Latest Obsession

Okay, I admit it, I drank the Kool-Aid!

I am totally obsessed with Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt.

I just can't get enough.

I have been working out of this book for weeks now, I love her patterns and her creativity.

I meet with a group of Ladies called the Farm Girl Chick and we work on blocks for Lori's book.

Here is a sampling of just a few of the blocks I have made.

Aren't they just adorable?

The book has the patterns for both a 12" block and a 6" block.

The blocks above are 12", but I am working on several of the 6" blocks to use in between these rows.

Here are a few I have done so far.

I have taken the Strawberry block and made a table runner.

This is also from Lori's book, I have taken two of the blocks, the 12" Simple Star block and the 6" Postage Stamp block and combined them to create this quilt. It is still a work in progress but I will post it again when it is complete.

I will be heading to Logan Utah next week to attend a Farm Girl Vintage Retreat with Lori Holt herself! To say I am excited it a understatement. 

I will be sure to share all the fun things we did at that retreat, until then I have some more Farm Girl blocks to make.

Most be something in the paint!

I would like to share my latest addiction, transforming objects into treasures with the help of Annie Sloan paint.

Annie Sloan paint is my new best friend, it so easy to use even Amanda has started transforming old to new with this paint.

The first project I did was transforming an old TV cabinet  into a quilt hutch.

With the help of my wonderful husband, we added Wainscot panel in the back and sides of the opening.

Painted Emperor Silk Red with a dark wax coating, added new knobs  and Wa-La !
My next project was painting my hutch.

This was a custom made hutch for my collection of Bone China Mugs, I loved the original blue but like I said, there must be something in that  paint because I just had to paint it.

Here it is transformed with Duck Egg Blue and Old Ochre with dark wax.

Next I found this old nasty beat up Milk Jug

 Got out my favorite Emperor Silk Red

Pick up a few Stencils at Hobby Lobby and used Arles and dark wax.

My next project is really fun!
We decided to take a section of our yard and fence it off for our chickens. I wanted something different so I created a gate from an old frame I was going to use for a quilt display.

Again, I used Duck Egg Blue and a coat of clear wax followed by a coat of dark wax.

I showed in a early post of the wooden tool box that is now a succulent planter.

 I have a few smaller projects that I forgot to take a before and after picture but as you can see I have really had fun with Annie Sloan paint.
Amanda painted her desk in her room, I was a little nervous about the two colors she picked out but I have to say it looks great and fits with her room decor perfect.
Wally and I found an old Hoosier cabinet that was in pretty bad shape. The frame and the original hardware are still in great shape but some of the wood inside and the backing were water damaged. Wally has replaced most of the wood and is almost finished putting it back together. That will be my next Annie Sloan project, I just can't decide what color to paint it.
I have been given two great pieces of furniture from my friend Susan, I can't wait to start transforming those  pieces as well. 
Nothing is safe now, I want to transform everything. We will be painting our kitchen cabinets with Anne Sloan paint in the very near future. I just keep changing my mind of what color to use. 
So many ideas, so little time.  Like I said in the title of this post, there must be something in that paint, because I think I need a fix today. 

Succulent Lover

So it's no secret I love to garden. I love having fresh flowers, herbs and vegetables.

It's also no secret I love Pinetrest......

I think Pinetrest is the greatest thing out there, it gives so many wonderful recipes and ideas.  I swear it's crack for crafters!

My friend Kathy started posting Succulent gardens, at first I didn't see the excitement. They are just plants, no flowers or fruit right???  Well then she started showing me the cool containers people were posting on Pinetrest. Now this really peaked my creative juices. Old things re-purposed into Succulent planters, now that's cool!

Soon I was pinning Succulents on Pinetrest and my love and passion bloomed, I couldn't get enough. 

My friends started bringing me plants, and I started looking at things I could                    re-purpose into succulent pots.

This copper container was a old hanging wall clock that no longer worked, so it became home to these beauties.

This container Amanda picked out at Hobby Lobby.

 This is galvanized tub I poked some holes in the bottom and turned into a planter.

  This is Wally's old wooden tool box.

This is an old metal ladle Kathy found when we were up in PIne for our quilt retreat. It was an ugly brown and orange color and I painted it with Anne Sloan paint for it's beautiful transformation.

 This is a perfect area on my patio for all my planters. It gets just a little of the morning sun and they are happy here. 

The only problem now it I want more!!!!

Few more hours in my day.

I know it has been way too long since I posted on my blog. Truth be told I just didn't have time. 

 What's changed??? My husband work schedule. Because he works outside in this  incredible, insane,  hot weather they have decided to start their work day at 6 am verse 8 am.  You ask what does this have to do with me posting again. Well, my husband is like a bull in a china shop, he means well and tries to be quite but the harder he tries the more noise he makes. So I am up most morning at 4:30.

It's not bad, I do get a lot more done in the morning but the down side is I am falling asleep at 9 pm.  I hate to admit it but this makes me feel old, if we start having dinner at 4:30 I made need some intervention!

So because I have a little more time on my hands in the wee hours of the am I am going to work on keeping my blog current.

Here are just a few things I have been up too!

I have started a love affair with Annie Sloan paint, anything I can get my hands on gets new life with a coat of paint. 

My husband had this old tool box he made back in the 80's.

So here it was when he so generously gave it up to me.

And now a new planter for my succulents. Oh yeah, now hooked on succulents but that a whole other post for another day.

I have many other projects I have transformed that I will share on other post, but just know I an not above picking through someones garbage to find my next project.....

Next thing I have been working on is a quilt I am designing. Yes, didn't start out wanting to design a pattern, just fell in love with the block and kept making them. 

The block is from Lori Holt's book Farm Girl Vintage, which I am obsessed with! It is Simple Star block with a Postage Stamp block in the center. Yes those tiny squares are a 1 1/2! I had a charm pack of a fabric that we will be getting in the shop and I begged Kathy to order it. So the deal was she would order it if I made the shop sample. I did make one more color way with this block but I guess I didn't take a picture of that.

Here is the quilt in progress.

The fabric in the Postage Stamp block is call Farm Girl by Fig Tree which we should have in the store in early September. I did get 8 block centers out of one charm pack.

I will post more pictures as I progress on the quilt. 

Last but certainly not least, 

 Buckas, yes I finally caved and let Wally and Amanda get a dog. Long story how Buckas came into our lives, lets just keep it short and say we rescue him. 

We were told he is a 1 1/2 but we think he may be a bit younger. Full of energy and likes to get into mischief. 

He has such a cute face and the saddest eyes I can't stay mad at him too long. 

He does like to terrorize the chickens but so far the gate has kept him for them.

Lot more to share in future blogs.

New way of thinking!

I have always loved cooking and baking, I have shared many recipes on my blog in the past. After a recent trip to my Dr. I found I have several medical conditions that could become dangerous if I don't make some drastic changes. What I love about my Dr. is that she believes in taking the natural path verses drugs. She has put me on a very limited diet in hopes it will help my issues.

When she gave me the list of foods to avoid, I will be honest, I freaked.

No dairy, no sugar, no wheat, no fruit, no corn, no rice, no salt, no vinegar, no alcohol. I thought to myself, What the heck can I eat?

The first couple of weeks were very hard, not just on me but my poor family as well. I was irritable to say the least!

Some time has passed and my blood pressure is getting better, I have lost some weight and I am getting used to this diet.

Last night I made Quinoa and Kale Cakes and I have to be honest, they were good. My family really enjoyed them and after I posted a picture on Facebook several people have asked for the recipe. 

So first I started with the Kale, I got frozen Kale from Trader Joe's but you can also use fresh. I took half the bag and sauteed it with a little olive oil and garlic.

I added 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, and one teaspoon of turmeric.

While that was sauteing I took 3 cups organic chicken broth and 1 1/2 cups Organic White Quinoa and brought it to a boil.

I place the Kale and Quinoa in a bowl and let cool.

Once cooled I added one egg and a little less than 1/4 cup of Gluten Free All Purpose Flour but you can use regular flour if Gluten isn't an issue.  

I formed them into patties used a small amount of coconut oil  and brown them.

Next I  finely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion and just a few small silvers of jalpenho. I removed the seeds and the stems so there was very little heat.  I drizzled a small amount of red wine vinegar because I was out of fresh citrus. I than drizzled olive oil and fresh chopped cilantro. 

Since I am not allowed salt I didn't add any but my family did right at the end.

It was very good and satisfying.

 Next I am going to try baking, I will post if the recipes are a success!

Gone to long!

I know I have been gone way to long! 

We  got a new computer and I am hoping that whatever issues I was having with my older computer is now resolved.

Life sure has been busy lately,  I can't believe July is almost gone.
It sure has been hot here, not much is growing in our garden right now, we are looking forward to planting our winter garden  in late September. 
My cousins daughter made us this great sign for our backyard garden.

We love it.

Our chickens seem to be surviving this crazy heat, we bought them a small galvanized bath and they just love standing in it and cooling off.  They love Wally, he is the chicken whisper, they follow him all over the yard and when he comes into the house they stand at the back door looking in for him.

I have been asked to blog more about my great foodie adventures, so I will be posting more about the great places I find in the valley and some great recipes. 

My quilting projects seemed to have multiplied over the summer so I will be posting those WIP (work in progress) as well.
TaTa  for now.

Having technical issues.

I know I promised to be better about posting but I have been having some technical issues with my blog. For some reason it won't let me post pictures.

Now I have e-mail their support team and have not received a reply.
I decided I would post all the finished projects as I go this year, but without a picture it just isn't that fun.
Hopefully I can figure out what the problem is and get back to posting.
Until then, happy quilting.