December 26, 2019

Christmas.  A time for gathering with good friends.  The same friends that rescued us when we were getting bogged down with trying to pass plumbing on our daughter's house.  We got to help our friends, Ed and Amy put in a floor.  Then Amy came over and kept me company for a day while I taught her how to reupholster chair cushions.  I enjoyed it Amy!  

Just celebrated Christmas today! The only handmade gifts from the farm this year was a desk that was upcycled for our daughter and son-in-law, a few bibs, peanut brittle and fudge, hibiscus tea, and dog treats. The desk was upcycled to exactly meet the needs of our daughter and son-in-law. It was a vintage desk that was small and fit the space, but to make it more functional, we changed the lower drawers on the right into a file drawer, changed the lower drawers on the left to be just the drawer fronts on hinges so they would have a place for their modems to live. We also painted it in colors to match their other furniture and monogrammed their initial in the middle with paint.




This year my husband had a theme week again and one of the days was Santas vs. Elves.  As he is 6'2", I, of course, thought it would be awesome if he went as an elf.  lol  We painted stripes on his small hammer in the hammer loop of his overalls.  He looked almost as cute as our grandson does in this set of overalls I made him out of a flannel shirt and elf slippers.




As the weather has turned colder, our cat has moved in with the chickens.  She was raised with chickens, so we think she just feels right at home.


As it has been cold, indoor projects have been the order of the day, and I have been upcycling clothing.  My daughter liked a red, black and white shirt, but it was sleeveless in the middle of the winter.  I talked her into buying a black turtleneck so we could cut off the arms and use it on the shirt.  She loves it!  I also worked on one for me that included cutting off the bottom of a sweater, turning it upside down to make the sweater have an empire waist.  I also added a print at the bottom from a skirt.  All purchased at the thrift store of course, making each shirt $2.  So far, I have made two bibs for Eli using two wash cloths I bought for a dollar at the dollar tree and the neck of the turtleck, and I have a pair of pants for him planned from the rest of the turtleneck.

December 10, 2019

Unfortunately, we are extracting honey this time of year because our hive was decimated by yellow jackets.  However, my husband found that it was full of honey, so we are making the best of it.  He did a great job and we got 2 quarts and five pints of honey.  This is the first time we have harvested honey.  Maybe it was the push we needed.  Now we have to figure out how to capture some more bees in the spring. . . .

Here's a picture of the inside of our latest project for our daughter and her husband.  It's a fireplace storage cabinet that I mentioned last blog:

I am so pleased with how it has turned out.

December 3, 2019

Finally!  I have recreated the recipe for the sweet potato biscuits we used to enjoy at Venter's in Greenville back in 1980.  The problem has always been that they were too heavy, and not the light and fluffy sweet potato biscuits that they made.  This year I had some leftover sweet potato casserole, and as I don't like to let any food go to waste, I usually try to remake it into something else so we won't get tired of it.  So here's what I did:

1 1/2 c. sweet potato casserole (or sweet potatoes with cinnamon and nutmeg)
3 cups flour (to start)
1/4 c. veg. oil
1 t. salt
1 egg
1 t. yeast

Mix and if it is too wet, add more flour.  If it's too dry, add a little warm water.    Let rise until double (a couple hours).  Punch it down and add some flour if necessary to make it workable.  Roll out to about 1/2 inch deep and cut out using the biscuit cutter.  Put in greased cookie sheet and allow to rise again (about 1 1/2 hours).  Bake at 350 for about ten minutes or until it is starting to brown on the top.  Serve hot with butter or this morning's version with melted cheese.  YUM!!

Currently we are working on a fireplace for my daughter and her husband that doubles as storage for a record player, game system and speakers (among other things.)  We started out with a huge console cabinet that we bought online used for $10, and a small electric fireplace we bought used for $40.  As the console was too large, we cut it back to two drawers on the bottom and moved over the feet.  We installed framework to hold the fireplace, and are currently at the stage that we are adding the cabinet doors.  It will be amazing.  The cabinet doors will make it look like a traditional fireplace, then it will be painted white. I will update next blog post with the final picture.

So many projects, so little time.  So today I am finishing up the gift I am making for my selection from the Angel tree.  The little girl is interested in Moana, so we bought her a Moana barbie and I am making her a Moana costume to go along with the clothes we bought her.  So much fun!  I bought a women's shirt at the thrift store that had an elastic bottom, then turned it upside down to use the elastic at the top of the shirt and cut it down to a size 10 (easy to find charts on the internet).  There was enough fabric for the sash and a headband as well.  I made a heart of the island necklace by printing out the graphic and gluing it onto a flat glass marble (Dollar Tree).  I had some rawhide, so I just tied a knot in the middle and used some E6000 glue to glue the marble to the rawhide necklace where the knot was in the middle.  I used some extra fabric I had in my pile to make the overskirt for the grass skirt I purchased and cut down to child size.  I printed out a flower and cut it out to use as a stencil for the yellow flowers on the skirt.

I am also working on an outfit for my grandson that will make him look like a Christmas elf. It is made from a blue flannel shirt given to me by a friend, Deb Andrews.  Thanks Deb!  I bought a pair of overalls the right size from the thrift store for a quarter, smoothed them out and cut around them, first removing the pocket from the shirt so I could sew it on the front of the overalls.  Then I cut out a piece of lining for the upper section of the front and back.  I sewed on the front one after I sewed on the pocket.  For the back lining, I had sewn together the should straps first, and sewed them between the lining and the overalls when I sewed on the back lining.  Always remember right sides together.  Then I put the front and back together and sewed from the lining to the bottom of the leg after clipping the seam allowance to the lining on the side of the garment.  Then I sewed the leg opening (right sides together.)  Then I hemmed them, and last I sewed on the buttons, made the buttonholes and oila!  I think it took me a couple of hours altogether.

I will have to show you the Christmas presents after. . .No peaking!