Almost Spring

Daylilies are popping up! Trying to neaten up and reclaim the north side of the pond by adding mulch. Hoping to keep the weeds less prevalent this year.

Posting from phone. Not the best blog layout, but at least it's a post.

IPad Test

Just experimenting with this app and the iPad2.

Snow Day

Time to play with some of my new kitchen toys

I was counting on my new crème brulee dishes being multi-purpose, so I put them to the test this morning. Half a bag of fresh spinach, 2 eggs, a bit of milk, garlic, feta cheese, salt, and pepper were mixed together then divided into 2 buttered dishes.

After cooking them in the microwave a few minutes, I sprinkled on some mozzarella cheese and cooked another 30 seconds. To test how well food came out of the dishes, I tipped the “quiche” onto a plate and added a garnish of “peeled” carrots. I ate one for breakfast (yummy) and plan on putting the other on “health nut” bread with some of the carrots for a sandwich for tomorrow’s lunch.

My new dutch oven (Calphalon Contemporary Stainless 8.5 quart) is also proving to be great for different types of cooking. So far I’ve made chili in it, cooked spaghetti on the stove, and baked in the oven – today I used it to soften rice papers for my lunch of spring rolls. Assembled food included more of the peeled carrots, sliced/steamed white asparagus, mung bean noodles, and cucumber strips. About one minute soaking in warm water in the perfect diameter pan and I was ready to roll.

A bit of teriyaki sauce for dipping was the final touch for a delicious light meal.
It was a fun time in the kitchen. ~~K

Gardening

Joy and Woe
Intrigued by the coloring of this small sunflower, I decided to grow it in my garden for the first time this year.

Caught in the act! These horned tomato worms and their buddies did an enormous amount of damage in only three days. Obviously I plucked them, and turned them into a beautiful green mush on the cement.

Adventures in gardening continue... ~K

Organizing 101

That's a start! Hopefully it works on a dailybasis. ~~K

Ketchup and Mustard Garden

And many more fun kid-theme gardens were enjoyed recently at BG’s Simpson Gardens.

Hopefully the pictures tell it all: water barrels, potting shed, kayak planting, view the roots, tea, tires, veggies, etc.

Besides these whimsical gardens, Simpson has a healing garden, scultpture garden, water features, tree alley, and other areas under development.

Check it out sometime if you are in the area. ~~K

SRM Quilts

Progress Report 2

Lion quilt says, "Grrreat, I'm finished." I had a lot of fun with that challenge and am pleased with the finished look provided by the pink and white stripe binding.

The “Cars” were on the back burner for about a week – I just couldn’t come up with a quilting plan. By reading every free-motion quilting library book I could get my hands on, practicing on paper and without thread, I gained confidence, inspiration, and perhaps even became a bit cocky. Free-motion script writing for the first time didn’t turn out too bad!

It’s hard to see in the small yellow squares, but there’s a simple outline of a car that I felt added to the theme. There's just a simple medium/large meandering on the book pages. It all came together in the finished product.

Baby Einstein needed some sashing material, so I bought some mottled grass green fabric at Hobby Lobby. I originally thought I would use yellow for the small square as I did on the cars quilt, but I didn’t have enough. I used a blue and white fabric that will also serve as the backing- purchased for $1 at the local Goodwill Store.

Piecing is finished, but, it’s back to the drawing board to decide how to quilt this one. Any ideas?- ~~K