Thanks Dad!

When you retire you have time to make informative diagrams for your daughter about how to prepare recipes.  

Ka-pow!

This is the beginning of a punch embroidery project kit I found at a thrift store about a month ago for 2$.  This one will be a snowy winter scene and I also picked up another one with a beach scene.  I hadn't heard of punch embroidery until I got the kits.

  

You start with a smooth piece of thread and pull at it until it looks like a curly piece of thread.  Figuring that out to get started was the hardest part!  Once the thread is unraveled I threaded it onto a long needle type thing that is about the size of a pen.  The needle is threaded in such a way that you just have to punch the threaded needle into the fabric, pull up, drag to the next spot on your fabric and repeat.  It's really similar to latch rug hooking.

I started a vintage craft kit group on flickr but have had a teeny tiny bit of trouble uploading photos.  All the same, you can check it out here if you'd like even though there is only one image.  I am the lone member so far!

 

New brooch

I made this with wool felt, baby alpaca yarn, pearls and embroidery floss. 

For sale in my etsy shop.

Rainy days

When I finished this hat last month we were having 20 degree days in Sacramento.  Now that it's cold and rainy I've been getting a lot of use out of it.  The pattern is from Boutique Knits and the creepy looking person wearing the hat is me.

Culinary school

Niki invited Camille and I over to learn the fine art of tamale making.  We made about 50 vegetarian tamales and they were delicious!  

When Camille and I arrived Niki had prepared all the cheese stuffed chilis and washed the corn husks used to wrap the tamales.

Pressing the masa into the hojas.

Lining up the tamales to cook.  They smelled sooooo good.  I only have about 10 tamales left and I predict they'll be eaten very soon.

Candle time!

Happy Birthday Mum!

Wah!

I think the neighbours behind us got a drum set in December.  It has been driving me nuts for weeks.

Winter garden

I didn't plant a winter garden last year because I still thought that idea was just CRAZY!  This year I bought a few broccoli and brussel sprout plants and they've been growing really well.

It looks like that broccol stalk in the back is almost ready to be chopped off and eaten!