dinner, last night

This week is evening VBS at my church and I'm helping in the 3rd grade class. This means we have to have dinner before we leave. I've tried my hardest for us to have dinner before we leave rather than shovel in something from the drive-thru on the way home. The dinner has to be super easy too. That just makes summer all the better with the simplest of recipes. Plus!! A chocolate pudding pie ready to cut into after coming home was realllllly a good idea.  

Chicken Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice

3 chicken breasts, cook and shredded

1/2 onion, diced

1 heaping T of minced garlic

3/4 cups frosen peas (I omit the carrots but if you like them, add them!)

2 eggs

3 T sesame oil

1/4 + cup soy sauce

Prepare rice as directed.

Heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and peas. (and carrots, if you must) Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing with vegetables.

Add rice, chicken, and soy sauce to skillet mixture. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Serve and devour!

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Chocolate Pudding Pie ... yeah, I think you can figure this one out. Chill in frig for at least 2 hours so it's not goopy when cut.

sometimes i sew

Recently I got a new sewing machine. This one. Whilst I have been sewing pillows, curtains, and other random items that require straight edges through the years, I consider myself a beginner sewist. So if you're looking for a sewing machine that has all the bells and whistles then this probably isn't it but it does the basics and is very easy to work! Especially the bobbin case which I think all sewists can agree can be a bugger to deal with - this bobbin feature is ideal. You simply wind the thread on the bobbin and then pop it in the slot and voila!, it will come through as needed.

So one afternoon I gathered some fabrics and zippers and linings and cotton machine thread and went to town on these little projects. I had never put in a zipper before and clearly know now why project bags are so pricey on etsy because if I had to sell mine, they'd be $200 a pop! Lots of work but worth it in the end. I also made an annual summer pair of bandana shorts for my 9yr old because he still loves wearing a new pair every summertime. They're super easy to make and I've been making him since he was 2 years old. The tutorial can be found HERE.

I realize I haven't podcasted in several weeks and hope to remedy that soon. Just trying to find a quiet house and that's always tricky on summer days but we'll see - hope to talk with you all soon.

que sera sera / whatever will be, will be

This month I cast on Matka shawl by the lovely Holli Dapp of Swift Knits podcast. It's a beautiful knit and I'm loving the yarns by A Homespun House that I chose for the project. If you look closely, you might notice that one stripe is larger than the other ... well it is! And you know what? Que Sera Sera! (if you haven't heard Doris Day sing that song ... check out the video below)

Happy Week-end!

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playing catch up!

I have managed to restore the blog files and voila!, it's back online sooooo huzzah!

I'm playing catch up but here are some visuals of recent days worth.

Her Thoughts, a Jane Austen Sampler
NEW design available on The Sampler Girl website
Model & photo by Mary Kathryn Peter 

The weekly farmer's market visit yielded a delicious farmhouse-made apple turnover for brekkie one morning plus juicy summer ripe tomatoes that donned, with salt & pepper, some biscuits later in the week.

Bookclub pick for June is When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Quite a thoughtful and  moving memoir written by a brave neurosurgeon who was stricken with cancer; his pages of tender reflection live on in place of him. There were several passages which I did skim over as they were Physican-minded but otherwise, it is a very easy read.

Knitting occurs any day with a y in it ... usually. And the summer weather has been absolitely gorgeous / almost Fall-like recently, but warmer days are coming, like this afternoon. It was quite warm yet I was working away on yet another wool shawl that I can't wear for several months time but well, it's just so fun to knit. I'm participating in A Knitter's Life Podcast's Miss Marple KAL; this design is simply called Miss Marple Shawl; it is mindless knitting and keeps me company as of late. The darling progress stitch marker is from my mom; it is too cute!!

I promise it won't be a month till I write again ... gather JOY in the meanwhile.

the stretchy bind off

When I don't add the picot bind off to shawls (because it takes FOREVER and not every shawl needs it), I tend to work the stretchy bind off method as it gives exactly what it says ... a stretch!, which is ideal for shawls. This bind off can be achieved by: *K2tgbl (Knit together in the back loop), place that stitch back on left needle and repeat * to end.

Today I finished my second MKAL On the Moors with Jane Eyre and this one is with Green Mountain Spinnery worsted, colorway Blue Bayou. It took 1 1/2 skeins and is the loveliest of blues. It's raining, again!, so the light is awful for picture taking however the above picture shows the color closer than the picture below. I'll snap another when it's fully blocked and when the sun is out!

Happy Friday. xx

podcast episode 72: Thursday musings, blame it on the rain

Lately

Hark, I hear a robin calling!

List, the wind is from the south!

And the orchard-bloom is falling

Sweet as kisses on the mouth.

In the dreamy vale of beeches

Fair and faint is woven mist,

And the river's orient reaches

Are the palest amethyst.

Every limpid brook is singing

Of the lure of April days;

Every piney glen is ringing

With the maddest roundelays.

Come and let us seek together

Springtime lore of daffodils,

Giving to the golden weather

Greeting on the sun-warm hills.

-Lucy Maud Montgomery, Spring Song

yarns for Coffee Date Shawl

MKAL On the Moors with Jane Eyre Shawl

thrift store lovelies / Irish wool blanket
& a framed needlepoint of a Jane Austen-style gentleman

Grace