And the winner is....

Natalija Shkomare is the winner of the Sew Mama Sew give away, check out her blog http://craftsbazar.blogspot.com/ she also embroiders.

This cute dishtowel is on the way to Italy.




Thanks to everyone who participated I really appreciate the time you spent looking in my Etsy store.

Margaret

Give away day - May 27

Sew Mama Sew is hosting a huge give away day tomorrow May 27th and everyone can participate, it's easy.

Visit my Etsy shop, pick something you like, tell me what you want in a comment on my blog, and I'll randomly pick a winner on June 1st. I'll ship the item by June 3rd to any destination, Domestic or International.

There will be hundreds of participants giving away their handmade crafts, for a complete list please visit Sew Mama Sew on May 27th.

Good Luck!

A couple of firsts and some good luck

Lettuce and radishes were ready to eat. The radishes were delicious not too spicy and they had that unmistakable fresh from the garden taste. The lettuce was crisp, tender and almost sweet.

And I found a 5 leaf clover and a 4 leaf clover, good luck for the rest of the week. I took a picture but I'm no photographer and I have a 4 year old 100.00 camera so you will have to take my word for it. The clover on the left hand has 5 leaves. The fifth leaf sticks out in the middle of the clover.

Chicken coop update

We are not quite ready for chickens but soon..the coop is almost done. Art just needs to build nesting boxes, ladders, finish the roof, paint it and fence it..

This project is costing us about 200.00, hope it's worth it. Art tried to find scrap wood but it's nearly impossible. He made a few runs to the dump but couldn't find anything useful however we are beach combing for fence posts and we already have the wire fencing so that part will cost us $0 dollars.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and have a great weekend.

Margaret

FREE - embroidery pattern

I'm working on a linen hanky/doily with a strawberry theme, perfect for this time of year. I'll have the finished hanky in my shop by the end of the week but if you want to try your hand at embroidery here is the pattern. Print the picture then trace it onto tracing paper with a heat transfer pencil which you will then iron onto your material.

Primrose designs has a tutorial for almost every embroidery stich you can think of so give it a try, it's a great way to get creative.

This is my work in progress..

The garden

Almost everything in the garden is going great guns even with our unusually cold spring. Today is a breezy 10c/50F brrr..


Potatoes finally decided to make an appearance, all 20 of them.



Turnips are doing very well and I might have to thin them a little. On the right hand side are my Italian flat bush beans. Only one or two seeds sprouted..I think I may have to put seeds down again when and if it warms up a bit.






Salad greens. Baby romaine, butter lettuce and mesculin mix. I thinned out some of the mesculin mix and butter lettuce towards the back. The spot that looks empty has green onions growing, very thin right now.


Carrots on the left beets in the middle which are ready to harvest and Spanish onions on the right.



And last but not least, Swiss chard, which a bug is also enjoying..I think it might be earwigs..yuk.


I don't have a pix of the peas..they are up but not doing very well, I think earwigs are munching on them as well. Any ideas how I can control earwigs?

Long Weekend

Well I just finished off our long weekend, Victoria Day, Happy Birthday Queen Victoria and thanks for the day off.


So Friday Art and I headed up to the cabin for a whole lot of nothing..read a book, did some embroidery, some crocheting, and some fishing..





We came home Sunday and headed out for the self-guided Powell River Garden tour and spent all of yesterday in the garden. I'll post pictures tomorrow but everything is up...yeah!!!

Margaret

Not impressed

My husband and I bought an old, old house, about 80 years old. It was well taken care of, with good bones but with a different carpet in each room, including the kitchen, it needed to be remodelled.

We did the main floor as soon as we took possession and we are now working on the staircase, and upstairs rooms. We don't want to spend alot of money so my husband is doing the work

Someone is not looking very happy. What a trooper..





I have some other exciting news...the chickens are coming, pix and info will follow next week.


Have a great night everyone and thanks for stopping by.

Margaret

Two steps forward one step back

Spring just does not want to come and stay in my neck of the world..one or two nice warm days followed by cold, gloomy and rainy days.



Today is the gloomy type of day and perfect for baking...Date Bars from my favorite Betty Crocker's cookbook.





Date Filling

3 cups cut up pitted dates (1 pound)

1 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar



Cook all ingredients in medium saucepan, over low heat, for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly until thick, cool.



then..



1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup butter or margarine softened

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda



Heat oven to 400 degrees, grease bottom and sides of a rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches.



Mix brown sugar and butter then stir in remaining ingredients until crumbly. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly in the bottom of the pan. Spread with filling. Top with remaining crumb mixture, press lightly.



Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Cool in pan on wire rack, cut into 2 x 1 1/2 inch bars while warm.



Really delicious with tea or coffee and freezes well.

May Give-Away

Sew Mama Sew is hosting a May Give Away which will take place on May 27. There are hundreds of participants giving away all things handmade.

I will post details a little later but basically you pick anything from my Etsy store, make a comment about it here, I will randomly choose a winner and then ship the item at no cost to you.

Very Cool!!!

Margaret

Happy Monday

I had a lovely weekend and I sure hope you did to. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday outside in the garden. I had a yummy Mother's day breakfast with my son and daughter in law at Starvin Marvin's in Powell River and then finished the day with a Chinese food dinner, what a day!

This weekend Lili (my daughter in law) and I planted 10 planters and 4 hanging baskets.

Cilantro...

Squash...in a quickly thrown together veggie patch, hope it works and hope I can keep the weeds at bay.

Planted up Delphiniums, Hollyhocks, Snapdragons, Zinnias and Marigolds which I started from seed into my new garden bed, next to the two vehicles, doesn't look like much, yet..

And finally my veggie garden and grape vine, I didn't do any work on these two...but they are coming along well.

Adorable cats

How am I to get any work done with crazy Daisy on my lap as I sit at my desk?

My simple life

I moved to Powell River just over a year ago, where did the time go? This simple life of mine is quite busy and time seems to fly. What fun I've had. I started a blog and met some wonderful people. I started an online craft business, not very successful but a creative outlet all the same. I've grown a good amount of veggies and for the first time enough to process and freeze. I've reduced my food bill by half. I've reduced my refuse to one black garbage bag every two weeks. I make my own laundry soap. I no longer use shampoo and I just started cleaning with bicarb soda and vinegar. I hang dry 90% of my laundry and will hopefully sew most of my clothes...

My to do/learn list??? Figure out why my yogurt is not working, knit socks, make soap from scratch, dig an additional veggie garden for 2010, dig an additional flower bed for 2010. Learn to make my own butter using a local milk supply (two looong blocks away), learn to make cheese (but only after I figure out yogurt). Get chickens..

I'm sure there is more..stay tuned.

Margaret

Yams and magic beans

I got it in my head that I must try to grow yams..why? I LOVE them and the Canada food guide advises that an orange veggie should be eaten every day. I have carrots down, I have pumpkins down..

I read up on growing yams and it seemed so simple..get a yam, suspend it in a jar full of water with toothpicks, and in 4 to 6 weeks slips will grow and once the slips are about 12 inches high, you twist them off and plant them. I needs loose soil, got it, need warmth, got it in the green house, need slips..where the heck are they? Lots of roots no slips. I'll give this two more weeks and then out into compost. The yam has been warned.

And take a look at these crazy seeds, they are pink. My mom gave them to me, they are Italian flat green beans, bush style and delicious.

Busy weekend ahead but I'm starting off with Friday night at the cabin, yahoo! Then first thing Saturday I'm helping the Powell River garden club set up for our annual plant sale. It's a great place to find interesting plants. Saturday night, hockey, go Canucks go, and then on Sunday of to the "1000 plant sale" 4.99 for everything. Seems expensive, you say?? Yes, but the 1000 plants are landscaping plants like Japanese maples, rhodos, azaleas, dogwoods..

Have a great weekend everyone.

Margaret