Snakes Eat Frogs

So today we stopped by my Aunt's house to say hello and wish her and my grandmother a happy mother's day. We were getting ready to leave.....for us that means Brad is up starting the truck while I'm still talking to people. All of a sudden, he starts calling me, "come here, you need to see this" My uncle and I both head up there wondering what is so exciting.....then the only word I hear is "SNAKE" Great!!!! He's already brought one in the house to show me this spring...I'm not afraid of snakes, but I don't feel the need to look at another one. A snake is a snake, is a creepy slithery snake!!



I'm glad I sucked it up and went to look! We got to watch this garter (code for totally harmless!!) snake eat a frog! I get that some people will think it's gross, but it's really pretty amazing when you get to watch nature work the way God designed it to, right there, in living color!!


We decided to put all the pictures (or at least the ones from my phone that weren't too blurry) into a video instead of posting 40 pictures to tell the story. Sometimes I think I've seen a lot, but this is seriously one of THE COOLEST things I've EVER gotten to watch happen!


What cool nature things have you gotten to see? I'd love to hear your stories (and see pics/video!!)

Felted Sweater Quilt pt2

OK....so it's taken me longer than I expected to get this second part of the quilt project posted...sorry!! We've been really enjoying the blanket!

It's been so great this winter!! I LOVE to cuddle under it in the camper (which does NOT stay super warm, especially with all the wind we've had this year)

Making it was super simple.....I know you can do it!

Here is the more dense fabric after you've washed and shrunk (felted) the sweaters

The sweater felted and the pocket stayed.....I want to keep this in the blanket to hold my goodies....you know, a little snack, the remote or some tissues. 

Now for the work. Time to start cutting the sweaters into usable pieces. First step is to cut out the seams....they just get too bulky to sew through all those extra seams

 I was going to do things in a very random patchwork, but when I started sewing I went right back to the cutting table and started whacking things into squares and rectangles. 

I used my ruler and rotary cutter to cut down the sleeves, and necklines

In the end you get rectangle, but this isn't a perfect project! There were several pieces that had ripples like this one that need to be taken care of.....of course I didn't get pics of the fix.....basically you just want to cut it smaller and re-square it. For the piece above I cut the bottom of the piece off and left just the rippley part. I took that strip and cut it in half and suddenly the one rectangle with ripples became two funky shapes that laid flat....it was like a magic trick!! You just have to use the ruler and rotary cutter to straighten the pieces back up so you can sew them. 

I tried to keep as much of the fabric of each sweater as possible. Using a rotary cutter is a great way to make this happen (you could do it with scissors, but I'm a rotary addict anyway) 

This might look like a sleeve, but it's actually a body piece from one of the sweaters. I left it this shape and put it with a sleeve to make a block. That's the beauty of this project....you can do whatever you want!! It's an easy breezy project to cozy up your cold days! 

I seriously can't lay under this blanket and not fall asleep! It's the perfect kind of warmth........Really warm and cozy, but you aren't sweating, just toasty!!

If you make your own felted sweater quilt, share your pictures with me! 

I'd love to see how yours comes out! 

Felted Sweater Quilt

You know I'm not a professional blogger....you're probable going to REALLY know that soon. If I was a pro I don't think I would post a project this size without it being done....but then, I'm not a pro! In fact, I hesitate to call myself an amateur. At best I'm blogging greenhorn! But if this project works out in real life like I see it in my head, it will all be worth it!! This is going to be the best, coziest blanket EVER!!!

Have you ever felted? Do you know what felting is? I'm guessing we've all done it at one point in our lives, even if it wasn't intentional. Basically it's shrinking wool....You know what I mean...you take that perfect wool sweater or pair of socks and accidently throw them in the washer and they come out toddler sized....yep, you just felted them!!

The great thing about felting is that when the fibers shrink they get really thick and dense.  Now this is the magic of it all.....you can cut apart that sweater and it won't unravel! Promise! Well....I promise it won't after it's felted -- don't cut before you felt or you'll be left with a big messy pile of crinkly yarn....bad news!

The first step of this project is to find your wool to felt. I turned to the Goodwill - you have to look at every tag to make sure that it's really wool, and that it warns against machine washing.

You'll see on the green one that it's only 80% wool....I decided it was worth the gamble. (hey, it was half off everything at Goodwill that day, it wasn't much of a gamble) 

After you have a bunch of sweaters, go through and cut out all the tags, buttons and yes, shoulder pads! 

Make sure to check for extra buttons and tags on the inside seams

  

 Oh yeah....and drycleaning tags! They're usually pinned in and those pins can rust when you wash them....not the end of the world, but not the effect we're going for either.

By the time you're done you'll have a nice pile of trash, and some new buttons to use on another project. 

The next step is to dump all the sweaters in the washer. I put just a drop of detergent in
(maybe a 1/4 of the normal amount) 

Then set it to a full load as hot and long as you can set it.
Don't worry if you don't have a full load, still set your machine on large load (these babies need some room to move)

Also, if you have a front load machine, or a top-load without an agitator, you may have to run a few cycles, or put something in with the sweaters to rough 'em up a bit. 

When they are done washing, pull them out and admire your handiwork....if they didn't shrink enough, put them back through. You'll know when it's enough when you can't really see the stitches anymore and the sweater feels thicker is hard to stretch.  When they are sufficiently felted, pop them in the dryer. 

Go find your sweaters, get them washed and dried and check back soon for part 2 (I can't post it yet, because I haven't tried it yet....see.... I told you, unprofessional)

Time to catch up....from this weekend anyway

I don't even know where to start! I have SO much to say! Just this week alone I have had about 452 things happen that I could share.....Here are a few (crummy) pictures of the high-(or low-, depending on your perspective) lights of the week.

 It's Christmas time so I had to make a few gifts like this one....it's going to someone special. I hope they like it. I'll try to get a better picture when I make the next one.....and there will be more, it was so simple and came out really cute!!

 If you are what you eat then my cat is probably at least half dog...or dog food anyway....she ended up all the way in the bag! I guess she was hungry!

 We had this guy show up on our porch Saturday....I talked to a neighbor, who told me he had been hanging around a different neighbor's house and that neighbor was "trying to shoot him because he (the dog) went after him" I was a little nervous so I called in the cavalry....Jamie to the rescue! She has a Rotty of her own and so I figured she would know more what was normal behavior and what I should be worried about.

I spent some time with him, I cannot imagine him "going after" anyone unless he was provoked! We named him just a couple minutes after I snapped this quick picture.  I was going through, trying to decide how to keep him fed and cared for when we travel (most campgrounds and trailer parks don't allow Rottweilers) when we decided he should meet our other 2 dogs....that didn't go well....AT ALL!!!! He couldn't stay :( it broke my heart! I'm actually not a fan of animals I don't know, but this guy looked up at me with his one good eye and instantly wormed his way into my heart. It took all of about 5 minutes to realize I was his and he was mine. When someone new would stop by he would look at them and come sit on, yes ON, my feet.  He went to live with a friend of mine who is giving him a great home, and yes, I cried when they left with him. Is it stupid to miss a dog that I had for 3 days?? Oh well, I miss him anyway!

 After getting Bear (the Rottweiler) settled in the barn, Jamie and I went out to wrap up some Christmas shopping. Typical me, I came home with more craft ideas than actual gifts....I mean really, how am I going to pay for a rectangular pillow with strips of fabric sewn to it....I'm pretty sure I can whip this up in about 20 minutes!

 This is another one....It's a pot protector for when they are stored in the cabinet...I'm thinking I need a set for the camper, but seriously! It's a piece of felt cut into a flowery shape!! I can do that! And I have a stack of felt at home.....I'm NOT paying $12 for them!!

Sunday, Jamie, Josh and their girls came to the house to hangout with Bear and I again. Their middle daughter decorated my Christmas tree for me....she was quite concerned there was only 1 ornament on it. I was glad to let her do it....I just hadn't had the mood strike me yet to get the ornaments out. She did a fabulous job!! It looked wonderful!

Then I fell asleep on the couch and was awakened at 3am by a HUGE crash......the tree fell over!

There was busted glass and glitter EVERYWHERE!!! I even found pieces of glass up on the couch. Crazy!
I decided that we just aren't going to have a tree this year....we'll be ok.....right???


Yeah....we all know better! I NEED a tree! I didn't want to replace the crappy broken stand with another crappy stand, so I'm in the process of building a "tree" out of a glass jar, tomato cage and garland. I'll show you as soon as it's done. It's small, a little lopsided, but it's going to be enough this year!

Influenster

Have you heard of Influenster.com? It's this neat little site with HUGE rewards! They just went through a site makeover and, honestly, I'm still adjusting. OK....here's the deal. You sign up, earn badges, review products. I thought it was crazy when I first joined....but it's for real. I have received a VoxBox, I reviewed products, I love the whole idea of this site.

If you know me, you know I'm not always big on change. I like to find a system that works for me and when people disrupt that, I do NOT love it! For example, the Facebook timelines really messed me up for a few weeks. The new influenster site has been an adjustment to say the least.....it's totally different from the old site. Same premise, different layout! I think the changes are great, everything is pretty easy to navigate...I just have to readjust the way I do things, but I'm getting there.

Check out www.influenster.com. Let me know what you think!

Christmas is Coming!!

Christmas is coming! In just 3 weeks! I haven't crafted a single gift yet! I haven't finished shopping for a single person on my list!
I really miss blogging! I don't know why this occurred to me in the middle of the Christmas rush....but it did!

Did you notice that everything I say ends with a ! That is because that's the way life is going for us right now! It seems to just be a series of exclamation points all strung together! I'll try to get some pictures up from this year and get you all caught up on this year's happenings!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pin It!

Are you hooked on Pinterest? I know you didn't just say "what's Pinterest?" Pinterest is just the greatest online creation since Google.....if you don't believe me you HAVE to try it! The site is invitation only, so if you need an invite let me know and I'll send you one.

What Pinterest is is an online pin board. When you are looking at a website or blog and see something you really like and want to remember for later....Pin It! You choose a picture from the site, write a description about it and then it's saved to your pin board so you can easily get to it later.

You can also see what your friends are pinning....and repin their amazing finds.

It's easy to get carried away, lose track of time, and pin thousands of things. Here are some of the amazing things I've pinned lately

Really cute Valentine towels from She's {kinda} Crafty

Beautiful, fun hair color idea from The Beauty Department

This great sign/picture from Etsy

Oh there are so many more wonderful things out there....you really need to check it out. I hope to have some posts soon to show you the projects I've found on Pinterest that I have actually made.

Come join us....happy Pinning!

The end of a season

Summer's official over! There was even a forcast for frost the other night. That meant it was time to pull in anything that the frost might damage.....for us it was basil and some other herbs.  Our basil grew like a weed this summer!! We brought the herbs in, tied them in bunches and hung them from the wooden valance in front of the kitchen windows

How pretty is that?!?!? All the big bundles are basil, the little ones are lemon balm, parsley, and summer savory. I'm looking forward to having all these to cook with this winter. I know it won't be as good as fresh, but I think it's going to be better than storebought

Here is my first foray into fall baking.....frosted pumpkin cookies. They were SOOO good. I took some to a friend and sent the rest to work with Brad, otherwise I would probably have been able to eat most of the batch myself.

I used a little different frosting. It's more caramely

6 Tbsp Butter
8 Tbsp Milk
1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Put butter, milk and brown sugar in a pan and heat until all sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture cool in the pan. Add in vanilla and powdered sugar.

I dipped the warm cookies into the frosting and then let them cool on a cookie sheet. They are such a wonderful pumpkiny sweet cinnamony bite of cakey goodness.

If you decide to make these....the cookies don't spread much....seriously! They puffed up a bit, but that was the only change in shape. If you like perfectly shaped cookies, make sure they look that way going into the oven.

Happy Fall Ya'll!!

Changes on the Horizon

There are big changes coming soon for us. I'm not ready to tell everyone what's going on just yet, but they are happy changes and no I'm not pregnant (scary how I knew that's what some of you were thinking, huh?)
There are things going on that I can tell you about. The dogs are doing great. My Christmas craft list is started and seems to be growing every day. The garden is about done for the year so we'll be pulling plants and tilling the ground very soon. Our plants this year were gorgeous....however, we didn't get all that much fruit off of them. I keep hoping we get this gardening thing really figured out soon.

Anyway. I'll be posting more details about our coming changes soon. Be sure to check back

Evidently I'm bad at this...

Obviously keeping up with my blog is not something that I'm great at. Let's see if I can get you caught up on our lives pretty quick....

We were told that my car needed the engine re-built....so we decided to just replace the car since we're still making payments. Soooo....I got a NEW car!! Yay! I can't tell you how wonderful a 10 year warranty makes me feel!

Our house "flooded" again. Basically we had water seeping in through the south wall of our house. I guess that's one of the dangers of living in a basement.....We didn't lose anything, no one was hurt, but what a pain! See the bedroom that had water in it is actually our storage room, so there was a ton of stuff to move and dry underneath.

Let's see....what else....lots of work. OH!....the exciting news....We are going on vacation!!! A real, honest to goodness vacation! Our first since our honeymoon, 7 years ago. We are going to the Outer Banks, for a whole week. I can feel the tension start to disolve every time I look at this picture

This is the view from the backyard of the rental house....how wonderful will that be?!?! I can't wait to watch the sunset over the sound!

I will hopefully have some more interesting things to share soon. Oh, did I mention that this year I'm going to be an aunty again? If I didn't I should have. My sister is expecting another boy in June, and Brad's brother is expecting their first baby in August...we actually find out today if we're having a niece or nephew. I also have a cousin expecting this fall.....so there should be baby crafts to show off!

Icy Lessons

As you know we had an ice storm last week. We lost electricty Monday and finally got it back Thursday night....what a long week. It wasn't all bad though....I learned a lot and we made some memories that are going to last us a long time.

Some of the things we learned:
A generator is your best friend when the power goes out

However, you really should make sure the battery is charged (ours wasn't) that you have gas (we didn't) and that the wiring in the house is setup so that you can actually plug the generator into the house (ours isn't). So instead we jumped the battery with the truck, ventured out to get gas and see/help some family along the way, and ran extension cords into the house.

You can cook potatoes on a radiator heater....if you can leave them long enough....my guess would be 3-4 hours

 When you don't have time to let them cook....chop them up

 add some ham, onion, broth and spices and make soup

If you're wondering, yes that is a turkey fryer in our kitchen....seriously! It's just a propane burner, hooked to a small bottle (like for a grill). You would be amazed how much heat that puts out! We got the house all the way to 60 degrees with it. A word of warning.....do NOT leave unattended! This is a serious open flame!

We huddled around it like a couple of hobo's but it kept the chill off....it also made some killer roasted marshmallows!

We ate really, REALLY well during this ordeal....seriously...look at this breakfast!

Yummmmmm!!!

I even figured out how to make coffee. Don't ask why this didn't occur to me sooner, but I just heated water on the burner and poured it over the grounds into the coffee pot

Then you just let the coffee pot do it's magic....hot delicious beverage coming right up!

If you curious, no,  we were not able to keep food in our fridge. Instead we moved it all into coolers on the porch. We hoped the cooler would keep the cold food from freezing.....and it worked like a charm!

Everything from the small freezer was transfered to the great frozen outside also.

We also learned that playing games beats a lot of boredom...We played checkers, connect 4 and battleship....I put together a puzzle, Brad did some reading.

We also learned that a smaller area heats faster....so we curtained off the hallway so all we were heating was the kitchen and living room. That said, we had to have a place to sleep so the mattress from the guest room was pulled to the living room floor.

The dogs loved it!

It was actually great to have a couple days to hang out with no electronic distractions.

I learned, even more, about how amazing my husband is. He got out in the freezing cold and got the generator running, helped me cook, drove the awful roads to make sure we were taken care of and stopped to check on my family, including chipping ice at my grandparents, picked up one of my friends for work on Thursday, and helped get the house back in order when the power came back on. 

I learned what a great team we make....I wouldn't say that I want to go through another ice storm any time soon, but it wasn't that bad, and we did learn a lot.

ps...if you know Brad you might have noticed that I said we added onions to the soup....he even knew they were going in, in fact he sauted them while I got the potatoes ready. Amazing, I know!

What a week!

I will try to post more tomorrow, but I just wanted to say.....I'm SOOOO glad this past week is in the past! We spent from Monday till Thursday with no electricity, and since we're on a well, that means no water either. Our internet is BPL - Broadband over Power Lines - which was out until tonight. Our house phone was out for nearly 2 days during all this too.....I just can't express how glad I am to have all our modern amenities back.

Do NOT try this at home

Seriously....I am NOT encouraging anyone else to try this, but I think I need to share what I did yesterday.

I cleaned a pan - stop rolling your eyes! This is scarier than it sounds....I cleaned a nonstick griddle with an SOS pad and a big hunk of steel wool scouring pouf thingy (sorry, I really don't know what it's called but it's made of soft-ish metal and you use it to scrub things that won't scratch easily)

I forgot to take a picture before I started, but I think you can imagine what the pan looked like.....See the black in the middle of the pan, the whole thing looked like that before I started. The pan was "clean" but the black build up from years of using cooking spray and too high of heat was really bugging me.

So I started scrubbing

I moved the pan to the counter beside the sink so I'd have a more solid surface...then I hit my head

If this cabinet didn't hold all my cups and glasses it would have been ripped off the wall after I hit my head on it...the 3rd time!! You would think I'd learn not to lift my head there, but NOOOO I just kept doing it...Ouch!!

I ended up using some BarKeeper's Friend - if you don't know what this is, you really need to check it out it's non-abrasive and helps keep my pans (the non-gunky ones) and sink shining!

I also grabbed an SOS pad for a little extra fine scrubbing.

Then, after about an hour of scrubbing this is what I got it down to

I HAD to stop scrubbing, not because of any harm to the pan....the non-stick coating actually still looks perfect, but my arms were on FIRE!!! That was a lot of scrubbing! I figure I'll have one more good session with the srubber and it should be back to nearly new.

I really would not recommend this method, but I was at the point I was going to throw the pan away if I couldn't get the black stuff off. If I had ruined it, it wouldn't have been a loss.....instead I saved one of my favorite pans. YAY!!! We can still have pancakes and quesadillas!

New Year = New Attitude

For nearly 6 years now, Brad and I have been trying to have a baby....we're still trying. Sometimes all our trying (and the disappointments that have come along with it) lead me to having a bad attitude. I've decided that this is the year it's going to change. I know it won't be easy but instead of the sorrow, disappointment and bitterness that can seem to infiltrate my attitude I'm going to strive for something better.

This year I want to be

Joyful
Prayerful
Hopeful
Kind
Truthful
Forgiving
Thoughtful
Giving
Loving
Purposeful
Attentive
Relaxed

OK these obviously reach farther than our infertility, but they are all attributes of the person I want to be. I hope that I am some of these things already....but I know that I have a long way to go.

I have a lot of fun posts and pictures to catch up on....sorry if this got a little heavy, but it's been weighing on me and I just wanted to share a little piece of my heart with ya'll.

Blog Hopping

I'm blog hopping with Jessica's Coupons this week. I'm actually excited about checking out some new blogs...what better way to find some new inspiration than to find a new pool of blogs to read!

Hope you all had a great Christmas!  I hope to be back to blogging a bit more next week.

Happy New Year Ya'll!

Quick Knit Ornament

I promised the other day that I would share the pattern for the sweater ornament with you....Here it is:

Cast on 13 stitches

Work 3 rows of K1P1 rib

Work Stockinet stitch (starting with a knit row) for 9 rows

Knit 13, Cast on 10

Purl 23, Cast on 10

Work in Stockinet stitch 3 rows

Purl 13sts, Cast Off 7, Purl 13

Knit 13, Cast on 7, Knit 13

Work Stockinet st 3 rows

Cast off 10, knit to end

cast off 10, purl to end

work 10 rows Stockinet St

Work 3 rows of K1P1 rib

Cast off

Using a contrast yarn, and long stitches, add initial to front of sweater

Fold sweater in half, with intial on the inside and sew up the sides and sleeves

Turn right side out, add a hanger (I would just use a loop of yarn) and you're done!

You may have noticed that I didn't give you a yarn or needle size....that's because you can really use any size yarn. For the example I used Cascade 220 and size 6 needles. I have also done with with Homespun (Lion Brand) and size 8 needles....the size yarn and needles you use will determine the size of your finished sweater. I think using some scrap sock yarn would make REALLY cute little sweaters.

I can finish one of these in about an hour so there really is still time to get some done before Christmas.

If you run into any trouble with this pattern, please let me know so I can correct it. Also, I'd love to see any mini sweaters you knit up.



North to Alaska!

YAY!! The bulk of my Christmas crafting/shopping is done and on it's way to our Alaska family. It's always such a relief when I get that Christmas box mailed out. All I have left to do is 17 stuffed owls, 5 wreaths, 1 set of placemats, and another market skirt...did I mention making chocolate covered pretzels, turtles, baking cookies, the church Christmas program, one shopping day with a good friend and getting ready for Christmas dinner? I think I can handle it!

Hope you're all making lots of progress on your to-do lists too.

Only 10 More Days

It hit me today....we only have 10 days till Christmas!!! EEEEEKKKK!  So much to do!! After I had a mini-meltdown (ok...maybe a little more than "mini") I got to work and got quite a bit accomplished. As usual there are things I can't show you...but here are the ones that I can:

I made a couple of great t-shirts for some young boys...I'm pretty impressed with myself on these. I looked at monsters online and then just started doodling. I had probably a hundred to choose from so both the boys get the same little blockheaded monster - they live so far apart they won't run into each other at a party so I think I'm safe



This one still needs to be stitched down, but it's all fused



Here is one that's finished....SO cute!!



I also made a market skirt from this tutorial over at MADE. If you haven't checked out her blog, you really should...Dana has some amazing stuff going on.

This skirt is actually WAY cuter in person!

This skirt was SO simple! It went together really quick and is going to be perfect for the girly little girl getting it for Christmas. I was going to put pockets on it, but I ran out of time....this and one of the monster shirts had to be delivered last week....oh well, pockets will appear on a project soon.

I made these boxes for one the projects that I can't show you....I just couldn't find anything else to fit it (them) so I made my own. I found the directions over at Not So Idle Hands. It took a bit of trial and error to get the measurements just right. I never thought I'd make my own gift boxes, but I think it was worth it!

I've also been working on knit sweater ornaments. I have to trouble shoot the pattern a little more, but I'll try to have it posted in the next couple days. Honestly, I wrote the pattern and knit the first one in just a couple hours, so there is still time to get a couple done for last minute Christmas gifts.

This one is for my secret santa at work....if you know her shhhhhh!!

A little side note:  The cat has found a new napping spot...on my basket of fabric. If you get something from me and find a hair or 2 I'm sorry....just think of it as Bonnie saying hello.

I promise Bonnie is still just a kitten....but she looks awfully big laying there

I joined these parties....check them out for some great ideas.