Once there was a woman who took up knitting and discovered the wonders of wool. While reading some knitterly items on-line, she came across a discussion on making felted wool balls to use in the dryer. She liked the idea of an alternative to softener sheets, especially since they seemed to multiply like rabbits each time she used one and would turn up in the oddest places.
Off she went to order some natural colored yarn and soon had four lovely wool balls. The first experiment was with drying sheets and they helped wonderfully in keeping the sheets from balling up on themselves. "Very nifty," she thought. Next came using them to dry her white load of clothes, and again she was pleased with the results.
"I will make four more balls of pretty colored yarn to use with my medium and dark loads of clothes," she thought, and she did. So much did she like her little wooly balls that she decided to make even more to use for Christmas gifts.
Then, one day she noticed that her knit work pants were feeling a little prickly. Alas, her little wooly balls were leaving wooly fibers in her clothes. Sadly she went back to chasing dryer sheets around the house, and wondered what to do with all her little wooly friends.
Remembering an idea she saw for storing leftover yarns from knitting projects, she bought a nice jar for them to live in and placed them in her guest room where they could entertain her visitors.
She still wanted to keep using her first wooly balls for her sheets so she decided to give them nylon jackets and hopes that that will keep the prickly fibers at bay.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Please meet my good friend, Bernie. I recently realized that she and I have been working together for about 20 years. While we have done a fair amount of modest garment sewing, the thing we most love to do together is make quilts, and she and I are keeping quite busy with projects recently.
A few months ago, I joined a group of quilters at a nearby church that we have since begun attending. The group has actually been around for a good number of years, and along the way, ladies have left partiality completed projects or donated fabric to the group. The stash of UFO (unfinished objects) and fabrics is beginning to overwhelm the supply cabinets, so the group is focusing on finishing up some of these projects. The quilts then go to seriously or terminally ill members of the congregation. Bernie and I are having great fun working with these ladies.
Here is the current UFO I am working on at home.
We also make flannel baby blankets for the local crisis pregnancy center and work on personal projects. Since several of the ladies are new to quilting, we will also pick a block pattern that we will each make using some of the stash fabric. Those of us who have been quilting for a while can then help teach those who are less experienced. Those blocks are then put together in a quilt.
Good work, good fun, good fellowship--Bernie and I are smiling together.
Around the first part of September a new grocery store opened not too far from us. Like a mini-Whole Foods, Sprouts carries organic and natural produce and products. Happily it carries most of the soy products I use because of my husband's allergy to dairy products. Two especially great items are a soy cream cheese and soy sour cream, both of which have enabled me to add back some favorite recipes to our menu.
In keeping with the food theme, I wanted to share a recipe I am working on. It is a cross between King Ranch Chicken and chicken enchiladas--something less fussy than enchiladas, but with most of the flavor. The ingredients in parenthesis are ones I would use if diet allowed. If anyone gives it a try, let me know what you think.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
1 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 4 oz. can chopped green chilis
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
(1/2 teaspoon chili powder)
1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked chicken, cubed
4 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
8 corn tortillas, torn into quarters
(1 cup grated cheddar cheese)
Combine first 8 (9) ingredients in a skillet and heat until lightly boiling. Stir in sour cream, and simmer. Combine 1/4 cup of water with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and stir into sauce until thickened, but do not let it boil.
Layer half of the tortillas in a shallow casserole dish. Spoon half of sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle with half of the cheddar cheese. Repeat. Cover dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
