I Have a New Partner...In Work...That is...

Just one week ago, in the later evening hours, I was, as usual, sewing....
But it was not going all to well.
Matt walked into the room and I said, "do you hear this?"
My good machine was sounding very funky, and was not working all too well either.
And within a few moments...It fried--nothing at all was happening.
It is a computerized machine-so...lots of problems.

Well, I went to bed feeling a bit unsettled.
It is very difficult to work(sew) without a machine.
I do have 2 back-ups, but they do not have the ability to do free motion quilting that I use for most of my work.  And they are turtles, causing me to work way too late into the early morning hours to fill orders.  I knew a new machine was in the future, but I wasn't completely settled on which one yet.  I knew the "broken" machine could possibly be fixed, but it would take my repair man months.  (we seriously need some more sewing machine repair men out there-especially for those of us that depend on it for our income.)

So, Tuesday morning, I took the morning off of school and finished up the research I had been doing on a new machine that was better suited to my needs.  This time, it needed to fit a few very crucial requirements...it needed to be a long arm(with the possibility of adapting to a large frame somewhere down the road), it had to have drop feed dogs for free motion quilting, it needed to have a knee lift presser foot, and it had to be FAST!  After reading a crazy amount of reviews, I decided on the brother PQ1500S.  It is a long arm, high speed, straight stitch machine with all of those requirements and one extra that I am now convinced is amazing.  It also has a thread cutter for when I am finished with a seam.  PERFECT.  The machine retails between $1200-$1400(or they just like to say that so you feel better about what you actually pay) and I was able to find it through amazon for under $700.  I purchased my husqvarna 5 years ago and paid almost the same price.  However, they are worlds apart-not even comparable!!  I did not do a lot of research before I bought the husqvarna emerald.  It was kind of a similar situation-an old machine broke and I had orders to fill.  I ran into the store pretty much breathless and exclaimed "I need a machine-TODAY!"  Pretty silly and impulsive.  It was certainly a great machine, lots of features, it was the first time I had a machine to free motion quilt on, and I loved that, but I could have done better if I had researched a bit. And the husqvarna will be an awesome backup, if it is in fact repairable, when I need to have the brother in for maintenance.

So I ordered the Brother Tuesday morning, it was on my doorstep by Wed at noon!!  I love amazon-always ahead of schedule on shipping!  The machine was incredibly easy to learn.  It was well thought out for the free motion quilter!  It is simple, completely sturdy, quiet, and very very fast-sewing at 1500 stitches per minute!  I have been able to complete my work load in half the time.  I told my mom that I was struggling with the hours I had to put in to provide what we needed and that I didn't know how I could do more or even keep up.  This has been such a sweet answer to prayer.  This new machine has provided the rest I need, frustration-less work, and much more beautiful craftsmanship.  I am looking forward to a long partnership with this guy.

I have been sewing up a storm since then.  Probably a bit of overkill, but I have had piles waiting for someday....when my machine actually works or I get a new one.  So here they are, the quilts that have finally been quilted with my new machine.  Along with a few place mats and bibs.

 

This machine shall also be a blessing to the mittens I do every year!  Looking forward to making that happen soon as well.

A Good Week...

In the early morning while the kids did their independent studies, I worked on getting some veggies from the garden blanched and frozen...

 

 

This little man decided to UNtidy the kitchen while I worked.  The bummer for him is that once the mess making is over, he is stuck in it...is that not the perfect pout!?

 I also used some of the veggies for dinner...

 
 I made the pork chops in the crock pot-they are ranch pork chops complimented with garlic parmesan potatoes.
 

                                                   

And this little man...lost his first tooth this week!  Quite exciting.  In the morning when he woke to find 4 quarters under his pillow in place of the tooth, he was quite concerned about the tooth fairy...

He said, "I am not sure how this is a good deal for the tooth fairy, she gets a tiny little tooth and I get a whole lot of money."  I assured him, she is quite happy with the deal:)  Aren't little minds wonderful! He has the second tooth just about ready to make him a rich man-haha.

What's for Dinner...and the Recipe...

We are back to school very faithfully now.  As I was out this evening, I passed the water park and at first was surprised to see it open.  I was forgetting that we are still in the midst of summer-ha.  Been buried in the books with the kiddos this week.  But we are just getting our rhythm down after all of the summer events that we took off of our studies for.  But the water park did remind me to get back to enjoying the beautiful weather this evening.

One of the best ways for me to keep us on track and allow me to be available to the kids during the school months, is to have dinner in the crock pot before 9 am.  I absolutely love smelling dinner all day long, and who doesn't love that extra little reminder that something did actually get accomplished when the day gets to those hairy, chaotic moments!

This is a favorite, at least amongst a some of us.  It is a creamy potato soup.  I will give the recipe and show my steps as well.  It is very simple and very yummy.

Here is the list of ingredients...

5 lbs russet potatoes-not peeled-and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
1 medium onion(I use about half due to preferences and health reasons)
5 teas minced garlic( it is 10 cloves if using fresh)
64 oz chicken stock or broth (8 cups)
16 oz of cream cheese, softened

Optional garnishes...

cheddar cheese, bacon, and chives

So let's begin...

 Cut up your potatoes...throw them in the crock...I have a large crock pot and this recipe fills it, just so you know.

 Cut up onions...throw them in...

 Add the 5 teas of minced garlic...

 Pour in the chicken broth....and cook for 6 hours on high...

 Here is how it looks after 6-7 hours...


Soften the cream cheese....

 Now you need to put the crock pot contents through the blender along with the cream cheese.  I add some of the cream cheese to each batch that goes through the blender.  It takes about 6-7 batches to get all of the soup blended and put back in the crock pot.

This is the consistency of the potatoes after blending them.  I like to keep a bit of texture with the potatoes instead of completely making it smooth.  That is all preference though.

 The soup is back in the crock and just needs at least a half hour to warm through-the longer it simmers, the more the flavors blend.  Once you are ready to eat, these are fabulous garnishes!  Cheese, chives, and bacon.

And the finished product...Yum....

This recipes serves eight of us and there is plenty for lunch the next day as well-that makes a happy mama!

Garden Goodness...

Oh yummy fresh goodness...

This is one of my favorite times of the year because of the harvest.

A garden is a reminder of many things...

when that harvest starts coming in, it makes all of the work become worth it...

reminding me how important the work the Lord has given me is...

whether it be as a wife, a mother, a friend, a women of God...

so often, just like a garden, the work does not come with immediate results...

the work can be tedious, toilsome, and dirty...

we can even wonder if anything will come of it..

but just like in a garden...

we get glimpses along the way, of what is to come...

glimpses that urge us on in our work...

and just like in a garden...

we learn from our mistakes and from our victories...

helping us to do our best...

and the results that takes so much time...

in our marriages, our children, our friendships, and our work for the Lord...

becomes beautiful, amazing, what we need and...

well worth the work.

You know what...

I really like how God reminds us with His creation.

TUESDAY SALE...

HELLO LOVELIES!  JUST A QUICK LITTLE NOTE TO LET YOU KNOW THE SHOP IS HAVING A TUESDAY SALE.  ALL ITEMS HAVE BEEN MARKED DOWN 25%.  SALE WILL END AT 12AM CST TONIGHT.  HAVE A BLESSED DAY!

Repurposing an Old TV Armoire...

Years back, Matt and I had purchased this armoire to house our older tv upstairs.  But when that tv died and we ended up with a flat screen, the armoire kind of floated around the house filling temporary purposes, waiting patiently to fill a need.  It is a rather large piece for our size home, but I was confident it could fill the right spot.

When we were working on our kitchen a few months back, I also worked on the armoire at the same time, sanding it down and painting it in between kitchen projects.  But, finding the time to build it out inside, just kept eluding us, that is until this past weekend.

Matt built in permanent shelves to make it into a much needed school cabinet for me.  I have been needing a "central" location for all of my teacher's manuals, grade books and test keys for 5 different grades.  I am schooling a sophomore, 8th grader, 6th grader, 2nd grader, and 1st grader!  Not having an organized place to coordinate all of that, has certainly not been helpful.  I am clearing my brain and gearing up for a fresh year of school now.

This is the raw look of the shelves Matt built for the cabinet.

Here it is painted and filled with school books.

Looking forward to an organized school year(hopefully!)

Creative Days to Put the Busy Days Behind....

Summer is always a unique time, isn't it?  A change of schedule, fun trips or outings, maybe a vacation, etc...

I think for mom's particularly, it can be a bit hard.  At least for me, I struggle with it.  All of those trips, events, visits, etc take a whole lot of planning and preparing.  The quote "I need a vacation from vacation" hits a little too close to the truth.  And in all honesty, I prefer everyday life.  I do look forward to vacation for the time we get to spend with my husband, because everyday life for him is crazy busy-and vacation time is so nessasary for him to recoup.  Vacation for us just means rest, each other, and catchup on some much needed repairs or projects around the house:)  I do hope we can take at least one vacation away before the kids start leaving home but we chuckle at the line in "cheaper by the dozen 2" when the mom is asked why they do not buy a lake house and she replies in a type of humor "oh, well, we need the money for things like food...water...hahha. "  Yep, we can relate:) and for now I find contentment in that!  We are quite blessed with camp, missions trips, family visits, and the like.  So much so, that I have become a tad overwhelmed at packing for 8 of us and then unpacking and doing it all again!  My mind just has felt like it got packed away in one of those suitcases and I think it got lost in transport:).  Between the 8 of us, we have traveled for a wedding, camp, a wilderness trip with the youth, a missions trip to CA with the youth group, had most involved in a week of VBS and a 2 day visit to a friends cabin for some time to rest as a family(thank you thank you thank you sweet friends-we were so blessed).  We are now back from it all and about to change direction to prepare for school.  But this week is kind of a bridge between the two.  A time to just kind of coast-whew-it has been nice.  The kids are simply playing and creating this week(except for my sr higher-he is hitting the books already).  So I have been resting my brain a bit with creating, starting new projects, finishing some old. Here they are...

 One of my favorite ways to work with t shirts, is to make them into throw pillows.  Quilting them first makes them so cuddly!  Sure brings those fun scenes to life again!

 I have been playing a lot with my reclaimed linens.  I finished a few quilts that have been waiting to be quilted for quite some time now, began making some new sets of napkins, and added some new bean bag sets and rice packs to the shop.

And...it is that time of year again!  I have been making a pair of mittens a day again to prepare for the winter months.  Last year I made and sold approx 120 pair!  One a day is a good pace for now.