My Round Robin Quilt

Every year, my sister, two of her college roommates, and I each meet up at a, "Cabin" on a lake and spend a long weekend sewing, eating chocolate, watching chick flicks, and talking. Oh, the talking! It's a great relaxing, fun girls weekend. We decided about 5 years ago to start a round robin quilt. We each made a middle, and then gave our middle to the next person. There were no rules, except to stay with the basic (very basic) color scheme. We spent the next year working on each others quilts and then revealed the final one when we met for the next year. I'm so glad we did it. This is mine. I really like how it turned out. It's about 60" square, and made with pumpkin flannel fabric. My sister machine embroidered Linus digging for The Great Pumpkin on the top half, and The Great Pumpkin on the bottom half. The front:


And I love putting back art on my quilts! This one is no different.


I still need to finish the binding. A great hand project for sitting next to the wood stove!

Burn Pile Potatoes

We burned today. It was the perfect day for burning...... cold, clear, no wind, and it's been raining like crazy. Time to take advantage of this beautiful weather! We grabbed the torch, the pitchforks, and the long garden hose. Just in case it got away from us. Even though we were walking in mud puddles. Kinda like wearing suspenders and a belt at the same time. Anyway, we burned a few piles of branches, leaves, and old yucky wood. We always end up with the most wonderful coals, and it would be so very sad to just leave them without doing anything with them. Aren't they gorgeous? Just perfect.



I know, we could do the whole smore's thing, but it was too cold. We could go the hot dog route, but I don't really like hot dogs, and besides, I didn't have any. Probably because I don't really like them. Go figure, huh?? My all time favorite thing to do with coals after a day of burning is potatoes. But not just any old potato. I add lots of goodies to them. Want to see how I do it?? They're really easy, and a nice variation.

For each potato you'll need: large square of heavy duty foil, a medium to large potato, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices onion, 4-6 cloves garlic, salt and pepper.

Wash and slice potatoes into quarters. You should end up with 4 slices. Place them on the foil.

Cut each slice of bacon into 3-4 pieces. Put them between each piece of potato, and on the outside edges.

Using 2 slices of onion, put about 1/2 of a slice with each bacon piece.


Chop up the garlic, sprinkle it around, and then add salt and pepper.

Now, I always twist the foil around so that the first way I wrap these brings the pieces all together. Just telling you what works for me, not that the foil police will come inspect these. Here's a little peek of my first one. Oh, it's going to be so yummy!


Then it goes outside and into the fire, with seams facing up. I take my shovel and dig/scoop out a little hole in the coals. I might mention, these coals aren't the orange'ish ones. They're more black/gray, but still the intense heat that will warm you up real nice on a chilly day. If you put them into coals that are orange, get ready for some crispy fried potatoes. I've tried it. And take my word for it, they're not good. So, here are your potatoes, all snug in their bed, and then scoop more coals on top. Cover them up good. Don't leave any part of them uncovered.

I always go inside and set the timer for 40 minutes. It's very useful to have a set of b-b-que tongs and a metal pan, or something to put the (really hot) potatoes in. I used a 9x13 pan. When digging up the foil pouches, be very careful. Today I used the back of a metal rake, but a shovel works too. I've used the pitchfork that we use when burning, and that doesn't work. That day I was too lazy to go get the shovel. Anyway, very gently, scoop out the pouches, and then pick them up with the tongs and sort of shake them to get off the coals. You can let them sit for maybe 10-15 minutes if you want, but you don't have to. Here they are, in all their glory! Enjoy!

Puppy Love

This is Dozer. He's just about the happiest dog I know. I take that back. He IS the happiest dog I know. Dozer is in love with life. He loves everything. He loves..... us, his breakfast, his dinner, his bed, car rides, playing fetch.....and his toys. Oh, how he loves his toys. Here's one. It's a seat belt from an old car. It's pretty tough. I gave this to him a few weeks ago, and look at what good shape it's in!




I'm still amazed it hasn't been loved to death. Sort of like his stuffed animals. Dozer's current stuffed animal is a little orange fuzzy bear. Well, it used to be fuzzy. Now it's caked with dried slobber. And it's kind of a brownish/orange color now. With no face. And minus half of a leg. But Dozer still really, really likes it.


Yeah, it's true love. Puppy style.

After all, doesn't love make the world go 'round? Even Puppy Love.

Just Normal, Thanksgiving Conversations

Happy Thanksgiving! I thought to be different, I'd give a sort of, "Fly On The Wall" perspective on some of the things said before, during, and after our feast. Do other folks do this kind of thing, or is it just us???

My father-in-law, talking about answering a complaint before he retired, whether or not to spray for mosquitoes. "Well, Ma'am, I won't be spraying. I've checked for mosquitoes, and you don't have any."
"Oh?? Well then would you tell me what these things are that keep biting me?"
"Those are midges, Ma'am, not mosquitoes."
"Aagh! They're flying, and bugging me. That makes them mosquitoes!"
Fast forward an hour, sitting at the dinner table. A little moth was flying just above my mother-in-law's plate. I bring it to her attention.
"Nedra, there's a mosquito flying in your plate!"
My father-in-law looks at it, then tells Nedra, "That's not a mosquito, that's a moth."
"No, it's flying and bugging me, that makes it a mosquito!"

"A short pencil is better than a good memory"
"What does that mean?"
"A good memory still isn't as good as just writing it down right then."
"Not necessarily, I know there are people with photographic memories! And if they memorize it, then they don't have to worry about anything happening to a piece of paper. What if they forget where they put it? Or somebody throws it away. Or the dog eats it. Or their house could burn down!"
.....fast forward, again!
"Hey Mom, I'm going to let the dogs in"
"That's fine, but you might want to pick up your dessert plate from the rocking chair." (To keep the puppy with a good nose out of trouble.)
"Oh, come on Mom, what's the worst that could happen?"
"The puppy could jump up onto the chair, knock the plate down, breaking it in the process, then he'd step onto the broken glass, cut a main artery in his paws, and bleed to death before we got to the emergency vet. And then, we'd turn around, go home, but before we got there, get into an accident, and die."

Who needs any other entertainment?

Duck Carts.....

I was looking through some of my old pictures lately, and ran across a few that I would share. These were taken a few years ago. My two boys were trying out a duck cart before hunting season opened. These carts are made to carry heavy or bulky things along a trail in the outdoors.

But this particular afternoon, it wasn't hauling anything in the outdoors. It was in our driveway. Empty. And sad. And forlorn. Maybe even lonely!

Ahhh, but not for long! My kids, being the ingenious people that they are, were re-purposing this cart into an afternoon of fun. I love boys! They're so full of life. And imagination! Just think of what they can do with some spare time, a duck cart, and a nice, big, empty driveway!



Boys are made for having fun. Unfortunately, duck carts aren't.

Onions, Owies, and Old Recipes

Tuesday, after work, I planted 3 bags of onion sets. One bag each of white onions, red, and one bag of yellow. We went into the garden, just me, the dog, and three bags of onions. Things were progressing nicely until I got over halfway through the last bag, and then I straightened up, only to have a sharp pain in my lower back. I finished the onions, and went inside, figuring it would go away soon enough. Ha! Not so! Since then, I've been hobbling around, not really able to straighten up, moving like a total freadazoid, and probably making weird noises. But, it's not all bad! There's a silver lining to this little cloud. Today, in an effort to help my back feel better, I've been spending a boatload of time in my recliner, shelling out walnuts. I've cracked out 7 lbs of meat! Wow! Ok, when I put it in writing, 7 lbs. doesn't really sound like alot, but it's taken me a long time, so I'm still going to be excited for myself. Anyway, you want to know something? As I'm cracking these things, I keep thinking about my mom's candied walnuts she used to make. They had this dark almost hard candy coating, and she would cook them on the stove, then pour it all onto a cookie sheet to cool, then break them apart. Funny that I haven't thought of that in years. I wonder if I can find her recipe?

I "Heart" Big Trucks!

I got a phone call Wednesday night from our oldest son, Michael. It was well after dark, and he didn't have school the next day, so I wasn't surprised to find he'd decided to go hunting the next day. Here's the gist of our conversation:

"Hi Mom, guess what? I just killed a deer!"
"When? Where? I didn't know you went hunting today."
"Like, not even 5 minutes ago, right here South of town, and I wasn't hunting. I was driving!"
"What??"
"I wasn't hunting! I hit it with the truck! "

Oh, let me tell you, anybody with children knows the feeling I had when my son told me that he'd hit a full grown deer, broadside. But the only thing that happened, well, aside from him killing the deer, was a caved in bumper and a busted headlight.

New headlight - $20. Friends helping pull bumper back out - $0. Nothing wrong with my son - priceless.