Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm

I tried to get this month's challenge done but I just did not stitch fast enough. I was able to get half of it done and I still have 6 month of  blocks to embroider. They are the cutest blocks and you can still get the pattern from Little Miss Shabby I'l just keep stitching away. Kat =^..^=

Over at  Sustainable Eats  Annette had written a book called The Urban Farm Handbook and she has a challenge going on this year. And this month challenge was dealing with Home Dairy. Now I have chickens, I have a veggie garden, I have fruit trees and we even raise are own beef but one thing we do not have is a dairy cow or goat. Part of the challenge was to try to find somewhere local a dairy producer. Well we have lots a dairy farmer around here but I do not know of one that sell from their farm. So I need to keep looking. So to make my cheese I get my milk from Braum's Creamery. They do have really good milk. I make Mozzarella cheese from their milk and I will share how I make my cheese but there is also other sites out there that give very good instructions.  The cheesemaking supply company  gives great instruction and that is where I have ordered what I needed. Here is a brief summery of what I do.  I start with a gallon of milk, I use 2%.  You need

This is a pathetic start on my little houses. I had full intentions of trying to get caught up, because the is to make a house a day, total 365 or 366 (leap year)  and as you see I have 360 to go. I am posting this because this was my New UFO for March and over at Cat Patches  she has links to others who are posting a new start that they did this month. I have been working hard on trying to finish some of my older UFO's and have been trying to resist starting a new thing. But as you can tell that doesn't last long. Till next time Kat =^..^=

I do not crochet much but when I do I like projects that are easy and this  Giant Basket  is one of those kind of projects. It maybe took me 2 hours to make  I used yarn made by Lion Brand Yarn that I bought at Walmart. Because it wasn't as thick as the pattern suggested I double it up Now I could not find a size S Hook so I used a  size Q Work just as well I thought. Till next time Kat =^..^=

I wanted to share a couple of website for free patterns for knitting or crocheting. I have found quite a few myself, so maybe you'll find some patterns to make. Knitting pattern Crochet pattern

My ex-in-laws made these for me many years ago and I had them packed away. I just found them the other day and plan on using them in the garden this year. Don't they just put a smile on your face Happy Gardening to you, Kat =^..^=

Boy with the weather turning out to be just a perfect spring day, I will be outside most of the time today. But I do need to work on at least the block for tonight's Bible Study. This is what I have so far (minus last times block) my Sister's in Scriptures quilt.    And then I still have up My Little Birdie Stitches.   This is what I was able to do this past week. I finished the one on the left top, completed the January (snowman) and have most of April done.  Just a little more. But I am nowhere going to this UFO challenge done in time. But for now I need to get out into the garden and try to do some catch up out there. I should of had some of this planting done a couple of weeks ago. I just hope that having an early spring doesn't mean we are going to have an early summer. That will not work with planting some of my spring veggies on the end of the planting season.

PICKLED EGGS   Ingredients 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled 1 large empty sterilized glass jar 4 cups vinegar 1 teaspoon salt 2 medium onions, sliced 1/3cup sugar 1 tablespoon pickling spices 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds  1 teaspoon celery seeds 1 clove garlic Directions Put the peeled hardboiled eggs in the large jar. Boil the remaining ingredients together for 5 minutes. Pour over the eggs in the jar. Cover; leave on counter overnight. Keeps in refrigerator for weeks, in theory. In reality, if you love pickled eggs, these will disappear. Learn to dye eggs naturally at Mother Earth News I thought that Easter will be here in a couple of weeks that I would give recipes using hard boiled eggs.  This recipe and Recipe #11 used hard boiled eggs, plus the next two will also.  I remember when my kids were young we would have a lot of eggs and at that time I did not know that many dished to use the eggs, we ate the majority of them as just eggs, so hopeful

Look how green and pretty it is starting to look, the temp. is 70 and calm, plus it is sunny. And what am I doing. Sitting in the house, feeling sorry for myself cause I would rather be outside in the garden then here near the phone because I do not want to miss a call from the satellite repair person. They were schedule between 8-12 this morning but here it is 1:15 and I'm still waiting. Did call twice to let me know they are running behind. Your saying, that's to be expected. So I'm having a little pity party. Well I've cleaned, and cleaned and just tried of cleaning so I thought I would look up a few things on the computer. And lo and behold I came across a couple of sites on how to make a bag from an old T-shirt. You might of have seen this before but it's new to me. I like it. I had cleaned out part of my closet and had come across some old T-shirts. Perfect. This is what I made in less than 20 minutes.  This is from a child size small. This i

Karen from Sew Many Ways  is hosting a linky party as a way to meet new friends. If you are here for the first time I want to welcome you and invite you look around. Maybe you'll become a new friend. I would love that. Thank you for stopping by Kat =^..^=

I have had a couple of good and productive days here on the farm but they had little sewing involved. More in the way of getting ready for when the rain stops and I can get back out there in the garden  So I started my sweet potatoes, I have wrote about how to start your own plants last year  here .  I did not plant my potatoes last weekend because I figure the weatherman could be right about the rain  we're to receive and they were right. We have had 8.5" in the past few days. So I'm getting my potatoes ready by laying them out in the light, this is called "chitting" or "greening". This will lead to a stronger plant, earlier harvest and heavier yield. What you do is a week or two before planting, spread  your seed potatoes in a shallow, open top box or I just used newspaper. Lay them in a warm spot that has bright light but not direct sun. The warmth will cause the eyes to sprout while the light keeps them stubby and less prone to breakage.