I Love My Purls: April 2008

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Reading, Collecting, Cooking and Knitting

For some reason I couldn't get my pictures to complete my previous post, so here goes:

Finishing touches to the Lucy Bag - Kitchener's stitch to join the seams - this makes an invisible seam.

Very long - next step is the felting process. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Fajitas made in the crockpot.

Bread in the bread machine to go with this:

Homemade clam chowder

The beginning of one of the best desserts I have made in a long time. Egg whites beaten until stiff, but not dry - delicious meringue...

Meringue piled high and baked for 1 - 2 hours at a low temperature.

Served with fruit topping - Yum. Pavlova (named after the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova. Made for her by a chef at the hotel she was staying.

A very light, delicious dessert.

My latest kitchen gadget. Boils and poaches eggs.

Poached eggs - for Dave, breakfast is his favorite meal.

My roosters:

Doormat

Weather vane I found at Target. Couldn't resist this guy.

Recipe Box

Denim skirt I made recently.

Pincushions. I love hunting for sewing and knitting items, especially vintage.

Dave on another project.

Great lamp - thanks Dave.

Reading,Collecting,Knitting and Cooking

I recently finished reading this book and I am hooked. What a clever idea - this author has written many mysteries and they all have cute titles relating to food. Very light, enjoyable reading. The books are set in a small town in Minnesota and the main character, Hannah Swensen owns a bakery called The Cookie Jar. Hannah gets involved in solving crimes in her town because somehow goodies from her bakery are related to the crimes. When I first started reading, I thought it was a little boring, but things picked up - very witty at times and a surprise ending. Plus there are lots of recipes in the books for the items she sells in the bakery. The author also has a good website.

I will take this one on vacation next week, plus I will download a book to my Ipod so I will have a lot of reading on the long flight to Las Vegas:

Some of the other titles I look forward to reading, Carrot Cake Murder, Key Lime Pie Murder, Fudge Cupcake Murder - delicious!!!

Our yard in the spring

We have been busy getting the yard in shape after winter. I am waiting until we get back from vacation to plant the rest of the garden, but in the meantime....

We have really enjoyed the pergola that Dave built last year. We wanted to put some kind of light over the table, so I ordered these solar lights which I thought would look great, but they just didn't fit in, so I returned them.

We found this outdoor chandelier at Target. Dave wasn't sure at first, but we both really like it. You can't get the full look from this picture but it has 5 lights with beige lampshades.

It shows up better in this picture. It's a keeper.

Looks better at night in person.

Some of my herbs look great, some not so great. This lavender is coming back thick and pretty.

Dave made this little bench by the pond.

When I was setting up housekeeping back in the 60's I collected chickens and kept my collection for years. Recently I have rekindled my interest in chickens and roosters. This collection is outside our garden. There is a chicken coup, several feeders and a chicken with her chicks, most of which I have found at the flea market. I'll show you the rest of my collection later.