Winter in Tennessee

This is winter in Tennessee y'all.  All last week our daffodils were blooming their little hearts out then...

On Saturday under a forecast of rain all day we began to see white puffs falling from the sky and landing on everything.

Sometimes the weather service just needs to look out the window.  LOL

It was glorious.  We love our snow, and the birds love their black oil sunflower seeds so we kept them supplied with their favorite food all afternoon. 

This is what a little over 2 inches of "rain" looks like on our deck rail.  Hope your winter is full of all kinds of white "rain".   To be fair we do live in an area where snow is not easy to predict.  

I got the skirt sewn to match the top I showed you in the last post.

I wanted to let those of you who may have joint, rheumatoid and some other types of pain know about an herb that is kicking pain to the curb for a lot of folks, Goodman and myself included.  Goodman used to have a lot of knee pain.  I used to have pain from arthritis in a couple of joints on my fingers.  We are now pain free thanks to Moringa.  Click here to see it on Amazon

source

I'm not a doctor, but I know this works for us.  I'm not going to wear you out with the facts, either., astounding ones though they are.  Of course you need to do your research, but to make it easy just start here if you're interested.  (I'm not an affiliate to any entity shared in this post.)
 Here is a link from the Big Family Homestead Youtube channel where I heard of it's amazing properties. 

Have a great week y'all!
Linking with Saturday's Critters

Sewing in the Foothills...among other things

Hello from the foothills where we had very mild weather around the new year so that the daffodils  tried to bloom this month, but our recent cold wave only allowed one to bloom.  It froze in place for a few days then wilted.   Ah well.

On the other hand my new Christmas Cactus made a fair show for us.

I've been experiencing a bit of crafty deja vu.  Back in the 80s I made some macrame handbags and a few other things that were in vogue at the time, but I'd never made a plant hanger so I gave that a whirl since we last visited.  In the 80s macrame was just macrame - now it's Boho style.  

I'm now thinking about making a hanging chair, lol.  I'll let you know if that works out.

I've since been sewing with the fabric beneath my mug of Chai tea, but first the tea.  Did you know that adding a couple of star anise pods to your tea gives you a small,.natural dose of shikimic acid which is the precursor to the pharmeceutical anti-flu drug contained in Tamiflu?  Cheers!

I made a Toaster Sweater by Sew House Seven.  It's a comfy little top that is fairly easy to sew.  Mine is the dropped shoulder version on the right.  The pattern is super easy to make with only three pieces to sew.

Here it is all finished.  I'm still debating if I want a matching skirt.

I've sewn for years, but only last year did I buy a serger.   I got the Brother 1034D, and my only regret is that I didn't get it sooner.   Over-locked seams are a real time saver.

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Don't Ever Have A Heart Attack on Medicare....
That's a little something to remember in case you may start to have a coronary episode when you're older and on Medicare.  I hear that if you have other insurance not connected to Medicare you'll be okay to proceed with the attack and be treated well at a hospital, otherwise you may regret the whole business. Here's why I've drawn this conclusion:

True $tory
A former elementary school teacher had a heart attack just two years ago and found herself in the hospital.  She'd had trouble breathing and was experiencing chest pain so her sons took her to the ER.  She was examined and sure enough had had a heart attack.  She was admitted and taken to a room where the air-conditioning wasn't working.  This was in the South in the middle of the summer.  It gets really hot here y'all.  The sons demanded a fan and one was brought to her room.  The next day someone came to get the fan to take it to another room, but the sons told them the fan was staying where it was.  The former school teacher is diabetic, but the food that was brought to her room were things she couldn't eat, very high in carbohydrates.  When she told the nurse she couldn't eat the food she was told to go ahead and they'd give her a round of fast-acting insulin.  I won't go into all the sordid details of the actual medical care, but that part is not a happy story, either.  The former teacher had dotted all the I's and crossed all the T's when she signed up for Medicare Part A and makes monthly payments for Part B to cover everything Part A doesn't cover.  I'm as baffled as everyone else, but it seems to me that times have changed drastically in the past 15 years.  Where the elderly were once cared for in the hospital, they don't seem to be important patients unless they have additional insurance that charges can be submitted to.
Eat healthy y'all.

Gluten free Mediterranean omlette

It's a high-dollar world out there that you may not want to have to deal with.

I've Been Dyeing to Show You

 Hello there! Until yesterday we were enjoying a wonderful fall with temperatures in the 60s or 70s by day and 50s by night.  Wonderful time of year.

 Morning glories are blooming on the chicken yard fence.  We like to keep our fence clear, but these aren't weeds; I didn't have the heart to pull them down. They're still blooming since we haven't had a frost yet.

 Our jalapeno peppers did very well in the garden this year. I saved some in jars, but we have literally stuffed ourselves with them more than once since I found the best recipe here that is amazingly similar to Cheddar Peppers @ Sonic, only better. ;)

 

 I made a batch of soap and defiantly cut a few of the bars fatter than usual. I'm just stubborn sometimes. ;)

 I prepared some off-white yarn to try dyeing with ...

 These lovely poke berries that I gathered in the pasture.

 I have wanted to do this for ages. Anyway, I used the directions in my book Harvesting Color to guide me. Here I pre-mordanted the wool in vinegar for two hours. This method as described in the book yielded better results than I'd had before. The book may be available at your local library, if not, you can request they get it. Wonderful book on natural dyes.

 Meantime, I squeezed the berries then strained them and brought the mixture to the correct temperature for the dyebath.

 As I lowered the wool in the bath it soaked up so much color I had a feeling it was going to work. The dyebath was kept at 170 degrees for two hours then I turned the heat off, covered it with a lid and let set overnight.

 Here's the finished result. The yarn is actually darker red than the pic, but my camera is defiant, too, so this is the as close to the true color shade as I could get.

 Goodman built some raised beds for my strawberry plants. I really enjoy working in raised beds as I can sit on the side and weed away without getting a backache. We filled them with regular topsoil mixed with mushroom compost. That's asparagus in the far back bed. Goodman found some asparagus plants growing along the back fenceline, and we put them in the bed. I'm pretty sure they grew from seeds of the plants I had several years ago, that were scattered by birds.

Hope you're having a wonderful fall, Y'all!
Linked with: Wildcrafting Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Good Fences




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Yay For Old And Cranky

 We were out browsing antique stores last weekend when this little wooden sewing machine case caught my eye.

 

Nope, I wasn't kidding about old or cranky. This little gem is a 1915 Model 99 hand-crank Singer. I'd actually used one similar to this one long, long ago. We were living in Germany at the time, and a friend had lent me hers for a day or so. I swooned over it the whole time I had it in my possession.

 Many years have passed since then, and I never once thought I'd see another one. It was covered in dirt and drips and splotches from who-knows-what, but I wanted this machine.  The price was very reasonable, but I hesitated thinking it'd be a waste if it didn't work. Goodman said he could probably fix whatever might be wrong so I took her home. Well, after a good cleaning and a lot of adjusting she works just fine.

 There's a small compartment on the side for accessories. All that was in there was some needles and two bobbins. Still I'm thrilled. I hope to find some more bobbins and a belt since this machine can, also be used with a treadle cabinet.

The serial number was still intact so I was able to get the date of manufacture from the Singer site.

I sewed these lil white pumpkin pincushions on it earlier. Who knew white pumpkins were so cute? o.O

 Hope y'all have a splashin' good weekend!

Linking up with May Sewing Party.

Spring Bling

This bluebird is the latest trend in tree bling in my neck of the woods. I got this shot from my window over the kitchen sink.
I've been working on this shawl once again. I started it over a year ago, but I ran out of yarn, and had to wait to finish it till I tracked down some of the same lot number. Just about four more motifs, and I'll be able to attach this edging to the shawl.
Also, I've been working on a new spring purse. I'd never sewn one before so...
I picked out some fabric and gave it a whirl...A look inside...
Here's the final look. It matches several of my summer outfits so I'm pleased with it. I used a printout for the free pattern I found over at the Sew Mama Sew! blog.
Yard bling, I feel very rich, indeed.
Hope y'all have a wonderful week!