Sewing break

I have not been at the sewing machine for over a week! I've been too busy this last week with having C & K here, making applesauce almost daily since last Sat., taking care of the zucchini, errand running, and school. I have managed to get some knitting done during school, so that makes me happy.

I've got an AG sewing swap to sew for next week. It has to go out on the 20th.

Here's some good news in the midst of all the bad.

Psalm 125:1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

Psalm 128:1 Blessed is every one who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.

More applesauce

I'm still making applesauce in the crock pots. I'm starting to run out of jars. Who would have thought! The thing I like about crock pot applesauce is that you don't have to run it through a food mill or blender. (I suppose you could if you like your sauce very smooth.) I have two crock pots and I run them both at the same time. Here's the basic recipe:

10 apples of whatever variety you like, peeled, cored, sliced
1/2 c water
1 tsp cinnamon

Place apples and water crock pot. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, low 8-10, stirring occasionally. Stir in cinnamon when it's starting to look like sauce. Cook until you have sauce at you desired consistency. The times were accurate for one of my crock pots while the bigger one with the removable pot took twice as long (on high).

Tomorrow, I need to shred and/or cube more zucchini to freeze. I'm also out of chicken broth so my last stewing hen will be busy tomorrow. ; ) There are still apples, so sometime I need to get those cooking.

I'm thankful God has provided us with a bountiful harvest. I'm sorry for the times I said, "I never want to see another tomato or zucchini."

Date Night Special

A couple weeks ago dh & I were walking the Target store just looking. They had these dishes marked down from $40 to $20. Oh, I thought they were so cute, but neither one of us thought we should spend the money. So we walked on and left them at the store. Last Friday we're doing our Target walk (it's a shopping walk, not an exercise walk.) at a different Target. We came across the set again only this time they were $10. I am a sucker for "cute" but I'm really a sucker when "cute" is a great price! The 16 piece set ended up in the cart, in the car, in the house, in the dishwasher, and into the cabinet tomorrow. They'll most likely be on the table at suppertime.

Concert

Amy & her friends gave us a concert. It's about 5 minutes long. Enjoy!

The Orchard

There's an orchard just down the highway from our house. It might take three minutes to drive there. This is where we bought our apples for the sauce.


K lived in a Russian orphanage for the first five years of her life, so she's not had all the experiences other children her age may have had. Today was her first day to walk through an orchard.

While C and Amy sat under a tree sketching K and I went on our own "noticing project." Below are a few things we noticed.

Applesauce

Praying and instruction giving. I was having a hard time thinking through the process of getting four of us organized, so we started with prayer. God is good. Then came the instructions.

The beauty of God's creation.

First in line is K who made the apples "swim." Next in line is me. I did the peeling. C did the coring and Amy did the slicing, she also took them to the crock pots. Once the crockpots were filled K put the water in, plugged in the crockpots and turn them on.

One important detail...the girls were all decked out in the chicken aprons I made. : )

New apron

The lighting wasn't so great for these pictures, but you can get an idea. The first go 'round had the lace with more of the raw edge side showing, so I decided to rip it all out and start over. When I went to put it back together the lace was shorter than the patchwork strip. How did that happen? I think when ripping the seam the patchwork strip stretched some while the lace didn't. When I did the second strip I ironed it which must have shrank it back to size. Anyway, I was wishing I had just left it, as it ended up being way more work than I had planned. But I do like it better after I "fixed" it. Unfortunately, I don't have before and after pictures. This pattern came from A Is for Apron. The book is definitely on my Christmas wish list (if I can wait that long).

Our first day with our friends has gone very well. One of the girls, K, was allowed to play with Amy's dolls. K was absolutely amazed that we have so many dolls. I told her we sort of collect them. Her comment to that was that "you probably have so many dolls because it makes you feel like you have more children." LOL!

I'm considering making applesauce with them on Sat. I may regret that decision, but I've been wanting to do it anyway. There's an orchard just down the highway from here, so it's convenient.