Berry Fresh! /Missouri-Made Mondays

blue·ber·ry

ˈblo͞oˌberē/

noun

1. 1.

   a hardy dwarf shrub of the heath family, with small, whitish drooping flowers and dark blue edible berries.
2. 2.

   the small, sweet edible berry of the blueberry plant.

This handmade item is new on the list at the Etsy store.

They are 100% cotton, hand crocheted scrubbies.

This set of 10 is done in a variegated "BlueBerry" yarn with a mix of

 Lime Green, Blue and Purple coloring.

For less than $5 you can indulge in a little treat for yourself

before the holiday rush.

*Start a nice hot, bubbly bath.

* Lather up these scrubbies with your favorite soap.

*Wash away the stress!

Hope you check out this and other items in my Missouri-Made shop!

Autumn Greetings/ Missouri-Made Mondays

Craft Booth September 17, 2016

I blogged a little about the Green Ridge Park Day on my other blog's regular Sunday Sampler feature yesterday. 

But I didn't share what lovely treasures my mother surprised me with.

It's inside the bag of course.

These were quite the bargain and mother never let's those pass her by.

Kerchiefs for $1 apiece, already hemmed and ready for use.

The one on the left is a medallion pattern that resembles a giant chrysanthemum.

The right kerchief is a Dresden Plate in lovely autumn colors.

I have a plan to alter these.....just a little.

First I'll be cutting them into triangles.

After hemming the cut edge, I'll add some trim.....

In the form of crochet with ties. 

Too much wind or sun is hard on the hair. These darling hair accessories keep it in check and are very pretty on little girls in their Sunday best.

Hope you'll be back again for another Missouri-Made Monday!

Barn Shawls/ Missouri-Made Mondays

I'm beginning a new feature on Stephanie's Stuff called Missouri-Made Mondays. Featured here will be Hand Made items made by myself or a member of my Etsy shop,
  Katy Trail Creations.

Waiting for the Autumn and Winter chill to arrive here in Central Missouri. It hasn't happened yet, but it will. One item I crochet has done pretty well in the shop.

Homespun Yarn by Lion Brand has a super soft texture and appearance that has made these shawls irresistable both online and at craft shows. I can't tell you how many folks have to stop and feel these shawls while on display.

This is the latest version done in 'Clouds' with painterly colors of medium and dark gray. Soft and thick yarn will keep you cozy on those quickly approaching Autumn evenings.

A helpful hint in working with this style of yarn:

This sort of yarn you have to really 'feel' the stitches. It will blend together flawlessly. If you aren't experienced with this technique, try a few practice swatches and use a stitch you are very familiar with before starting a major project. The results will be much nicer.

Give me a shout out from your 'made' location!

Old Faithful/ Tasty Thursday

This kitchen gadget is an oldie, but a goodie.

It's my Microwave Potato Bag circa 2010.

In other words it's 5 years old (at least)

I have nicknamed it "Old Faithful"

On nights with little or no time for cooking a lengthy meal, which is often on Tasty Thursday,

this old standby has helped me bring together a great meal with little effort.

With a little Chicken from the Deli Section

And some Nacho Cheese (there's also some butter under all that cheese) 

For the beverage, some of us prefer a quieter drink than others,

but I must say that this Ciderboys drink was not too shabby.

It's a gluten free hard cider that my daughter picked out.

For more Microwave Potato Bags,

check out some I have listed on Etsy.

They even have their own section!

It Started With A Bushel

 My mother went shopping.

You have to understand that my mother only shops with a distinct purpose.

It's a Mission. An Undertaking. An Operation.

I ended up with this.

My very own bushel of #2 Jonathan Apples.

 

This Tasty Thursday, were you here, you would find me immersed in making Apple Pie Filling.

By the jar fulls.

This is batch #1, 6 pints. I was only trying 1/2 the recipe here.

The quart jars were not sanitized yet.

I need to let you in on a little dilemma I had during the planning stage.

This particular issue of The Ball Blue Book, every canning person's Bible, did not print the 'how' to can Apple Pie Filling. Every other variety of apple this and apple that, but No Pie Filling.

Hmph!

 

But Mother came to the rescue by calling on Aunt Maybelle.

If you've read any of my other blogs,

Aunt Maybelle has her own tag.

She should be at the top of Google listings under Aunt Maybelle.

Yes.

She had the recipe.

So now the little project I had planned for her had definitely better be ready for Christmas :)

So does anyone else out there have an Aunt Maybelle?

You know, the aunt who is the coolest??

 

But I venture to say,
Aunt Maybelle learned some of her coolness from my mother.
After all, it started with a bushel.
 

 

 

A Free Tutorial.......by me

I've been participating in a photo challenge over on WordPress on the Katy Trail Creations blog.
The theme for the week was "Change".  I could have blogged on the lack of 'change' I made during a recent craft show. But that's the way those things go sometimes and no sense in crying over spilt milk.

So I shifted gears and created my first photo tutorial. Hope you'll check it out!
Here's the link:
Change/WordPress Photo Challenge

Did I mention FRee??

Hopscotch Quilting and Missing Lane

My lastest Etsy creation on Katy Trail Creations

Special thanks to the girls, Morgan (who loves my cookin!) and my youngest daughter Kirsten.

 Yes there's a great meal in the works for their help :)

 

Speaking of Meals,

Pardon my absence from the Tasty Thursday posts. We had a tragic loss in our lives and I just didn't feel like cooking from the stash of recipes.

In short, just because the hurt is still deep, we had an 11 year old tragically killed in a tractor accident. He had been one of our daycare 'kids' and his younger brother just left for Kindergarten last month. The family was like our own.

Please say some prayers for them. There is nothing more needed when there's a loss of a child.

This was our Lane one Fall weekend back in 2011 in Florence, Missouri. He came to greet us while we were having Rachel's Senior pics taken. He had just been out with his dad deer hunting. His home is just down the road in this picture and I know his home now is in Heaven and our forever in our hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

Hop On Over

Hope you'll take a "look-see" at a great blog. I am lucky to know Jeanna personally and her precious boys :) Her experience on going "social media free" for a month is here: http://jeanna.me/2014/12/15/fast-flashback-a-social-media-detox-in-retrospect/

I'd probably last this long.

Happy Easter!

 I decided to share a photo collage of the latest additions to Katy Trail Creations on Etsy.  The world of hand crafted items is flourishing on Etsy and I hope you'll take a few minutes to head on over and "like" my shop!!

From Pinterest, I aspire to have these types of items available in a 'wearable' form.

Stay tuned for some interesting additions this summer!!

In the meantime, I'm patiently waiting for gardening season to begin.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to "rub it in" that my persimmon seeds were right this year :)

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Stuff Getting Prepped

Time to move away from politics and back to our Etsy shop.

This soft, white kerchief/headscarf will soon be featured via one of my daughters or (crossing my fingers)one of my nieces.

One of my Softball night completions.

This is to show the yarn producers that I have found them out!

Yes you have shrunk the size of your yarn skeins and I'm onto you......

I will find a solution FYI.

Bought a pattern for this from Etsy. Its originally for a necklace. I made an ankle bracelet. I love it! (My daughter thinks I'm becoming a hippy. NOT!) My personal "first" Etsy purchase. Was a very pleasant shopping experience. Got to shop from home, got my purchase in less than 30 minutes, and met the shop owner via messaging. What more could you ask for????

( I wish every product could be emailed!! lol)

The 2 photos above are earrings created by my daughter, Kirsten. She has great fashion sense!!

Hope to have these items available soon in the shop.

Otherwise, you'll see them at one of our craft booths this fall.

To purchase the crochet tube pattern, please visit:
  http://thelittletreasures.blogspot.com/

Some Made - Some Yet to Be

I went shopping last weekend & purchased some yarn in an array of colors. This yarn is super soft & curly. This combination makes it sometimes a challenge to work with, but the results are worth all the effort. The cowls I've been making are super soft, stretchy, warm & fuzzy all in one. If you like texture/sensory overload, this is something you'd like. My college daycare moms say these are 'the thing to have' this season. My Mother-in-Law says she absolutely loves hers. It's so cool that it's something women of all generations feel comfortable wearing. They also make great gifts for Valentine's Day. It'll be here before you know it.

These are the 'yet to be' cowls

Colors above from top to bottom: Turquoise,Black, Prairie, Violet, Red
A big thank you to those who've already purchased items from our Etsy site:

Katy Trail Creations!!