The Hum of the Sewing Machine

My sewing machine has been very busy lately. I am finishing up some Christmas gifts including quilts for my mother and newest nephew as well as pillows for many of the extended family. The greatest, most practical items are unmentionables that I will use each month for my cycle. For years I have read that cotton pads would help with my most unmanagable flow but never thought it would help this much. I had the lightest cycle in probably 10 years. I purchased my pattern from Kristin and JoAnns had all thier flannel on sale for $1.49/yard a few weeks ago. I purchased PUL waterproof barrier off of ebay and had some leftover organic cotton batting. I only needed a little of the PUL and batting for the waterproof layer. I went to work and they are truly wonderful. They are so comfortable and pretty, I might add. I will never buy those sticky, boring paper ones again. Also, in considering the cost, I spent about $30.00 in materials to make enough pads for one cycle, with plenty of materials leftover to make several more. I typically spend $6.00-8.00 a month in pads so conservatively, this project will pay for intself in 6 months and I will begin saving that much per month. What a blessing it has been to me. Hope it can bless you in some way. Suzie

Pilgrims

With Thanksgiving Day right around the corner, we decided to exit our traditional studies in Ancient Greece and do some Pilgrim studies. I bought a wonderful lap book from CurrClick titled A Season for Giving Thanks by Pleasant Ridge Publishing. It has a book list and many wonderful cutting activites surrounding the Thanksgiving Holiday. Oldest Son is reading Pocahontas and Captain John Smith, The Story of the Virginia Colony (A Landmark Book). Even though the events are a bit earlier and south, he is still enjoying it tremendously. Daughter is reading Whos that standing on Plymouth Rock by Jean Fritz and Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims by Clyde Bulla. Youngest son is reading The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.

With all of this talk about Pilgrims and their families, the hardships they encountered and even death, I began to ponder. One DVD that we watched called The Mayflower Pilgrims said that the definition of a pilgrim is a person or group that go on a long journey for religious reasons. I have thought about that much since hearing that definition. At breakfast this morning I asked the children if we were pilgrims. Amazingly, they remembered that definition from the DVD and oldest son said, Yes, we are. After a little more discussion on the matter, we sang the following hymn together.

Here We Are But Straying Pilgrims

Here we are but straying pilgrims

Here our path is often dim

But to cheer us on our jouney

Still we sing this wayside hymn

Chorus: Yonder over the rolling river

Where the shining mansions rise

Soon will be our home forever

And the smile of the blessed giver

Gladens all our longing eyes.

Here our feet are often weary

On the hills that throng our way

Here the tempest darkly gathers

But our hearts within us say

Chorus

Here our souls are often fearful

Of the pilgrim's lurking foe

But the Lord is our defender

And He tells us we may know

Chorus

I hope this post blesses your day.

May you and your family have a Blessed Thanksgiving, Suzie

Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!

This is a wonderful time of year for lots of baking and one of our favorite things to bake is pumpkin and all the delicious recipes that go with it. Pumpkin is very easy to cook and process. My mother used to cook them this way when I was a child. She grew up in a time when no one wasted anything, and nothing goes to waste on this pumpkin. Seeds are eaten, pumpkin processed and skin and pulp go to compost. I am thankful to mom for teaching me this.

First, when choosing a pumpkin, make sure it is a rich orange color. Any yellow or green on it means it is not yet ripe. Cut the pumpkin in half from stem to stem and remove the seeds and pulp. You can roast the seeds if your family likes them. There is a simple and delicious recipe here. My children love to eat these whole, shell and all.

Oil a cooking sheet that has sides on it. Turn half of the pumpkin upside down on the cooking sheet. I repeat this process for the second half, as I tend to pick large pumpkins. Place in a 400 degree oven for 1-1 1/2 hours until the skin becomes dark brown and blistered. The pumpkin is going to cook by steaming itself. You may think you are burning it but you are not. After it becomes brown, take it out and let it cool. It will look like it is shrivelling as it cools and that if fine. After it is cool, the skin will just peel off and that beautiful pumpkin is soft and workable. I usually process mine in the food processor and then freeze in freezer bags, 2 cups at a time. Don't add the excess liquid back in as you process, as it may make your pumpkin too thin. It will seem thinner than the canned stuff but it has never caused me a problem. Some recipes may just need to bake a bit longer. Also, the cost effectiveness of cooking your own pumpkin is phenomenal! I bought this very large pumpkin for $2.49 and it made an entire gallon of pumpkin puree! They are a great investment for purchase after October 31st if you can find them on clearence.

Here are a couple of our family favorite recipes

Pumpkin Pie

1 pie crust-9 inch

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

3/4 cups sugar ( I use sucanat)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 t cloves

1 cans evaporated milk (I have used home made almond milk also)

Mix all ingredients well and pour in crust. Cook 15 minutes at 425 then turn down to 350 and bake 45 minutes more. Pie is done when knife inserted in center, comes out clean. My experience with this recipe says that it usually takes a little longer to cook, I think due to the extra liquid in the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup oatmeal

1/3 cup sucanat

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp ginger

1 egg

3/4 cup milk (soy or almond is fine)

1/3 cup oil (or substitute applesauce)

3/4 cup pumpkin

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 400 or 375 for dark pan. Butter muffin pan. Mix all dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add egg, milk, oil, and pumpkin. Stir until just mixed. Add raisins. Fill cups 2/3 full and bake 20-25 minutes.

We eat this sometimes for breakfast as I can mix it the night before and refrigerate and the children wake up to the wonderful smells of breakfast cooking and it really wasn't all that hard.

Happy baking this fall, Suzie

The Parthenon

We are currently on vacation and stopped by in Nashville last weekend for some sight seeing (ie: school field trip) before travelling on to our destination. We have been studying Ancient Greece in our Tapestry of Grace Year 1, Unit 3 and I was thrilled to find a scale model of the original Parthenon in Centennial Park in Nashville. It was the perfect field trip to go along with our studies.

Notice how huge this building is.





Here is daddy and the children on the front steps of the Parthenon.

The children are standing in front of the huge iron doors of this temple, that originally housed the goddess Athena in Athens, Greece. It was one of the many buildings in the area of the Acropolis in Greece.

Notice how HUGE these pillars. The children could not even go half way around using themselves as a chain. They were quick to tell me that these were doric columns. There was a very interesting film in the museum that told all about how the structure was built. Oldest son was especially interested in this as he has been very curious about ancient architecture.

Here is a guilded duplicate of the false goddess Athena. This was what was beyond those huge doors. She was the height of those doors as well. As the children turned the corner and got their first glimpses of her they commented, 'No wonder they wanted to worship her'. Her sheer size was overwhelming. I too was in awe.

This a photo of the serpent that was wrapped around her and the shield as she was the goddess of war and protection.

As we arrived back at our hotel, we discussed the awesomeness of her as well as how much more great that God of heaven is. We read from Acts where Paul addressed the greek people that were such prevelant worshippers of her.

"God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor is He worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things...therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising"

Acts 17:24-34 NKJV

Have a blessed day, Suzie

Home-Made Dishwasher Soap

With all of us pinching pennies over the past several months, like many folks, I too have been trying to find ways to stretch my dollar. I used to spend about $6.00 for a large name brand dishwashing soap. Through trial and error, I have made my own dishwashing powder and saved money. Here is what I do:

2 cups Wal-Mart brand (Great Value) dry dishwashing powder

1 cup Arm and Hammer baking soda

1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

Mix in a bowl and store in a quart glass jar. It lasts me about a week. I use 2 heaping tablespoons per load and do about 3 loads a day.

I also have begun placing apple cider vinegar in my rinse cycle canister. It actually does a better job than the expensive name brand that I used to use.

"There is treasure to be desired and oil in the swelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up." Proverbs 21:20 KJV

Blessing for a wonderful day, Suzie

Quilt musings

Dear daughter and I have been working hard trying to get our 'first' quilts finished in time for the county fair.

It was my first quilt that I did using my own pattern, for dear son, and dd's first try at hand quilting as well as learning how to 'stitch in the ditch' and learning to do the binding.

DD received a blue ribbon and I a white one (third).

We had a lot of fun learning together.

She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff...she maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple...Strength and honor are her clothing: and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Proverbs 31:19 ff

Blessings for a day of strength, Suzie

The Battle of Salamis

We just finished studying Unit 24, of Tapestry of Grace. To go along with the battles between the Persians and the Greeks, we found JuniorGenerals.org. It has gobs of games to simulate historical battles throughout the centuries. We had a blast cutting, taping and creating the game. Thanks to Molly's Blogspot for introducing us to these soldiers. She also has a blog titled Historical Paper Soldiers. We used these soldiers and these triremes. Here were the directions to the game. .

The directions indicated to use a ruler to make your moves. This was perfect for my dear children ages 8, 10 and 12.

Check out this great game board they made out of large drawing paper.

Meet the teams....

The Persians and

The Greeks.
It was fun time had by all. Much was learned in the process.

Blessings in your school this day, Suzie