*Even though I swore I’d never hand quilt, this weekend found me doing just that. I whipped up a simple picnic quilt – just four giant squares pieced together for the top and backed with Anna Maria laminated cotton. I had orginally planned to hand tie the blanket but decided that was going to be way too fussy for me and decided that hand quilting with embroidery floss and giant stitches would be better.

*My moms cherry tree had another bumper crop, so I spent the weekend preserving cherries. I dehydrated a huge batch and froze a bunch (I like to freeze cherries in a cookie sheet in a single layer and then transfer them to containers for long term freezing. This is just a tiny bit more work, but ensures the cherries aren’t stuck together) and packaged them with my new seal-a-meal. I bought it several months ago on clearance in anticipation for the summer veggies.
Today I’m pitting the rest of the cherries to make jam and maraschino cherries. I’m especially excited about the maraschino cherries and hope they turn out.

*Honor said to Dexter the other day, “Dexter, life is hard…. Life is hard Dexter.” And I thought, someday life really will be hard for Honor. And while part of me wants to fiercely protect him for that, the other part knows that the hard parts of life are what will make him and are what can bring him the greatest joy. But until then, I’ll be happy to watch him live his life where the hardest thing he faces is folding the socks and cleaning his room.

I’ve been planning yummy salads every week in my menu, something I can make up and we can eat on for the whole week. Jim is not a huge fan of these salads, but the kids and I love them and we usually take them to our Wednesdays at the lake and I pack them for my lunches when I’m at work.

Since Jim was playing a show out of town last night, this was dinner.

1-2 cans Cannellini beans (I used 1 but would have preferred two.)
1 package turkey pepperoni
1/2 jar pepperoccinis
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 pint cherry tomatoes
olive oil and balsamic vinegar and pepper to taste

After over a year of working on my crochet blanket, it’s finally finished. This monster took two MILES of peaches and creme yarn! I don’t normally recommend peaches and creme for anything but dish cloths, but I felt comfortable with the shrinking and fading aspects of the yarn for this blanket.

Since July is blanket month at Tangle, I’m onto the next blanket – a loose knit throw out of brushed alpaca.

My friend Rickelle, who lives right behind me, is an amazing therapist. I’m always in awe of the way her brain works and how in-tune she is with people. Having her as a friend has opened me up to so much of myself that I never knew about. She is always so good to tend to her heart and to the hearts of those around her. She has a way of holding a mirror to your face that I have never experienced with any other person. There is so much to say about her, but for now I’ll just say, it was no accident that she and her husband moved in right behind us. I think about Rickelle living in my back yard and I know that God loves me.

Last year she started a tradition of making Dream Boards. One night Rickelle, Carrie, Amy and I got together in a flurry of magazine clippings, glitter and glue. We made posterboards filled with magazine clippings that inspired us. The next week we gathered to share what each image on our board meant to us. Last year I was in a rough place and struggled to find the perfect words and pictures to define myself and my dream board ended up with a lot of white space.

This year dream boarding involved lots of indulgences (hello Peach Margaritas) and took us a little longer to make. But last night Amy, Rickelle and I were able to get together to share. I found it so much easier now that I’m in a really good place to fill a dream board. So much easier to say what inspires me. The theme of my board was “The Art in Everyday” – a little quote I found in an Anthropologie magazine. I think that speaks to my insatiable need to create everyday and definitely defines this point of my life.

It isn’t an amazing work of art that I’d frame and hang on my wall, but each year I will keep each one, and look back and remember who I was back then and remember the girls that I share my life with. The girls that speak life to me everyday. The girls who love my beautiful mess of a life and who love being my friend as much as I love being theirs. And I will remember how thankful I am to have them and how blessed I am and how loved.

About a month ago we raised the bed of my garden. It took two truckfulls of soil, a little bit of wood and a few metal brackets. I planted my garden a little bit later than I had planned, but got it in and it’s started to grow nicely. My problem with gardening is that I’m not very good at remembering to water it.

So over the past week Jim has been digging trenches and glueing little plastic pipes together to make an automatic watering system for the garden. He had to tap into our automatic sprinkler system for the lawn and figured while he was at it, he would also install a tap for a hose in the backyard which I’ve lusted after for the entire time we’ve lived here. He’s my hero.

My plan is to take progress pictures over the summer to see how well the garden does. I anticipate it will be much better than last year because it will actually get watered every single day. Here’s the pics from yesterday.

And here is a picture of the garden before.

• Um, rick rack in a dish towel? Yes please.

• Can’t believe I haven’t posted this yet, but a couple months ago Jim’s band, Pineapple Crackers, released their CD at an epic CD release party at the Mesa Theater. The show was fantastic.  Sometimes it’s surreal to watch Jim being a rockstar on stage with crowds screaming below. But  when he’s on stage with his guitar, he’s the most himself and it’s amazing to watch. Their CD is available through itunes.

• I bought these amazing toggles from a yarn rep today. Now I must design a sweater around them.

But I really like these fabrics together and July is blanket month at Tangle, so… really I DO need another project. Plus, nearly all of these fabrics are discontinued, so I should get them while the gettin’s good.  Right?

I was thinking the other day about how many unfinished projects I have.  It’s something so embarrassing that I don’t want to dig them out and count. I didn’t used to be a project starter, but it seems that I am one now.  I think in my old age I’ve gotten a little ADD. How will I be twenty years from now? It worries me, for sure.

But there’s something about the lure of a shiny new project – the way the yarn looks at me on the shelves or the way fabrics just happen to be together… it’s hard to resist. And then, before the last project is finished, another one will call to me, and another, and another, and another… And here I am, a big pile of things to finish and something cute and new calling my name.

hmmm….

1 head cauliflower broken into small florets
1 small jar green olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bell pepper, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 package turkey pepperoni
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients. Its better if it sets in the fridge for couple of hours.

I love that my list of homemade things to eat keeps on growing.

I started making sprouts a couple of winters ago, got really into it and then randomly stopped. But it’s the easiest thing and I think kind of brilliant if you are wanting fresh, local greens in the wintertime. (especially if you could find local seed.)

At vitamin cottage, our local health food store, they sell the lids for the jars and just about every kind of sprouting seed you could imagine. The seeds come with specific instructions but basically the seed need to be soaked overnight and then rinsed and drained two or three times a day for 3-4 days, depending in the temperature in your house. I store mine in a ziploc lined with paper towels and they last at least a week in the fridge (they often end up being eaten before that).

These are a “protein blend” and will be a little heartier than the basic alfalfa sprouts. I think they will be especially good in salads.

So, there’s a few reasons why I decided to start making my own yogurt. 1. Yogurt is cultured in the cup, which means it’s cooked in a plastic cup for at least 5 hours at 110º. mmmm, that plastic infused yogurt has GOT to be good for you. 2. I can make it with local milk which helps the local economy, saves on transportation costs and is organic. 3. Less waste – we’re not going through 10-15 plastic cups a week that we can’t recycle.

So here’s the basic recipe I’ve been using.

8 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup plain yogurt, first time I used organic greek yogurt, second time I used brown cow cream top which isn’t organic
crockpot

*The recipe says to use full fat yogurt and milk but I’ve had good luck with 2% and lowfat yogurt.

Place 8 cups of milk in crockpot for 2.5 hours on low. After the time has elapsed, turn off the heat, leaving the lid on and let set for 3 hours.
At this point, if any skin has formed on the top of the milk, carefully skim it off. Next take about a cup of the warm milk out of the crockpot and mix thoroughly with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt. Return the mixture to the crockpot and mix well. Wrap the entire crockpot up with a towel or two and let sit for about 8 hours. (My last batch was 6 hours and it wasn’t quite thick enough for me. The first batch, I let sit overnight.) Make sure your crockpot is in a warmish place, so it can maintain it’s temperature for the 8 hours.

Homemade yogurt will be a little thinner than store bought because most store bought will have a thickener in it. So after the yogurt has cultured, I like to drain out some of the whey and make greek yogurt which is a thicker, creamier version of yogurt. I line a colander with a clean linen napkin, pour the yogurt in the colander, set the whole thing inside a big bowl to catch the whey. Cover the entire thing with plastic wrap so the yogurt doesn’t take on the flavor of the fridge as it sets. 3 hours of draining in the fridge will make greek yogurt, 18-24hrs will make sour cream. I’m letting my batch go 48hrs to try to make a soft yogurt cheese. If you find your yogurt gets too thick, just mix back in some of the whey.

And voila! you have yogurt! I like to store mine in a mason jar and sweeten it with honey or fruit as we eat it (I actually prefer plain anyway.) I think it’s so easy to make! More than anything making yogurt is a waiting game, rather than time consuming.