My wonderful decoration

I have to say though, one of the best things we did this year was to make a hanging centre piece over the kitchen table.  Now it is decorated in the winter and Christmas spirit but I can decorate it anyway I want at anytime of the year. :)

I am thinking a cute birds nest for the spring and maybe sunflowers for the summer :)

The first thing we did was went for a walk with a saw :)  I looked all over for a log that was just right and when I found it my husband cut it for me.  I went with about 4 feet long which is the length that complimented the room.

Then we hung 3 plant hooks from the ceiling and wrapped the log with exact lengths of twine.  I used enough to let it hang about a foot from the ceiling.  I can't go any lower, I have a tall husband lol.

Once it was up and hanging then it was easy peasy.  We just grabbed some garland and other odds and ends I got at our local dollar store and hung them with twine or tied them to the log.

I absolutely love this piece and will definately keep it up all year round.

All the equipment and a bull mastiff to supervise.

My wonderful daughter doing all the heavy lifting lol.

And here is the finished product I personally love snowflakes!

My wonderful Christmas gift.

So Christmas came and went around here and was pretty great.  I got exactly what I wanted which was a beautiful and healthy Aurora.  She had her surgery which they removed her whole leg to the hip and she is in amazing shape.

Well Christmas is all ready to go around here.  The presents are done and now I think its time to get started on my sweater.  A little late I know but at least I will have it for next winter.

Timeless Treasures Embroidery

Hi there everyone I am posting a link to my website called Timeless Treasures Embroidery.  I can do custom embroidery for all kinds of occasions.  Please feel free to head over and take a look but the website is under construction right now so please be patient.  If you have any special requests for the Christmas Holidays please let me know.  http://ttembroidery.blogspot.ca/

Homemade laundry dryer sheet with hair conditioner

Well today is going to be fun because I get to make my favorite laundry dryer sheets.  Now this isn't the first time I have made it so the first step is already done.

I just grabbed some material from my stash that wasn't really slated for anything but hey, who can actually throw away good material right?  Then I cut some some squares about 5 inches and that's it.  So easy right?

Then there's the recipe which I got from one of the most helpful websites around http://www.themakeyourownzone.com/2013/08/homemade-liquid-fabric-softener-recipes.html.  Bev knows very well the importance of putting natural and frugal together in a way that speaks to me and she is a great writer for it.  Thanks Bev!

Now for the recipe that I use:

• 1 Cup Hair Conditioner

• 3 Cups Hot Water

• 1-1/2 Cups White Distilled Vinegar

Today's blessings

Ok here we go! I finally got my blog the way I like it and I hope y'all like it too.  Today I get to meet a friend in town and finally get some honey.  She is new here and from Vancouver which is where I used to live and we have a lot in common.  We both like the Wiccan religion, we both believe in peace and nature and living holistically so I really enjoy spending time with her.  Not to mention my wonderful husband will be staying at home and looking after the baby for me while I have a girls only shopping day :)  Yep, I may not have much but I am truly blessed.

Woohoo!

Woohoo!  I actually figured out (with the help of the web) how to change my fonts and font sizes. Yep happy mama now :)  All I need is to figure out how to do the pics and I will be set :)

Ok so it looks like I can't change the font even in html :(  very disapointed but oh well it still looks good.  On to tomorrows projects:  get the van ready for sale, and deal with all the garbage outside. Yep honey is gonna be busy.

Hi there everyone I have finally gotten my blog just about the way I like it and it looks great! If I don't say so myself :)  Now I just have to find a way to change the font and I am set.  I like a nice curvy font like Corsiva myself.

So here I go again changing my website mind lol.  I am going to try and get this sucker just the way I want it so it will reflect my personality.  In the meantime, I completed another project :)  I took an old ladder from the shed and broke it down, gave it a good cleaning and guess what?  It is now my new bathroom towel rack!  Yep I love it because it is useful and has a good rustic vibe to it.

Begining Reno's

So here is the first real addition to fixing up my kitchen, a window suspended from the ceiling and holding pots and pans over the stove right where I need them.  I took an old window I found in our garage and gave it a good cleaning.  Then everything was embellished lol with cup hooks and S hooks to hold the pans and finally, we used plant hooks into the ceiling to suspend it. I think though I will take it down and get some stain for it the rustic look is nice but not that rustic lol!

This last pic is actually the before photo. Don't mind the mess, I am in the process of reno's after all. lol

Canning apple pie jam! Yummmmm :)

Here are some pictures of canning day. My daughter and I had so much fun, talking about life and food. Now that she is moving out next week I sure hope we can get together and do it again without life getting too much in the way :)

So it looks like we will be buying this house and boy do I have plans for it!  I'm going to be posting some remodeling photos like crazy now once I get started.  For now I'm just happy to get the jam and jellies done last night :)

Perfect!

Yep my homemade toothpaste really made the grade with the dentist and he gave Gabriel a perfect checkup. Yep, mama's happy.

So today is Gabriel's first dentist appointment, time to find out what he thinks of my homemade toothpaste. :)

Woohoo Google +

Oh man google+ is awesome now to find a way to link everything about the communities to this page and life would be grand. :_

So the butter got made and I have to say I think I am spoiled.  It was so easy and took less than 20 minutes and tastes wonderful.  I am going to outline the steps here but sorry there are no pictures (I was kinda busy lol)
1) chill in the freezer a metal or glass bowl big enough to hold double the size of the amount of whipping cream you have.

2) Make sure the whipping cream is at room temperature.

3) Pour cream into bowl and beat with a mixer.  It will turn into whipped cream but don't stop there.  Keep beating until the butter milk starts separating and it all turns into curds.

4)  Keep going until the texture is creamy just like butter and make sure you drain the milk into another container during the process.  It is yummy and too good to throw away.

5) Once it is nice and thick, make sure you get all the milk out or it will spoil quickly.  You can squeeze it through cheese cloth or use a fine strainer.  Either way works well as long as you remember to run it under water while you squeeze it around to get all the milk out.

Once all the milk is out and the water runs clear (don't worry it will take a few times) you have your wonderful butter!  I used 1 litre of whipping cream and that gave me about 2 - 450 gram blocks of butter!

Now, don't forget the buttermilk!  There is enough for a recipe of your choice, me, I'm thinking buttermilk pancakes!  Yummmm

And last but certainly not least, I finally got the iconizer program today so that I can view my embroidery files in windows 8.  It may not cost much, only $25 but right now we are not working and on a limited (very limited) income.  At least now I can embroider my stuff and start selling it :)

Then there is the most awesome recipe for toothpaste I found at DIY Naturals by Matt.  With again, my undying gratitude to these guys for their awesome information.  http://www.diynatural.com/how-to-make-toothpaste/

When I did mine this afternoon, I used the baking soda and water because it is for my little one, but I didn't put in any oils because I used up what was left in his kids toothpaste container.  Waste not, want not right.

So in the end it still tastes like regular toothpaste but of course it is sooooo much healthier, safer and cheaper! 

Homemade butter!

So for today's post I want to say how wonderful I feel. :)  I found a wonderful recipe/technique for making butter and I am definitely gonna try as soon as I get into town to get the crème.  For this wonderful idea you can check it out at keeper of the home at http://www.keeperofthehome.org/2012/10/make-it-yourself-homemade-cultured-butter.html

A bit thank you to Courtney!

So a funny thing happened on the way to the computer, life.  I realized today that I am using this blog just to talk and showcase the stuff I am making, but I need more than that.  So starting today I am also going to writing about the stuff that is impacting me.  Like it or not, here goes.
I am realizing just how bad this world is getting, political crap and favoritism has taken the place of common sense and good will.  Now I am looking at making my life and my families more sustainable. I planted tomatoes and garlic this year basically because I love both but they are not working out.  So far anyway but maybe I am rushing things we'll see at the end of august if I have anything.  Today I want to sew up some ironing board covers to sell so hopefully I can get some of that done.  The heat is killing me and the room I use for sewing has quite a few windows which makes it so much worse.  I had to stop yesterday because the heat was just so bad :(  then the hubby and I decided to run out to Frenchy's used clothing to try and find some curtains.  I really don't care that they don't match I can make something better when things get cooler but for now they work :)  So off to sewing I go :)

So I am making pincushions now and I plan on selling them at our local market this summer :)  Here is the pattern which is super easy to do and the pictures are a much needed bonus for me.  I will post pictures as soon as I have one complete.

Today is a busy day, but the kind I like. I get to spend the morning baking muffins and cookies :)  Now for the afternoon I guess I will be finishing some cross stitch because my sewing machine is in the shop for a well needed cleaning.

Tea Bags are done!

So here are the tea bag holders I made.  They hold 4 bags each and come in multiple colors and designs. I love how they turned out :)

Gabriel's new sweater!

So here is the pattern I used for the sweater.  I love it and thank you redlion for coming up with it :)
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/hooded-jacket

Well, it tool me until 230am (yea, I am crazy) but I finally got Gabriel's jacket done :) now I just have to sew it together and I will post pictures. 

So I am off to the pain clinic in a few minutes, I have only been once but hopefully it helps :)  Fibromyalgia really sucks!  And I have so much work to do.

So it has been such a long time since the last update but things have been crazy!  We had to move, so we did and now we have a great little house that I hope we can keep.  I am going to post pictures of the house hopefully today.
I finally have all the stuff I need to start the embroidery business and a small area downstairs in the basement to do it in :)  The lighting may not be great but it is good enough for now.
And as for now, I am finishing up a sweater/jacket for Gabriel :)  I just have the hood to knit and then sew it all together and I am done!
Whew, when will all this work end lol.

So I am back after 2 1/2 weeks of being so incredibly sick. Thank heavens it is done now but at least I got a lot of uninterupted stitching done :)

Sick, sick, sick ohhhh soooo sick :(
I have been stuck for the last almost 2 weeks with a cold. The cold finally went away but the cough is still here damn it!  On the plus side I have the wolf panel I am working on almost done :) 

Well at least my knitting skills are improving, in 2 days I have managed to not only knit up to the point that the cats dismantled but, I have passed it!  Yes I am happy :)

Ok so I am ready to scream!  I came home today to find out that all the hard work I had done on my wolf double knitting project was destroyed by one or all of my wonderful cats.  I have probably restarted the damn thing 5 times and here we go again.  UGGGG!

Here I go again :(  I had to unravel all the knitting I did because there were too many mistakes for me to handle. One or two is ok but I had more.  Oh well I will keep trying I guess it serves me right for knitting while watching the almighty johnsons lol.

So I am finally making headway with my wolf double knitting piece.  I had to pull it apart a few times because of mistakes but I did 4 rows perfectly so I am proud.  I was really worried about it because it did seem so hard and complicated but when I finally decided to slow down and talk my way through it (yes, I actually started talking lol) I finally figured it out. Not to mention I am kind of a perfectionist so I had to pull it apart until it looked good. :) 

I have decided to attempt double knitting. Yes I say this matter of fact because to me it is a statement of achievement. lol.  I only learned how to knit recently and all of this is very exciting and I want to make sure that I continue with it.  Has anyone out there tried double knitting and what do you think?  I also think that I should make better use of my time and finances so I have been looking up ways to make different things. Food stuff like peanut butter (which is amazingly easy) and regular butter.  Since I already bake my own bread I thought I would give these others a try :)

Gabriel's curtains

So here are the photos of my son's curtains I absolutely love them.  They were so easy and ordering fabric from the states was not nearly the pain in the ass I thought it might be. :)  Here, I just used a basic 1/4 hem on the sides, 4 inch on the top, and 2 inches on the bottom.