It is that time of year again!

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Deborah

Seed planting time!!!

I am all ready to roll, well, almost. First I need all my little pots and seed starting mix which is up north currently, but we will be going to get them in a week or so, as well as my new plant table that hubby built for me. Since we moved last Spring, I lost my big window sill in the living room that held all the plant trays in the warm sunshine.

So hubby put together a long, tall, narrow table made from 2 x 4’s and plywood (very elegant looking, just you wait and … Read more...

The Great Avocado Dye Experiment!

Posted on January 15, 2016 by Deborah

Yesterday I posted a recipe using avocados, and in that recipe I said to save the pits and skins for later use. I guess I *should* have been more specific, but I thought it would be interesting to see how many people would be wracking their brains wondering what the heck would you use them for. I mean, they are inedible after all, and unless you are wanting to grow an avocado tree, why save the pit?

So here is what I do with them….

To one 500ml canning jar, I added 3 oz of chopped avocado pits. Combined 3/4 … Read more...

Guacamole Wrap

Posted on January 14, 2016 by Deborah

I wonder how many posts I have written with the word guacamole in it? I must search the site one day to see…or maybe not, lest I discover I am an guacamole addict. Oh wait, I already am.

Well then, now that we have confirmed that I am indeed a guacamole addict, let’s get this blog post over with.

I came back from grocery shopping yesterday morning and was famished. So I grabbed an acovado, a wrap, some leaf lettuce and the bowl of leftover salsa from Tuesday’s dinner of fish tacos (which is one of hubby’s favs). The salsa … Read more...

From Ewe To Me

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Deborah

With Love.

Which is absolutely spot on.

Over a year in the making, I have finally completed a project that started with roving from sheep fleece, spun it into yarn, then wove it into a blanket.

This is my ‘practice’ blanket. I have another one planned for the alpaca I am still spinning, but this was a test to see if my handspun can hold up to the high tension requirements of loom weaving. It is comprised of rough, lumpy, bumpy yarn that were mostly spun a year ago, which I then spent last summer experimenting with natural dyes and … Read more...

2016 ~ The Year of the Wheel!

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Deborah

Happy New Year to everyone! Yes, it has been awhile, but how many of you had the time to try and keep up a blog AND do all things Christmas-y? Baking, cooking, shopping, wrapping, visiting, etc?

That is my defence and I am sticking to it.

I can also add spinning, knitting and weaving into the above as many of you who follow me on Facebook can attest to as I regularly post pics of FO’s or WIP’s (Finished Objects or Work in Progress) to brighten the days of those cruising on FB.

Now that the holidays are fading in … Read more...

Guacamole Grilled Cheese With Basil

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Deborah

The title of this post sounds absolutely awful doesn’t it? But trust me, it was truly delicious in a weird sort of way.

T’was the night before grocery shopping, and all through the fridge, hardly a decent damn thing was in there, save for an avocado and some cheese…(pretty good poem I have going there, I will have to expand on it at some point in the future).

I was starving, and standing in front of the fridge with the doors open surveying what little food I had left wasn’t helping quell the rumblies. So I grabbed my little tablet … Read more...

Alpaca Throw Blanket

Posted on October 20, 2015 by Deborah

I have a serious flaw. I come up with crazy thoughts and ideas that cause me to spend days, weeks and even months doing something that results in an object I could have gone to the store and bought. This time? I am making an alpaca throw blanket from scratch. Way more fun than buying a made-in-China-piece-of-crap-knockoff.

Last Fall my lovely daughter and her husband visited an Alpaca farm just outside Niagara Falls and brought me back 2 alpaca fleeces. As I was in the throes of Christmas prep, house renovations and purging/packing to move, the two fleeces were washed … Read more...

Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Deborah

Yes, I know it is now Fall, but I have several bags of strawberries in the freezer that I picked back in early July and I need to make room for Fall bounty…so…here comes a strawberry muffin recipe at y’all. Healthy, low-fat with the added bonus of oatmeal for the heart but they also make for a quick breakfast bite on those frantic weekday mornings.

Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients

1/3 cup applesauce
2/3 cup sour cream (full fat, low-fat or fat free, your choice, I used full fat as that is what I had on hand)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour … Read more...

Fall Arrived Today

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Deborah

Technically Fall arrived last week on the 23rd, but today it finally *felt* like Fall. I stepped out the door to head out on my daily walk and a very brisk north-east wind sent me immediately back inside to fetch my newly knitted hat (I haven’t made the matching mitts yet, better get knitting soon).

I tied double bows in my shoelaces (dang things keep coming undone), grabbed the camera and headed down the driveway. Immediately, my eyes were stunned by the colours offered up by the various tree types. Maples, Oaks, Sumacs, Birch, Aspen and Poplar to name a … Read more...

2015 Summer Vacation

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Deborah

*Hello*!

Can you see me waving?

No, not the loon (who seems to be waving) but me! 😉

Long time, no chat everyone! Totally my fault though as the past year has been nothing short of controlled chaos (and I use that term loosely). Last summer hubby and I started getting our house ready for sale, meaning de-cluttering, purging, building a new bathroom, gutting and renovating the original bathroom and sprucing up the property. All that effort eventually paid off, even if it tried our patience (and bank account) as we sold promptly this past March in 3 days.

After … Read more...