September being National Sewing Month she asked who wanted to join her and I committed!  She asked for pictures of what were were planning to quilt, where we would be when we quilted and to do a linky to her website of our pics.  The quilt I want to finish hand quilting is one I started about a year ago.  I finished the center of the quilt pretty quickly, then it got put on the back burner while I finished other projects.  Here is the picture of my quilting area and the quilt I want to finish.  I just have the borders to complete, so this will be the motivation I need.

Today, I am stitching while watching my St. Louis Cardinals vs. NY Mets.  Currently, Cards are winning!  I also like to quilt while watching NASCAR, but that was on last night. So I will cheer on the Cards while I quilt along!

 I have recently quilted on this project a few days at my alternate quilting location, my car!  I arrive at my grandson's school about 30 minutes early to get a good parking space.  So I always bring something to stitch.  Great for finishing bindings, small items, etc.  However, I didn't have anything else, so I grabbed this one day and it has become my car project.  So on those days, I will make another 30 minutes to sit and stitch and my hour will be complete.  It's a little bit of a tight squeeze to quilt in a car, but I lay the bulky part in the passenger side seat.  I wondered why my car kept asking me if I wanted the passenger side airbag off???

I am  really motivated to get this finished.  Bonnie asked us to print out her calendar and write down each day how long we hand stitch and to make a picture of it with our post and to link it to her website. I'll have to show that next week as I'll need to make a trip to the library to print out the calendar. 

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NEW NASCAR TRACK AT MY HOUSE

I have a long window seat that has doubled as a NASCAR track for many years.  My oldest grandson, C.C., likes to have races on it with all his race cars.  We recently put down new poster board and drew a new track.  This one is Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  We've had many different tracks.  A few are Daytona, Sonoma, Pocono and Kentucky.  He made a few pictures of the track and some of his favorite cars.  The 18 car, Kyle Busch, is my middle grandson's, D.C., favorite driver. He snapped those two pictures.

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TRYING OUT THE NEW CROCK POT

It's red!  Of course, that's what drew me to it.  My old one still works, but this one is prettier and it is oval! 

I was inspired by a couple of online recipes for pulled pork.  Very simple, only three ingredients.  Pork butt (also called pork shoulder or Boston butt), Dr. Pepper (or your other favorite dark cola) and BBQ sauce. I used about a four to five pound pork butt.  Rinse the pork well and place in crock pot. I used 16 oz (2 cups) of Dr. Pepper, pour over pork. Cover and cook on high for about six hours. I carefully flipped the pork over halfway through cooking.  After six hours, prick with fork and make sure the meat will shred.  If it does, it is done. If not, cook a little longer.  Mine was done in six hours though. 

Take the meat out of the crock pot. It tore up just getting it out. Use a couple of big slotted spoons to get it out. If there is a bone in it, find it, take it out and throw it away. Then let the pork cool for about 10 minutes. First, pick off the big fatty pieces and throw out. Then, take two forks and shred, shred, shred.  Pour all of the liquid left in the crock pot into another container and discard it.  DO NOT pour this junk down your sink.  I took mine out in the backyard and poured it on some grass I wanted to kill.  


Next, place the shredded meat back into the crock pot and add a 16-18 oz. bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce.  I used Sweet Baby Rays. Use whatever sauce with the degree of heat that you like.  Cook in the crock pot on LOW for an hour.  

Ready to serve.  Yummy with a side of twice-baked potato!




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THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BRICKYARD!!!

Guess who's leading the cup points after the Brickyard race???  For the first time since 2004!!!  Jr.'s also the only driver this year in cup to finish on the lead lap of every race.  Keep up the good work!  This could be his year! 

After Jimmie won the race, I immediately changed the channel.  I'm just over him.  I really wanted someone who hadn't won the Brickyard before to win, but, oh well....

I really like the ESPN NASCAR broadcast team.  They make great use of my favorite summer of 2012 mowing song, "Gold on the Ceiling" by The Black Keys. 

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WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE!!

This past Saturday afternoon, my area of town got about 4" of rain in about an hour or so.  We've been needing rain and have been in a bad drought like a lot of the country.  We just didn't need ALL the rain at one time.  It sure did make my grass jump up though and it is no longer brown.  Here's a few pics I snapped after the rain.

There are always those folks who have to drive through flood water!!

The water went down in about 40 minutes.  Now this week, we're dealing with the heat again!  It was pretty hot mowing this morning.

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HOMEMADE PEACH ICE CREAM

Here are the ingredients you will need for a four-quart ice cream freezer:

4  fresh eggs

2 cups sugar

1 can of evaporated milk (12 oz)

1 pint of half and half

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 fresh, ripe peaches (if you do not have fresh peaches, use 16 oz. frozen peaches--thaw first, then puree)

milk, amount varies

Here's the step-by-step:

 

Pour the can of evaporated milk into a large mixing container and place it in freezer for one hour.

While the evaporated milk is chilling in the freezer, you can prepare your peaches. I like to puree mine in a blender. Any kind of blender will work.  When I use my small one, I usually have to blend half of the peaches at a time to make sure the peaches puree the way I like them.

Here's what the peach puree looks like after blending. I put this in the refrigerator to stay cool until I am ready for them.

Crack your 4 eggs into another mixing bowl.  Mix on high speed for about five minutes until eggs appear light and frothy.

Next, add two cups of sugar to your beaten eggs.  Beat for a couple of minutes, until your sugar is incorporated into the egg mixture.  Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Now, get the bowl with the frosty evaporated milk out of the freezer and beat at high speed until it looks like this. (Make sure to rinse your beaters if using the same ones as before.) This will take 2 or 3 minutes.

The next step is to add your half and half to the egg/sugar mixture. Just blend until mixed well.  Now, add the peach puree to this mixture until blended. If your bowl is getting too full for the mixer, you can stir with a big spoon.

Now, get out your BIG mixing bowl.  Pour the contents of each of the other two mixing bowls into the big bowl. Use a large spoon to mix together well. If you do not have a large mixing bowl, you can just go ahead and pour this into your electric ice cream freezer aluminum container and mix with a long spoon.

Here's what it looks like combined into the big mixing bowl! This is going to be fun pouring into the freezer container!

I've now poured the mixture into the aluminum container.  You will now need to add milk (whatever % milk you like) to the "fill line". Sometimes I don't have to add very much milk, depending on how much fruit is added. So, don't worry about that, but don't overfill. 

Follow the instructions that come with your ice cream maker. In about 30 to 40 minutes, this is what your finished peach ice cream will look like! Spoon into bowls and enjoy!  Any leftovers can be spooned into one-cup freezer bowls for individual servings and placed in freezer for later use and to share with friends.   

OTHER FLAVOR VARIATIONS (on all, omit peaches)

Banana ice cream--Use four large very ripe mashed bananas 

Strawberry ice cream--Use one quart fresh, pureed strawberries. If you do not have fresh strawberries, you can use 16 oz. frozen strawberries. Thaw first, then puree.

Vanilla ice cream--leave out peaches. This flavor will use more milk than fruit versions.

*Note: For those concerned about raw eggs, pasteurized liquid eggs may be substituted.*

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RECORDS BROKEN!!

Well, since my last post, there have been more record-breaking temperatures!  On June 29, it was 107, a new record and the new hottest day of my lifetime, so far!  Please don't break that record again this summer!! We need a break! June 30 was a record for that date in our city at 105.  July 1 was also 105, also a record for that date here.  July 2 was 104, another record day.  Finally, on July 3, we are below 100 at 96 degrees!!  IT'S HOT DON!!  I am thankful, however, for electricity and A/C.  Thinking of the many folks in Ohio and other states who still have no power due to storms this past Friday thru Sunday.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

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HEAT WAVE!!!

Yesterday was the hottest day of my LIFETIME, so far!  The temp hit 106 degrees.  The last time it was this hot on any day of the year was in July, 1954.  Today is close to the same only it is more humid and with a higher  dewpoint.   I mowed the front yard this morning. No weedeating, just mowing. Went out about 8:30 am and finished in about 30 minutes. It was already pretty hot by then. The grass is brown in spots, so probably will not have to mow again until it rains. We are under an excessive heat warning until Sunday and supposed to be triple digits until at least Monday.  The poor A/C unit seems to run all the time, although I raised the thermostat to 82. Most units cannot keep up with this heat. I hear they usually can cool a home between 20 to 25 degrees cooler than outdoor temp.  Good thing I got my new A/C unit a couple of years ago.  Tonight after the sun goes down and it cools down a bit, I will have to water my new tree and other new plantings.  I've even been watering my old trees also as they have been looking a little droopy. 

I'm watching NASCAR practice on SPEED right now. It must be unbelievably hot in the cars today. At least the race is at night, so it won't be quite as hot.  Tonight is the Nationwide race and tomorrow night is the Cup race.  Michael Waltrip will be driving the 55 car in the Cup race with a special paint scheme for UK's national championship team.  A lot of other drivers have special red, white and blue paint jobs for the weekend.

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GETTING READY FOR THE HEAT!!

We're getting ready for possibly record-breaking heat over the next couple of days.  So, what better than homemade ice cream!  I've been wanting to try out my new ice cream freezer, so I got it out today.  It makes four quarts.  I'll save a couple of bowls for myself and give away the rest.  Here's what it looked like right after it was complete and before I put it in individual bowls into the freezer.

I've also been getting ready for the Fourth of July holiday.  I recently finished decorating  my front porch.  I'll probably leave them up for most of July.   I also have little flags in my flower pots on the porch and that's Uncle Sam on the front door.

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SUNDAY MEANS RACING!!

I just got the flowers and tree watered before the NASCAR preshow comes on. They're in California today so the race starts a little later than usual, 2:20 p.m. central time.

It's a good day to get back to piecing a quilt I started in January. I've been busy with teacher gifts and Fourth of July table runners and wall hangings. It's another black and white quilt with a little touch of red. I'm trying to use some of my black and white fabrics since I have a lot. It has two different blocks, a star block and a log cabin block. I'm still making the star blocks. Not sure how many I'll make, just until I get tired of making them, but I do want to get this one finished soon.

Brother is making homemade banana ice cream later, so I will be thinking about that as I sew! YUM!!!

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WOO HOO!!!

Dale, Jr. won at Michigan yesterday!!   By the way, he is THE ONLY cup driver who has completed EVERY lap in all races this year!  Next goal--Points lead.  He is only  four points behind Matt Kenseth right now.  On to Sonoma next week!!

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