Signs of the Season

We've been either very lazy or very busy around here. The busy days lead to the lazy days! Dan checked the green beans on Monday and lo and behold, we had more! Out came the carefully put away canner and back to work we went. It froze that night, so we know we're done now. That, and he pulled up the plants as he picked!! My nice neat basement pantry is really looking stocked now.

I changed out some wall quilts and here's one of my favorites, made years ago. It's a "herky jerky" pattern, done by "hand", not machine embroidery.


Amazingly, we still have some beautiful roses climbing below our deck:


And the scarecrow has made his yearly appearance on the front porch.


Hope your fall is arriving with all its brilliance. Enjoy!

A Cozy Sunday Night

Fall seems to have settled back in today after a week of rather warm weather. I canned the last of the green beans yesterday and today we got some sprinkles of rain. I think canning is over for the year.

Dan went out with a friend after church to look at some land the friend is in the process of purchasing and to cut some wood. A tree had blown down near the fence line and they cut it up after running the survey lines and finding a section marker. I stayed home and took a nap! Yeah, as usual, Dan was out being busy and I was resting easy. :-)

When I roused myself from the sofa where I'd been curled up under the quilt daughter-in-law Amy made us last Christmas, I decided we'd have leftover soup for supper. I got the last of some artisan bread dough out of the fridge and shaped a loaf. I love that it's fall and time for cozy food again.

The bread turned out perfectly. I've figured out the best temperature and time for my oven. The towel is one I made using a Mary Mulari machine applique design. Isn't it perfect for fall?

The soup is an easy one I found in Paula Deen's magazine (September/October 2009) and it's very yummy.

Paula Deen's Black Bean Soup

• Five slices bacon, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 14-oz cans of black beans, drained (I used 50% less sodium)
• 2 14-oz cans chicken broth (I used reduced sodium)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder

In medium Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium high heat until it begins to brown. Add onion and garlic; cook for 3 to 4 minutes until onion is tender. Add beans, broth, cumin and chili powder. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

In container of a blender, spoon half of soup and process until almost smooth. Return processed mixture to Dutch oven and stir to combine. Paula suggests garnishing with sour cream and chives. I did not. (And I also did not use onions because they don't like me.)

I told Dan that if I ate this soup and bread at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant somewhere I'd be singing its praises to friends. Yes, dinner was that good. :-)

Goin' Green...

Beans, that is! The weather has been warm and we have green beans!! I just finished canning sixteen pints of the little critters and I'm so happy. :-) I spent the morning snapping them and as I progressed, I realized we had quite a few.


I loaded the first eight jars and knew we were in business when the collander was still plenty full.


Here's the first canner load, waiting for the pressure to drop so I can add the second batch.


And here are the jars, all lined up and done. As I've written this, I've been listening to the ping of jars sealing. What a sweet sound!


And more good news: there are more baby beans growing, and the weather is supposed to stay warm! Ping!

Reporting In

It's Monday again and I'm heading out in a few minutes, but thought I'd do a little updating.

Here are dresses eleven and twelve for the Little Dresses for Africa. I had so much fun making them!


Here'a picture of the color on my favorite tree in our yard. It's right outside our bedroom window and each fall the leaves amaze me.


And I finished the downstairs pantry!


Happy Monday to you all!

Order, Order!!

When we bought this house I was thrilled to have a pantry in the kitchen. And, joy upon joy, there was another right below it in the laundry room!! It took me a while to fill up the kitchen one, so the one in the laundry room became a catch-all for assorted this and that. A few years ago, I attempted to sort it out and make better use of it. Oh. My. I ended up calling Ann and she volunteered to come help. Together we sorted and tossed and there were even empty shelves when we were done.

Fast-forward a few years until today.


See any empty space? Me neither. And you should know that the shelves continue behind the wall on either side of the doors. So, the time had come to do something. There had been too many trips to Costco and indiscriminate stashing. I wasn't even sure what was in there! After lunch I screwed up my courage and began. I'm not done, but I have conquered fhe dreaded start and I now have all the food sorted and arranged.


There are still piles all over the laundry room and out in the hall. Stuff to be tossed or given away, Christmas wrap, etc., that really needs a new home. (I might have mentioned to Dan that I need some new shelves built...) I'm probably done for today, but tomorrow I'll be already started and hopefully energized to finish.

Monday, Monday...

Another week gone. It was a lovely, rather quiet one, and I'm grateful for the down time. Dan was gone most of last week on a forestry tour north of here, so I enjoyed puttering around the house and in my sewing room. I'm still working on the Little Dresses for Africa project and just completed my twelfth dress. Our total over at church is well over one hundred now. Some sweet little girls are going to be very happy in a little while.

Remember the fall table topper of my last post? I made a pillow to match! Those turnover packs have tons of triangles in them!! And a small confession: I finally purchased the Bernina ruffler. The generic one I bought years ago (and finally used last Christmas!) just didn't do it. The difference is rather like comparing one of those little can openers that come in C-rations to my wonderful pampered chef one. No comparison!! Here's the pillow:


The ruffle is perfect. I'm in love with a new toy.

Dan got home Friday night, spent Saturday helping at the Boy Scout Camp north of here, and Cameron and Keaton came to spend Saturday night with us while Eric took Ann on a date. We had a great time with the boys. They got out Dan's Lionel train set and added some "new" pieces now that they're older. Dan got that train for Christmas when he was eight, and it's been through him, his much younger brother, our son Matt, and now our grandsons. Close to sixty years old and still running!

Ann had her ultra sound last Wednesday and we're getting a new little boy! We love our little men!! We are looking forward to meeting this one about January 19th. Time to start stitching blue. :-)

Sunshine, Shade, Sprinklers, and Some Stitchin'

This fall weather has been so perfect, I find myself loving every minute. It's energizing! Yesterday, after church, I told Dan it was way too beautiful to spend any time indoors, so we took some chairs out under the cherry trees and spent a leisurely hour reading and visiting. Here's where we were:


It was shady and perfect. Then Dan kept noticing dead limbs in the trees so he got his little pruning saw and went to work. I attacked some nearby weeds, and before we knew it we were hard at work and enjoying every minute. That is until the sprinkler system started up! I happened to be standing right over one sprinkler head and I wish someone had a video of me when it went off!! Needless to say, we were done for the day. :-)

Our poor garden. We had such a wet early summer, and Dan was so busy, we didn't get it planted until July. Yup, July. It's looking really good right now, and we're hoping this perfect weather lasts another couple weeks so we can harvest green beans and squash. Here's a picture of the beans. If you look closely, you'll see a sweet little bean waiting to be picked.


I mentioned in a previous post that I've been working on some samples for the shop. Every fall Bernina's OESD design company puts out some special CD's which are free with a qualifying purchase. They have traditionally been free-standing lace ornaments and this year's first one is no exception. I stitched out three of the designs and they are quite lovely. I also stitched a design (non lace) from the second CD onto a tea towel I made into an apron. Here's a view:


The snowflake is 3-D and here's a closeup of it:


I'm looking forward to making some more. Oh, and I made a new litle fall topper for the coffee table using Sandy Gervais' Gobble Gobble turnovers. I've become a real fan of simple little toppers for a splash of seasonal color.


Have I mentioned lately how much I love my 830 and my Handi-Quilter? I do!