...Orange Pillows...

...remember way back in January when we made the Ribbon Bulletin for my friend...

...well...there was a little bit of the orange flannel we used for the backing left over...and not ever wanting anything to go to waste...I decided to make a few cute little pillows to match her orange and blue room...

...oh...and there was also one spare button from the bulletin board as well...so you can be sure one of the pillows is going to have a button...

...so first...I wanted to make one of those neck roll pillows...and I thought the box of oats was about the right size...so measured around the tube/box and cut a rectangle that size...

...then I traced the lid for the two end circles...

...sewed the tube on both ends...but left a space for turning and stuffing in the center...and then sewed the circles onto the ends...

...the way I make sure the circle fits inside the tube is...

...with right sides together...I fold the tube in half...and I fold the circle in half...then I pin the halfway points together...then I do that again perpendicular to the first fold...so that the circle and tube are pinned at 4 points...like on the face of a clock at 3...6...9...and 12...

...then turn the tube right side out...

...stuff with fibre...

...stitch the opening closed...

...and you have a completed tube pillow...

...for the next pillow...the one I was going to put the one little spare button on...I cut two squares of cloth...and sewed around them right sides together...leaving an opening for stuffing...

...turned the pillow right side out...and with the contrasting navy thread...I topstitched around the outer edge about 3/8 inch in from the edge...still leaving the opening for stuffing...and then topstitced around again...about 1 1/2 inches in...still leaving the opening...

...then I stuffed the pillow...and topstitched both the inner line and the outer line with the navy to close the opening...

...closeup of topstitching...

...then I measured from corner to corner to find the center and stitched the button on through the pillow...

...and then there was just one rectangle of orange cloth left...

...so...for a little bit of detail...I used the navy thread and topstitched lines about 1 1/2 inches apart across the entire surface...

...then I just folded it over...stitched around two sides...leaving one narrow end open...

...I stuffed the pillow...and then using orange thread...topstitched the end closed...

...and we had used up every single bit of the leftover orange material...

...and we had three cute little pillows for an orange and blue room...

...I hope she likes them...

~Have a lovely day!

ps...I'm sorry these photos are so small...I did something wrong when I uploaded them...but if you click on them they get bigger...

...Vegan Ranch Dressing addendum...

...this is what I had for dinner last night...

...I just wanted to show it to you because it's one of my favorite ways to have the Vegan Ranch Dressing I showed you a couple of weeks ago...

...I just love a baked potato smothered in Ranch Dressing...

~Have a lovely day!

...a refashioned sport skirt...

...this black skirt is about 15 years old...I know that because I've had it since before Scout was born...

...and I've worn it a lot...but I don't wear it much anymore...

...so I thought I'd make it into something I'd wear a little more often...

...first...I put on the skirt and measured where I wanted it to end...at about the tips of my fingers with my arms at my sides...not too short...and I chopped it off...

...then I made little slits on each side...

...and turned under and hemmed the bottom and the slits in one pass...

...and now I have a cute little sport skirt...

...I have a pair of black bike shorts to wear underneath... ;)

...what have you re-fashioned lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...geocache #3...and #4...

...we were so thrilled that we had successfully found 2 geocaches...that we thought we'd try again...

...this one was called 'Get the Kinks Out'...a funny name...and a difficult clue for this generation...as it refers to a local restaurant mentioned in a Kinks song...

...do you get it?...L-O-L-A...Lola...there's a pizza place here called Lola's...

...we found the tiny little magnetic key holder geocache under a bus stop bench beside the restaurant...

...no room for treasures though...but we signed the log and clicked 'found it!'...

...then we headed downtown for geocache #4...our only fail...unless you count the one that we sort of tried to find when we were at Horse Creek Petroglyphs...

...this photo has nothing to do with the geocache...I just thought it was a neat old building...and in this city where people often give directions by 'named' buildings...this Union Building is one that is often named...

...I don't know if I've mentioned that West Virginia is in the middle of her 150 year anniversary celebration...

West Virginia became a state following the Wheeling Conventions and broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War. The new state was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, and was a key Civil War border state. West Virginia was the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state and was one of two states formed during the American Civil War (the other being Nevada, which separated from Utah Territory).

~wikipedia

...so although we searched thoroughly at the downtown site...we did not find the geocache...I imagine geocaches in such public places don't last long...

...we did, however, see some pretty neat things while we were at the riverfront...

...like this paddle boat full of tourists coming in to dock...

~Have a lovely day!

...Exploring W.V. ...geocache #2...

...so after our ...ahem... 'success' with the first site...we asked the app where to go now...and it took us to 'Picture Place'...

...aptly named...apparently a lot of people come here to have their picture taken overlooking the city...

...we had no trouble at all finding this one...just from the 'hints'...

...we did, however, have a little bit of trouble opening the cache...and we thought it was so clever that they used a camera to hold the cache and log...

...we signed the log...

...and took our prize...a rubber ball...funny that Scout used to collect those as well...and filled the camera up with our marbles...

...and Scout and A² posed for a photo at 'Picture Place'...

...have you ever been geocache-ing?

~Have a lovely day!

...Exploring W.V. ...geocache #1...

...we have so few days with Scout this summer...his schedule is really packed...but we set out to do some geocache-ing...and we stopped at the kennel to let Jack get used to the sights and smells before he has to spend a week there for our upcoming vacation...and we met this sweet little burro...it really doesn't have anything to do with the geocache-ing...

...so we loaded up the app...and headed to Fort Hill...

...we found the pretty park...

...and checked the app to see how close we were...

...we only ever got within 23 feet of the dot...seriously...if you took one step in any direction it immediately went up to 37 feet...arghh...that didn't bode well for the app...we were thinking we'd never find it...but it was right there in front of us...can you see it?...

...but then Scout looked down and there it was...under the rock...

...so we opened it up...and signed the log...and clicked 'Found It!' on the app...

...got out our treasure...a nickel and a Joker card...HA!

...and put our treasure in it...a little baggie of marbles...remember way back when Scout loved marbles so much...yep...we still have all those marbles...

...more geocache-ing tomorrow!...

~Have a lovely day!

...a vegan bacon, egg and cheese scramble...

...we generally save our 'big' breakfast cooking for the weekend...but this is something you could have any day...by simply preparing the 'scrambled' tofu ahead of time...I bake mine in the oven whenever I have the oven on for any other reason on these hot summer days...then I almost always have some on hand...but you could of course actually scramble some the morning you want to use it...

...then I just make some toast...cover the scrambled tofu with vegan cheese (Daiya in this case)...I microwaved mine...but you could also pop it in a toaster oven in an oven safe dish...then sprinkle with vegan bacon bits...Mom and I got these at the SDA store near her home in NC...but regular Bacos are vegan too...check it out here under condiments...

...serve with some toast and a cup of Teecino...for a great start to your weekend...

~Have a lovely day!

...4th of July visitor...

...we often have deer in our backyard...see...here...and...here...

...but we rarely see a buck...

...so imagine our surprise when one wandered into view while we were on the back deck yesterday enjoying the holiday...you can tell he's still kind of young and inexperienced...and I bet we don't see him again...

~Have a lovely day!

...featured today at the Vegetarian Clearinghouse...

Happy Independence Day!

...Affectioknit is featured today at a brand new blog that collects and showcases vegetarian and vegan recipes...The Vegetarian Clearinghouse...

...the blog's tagline reads:

free vegetarian & vegan recipes from all over the web - brand new site - follow our daily progress!

...Amanda has it set up like a recipe box with tabs and if you click on a tab there's already a bunch of recipes...it's going to be so much fun seeing the new recipes get filed each day...but she also does awesome cookbook reviews too...

...I hope you'll check out The Vegetarian Clearinghouse...I bet you'll find something delicious to try there...

~Have a lovely day!

...Dogsitting...

...one of our sweet neighbors is on vacation this week...and so her sweet little doggie is staying with us...

...meet Chanel (she's half Jack Russell and half Whippet)...she and Jack are best friends...you should see them running around the big room...

...we have to have two tennis balls in motion at all times...and there is lots of pouncing and play...

...and since she's a guest in our house...she has taken up residence in the guest room...she's the one who messed up the covers trying to get a good snuggly place...

...did I mention how sweet she is...

~Have a lovely day!

...Scout News...

...it's official...

...Scout is a driver...with a Learner's Permit...

...He's an awesome driver...and I think I have a chauffeur for the next year...

...he drove to the Church with all his gear...ready to leave for camp at Dilley's Mill (see last year here)...I'll drive up Friday and get him...I'll probably let him drive for an hour or so on the way home...

~Have a lovely day!

...Sunday School...

...I know y'all know that I teach the Jr. High Youth Group on Wednesday nights(cause you've seen them...serving...before...but I'm not sure if you also know that I teach Sunday School too...

...not the same age group...those guys and gals have Confirmation class on Sunday mornings...I teach the kindergarten and 1st grade class...called SonBeams...(sweet I know)...

...we recently moved this lectionary based curriculum class to what used to be the 'Children's Church' time...and created a new 'One Room Sunday School' class for the Sunday School hour...

...and since there's no curriculum for this class...we're free to create our own lesson and do a fun little project...(not that the curriculum Sunday School is not fun and doesn't have fun projects becasue they do...)

...this is just a glimpse of the lesson we did yesterday...it was a lot of fun...we read the text for Galatians 4:4-7...and we talked about family...and adoption...and what makes a family...

...then we each made a figure to put on the bulletin board in our classroom...

...the kids did such a good job...and their figures looked so much like them...it was super easy and it was a lot of fun...and they were all showing their parents their figure on the board...one little boy even drew a tissue in his hand because he has a bad cold...

...Child Outline drawing here...

...can you find me on the board?...

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