Tea and Tomatoes

Hello Friends,

     I've a little bout of wrist tendonitis so not much crafting until that heals a bit.  Did manage to sew a little tea wallet without too much discomfort though.  I've seen many tea wallets on other blogs so mine is nothing new and exciting but I'm happy with it.  Perfect for  a small purse; this one holds 2 teabags.

I put a velcro closure

Inside

Also thought I'd give you an update on my tomatoes.

Regular slicing tomatoes

Roma tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Gotta say that that upside down tomato planter is working out pretty good so far!

A parting shot of my out of control mint plant.  Attention! Never plant this in your yard, only plant in a container because it will take over your entire yard in nothing flat!  Well, seems like Mint Juleps are in order--Yum!

Kiwi Jam

Hello Friends,

    I love kiwi fruit!  I recently bought several to make this

Kiwi Jam---Yummy green goodness!

Found the recipe here http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Kiwi-Jam-11522

My changes--only used 3 cups of sugar instead of 4--I don't like my jam super sweet. Added some lemon juice to give it some more zing and added one little drop of green food coloring to brighten up the color a bit.

I also don't have all the correct equipment for proper water bath processing so my jam will live in the refrigerator and freezer instead of my pantry shelf.

If you like kiwi fruit, give this jam a go!

Talk at you later--gotta slather some of this jam on my toast!

Yurt Stay

Hello Friends,

     Tomorrow is my 32nd wedding anniversary.  Mr. Lucky and I celebrated a little early.  There is a 10,000 acre nature preserve and conservation center a little over an hour away from us. http://www.thewilds.org/  This season they opened up an area for overnight stays in Yurts. We spent last night there. What's a yurt?  In this case a fabulously well appointed canvas and wood round tent. 

Here is ours, nestled in amongst the trees. How about a look inside?

This doorway led to a bathroom.

Window had no glass, only screening.

What was our view from our Yurt?

Much more impressive in real life.  A picture does not do it justice.

Before leaving this morning we went on a 2-1/2 hour open bus tour of about 1000 of the 10,000 acres.

Animals roamed free within vast pasturelands. 

Giraffes, rhinos,  Przewalskis wild horses, antelopes, zebras, etc.

Persian onagers

Indo-Chinese Sika deer

Cheetahs, wild African dogs and rare dholes were housed in another part of the preserve away from the prey animals.  The cheetah's inclosure had a sign that I absolutely loved!

All in all a memorable anniversary.  I'd love to go back and do it all again!

Jasmine Lace Scarf

Hello friends,

    My scarf is done! Yea!

Whatcha think?

Closer look

Made with one ball of this.

From this free pattern from Crystal Palace yarns.http://crystalpalaceyarns.com/cpy/patterns2/MMochi-jasmine-scarf.html

Now to toot my own horn a bit.  I was very frustrated with this pattern at first.  It just wasn't coming out right.  I almost gave up on it but took some time to really look at the pattern.  Well,  found mistakes. No wonder it wasn't coming out!  Contacted Crystal Palace yarns with the corrections and they were very nice.  The pattern was corrected and now you can make your own skinny little mini mochi scarf!  While I'm at it, thank you to the staff of the Black Sheep yarn shop http://www.theblacksheepshop.com/ in Orlando for helping me when I came in with this project.

That's all for now.  Must find another knitting project!  Talk at you later.

Garden and cables

Hi Friends,

   Today is cold and dreary with rain, rain, rain!  Yuck!...I have errands that must be run!  Sigh...

On a more cheery note, how about a look at my mini, mini garden.

I am trying this upside down tomato planter this year.  There are 3 different tomato plants in here.  A roma tomato, a regular tomato and a cherry tomato.  We shall see if this works.  So far there are a few flowers--Yeah!

Another one of these hanging planters for 30 strawberry plants.  So far only a few puny little strawberries but they were tasty!

I found these tiny tiny tomatoes.  Micro mini's I think they were called.  Well, had to try them!

My tiny patch contains  2 sweet banana peppers, 1 green bell pepper, 2 basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, garlic chives and rosemary

OK, how about some craftiness.

As most of you know, I like to knit a bit in the evenings.  I am currently working on a skinny little scarf.  The pattern requires a cable stitch holder. 

This is the kind I have used for years.  Ok, but I would often have stitches slip off.

I recently bought this style to try.  I absolutely LOVE it!

Here it is in action.  Slip your stitches onto it and it hangs securely

knit the next 3 stitches from your left needle

Then, knit the stitches off the cable holder.  The shepherds hook style is so much easier to use.

I have a bit more to knit before I'm done but I hope to show you the completed scarf soon! 

Tote

Hello Friends,

   Sorry I have been AWOL for awhile.  I was busy working on customer orders.  I am very thankful for all the business I have been getting locally but I am also thankful to have some time to do some fun sewing now that I have some free time.

I had been wanting to make a fun tote out of some Debbie Mumm fabric.  I kinda made up the pattern as I went along.  I would make changes if I were to make this again but I am fairly pleased with how it turned out.   

I like the front pocket.  The opening is where the "flap" folds down.       I put a pleated pocket on one side for a water bottle and another pocket on the other side to slip sunglasses (or anything else) into.

Close up of pleated pocket

I put a zipper closure on top.

A peek inside. 

I turned the bag inside out so you could see how I did the bottom of the bag.  I incorporated a pocket on the bottom to accommodate 2 pieces of plastic canvas cut to fit.  The plastic canvas is easily removed when the bag needs a wash. 

This will help keep the bottom from sagging too much.

If you look closely at the pic of the inside of the bag, you can see a little of the plastic canvas peeking out.  Hmm.. that won't do.

To make it more finished looking, I made a sleeve for the plastic canvas to fit into.  There, that's better!

That's all for now.  Talk at you later!

Java Jacket

Hello Friends,
  
I was reading Linda's blog http://texmorg.blogspot.com/2010/04/woolly-latte-anyone.html recently where she knitted the cutest cozy for her latte cup.  Well, that inspired me to take some coffee themed fabric that I had and play around with it.

Cute huh!

Handle side shows my velcro closure

Pretty simple design, really.  A little fleece gives it warmth power!

I'm left handed. For righties, the tab would go on the opposite end. Not that it really matters but you don't have the tab facing you that way while you sip your cup o' Joe.

Matching coaster completes the set.

Talk at you later!  Rumi