Christmas Tree Wall Hanging

Christmas tree wall hanging - 2012

I found this design in an old quilting magazine. A hand-quilted, batting-in-the-middle, wall hanging with sequins, buttons, and beads sewn on as ornaments. I machine appliqued garland in yellow thread, and a bright yellow star on top. I hand stitched the star rays with yellow thread. 

The tree was originally supposed to be pieced together with Christmas fabric. But I wanted my tree to be all one pattern piece, so I had to design my own tree pattern, and the green fabric I used actually matches the valance next to it (not shown). 

The white background fabric is a large (about 10" x 16") piece of eyelet. I ironed some fusible webbing to machine appliqué the tree, trunk, and skirt to the background, and then added the red strips to the top and bottom. The star squares were hand sewn into each corner (because I don't like piecing little squares with the machine), and then the edges were added. The top tabs were almost the hardest to attach because just when I thought I had them all level, one would be too short. As it is, it's just a hair off, but it's done and over with! Not too bad for a first try at this pattern!

The dowel its hanging on is painted light brown and I super glued the wide red ribbon to each end, and tied a large bow at the top.

It was fun to make, so this'll be one wall hanging that we'll keep for years!

Bread Baking!

Of late, I've had a blast baking bread! For my family and for friends.....anyone who'll want to taste it! I decided that I would try to sell my loaves of bread and see if anyone else liked it as well as I did.

I found out that I have really kind friends who've bought my breads! So exciting!

I bake white bread, wheat bread, and make cinnamon rolls. I started taking orders for the week ahead and get up really, really early in the morning on specific days to bake. The house smells like a bakery, and its great!

It's so fun making things in the kitchen! I've become so used to it that when I don't bake, I feel like something's wrong!

I wish I could have a bakery and sell lots more, but that probably won't happen for quite a while, if ever!

For now, I'm having lots of fun, and hope the recipients of my breads are liking what they buy!

Homemade Tamales

Tamales are my favorite mexican food! I've loved them since I was a kid (which was a long time ago). Red tamales could be found on every mexican food restaurant up until about 15 years ago. Now they're not quite so popular on the menu. Green tamales are good, too, but I still like red. When I was growing up, the perfect plate was two cheese enchiladas and a red tamale, with refried beans (cheese melted on top, of course).

Having such a liking for tamales, my husband would buy (just for me) a dozen from a coworker every time they were available. However, due to rising prices, tamales have become nearly too expensive to buy.

So, like usual, we decided to try our hand at making our own. With a recipe from our son-in-law's family, we began. The first batch (pork) was okay, but a little bland. Second batch (beef), pictured above, was great! The third batch used up the meat from the first two batches, plus chicken! 

Older children came over to help and learn. I really like the big crowd cooking with all the conversation, laughing, tasting, and washing of dishes. (Thanks to all! It was lots of fun!)

The above picture is only 1/2 of the second batch. We ended up with so many, I think we'll eat something else for a while, and freeze the tamales for next month!

Jelly Making

Started with this.......

and ended up with this.....

Yummy! More jars still to fill!

Loving Camping!

Camping.....

We love camping! Out in the wilderness, no phones, no alarms, no places to be, just relaxation.

Butterflies were everywhere. All kinds, too!

Fishing is so much fun! Everyone tried to catch the biggest fish in the lake. But when that didn't work, we all just settled for anything that took the bait!

A bald eagle reserve is on one side of the lake where nesting eagles make their home. Quite a sight! It's great to see such a beautiful bird flying around.

This is just a part of the lake. It wanders on to the right and opens up to where the dock is. Just looking at this picture makes me want to go back!

A fisherman trying to add to his catch limit!

Kayaks are a great way to get around water fast.

Great fishing spot!

On one of our walks through the woods and fields, we spotted this coyote. Didn't know we had company on our outing!

We had such great fun! Camping anywhere (except the desert in the summertime) is so relaxing!

Dryer Cloths Melt....

In an experiment to find sources of fire starters for campfires this summer, I decided to try using a few of the millions of dryer cloths that were filling up my garbage can.

In a cleared area free from any debris that might catch fire, I began the experiment.

Simple! They just melt! Disintegrate right before your very eyes! And quite quickly, too!

On to the next experiment.....

What We Found In Our Backyard....

Just passing through, I'm sure, but nonetheless, beautiful!

 This Oriole apparently is making its way from its southern, winter home in Mexico through the western half of the United States up north as far as Canada.

But this is the first time our backyard has hosted such a bright, beautiful bird!

Photo Fun!

Lotsa pictures to share of a random nature. We've been having so much fun lately, I haven't kept up with my friends in blog-land!