Finally an update!

It's been awhile since I've updated and I sincerely apologize for that.  But.......in the meantime I have spruced up the old blog a bit.   I've put up a totally new layout and I'm continuing to add little things here and there as I go along.   I've got comments up and running so feel free to drop a line if you are so inclined (and no it does not have to be in rhyme *heehee*).  

On the homefront, I have several different WIP's going on.  I'm working on crocheting the afghan from hell (see previous post entitled afghan from hell) for my husband, knitting a hat for my daughter, sewing some winter clothes for my youngest and middle babies, harvesting pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, green lettuce, apples, and various other fruits and vegetables. I've also been having car trouble (first the window wouldn't roll up, then the brakes went out, the check engine light went on and finally the speedometer stopped working) and trying to work on that.  Otherwise, I'm just trying to keep the house in some amount of order.   But, hey, at least we've finished the corn!

I've also been shopping...

I've added this cute little monkey flannel fabric to my stash collection (on sale at JoAnn's for $2.99/yd)  I'm hoping to make some cute pajama's out of it for my 3 year old.   Plus, I found adorable little flannel dinosaur fabric (underneath the monkeys and also on sale) for the baby.   

So, as you can see, I haven't dropped off of the face of the planet.   But, alas, real life is calling me once again (my dryer is screaming at me for attention as I type) so I must be off.   :)

Free Food Friday!

It's Free Food Friday! Free Food Friday means I take a little time to share one of my family's favorite recipes with you. Enjoy!

This is the blanket I completed for Project Linus. It's a simple double crochet v-stitch with a picot edging. It's all done with a K hook and it works up really fast. This was the smaller sized pattern found right here. If you aren't registered to the website, you'll need to register to see the pattern but it's free and easy and there are tons of nice patterns on there.

I'm really behind in my postings right now but I'll try to get pictures of the other projects I've been working on up here in the next couple of days.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Life right now is a little hectic. It's the nature of the season, I suppose. I'm trying to get everyone's winter clothes finished. I've gotten my first hat KNITTED (yay!) for Zachary and I'm working on Nicole's. Then I'm on to Nathan's. I still have Zach's winter clothes to sew, a few more winter clothes for Nathan to sew and just a couple for Nicole left. I've also finished the first Project Linus blanket of the season. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet, I've also been very busy in the garden and with the cows so I haven't had much picture taking time. Hopefully I'll be able to get some loaded up today after we make a few more batches of corn.

Also coming out of our garden...beets, lots of beets (I don't even really like beets all that much). Lettuce. Potatoes, potatoes, and more potatoes. Eggplant. Apple cider (which is what I spent most of yesterday doing). And beans. I've also been collecting seeds for next Spring's planting. I seem to be increasing my inventory considerably from last Spring. It's usually about this time that I start to question my sanity. :D

Picture time!

These are just some pictures I took of a wood pile next to our woodshed and then played around with them on photoshop. Nothing special but I don't really have anything else to blog about today so I thought I'd share these.

Squashed!

I think it's safe to say that Fall is our busiest time of year. It's the time of year when we're harvesting, canning, chopping firewood, sewing, crocheting, and newly knitting winter clothes and just generally getting for the chilly season.

So, not only have we been picking apples and pears, we've also been picking squash. These are a few of our patty pans and zucchinis.

Zack has become our official squash quality control officer.

Mmm...squash.

I just thought this picture was funny.

Apples

Pears aren't the only thing we've been picking around here....we've also been picking apples! (I bet some of you thought I was going somewhere else with that, ;0 )
Fortunately, our apple crop isn't a total bust like the peaches nor is it as pathetic as our pears. We actually have multiple full trees. My crystal ball sees much canning, freezing and baking in my future x-)

The first picture are typical macintosh apples. The above are a gala hybrid courtesy of my father-in-law.

These are the tragic souls left behind. They jumped ship (aka, tree) early and are now making a nice feast for the bees.