Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fruit leather (home-made fruit roll-ups!)

I have been given too many peaches!!! What a great problem! I was contemplating freezing them or making some preserves....but then I got to thinking about fruit-roll ups. I have no idea why since I think it's been 10 years since any have graced my pantry. Turns out to be pretty easy. Just boil the peaches until they are mushy - run them thru a food mill to remove the skins and make a puree. I then added some sugar, ginger and cinnamon until I thought the "soup" tasted good.


It was a hot, sunny day - and I thought I could save some oven power by taking my concoction out to the grill and simply letting the closed lid heat up and dry the puree.  By the way, I just lined the large cookie sheet with Saran Wrap.  Apparently it can withstand less-than-boiling temps!




Actually, the grill idea would have worked - except the afternoon ended up stormy.....so inside the pan came and into a 170 degree oven.  (The recipe said 150 degrees, but that's the lowest setting on my oven.)  No worries - it worked out fine.

The recipe said 8 hours ---- it turned out to be about 11 hours....not sure I'll do this again unless I can truely use the "solar grill" - seems like too much energy!

Here's the end product...


Lifted out of the pan -


The leather lifts easily from the plastic.


Started cutting with the pizza cutter.  Ended up using scissors!


All bagged up ready for snacking!


Sunday, July 28, 2013

Surprise Sam's Club Porta-Potti

Ya just never know what you're gonna read about on the W.O.K. !!  

So, most of you might know that I frequent Sam's Club for my business supplies every month or so.  I went on Friday morning...cup of coffee in hand.  It's about a 40 minute drive.  I'm telling you this, because, of course, I needed to use the ladies room when I arrived.

But, as I approached the restroom area, I could clearly see roped off entrances and signs saying "Under Construction".

As I got closer, a nice construction worker pointed and told me politely (probably for the millionth time...) that the restrooms were outside. 

I thought that was a bit strange as this Sam's Club does not have an "outside sales area".

But, I followed the signs as I didn't want my Sam's Club shopping experience to be, well, you know, tense.

Wandered outside expecting green porta-potti's.  Not my favorite experience, but nature calls!

I was a bit surprised when I found this instead.




But, I was even more surprised when I opened the door and found this!!!  Nice job, Sam's Club!!








Friday, July 26, 2013

Pretty veggies

As usual, I've been getting "gifts" from Dick and Lindy's garden....yum!!



Blueberries....I spy a cobbler in the makin'!!!!








Mmmmmm -  Corn Porn!!  Wink, wink!







Wednesday, July 24, 2013

More berfday fun - re-purposing fabric to make free-form beach bag

You may recall a certain dress that I made last year - that I thought looked horrible on me.....



I had cut the major pieces from the dress and stored them last year with the left-over scraps.

I just cut out a rectangle that looked like it would be the right size for the "base" of the bag.  Then I measured the perimeter of the rectangle to determine the size of the "body".  Here is the lining.  I was off by about 1/2 inch as I sewed it together.  No worries - snip, snip and it's perfect!



The finished outer shell - inside/out.

Coming together nicely!


I don't know what I did with the already-done sash from the dress - I must have tossed it in the trash....because it would have been helpful. No worries. I had plenty of fabric to make new "handles".




Ironed the seams to make them lay smoothly.


Turned right-side out and almost ready to assemble.



Decided at the last minute that a inside pocket might be nice - easy to assemble that with a couple of rectangular pieces.


Add some velcro - all I had was black....not my pick for this application, but it worked out fine.




Stitched the pocket just to the lining before assembly.


Attached the handles to the outer layer - ready to do "final assembly".



Ta-Da!


All done!



Ready for the berf-day girl!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Berfday and Tie-dye Tshirts

Since I've given my sis her birthday gifts, I can now post about tie-dying.  Once again, for our sailing trip, we made tie-dye tee shirts for the "crew". 

A few years ago,  I made one extra for my sis - and she told me recently that she had worn it so much it was a bit tattered. 

So, I had to make her a new one, of course!  I didn't want to post about it until I gave her the shirt!

Same process -here are a few of the shirts...coiled up with dye:


And the corresponding shirt - 24hrs later.


Duane's Shirt:



Carolyn's shirt, I believe:



And Cecil's:




Next we needed to apply the emblem.  The last time, we ordered the shirts silk-screened.  This year, we decided to try an iron-on transfer.  It worked fine, but I think for all the trouble, I'll just custom order screen printed white tee shirts next time!

The ink-jet printed emblem that we collectively made - even had to get some help from Duane's sis Carolyn!



Ironed-on per the instructions -


Rinsed a few times and they're ready to wear!


You've seen some of these photos from the trip - but just a few shots of folks wearing their shirts!



Lindy and Sharon made their shirts themselves - I made Cecil and Carolyn's since they were traveling before the trip.


And believe it or not, this is the best photo I have on my sweet sis in her shirt!  It fits her perfect!


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Visitors!

Time for the "West Virginians" visit! Teresa and Rafe stopped by on their way to a week at the beach last weekend....just time for a few fun games of pool and dinner out before they headed down to Topsail Island for the week.  Can't remember who won!



They had a bit more time to spare on the way home!  Richard and Miranda had the whole crew over for a little visit and grilling-out!.




Lot's of visiting - the puppies enjoyed the visit too!







Miranda introduced us to the newest member of the family....a ferret.  Soft and sweet!




Richard got a-hold of my camera at some point!



Very nice visit!



Oh, Richard and Miranda gave Duane a belated father's day gift....a cool tie with airplanes on it.  Duane had to prove he could still tie it with no mirror!  Good fun!