Oatmeal.... Its whats for breakfast (recipe)

Recently I have been trying to make some of the many projects,tutorials,recipes,etc. that are on my boards on pinterest.  A couple of weeks ago I tried out an Oatmeal in a small mason jar recipe.

                                                            TheYummylife

The above photo is courtesy of theyummylife dot com.  (their food photos skills are awesome).

Anyway,while talking to Jolene one evening I mentioned this recipe to her.  After listening to me blab about how good this stuff is she suggested,(as usual) that this should appear in a post on my blog.  So that way she would have easy access to the recipe herself :)  So Sweetie,here it is....

Refrigerator Oatmeal

Here are the main ingredients needed for this recipe,you will also need fruit (not pictured).
The fruit used in my oatmeal jars was,Strawberry/banana,White Peach/Raspberry,and Blueberry/banana.  Normally I would use Apple with the blueberry,but did not have any apples on hand,so substituted the banana instead.

The General Recipe is as follows:

1/4 cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/3 cup Milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/4 cup Greek Yogurt (I like Greek Gods Brand,but any brand will do)
1 1/2 / teaspoon dried Chia Seeds (found at health food stores or online)
1-2 teaspoons maple syrup,vanilla extract,or other flavoring
1/4 cup fruit or enough to fill the jar

Jars:
Most Walmart's,Amazon,Target's,or grocery stores carry canning jars.  You can also find them at thrift stores,but usually not the smaller ones.  The size used in this recipe is a jelly jar or a half pint size jar.
Some stores also have the white plastic lids,some do not,so you might have to look around for those.

Directions:

In your jar add the oats,chia seeds,milk,yogurt,maple syrup,or whatever flavoring you are using.  Place lid on jar and shake vigorously until well combined.  Take the lid off and add your fruit to the jar stirring carefully until it is mixed throughly.  Return the lid to the jar and place in the refrigerator overnight.

My jars with Chia seeds in one,the chia seeds look kind of like Giant pepper grounds,except that they are round like a poppy seed.

Oatmeal mixture,Shaken Not Stirred ;)  (Raspberry White Peach)

Can you see the little bits of green in the Strawberry Banana?  That is Chocolate Mint from my herb garden,Yum!

Blueberry Banana,I added one leaf of Orange Mint to this one!

All three flavors :)  This recipe is a definite Keeper!  It is great for work mornings when I am in a hurry to get out the door,but also for on the weekends when being lazy too!  The great thing about it is that you can play around with the fruit part of the ingredients,and add whatever you like.  Or try out new things,i.e.,make it up as you go.

Another Pin,that I have tried and am very happy with the results!  Since deciding that instead of just pinning things and leaving them,it is important to try them out.  Which is helpful in making the decision of either to keep,or not to keep!

Off to have some breakfast ;)  Hope you try this out,Enjoy!

Late to the Party!! (Giveaway)

Ever heard the saying "better late than never" ?  Well that saying applies to the following post!  Have you ever wished you could have a quilt top professionally quilted by a Long Armer?  Well,here is your chance!!!

                                                                 Run,Don't walk  Or in this case
                                                                         CLICK!!!
Chelsea over at  pins & bobbins is going to quilt a project AKA Quilt for two Lucky peeps!!  One smaller than 60 x 60,one larger.  How cool is that?!  But you better hurry,because you need to post about the quilt by the end of June,Yikes!

So in the words of my daughter,you better "chop chop it" :+)

The Quilt that I "Really Need" to have Long Armed.......

Is my Rainbow of Knotted Squares quilt from ahem,Last summer.  If you are a regular follower you will probably remember this top.  It has been in my WIP Pile for close to a year now,high time for me to get it finished!  The only thing holding me back is the size of the quilt top,and the size of my lil Janome.

I really love how this quilt top turned out and want the quilting to add to,not detract from the overall appearance of the finished quilt.  Ergo the only reason it is still in the WIP stack and not displayed on my bed.

As far as a pattern/design,not really sure about that?  My thought was maybe to quilt squares going out from each square,or maybe alternating squares,anyone have a better idea/suggestion,I am open :)

Linking up this week with...

Freshly Pieced WIP

Thanks for stopping in today!  Enjoy the rest of your week,and if you enter the giveaway,Good Luck!

Red White & Blue & Purple too!

Did you beat the heat this weekend?  We did,barely!   It was 105 in the shade here today,Yikes!  I stayed indoors,where it was around 90.  Still very hot,but at least not 105.

I just tried to keep cool with cold drinks over Lots of Ice :)  Like this one......

                                                                         (source)

I Love Iced Coffee,so when this popped up on Pinterest,you know I had to give it a try!

A while back we had purchased a garden flag holder on clearance.  So a garden flag has been on my to sew list.  This is the first one I made,with the 4th just around the corner,red,white,and blue fit the bill!  The next one will need to be longer for sure,but I really like how this first one turned out.

The back side.  It was supposed to be a star,but because of the size of the scraps I used it turned out to be more of an X.  Oh well,I like it anyway :)

The only other bit of sewing this week was this Somerset Star another pin that has been on my list of things to sew!  There is a bunch of us ladies at work (6-8) who go out to lunch the day after payday every other week.  We all work in different areas of the store,and usually only get to visit/hangout then. One of the ladies is moving away :(  This coming Friday will be our last lunch with her,so I wanted to give her something to remember our lunches together by.  Her favorite color is purple.....

Hope you stayed cool and had some sewing time this weekend too!

DIY Laundry soap

Have you ever made your own laundry soap?  No,me either,that is until this weekend!

Pictured are the items you will need to make your own laundry soap.  With the exception of a medium size bowl.  (forgot to include that in the photo)
1. cup Borax
1. cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1. Bar Fels Naptha soap
disposable gloves  (to protect your hands)
jar/container for storing
wax paper (or you could just grate the soap into the bowl)
Grater

Note:  You will want a grater with smaller holes!

Here is the Fels Naptha soap all grated,looks like cheddar cheese!  It has a lemony scent to it.  As noted above,you will need to use a grater with smaller holes.  The one I used was really to large,so the next trip to the thrift store, I will be looking for another grater.

Add one cup Borax.

Next add one cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.  Mix the three ingredients together.

Pour into your desired container.  As you can see my Fels Naptha soap is not evenly distributed throughout the mixture.  This is why you need to grate it using the small holes on your grater.  That aside,it still worked quite well!  I just used an old cap from a vitamin container as a scoop.  For Mr. P's jeans I used 2 caps (since he has been welding at work lately),for the rest of the laundry I used 1 capful per load.

This has been pinned on one of my boards on pinterest for a little while now.  Here is the pin/recipe with better photos and instructions too!  Check it out,you will see how it looks when using the smaller holes on your grater :)  Pretty!

Next time I am going to use a lavender soap instead of the Fels Naptha.  The store bought laundry soap I used had a lavender scent which I loved.  Let me know if you try this out!

Then & Now

As you all know I have been spending WAy more time out in the Rock Garden then in the sewing room lately.

This is what my Rock Garden has looked like for a few years now. (the Then)  I always wanted to do something other than just a bunch of Rocks piled up,but it just never came to me,until a couple of weeks ago :)

This morning/afternoon we finally finished up laying the pave stone!!!  (the now)  It has been a long couple of weeks.  Most evenings we worked in the rock garden until dark,but the end result is So worth it!

A close up shot.  You can see in the right bottom corner of the photo where we ran about 20 short on the pave stones.  This is where the bird bath is going to be,as soon as the rest of the stones are purchased and placed.  WHEw!

After all that work it was time to take a break this evening :)  So here is my other finish this weekend!  My Sassy Connie bag!  Since the Rock Garden is finished,what better place for a photo shoot?

I did tweak some parts of the bag to suit myself ;)  It was pretty windy most of the evening,especially while I was taking the photos,so I had to snap them quickly,or the bag would have ended up in the fountain!

A look at the inside/inner part of the bag,at the front you can see part of the magnetic snap that holds the inner pocket closed.  Also down towards the middle you can just see the orange zipper for the pocket in this part of the bag.    Although I a very happy with how this turned out,it is not the size I was  thinking it would be.

I need/want a bag large enough to fit WIP'S,or finished projects in to take to guild meetings.  Anyone have a suggestion on a particular bag,or a tutorial for one?  Thanks in advance if you do :0)

This has been a super year for my cactus!  This one is so pretty,there are yellow flowers and also this peachy color on the same cactus plant.

This is the first year that this cactus has ever bloomed!  All the wild ones in the surrounding areas are already blooming,which is unusual,since they normally bloom in mid-late July!  I will try to get some photos of those and post them for you :)

Have a super Sunday!

Does your Dragon Fly?

How was the weekend at your house?  Around here it was super busy,as we are re-doing the my rock garden.  Lots of back aching work for sure!

This is how it looked before we started to try and make it look like the idea running around in my head.  Just imagine moving every single one of those rocks!  What Was I Thinking???

In progress,this is on the back left side of the garden.  We made a wall of rocks and then added dirt to make a flower bed.

The front and back left,there are flowers,bushes,and cactus in each bed.  I might change the arrangement but not until next year.  More on this later....

Are you wondering about the title of my post yet?  Well here it is.  While hanging out my clothes this weekend,this cool dragon fly landed on my clothes pin keeper!

I guess it thought that it was a flower :)

I had no sooner taken the photos,when off it flew!  It was so pretty,and it is the first one I have seen this year :)  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Here is a parting shot,of the cactus that bloomed out today while I was a work :)

A little Green

Today it was all about the Garden,no time for sewing,maybe tomorrow....

The bed in the foreground has 3 different pepper plants off to the left.  There are also snow peas,and cucumbers not coming up yet.  Soon there will be Kale in this bed too.  The bed in the background has blueberries next to the fence,they are kind of scraggly tho.  My lemon basil is not doing to well either :(  The cinnamon basil is doing good,as is the lettuce,so far the beets are not up yet.

The radishes are getting close to being ready!  Would you look at those tomatoes?  I sure hope that we get a good crop again this year!  The blue barrel has my chocolate mint,which is doing great.

The squash,red,and walla walla onions are doing good,as well as the elephant garlic.  My tarragon is doing okay.  What I don't get is why my peony always gets so big and bushy,but never blooms!?

Check out the sunflowers!  These are all volunteers,crazy huh?  They are doing way better than the ones I planted from seed out front!

A parting shot of Midas and his friend (the next door neighbors cat) Boo,hanging out by my two gold leaf spirea plants!

WIP

Is it really Wednesday already?  Actually it is almost Thursday already!  This week it has really started to feel like late spring/early summer here :)  It has also been Super windy every afternoon/evening,which means no outside photos.  So tonight I decided to just take a few pics inside :(

Last month at my quilt guild we had a tumbler block swap!  Each person who participated brought 100 7 x 7 inch squares to the meeting.  During the meeting they were all cut on an Accu Quilt go cutter!  So cool!  When the meeting was over we each had 100 tumbler blocks to take home :)

This week I managed to sew all the tumblers into rows,and this evening started sewing the rows together. I wanted to break all the tumblers up a little,plus add a little extra length.  So decided to add a white strip between the rows.  The thought was to make it look kind of like tumblers on a cupboard shelf.

Also in progress this week is the top for my Gothic Windows quilt.  There are actually 4 rows of blocks sewn together.  I just didn't want to take the time to clip up the rest.  If/when we have a nice wind free evening where some photos can be taken outside,they will be posted,until then this will have to do.

The third work in progress this week is my Sassy Connie bag!  With the exception of the handles everything is cut out!  The plan is to get this finished this weekend.

Two string blocks,using some of my Sugar and Spice fabric... Love ;)

Lastly,a photo of one of the cactus plants in my rock garden.  Last year there were only a couple of blooms.  This year there were six!

Linking up with freshly pieced this week :)
                         

June Bee blocks

This evening I decided to sit down and work on my June blocks for Stash Bee.  We were asked to make five blocks,or more if we wanted.

Here are the six I made.  The only problem is that they are all a 1/2" small!  My mistake was that I cut out all the fabric pieces before sewing up any of the blocks.  Sad Face :(  Why the sad face?  Because the only Kona White I had was a FQ.  Not enough to make the requested 5 blocks the right size,after making the first six.

Here are the four that are the correct size!  Happy Face :)  Even tho I am one short of the correct size,I am hoping that Sara will be happy with them.