Merry Christmas!!

Wishing all of my blog readers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

 ingredients:
Daisy
Fur trapper's hat from Target
Sparky
Santa Hat and collar from Target
"Merry" alphabet and ornaments: Crystal Wilkerson
"Christmas" font: Milkshake

Merry Christmas!!

I know I haven't blogged in forever. The truth is, I haven't finished moving all of my craft stuff to our new house yet so I haven't made anything at all. Kinda depressing. But I wanted to wish all of my friends and blog readers a Merry Christmas.

supplies: graphics from Crystal Wilkerson (letters and star on the tree)
"Christmas" font: Hipster Script
tree and lights
pup: Daisy + Target reindeer antlers + Build a Bear scarf + treat (as a bribe)

Vintage pyrex

I still can't make anything. I have no usable craft room right now, and everything is a mess. But I'm working on other non-crafty things. This week I used contact paper on the inside of this shelf unit, which my husband and I varnished a few weeks ago. I originally wanted to paint it but that's a big commitment on a solid oak cabinet, and I could tell hubby did not like the idea. So I covered the entire inside of it, including the shelves, with white contact paper. Not bad, eh?



I love vintage pyrex and jadeite. I can't afford a lot of jadeite-it's pretty expensive-so I have mostly pyrex and a little bit of other vintage stuff in here. I love the way the white sets off the colors of the dishes.





My mom gave me the egg cups on the top shelf. They were packed away for years before I found them and discovered how cute they are and how perfect they go with the rest of the dishes. I don't know how old they are, but I think they're pretty old. We had them when we were kids and I'm pretty old.


On the bottom shelf are some glasbake promo mugs I found at a shop. I think they were a pretty good find-I paid $6 for the three mugs and I've seen single ones go for over $10 on ebay and etsy. When I bought them I only knew that I liked them. I didn't have any idea what they were so I looked them up when I got home. I'd love to have the complete collection but I'm not paying ten bucks a mug.


Now I need to find room for all of my blue ball jars.

If you have or know about any blogs or blog posts that feature vintage glass, please share them in the comments. I'd love to take a look.

***linking to:
The 36th Avenue

This is Pete

I know this isn't a crafty post but I wanted to share our story about Pete. Pete's mom is a Hereford cow that belongs to my father-in-law. A couple of months ago she had twins and decided that was just way too much work. She took care of the little heifer (girl) calf but pushed the little bull (boy) calf away. Poor thing. :( So since my husband also raises cattle, he brought him home so we could feed him with a bottle, and then a bucket. Hence the term "bucket calf". Pete took to the bottle well, despite some mess:


The bucket, not so much. At any rate we did manage to get some food into him and he grew. Now he is an old pro and even eats a little grain and grass. He's about 2.5 months old now. Here is a picture of him with my daughter, who is in charge of afternoon watering:



In the pasture, looking cute (this is his one and only talent):



And being a typical cow-nosy!

Vintage Pyrex

A while back I decided that I wanted to get some vintage kitchen things to put on a shelf that I have above my breakfast nook window. I wasn't quite sure what though. I have and love my old canning jars (especially the blue ones and the ones with the wire bail) so I wanted something that would look good with those. Today I think I found it. We were out shopping and saw a little antique mall so we stopped in. One booth had some vintage Pyrex in excellent condition. I knew it was collectible because I'd seen some on some of the quilt blogs I visit. I thought it would look really pretty on the shelf (although I'm beginning to think I need to display these at eye level instead). Here's my big find-I think they are pretty common pieces but I love 'em anyway.

This covered dish is 1 qt

This bowl is 1.5 qts

This bowl (probably my favorite of the 3) is 1.5 pts

If anyone has any information on these, please feel free to share.

Pepper Jelly

Last night I made some pepper jelly and it came out so pretty I had to take a picture. Go to my recipe blog here for the recipe.

Meet Phineas

This is Phineas. Someone threw him away (dumped him in front of our house) but we are letting him stay, with free room and board, for as long as he wants to. He's about 4 months old and so affectionate, but still pretty skittish.




He's had his first vet visit and shots and an appointment to be neutered. He has a heated house to sleep in and the best food we can find (blue buffalo). He is so cute. I don't get how people can just dump their animals like this.

What's been happening around here

I'm working on a couple of projects but I don't have anything to post yet. Probably tomorrow. But here's what has been keeping everyone busy. Steve, of course, is super busy picking corn. Since his dad isn't able to help anymore he has to do it all-all of the picking and the hauling. In the evenings and on weekends his brother helps him a bunch. I've been semi busy taking him lunches and helping him move equipment around from one field to another, not to mention hauling the kids to all of their activities. The kids are busy with lessons plus swimming, dance, speech and karate. I can hardly wait until harvest is over!

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Where we've been and what we've been doing

Last Thursday we dropped the pets off at the vet for boarding and left home for a mini vacation. Here are some pics from two of the places we visited:






Can you guess where we went?

Update on Scary Trend

I posted a week or so back about the pincushion trend and walnut shells. Now tonight, I was browsing an Etsy store that sells fabric and they also sell pincushions with walnut shells. UGH. So now, every time I want to buy fabric online I'll have to make sure they don't sell something like this and also should probably let them know about our allergy issue so if they do make these in their spare time (because I'm sure most people who sell fabric also use it) it won't be a problem for us. This is a real drag because I have no decent fabric stores near me. The internet is it.

Another frustration that is completely non-craft-related. A while back we started going to McDonald's again because they started putting their nuts (for the sundaes) in sealed bags-presumably to avoid cross contamination for people with nut allergies (which is one of the most dangerous food allergies). A couple of weeks ago we found out that McDonald's now has Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flurries-no sealed bags and since they are chopped up, even if they're very careful there is a big chance of cross contamination-and I don't believe for a second that they will wash their hands after every time they prepare one-which is what our local McD's told us. Makes no sense. So McDonald's is out for us again for now and if they continue to serve these (which they may depending on popularity) it will be out permanently. We have very few places from which to choose as it is, and vacation is especially challenging when we have to avoid one of the most prevalent places for fast food. And yes I know fast food is terrible but I don't want to cook every single day of every single week and none of the 'good' restaurants is safe either-we only trust Outback and sadly, we don't have one nearby.

Pity party over.

Scary trend

I read a lot of sewing and quilting blogs so I am pretty much up on the trends (I don't do them, I just know them). One I've been reading a lot about is making pincushions, for both sewing and non-sewing people. A lot of bloggers stuff the pincushions with crushed walnut shells. Knowing the seriousness and unpredictability of a life threatening food allergy, this scares me. If someone is sewing with pins that were in such a pincushion, all of the pins, the item being sewed, and even the sewers hands will have walnut oil or walnut protein on them. This is so easily spread to anything else in their house. This is the main reason I almost never sign up for giveaways-I would hate to win something from someone who (unbeknownst to me) uses this type of pincushion and then put my daughter at risk of a reaction. I know I can wash most things like fabric but a lot of the giveaways are for precuts, which cannot be prewashed.

I just wanted to put the heads-up out there-if you're sewing for others please be aware of any allergies or sensitivities they or their family members may have. Food allergies seem to be on the rise lately, and no one knows why, but until someone comes up with a cure, avoidance is the only defense. Since walnut is the one thing my daughter has reacted to (the rest were determined through testing) it's the one that strikes the most fear in our hearts.

Grocery Bag

I've been wanting to make homemade grocery bags for a while so tonight, I made one. I used this instructable by Compwalla (shift click to open in a new window) which is probably the best one I've found for making a bag that looks a lot like a plastic grocery bag. I used a Target bag as my pattern. The fabric I used for the lining was a little heavier than I should have used-but most of my yardage is earmarked for a certain project or not big enough. I may try doing patchwork ones. I also added a pocket so that the bag can be folded up and slipped in the pocket. Because of the thicker lining it's a challenge to get it in there though, but the pocket can also be used as a regular pocket. I also did a french seam at the bottom but I probably won't do that next time-my machine had a little trouble with it.

The bag, empty (sorry for the crappy lighting-I have the worst time getting the white balance right in this room)


The bag, full. Some of this was stuff I hadn't put away yet and some I pulled out of my cupboard. The things I go through to get a picture


all folded up in its little pocket


I also wanted to thank everyone for the nice comments about my Father-in-Law (and poor pitiful me) and wanted to update. He was in the hospital for about 5 days and then was transferred to a rehabilitation facility. He should be in there for another week or so, depending on his progress. The stroke was mild and the main things it affected were his speech and swallowing. He's eating solid foods now (but can't handle liquids so all of his drinks have to be thick) and is speaking much better. They are also working on his balance and walking-he's having some trouble with those too. He's joking around and flirting with the nurses, so that's a good sign. He's complaining about doing nothing though, so I can't even imagine how hard it will be on my Mother-in-Law once he is home and in the house all day wanting to do some work and not being able to. So anyway, things are definitely improving. We've had some rain the past couple of days too, so my husband is home for a few days (but still really busy during the day, but at least not working until late into the night right now). So anyway, thanks.

Pitiful Me

This is a total pity party post. This is a rough time of year for me in the best of circumstances. It's not the best right now. My husband is a full time farmer. Spring is one of his busiest times, which means he's gone most of the time (or it seems like it) and when he does finally get home, he crashes on the recliner or the floor because he's exhausted. Plus he gets stressed out due to weather, equipment, etc. You name it. Well on Sunday my father-in-law had a stroke. He's in a good hospital and in good hands but to say he's a bad patient is an understatement. He doesn't want to be there and he's letting it be known. He won't talk to anyone because he's mad which is making it tougher on the doctors and nurses. He's 81 yrs old which is another big concern. The hospital is 2 hours away. So besides being extremely stressed out about his dad being so sick, my husband is having to do the tasks that his dad has always done. This means running equipment that he's not completely familiar with and having to ask for help (not easy for their family). Luckily his brothers are available and willing but one of them works full time and one lives in another state (he is here, though, to be with his dad-but he's helping with the farming too). Normally this time of year I'm very full of self pity but now, I can't be. Or I can't show it. Until I'm alone. So that's when all the great sewing and stamping blogs save me. I can read and admire and forget to feel sorry for myself. So thanks to all of you with wonderful blogs that keep my mind occupied.

And it all starts again in the fall during harvest. Hopefully without anyone being sick.

Easter-y stuff

Hope everyone had a nice Easter! Here is a pic of our cutie pie Easter bunnies (not really-we've had them since last summer) Lola and Shadow.

They will be one year old on April 22nd.

And here are the baskets I made for the kids to take eggs to Grandma and Grandpa. I used the cupcake holder on the Sweet Treats cricut cartridge and various Martha Stewart border punches for the trim. The ribbons on the baskets on the left are from American Crafts and I am not sure where the blue and brown ribbon is from. All papers are from Imaginisce except for the brown trim which is from Stampin' Up.

The eggs were decorated by punching shapes from adhesive vinyl, sticking them on a colored egg, and redying-then we removed the vinyl stickers. You can't see it but the one on the far right has blue dots on it.

New additions

Check out our new babies!!
Lola (who belongs to Sammy and Jake):


Shadow (who belongs to Jenny):


both together


They are so cute and friendly (so far). They're both girls-they will hopefully always get along and will be spayed at around 6 mos. They are mini lops and are from the same litter. We originally planned to get a girl and a boy but it proved to be a big pain in the neck to divide the kennel to keep them separated so we got two girls instead. We've been preparing for these girls for a long time-building a hutch and putting together the kennel, and then reinforcing the kennel with layers of chicken wire and hardware cloth to keep critters out (and in). We designed our own hutch which is a double with removable walls and doors that double as ramps. It was a lot of work (the kids and I did most of the work on it) and I am covered with the scratches and cuts to prove it. Worth it though-these girls are so cute and sweet. We have had them for 3 days now and considering how long our hermit crabs lasted (or didn't last) I'm nervous but hopefully we're doing everything right.

Food allergies

I'm sorry to be posting something that isn't craft related but in light of some recent articles I just felt like posting this. I don't often mention my daughter's food allergies and I don't think I've ever made a specific blog post about them. This is something that I posted a while back at a message board. I just wanted people to understand that avoiding allergens is not as simple as it seems, especially when the allergy in question is potentially life threatening. I also want to mention first, in light of all the claims (whether unfounded or not) about people being "too clean" and that being a cause of allergies-we live on a stock farm. My husband, at the time my daughter was a baby, raised hogs and at that time we usually had about 200-400 cattle that we custom fed. So we had a lot of germs floating around, I'm sure. Some days the dust was stinky.

Anyway here is the post-it is quite long-sorry about that:

a LOT of people have no idea what it's like to have to worry about peanut/nut allergies. They don't have to live it every day so they don't think about it. I probably wouldn't either, if our family didn't have to deal with it. A lot of kids are developing them now for whatever reason. We can analyze it to death how it happens, but the fact remains that peanuts and nuts can be deadly for some kids. I'm not going to go into the school thing (we homeschool so I have no experience there) or any other social things. Just a few things we have to watch for. A lot of people think it's as easy as just avoiding foods with nuts in the ingredients or labels that say 'may contain nuts'. Well it's not that easy. A few recent things:

Miracle Gro, Scotts, Vigoro and Schultz (all garden companies) have all told me that their products may contain peanut shells, nut shells or parts of peanut plants. They don't know if all bags have them, or the actual ingredients, or anything but they do know that they *could* be in there.

I just read that Walmart brand Mac and Cheese has a 'may contain traces of peanuts' warning on the box. Mac and cheese. Same with Walmart brand frozen green beans. Good chance that Walmart is covering their butt by putting the warning on almost all of their products but who wants to take the chance?

No generic foods, ever. They don't usually have manufacturer information so there's no way to contact them to find out if they're safe. Oh wait I take that back. We buy generic bottled water and store brand milk.

Even Pizza Hut is no longer safe for us. But we wouldn't know if I hadn't looked at their allergen info online. Luckily we haven't had a problem there but I am not taking the chance. Other people have had mystery reactions there and now they know why. Pizza Hut was the ONLY 'real' restaurant we could go to (there are others that are safe but we don't have them here). Our Dominos (also not always safe) and Papa John's (horrible cs) don't have inside seating. (Since I wrote this Papa John's has become off limits. They have a new dessert that may contain nuts and even though they assured me they would be careful not to let anything that touched it touch our pizza, our daughter had hives right after eating the pizza)

Restaurants like Texas Roadhouse or similar steakhouses would be completely off limits because they would be reeking of peanut dust.

All bakery products are off limits for us. Even if they don't contain nuts, they may have been touched by utensils that touched nut-containing products. Bakeries, unless they are completely nut free, won't ever guarantee their products are safe. We can buy specialty products from nut free places but they are EXPENSIVE.

Minute Maid makes an orange juice that contains plant sterols, some of which may come from peanut plants. So we even have to be careful about which orange juice we buy.

Most restaurants are risky even if we never order anything with nuts. If they make plain pancakes, for example, on the same grill as walnut pancakes, the plain ones are not safe. Around here, if you ask about their policies regarding allergens and preventing cross contamination, they look at you like you have three heads.

We don't buy any Hidden Valley products because when I called, they said they don't know if their products might contain nuts and they refused to tell me. Some other brands are completely or almost completely off limits. They are either not safe for sure or not within my comfort zone. I won't buy anything from Hain Celestial. I will buy very little from Con-Agra. Very very little from Nestle.

We have to be careful about buying produce. If someone has touched the bin of nuts and then the apples, the apples are now contaminated. We have to wash everything, even bananas, thoroughly. Speaking of bins of nuts, we went to a store that had open bins and we avoided the area they were in yet my daughter got hives anyway. We haven't been back to that store.

Some stuffed animals contain ground up nut shells.

We check our groceries carefully. You know how sometimes they will open a box w/ a knife and accidentally cut through the pkg inside? Well if it's that way we don't buy it. If the knife was used to open something with nuts before then it could possibly contaminate any other pkg it accidentally cuts into.

Body products have to be checked carefully. Cosmetics don't have to follow the same labeling law that foods do so if the fragrance contains nut products, it may not (and probably will not) be disclosed.

The company that makes Stella cheese told me that their products may not be safe for people who are allergic to nuts. Cheese.

A lot of healthy and organic foods are off limits.

Flying would be scary, to say the least. I can't even imagine what would happen if someone had an anaphylactic reaction during a flight. And with the recycled air and the amount of snacks served and brought on board, this could easily happen.

I have been looking for years for a bird seed that my daughter can handle safely. As far as I can find, none exist. I have called the Audubon society and the Wild Birds Unlimited in our state and they can't help. Even seeds that should be safe could have been stored or transported in the same bins in which peanuts were previously stored or transported.

We only buy used items if they can be washed thoroughly. I get nervous when we get library books. Same with Netflix videos.

I know there are a lot more things. People think I'm crazy when I mention we can't have generics (even stuff like mac & cheese that you would think is safe) or that we have to worry about things like rice, flour, etc (Kroger's brown rice may have almond cross-contamination).

I know that a lot of people and parents of allergic kids don't have as tight a comfort zone as we do and may not worry about these things. Our allergist thinks we're doing fine considering that our daughter has not had anything worse than hives so far (full body ones once, and we had no idea why) other than her initial reaction. Mystery hives are a common occurrence.

A little change

I couldn't take the yellow anymore so I lightened it. I like it much better but the colors still look really strong to me-I'm just used to the soft lighter colors.

Also I got my sewing table pretty much done so I can finally clean up and make something soon!

Since I can't get into my stamp room...

I decided to redo my blog colors. I'm not sure if I like it. The background is kind of baby-poop yellow. I got the color scheme from the Color Schemer blog and at the time, it looked pretty cool. It's called "That's Hawt". How can you go wrong with that?? I'm just not sure yet-maybe I just need to get used to it. Oh and my signatures on my old posts don't match anymore. I'm not going to go back and edit every post to match it up so it'll just have to stay that way.

I did redo my banner a little but I kept the pictures because they are of some of my favorite things. Mainly my cute Hello Kitty sewing machine and also a mug with my name on it that my friend Krista made for me back in high school (many moons ago). Krista claims not to be crafty but I think she's wrong. I love my mug-it's super crafty. As for Hello Kitty, you probably can't tell but I'm a fan. I remember back when it first came out-we lived on Okinawa and my sisters and I would go off base to shop and buy lots of Hello Kitty (and other character) goodies. They didn't have nearly as much HK stuff back then as they do now but I sure wish I'd saved some of it.

Bye bye baby :(

I have to send my baby away. My camera, that is. It isn't focusing right and I don't know if it's my camera, my lenses or both. So I will be packing it all up and sending it to Canon for evaluation. If it costs too much to fix (if it's the body) I will probably just upgrade the body. In the meantime if I make anything (which is unlikely right now as my stamping table is completely covered with everything that was on my sewing desk) I'll have to try to get a decent pic with my G2 (which, as you can see in my last post, isn't quite right either) or my S410.

On a positive note, I found the perfect baskets for what will become my new sewing table. My plan is to put a sewing table top (with the sewing machine section that is lowered down so the bed of my machine is level with the surface) on top of some shelves and use baskets in the shelves to hold my stuff. We went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and I found baskets that look like they were made for the shelves. Now I just have to wait for Steve to finish getting the crops in and cut the shelves to the right size for my table. Or maybe he'll do it on Sunday. When I get it done I'll take some pics. I *might* paint the baskets. I haven't decided yet.

Lazy...

I've been doing nothing for the past few days. I got some goodies in the mail but haven't used them. I've had a cold for the past 6 days so I am feeling sorry for myself. I'm SUCH a baby when I'm sick. Almost as bad as a man, if you can believe that. I'm not too sick to do the blog candy drawing though-don't worry! However, I don't know why I put that link at the top since the blog candy post stayed on top for the entire week. hehe. I was going to make a card or something tonight but my dishwasher seems to be on the fritz (actually it's the water heater that's messed up but the dishwasher uses hot water so therefore it's not working so great either). So I am off to hand wash the dang dishes and off to bed.