A Ta-Dah and Other Sundry Things

I finished my first ripple blanket ever.  It's not a large one - just a baby blanket.  Although my children, grown and teenagers, thought it would be fine for one of them to have.  My children are 5'5", 6'4",  6'2" and 5'8" tall from oldest to youngest.  I think their height disqualifies them for a baby blanket, don't you? Haha.

Well here it is - the Ta Dah:

Youngest daughter (5'8") did the honors of holding it up for me above.  Below my youngest son held the blanket so I could get close up pictures of the border.

I really enjoyed making this blanket. I used Lucy's pattern for the ripple, Heather's instructions on making a ripple straight for the edging and Angie's edging pattern.  I loved the edging and how it compliments the ripple.  The colors were inspired by Lauren's Rainbow Chevron Blanket at Daisy Cottage Designs. This blanket is now off to little Jenna.  Hope she enjoys it for many months to come.

Here's what I'm working on now.  This beauty is for a baby girl due in August.  I'm using the Granny Stripe pattern from Maybe Matilda.  I'm going to add some granny squares like these Ana's mom did here. Hopefully I will keep the pace up and have it finished before the baby gets here.  Need to work on 3 more baby blankets with babies due in August and September.  Oh my - what a great excuse to crochet.

Here are a few pics of my constant companions in my crochet endeavors.  Too bad they can't pick up a crochet hook and help me.

This is Olivia.  She's 13 years old and is always wanting to be in someone's lap.

Max is our 2 year old sweet doggie.  He is always by my side when I sit down.

We're always trying something new in the food department.  Here are a couple of recent food ideas we tried.

Mini Sausage Rolls

Saw sausage rolls on a British blog, don't remember which and wanted to make them.   I found this recipe on Down---to---Earth blog. It was so easy to follow and she put in U.S. terms the oven settings.  This is a wonderful blog with lots of helpful hints for housekeeping and frugal living.  I liked the sausage rolls but I chose the wrong kind of sausage.  I bought breakfast sausage at the store instead of plain ground pork.  Toooooo mmmmmmuuuuuch fat!!! In American sausage, extra fat is added to the breakfast one.  Next time I will try plain ground pork, beef or turkey.  Kids liked them except for the greasiness. I liked the fact you could add vegetables to them for added nutrients.  Maybe they would go good with some dipping sauce like fresh salsa, honey mustard, hmm.  Will have to try that next time.

Dried Zucchini

Next we tried dehydrated zucchini or zucchini chips.  The recipe came from Pioneer Momma.  Lots of neat ideas on her site.  Stephanie and I loved the zucchini chips.  In fact, Stephanie ate all of the top rack before the chips were completely dried.  Wonderful snack.  We tried them with sea salt, chili powder and sea salt, and garlic salt.  Stephanie liked the sea salt ones best.  I liked all of them.  Son Nathan said they were okay but he doesn't like vegetables very much.  I'm trying to change that. That's why I try to slip in vegetables wherever I can - like the sausage rolls above.

Hope you are having a wonderful day, wherever you are.  Here are some flowers blooming in my yard right now and a beautiful sunflower field I pass on the way to work in Memphis.

Upper left: Petunias that reseeded to bloom this year. Upper right: Pale pink day lily.

Bottom left:  Day lily with double bloom.  Bottom right:  Rose of Sharon

Every year this field blooms full of sunflowers and in the fall it feeds the many doves and other birds that live in the area.

Left: sunflower and right: plains coreopsis growing in the field with the sunflowers. Coreopsis grows wild along our roads in the summer.

Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:2