Livin' La Needle Loca

...and I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! We have several rose bushes in the front yard, most have fallen victim to the drought. However, this old-fashioned semi-double rose is still blooming: This Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is waiting to be planted in the courtyard: And the star of the garden this year is our little tangerine tree. It has gone nuts so to speak: We'll have plenty of tangerines to share! Up this weekend: It's time to get serious about Thanksgiving. I need to make the preliminary grocery run to buy the turkey and get it defrosting so it's ready for the dry brine on Wednesday. I also need to make the cranberry sauce so the flavors meld for a few days.  I'll do the main produce run on Tuesday night. The biggest thing I need to do is clean the house. There's something about having your mother-in-law (or mother for that matter) come dinner that makes you want to dust, mop, and vacuum! Cleaning the house will be my primary j...

...and the last day of March. I made the sun-dried tomato and pesto torta on Friday night so it would have time to set-up.  I hadn't made it in quite a while, so I couldn't remember which recipe to use. I combined 3 or 4 recipes to come up with this one: It was quite tasty!  I made the biscotti on Saturday. The baking was not a problem, but it was a very warm day and the chocolate never did completely dry. They were still good, though! The company party was so fun and the food was great! Our hosts made several appetizers that were quite yummy. My favorites were the deviled eggs with Fleur de Sel: I did manage to get the laundry done on Saturday, between the biscotti baking and chocolate steps. However, not much else got done. On Sunday, I had very little energy, but I did manage to get to the grocery store and Target. I made a batch of chile in the crockpot and baked some cornbread and called it dinner.  :) I wove a bit on the Dreams of Amethyst and worked a ...

....gee, I haven't posted in a week. That's what happens when I get super busy at work. I have today off to prep as much as I can for Thanksgiving. I did my grocery run early this morning to get the fresh vegetables and rolls I need for tomorrow. I've already baked the pies, made the stuffing/dressing, assembled the yam-apple casserole, and put Mr. Turkey into his dry brine. I'm taking a quick lunch break, albeit a late one, before I attack the rest of the items on my To Do list. Still a long way to go... On the knitting front, I'm working away on the mittens, but it's slow going. I'm still not completely recovered from my cold and I've been falling asleep early. That means I might get a row or two knitted before I crash. When I can stay awake, I've been swatching different yarns to make a scarf-shrug-thingy that the Daughter wants. She found a limited edition pattern from Wool and the Gang that she loves. I ordered the pattern but did not o...

...the weekend report. PIQF I had a great time at PIQF . There were a lot of interesting art quilts and a lot of traditional quilts. I pretty much blew past the traditional quilts. I appreciate the effort and skill that goes into them, but my eye will always be drawn to the unusual, colorful, or down-right odd quilt. I'm still processing my pictures, but here are a couple that caught my eye. I love the colors in Firmament by Brigitte Morgenroth of Germany: And I loved the bees in Coreopsis by Bernadine Hine of Australia. I have a 2014 PIQF album on Flickr with a few more photos; I'll add to it as I get a chance. (And, yes, I bought a little fabric...it's in the Flickr photo album.) Alcea Cowl [ Ravelry ] I finished knitting the cowl. I washed and blocked it. I'm waiting for it to dry so I can sew the ends together and call it done. So my first project for Loopy Academy is almost done! Wurm Hat [ Ravelry ] I started my second project for Loopy A...

...with the flurry of activity around here, I didn't get a chance to post until now. I finished all of the goodies by Sunday and started packaging Sunday afternoon. I got the cookies and biscotti done, but had to wait until Monday to package everything else. I've separated the stuff that needs to be mailed and that will be tomorrow's task...I need to buy boxes first. The final goodie total: Bark: 9 pounds Biscotti: 661 Breads and fruitcakes: 30 mini-loaves and 10 medium loaves Cookies: 815 Spicy nuts: 3 pounds Sugared nuts: 12 pounds After that, I cleaned the house and moved into Christmas Eve dinner preparations. I made the last grocery run as early as I could on Tuesday (but still not early enough...what a zoo!), while the Husband went out to get the seafood for the Cioppino. I made a coconut flan for dessert that turned out pretty well. I think next time I might chop the coconut separately and then adding it to the liquid mixture. The recipe calls for blen...

...because I'm not sure when I'll have time to post again. The Southern Skies shawl has been getting the most play lately. It's been so cold that all I want to do is snuggle under a blanket. The shawl is easy to work on when I'm bundled up. I just finished edging repeat number 41 of 58. More than 2/3rds done...YAY! The Mediterranean Mermaid is on a temporary hold until after Thanksgiving. Here's what she looks like now: I'll stitch her face before going back to the hundreds of brown stitches in her hair.  I'm trying not to get bored with all that brown so I can continue forward progress. The biggest WIP of all is Thanksgiving dinner. Tomorrow's schedule is full. Go to the grocery store early to get all of the veggies and fruit I need. Get Mr. Turkey into the dry brine Make the sides: dressing/stuffing; mashed potatoes; sweet potato casserole; jello mold (The Husband's mom likes that); gravy Bake desserts: pumpkin pies; cranberry cake;...

...let's see if I can get back into the groove of blogging this week. The anniversary party went very well. The Husband's parents enjoyed themselves and the food was a hit. We had about 45 guests, which was a little over what we expected but not a problem. In fact, we wished that people ate more because there was a lot more left over than there usually is at these functions. We served two kinds of gazpacho with shrimp: individual veggies and dips, with more veggies on the side: artichoke frittata cut into two-bite pieces: and individual 7-layer dips: We also purchased a meat-and-cheese tray and a tray of tea sandwiches.  For dessert , the Daughter brought Sprinkles Cupcakes as my MIL didn't want a cake. Needless to say, between the food preparation and keeping things running at the party, the Husband and I were wiped out by the end of Saturday. I was too tired to knit! On Sunday, the Husband spent the day in the City with his sister and her hu...

...it's June! The tomatillos are flowering... ...and setting fruit. The cosmos are blooming... . ..the marionberries are ready for picking... ...and the apricots are nearly ripe... We'll have to work hard to get any apricots this year. There aren't very many and the birds are already picking off the high ones. Up this weekend: We are in the throes of planning a party for their 60th anniversary. The Husband is helping his parents get their yard in order and I'm planning the menu. This weekend, I need to print a few recipes and try them out. Gazpacho sounds really good right now... I also need to pull out my serving platters and see whether we have enough. We're still a few weeks away, so we have plenty of time. It never hurts to be prepared! We'll pick the ripe marionberries and I'll make a batch of preserves from them. I need to spend some serious time weaving as I have not made much progress on the shawl. Knitting the Sout...

...I've only worked on the Zuni needlepoint. It's coming along: Most of my WIPs today are food. I've already made the stuffing for tomorrow and prepped the yams so they are ready to bake. I've made two pumpkin pies and a cranberry crustless pie (althought I think it looks like a cake).  I've coated the turkey with a dry brine (sea salt and herbs, with a touch of lemon peel). I have a little vegetable prep to do and then the clean up begins. My kitchen floor is in sad shape after all this cooking and needs a good mopping. I need to move a few (who am I kidding a LOT) of projects out of the living room. Then I need to use the vacuum monster and get the tablecloths out. It sounds like a lot of stuff to do, but it's not nearly as bad as when I work all day Wednesday and have to do the same thing late at night! OK, break's over! Back to it so I can finish up and really relax! Happy Thankgiving!! .

...partly because I worked on Christmas projects that are secret, and partly because the you can't really see the progress I made. **SPOILER ALERT! If you belong to the Petals Collection club, there is a picture of the last installment at the bottom of this post** Saturday, I worked on the Christmas wall hanging. I took care of all the loose threads, added a hanging sleeve, and worked on the binding. I've got about 1/3 of the binding tacked down, so I still have quite a bit to do. I should be able to finish it over the holiday. I'm having trouble coming up with a suitable name for it, though. Nothing "punny" comes to mind, at least not that I haven't already used for something else. Sunday, I worked on the Daughter's Peekaboo mittens. I didn't get very far, but at least they are progressing. Tight now they don't look any different than a pair of socks as I'm still doing the cuffs. I spent a good part of the weekend doing Thanksgiving prep. I m...

...I feel recharged and ready to take on my Christmas tasks! Thanksgiving dinner was a hit. I tried a new appetizer of sauteed mushrooms and melted brie in a sourdough bread loaf. It was very tasty. The turkey was wonderfully flavored from the spicy brine (I used the Williams-Sonoma brine mix) and everything else turned out great. I tried an apple galette for dessert -- aside from apple juices spilling over into my oven, it was pretty painless to make. On Friday, we took our annual trip with friends to a Christmas tree farm. They have been making this trip for over 30 years. We tag along to enjoy the company and the munchies, but don't buy a tree because they don't have a large selection of Douglas firs (which we prefer). We'll probably get our tree next weekend from our favorite place. The rest of the long weekend was filled with knitting or quilting while watching movies. Since our daughter was visiting friends, going to her HS reunion, etc., she needed a car. Needless ...

...let the cooking begin! Of course, the most important thing that happens today is that my kid comes home! I pick her up at the airport (ugh) this morning. On tap today is making the stuffing (well, dressing; I never stuff the turkey anymore), the desserts, and prepping the yams for the casserole tomorrow. Oh yeah, and getting the bird in the brine. I'm making a variation of my wild rice and bread dressing. I'm using more brown rice plus the white and wild rice mix I usually use, and I'm using some whole wheat bread with the white and sour dough breads. I can't vary it too much because the family likes it as it is. The dressing has sauteed apples which give it a nice flavor. I also need to do the final mop and cleanup in the kitchen, but that won't happen until tonight. As promised, I have a photo of the mitten, such as it is. It's hard to take a picture of something gray, so you don't get the full effect of how wonderful this color is -- take my word for i...

...house is cleaner; the turkey is defrosting; cranberry sauce is cooked and chilling; and I only work one day this week! I took Tuesday and Wednesday as vacation days, partly to unwind after the last big project and partly to just have some extra time to prepare for Thursday. My husband and I both decided that some purging was necessary in the kitchen, so I spent a good part of going through cabinets, setting aside stuff for Goodwill and dumping out-of-date food, spices, and the like. We always seem to acquire 3 or 4 glasses from Art & Wine Festivals every year (that we don't need), so we got rid of about 30 glasses, plus some cups we never use, and so on. I unearthed my daughter's bedroom, so she can actually sleep in there. The cats were thrilled that I had given them a clean place to hangout... My husband requested new towels and rugs for his bathroom, so I got to go shopping for that... such a hardship! Since most of my time was spent cleaning, I didn't do a lot o...