...an easy scalloped valance...

...we had another rainy Saturday...

...so I decided to make another set of valences...for our bedroom this time...

...and I started the same way as I did with Scout's valences by taping the rods together...but the length of the rods is not quite as crucial as it was for the tailored look we had in there because these will be slightly gathered on the rod...

...I got a pretty floral print on a cream background out of my stash...

...and a solid cream backing (I think it's the same material I used for my Star Wars Princess Leia costume...you can see a photo of it in this post...so much fun remembering little Scout and Halloween fun...

...then for the scallop pattern...I used a trick that my Mom and Daddy used when they were cutting the scalloped wooden valence for the top of the shelves in my childhood bedroom...a bowl...

...I just traced a half circle starting in the center and working out...

...and then cut through both layers...

...put right sides together...

...stitched all the way around...leaving an opening in the center top...and then clipped all of the curves...

...and turned the curtain right side out through the opening at the top...

...just straightened everything out...

...pressed and did a simple seam across the top...

...and then hung them up in the bedroom...

...it was so dark outside...that I turned on the light and took another photo...

...that's it...pretty easy...

~Have a lovely day!

...fall's here...and so are the greens...

...one of our parishoners brought us this big bag of greens...and yes...it's a garbage bag stuffed full of gorgeous fresh fall greens...

...see how pretty and fresh and green...

...have I mentioned that the soil here is pretty much red clay...and there was quite a bit of it still clinging to these leaves...

...but that's nothing that 3 or 4 dunks in the sink won't cure...

...then into the pot on the stove...don't worry that it looks overstuffed...they cook down to about 1/4 their original size...

...the top of the bag was all smooth leafed...and the bottom all curly...not a lot of difference once they're cooked...Ha!

...my Nanny used to call the delicious broth that the greens cooked in 'pot liquor'...YUM!

...and after we'd had ALL we could eat...we still had some to put into the freezer for winter enjoyment...

~Have a lovely day!

...the last tomato...really this time...

...remember a few weeks ago..when I showed you my 'last' tomato...

...although the plant continues to shrivel and die back...you see those new blooms...and there are still three plump and healthy tomatoes on it...

...so now...in the early fall...I've had a treat that I usually only have during the height of summer...

...I sliced those little green babies up...

...dredged them in some cornmeal...really that's all I do...no two handed operation...dipping in liquid and such...

...and a little salt...I'm a purist about these things...ha!

...and fired them in a little bit of oil...

...until golden brown on both sides...and juicy in the middle...

...so delicious...I know lots of people have never had fried green tomatoes...but I grew up eating them and I love them...

...do you love them too...or would you just rather not?...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...(cont.)...and a vegan treat...

...so I finished the second strip...

...and picked up the stitches and cast on for the third strip...I'm hoping to have this little blanket finished before this month's meeting on the 19th...but I'd better pick up the pace in order to make that happen...

...and totally unrelated to the blanket...but then the blanket should have been yesterday's post...so this was today's...

...the last time we were at our favorite Mexican Restaurant...I was (semi) lamenting the fact that there are no vegan dessert options...I say semi-lamenting...because I'm always too stuffed to eat any dessert anyway...in fact...I'm almost always too stuffed of chips and salsa to eat my burrito when it comes out...

...when our server brought me this little sweet...

...it has only two ingredients...sugar and peanuts...like I said, I was too stuffed to eat it at the restaurant...so I brought it home and we all gave this little cookie a try...

...it's very sweet...as you'd expect sugar and peanuts to be...

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...well...I almost made myself stay up late last night and finish the last bit of this strip...just so I'd have it finished for this post...but I decided not to force myself to do that and just went to bed...

...but I have almost finished the second strip...and everything is working out as I'd planned...although I could probably be a little bit neater picking up the stitches...or I've stretched them out a little bit or something...and I'm thinking that maybe it would be neater just to seam the strips together after...maybe I'll try that with the next strip and we'll see how it looks...

~Have a lovely day!

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...we made a delicious and hearty vegan beef stew for these first chilly days of fall...

...all of the particulars are at The Vegan Version...

~Have a lovely day!

...Over the Weekend...

...it was time for the Friday Night Movie and it was my turn to pick...

...and Disney's original Fantasia appeared in our queue...so I chose that...

...have you ever seen it?

...we'd heard rumors that it was only any good if you were on drugs...HA!

...but even without any drugs I thought is was good...not too sure about the boys...a couple of my favorite things...from the Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky...the dancing leaves...

...and the little seeds...

...and then it poured rain all night...I had emptied 2 1/2 inches of water from the rain gauge when I took Jack out at about 9 PM...and this is how much it rained in about 12 hours...

...but thankfully we had no damage and no power outage...

...and that's just a funny note that Scout's frustrated Band Director posted...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week...

...a boxy top makeover...

...as I dealt with the spaghetti squash my Mom gave me yesterday...I thought I'd deal with the top that my sweet MIL gave me that same weekend...it's a cute print...but a little too large and boxy for me...

...so I got out a tee that I love...and that fits me well...(thanks K...see how she made it here...)...and used it as a pattern...

...I just smoothed out both tops as best as I could...

...and then cut...

...one seam on each side...and I was done...another 10 minute sewing job...HA!

...and a better fitting new top...

~Have a lovely weekend!

..Mom's Spaghetti Squash...

...when we were visiting family over Labor Day weekend...mom gave me a spaghetti squash from her garden...

...and since it had been languishing in our veggie drawer for a while...we thought it was high time it got used...

...so we split it open with a big knife...it (like a lot of fall squash) has a pretty tough skin...

...scooped out the seeds...and roasted those right along with the squash...see how we do that here...

...place the halves face down on a lightly oiled pan...

...and back for an hour or so...until the flesh is tender...

...they'll be slightly browned around the edges...but it's this caramelization that makes roasted food so good...

...then just scoop out the flesh...funny word for a veg...now if I'd wanted this for spaghetti noodles...I'd have sort of flaked the squash out with a fork into little strands...but I didn't so I just scooped it out with a spoon...

...then Mom also had another surprise for me...she'd been keeping this Vegan Pepperoni in her freezer since a previous visit...so she gave it to me to bring home...

...so I chopped some of that up and sauteed it with a bit of olive oil...

...added the squash and sauteed a bit more...

...poured on some prepared spaghetti sauce...

...spread it out...

...topped with some daiya mozzarella...

...and baked until heated through and the cheese was melty...

...it was delicious...

...spaghetti squash pizza...

~Wishing you a lovely weekend...

...September Sky Scarf Update...

...well...after almost no rain all summer long...we ended the month of September with several days of rain...

...yesterday it was clear...giving Jack a much needed break from walking in the rain...which he does not love...but today will be a grey-grey day...and probably a couple of stormy dark grey days over the weekend as hurricane Joaquin passes through...and the forecasters tell us that we may make up almost all of our 7+ inch rain deficit this summer...sounds like some flooding may be involved in that...

...but we had a couple of gorgeous bright and clear early fall days in there too...

...only 3 months to go...

January Sky Scarf
February Sky Scarf
March Sky Scarf
April Sky Scarf
May Sky Scarf
June Sky Scarf
July Sky Scarf
August Sky Scarf

~Have a lovely day!