Friday, March 30, 2012

its friday...

and # 2 son jeff, tonya and #2 grand baby will be here for the weekend, oh and sadie the beagle grand puppy too!
its been rainy and dreary for so long now but is suppose to clear up and be nice for the weekend. i hope so, i know someone who will want to ride his bike. everytime he comes even in snow he asks to ride his bike, so i will get it out of the garage and ready for him!
i havent made soap in a couple days... actually waiting on another oil i forgot to order when i ordered the others. it should be here today. so will probably start up on monday again if not this afternoon.
yesterday i had to go to the dentist...and stopped at a thrift shop and for some reason came home with this quilt... it was 10. and that is my limit on quilts unless its a vintage.. anyway i liked the pattern and colors and thought it would go nice with the wicker in the front porch ,so its my front porch quilt...i could probably try it out today with a couple magazines and a cup of coffee....
i hope to catch up with my blogging friends today also! thanx so much for stopping by!
            
enjoy your day!      jody                

Thursday, March 29, 2012

cobblestone quilters...

were here last night and as always we had a great visit! lets see... earlier in the day a few of us tied carols 2 quilts so i will show hers first. she made a great homespun quilt with some stitched blocks for her brother. and she made this wonderful star quilt for her sister! she used veg/salad fabrics, the backing fabric is a mixed salad,  sooo cool and fun! we use this star quilt pattern by country threads alot. makes for a really nice quilt and qift.
auntie mary of course is making lots of progress with her applique quilt... and even has been working on another quilt and brought the blocks to show. auntie mary does beautiful work and is known as the applique queen... 
carol f, our wool queen has been really busy, for us not having a bad winter she really has out done herself. the brown with the small leaves is a reverse applique which was really neat.. the one with the small white flowers the buttons in the middle of the flowers didnt show in the picture..she had given me a wool blanket to sell out the shop for her and now needs it back as shes running out of bigger pieces of wool! its always so nice to have the cobblestone quilters here in my house bonding!! so that is it for another month! who knows what will be shown next month! i cant wait!






 




                       enjoy your day!              jody

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

cinnamon and clove..

and yes my house smells great! both of these soaps were hard to work with as the soap mixture accelerates soo fast once the essential oils are added. but.. looks like they turned out great! ive learned not to panic and go with the flow when making these.. today im hoping to make sage and calendula.
we bonded at janas yesterday and she made wonderful carmel rolls! what a way to start the day! we worked on our projects and had a nice talk...
i worked on this wall hanging, mom and jana gave the kit to me last february for my birthday and i had started it and then mark got sick and it was put on the back burner... it feels good to be working on it again.
the pattern is a "emily's country cottage" called flower patch. emily is from up here in bemidji minnesota. she had the best quilt shop for along time and does vending at shows. she sold her shop to concentrate on patterns ect...
the cobblestone quilters are coming tonight and i think it will be a pizza and popcorn night! i know tomorrow i will have some show and tell for you!


                                                                                                                
enjoy your day!             jody

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

more soap...

yesterday i made lemon-pearberry and lemon verbena. yum! 2 of my favorites. today it will be cinnamon and clove... a spicy day today!

                                    enjoy your day!            jody

Monday, March 26, 2012

monday morning catch up

after a nice weekend in the cities with the kids. punch pizza friday night, yum! saturday, cowboy jacks after some thrift shopping, yum! and just hanging out sat night, with jason and jess and emmy the "diva" grand kitty, great!! cindy girl had to check out the thrift shop finds that will go to the shop this week.. we will be opening next week!
enjoy your day!                          jody

Friday, March 23, 2012

its friday

and its a rainy dreary day...i got b little bit in the yard/garden cleaned up last night so it probably can use a little washing.
yesterday i made a quiche for our bonding time...mom stitched on her bunny wool, jana stitched on her stitchery and is going to finish hers before me! and i cut soap. yesterday i make 3 pumpkin spice and 3 rosemary geranium. ( yes smells soo good in my kitchen ) on one of the batches of rosemary after i had poured, mixed and poured in mold and was cleaning up i noticed a lump in the bottom of the lye pot. i must have not stirred enough and it was looked like ice...anyway i wrote that down and marked the mold and sure enough the soap probabley isnt going to turn out...its real soft and i really dont dare take it out of the mold. so i will leave it over the weekend. when things like this happen soapers say the soap fariy stopped by..i call it the soap devil!!!  i am going to bond with my son jason and wife jessica in mlps today!! punch pizza tonight and hopefully some thrift shops tomorrow!?



enjoy your day!     enjoy your weekend too!                jody

Thursday, March 22, 2012

6 batches done and ...

frisco, my helper of course was not happy when i wouldnt let her and her siblings help make soap, and the dogs of course werent happy being blocked off from the kitchen, but i have to think, think, think and not worry about tripping and spilling lye water or oils on my furry helpers... it had been a year since i made soap, when i make it, i make alot so i dont have to make it for awhile. everyonce in a while i will do a batch here and there if i need to. so after i pour the soap mixture in the molds, i tuck them in under quilts.. and try not to look at it till the next morning... always hard and i wanted to get a picture of the soap starting to jell and doing what its suppose to be doing, it tends to get an ash film if the air hits it to much during saponification...



so its always fun to uncover the finished soap in the morning, i even uncover it before i have my coffee!  mom and jana are coming over to bond this morning....so i will be cutting soap, placing it on a rack to cure for few weeks and hopefully making more this afternoon! 
                         enjoy your day!               jody

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

soaping....

yesterday i measured oils, cut freezer paper for my molds and got organized for today!
today i am making 6 small batches of soap... 3-oatmeal, milk and honey fragrance and 3-lavender, oatmeal. i started out creating small batches and it took a few batches hit and miss to come up with a recipe that worked for me and i was happy with...i don't dare double or triple the recipe cuz soap making is so temperamental...this just works out good for me. but first! my cup of coffee or two on the front porch or in the back yard....

                    enjoy your day!                   jody

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

ironstone...

a couple bathroom collections to show you, i love ironstone! i have been working on UFOs...should be measuring soap oils, maybe today...
cindy girl found janas quilt and hasnt moved!



                     enjoy your day!               jody

Monday, March 19, 2012

i love the color red...


i love quilts and i love my sister jana! she made this quilt for me and the cobblestone quilters tied it. i asked if i could take it home that night and i would do the binding, while tucked under and enjoying it! i just finished it about 10 minutes ago and think it will make a perfect porch or hammock quilt...jana also made each of the cobblestone quilters a table runner for christmas.. with the left over fabric, beautiful colors, beautiful fabric and beautiful sister!!
enjoy your day!                     jody

Saturday, March 17, 2012

my grandmothers...




wedding dress is hanging in my bed room, it is so delicate and petite. when we moved back home about 14 yrs ago to my grandparents house, my moms sister gave this to me. beautiful!  i have a rough copy of the wedding invitation from 1931. yesterday when we were bonding at moms she showed us a copy of my great grandparents (who built this house) wedding anouncement in 1899. so cool, i thought you all would like to see them.
enjoy your day!!!                jody