Penny Sanford Designs

Sleep of the Organized Freezer People

Goodie, Goodie!  Some fresh, farm-raised venison from our farm!  Beautiful lean meat.  No preservatives.  Fed on our cotton crop, garden, fruit and flowers.  Not run by hunting dogs, so the meat is mild and more tender.

We've ground venison into hamburger meat, spicy cajun-style sausage and mild Italian-style sausage.  There are packages of venison roast, venison tenderloin, venison steaks (like minute steaks), venison stew meat, and venison ribs.

It is quite a production of Cloroxing all the surfaces in the kitchen and all the pans we will be using. The table gets covered with white "butcher paper".  Freezer bags are labeled with our custom freezer labels. 

These freezer labels were the result of a burst of "Martha-Stewart-itis" one day after we had cleaned out freezers, finding so many packages of unidentifiable food that had to be thrown out because of freezer burn. (Grrrr, It hurts my feelings to throw out those packages of freezer-burned food.)

I've taken off the farm reference and Gordon has turned these pages into a .pdf file for you to download if you wish.  (Next I have to figure out how to upload a .pdf for you to download.  If I can't figure it out tonight, please check back the next few days.)

In these pictures you can see two of our collection of vintage enamelware baking pans.  These are a sunny yellow and an avacado green, but I'm collecting this shape pan in any color.

We made a big batch of little venison patties for the dogs.  They are about the size of a squished golf ball, and we let the dogs eat them raw. 

If you have not heard about enhancing a dog's diet with the same type of raw foods that canines in the wild would eat, then Google the "BARF diet" sometime.  No kidding, that is the name.  I forget what the letters stand for, though.

We are not on a full BARF diet around here, but I do like to supplement the dry kibble with vegetables, fruit, yogurt, buttermilk and raw meat, all of which the dogs LOVE!

This Dog Treat label also works for the little liver cookies we make for the fur-babies.  I ran into a recipe recently for yogurt and bananas made into frozen treats. 

If you like, I will share the recipes as well as the labels.  You should taste our Venison BBQ and Venison Crockpot Lassagne!  They are fabulous!

The labels are printed on one large sheet of sticky (adhesive-backed) label paper, 8.5"x11" that you can find at office supply stores.  You could also make a freezer label into any pre-cut label size. 

Here are Martha Stewart's downloadable freezer labels.

I'm getting ahead of the summer garden season by making labels for the veggies we need to grow (to restock the freezers and shelves).

Does one sleep better when the freezers are organized, food is being eaten before it gets too old, and space is being made in the freezers for the summer veggies and fruit?  Yep...I sleep decidedly better.  *laugh* 

Time for some of that contented sleep-of-the-organized-freezer-people.  *wry grin*

Quilt Fever on the Mississippi River

This adorable sign was in the window of Back Forty Quilting in Port Gibson, MS.
Today Gordon and I traveled through Port Gibson to visit the abandoned town of Rodney, MS  (Lots of pictures and prattle to come in future posts.)

I had heard from fellow Mississippi Quilt Association members that Back Forty Quilting had moved to a store-front in Port Gibson.  Before the move, it was truly in a very hard-to-find spot deep in the countryside, thus the name.

It was only about 4 pm, but the store was closed.  The sign on the door said the store should have been open at the time I visited.  There must have been extenuating circumstances.

These pictures of the inside of their spacious store were taken with camera pressed to glass.

Goodness, I hate they were closed this afternoon.  I was looking forward to spending a little money!  A girl can go only so long without SOME shopping!

Their website seems to be expanding, and I have heard they are super efficient with online orders. Maybe it is time for my shopping haitus to end after all!  *cheeky grin*

I had hoped to ask at the shop about the Block of the Month quilt kits they would be offering this year.  My initiation into this fun challenge earlier this month was so motivating, that I want to start another Block of the Month (shortened to BOM in quilt circles).

The signs in the window pointed to two upcoming opportunities for quilt enthusiasts.  I think the 1776 quilt thing is a book that is expected to arrive in the shop, but I hope it is a BOM project!

The other sign is about a quilt contest sponsored by the Mississippi Cultural Crossroads.  Visit my list of Mississippi Quilt  Shops for phone numbers to call Back Forty Quilting.

Now I am not sure what the Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is all about, but just down the street from Back Forty Quilting is a huge vibrant mural depicting quilts (photos below).

There is a large converted store front  with finished quilts on display.  It looks more like an art gallery, and apparently the quilts and other merchandise are for sale.

Just next door to that is another old store-front that apparently has been turned into a community place to come in and sew on quilts.  That place is identified as this Mississippi Cultural Crossroads.

According to the website, it is the local art agency for Port Gibson and Claiborne County, Mississippi.  This is where the operating money is coming from.

One of the city/county administrative buildings, new construction, depicts some quilt artwork in a "sculpted mural".  Visit my Flickr account to see these photos plus more pictures from our trip to Port Gibson and Rodney, Mississippi.

 

 

Yellow Tupperware Therapy

Full week.  Productive week.  Busy week.  Good week.  Stressful week.  Needed some of that Yellow Tupperware Therapy!  A few pieces have come in after Christmas...always, it seems, on days I need a little Y-T Treatment!

It intrigues me that there are so many shades, textures and opacities of Yellow Tupperware.  My personal favorites are the sunshine yellow like the long celery container and the yellow lunch box/ice cream box above. 

Sunny, one of the English Shepherds, snitched a little square cutie like the top box, and escaped outside to open it and devour the contents.  Then she proceeded to chew on it like a chew toy.  I'm glad to replace that one in my collection. Maybe it is fitting that Sunny the dog went for the sunny little box!  LOL

All that yellow tupperware stacked on open shelves looks so warm and cozy in our temporary kitchen in the studio.  When we eventually get moved into Grandma's house (that we are s-l-o-w-l-y renovating), I'm thinking about keeping the yellow tupperware stacked on an open shelf....part contemporary art and part visual therapy.  You know, there are actually art installations made entirely of Tupperware pieces?

I've got some cool photos and "stuff" to share with you from this week...as the weekend allows a tad more time for blogging!

You can see in my Flickr account many photos that do not appear on the blog.  To my knowledge, one does not have to sign up for anything just to go look at photos.  Be sure to click on the sets on the right side to see all photos in a particular category.

Time to count little Tupperware boxes (in my sleep) and stack them neatly on their shelves....

 

Yet Another Picture of a Flower

Here is yet another picture of a flower.

I've read that comment from time to time, in a dismissive tone, as if a photo of a flower could no longer be creative or worthwhile.

Well sign me up for the "One Can Never Have Too Many Photos of Flowers" club. 

And if I was involved in nurturing that flower from a gnarled, ugly bulb, then I am even more excited about "yet one more photo of a flower"!

This particular amaryllis should have bloomed before Christmas, but it just would not grow. The green stuff grew about a foot and stopped.

The two sisters of this blub, planted at the same time, bloomed, did their job of pleasing my mother for several weeks, and have gone about their business of feeding their bulbs for next year.

We put this shy little fella with the orchids and watered him with rain water.  He started growing like the Jolly Green Giant and now we have this brilliant red "thank you"...that is bringing vivid color to  "Blue January".

Some folks are like this stunning flower...slower to start, demonstrating nothing special, but when the right ingredient is added, that person blossoms and wows everyone with their brilliance, beauty, talent, etc

Where are you in the blooming phase?  Do you need something to nurture and refresh you and push you toward a beautiful blooming season, or do you need some rest time and nutrients to prepare for your next blooming season?

You are as unique as this flower blossom.  There is new beauty and talent to be discovered in you each day.  "Yet another picture" is another chance to find more beauty and value in you.

We can learn a great deal from flowers.  They absorb God's nourishment (rain), giving them a needed burst of growth upward.  Flowers continually turn toward the sun, keeping focus on God's brilliance which, in turn, brings out their magnificent  beauty.

See more flowers from the farm at my Flickr account.  You do not have to be a member of flickr to view these photos that Gordon or I have taken.  "Flowers" is one of the sets or groups on the right side of the page.

 

Sharing a Special Place

This is a good time to share a snippet of a trip Gordon and I took back in November of 2006.  The Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution (of which I am a member) sponsored a bus trip for its members to tour the now-completed Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, MS, to Franklin, TN, and back to Natchez. 

It was a superb trip with beautiful fall leaves and brilliant blue skies.  Mount Locust Stand (Inn) was the first stop on our bus trip.  This is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi, built somewhere between 1780 to 1784.

At the height of human, horseback and carriage traffic on the Natchez Trace, there were as many as 50 Stands or Inns along the Natchez Trace. Mount Locust was one of the first stands in operation on the Trace, and it is the only surviving example of this type of very necessary structure.

See the DAR marker?  The Mississippi DAR started marking historic sites along the Natchez Trace in 1905, and worked for decades to raise money and interest in paving the Natchez Trace.  The result?  Some 60 years after the Parkway was begun, the last section (around Natchez) was opened in 2005.

From February through November there are re-enactors at the Inn. Before you plan a trip just for those interpretive programs, you should call to be certain the schedule has not changed.

A detailed list of sites on the Parkway and a printable Parkway travel guide can be found at this website or call 1-800-305-7417.  The Mount Locust Stand is at the Natchez Trace Parkway Milepost 15.5.

See that VIVID peacock blue on the door and window trim and fireplace.  It is on the shutters and baseboards as well.

Using paint chip analysis, the National Park Service determined that this very peacock or indigo color was used at Mount Locust in its heyday before steamboats made travel going UP the Mississippi River feasible.  Indigo was a huge crop in the Mississippi River Valley Basin, specifically Louisiana, so it makes sense that the readily available indigo dye would be used for house paint as well as a myriad of other uses.

Look down to the picture with the hanging capes and knapsacks.  Do you see the modern element that is definitely in the wrong century?  he he  It is fun to find little things like that at historic sites.  As hot as Mississippi is in the summer, I would never begrudge a person a comfort item like that.

There are more pictures of that Mississippi DAR Natchez Trace Fall Foliage Bus Tour in my Flickr account.  You don't have to be a member to come and browse the photos.       

 

Free Pet Patterns!

How do you scratch that "Mommy Itch" to dress up a little baby in hand-made adorable clothes...when you don't have a baby?

Torture the dogs!  he he he

It has not been cold enough here in Mississippi to knit little sweaters for the Westies.  Their little Perpetual-Teddy-Bear face and body have brought out in me a huge need to sew little cutsie things for them to wear.

Gordon says I am embarassing the dogs and giving them a complex!  Well, I figure if those little powderpuffs are willing to accept the pampering (special food, sleeping on the bed, special baths, brushing, walks and toys), then those little furry white critters have to accept a few fancy/frilly collars every now and then!  *grin*

I showed you a couple of these hand-made dog collar "slipcovers" last week when we adopted Mac the two-year-old Westie Rescue from Louisiana Westie Rescue.

Now I have posted the pattern for the Triangle Collar Slipcover that you can size up or down on a photocopier for a smaller or larger dog, and even for a cat!

These were super easy to whip up by hand, but you can certainly use a sewing machine.

Embellishing these slipcovers is limited only by your imagination!

Right now, I'm perfecting the Scalloped Collar Slipcover (top two pictures) pattern, and I hope to have it posted to share with you in the next few days. 

Let me see what you make with these free patterns!  I've started a Flickr Group called Handmade Pet Clothes just for us to share ideas and designs!

Not familar with Flickr?  Then feel free to email the picture to me, and I will gladly size and upload it for you!

Powerful Lesson in Humility for $6.15

Today is special.  I spent four hours with a hands-on lesson in Humility, and it only cost $6.15!

This week I received a little packet with the colorful fabric and directions for the January block of my first-ever Block-of-the-Month Quilt!

Everlyn at Golden Triangle Fabric Center in Starkville is offering two colorways of this BOM.  Each month would only cost $2.50 IF I could manage to be at the store in Starkville the second Saturday of each month...and that includes pattern and required fabrics. For January and February, that is not possible, but $5.00 plus shipping is still a fab price for this painful torture fun adventure. *grin*

So, when the little kit came in, I jumped in and cut out the pieces required.  That is in the top photo.  There was fabric left over, and I was purring over these scraps that I could use in applique.  I've been pleasantly day-dreaming how I would organize and store these scraps as I thought about washing and pressing the many scraps we had found in Grandma's house from her lifetime of sewing.

Today, a cold, dreary Saturday afternoon, I took my little Tupperware project box up to the old farmhouse (just 50 steps from the studio), put Mac in Mama's lap, and settled in for chatter and piecing of my first BOM quilt block.

This was going to be easy.  After all, I had pieced some on a "Double Irish Chain" and a "Trip Around the World" back in the early 80's.  I took to that Mary Sorensen applique class this past summer like a duck to water. I've done oodles of hand-sewing, including just whipping up my own pattern for dog collars and such.  Why, I could whip up this simple little "Ribbon Star" block with one eye closed and one hand tied behind my back!   (*grin*  Have you been this overly-confident before?)

Well, to spare me from reciting the painful details, this little 12 inch square has 94 inches of hand-sewing in it...and I had to rip out and re-hand-sew 66 inches for this one little simple square!  Almost four hours of teeth-gritting-determination to get it right "this time".

Mama and Unc, who did not have the pattern and were not following my efforts, could just look at the block across the room and tell me which pieces I had sewn incorrectly.  *hummph*

We laughed and giggled over this teriffic lesson in humility.  Mama tried to reassure me that even experienced quilters we both knew had to rip out and re-do.  (Not 66 inches per 12-inch block, I betcha!)  LOL

So, if you know some prissy-priss-miss who needs to have her humility-setting adjusted a little, I know a perfect and inexpensive gift for you to give her! *grin*

Take a look at my growing list of Quilt/Fabric shops in Mississippi.  Most of them have Block-of-the-Month projects you can join, and not all of the projects start in January!  Many of these Mississippi shops have websites and Internet specials along with teriffic service.  Let's support our Mississippi Quilt/Fabric shops!

If you know of a Mississippi Quilt/Fabric shop that I do not have listed, please let me know.  This list is a free service for my quilting friends...a one-stop-list with phone, email, address, hours, etc.

Joy in spirited little packages

The Journey of Discovery on Mac's first days on the farm has been delightful for Mac and especially for the four humans on the farm.

Mac has decided that his new purpose in life is to keep the four English Shepherds under control.

He herds them on our walks each day, while Gordon and I laugh and try to snap pictures.

Annie is Mac's pretty little Girl Friday on these little outings.  In the studio, she becomes Top Dog, and Mac obeys her instantly.

We are going to get videotape on this funny little Westie Drama and share the video here on the blog.  (Gotta learn how to do that first, but we will.)

Mac is SO VERY serious about his job of keeping those big girls in line.  He is such a happy little man.

He and Annie play each morning after their breakfast.  The first morning, the play was short before Annie remembered that she did not like this new kid.  Each day, the Westie-only play time lengthens.

They dance around, stiff-legged and stiff-necked, with little ears and carrot-tail taunt in attention.  It looks like a fencing match without the sabers.

The little Westies make muffled growly sounds as they lunge forward and spring back, and dance around each other, their little nails making staccato statements across the floor.  Often, Mac and Annie break into a chase around the room, and then they stop and fence some more.

This is indeed a memorable week among the fur-clad gang here on the farm.  For the humans, it is a week of smiles and giggles. 

Would that I could approach every task with the zest and excitement that Mac has demonstrated about everything and everybody this week.  He is a joy!

Rosalie is NOT Happy

Rosalie looks down on the new Westie Rescue Mac from her perch high among the shelves in the lower level of the studio.  Mackie just does not seem to even SEE Rosalie.

Rosalie was found under a house in Natchez, MS.  She was about a month old when she was found.  Her mother had been run over by a car, and she was the only kitten to survive from that litter. 

Rosalie was my birthday present in 2004.  We drove to Natchez (about 3.5 hours away from the farm) and adopted her from the local animal shelter.  A friend in Natchez had alerted us that there was a Siamese-mix in the shelter.  Sweet little Rosaile had such vivid blue eyes and such very long, long legs!

She has grown into her legs now, and she is a beauty!  Gordon insisted she should be an indoor/outdoor cat, so she hunts outside and brings us little gifts of dead field mice, dead moles, dead birds.  So far, she scratches at the door to come in at night, tank up on cat food, and settle down for a nice nap. 

She will eventually adjust to this new Westie, Mac, and we hope she will return to snuggling on the bed with us.  Until then, we enjoy our Rosalie moments when we can pet her without little white dogs underfoot!

The bottom picture is of Rosalie and Sunny.  Sunny appointed herself to be Rosalie's nanny from Rosalie's first pretty paw-step on the farm.  If we wanted Rosalie to come inside, Sunny would find her, stick her cold doggie nose under Rosalie's tail and just nudge and guide her back inside.  Rosalie, as you can imagine was not pleased!

The little basket below began life as a remote control keeper and phone keeper on the bed.  If you have ever searched through a sea of pillows and covers for an missing remote control, you know how frustrating it can be.  Add to that all the other little remotes Gordon has for the surround sound, etc...even a remote-controlled fan, and this little basket was the perfect answer....until Rosalie decided it was to be HER basket.

We could carry her around the studio in this little basket, while she posed like Cleopatra on her royal barge.  Just the sight of this little basket in our hand would prompt Rosalie to race to hop in it. 

She and Sunny would play many rounds of their own Nose-Nudge games.  When Sunny's nose crossed into the airspace around the basket, it became the target for Rosalie's pretend attack.

Rosalie was had outgrown her basket by the time this photo was taken a couple of years ago, and we finanlly weaned her to a larger basket that now has her own private heating pad that stays on the low setting for Her Highness to enjoy a warm cozy nap at any hour of the day.

Ready to be Ice-bound

Sleet is falling at this hour on the farm.  The temperature is below freezing, so it will accumulate.  We may have a fairy wonderland of ice by morning, or we may just have slippery steps and roads.  I vote for that fairy wonderland of ice!

Before the sleet started to fall, my uncle Charles Hamer (Unc) picked yellow daffodils that have been bursting from the earth several months early, and he cut some branches of white and red japonica that were beginning to bloom (also very early).

We always have some japonica and even yellow bell (forsythia) inside in January or early February to "force".  That means if you catch the branches in various stages of budding, you can bring them indoors where it is much warmer and "force" the buds into bloom.

As a child, I remember putting food coloring in the vases to watch the dye appear in streaks in the petals of the emerging flowers.  That was magical to watch as a child.

Now my equivalent magic entertainment comes from Photoshop CS2.

The Sopranos is on A&E tonight.  We never saw the series in the first few years when it was all the rage.  Now that A&E is carrying the series, I can see why there was a big fuss over it! What is it about Mafia movies that is so addictive?

We're ready to be ice-bound for a number of days.  The vehicles are gassed up; antifreeze checked; extra gas and diesel in cans; propane tanks have been topped off; groceries and essentials stocked; generator ready; a big pot of soup is ready; and we cooked a turkey today.   

We know the drill here on the farm. As the last telephone and electrical customer on this line, we have to be able to last for days without the essentials.  When you are ready for it, it can be kinda fun.

Oooh, I just remembered...We need to charge the camera and videocamera batteries and reformat the memory cards...to be ready to photograph that winter wonderland I hope will be draped over the farm when we awake.

By the way, if you have a favorite quilt or fabric shop in Mississippi, please tell me so that I can add it to my list of Mississippi Quilt Shops!