Crafting Friday

http://www.incolororder.com/2011/10/lined-drawstring-bag-tutorial.html?m=1

I felt a little crafty and found this great tutorial to make draw string bags.  The Yarn Harlot was listing knitty Christmas presents and had accessory bags listed. When I saw the cute bags on Etsy, I really like them. But I'm also cheap frugal and refuse to pay $30 for a bag I can make.

I dug through the fabric stash and found this cute Mary Engelbriet fabric. Less than an hour later I had two bags made. Great tutorial and easy to follow. Now my knitting isn't tangled in my bag.

Missing Me?

Oh dear blog, I'm sorry to be neglectful. Part of my neglect comes from knowing no one reads you. :( that's ok, I knew that when I started writing that this was for a limited audience.

The other part is that my school year slammed me up against the wall and drained all my creative thought processes. I have knitted a few scarves and that has really been it for crafting.

Today, I start on a crib dust ruffle for a sweet new family addition. I purchased a ruffler for my machine and I've been very hesitant to start the project. I'm afraid I will really make a mess.

I've also started a new cross stitch piece - Turkey Love by Plum Street Sampler. Can't wait to see it finished.

Well little blog, I'm off to get busy and I'll leave with this closing photo of my last quilt finish.

Location:Malone St,Brush Creek,United States

Quest for the perfect pancake begins and ends

in my kitchen cabinet! For two years, I've been on a quest for great pancakes, the kind I remember mom making. I've posted lots of pictures on Facebook of my attempts, some successful and some not quite good.

Yesterday, sister and family went to the flea market and I kept seeing lovely Ball and Mason jars as well as cast iron skillets. Many in poor condition. I wish I'd taken a picture of the ABC skillet for shortbread. It was $125 and not in a great condition. But that no longer bothers me, I found a blog post to recondition cast iron http://www.ibelieveicanfry.com/2010/12/reconditioning-re-seasoning-cast-iron.html  But back to the pancakes.

This morning was the perfect morning for pancakes. I seem to crave them on cool fall mornings. Often I eat them on the porch. But they cool really quickly when I do that. I decided to dig into mom's recipe box and see if her pancake recipe was in it! IT WAS!!!

Next I dug into my cabinets looking for a good cast iron skillet, figured a small shallow one would work and I found this griddle!!! I don't remember mom ever using it but I did and my pancakes were awesome! I even added a few white chips to a couple and sliced a banana, heated the syrup and had delicious pancakes.

I didn't take the time to photograph those, I wanted to enjoy them while they were nice and warm. I've had problems with burning them and the flavor just wasn't right. I've used all sorts of recipes. Searched the Internet, used Betty Crocker cookbook, Bisquick mix, you name it and I might have tried it. Now that I've uncovered the griddle and relocated the recipe, I'm seeing more pancakes in my future!

Compassion Blogging

I realize I don't have five people who read my blog, that's ok at the moment. But I have several things I'm passionate about and Jesus is at the very top of that list. I love the Lord and through working with my youth group at church, I became a Compassion Sponsor in 2007.

We went to a Student Life conference in December 2007. Student Life and the worship band really talked about how Compassion was changing lives. Our group was moved by the stories and wanted to sponsor a child. They asked the leaders what they should do and we said Pray! Talk to Jesus. ;)

One of the leaders and I made a Starbucks run and were praying for youth groups we encountered coming back into the auditorium (we were between sessions) and I commented on a big group circled up, holding hands and praying. It was very moving to see, no adults were with them. James recognized them first and said Hey that's our kids.  LOL It was a darkened hall and tons of teen groups around.

We joined them and realized they were praying for the children at the Compassion Sponsorship booth. It was so moving and after they finished they decided to sponsor not one child but two! I was so proud of them. I was so moved that I decided if they could do it, so could I!

I went through the sponsorship kits and because my heart is in Guatemala, I chose a lovely young girl, 6 yrs old and living in a small village north of Coban. I've been sponsoring her for almost 6 years. I've loved getting her messages and sending my own. Her photo is on my fridge and computer desktop. I would love to some day meet her on this earth, but I hope that through Compassion's love and Bible teaching I'll one day get to meet her in Heaven.

I'm proud to become a Compassion blogger. If you are one of my five regular readers, please consider sponsoring a Compassion Child! If you have found my blog through Compassion's links, Welcome and I hope you become as passionate of Compassion and Jesus as I am!

Weekend Quilting

I'm hoping to finish a sweet baby quilt today! So I'm just stopping in to do a quick post and say I've not forgotten the blog. I know I don't have many readers, but I won't have any if I don't post often. :)

I also finished knitting a cowl last night, now I need to block it and sew the ends together. I purchased some awesome knitting books a few weeks ago and I'm sure The Principles of Knitting will walk me through sewing the ends together.

Will post pics soon!

Not Forgotten

I'm still here. I have been busy in my classroom preparing for a new school year. I've also been hooked on Pinterest and Ravelry!  I am so enjoying knitting and have finished three scarves. I currently have a new start that is driving me nuts. I love the yarn but nothing I start looks good with it. It keeps looking like a lump. So I'm going to put it away and start on a lovely thick ecru scarf.

I'm hoping to add the borders onto my crayon quilt and get it to the long arm quilter this week. I want it hanging in my classroom soon!

Hot Days

After failing the photo challenge, I decided not to worry about restarting it. :) I'm ok with that lack of commitment. I am still finding things to photograph and I'm still keeping up with my summer commitment to go somewhere every other week to take photos.

Thankfully this week, my great friend Joan invited me to Chattanooga. She was there on business and it has been a very long time since we last hung out together. I went down for the evening and we caught up on all the good stuff of life.

When she headed out off to work, I headed out to Chickamauga National Military Park. I'm teaching US History again this year and I decided some photos might help capture my students attention. Here is a sampling of the monuments at the park. (103 degrees when I left at 12:00 pm)