Food and Peter Rabbit

Today it was in the 90's here in Lancaster. People were groaning about it. I guess after living in San Antonio for 2 years and living with many days of 105 or 110 today's temperature didn't seem so hot to me.

One of my favorite blogs shared her friends bread recipe on her blog. We are hooked on it. Weekly I've been making 2 loaves.
 http://happilymarriedtothecows.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2013-05-10T20:42:00-04:00&max-results=7

So today was no different even with the heat. After making it, I went up stairs to get the camera but my son came in before I returned.... he had made himself lunch!

Since the oven was hot I decided to make a pineapple up side down cake.

I had to wait for it to cool some so I could turn it out onto a plate so I got busy making Chai tea. I'm not sure why or how it works but it often holds me over between pain pills. The doctor told me it acts like taking extra Tylenol. Doesn't matter, it works so I often make a jug of it so it's on hand.

It's really mostly black tea, fresh ginger, sugar, cardamom and milk.

I decided no garden weeding today but I still had to water. As I turned the corner of the garage I came face to face with Peter Rabbit. Now we've met before. He's been eating my lettuce and since I haven't objected or fenced it in, he's become pretty bold. Look at that guilty expression!

Dolls

Maybe you didn't notice in the photo's of my sewing room that I have dolls!  Lots of dolls and doll houses, & odd toys. Most can't be on display because this house doesn't have a room for them. Doll people are strange. They have no idea when or why they started gathering up dolls but they do know there isn't a doll that couldn't come home with them.

The little boots in the last post are for an 18 inch doll. I've done a lot of sewing for Barbie, but since my granddaughters are all past the doll age I didn't really notice the 18 inch doll that has taken over.

 

My new sewing is for a wardrobe for the 18 inch doll for a friends granddaughter in November. Over the past few days I've looked at hundreds of these dolls.

The most popular is the American Girl doll and I don't understand why. She looks like she needs and orthodontist! She has 2 white teeth that draws your eye right to them. She costs well over $100.00, and has no ability to really pose. She's one of those dolls that you sit in a chair and her legs jut out in front of her.

I'll need a doll for a model to fit the clothing. I went to the most likely place looking for one that has been abused..eBay. Even when American girl is wearing green marker eyebrows and has had her hair chopped off to the scalp, her asking price is $40.00. YIKES...so I moved on to Craigslist list and posted a wanted ad. For $5.00 I was able to get one who is missing a leg and fingers and has had a make over with Sharpie pens.
She'll do fine for fitting clothing.

My search for these dolls would not fit a true doll collector unless I formed an opinion and fell in love with at least one of the dolls. Now if I were going to pay over $100.00 it would be for a Kidz & Katz doll. She is jointed all over, elbows, wrists, knees and has a pretty face. She is a little thinner then most of these 18 inch dolls but that doesn't stop her from wearing the clothing.
http://dolldiaries.com/toy-fair-2013-report-kidz-n-cats-dolls/

This would be my choice. She's just too cute! She's on my wish list at Amazon...I shouldn't even think about her but then I wouldn't be a doll collector. I'm telling myself that she's on the list only so I can look at her.

I've already run into problems with the clothing. I started with an easy poncho just to get a look at the finished size. I used a Simplicity pattern and the poncho turned out looking like the cheap clothing you buy at Wal Mart. I think this will be my own little Project Runway. I've pulled all the stitches out and am thinking the poncho needs a collar or hood. I'm looking for a plastic to make a rain coat to go with the boots but a reader gave me an idea! While I'm on that search I might make overall shorts and a shirt so she can garden in the boots! That would also call for a hat and  sunglasses, I've seen them on Amazon...see, I'm really getting into this project...I'll post as I go along.

On to a new project

Project just doesn't sound right for something I'm already having so much fun with...so let's say I'm moving on to new fun. Maybe you can guess what I'm making now from the photo.

Finished blocks

I'm making the Jingle quilt  http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/jingle-bom/  I'm slowly doing the center medallion and the first 3 applique blocks. These blocks  have many, many leaves to put on. It'll be a while until I have something to post.

So far 2 pieced blocks have been posted. I had no problem with the first block. Now the second one was a different story. Between my mistakes and the designers mistakes I did a lot of re cutting the block and ripping stitches. Whew...it's finally together. Not perfect, but together!

Walmart is not emergency friendly

Today I had to make a trip to Walmart to have some prescriptions filled and to pick up some food items. Once a month I also use Wal Marts special care to have my infusion medicine filled and sent to me at a cost around $1700.00.  Today I decided to try and use a regular cart since I can't reach anything from a scooter and it's just too painful to get up and down for each item.

I started by leaving my new prescriptions at the Pharmacy. I then made my way across the store to the grocery department. Starting from the rear of the store I began filling my cart with items. By the time I reached the frozen department I was in a lot of pain. I decided to skip that department and just grab a few items from fresh foods.  By this time the pain had fully taken over. I was now feeling light headed and sick to my stomach. With Rheumatoid Arthritis, severe pain can hit and within minutes it can take you down to your knees. I needed to take a pain pill immediately. I don't know how I managed to check out but I do know there was no drinks at the check out and the ladies room was a good walk away in the wrong direction. I made my way to the Pharmacy. Now my head was pounding and I was seeing spots before my eyes.

No one was in line so I approached the counter. I was happy to see a sink in the rear of the Pharmacy. I only needed one mouth full of water to get this pain pill down and I would be able to start to recover within a few minutes if I just sat down on the bench in the Pharmacy.

An older man, maybe the Pharmacist, came to the counter. I told him I was very sick and needed a mouth full of water to take a pain pill. He told me he had no water. I told him if I didn't get some water I was going to pass out from the pain. Again he said we don't have any water. I said, "please, you have a sink". He ignored me and asked for my name. He pulled my medicine from the wall and told me to sign. I scribbled my name and he walked away.

I laid my body over my groceries and shuffled out the door where my son was waiting in the first handicapped parking spot. He saw I was in trouble and ran over to hold me up and move me to the car. I told him I needed a pain pill and had no drink. He ripped open a half gallon carton of juice. By the time he had unloaded the grocery cart I had stopped shaking and my color was coming back. Fifteen minutes later when we reached our driveway, I was feeling back to normal.

I reached my co pay so I didn't have to pay for the prescriptions but I'm sure they cost about $100. or maybe more. My groceries were $85.00 and I've already received my infusion delivery for the month for $1700.00. from Wal mart. I wonder if I would have allowed myself to fall to my knee's if then I might have been able to get a free mouth full of water?

I've already stopped buying food items grown in Mexico or China and am doing fine without them. It might be time to stop buying from Wal Mart. The Super Store idea is no longer Super in my opinion. When people no longer care about people it's time to find places to spend my money where they do care. It sure wasn't worth the savings to have to drag my sick body through what seems like miles of items I didn't want and then be treated to a lesson on how not to care when someone is having an emergency.

Crazy Quilt Block is finished

I'm glad to have my part of this block finished. I felt like I have been on a journey and back again..but everything does have a way of coming to an end. I'll be shipping it off to the next person to work on it next week.

The next block coming to me is gray. At first I was stumped as to what to do with it but so many idea's have come to me now. The owner said she likes Art Deco... that calls for a Peacock! I already have him started.

Monochromatic Crazy Quilt block round robin

Well the swap got off to a bad start. I got the only block with a problem. After talking to the block owner and the swap Mama we decided I could remove the stabilizer and grid stitches and replace it with muslin.

I did try to use the owners block as she sent it but it just wasn't possible to pull the thread and silk ribbon through the stiff stabilizer.

So I've re started the block again. My camera shows the light blue as white, but it is all blue except the gold on the 2 buttons. I still have seams to do and more silk ribbon.

FEED ME!

They are all mouth!

Not so Pretty..but

Hungry!

Baby Robins!

Today we have baby robins!

A little piece of spring

From my attic sewing room window I can see this old big beautiful Dogwood tree. It's just so pleasant to look up and see the flowers dancing in the breeze.

I am also living among many lilac trees. The smell fills the air so I decided to enjoy some in my old tin basin. I brought them inside and now the house smells as good as the garden.