Slipping Into Fall Sideways

Hello from the hills!

We're still having temperatures in the 80s (Fahrenheit) most days, but the mornings are now crisp and delightfully cool.   This photo was in my camera and seemed fall-ish so here it is.

 It was a messy business as that's the way I roll, but I tried making marshmallows for the first time last week.  Think hot cocoa!

Being the infamous procrastinator that I am I waited until the last day possible to make them for a bridal shower.  They are fairly easy to make, though, so I was able to whip up three different kinds in one afternoon...plain, chocolate and coffee flavored.   Coffee flavored ones are the best in my caffeinated opinion.

The best how-to video I found on Youtube is this one, click here.

There was a coffee bar along with the food stations for shower attendees to enjoy.  The marshmallows were a hit as they are soooo much better than the ones in stores.  (Also, there is no high fructose corn syrup so they are not so harmful, just sweet tastiness.)  I didn't get a closeup of them, but they are on the tiered tray in the photo below.

 

 As always, we had lots of bird residents in spring and summer.

This Carolina Wren made use of my watering can for her nest.

Just right of center in the photo below is a hungry nestling, mouth open wide and waiting for a delicious morsel.

 For those who enjoyed the sheep pic in my last post here's another for you.
Have a lovely week!

Lovin' Fall in the Foothills

This purple wildflower growing in the pasture is ironweed.

It's been used to dye wool a green color so I, actually, gathered some and prepared a dyebath for a skein of wool, but it didn't take. I don't know what went wrong as I followed the directions closely - Oh well... it's a beautiful plant regardless.

Meantime,  I gathered some appropriate fabrics for a little project.

 I used the directions at marthastewart.com  to make some fall themed pincushions, changing the stem appropriately for a pumpkin.  For each pincushion just cut and sew the small, rectangular strips of fabric, as directed, (By hand if you like since there is very little sewing to be done.) together at the ends then cinch with embroidery thread to form the pumpkin shape.  This project is so easy I think young girls would enjoy it, too.

I love it when something useful like a pincushion looks good and can be used for decoration, also.

 I used a dried shoot from our Bartlett pear tree for the stems, but you can use any type you have available or even pieces cut from a 3/4 to 1-inch wooden dowel. Just saw the branch or dowel into 1-inch pieces and hot-melt glue them in place.  I think they look much better than using felt for stems.

As you can see they must be quite fun to make as I did get carried away a bit.

 For now they're gracing the dry sink in my kitchen. I'll probably let them out to earn their keep as the real pincushions they are when I bring out my big ceramic Thanksgiving turkey and put it in their place.
Update:  Most of these have been gifted out and are being used as pincushions now. :)

All summer long this li'l bird, an American Goldfinch has watched from the top of the pear tree for other birds at the birdbath to clear away before diving for a drink. He's so timid and watchful.

 And a beauty.

Have a wonderful week! And don't worry about a thing - it's ALL in God's plan. :)

Linking to:  The Art of Home-Making Mondays

Chronicles of Yarnia

My DRT prize package arrived today so I thought I'd let everyone know how my team did in the Dish Rag Tag 2009 competition. Well, we did pretty good if I say so myself. Chronicles of Yarnia was a great team of knitters from all four corners of the USA, and eight out of ten members were able to send the box back out the same day they received it. That's pretty good. My team's box arrived at the finish point the same day another team's box got there. At that point it was out of our hands and up to the postman. Huh? Yep, that's what I said. We won second place instead of first because the postman put the other team's box in Emily's mailbox first. Ah well. It was fun anyway.
Here's the contents of my prize package for 2nd place. There's a knitting gauge measure thingy/key ring, a starbucks gift card and some 'fficial DRT stitch markers. Kelsey knit the dishcloth I received (in record time, I might add.) Thanks, Kelsey! It looks great. And thanks to Emily for puttin' on the best li'l knitting game around.
I've been busy knitting these fingerless mitts from this free pattern using the magic loop method of knitting in the round, (and yes, they will have thumbs where the red and pink stitches are when I finish the cables.) I do like this method of knitting two at the same time. There is no second mitt syndrome to suffer from. When you're done, you're done.
Hope your fall days are full of knitting, pumpkins and beautiful leaves.
'til next time..fare thee well. :)