Sand Pear Sauce

These are NOT Bartlett pears....these are Sand Pears.

They are ready to be picked;  Millie has a tree and graciously shares it with me.

You can't eat these fresh from the tree;  it is like biting into wood-hard and grainy. 

The peel feels like sand is under his skin.  They are hard and never soften until they are over-ripe and rotten.  It was hard to make friends with this fruit until I learned how to use them!

You cut off the top and bottom and peel the skin off and cut the sides from the core... 

...a lot of times, 

So that you have a nice pile of chunks, 

You place them in a pan with a little water and sugar and simmer like you would for fresh applesauce... 

You will end up with a delightful pear-ish tasting sauce that is delicious warm or cold!

Nice to enjoy a regional harvest!

What fresh fruit are you enjoying now?

Post Modern

Millie's contemporary quilt is off my frame and ready to be delivered to her today.  

I'm sorry to have it finished because it was so enjoyable to work on! 

(The 60"  72" quilt wouldn't fit in my ph camera lense at this close range!)

I will be branching out on the next quilt I load on also!

Never Too Old to Learn a New Trick

I am loving the quilting on this modern style quilt.  It is my first one to do like this.  It's working out pleasurably, yippee! 

Today I went to a watercolor class.  Understand, I learn something new by myself not in a class setting.  It has been a long time since I took a class but it was so inspiring.

This picture is only half done...I had to wait for the basket and the left side to dry before I could add more detail;  it is homework because I am going again next month! 

This one was done with a different technique and I had to draw....it is so intimidating to put pencil to that big blank paper!!!!

I learned to be its friend!

I know I am a rookie, but I sure did love what I learned and can't wait for next month's lesson! 

On the home front, Bill and I have been working on the front gardens.

They so easily get overgrown so we thinned and defined and got it ready for adding mulch. 

The sun really bakes this front garden so the mulch helps to keep the roots moist and not parched when it is bare like this. 

We trimmed down the prickly pear cactus, too, and it is much more manageable now.

The mulch can't come soon enough! 

Friday, we visited Daytona Beach for our run to Sam's and to JoAnn's for restocking and then we reward ourselves with the NY style pizza from Saldo's Pizza in Ormond Beach on the way home.

They have the largest slices I have ever seen!   

We had a little rain and a beautiful rainbow over our house then we got home....it is a wonderful reminder of God's love!

some Thinking and some Doing

I haven't done any stitching yet but I am getting closer .  I have to do a lot of practice stitching first as I think about what I want to happen on the quilt.  (This one is Millie's, too) 

\

I practice with erasable markers on vinyl.  It takes a lot of ideas before I turn the machine on! 

I wanted to make a zippered pouch today for a friend's birthday.

I bought these fat quarters while on the Shop Hop! 

I knew what I wanted and so I got right to work.

It is a roomy but manageable size at 6 x 9" .

It's good for toiletries or to carry a few essentials using the wrist strap.

Missouri Star Quilts has the best video tip for finishing zippers for pouches.

I prefer to sew my pouch differently to hide the seams but the zipper hint makes a great professional touch!

Give me a Day.....

I finished the pumpkin wall hanging for Millie this morning.

I love how she lets me just do whatever and have fun with the quilting. 

I loaded up another of her quilt tops (she had completed three quilts for me to do!)

This one is a sweet flannel top. 

I knew what I wanted to do immediately and after a bit of mental practice, I had the quilting plan all in order and just got going! 

When a quilt goes so quickly, it is kind of sad to see it done!

That's all right, I loaded the next one on and  I don't have a plan for that yet so it will wait for another day and fresher muscles! 

Happy package came in the mail;  if you haven't found the site, Simply Sock Yarn, give it a go.

I ordered this on Saturday and it's already here!  

Nothing like great service. 

I know I posted about Aunt Louisa already, but I painted her frame and added her own crochet hook which is now standing on the right side.  It is a number 13 or 15, slightly bent from working so much but it is now with the lace and it makes me happy to have it on the wall of my bedroom! 

I'm sorry this is a bit blurry-I would take another pic except it is already mailed out for the birthday girl, grand daughter Aria, who lives in Seattle!

She is going on a train ride for her birthday and I thought a t-shirt for the occasion would be a welcomed idea! 

I made another rail car so it would go around to the back of the shirt also.

And I just had to fussy cut some flamingoes for the windows!

I hit the recliner with a smile on my face for having had some good studio time!

Saturday Socializing

Ok, so this sock yarn blocks thing is very, ummmm, well compelling.

You know, a just one more kind of knitting! 

Yesterday, Millie and I finished out our Florida Shop Hop adventure.

We had a great tour of five different shops throughout the Jacksonville area.

It was a wonderful shopping trip!

When I got home I did a bit of sewing-I have wanted to replace my ironing pad because it is softer than I like for pressing my quilt blocks.

Bill cut some cement board for me and then I covered it with cotton batting and then some canvas.

I serged the edges with a decorative thread. 

There is a piece of freezer paper ironed onto the new board so that when I work with fusible web, it won't stick on the ironing surface.  It works great to press with the harder surface! 

Today, we had a boat ride with Matthew and family!

Ethan loved 'driving' the boat!

(He wasn't so thrilled about the life jacket!) 

Will just wanted to go very, very fast!

He liked seeing all the birds, trees and going under a bridge!

We had a nice time making our own breeze because the temps today topped 100* and it was steamy humid!

We cooled off when we got home with an ice cream and then a dip in the pool!

It was a wonderful day!

Post Correction!

This is the yarn I used to make the socks I posted earlier!

Not a sock blank!  

(To my credit, I used the same dyes for this skein that I had used for the sock blank so I , well, went blank!) 

Now the right socks have been linked to their right and proper source.

I used KnitPicks Hawthorne Bare in fingering weight.

Aiming for truth in posting!

Sock from a my Blank

                            

I finished the sock blank yarn I dyed last month!

It was so interesting to be surprised to see what the colors did;  this could get very addictive! 

 Who would guess that this sock blank would give you the above sock! 

The legs varied a bit from one sock to the other;  they sort of spiralled which was a surprise but I just went with it to see what would happen.  Nice to be an adventurer with yarn! 

AND I have entered the sock yarn blanket craze.  The idea is to use all the leftover yarn to make these squares attaching one to the next until you have a blanket size!

(Thanks  to Dee for finally pushing me over the edge!)

I have enough partial balls that are too pretty to toss (though I did do that with a ton last year!)

which I could use for this blanket!

Thought to Product

I have seen these cross shoulder 'pockets' for your cell phone and minimum wallet essentials for shopping, etc.  I just can't bear to carry a purse any more so this is one of my ideas that I took off the drawing board and gave it a try.

It has the taller pocket for my wallet, a pocket without a zipper between the zippered ones.

The cell phone goes in the bottom pocket.  It is comfortable and convenient. 

The fabrics are from fat quarters I collected on the Shop Hop Millie and I went to a few weeks ago.

I can't wait to make another because I now have another idea to make this much easier and sleeker! 

When I have ten minutes, I whip off a pair of these blocks.

It is a great quick way to have almost instant gratification when  I put in a load of laundry, then another when I move it to the dryer and another when it's time to pull it out for folding!

This is one of the perks of having the washer/dryer in my Studio! 

Bill spotted this guy in my Porterweed Bush (Knotweed Bush is another common name).

He called me to come on out and see something and it would be worth the effort to get up to see it! 

I had to admit;  it was an unusual sight!

An indigo snake hanging out waiting to catch a lizard for lunch.

If you approach on when on the ground, they take off very quickly.

This guy just gave me the glare but didn't move so I was able to take a picture of him!

Yes, it was worth getting up to see this!

Mostly Down

I got knocked down by another UTI and so have been functioning from my bed!

I am most days used to the MS and balance my activities and limitations so that I do pretty well.

One more plate to balance just tips the whole show right over.

As if that wasn't enough, I woke up with conjunctivitis in both eyes so that did a number on my already blurry vision! 

I have a regular parade of visitors and I love it!

If someone is already on the bed, others wait their turn on the dresser, on the rug by my bed or on the floor by the sliding glass door. 

I have wanted to learn how to do the linen stitch since it resembles weaving.

I had a learning curve-see the bottom?  Yeah, not so good.

I found the rhythm on the upper portion but I found that a dishcloth would still require garter rows on the sides so that it wouldn't curl on the edges.

I ripped it out and made it right-it's nice when and idea is realized.

(While in bed, I 'think' a whole project done-I plan, execute, trouble-shoot and complete it.

Then tweak it.  It helps pass the time and gives me ideas to carry out in the future. 

I have had fun making a pile of dishcloths!

A group of us that read each other's blogs are taking part in a dishcloth swap.

It's been a good incentive to try new patterns. 

I received my dishcloth package of goodies ...it's so nice to get a package in the mail!

Thank you Kathy B!