Bowled Over

I didn't do much knitting the past month. I have been in a knitting slump. After ripping out my last scarf I felt burned out. Frogging back 400 stitches per row will do that to a person. I set my scarf aside and kind of gave up for a while. I knew I needed to find something small to work on that was totally different and new. Knitted and felted bowls. There is something so unique about a handmade bowl. It defies all logic.



The pattern is pretty simple yet so creative. I got it from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford.
The fun thing about these projects is how you can use them. They look so darn cute with a few eggs inside.




I think a felted bowl full of buttons is so sweet!




How about a bowl filled with sewing notions. It just fits.




Or how about adding an adorable knitted strawberry to a handmade bowl?




I love this itty bitty pattern. You can find it here. These bowls would make a great gift filled with the recipients favorite things like chocolate perhaps. The best thing for me was I got my groove back! Yippee!





Thank you for stopping by. I have a ton of stuff to share over then next few weeks. I have been working on all kinds of things. Everything from knitting to quilting and gardening. I leave you with this final shot of my first small harvest from the garden. Mmmm, fresh radishes!

Psalms{128:2} For you will eat the labor of your hands.
You will be happy, and it will be well with you.

What's Going On?

I was so surprised to notice how long it's been since I have written a blog post. Time seems to go by so quickly. So, what have I been up to? Actually lots of stuff. Today I wanted to share this cute little baby ruffled hat. The pattern is called Lilly and you can find it here.



The yarn is Bernat Cotton Tots colorway wonder dreams. I used size 9 needles. It's a fairly fast knit. Perfect for a little baby girl. I have finished a few other items this past month. I'll blog about those later. Lately my mind is not on knitting.



It's spring and my mind has been on gardening! Look what's growing in the basement. Yup, I've got lots of tomatoes and a few mini pepper plants growing.



I also started herb plants. I've got basil, sage, dill and thyme ready to transplant into larger pots.



Lat Thursday I spent most of my day playing in the dirt. It was wonderful to get my hands in the warm dirt. My mind swirled with grand gardening idea's! I bought a few plants at Home Depot.



Here are a few of the items that have been planted: Bok Choy which tastes great stir fried. Several broccoli plants, red romaine lettuce plants. By accident I purchased some iceberg lettuce plants. Those plants should be interesting. I planted radish seeds and all kinds of greens including my favorite, arugula. Yum!



This morning I checked the progress of the garden and look what I saw. You have to look closely. Yes, the greens are growing! Now if it would only stop raining and dry out a bit. I have lots more to plant.

Need an Idea For Dinner?

Do you need an idea for a great, quick meal for dinner tonight? Boy, do I have the recipe for you. I am passionate about creating a fantastic meal each and every night. Most evenings when I come home from work I know that time is of the essence. I can't spend 2 hours chopping and sauteing. Lets not even think of all of the clean up time. I don't want to spend a full evening chained to the stove and the sink.




Beef Fajitas fits the bill. I promise it's easy peasy. This meal can be made entirely on the grill. First you want to start out with a great piece of flank steak. I get my meat from a small local grocer. I find that the larger the grocery store the less quality meat they offer. At least that's how it is in my area. I always let my meat get to room temperature. I never cook a cold piece of meat. Alright if you are using a gas grill like I do pre heat your grill on high for 15 minutes. Next squeeze 2 to 3 limes over your flank steak. Don't forget to salt and pepper your steak. There is no need to marinate your steak for hours. Just sprinkling your juice while your grill heats is enough. Throw your steak on your grill and cook each side for about 5 to 7 minutes. On my grill it turns out medium to medium rare. Just the way my family likes it. Remove your steak from the grill and tent it with tin foil so it can rest for about 10 minutes. While it rests we can cook our veggies.





Check out this beauty! Trust me, it's out of this world! Is your mouth watering yet?





Next get your veggies ready. Remember we are cooking everything on the grill. Slice your onions in 1/2" rounds. Don't separate them into rings. Seed and cut your peppers like I have so they can cook easily on the grill. Turn your grill to medium heat. If you like add a bit of olive oil to your veggies to keep them from sticking to the grill. It will take 8 to 10 minutes to cook. After you have removed the veggies from the grill quick throw on your flour tortilla's for 20 seconds per side.





Slice your rested meat thinly on the bias against the grain. Next slice your veggies. This is great! Not a pot or pan to wash! Yippee!






Put together your Fajitas. Yum! Make sure to make some guacamole and salsa if you are a fan of those condiments. I have a great recipe from guacamole. If you are interested just let me know in your comment. I am always happy to share.
I guarantee you that if you serve this meal for your family or friends you will be a total rock star! Enjoy!

Unique Gifts

How about a little something different today. Want to make a pincushion? Do you have any scraps laying around? How about some pretty fun fabric?





Quilting stores offer charm packets for sale. The package usually contain 5" squares of a collection of a fabric line. I enjoy picking up some of these and trying to come up with different ways to use the mini collections. I belong to a group on Ravelry that swaps pincushions. After checking out my secret partners collection I thought she needed something totally different. Something pieced with pretty fabric. Maybe even a monogram.



I got busy cutting strips. I cut strips in different widths. I wanted the finished piece to look like a pieced quilt but I wanted the process to be easy. I cut 1", 1 1/2" and 2" strips.



Start sewing the strips and mix up the widths. After you have your desired Width finished cut on last large strip about 2 1/2" X 5" to finish off you piece. For my project I made 2 sets of strips.



Sew your 2 sets together. Looks pretty good.




The possibilities are almost endless. This would also make a great scrap quilt block.



If you are able add a monogram for that extra special touch. Then you cut your piece to your desired finished shape.



Here is the first one. I love how it turned out. It's unique and sweet.






I made a few others for some quilting friends that have birthdays coming up. If you are looking for a special gift for a friend that sews give this a try.
Thank you for stopping by!

Spring Has Sprung!

It's such a joy to see a pretty flower among the brown colors of early spring. I have these tiny Iris's growing in my perennial bed. They are the very first to greet the change in season. The iris's only stand 5" tall. The sight of them reminds me of all the colors to come. I am so grateful that winter is over.




I love the sound of spring also. This morning the birds woke me up with their beautiful singing. Such lovely sounds. The robin's arrived a few weeks ago.




I am amazed at the Lord's creation. New life springs forth!




How about a little knitting? I have been working on a really unique and pretty scarf.
Just Enough Ruffles is the pattern. I was able to finish it in time for our trip last week down south. I used a Malabrigo yarn in worsted weight. The color is pollen. The colorway looks like spring to me.




I love how soft it is. I am calling it my butter ruffle. I cast it off too tight so I didn't get all the ruffling I wanted. I still love it. I also learned a new short row technique.




Here is a goofy shot of me and my butter ruffle in Nashville. I sure needed the extra warmth that day. It was 40 degrees and raining!




I want to try the pattern again and get the ruffle right. This is Malabrigo worsted in Floral colorway. It is just gorgeous! This screams spring to me.




The garter stitch border is finished. The next step is the short rows. What do you think? I've got lot's more to share with you. I have lots of finished knitting and even some quilting to show off. Thank you for reading. Thank you for your comments. What are you working on?

Unbelievable!

Imagine my surprise when I was notified from Grace that I won her shawl give away contest. Grace bloggs over at Lovin Comfort Knits.




The shawl is beautiful! Look at all of the work put into this beauty.




This shawl is called her red heart shawl. Can you see why? The hearts are so pretty! Grace, I can't say thank you enough. I am so blessed to receive such a wonderful,incredible gift. Thank you!

Quiet Disaster

It's been quiet around blogland the past few weeks. I haven't had too much to share. I don't have any big project that I'm working on. I've been enjoying working in the kitchen and baking like crazy. I had a Valentines day post for you but then disaster struck! More about that in a minute. First I wanted to share with you a few more gifts for baby. We had another baby shower at church last Sunday. I made 5 more receiving blankets and another hat. I can't show you all of it because I forgot to take pictures before the gift was wrapped. Mind you I finished with the blanket embroidery at 9:00am Sunday morning. I had a whopping 30 minutes to spare before we dashed off to church. Nothing like waiting to the very last minute. Why do I do that? Is it just me? I find myself in this predicament far too often. The hat I knitted is so easy peasy yet still kept my interest. The pattern is here.




The blankets were well received by the new mother. I have enough flannel serged to make 12 more blankets. I will try and finish as many as possible for the future. Anyway it was great getting to know my sewing machine again. I even had to dig out my instruction book. giggle



Back to baking.....I have been baking valentine cookies for all of my sweeties. I found this recipe from Ina Garten. It is a wonderfully yummy cookie.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Copyright 2001 Barefoot Contessa Parties!

Ingredients
1/2 pound unsalted butte,r at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool
completely.




You can use white chocolate or any kind of chocolate chip. For my first batch all I had an hand were the Christmas red and green chips. I followed a friends advice and separated the green and red and only used the red ones. They turned out beautifully.



The dough is delicious and very chocolaty.



Anyone want a spoon?!!!




The smell from the oven is pure heaven!



They taste so good. It's a cross between a brownie and a cookie. Yum! I got so many compliments. While I was writing up my blog post last week for Valentines day I had a computer disaster. Early last week I had an alert pop up on the screen that warned about a Trojan horse. My antivirus program noted the file name and alerted me that it couldn't remove the vicious file. I tried to do it myself but it seems as though the file was hidden. I am not an expert or computer whiz. Three days later the virus took over. It started doing strange things like re-directing me to different sites. Locking out other sites I was trying to get to. All that being said we were dead in the water until Monday. My son was able to remove suspicious files and we needed to download another program to remove the nasty virus. Here is my question. I have purchased the original protection for 49.99 each year, Now I have to purchase a totally different blocker for another 39.99. My computer should be as safe as Fort Knox right? I'm still having issues. Even as I write today's post I am unable to load pictures like I was able to do before the attack. I also can't post comments on blogs like Tracy's. I'm reading, I can't seem to leave a comment. The system is so slow. I think I may need an expert. Has anyone else ever had these issues? Just curious. Anyway, I will not give up!
Thank you for stopping by. So, what's new in your life?