Rick loves all of our dogs but Jack speaks to his heart.  He loves this little guy with every fiber of his being.   I just pray that this little dog lives a very long time.  Every evening this little guy waits for "poppy" to come home and then expects "poppy" to sit in his chair and he gets to be his leg warmer for the evening.  That little guy will lay there all evening, all day, whatever.  He loves his poppy and he loves his time with poppy in the chair.  FYI - the chair is Jack's so if poppy is not available the chair is still taken. 

Tomatoes and Figs

My little plants are growing like crazy.  I hope this weather mellows out so I can get them planted.

They are getting too big for their little cups.  There are a few other plants like tomatillos and bell peppers. 

I tried another fig recipe and I'm  not crazy about this one either. 

Luckily, my husband runs a shop with 5 men who love food.  These were gone the first 30 minutes. 

The weekend is almost here again.  I can't wait.  So much too do and never enough time.  The sun is shining today so hopefully it will this weekend.  I need to go check the weather for the weekend.  I'm sure I need to mow at Dad's.

Have a great day everyone!

Spring is close

Look at the little baby leaves on our fig tree.  I can't believe how large this tree has gotten thru the years.

About mid July it will be loaded with figs.

And we'll be fighting the birds and squirrels for them.

After a rainy weekend we've had a couple of sun shiny days.  I know our winter was nothing compared to the poor people north of us, but I'm glad it's coming to an end. 

Have a good day. 

Hi Sun!

 

After a long weekend of gray and rain and ugly the sun came out briefly late Sunday.   

 

We are not mad at her but we really missed her.  It's hard here in Texas because we have been thru a long (multi-years) drought and welcome the rain.  But after months of darkness, we can't help but wish for our vitamin D up close and in our face.

She snuck in at the last minute but made us smile.

She gave us one last hurrah. 

 



Thank you for stopping by.  



Thrift shopping again.  I found this yarn for $.99 a skein plus the plastic bag contained 3 balls of the same yarn.  They are 100% wool.

I'm not sure what I am going to do with them but I think I might be selfish and make something for me.

It's that yarn where the strand goes big to little to big.  If you have any ideas, please share.

 

I'm not sure what this roll is but it feels like flannel.   I got it for $4.99.  It looks like I can get 2 blankets out of it.  The picture doesn't show it's color well but it's a pretty bluish-gray.

Right now I'm thinking of a blanket with some nice embroidery work.  It sounds lovely but also very time consuming.  I have too many ideas in my head and not enough time.

Here's the completed "random" bow tie quilt top.  I decided to use a  heavy fabric for the backing (another bolt of fabric I found at Goodwill) and got them pinned together last night so I can start sewing.

I'm not going to use batting on this one.  I want it to be more of a "spring" light weight quilt.

Last but not least, I'm working on a small lap afghan made in bulky yarn.

I have to be realistic and stick to a tight budget when it comes to my crafts. That's why I mention my thrift finds so frequently.   It's nice to walk into a fabric store and pick whatever I want and make my item.  And I do that sometimes.  But I like the challenge of taking what I find and making something beautiful, at least in my eyes plus not spending much money.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend! 

Fig Cake

We love figs.  We get lots of figs each year.  I still have several gallon bags in the freezer along with a dozen jars of fig preserves.  So I tried a fig cake.

The dough was really thick and then you add a cup of figs.

I added a little extra.

The "icing" is really good.  Just figs, a little brown sugar, and lemon juice.

They didn't rise much.

The end product.  It needs some tweaking.  I'll pass on the recipe when I get it figured out.

Good Supper

Rick made a good supper tonight.  We had a little cold front again.  It just made us think of chili and thought we would have it one last time before winter was over.  Somehow it is just does not taste as good in the summer. 

It was a really good flavor chili without being too hot for me.  I  can't handle spicy things like I used too.  I keep telling Rick to cook for himself but he keeps trying to find the balance between what he likes and what I can handle.  Hey, you  gotta love the guy for trying so hard to please.

Forgive me.  I forgot to take a picture of the mashed potatoes before.........this is after my son came thru. 

Rick had put lima beans on first thing before we figured out supper.  They were heavenly.  And, once again, I forgot to take a picture of his fluffy biscuits.

It was a great day.  We went to Goodwill and Academy.  I'll catch you up on all of that during the next couple of days.  Right now I need to go crochet before it's blue Monday again.

FYI - we lost our few plants to the cold weather last week.  The rain keeps coming back so it appears a late garden is in order for 2014.  Thank goodness we still have some things left from last year.

May tomorrow be great for you.



Wings

 

Hubby decided he wanted wings last weekend.  Our son has been buying wings from a restaurant that they both love.  Well, Rick made some that he and Aaron loved.  The restaurant may have lost a couple of customers.

The wings are trimmed and ready for seasoning.

 

Fresh from the fryer.  Golden brown and beautiful.

I played around trying to recreate the ranch dip the restaurant has.  I got 2 big "Good dip" thumbs up.  I don't eat wings but my French fries love my dip.

Beautiful wings.

Trying out fig muffins. First try, I followed the recipe.  All you taste is cinnamon.  I want to taste the fig.  So back to the drawing board.  They are good but I want to taste fig.  I've pulled a few recipes and will start trying different ones.  Figs are fantastic but people buy the dried figs if they find a recipe they like.  I want to start a fresh fig fest here.  I have 4 small fig trees started.  I plan to add more as we go.  A new coworker loves figs too.  Her grandparents had them on their farm.  She just bought a new house and I promised her a couple of trees.  This spring I've got to bury a couple of branches so they can root.

Remember to enjoy each day. 

String Quilt Squares

I have so many scraps I need to use.  I try to find new ways to use them so they don't become boring.  This is my newest creation.

 

I will sew these onto a larger square.  I tried different backgrounds.  I like the blue but it doesn't give me the effect I want.

I like how they look against this red print background.  The print is small enough to almost make a solid.  I used this same material for edging on the bow tie quilt.  That top is finished and I need to take a picture for you.  I think it turned out really pretty for a hodge podge of materials.

Yep, I think I'm going with this one.  More pictures later.

Enjoy your day.

Lake Craddock

Last weekend we had a garden.  This weekend we have a lake. 

Hubby had done a little planting.    Luckily the tomatoes (foreground) and the onions are on high ground and still standing.

Hubby dug a trench to help it drain.  Unfortunately more rain is expected next week. 

Next was getting the mower serviced for another season of mowing.  You can find me most Saturday mornings on this thing.    I do enjoy mowing unless it is super hot or super dusty.

My little gardenia is almost 3' tall now.  For awhile I was worried that we were losing Moma's gardenia so I brought this one as a replacement.

Luckily Moma's has made a comeback.  Now there is a gardenia by each bedroom.  As a kid, we could lay in bed at night and smell the sweet gardenias when they bloomed. 

I haven't been to our property in a month.  It was great to arrive today and see peach blossoms. 

 

 

After being sickly, it was so nice to have sunshine and see spring starting. 

One tree is really loaded with blossoms.

 

 

One of aunt Lillian's daffodils.  I love bulb plants.

I was worried last year that the plum trees were dying.  I have proof now that they are very much alive. 

My son is in love with this 1991 Dodge p/u.  He planned to get a state inspection today but the old girl threw him a few curves. 

More later.  Thank you for stopping by.

Embroidery

   

      I have been doing a little embroidery lately.  Sorry for the yellow pictures.

They were taken after dark so I guess that is what is making them look that way.

          Mom and her aunts all did a lot of handwork including embroidery. So I have a few things I need to do.  I had just heard about redwork when I found these squares for a child's blanket.  So I thought I would do it all in red. 

          Below are the bow ties someone had done.  Some are hand sewn and some are machine stitched.  I don't know who made them.  It doesn't look like my mother's work. 

 

The next two below are for 2 of my grandsons.  I really need to get these finished.  I have good intentions but time just flies by

          Hubby and I have both been a little sick but are finally getting back to normal.  We're ready for a little sunshine and fun.  Thanks for stopping by.