Meet Oster

This is Oster. He has been a bit depressed I think. Living in a small dark space where you are not seen all that much can do that to you.  There was a time where Oster came out of his dark quarters quite frequently. But it seems, that maybe for the past year he had been forgotten.  Feeling awfully bad about this and inspired to semi-bake, Oster came out of his dark and lonely space.  Oh, and Oster was neglected for far too long.  He has the ability to create such fabulous aromas!  The house is filled with the scent of whole wheat green Chile cheese bread. Oster, I promise I will not forget about you again.

Whole Wheat Green Chile Cheese Bread

(In the bread oven- 2lb loaf)

1 and 2/3 c. water
1 small can of green Chilies (do not drain the juice)

2 tablespoons margarine or butter, softened (i actually melted it just slightly)

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons salt
2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese

4 and 2/3 c. whole wheat flour

3 teaspoons active dry yeast

Add the ingredients in the order listed above. Before putting the yeast in, use your finger to make a well in the whole wheat flower to pour the yeast in. Make sure the yeast never comes in contact with the water. Then, set your bread machine to get baking! ***updated tip, the green Chiles turned out to be very subtle.  If you want this bread to pack a punch I recommend adding another can. I am going to do this next time.***

While my bread was baking, I spun some yarn. This yarn is 100% merino. I am also spinning into it angora rabbit hair from my sisters angora bunny. This yarn is apart of my special project which will be revealed sometime in October.

This is also a little sneak peek at what is to come in October. I worked on it this weekend. I used wool felt and wool roving to needle felt it. Then added buttons from my grandmothers button collection. 

Cheers! 

Spinning, Knitting, Felting, And Needle Felting

This is a little project that I have been working on. I spun the yarn myself, knitted it, felted it, and the did a little needle felt work on it.  I think I am going to needle felt more spirals on it. If I do I will post the final product.  I think it looks a little Alice In Wonderland-ie.

I love the little mushrooms. I sewed glass beads on to make the mushroom spots. 

There is something very gratifying about making something from scratch!  Now, all I need is my own sheep then I can say I really made it from scratch! 

Cheers and happy spinning, knitting, and felting! 

Back In Business!!

Over the past week and a half I have come to appreciate a little something that I have regularly been taking for granted...the Internet. After several visits by service people from our lovely local cable company and a new modem...it seams that I once again have the ever beloved Internet connection. Yes, all the green dots on the modem are flashing which is such a wonderful feeling. For the past year we have battled a horrible Internet connection. However, you know how it goes...the minute you pick up the phone to call and complain and demand better service, "lows and behold" as my grandma would say...it starts working again. It is like the annoying fax machine at work...it malfunctions, you call the tech guy, he gets there and the machine works perfectly fine. Oh, and just like that pesky computer that freezes over and over again and you once again call the tech guy to come fix it and sure enough...it works just fine for him. I think you see my point. Machines have a mind of their own and will take every opportunity possible to make you look like a fool. Or, at least that has been my experience anyway. But this time I beat the machine and we got our Internet speed upgraded for free. :-) Oh how I have missed reading all my favorite blogs! I have so much catching up to do.

So, during this time of not having Internet I have been pretty busy! First of all on Wednesday Jeff and I celebrated Valentine's day because I was going to be out of town visiting my sister, brother-in-law, and niece for the annual February birthdays. Jeff and I went out and had a nice dinner and then we went to see Coraline!It was great and I want to see it again! Stop motion is absolutely amazing.

After our Valentines date we came home and I started packing (for my 5:30 am roll out on Thursday) and finishing up last minute birthday and Valentine's day gifts. I FINALLY made marshmallows! For years I have wanted to do this but just never got around to it. So, for Valentine's day I decided that marshmallows would be the perfect gift. For my first try, they turned out pretty well and they are fantastic dipped in chocolate fondue...more on that later.

Oh, as for the p.j's I have been working on...did I ever mention that I sewed the button holes on the back side of the pants? Ugh. Lesson learned...never ever sew after a long day at work. EVERYTHING ends up wonky. I think that they are salvageable though, whew!

I also made soaps for my sister and mother for Valentine's day. I ordered a ton of fancy glycerin from From Nature With Love and also a dark chocolate fragrance oil. The order I placed arrived on Tuesday in just enough time to whip out some soap! The soap smells yummy. I thought chocolate and marshmallows would make a lovely Valentine's day gift. :-) I added cocoa powder to the soap for the speckled look.

For my mother and sister's birthday, I made them mason jar pin cushions. Every sewer needs a mason jar pin cushion. They are so happy and cute! I have some of the cutest dress form and thread print fabric. I have been looking for the perfect excuse to use it and I think this little project was it. I found this fabric with my sister in Batesville, Arkansas at the ol' Marshall Dry Goods last year.

For my mom, I needle felted a scarf which was project inspired by this book. There are so many great projects in this book!






















For my sister I took the same design concept and applied it to a different project in the book.

I was able to wrap up the "great felt food project" for Violet just in time to leave for the trip. I really love the way it turned out and it was so much fun to make. It is very time consuming but there is something very satisfying about it too. So, here are ALL the pictures, hang with me here for a sec. Ok, you saw the posting of the bread. Here is the rest of it:

Organic Turkey and American Cheese:


Swiss Cheese and Lettuce:


Pickles and Tomatoes:


Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayo and The Finished Product:

Oh and I made P.B.&J. too!

So, that is it for now. Stay tuned tomorrow for the blog on my vacation!

Cheers!

Super Shopping Saturday!

My sister and I went to the Benbrook Antique Mall. I have been dying to go back ever since my mom took me there the weekend before Christmas. It is pure bliss! Everything is so well priced and the customer service is fantastic. There are treasures to be found behind every corner. I was excited about this trip because I had my eye on the plethora of Pyrex sold there. Oh, I scored big...oh I scored so BIG! I think this will be my new addiction, shopping for vintage Pyrex at the antique mall!

They have a ton of butterfly gold, friendship, and spring blossom Pyrex which I think I will go back for soon but I got away with 2 huge mixing bowls and a set of baking dishes that I think are the "daisy" pattern. I am still doing my research. If anyone knows what the pattern is called please let me know because I am just not certain that it is the daisy pattern.

And the mixing bowls from the "Verde" collection....

There is a booth at the antique mall that I drool over every time. I thought I would give you a little sneak peek. My sister and I met the lady who owns the booth, she is very quirky but I think you would have to be to have a booth like this!!!

I also found a great little vintage Coca-Cola tin tray for my bar area in my kitchen. This is something new that I have added to the kitchen and is still a W.I.P. I searched high and low for a vintage ice bucket for the bar but that was a no go.

After the antique mall we went to the book store. We made a hit for the cafe and got some iced coffee, then I bet you can guess what section we went to. Yup, the craft book section. It was very convenient because the craft book section was right next to the cafe so, it was totally meant to be. We sat there for close to 2 hours looking at books. There were books scattered all about on the floor. Oh, how I love the smell of a freshly bound book, well, especially a freshly bound craft book. It was a hard choice to figure out which book would leave with each of us.

My sister decided to go with Seams to Me and a knitting book that "seams" (yes, I know) to escape me at the moment. I decided that I needed a good book on needle felting and found this little book...

Last time I was in the book store they were all out of the fall edition of spin off mag, I was rather disappointed because I completely missed out on it but the winter edition was fully in stock today!!!! And yes, I love it so much that I find it absolutely necessary to post a picture of it.

I also finished my pillows last night. I am very happy with the way they turned out. You can't go wrong with an adorned throw pillow!

I live for days like this!

Cheers!

Birthday Party...all month long

In my family, February is a busy month. There are 5 birthdays and of course you gotta throw Valentine's Day in there. So, February is pretty much a month long celebration. It is kinda nice. It all starts with my sisters birthday on the 3rd. Then, my cousin's birthday is on the 12th and as my little 8 year old cousin recently pointed out, starting on her birthday there is a birthday every 3rd day. So, as I was saying, her birthday is the 12th (then Valentine's Day), my mom's birthday comes next on the 15th, my niece Violet's birthday is on the 18th and then there is me bringing up the rear on the 21st. Now if I want to go make things really complicated I can mention that Jeff's cousin's birthday is on the 20th and a good friend's birthday is on the 22nd. Whew!

I recently returned from a trip to Arkansas to visit my sister, niece, and brother-in-law (and of course his family too!). My dad, mom, and I drove up there for my niece's 4th birthday! She is just getting so big. She had a birthday party Saturday at a roller skating rink, and may I say she is a mighty fine roller skater. She can even skate backwards! It was a lot of fun.

When we arrived to Mountain View on Friday we checked in at the Pinewood Cabins. This place is wonderful. It is right on the square, within walking distance to pretty much everything. My parents had a cabin and "the kids" had a cabin. Here is a sneak peek into our cabin:

All the cabins have a theme. We sayed in the "Lancaster General Store". The cabins are so cozy. Saturday night it rained and we slept with the windows open so I was able to fall asleep to the sound of the rain. It was great!

Once we checked in and got settled, my mom, sister and I went to a class at Ritsy Rags to learn how to needle felt. It was a birthday present for all of us from my sister. It was a ton of fun. Ritsy Rags is the cute little store that sells fabric, patterns, arts and craft supplies, and handmade items. It was so much fun. I think we went went in there at least 2 days in a row. I am sure we would have went in again on the 3rd day, however, they were not open on Sunday.

The class was to needle felt a wool scarf. This is my mom in action needle felting her scarf:

This is Carrie and Rene, she is the owner of the store and just fantastic. She has got to be the craftiest and most friendly person in Mountain View.

A look at the scarf I was working on. I just had too much fun!:

After we finished up our needle felting class we met up with the men...my dad and brother-in-law for some of the yummiest Mexican food in Arkansas! Later we found out the place is owned by people from Texas....that has to be why the food was so good! Texan's know their Mexican food!

Since Friday was my mom's birthday, Carrie and I went over to our cabin after dinner to prepare a little surprise birthday dessert for her.

I also finished the felt pizza for Violet. I turned out really cute. I think I have found a new hobby! She liked it too!

It was a great time. I wish I were snuggled up on the couch in the cabin drinking a glass of wine and watching movie right now!

Cheers!