Needle Felting Fun

I was introduced to needle felting a few weeks ago. I had the pleasure of attending a make and take demo by Back to Back Alpaca. With some friendly encouragement from the owner I was needle felting in no time. I have admired this art yet didn't have any teaching in the procedure. It turns out that it is very simple. Not to mention fun!



I purchased a basic kit to get started. Everything you need to begin is in this kit.



A few of the key components are a very sharp barbed needle and a foam cube to place your wool on. All you have to do is design or transfer whatever your design is onto your medium. Next you place a very small amount of wool roving or yarn onto your pattern and take your needle and poke it through the layers.



After searching several minutes(almost late for work) for the holster for my phone I had an idea of making my own phone case. The next day I traced around my phone to make a pattern. Then I traced that pattern onto a piece of felt. I drew a simple flower shape onto my wool felt and picked out some curly roving. Then I pulled apart the roving that I was using for the flower. You only need a very small amount. As you can see I used a bit much. It truly is a 3 dimensional flower. Then you go crazy with the needle punching it through the felt. Your shape comes to life. Just think of all of the embellishing one could do with this technique. The possibilities are endless.

P.S. I still can't find my holster for my phone. I guess it's where all of the single socks are!

Sunflower City

Sunflowers are one of my favorite summer blooms. The plants vary in size and color. Some are tall and produce one large flower. Others are a bit shorter with several blossoms that bloom on branched stems.




This is a mix of sunflowers called "Fun in the Sun". They stand tall at the edge of my garden. I'm sure they are over 15 feet tall. I can see them waving to me in the wind from my porch.



This varieties is Hallo. They are just my size at 5 feet. I have so many of these beauties in my garden this year. Their faces greet me with warm smiles.




This sunflower is called Chianti. The deep burgundy color is unique. The tallest this velvety plant will be is about 4 to 5 feet. I have them planted near my cucumbers.



All of the different varieties compliment each other so well. I bet a few would look great in a vase on my kitchen table. I can't bring myself to cut them. I enjoy watching them dance in the wind.



Sunflowers are so happy. Gazing at their beauty puts a smile on my face. Note to self.....grow more sunflowers next year

The Beauty of the Growing Season

I am always is awe of God's awesome creation. As I sit here at my computer and type my mind wanders to the scenes before me. It may be the hay field down the road.



Or it's the tunnel of tall corn that lines my road.




I am astounded to see the honey bee land on this squash flower, pollinate it and that in turn produces fruit.





I am thrilled to see one of my first peaches of the season start to ripen on the tree. As I shot this picture the scent of peaches enveloped me. My thoughts drift off to homemade peach ice cream. That reminds me of something... Want to see?




The peaches remind me on some yarn I purchased at Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair. This is one of my finds. Brooks Farm came to the show all the way from Lancaster Texas. The color is MD3 in the duet line. Come in a little closer to see the twist of the fiber.



It's funny how nature reminds me of fibers. Things like yarn and fabric. The colors of crops, flowers, trees, water the sky and even the ground we walk on inspire me to create things with my hands.
I thank the Lord for all of His creation! God is so good!!!!

It's Good To Be Back

It's been a quiet week. Especially with out the Internet. There was no blog reading. No Ravelry. No paying bills online. No surfing what so ever. In a way it was nice. Mostly it stunk! I'll say it again...It Stunk!!!! I was able to find another provider that would service us way out here in the country. The pickings are very slim out here in the sticks. We feel very lucky to have Internet access. I'm still not sure what happened to our former provider. The company took down all their signs. Even the phone number has been disconnected. We were lucky and didn't loose any money. Oh well. It's good to be back.



I have been knitting some nice cotton washcloths. I was inspired by Renna to knit some of these simple but enjoyable cloths. She found the pattern here. The pattern is a waffle stitch that's very easy to remember. The pattern also keeps you interested. I used cotton Lily Sugar'n Cream. The needle size is US6. The Tribble was a great way to use up leftover yarn. You knit the Tribble on the bias. I tried to tell my DH that I was knitting a tie for him. He had that shocked look on his face when I held the bias knitted piece up to his neck. I had him going for a second!




If you have never knitted a cloth give it a try. Once you use your cotton cloth to clean dishes or pots and pans you will never want to use anything else. Just feast you eyes on some of the colors. They offer loads and loads of pretty colors for a very good price.



It's the perfect knit for a hot summer day.

OFFline

Hello all, I love living in the country, however, my internet service is through a small country company and has been down for the last week. I'm having my daughter post this for me till I can get the company to fix my internet. I hope to be back online within the next few days! I miss hearing from you all, barb. If you need to contact me please use the email address on the top of my page and I might be able to retrieve messages on my cell phone and should be able to respond. thanks barb!

Watermelon Salsa

I have a very interesting and different recipe to share with you today. I am always looking for something unique to make for dinner. I feel like I make the same 7 dishes over and over. My stand by menu is good. I like to spice things up if I can. Sometimes I'll try something different that is a total disaster (a very athletic rabbit stew) and I'll have to serve ice cream for dinner instead! Other times it's a huge hit. I could tell you stories of some of my dinner tragedies. One thing that is not in my menu is fish. I can't stand the taste of fish. Ever since I was a little girl I have hated it. I spent many evenings sitting at the dining room table all alone with a plate of fish in front of me. I just don't like it. Growing up with a Swedish-Norwegian back round I had to endure a Christmas Eve dinner filled with the 9 courses of fish and other unique things like Silta. That's a head cheese. Yuk! Anyway, the only fish I can eat is Tuna. I do enjoy tuna steaks on the grill. Now I add this salsa to the side of the steak. It's very good.

Watermelon Salsa

4 cups watermelon, seedless, chopped into small cubes
1/2 cup scallions sliced green and white parts
1/2 large yellow pepper diced
1/2 seeded cucumber diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced(be careful with the seeds use gloves or plastic on your hands)
handful of cilantro chopped fine
1 tsp sugar
1Tbsp olive oil
1 fresh lime juiced or 2Tbsp balsamic vinegar for a deeper flavor

Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve at room temp. or chill it. It is great with fish, chicken, pork and beef. It's even great to munch on alone right out of the bowl.



It tastes so summery fresh and is very colorful. To make the Tuna steak marinade the steak in 3 Tbsp. of olive oil for 1 hour. Lightly salt the fish if you like. Get your grill nice and hot. For 3/4" steak grill for 1.5 minutes per side. For a 1" thick steak cook steak for 2 minutes per side. That's it! I also made some fresh zucchini from the garden. I sliced off the ends and cut the zucchini lengh wise. On the cut side I drizzled olive oil and sprinkled some fresh herbs and a touch of salt. Throw your veggie on the grill cut side down.




This is a fast meal that won't heat up the kitchen. Your family and friends will think you are a rock star after they feast on this! BTW I purchased the tuna steaks from Trader Joe's. I always stock up when I go. Trader Joe's charged about $5.50 for 2 nice size steaks. The tuna is wild caught. It's not farm raised.
I hope you give it a try. Let me know who it turned out. If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them.
Have a great day. Tommorrow knitting!

Old Red Barn Co. Contest

I was doing a bit of surfing this morning and clicked on one of my favorites. Imagine my surprise to see a contest giveaway. It's a huge give away. I think it's probably one of the best prizes. A quilt! Oh ya, a finished quilt. Something you can wrap yourself and your special someone in! You could lay it out on the soft grass for a picnic. Click Old Red Barn Co. and enter! I would love to win this. How about you? It would be so cool if any of us won! Old Red Barn Co is also giving away runner up prizes. They make handmade soaps and sugar scrubs. Go check it out if you like. It's a very cozy site with lots of great photos. Also good food and fun quilting! Good luck!
Today we are going out on the boat for some fun in the sun. It finally hit 90 degrees for the second time this entire year. A day on the water relaxing is just what we need. I'll be back tomorrow with knitting pictures and a special recipe. I'll give you a little teaser. The main ingredient is a juicy, sweet watermelon.
See you tomorrow!