Oven Roasted Potatoes

Here is how I make oven roasted potatoes. I learned how to make these while visiting my sister-in-law Cathey.

Begin with raw potatoes that have been scrubbed and all blemishes removed.

Cut them into wedges and place in a plastic bag.
Drizzle oil over the potatoes and then sprinkle on creole seasoning and black pepper. My sister-in-law used a 7-pepper blend but I have not located this at the store yet and black pepper has been working fine.

Close the plastic bag and shake very well. This step evenly coats the potato wedges.
Now place them in an oven proof dish.
Bake at 400-degrees until the potatoes are tender.
I like to make extras so we can have them again the next day with lunch.

Bargain Book

Today's bargain is a wonderful book by James Harriot. I love his stories and have listened to several of his Books on Tape while working in the sewing room.
I paid $1.50 for my new book; just under 7-percent of the list price.
Elizabeth is going to love having me read these stories to her.

Bargain Quilt Progress

While Elizabeth is doing her school work I have been working on my thrift store quilt.I do a little each day. (This is a before photo.)
(Here is the after photo.)
School time works well for handwork since I need to be next to Elizabeth.

Completed Crazy Quilt

It feels good to complete another project on my long TO DO LIST. Last night I sandwiched and pin basted this quilt; it took all day to complete the quilting.The sashing has vertical and horizontal quilting and each crazy block has stippling.
The backing is Heather Bailey that my local quilt store had in stock. I love how the quilting stands out on the back.

Thank you Tallgrass Prairie Studio for your crazy block tutorial. I am so anxious to begin another quilt like this one for myself.

My New Pincushion

This morning I made myself a new pincushion by following a tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilt's blog.The pincushion has been stuffed with cotton we picked from a field next to our house last year. The kids helped to remove all the seeds so the cotton would be soft enough to use.
The tutorial for making a pincushion was very simple but I made two changes; the first change was to add a felt bottom.
The second was to line the top of the pincushion with muslin so the outer fabric would be thicker.
I am pleased with how it came out.

Homemade Vanilla

Several years ago I came across this recipe for homemade vanilla.

Clear vodka

vanilla beans

time

Simply cut a long slit into several vanilla beans and soak several months in vodka. I have found the vodka brand Crystal Palace to work the best and vanilla beans can be purchased very inexpensively on e-bay.
The longer the vanilla ages the stronger it becomes.

Bargains Galore

Today, while in town for Elizabeth's dance class, I found several bargains. The first was this enamel dishpan; I paid 25-cents for it.

My next bargain was this quilt; I paid $3.61 for it.
There are several places that will need hand mending but I don't mind. (I think it's queen size)
While at the grocery store I scored very well using my coupons. All items seen here, minus one of the frozen pizzas, rang up $45.70; after my coupons my grand total was $17.65!
Now I'm off to begin mending the quilt.