Scrapbook of my life

Do you think the art of keeping recipes is going by the wayside?  I hope not but I do worry with all of the internet recipes and printing off a types up recipe that the art of collecting recipes will die.  I have two recipe boxes, they each mean a lot to me.  The one on the left my oldest sister gave to me when I was 21, the one on the right I bought from my dear Iowa City friend, it is a Longaberger recipe box.

Today I took the time (while watching football because that is the way I roll) to organize my recipes. 

It occurred to me that my recipes are like a scrapbook of my life.  I tried to explain this to College Girl so when she inherits my recipes someday she understands how cool they are.  Especially the ones that are hand written, with spots of food and love on them  For example:

 The best dill dip recipe known to man or woman that my sweet sister-in-law (married to my brother) gave me many years ago.  I love the recipe card and her hand writing! 

Here is a hand written note, not on a recipe card that my mom put together for a salad.  I think she must have been with her friend Betty and grabbed what ever paper was handy to write out the delishes salad that Betty just made.  The recipe's in my mom's hand writting mean the most to me. 

here is Sister-in-law from the other side's recipe, she is of Spanish decent and makes a mean enchilada.  Again, this is in her hand writing and obviously I've made these a few times, you can tell by the slops on the sheet!

Another from my mom, she was an amazing cook and had many specialities and was an excellent hostess.  I hope I take after her.  just sayin'

This is from a co-worker, I love the recipe card and I love the recipe!

This is just so cute!

Of course there are also recipes that bring back memories like a good peach smoothie while hanging out with friends in Door County!

Block Party!

I blocked several items this weekend.  For those of you that aren't aware of what blocking is.  It is when you get your knitted item wet, I soak mine for oh maybe 30 minutes.  The you lay it out and pin it in the shape you want it to look like when it is dry.  Well, I found several inches in my maybe-ugly-maybe-cute skirt by blocking.  I pinned it to the floor of my sewing room. 

I also blocked some socks that I finished on my business trip to Orlando.  (thank God for knitting so I can get through those plane rides).  Well, I am not sure if I like this sock blocker after all.  I have the type of legs that German field workers would cherish and after blocking my socks, the cuffs were too large!  Good news is, you can re-block!  wow, the wonders of wool!  (is that a WWW moment?) so I re-blocked and I think they will be fine.

 This is the soak that I like, there are others just as good, I just use one until it is gone then buy whatever else I can find.

OH-OH.... every block party has a crasher!  Who is this nose?

This is Sweet College girls dog that she is assigned to for school, guess what?  She is at our house for a week for a home visit. She is an amazing dog, sooooo good in the house.  If you know anyone wanting to adopt let us know.  She is a Basset - Beagle mix, she is smart, obedient and does tricks.  OH yeah and potty trained and does not bark.  She is 6 years old. 

I love the holidaze....

One of my most favorite holidays is Thanksgiving.  I am not sure if it is because my birthday is close to that date and I always love celebrating my birthday or if it is a holiday, that to me, is all about eating great home-made food and football.  And a total excuse for shopping and starting to decorate for Christmas!    Here are few of my Thanksgiving decorations.  We will be away at relatives this year on Turkey day so I almost didn't decorate but I have to think the kids and dear hubby enjoy a little festivity during the holidays!

This is my Christmas cactus.  I am always amazed at how it reminds me the holidays are near.  As soon as it blooms I know I better get to planning, shopping and decorating!  This Christmas Cactus was a gift from a friend at work several years ago, maybe 6 or 7 years!  yeah, me!  I kept it alive!  Yes it is in a McCoy pot for those of you that enjoy antiques, I think it must thrive because the roots are in such an awesome pot!

Hemming jeans

 

Sweet quilter showed us how to hem jeans and keep the nice stitch at the bottom.  So, there are videos on you tube that you can check out and I am pretty much posting this for my own help in the future.  First you measure how much you need to hem.  So let's say it is 2 inches.  Then you fold up your jeans by 1 inch (the fold is 2 inches total, trust me on this)

 Pin the heck out of it, especially around the side seams.  Use a denim needle and a zipper foot, go as close as you can to the top of the original hem and sew baby sew.  Then cut off the excess under the seam.  Flip the orginal hem back down, press it to an inch of it's life.  Then top stitch it down.  You can user a pinking sheers, an overlock stitch or a fancy schmancy serger to finish the rough edges.  Amazing!  Love it and love those nails!  (Thanks Dayna!!!)

Knitting with the Nuns

The title of this blog is "Knitting with the Nuns", but that is really tongue in cheek because no nuns knit with us and most of tha gals work on quilts.  I just thought it was a clever title.  I've been going to a quilting retreat for several years at Shalom Retreat Center in Dubuque.  I love it.  We get the whole weekend to work on projects, the sisters or other gals feed us and it is so peaceful.  A great group of ladies from the Dubuque area attend and my usual group of suspects, I mean friends go from Iowa City and Coralville.  The facility brings back childhood memories of going to a Catholic school and some of the beautiful buildings and grounds in my home town of Des Moines.

This post I thought it would be fun to go into the look of the retreat center a little more so those of you that have never been can kind of see the layout.  This is our work area which is in a huge conference room.  It is on the 3rd floor.

The wellness center is in the basement.  It is a nice perk if you want a massage.

The cafeteria is a nice big hall and the food is usually enough to feed a group of men that have been working in the field all day!  Substantial! 

Here is the hallway down to my room. It is under construction becauase they are adding A/C.  The A/C has never been an issue for us because we are usually there in April and November.

Here is my little private room.  There is Wi-Fi but it did not go all the way to my room.

This is the bathroom and showers.  Yup, not the Hilton but it is clean and I like it.

Yarn and quilt shopping in Dubuque.  Make-up NOT required.

Show-N-Tell is always so fun and the work these ladies do is amazing.  Very talented quilters, the gal that oranizes the retreat use to own the quilt shop in town and now she does long arm quilting.

Pin cusion.... sooo cute

mini-applique... pictures do not do this justice!

beautiful quilting!

Super cute throw.  Both of these gals are from my hubby's hometown!  Small world!

I love the fabrics and design of this one.

bright, cute, baby quilt.

Coffee quilt part 1.  Love those fabrics!

Curves ahead, table runner, wow!

Sweet charm pack, kid quilt.

LOVE this Christmas quilt, this was my favorite block.

 A little knitting!  Love this scarf and hat set!

Challenging blocks, makes my head hurt soooo challenging and beautiful!

 Preemie hat, so sweet.

I didn't get much done, I worked on red and cream blocks, my plan is to someday have a red and cream colored nine patch Christmas quilt.  I think I completed 20 blocks.

I also finished the maybe cute, maybe ugly skirt.  Which even though I made the size bigger for me seems to be  little too snug for my conservative field.  I will have to block it to loosen up around the hips.

It was a really fun weekend, I am so glad I am blessed to be able to take time out of my week to go on retreats like this.  Thanks to dear hubby I come home to a house that is put together and everyone is fine with me being gone.