August 16, 2026 - The Next Blackbird Academy Project - Come Into My Garden

I've already written about this project, Come Into My Garden by Blackbird Designs, but I am so excited to get to start it.  The September project should be something with a bird and Come Into My Garden has a bird!

The linen is Sassenach by Fabrics by Steph and just look at these gorgeous floss colors.  The floss is the called for floss - all Weeks Dyeworks.

Today is a leftovers for lunch day and I hope to get at least 400 stitches made today.

Last night it was about midnight when I finished Christmas Rose. I immediately got up, took it off the stitching frame and pulled the frames I might use to fully finish it. By then it was almost 1 a.m. but I grabbed the bag that contained Come Into My Garden, the floss and the linen and even though I knew I needed to get to bed, I went ahead and put the linen on the scroll frame, and I actually sat down and thought about stitching but then I said no . . NO!! So, this morning I finally get to start Come Into My Garden!

August 16, 2026 - Cross Stitching - Christmas Rose is Finished!

 Last night I finished Christmas Rose. This is my first project for Blackbird Academy. 

It was late last night when I finished it and the photos are kinda blown out with the lighting in the basement. I had already grabbed a few frames to see if anything I have here might work.

I'll just number them so if anyone wants to let me know what frame you like best, just tell me the number (or  you can tell me anything you want to tell me!)  :)

No. 1.

I like my pieces framed a bit tighter but these are standard 8 x 10 frames and since it's a piece that won't be out all year, I figured this size would work since any custom frame is going to be at least $50. And, once it's laced and pulled a bit tighter, I don't think the space on the sides will be quite so wide. But, I could change my mind. Here are a few other options. Any thoughts (on the specific frame or the spacing)?

No. 2.

No. 3.

No. 4.

No. 5.

I pretty much like all of them but I feel like #2 might be kinda wide. I think this is the order in which I like them:  1, 3, 4, 5, 2. Help me please!!  :)

For anyone who isn't familiar with Blackbird Academy and may want to join, there's a Facebook group, Blackbird Academy SAL, with over 2,000 members and quite a bit of fun activity there. The project is the brainchild of Holly Jones (Mrs. Jones Stitches) and Leah (The Blooming Stitcher). Both are fun flosstubers so please take a look at their videos if you're a stitcher.

August 16, 2026 - It's SO hot and SO dry!

 I haven't kept up with it but I believe our temps have been above 100 at least since August 1. I don't think we've had rain is about two months. Fall cannot get here quickly enough to suit me.

Please ignore that my weather station seems to be a day off. Today is Saturday, August 15. Maybe the weather station is also anxious for August to end. I will fix it today -- no telling how long it's been off.

Today (Saturday - I started this post yesterday and never finished it!):

Yesterday:

Friday:

The good news is that the basement stays cool, even with the A/C set on 76. The thermostat is upstairs and yes, 76 can get a bit warm up there if I'm cooking but 66 in the basement is cold for me. We stay in the basement (it's a walkout); TV is down here, cross stitching and dongs are down here. 

I usually end up opening a window for a while. Today it's 68 in the basement because (1) I have a window open a bit and (2) I had been cooking upstairs and with the stove going and the thermostat on 76, it got I down to 63 in the basement so the thermostat got changed to 78.  I don't like doing that because it takes forever to bring the temp back down and that's hard on the a/c unit - that's what Vince tells me anyway, but 63 is TOO cold!

The weatherman said today that we likely have 10 - 12 more days of this heat. I'm pretty sure we've been over 100 for at least 30 days and it's been probably two months or longer since we had a drop of rain.

On the local FB groups, there's been so much talk of the high electric bills. Some people in small homes are having bills (one month) over $1,000. I know so much goes into the amount of electricity used - things we can control but a lot that people can't control - homes that aren't insulated, leaky windows, etc. I was nervous about seeing our bill. It was posted this morning and it was not bad at all. Not funny but it made me chuckle - our water bill was more (quite a bit more) than our electric bill. Not sure that's ever happened and definitely not sure the amount of produce I'm growing right now was worth the cost of that much water. I suppose the squash bugs appreciate the water and the squash plants they're ruining!  :(

The experts say this has happened before (this many days without rain and temps above 100) but never when we've lived in this area, which has been 10 years between the first time and this time.

To say I am ready for fall and then some snow would be an understatement!

August 14, 2026 - Azure Pickup

Today was our Azure pickup. Going to the Azure pickup is so different from going to the grocery store. Pretty much everyone there buys like I buy, cooks mostly from scratch, cans, has a garden. Everyone seems so excited with what they're getting - it's just a fun experience.

This week (we get deliveries once a month), I got the following. For anything "weird", I will explain why I got what I got. Canning jars were on sale last month and there must have been over 100 cases of jars that were delivered to our drop location and I think there were only about 15 people who ordered this month! Azure's jars are SO much better, in my opinion. They can be ordered with lids and rings or without lids and rings. I have plenty of lids and rings but I go through a lot of lids and rings often have to be tossed. It's cost effective to get the jars WITH the lids and rings because it's more to buy them separately but I don't mind buying them without lids and rings. When there's a sale, they often will sell out so if there's a size jars I NEED, I will order them with lids and rings and without lids and rings and I hope I get one or the other and then sometimes, I get both but I never complain about extra jars!

• Pint jars - wide mouth with bands and lids - 4 boxes (12 each)
• Quart jars - wide mouth without bands and lids - 4 boxes (12 each)
• E-cloth Dust Wand
• Honey - Raw, clover - 12 pounds
• Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, organic, gallon jug - 2
• Organic Green Lentils, dried - 36 ounce bags - 4
• Stain & Odor Eliminator - lavender - 1 gallon
• Desert Essence Coconut Shampoo
• Desert Essence Coconut Conditioner
• Desert Essence Coconut Defrizzer and Heat Protector
• Once Again Nut Butter - Sunflower Butter - 16 oz. x 6
• Safe Catch Skipjack Wild Tuna Steak - 5 oz. cans x 3
• Azure Homestyle Flour Tortillas 10" - 24 pack x 3
• Azure Market Whole Milk Mozzarella Cheese - 6 pounds x 2
• Peanut Butter - Organic, no salt added - 16 oz. jar x 3
• Paprika Powder, Smoked, Organic - 1 pound
• Thyme Leaves, Organic, Fine Cut - 1 pound
• Black Pepper, Organic, Ground - 1 pound
• Baking Powder, Organic - 1 pound
• Ceylon Cinnamon, Organic, Ground - 1 pound

That's it for this month.  Here's a bit more explanation on some of the items:

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar - one thing I will get done today is make fire cider. I've made the same recipe for 10 or more years. I'm going to make the same recipe but I'm also going to try a couple other recipes from this book.

The green lentils - I want to cook more lentils. They're good for you and quick to cook so I'm going to do my best to cook them at least once a week.

The stain and odor eliminator is something I use when washing dog bedding and sometimes in Vince's clothes if he's been working outside.

The skipjack tuna - I've never tried it but have wanted to so we're going to have tuna salad roll ups today for lunch and use the tortillas I got today.

The mozzarella cheese - I will grate some of it, vacuum seal it in 2 cup portions and freeze it. I will cut the rest into about 3" sections, vacuum seal those and freeze them also.

The spices are just to have on hand because those are the ones I'm almost out of. I will put about 4 oz. of each one into the small jelly jars, put the rest into pint or quart jars, vacuum seal them and keep them in the coldest, darkest area of the basement.

That's about it for this month's Azure haul. I will probably place an order next month but then won't place an order again until probably April. We don't drive at dark and it's about a 35 minute trip to our pickup location. Then there's the snow and ice, not only that we have to drive through but the delivery trucks (18 wheelers) can get delayed because of the weather. This past winter we had a pickup that ended up being after 8 p.m. and the wind chill was below zero with snow on the ground so whatever we need, we'll get it next month or we'll buy it local or do without!

August 13, 2026 - Slow Cooker Chicken with Feta and Basil

 You know how I'm always seeing little hidden meanings or messages in things - some things. There are things I can't seem to find any meaning or reasoning to sometimes. Today I was re-arranging (actually - cleaning!) a spot and there was the cutest Dachshund bag that Denise had sent me a couple of years ago. More tears! More questioning WHY!!

The other day I had stuck my favorite canning book over on top of the cookbooks on my bookshelf. I had two packages of chicken breasts - 8 breasts per package. I had hoped to can 8 chicken breasts today (which usually fills 10 quart jars with a chicken meal) and 8 tomorrow and be done with chicken canning for a while. I just wasn't in the mood to can today but . . duty calls and I have to get it done.

I went to grab the canning book this morning, turned around to say something to Vince, thought I was grabbing the canning book, got upstairs and realized I had grabbed this book.

I figured that meant I should make something in the slow cooker today. 

For years, I followed Stephanie O'Dea's blog and she has the best slow cooker recipes. You might be able to see all the little slivers of paper towels in this book where I marked recipes I wanted to make. It's probably been 6 or 8 years since I opened this book so I had no idea what recipes were marked.

The first one I flipped to was Basil Chicken with Feta. I had breasts and the recipe called for thighs so I just split the breasts lengthwise so they wouldn't be so thick. I had everything else. I got the olives out to slice and thought . . no, I have Boscoli in the fridge . . I can use that so I scooped out 1/2 cup of the olive salad. Done! No slicing olives today. I'm actually out of home canned garbanzo beans so I had to use a can of storebought garbanzo beans from the pantry. That means I need to can at least 24 pints of the beans before winter. Told you - a canner's work is never done! :)

Vince walked by the slow cooker after I had taken the lid off and he said "That looks like something from a restaurant!" Yay!! I served it over linguine with a bit of grated parmesan cheese. 

It was delicious!

There was enough left to make two more meals. One went into the freezer and one went into the fridge and we'll have that Saturday.

Here's my system where I'm trying to keep track of the "ready to eat" foods that are in the fridge and freezer.

This is the fridge where the leftovers go. Obviously I didn't know today's date! I'm starting with a clean slate. Today was trash pickup day so anything that had been in there longer than I feel is ok . . that was discarded. There is some leftover pizza in there but it doesn't usually go on the list because we never forget there's pizza in the fridge.

This is the dry erase sheet that's on the freezer. For this one . . obviously I can't write straight!  :)

I try to end every month with at least six meals in the freezer. That gives us about a week of eating out of the freezer. The first week of each month is "eat out of the freezer week". The third week of the month is "eat out of jars week" so really, I only have to cook complete meals for two weeks each month.

Maybe I can get more stitching done next week than I've done this week!

August 10, 2026 - A Sad Post!

 Many of you have read on my blog the antics through the years between myself and Denise (just quiltin). I don't even know what year I met Denise but it was through my friend, Sheryl.  Sheryl hosted an online quilt group called The Quilting Post. I don't remember when it all started but I think I found them in the early to mid 90's. There were quite a few quilters in there but you know how you will gravitate to one or several. I think most of us have made some lifelong friends through the online groups. Somehow, Denise became one of my lifelong friends. Sheryl and I became almost instant friends and we're still friends to this day. The other in our little group was Susan. She and her husband lived maybe 40 miles from where we lived in Texas and often on Friday night, we would meet halfway at a restaurant we all liked, have dinner, good conversation and an enjoyable evening. Before we left Texas, back in 2014 I think it was, Susan also passed away so of that rather tight knit little group, it's Sheryl and me who are left.

Denise and I met and attended a quilting retreat together probably in about 2008. I know we were living in Nevada, MO at the time but that's about as much as I can remember as to the timeline. Sheryl had put the whole shindig together and we all had so, so much fun. We've stayed in touch through the years and the funny thing is that so often, one of us would start a chart and a week or so later, we would post it on our blog and the other one had started the same chart, sometimes on the same day. There were times when we would change the same floss color or both order the same chart on the same day. It was really funny.

I got word today that Denise has passed away.  She was quite a bit younger than I am and it was a complete shock. From the post her sister posted on Denise's blog, it was a very brief illness. So unexpected and so sad for her family!

I have a box sitting here I was going to send her and I was waiting to see if she wanted me to send it to her home or her office. I will miss her!

If you're one who prays, please pray for her family. They are close and I'm sure this was such a shock for them.

Denise was a talented quilter, cross stitcher and blogger and she will be missed by many of us.

August 9, 2026 - A Canner's Work is Never Done!

 You cannot tell it from the temperature outside but it isn't going to be long until fall is here . . and then winter. Those are my two favorite seasons. There's so much work to be done in the summer and spring is beautiful but, in my mind, spring means months of heat and bugs will be here soon.

In Texas, my sewing/craft area was in a separate building. Here, it's in the basement so I don't spend a lot of time near the kitchen. It isn't like I can go check on dinner every few minutes without having to put away the stitching; herd the dogs into their crates, go up the stairs, do what I have to do and come back down. It's much easier for me to have meals in jars. I can run upstairs about 15 to 30 minutes before dinner, depending on what else we're having, open jars, heat up the food and dinner is on the table, then kitchen is easily cleaned and I'm back downstairs stitching quickly.

We eat food from jars all year but more so during the fall and winter. We don't go out to eat much but we go out even less during the winter because it gets dark earlier and because of the weather.

Over the last few days, I've been going over what we have in jars and what we need.  I had a much longer list than I normally have so yesterday we made a run to Sam's, went Walmart to get what Sam's didn't have any came home and got started canning. I used 1-1/2 pint jars and got 10 jars.

This was one of the few times that I had zero siphoning - not a single jar and no greasy residue on any of the jars. There's chicken, carrots, potatoes, celery, onions. My favorite way to use this is to make a light roux, put the cooking liquid in there and thicken it up, add a bit of cream, mix in all the chicken and veggies and make it into a pot pie! But sometimes I'll just serve it as a soup with hot sandwiches.

Tomorrow I will make Zuppa Toscana with Italian sausage, kale, potatoes and white beans. The recipe only calls for potatoes, not white beans but I use half of the called for potatoes and add some cannellini beans. The beans are soaking overnight!

I think I will be canning four different recipes with chicken; the one with Italian sausage and six with beef. Those will help get us through the winter with hopefully lots of stitching time!