Knot Just Knit-Wits

Pillowcases
Originally uploaded by cebbtn

By now, I think most bloggy and crafty people are familiar with, or have at least heard about Craft Hope, the incredible program put together by Jade Sims in Texas.  Jade started project one as a charity to an orphanage in Mexico, I think, and had about 35 or so people join her in making little dresses, then she put together a project making dolls for another group of children.  There were the quilts that went to an orphanage in Africa, the sock monkeys for a camp for little burn victims in California, the red scarves for college-bound foster kids, and more projects that you can read about on her Craft Hope site.   As each project has progressed, more and more people have heard about it until it has grown to many many people stitching their love into each and every project, sending hope around the world. 

Project 9 was announced a few weeks ago -  This time benefiting ConKerr Cancer in a quest to bring every child across our country who is hospitilized with cancer a bright and cheerful pillowcase, hopefully putting a smile on those children's faces.  This link shows hospitals, by state, all across the country who are participating already in this program.

A small group of friends and I have decided to jump on board.  Alli, Denise and I have commited to making just 2 pillowcases each, but will certainly be making more if we can.  We know for sure that we can each do two.  Here in Oregon, our cases will be going to the Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland.   If you are in Oregon,  will you join us?  The Knot Just Knit-Wits would love to have your pillowcases join ours in going to those sweet kids at this wonderful hospital.  The Craft Hope deadline for this project is September 15th, which is National Cancer Awareness Day.  Our group will be meeting on September 8th to collect our cases and get them ready to mail off.  If you want to join us, but are in another part of the state, email me and I will get you my address so you can send your cases to the group.  We will then get them to the hospital. 
(paulaniz67 (at) yahoo (dot) com)

To participate in the program, just not with us Knit-Wits, follow the Craft Hope link and the link that shows where your states pillowcases are going.  Stitch some love and hope for these kids.

Simply Peaches

Imagine the smell of sun-ripened peaches wafting around your kitchen, bringing the delights of the orchard right inside.  If you were to close your eyes while this delicious pie is baking, you would be whisked away to a farm in the country.  You would find yourself, bucket in hand, standing on a tall wooden ladder and plucking ripe juicy peaches from between the green leaves of a peach tree.  You have an old tin bucket in your hand that is filling with the sweetness of this summer orchard.  You're wearing a cotton dress and your favorite peach-picking apron.  Life is good!

While I'm away in the orchard, go ahead and bake this pie. 

It's yummy!

Roasted Peach Pie with Butterscotch Sauce

(from August 2010 Better Homes & Gardens)

1 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. sour cream

1 tbsp. milk

6 medium peaches

Butterscotch Sauce

1/4 c. unsalted butter

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 tbsp. light corn syrup

2 tbsp. whipping cream

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Stin in sour cream and milk just until combined.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. (Or up to 2 days)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll to an 11-inch circle, and transfer to a 9-inch pie plate.  Trim crusts even with top of pie tin.  With a lightly floured fork, press sides of crust into pie plate.  Line with a double thickness of foil that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray to prevent pastry from sticking.  Bake 8 minutes.  Remove foil;  bake 5 to 6 minutes more or until crust is golden;  cool.  Reduce oven to 350 degrees.

Cut peaches into thick slices, slicing around the pit.  Add peaches to cooled crusts.  Cover edges of pie with foil.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until peaches are just tender.  Transfer to a wire rack. 

Prepare your butterscotch sauce: 

In a small saucepan, melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter over medium heat.  Stir in 1/3 cup packed brown sugar and 1 tablespoon light-colored corn syrup.  Bring to a boil and boil gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Carefully stir in 2 tablespoons whipping cream.  Cool slightly.

While pie is still warm, drizzle with butterscotch sauce.  Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream.  Sprinkle with nutmeg and fresh mint. 

Whimsy Jar Tardiness

Holy Cow!  It's been a month ago since my wonderful Whimsy Jar's came in the mail from my swap partners, Sarah and Jill.  They both sent fantastic and fun jars filled with goodness. 

                                        Look at all this fun stuff!  I've already dug in and used a few things
                                     on a birthday card or two.  Yeah!  Thank you both so much.  You did
                                     such a good job of filling these whimsy jars.  I love them both!

These are the jars that I put together and sent to Sarah and Jill.  These were my first Whimsy Jars and I had such a fun time searching for fun things to go into them.  Hope you liked them, ladies!

Big thanks to Jessica for hosting such a fun swap!

Turn the Page...Tuesday - August

Time for some Turn the Page...Tuesday goodness hosted by Adrienne at Some of a Kind.  Yeah!

I read several good books in July, but chose On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon by Kaye Gibbons as my favorite and the one that I would post about.

From the  cover:
Like America in the mid-nineteenth century, Emma Garnet Tate Lowell is at war with herself.  Born to privilege on a James River plantation, she grows up more and more aware that her family's prosperity is inextricably linked to the institution of slavery.  Bookish and sensitive, young Emma Garnet sets herself against her bumptious, self-made father, Samuel P. Tate, at an early age.  In the company of her mother and adored brother Whately, Emma Garnet manages to survive with her heart and mind intact.
As she tells her story in 1900, she is still prey to her childhood, to the memories of a life that was made bearable in the main by the indomitable family servant Clarice.  Emma Garnet secedes from the control of her domineering father to marry Quincy Lowell, a member of the distinguished Boston family.  Living in Raleigh on the eve of the Civil War, she and Quincy, with Clarice's constant help, create the ideal happy home.
When war destroys the rhythm of their days, Emma Garnet works alongside Quincy, an accomplished surgeon.  Assisting him in the treatment of wounded soldiers, she comes to see war as "a conflict perpetrated by rich men and fought by poor boys against hungry women and babies".  After Appomattox, Emma Garnet sets out to take her exhausted husband home to Boston, where she begins the long journey of her own reconstruction.

Not only does this book deal with the hardness of slavery, but also on the abuse a family experiences at the hands of their father and husband.  The author knows first hand what it is to live with a mental illness and that knowledge makes for some fantastic writing. 

I'm now reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and loving it.  
What are you reading?  Pop over to Adrienne's site and join us for Turn the Page...Tuesday.

The Lion

At the playground on the 4th of July, a lady had her Standard Poodle on a leash as she was watching her small grandson play.  Suddenly she saw the grandson climbing to high on the play equipment and rushed in to help him down, dropping the dog's leash in the process.  The poodle walked under one of the playground bridges and just stood there, watching his owner.  We were sitting on a picnic blanket just a few feet away watching Noah, when he came running around the corner, spotted the dog and came to a screeching halt.  He was facing us, so we saw his eyes open as round as saucers.  He stood there for just a split second looking at then dog, then came running over to us, excited and scared.  "A Lion!", he said.  We all just cracked up, so cute and funny.  Chris explained to him that it was just a dog with a haircut that made him look kind of like a lion, then he took him over to the dog's owner, told her the story and asked if Noah could pet him.  She laughingly agreed. 

Noah petted the "lion", talked to him and when he came back to where his Mommy and Bana were sitting, he told us, "I love the lion!".

Only in Oregon

OK, maybe not only in Oregon - but only in farm country for sure.

MishMash Soup

Mishmash soup is a bit of this and a tad of that all thrown into a pot and served up for dinner.  This post is going to resemble a pot of that soup with a bit of yard sale finds, a dash of crafting and a splash of Independence day thrown in. 

We have had a cold and rainy spring this year, followed by a cold and rainy summer.  About once a week or so, a really nice day comes along to tease and tantalize us but then disappears as if it never happened.  Because of this gardens are far behind schedule and that joy of spring and summer, yard sales, have barely just begin to dot the neighborhoods.  A couple of weeks ago, Riff and I decided to brave the rain and wander out to the two whole sales that were listed in our local paper.  We absolutely hit the jackpot with the find of this super cute potting bench for just $20.00.  We have the perfect spot on the side of the house picked out to make into a gardening center, but I decided that this bench was just to nice to actually throw dirt around on.  Instead we put it on the deck to hold our summer bbq supplies.  It's absolutely perfect there, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Birthday to my sister, Stacey. 

Inspired by Jessica's pocket organizers, I made one for Stacey's birthday gift.  Stuffed in each pocket is some random treasure.  I thought it would be fun for her to pull out something from each pocket that was cute but not necessarily related to each other.  An antique crocheted doily was in one pocket, a birds nest in another.  A yo-yo maker and a couple of yo-yo's in a top pocket, a cute metal bird in one of the middle pockets and some vintage lace in a bottom.  Fun to make and fun to stuff, the organizer can be hung in a craft room, kitchen, office, wherever you need a bit of pocket. 

I hope you all had a fabulous 4th of July.  Because the 3rd dawned bright and beautiful, one of those wonderful teaser days we get now and again, we ended up celebrating all weekend.  We began with a bbq on our deck and an incredible fireworks show on the 3rd at the Ilwaco, Washington harbor.  On the 4th, we spent the day in Clatskanie, Oregon enjoying the parade and the festivities in the city park.  Very fun.  The day includes music in the bandstand, food vendors, logging contests and a carnival.  It was cloudy and cool, but not really cold and the rain held off, so it ended up being a great day. 

And now it's getting late.  Gotta fly!

Turn the Page...Tuesday

Mockingbird in Autum
Originally uploaded by doncon402

'When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.  When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assauged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.  His left arm was somewhat shorter than his right;  when he stood or walked, the back of his hand was at right angles to his body, his thumb parallel to his thigh.  He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.
When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading up to his accident.  I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that.  He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out.'
~Gregory Peck
And so starts the story, To Kill A Mockingbird.  This month, Adrienne, who hosts Turn the Page...Tuesday challenged all participants to read an American Classic.  I love the classic's and pick them up at yard sales and thrift stores whenever I find them, so I was excited for this month's challenge. 
Back in junior high we read this story and then watched the movie, but so many years have passed that I only really remembered the jist of the story and not the particulars at all.  This is a classic that is written so well and readable that you find yourself inside the story and part of the lives of Scout and her big brother, Jem. 
I found myself playing games with the Finch kids and their friend, Dill, in the front yard while Atticus was at work, and sneaking out of the house at night to try and catch a glimpse of the neighbor, Boo Radley, whom was never seen but the whole neighborhood knew he was still alive because nobody had seen his body carried out yet. I was in class with Scout on her first day when one of the Ewell boys showed up to be counted, get his name on the books, harrass the new teacher and slink back off to the piece of land by the dump that the Ewells called home.  I sat with Jem while he read in the afternoons to the cantakerous old Mrs. Dubois and watched the fire take over Miss Maudie's house on the coldest night in the memory of Maycomb, Alabama. That night, Boo Radley slipped a blanket over Scouts shoulders, unseen to all the neighborhood eyes.  I gripped the balcony rail with white knuckles along with Jem as we waited for the jury to file back in, letting us know if Tom Robinson would be acquitted, then was terrified a few months later on a dark Halloween night under a starless sky. 
This is an incredible coming of age novel, set in the deep south, full of the racial tension and prejudices of the time.  An English teacher of mine from high school and I had a conversation of Facebook about this book.  She said that she assigned To Kill A Mockingbird a time or two to her junior class and it always just made her crazy when the kids would be bored by it.  Education is wasted on the young.  I so agree with her.  This book didn't leave an impression on me at all when I read it back when, but now it did.  After reading it this time, I know that I will come back to it time and time again. 
The copy I have (had), is an ancient paperback.  As I read, with each page that I turned, the pages actually fell out into my hands.  I will be keeping my eyes open, search ebay from time to time, in order to hopefully find a hardback copy for my classic's shelf. 
The next time you read a classic, give To Kill  A Mockingbird a go.  In the meantime,  pop over to Turn the Page...Tuesday to see what others are reading. 
What is the last classic you read?  Did you like it?