Egg Roll Packets

Yes, you  read it correctly,

Egg Roll Packets.

  I  questioned it too.

My husband called and said he had made egg rolls for dinner  

but when I came home he pulled out a tray of what 

appeared to be fried fish squares.

Egg ROLLS?  I questioned.

 This is how the directions said to fold them,

so he folded them into packets.

Ya know what?

They are GOOD, rolls or not.

Great.  

Keepers.

  He filled them with all my favorites.

Cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms, water chestnuts, 

carrots, onions,  garlic and ginger.

Seasoned with hot sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and a little salt.

Then fried them in an butter using the wok.

Any ingredients will do.

I topped them with sweet and sour sauce.

They were great- I had two!

He didn't follow any particular recipe but here

is how to fold them the way he did.

This is from Frieda's Egg Roll Wrappers.

The link will take you to other recipes.

Did I mention these are good?

 Yum!

It looks like I need a Java update 

but when he tried to update it, 

it never goes through.

I hope no one has a problem reading this

but if you do, let me know.

Linking to the Country Homemaker Hop

Quilting the Blues

  Quilting the Blues, 

Jeans I mean.

 I have a huge pile of old work jeans, completely

trashed in the front (caulk, stains, etc) from construction

sites but much of the legs plus most of the back

  remain in perfectly good shape. 

   

Now I've begun to cut apart the various sections

 pockets,  legs, backs,  buttons and rivets, 

zippers and straps from overalls.

I'll do a few pair every night.

I've left the largest pieces I could since I don't know 

what sizes I will need.  I'd like to  put them together

for quilts or other EASY projects.

If you have some good ideas, please share.

Linking to the Country Homemaker Hop

It's So Puzzling!

    It Puzzles Me!  How About You?

I went on a puzzle hunt while shopping one day.

I checked out the clearance racks and came up with some

puzzles for the whole family. 

A nice six pack for Taylor,

my granddaughter,

a sleepy puppy snoozing on the porch for me

( 1000 pieces, and lots of white!)

 a historical puzzle for Tom

and one more for Taylor,

who could resist a tall puzzle

complete with colorful sea life!

(500 Pieces)

I think I'll give Tom a hand with his

Sergeant Beaubien 750 pieces.

Let's get puzzling . . . .

  You know what?

750 pieces is a lot of pieces!

I opened them and tried to clean off

all the paper debris  - you can see it on the table.

Then I sorted them into 

Flat pieces

and 

various colors.

He swears the puzzle is missing lots of center pieces!

LOL.  No I don't think that is the case.

I've got most of the outline completed

and he's working on the tripod for the campfire.

After about an hour we had to give it a break.

I haven't done an adult puzzle in a long time.

If we get more snow I know what we'll be up to!

Sleet Drift -

A sleet drift of almost 14 inches!

That's what awaits out our back door 

after today's (Missouri) winter storm,

and I'm not certain if it's over yet!

This was dawn, beautiful for awhile, 

but you know what they say-

Red Sky at Dawn

Sailor take Warn

 It was one of those storms where the morning

drive was just fine, so

businesses were open.

But not for long.

I was fortunate enough to be able to work 

from home, the first time I've done 

that this year.

This is all sleet.

There were a few snowflakes

but mostly sleet all day long .

My husband was on  4 wheeler duty-

plowing the road since they don't 

treat our road up here on the ridge.

It's gravel but the hill down to the county road is paved,

steep and always slick in snow or ice.

Every time he'd make a pass, it was covered up

again immediately.  He said it was hard to 

keep your eyes open with the wind

blowing the sleet so hard.

It was cascading over our gutters, 

rolling down the roof just like a waterfall.

I have never seen anything like it.

 In the end we got 4-5  inches

  but not snow- all sleet.   Other areas received

up to 9 inches of snow.

We fortunately missed

the freezing rain or it would have been much worse.

OOPs, freezing rain coming in now.

  

This is where I worked today. 

I didn't even try to go in, I knew I might be stranded

on the way home once the weather started getting bad.

This is our attic that we redesigned to be a  "real" attic

with walls, floors and stairs.  We've got bookshelves

and some storage tubs up there- like the Christmas tree,

kids old toys, the model trains, old artwork, etc.

 You can see the old computer equipment, before

we used nice little laptops!

 The office closed 12:30 PM, physically, 

but anyone that could work from home 

had to keep working.  As far as I am concerned,

it's a great trade off. I didn't have to drive 

an hour (on a good day) in it and then another hour back.

If only an hour.  From what I hear traffic was moving

about 20 mph, and I'm 40 miles away,

across about 25-30 miles of highway then

through hills and county roads with no shoulders

and ditches that are so steep that cars flip.

No guard rails either.

Our county road has not been touched

and I just found out the plow cable snapped

so no more plowing up here either.

I won't get off our ridge tomorrow,

the roads will be too icy out here, especially since

the Jeep broke down which means 4WD is out.

  The weatherman said once we get past these next three weeks,

it will be all good, no more snow!

I'll be glad for that.

Stay safe- stay warm!

Linking  to Country Homemaker Hop

First Attempt- Applique

     I skipped out of work today- to sew!

My Block of the Month includes applique, 

and a free class on how to do it.

 Having worked there for over 12 years,

I am blessed to have 26 vacation days

on top of the 8 or 9 regular corporate days off

so I can take some fun days throughout the year.

(Susie Q's - before hours, she normally has a bench

draped with a quilt and a quilted bear outside)

I  don't know how to applique.

I don't know how to change any settings on my machine either

so off to the quilt shop I went, instruction manual in hand.

The class of 10 turned out to be only two of us,

which was great- two instructors, two students. 

It can't get any better.  Good thing too!

After fiddling around for about 15-20 minutes 

to select the proper program, change the tension

select the right foot and test the stitch,

I was ready to begin.

We were to bring some scraps.

They showed me how to use the interfacing,

how to sew around the tracing line, 

cut open the interfacing and turn the piece inside out

(right side out?) and then press to the base using

a foundation piece beneath the fabric and

a Teflon ironing cloth to keep any stickiness from

oozing onto the iron.

I  made my leaf

and stitched around it.

The leaf shape may not be perfect

but that was user error!  I don't think I cut it straight.

The first point was a little off because

I didn't understand how the blanket stitch would work

but it got much easier.  The foot I chose, 

base on what Pfaff recommended, has a guide

to keep the stitch in place.

It's not perfect but for the first time I ever did this,

I would have been happy with only slightly horrible.

They actually were complimentary!

I didn't know to bring contrasting thread

that was thicker and a needle to accommodate it

so we just worked with what I had.

I also made a circle but decided to finish the 

stitching at home since it was going well.

 I have purchased lots of fabric from this shop,

she carries the really good stuff.

I can't afford all really good stuff so I wanted to also 

hit a fabric sale a couple of towns over,

which from my house is not really all that far.

They had fabrics marked down to $3/yard

with 1/2 yard minimums.

I selected 1 yard each of these black & whites 

  

Several 1/2 yard fabrics

 I

I had to get the cats  - love cats!

Who could pass up these frogs?

I may be able to use them along with the

Real Tree deer panel I have.

  I selected some orange/yellows

and some purples- you can hardly see the 

purple plaid but it's there.

  Some blues and reds

 I added more pinks.

A few fat quarters, just because.

Plus a stencil to use as I try quilting.

All in all it was a very productive day.

Tomorrow we are having an ice storm

so I will make my first attempt to work from home

since I have a laptop and shared documents are

on our SharePoint sites.

My work phone is already forwarded to my cell.

  Our highway department is calling for people

to stay off the highways .

Hopefully this works out well 

because I can do this once a week and 

with gas the way it is,

it will pay off since I drive an hour to work

on a good day!

Now I'll have to get some applique

gear and start making some pretty things!

 Linking to Country Homemaker Hop

Templates

 I thought I was purchasing half price chocolates- 

because I'm cheap- I don't buy Valentine's candy-

unless it's discounted!

The day after is perfect.

Taylor, my granddaughter, was with us this weekend

and she got her pick of candy boxes.

She took the smallest!    

Really.

The hubby got the middle one and we'll share the large box

since I can't eat nuts or terribly chewy things.

Then I thought I'd put the boxes in the incinerator

BUT WAIT!

Through The Hop I saw an idea-

Valentines boxes are perfect heart templates!

Who can draw a  perfect heart? 

Not me - at least until now.

Soooo . . . 

paper hearts or fabric hearts , 

I've got them covered.

   I've got some yummy chocolate too!

Death of the Stalk

I don't know how it happened.

It had been thriving and suddenly took a turn for the worse.

  I had such hopes.

 This is the celery stalk, one we used to make soup.

We cut off the stalk, leaving the bottom intact.

Then I suspended it in water so roots would start to form.

It grew and grew.

Then it started to fail - rot would be a better word.

I figured it was too much water

so I transferred it to dirt, 

which was fine for a week.

Then it  died.

What happened?  

Linking to Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop

Hitting the Fabric Jackpot

It was sitting on my counter when I arrived home!

My box from Connecting Threads

full of yummy fabrics at pennies on the dollar.

I hit their Pink Sale for Valentines Day

plus a few of their clearance fabrics.

All this, 15 different fabrics,

with 14 of them at 1/2 yard and one is a full yard,

for a mere $29, fantastic in my book.

I made use of their Get5Back code that discounted

my order by $5.00, or enough to fully cover my shipping.

I also hit a half price sale just before Christmas

so now I have oodles of fabric to play with.

 You don't always get an entire collection when you wait

for their clearance sales but you can come up with some 

really fantastic deals, especially when they offer 

free shipping or a coupon code.

There are lots of free patterns/projects to choose from

and even a kit builder where you choose your fabric,

put in onto a pattern and they will make up a kit for you.

What fun!

What are your favorite On-Line fabric stores?

I  have a couple local quilt shops that I always purchase from

but when I can add to the stash at a great price, 

I will take advantage of the opportunity

and I know I can trust Connecting Threads.

Great customer service,

Ability to track your package,

fast regular delivery -and I don't expedite shipping.

From Cats, Quilts and Wild Woodland Things

Fly Tying in the Man Cave

      It came to life in the man cave,

created with bits of feathers and thread,

inspired by micro brew and thoughts of spring 

fishing up on the Meramec. 

 At best it's a wooly bugger variation,

really just a hunch at what a hungry fish might find tasty.  

 He brought the fly tying gear down to the man cave

and hopefully will start to teach

 our granddaughter,Taylor, how to tie flies too. 

This is an example of his bobbin,

a bit different than in my sewing machine 

but gear nonetheless.  

 While I collect fabric,

he will be watching for feathers, fiber

fur, beads and wire for his creations

which will hopefully lure in the big one, 

or at least ones that will put up a  good fight. 

The man cave is getting  pretty well supplied now.

Radios and a work surface for hobbies

plus setting down a micro brew or two.

Cutting mats for model making. 

Looks sort of familiar to quilters, doesn't it?

 A little pool playing-

that's me sinking the 8 ball.

Now it's not fancy, just a basement.

It's not fixed up or painted, 

at least not yet.

We have a weight section

(yes, I need to get down there!)

There's a recumbent bike plus an older treadmill

 that's next to the old washing machine.

(nothing fancy, just off and on plus

a crank to set the speed)

 There's is also an elliptical that I purchased

years ago  because it was supposed to

help my knees.  It doesn't really, I find it hard. 

  

There is music-

yes, those are albums and a turntable.

Plus some CDs and a reel to reel.

Boy, we sure are showing our age!

 He says the man cave counter balances the girl cave upstairs.

I guess it keeps the house from flipping over

 (with the piles of fabric I have  hoarded stacked up there).

 It's important to have some hobbies or some cause.

It may be quilting, fishing or camping

or perhaps joining civic organizations or performing charitable work.

If you find you would like to have a hobby, 

but you don't even know where to start, check out classes at 

your local community college or adult evening education

courses at a high schools or libraries.

Volunteer at your church or one of your local organizations,

join a bowling league or sign up for exercise classes.

Survey all sorts of hobbies until you find one you love.

What To Do With Cat Fabric?

Have you ever purchased fabric without any idea of what you will do with it?  That's my  situation with these two fabrics, both displaying kittens and obviously by the same designer.  I got it a year or so ago when I was first starting to sew.

I want to do something, but not sure what.

Maybe I could incorporate them into Taylor's dresser scarf 

 or a pillow case or two.

Any suggestions?

How to Find Direction Using a Watch

 Scenario:

You're lost during daylight hours in the Northern Hemisphere.

  It is standard time (not daylight saving).

 You have an analog watch.

What do you do to find your direction?

My husband talks about an old trick to find direction using a watch.

I found the same directions at this link and also here.

You will need to adjust if your watch is set to Daylight Savings Time.

Hold your watch horizontally

Point the hour hand at the sun

  The point exactly halfway between the hour hand and the 12 on your watch is South.

  The opposite direction is North.

Remember that the sun rises in the East 

(the sun will be in the East before Noon)

and sets in the West

(the sun will be in the West after Noon).

 The sun is Due South at noon. 

The same holds true for the Southern Hemisphere

Except- point the 12 at the sun and North will be halfway between 12 and the hour hand.

Just another reason to have analog watch.

 Although, you could mark the face of our digital watch to match an analog face.

The proceed with the directions above.

This first link also has details for finding direction using the sun and a stick 

or using the North Star at night.

   It's pretty good information to remember.