The Fair

 Each year I always think of entering items in the fair when it's too late. Thankfully this year was different and we remembered!

Here Elizabeth is sitting outside the building with her items; hand embroidery, a skirt and her glass rooster.

 This building, the women's building, is my absolute favorite place to visit when we go to the fair. I love looking at all the handmade items people enter; it's a great place to get ideas for future projects.

Here is Elizabeth answering questions about the items she is entering.

And here she is waiting for my turn; I entered two quilts.

 My quilt club quilt from last year won 1st place.

 My king scrap quilt didn't win anything.

 I baked some biscuits and won Honorable Mention.

 Plus I made some of my sugar pecans which won 2nd place. I brought extras of these and the volunteers couldn't keep from eating them.

 Elizabeth's glass rooster won 1st place and Best of the show.

 And it was placed in a case with other items that won Best of the Show.

 The skirt Elizabeth made won 2nd place. It was a simple A-line made from blue corduroy fabric that she plans to wear this winter.

 Elizabeth won 1st place for her hand embroidery; it's a raccoon standing by a tree.

 She also made some oatmeal raisin cookies and won 3rd place. We brought extras of the cookies too and the volunteers just raved over them.

Our experience with the fair this year was amazing and so much fun. We are already thinking about next year and what we want to enter again.

Work...The Fun Kind

 Jonathan recently helped us cut down some dead trees in the backyard. I always find work feels less like work and more like play when others help out.

We are stacking this years logs by the backdoor. 

I hope to have a nice pile or two before the cold wind starts.

We found a bird nest in one of the trees.

I'm surprised the nest stayed attached to the branch when the tree came crashing down.

Macaroni and Cheese

Lately I have been having a hard time coming up with food to serve at mealtime. While searching for ideas I came across a recipe for macaroni and cheese.

Back in 2009 I posted a recipe for macaroni and cheese that I found in a magazine. This recipe is wonderful but today's recipe is equal to or better than the first.

I forgot to take a photo before we started eating :O)

 

Here is a link to the newest macaroni and cheese. 

I omitted the pepper and added 1 1/2 cups milk instead of 1 cup so the macaroni would be runny.

The leftovers are warming up in the oven as I type; it's going to make a great lunch!

A Past Sewing Project

Earlier this year I made Elizabeth a skirt set; and for some reason I kept forgetting to take any pictures. On Sunday this set was what Elizabeth wore to church and thankfully I remembered to take a picture before we left the house.

The skirt is a standard tiered skirt that we both love very much. But the top is my favorite part of this set. I used a woman's size small sweater.

 The neckline was very low cut so to solve this problem I added a piece of leftover fabric from the skirt.

In order to spruce up the fabric insert I stitched some lace over it before stitching it to the sweater.

It's wonderful to have a daughter who still likes skirts and dresses.

Canning Without a Garden

 I officially gave up on my garden last week; too much kept going wrong. This decision had me wondering how we would survive without home canned green beans. 

My current supply, from 2-years ago, is almost gone.

Thank goodness for Sprouts, a local grocer/farmer's market store that offers wonderful produce at nice prices. I so love shopping at this store!

Elizabeth and I worked all afternoon and evening preparing the beans and red potatoes for our canning session. With a joy it was to have a helper who can now truly "help" :O)

 Notice I did not use my Tattler Lids?

The reason for it has to do with my abundant supply of metal lids. I have had and used these lids for years but recently decided I should start using them up. 

I wouldn't want the rubber seals to dry out causing the lids to go bad.

Playing Little House

 Years ago I purchase this vintage butter churn at an antique store. During Thanksgiving and Christmas it's fun to bring out the churn to make butter that will be served at the meal.

 My kids have grown up churning butter so it surprised me when Elizabeth asked if she could churn some. This came about while she was reading Little House in the Big Woods; she thought it would be fun to follow along with the Ingalls family as they did their weekly chores. So last week I bought some heavy whipping cream for the big day; Thursday was when Ma would churn butter.

 It didn't take long, about 15-minutes, for the cream to change into butter.

 This morning I bake some whole wheat rolls to go with our supper; we will be using Elizabeth's butter to go with the bread.

 Of course Elizabeth didn't want to wait for supper so she had a roll with some of her butter right away.

 Along with our butter we now have some buttermilk.

This will be used for biscuits in the morning.

Simplicity 2689

Today I made a new blouse for Elizabeth.

I absolutely love  how the blouse turned out...and so does Elizabeth!