365 Slow Cooker Suppers

I'm giving a shout out for my favorite cookbook author today-- Stephanie O'Dea. Her new book (365 Slow Cooker Suppers) came out last week in stores and is also available on Amazon. I received an early copy of the book for free to review and have tried quite a few of the recipes--all of which are wonderful.   All of the recipes are for main dishes. 

Her carrot and coconut curry bisque is amazing as is her Lentil and Sweet potato curry. Tandoori Beef with sweet potato is in the crock for tonight. 

 She has quite a few Indian dishes in this book. Her other two books don't include pictures, but this one has wonderful pictures! The pictures definitely add to the cookbook!!!

 

 

 

I received one or more products mentioned in this post at no cost in order to conduct a thorough and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Giveaway ending soon

Don't forget to sign up for the photo canvas giveaway which is ending soon!!!!

Photo Canvas Review and Giveaway

Earlier this summer I was given the opportunity to receive a print from Easy Canvas to enjoy and review in my house.  And I was given the opportunity to share a free print with you.  So I decided to give it a try.  What could I loose??  Here is a little bit of the picture so that you can see.  I don't like to include my children's faces online.  The picture is our favorite family shot.  We don't do formal at all, but we do take pictures on or near hay bales!!  The canvas turned out great.  The only thing that I can't decide if I like or not is that I used the mirror on the edging rather than the wrap around.  Not bad, but you see 2 of me.  I didn't not sure the editing ability of the company (it costs extra), because my photographer (my mother) can do that for me.  She made our image sepia for us, but the company can do this and edit your photo for a cost.  The back of the canvas isn't the prettiest, but I'm going to solve that by using some brown paper backing for it.  Not that anyone looks at the back anyway.  

The cost of an Easy Canvas is very reasonable--especially considering my e-mail inbox has received several e-mails with sales (some 60% off) since I've been on their e-mail list.  

 So now for your chance to win a free 8 by 10 canvas.  The giveaway ends Sept 9.  Please use the Rafflecopter form below. 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/151352514/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

How to cut???

I tatted up the Pernille cross from Lene Bjorn's book Tatted Bookmarks.  I love this book and I think this is my favorite from the book so far.  The only problem is that I had to tat it twice.  It was a graduation gift and I missed the stitch count on the very first chain!!!  GRR.  The gift was late due to this and the fact that I sliced my finger open using a knife.

I want to fix my original cross with the messed up stitch count and an extra picot, but how do I cut out the tatting and not lose everything that I've tatted?  How do I then fix it? 

I'm including a picture which will hopefully help.  The chain in question is the very first chain of the entire cross!!!  And of course I tatted the whole rest of the cross without discovering my error. 

Just as a heads up a product review (non-tatting) and a giveaway will be coming up on the blog soon!!

surviving the heat

Quick post with a recipe to help you beat the heat.  I live in the midwest with no air conditioning and our house is HOT.  So I've been enjoying homemade popsicles recently that are wonderful and you can eat them guilt free!!  How great is that.  I mix mine in a magic bullet and don't measure anything.  I put in milk almost to the top of the magic bullet, a spoonful of vanilla, and a squirt of honey.  Mix this up and then pour into molds.  It takes just like vanilla ice cream and is wonderful on a hot day.

Now to finish my popsicle and scan a piece of tatting so I can get some help :)

I'm back

I've been gone for over a year from the blog world.  Not completely because I have been checking your blogs and seeing the wonderful work that you have created.  I've been busy building fence, chasing animals and children.  Frustrating at time, but definitely worth it.   

I haven't had too much time in the last year to create much new, but hopefully I can post what I have been up to.  And of course I have some questions for all of Tat-Land.  I've had to scrap a few tatted pieces since I don't know exactly how/where to cut out and make it work. 

So look from some help me help me posts to come soon.  And maybe a surprise or two as well :) 

Things not to do

1. Move with a 3 year old and a teething 4 month old. 2. Move with a 3 year old and a teething 4 month old to former farm and try to reclaim the farm. 3. Try to plant a garden with a 3 year old and a teething 4 month old. The dirt gets trampled down by the 3 year old and becomes like concrete. 4. Have grand tatting ideas for friend's weddings only not to have any time to tat for a long time. I have personally done all of these things recently. The good news is that the chickens lay eggs! And while my tatting is still in a box--I know which box it is in! Hope that you are all doing well. I've had brief moments in time to check some tatting blogs and there is some beautiful tatting being done out there. Hopefully soon I will have time to get back to tatting. Right now the garden needs some water.

In need of some ZZZZ's (1/25)

What do you think this is supposed to be? No prize for the winner. I'm just curious how close it resembles what I'm trying to make.


Speaking of winners. I have some packages that need to be mailed out to the winners of my baby giveaway. They have been sitting on our desk for a few weeks. I apologize to the winners, but lugging a car seat and a toddler to the post office hasn't happened yet. I will try and make it very soon though.

The above image is supposed to be a Z. Does it looks like one? Any ideas of how to modify it to look more like a Z? I'm trying to make a wedding present for a friend and tat the first letter of the surname with a border around it similar to what I did here. I know there are other letters out there, but for some reason I really like this for my purpose. Many of the other alphabets are too feminine for this purpose---at least to me.

The baby mouse is getting big and doing very well. She is sleeping okay, but feels the need to check just to make sure that mom is still around during the night. She is more clingy than the kitten, so it makes for less tatting time. I bought some new thread for Christmas and really want to see how it will tat up, but I haven't found the time yet.

I've also been practicing shuttle tatting a bit--I'm very slow at it. Oh and I'm very exciting because it looks like I'll be teaching some homeschoolers to needle tat in the fall. I'm sure that I'll be asking for some ideas in the future--I would love to be able to give some history of tatting as well.

I've been reading blogs some, but haven't had much time to comments. There have been some lovely items tatted and my to tat list is growing!!!

Gina

Thanks to Gina, I was able to tat this motif.


I know that the scan is awful, but it is Irene Woo's heart.

When I broke my tatting needle, Gina generous sent me one as well as lots of pattern books as well. You will be missed, Gina!!

a late Merry Christmas and winners

Merry late Christmas to all you in Tat-Land!!

I've finally gotten around to finding the winners of the baby contest. Red, you were the closest on the time. Only off by a few hours..impressive. Teresa, you win the name contest. My new daughter will be known as the mouse! Fox, I love your name as well--but I'm going to stick with the cat theme and I'm not sure that I could remember how to spell Picoette :) No promises on the speed of receiving the prizes---late seems to be our theme these days.

It's a.........

GIRL! My daughter finally decided to arrive on Dec 11!! She weighed 9 lbs and 15 oz. We are all doing very well, but wishing for a bit more sleep. I'll figure out the winners of the giveaway after live settles a bit. I just wanted to let everyone know.

Sally, thanks so much for the shuttle--I would send you an e-mail but I can't seem to locate your e-mail address. It arrived the day after my daughter! I've only looked at it briefly, but can't wait to try it out!!!

Still here

I'm still here with no baby. So, there is still time to enter the giveaway in the previous post. I have even started working on the giveaway prizes!!

I've been keeping busy getting some Christmas tatting finished. Here are some of the ornaments that I have ready to give. Nothing exciting or new, but at least they are ready to give.



I also pulled the sewing machine out and almost finished up a project that had been cut out for a while. It is a bag made out of men's cargo pants and a man's shirt. There are lots of compartments to place items. It even worked out for a cell phone holder in the strap using the shirt pocket. I still need to do a bit of hand sewing and some top stitching.





We have received several boxes in the mail recently. It is amazing that children and cats both love the simple pleasures in life. This piece of packing paper and the box that it came in has been the source of amusement for cat and kitten for hours.



Hopefully the next post will be after baby has arrived!

Still waiting and tatting

Update: As of Dec 8, we are still waiting on baby. So there is still time to enter the giveaway!

Still waiting for baby to makes his/her arrival in the world. In the meantime, I've gotten some Christmas and other tatting accomplished! This is a horrid scan, but the scanner is on the floor and trying to get it all lined up is a bit beyond my capabilities at this point :) On a similar note, I'm wishing that I had one of the new Lizbeth thread holders right now. I've been chasing so many balls of thread on the floor--my husband finds it so amusing! On the right is a needle tatted cross for a lady from our church who is having surgery soon---it is desperately in need of some pressing. On the left is my shuttle tatting of the same cross. It is taking me a long time, but I have noticed my shuttle tatting is quite a bit smaller than my needle tatting. I still have a long long way to go with tension and even-ness, but at least I'm getting the flip almost all of the time. I'm practicing my shuttle tatting so that I can enjoy my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle when it arrives. Sally, I'm wondering if the shuttle will arrive before baby!


We had a bit of snow yesterday. Thankfully Snowflake enjoys snowflakes!! The kitten certainly enjoyed it as well. She was disappointed when it melted.


Last, but not least--I want to thank Tat-land for all of your answers to questions, generosity, and encouragement. So I'm going to do a giveaway! Just a warning though, I need to make what will be given so it might take a while before you get your winnings! I do promise gifts to the winners though. There will be 2 winners of the giveaway. Leave a comment with the following to enter the giveaway:

1. A blogging nickname for the new baby. My daughter's blogging name is the kitten. Baby's gender is unknown, so you can leave a boy and a girl name if necessary.

2. A guess of the date and time of when baby will arrive. The date and time will be Central Standard Time in the US. Just to help you out--baby was due to arrive on Dec 1.

One winner will be the one with the nickname that I choose for baby. The other winner will be the one with the closest date and time of the arrival of baby. Ties will be chosen randomly.

The cut-off time for entries is whenever baby decides to arrive!! Hopefully that isn't too long away. I'll post the winners whenever I get a chance. Best of luck to all and a very Merry Christmas to all of you wonderful tatters as well.

Grace Snowflake (25/25)

I tatted the Grace Snowflake for the Christmas exchange at InTatters. I can share it here now that my partner has receive her package! I was concerned that baby would arrive before I finished this, but baby still hasn't arrived.

This is the 25th motif of the challenge. I'm ready to start fresh after baby arrives......although it might take me quite a while to get to 25 this time around!

Oh Boy, oh Boy

No, baby isn't here yet. But I won a Pop-a-bobbin shuttle from Sally's blog. So excited!!!

Now to get back into working on my shuttle tatting.

Thanks so much Sally and thank the man in the garage for me as well.

Cat, Contractions, and Christmas.....(24/25)

As you can see our newest addition, Snowflake, is getting ready for baby to come. I think that she will be very disappointed when the car seat contains a crying baby. Snowflake has definitely become a member of the family. The kitten adores her...maybe a bit too much!



I finally finished my tatted item for the Christmas exchange at InTatters! Now to get a box and actually mail it. We had a false baby alarm a few weeks ago and I was concerned that I wouldn't get it finished in time. Tatting with contractions is interesting! Thankfully baby has decided to stay put for the time being so we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving. The due date is this week so hopefully baby will make his/her presence known soon.

I've been tatting up some quick items to give as thank you and Christmas gifts. This is a quick tatted heart in Lizbeth Christmas Delight designed by Birgit Phelps. I also played a bit more with cabone rings and came up with these Christmas ornaments. One is Lizbeth Christmas Delight and the other is Lizbeth Angel Love. I think they look like mints. I really enjoy these cabone ring designs and put Jon's tatted rings book on my Christmas list.



I've finally finished up my family ornaments for the year. I tatted 6 Makena balls. 4 of them are finished, but I'm holding onto 2 of them and hope to try out a new stiffener on them. Someone at InTatters mentioned Fa-brick as a stiffener and this is on my Christmas list as well.




Now to sit back and wait for baby to come. Happy tatting to all!!!