Up at the Lake Again!

It's always a good day at the lake - I don't let the weather determine how I'm enjoying my time - usually.  This visit we've run the gamut...almost 90 degrees with dew point in the 70's when we arrived and today it began in the 50's and dew point/humidity way low.  So I have a sweatshirt and my winter vest on and I'm still cold and its afternoon!  However, I would rather put on clothes than take them off so I'm not really complaining!?!

I'm getting better at relaxing on vacation.   Our first year at the resort, I finished many projects of the quilting variety.  This year I haven't completed very many projects at all.  I think I'm okay with scaling back.  I tried to bring a reasonable amount this time.  Car was still full.  So far I have finished tying the quilt for our new great grandson.  Oh yes - I hemmed a pair of shorts today.

At the little store at the resort are many books by authors that I love and follow faithfully so that is a project deterrent.  I started one yesterday by Lee Child with Reacher as the main character.  I'm half done with the book so I'm not just staring out the window or at the TV - I'm staring at a book.  Oh well - I have to finish it and bring it back before I leave so the race is on. 

Here's our little store that makes pizzas for us, stocks ice cream, groceries, sweatshirts and t-shirts.  There's always a friendly face behind the counter in the store.

Here is a picture of my home away from home craft/sewing room:

My computer room/kitchen where I'm adding to my blog!

Our little deck and entrance to our wonderful screened porch.

The view while I sew.

I've always wanted a cabin...this is the best of both worlds.  We feel like its ours but don't have the year round responsibility of another property.  We come up in the spring and the fall to help open and then close the resort.  Another one week or two is spent just relaxing and not working.  We've met such nice people - we feel blessed.

Hope you are enjoying your summer - not much left in MN!

Take care!

Bonnie

Pretty Good Pie, Fresh Salsa Recipe and Unique Necklace!

Pie is one of my favorite foods.  Some people love the filling but I love a good crust and lots of it.  I don't happen to make good crust so I rely on Pillsbury to roll it out and put it in a box for me so I can unroll it and put it in the pie pan!

In our garden we have old raspberry bushes and each year we plan to cut them back and compost them so that the next year the berries will be big and juicy and wonderful.  So far we haven't gotten that far...so every year we pick a bizillion little raspberries and eat some and freeze the rest.  I have a couple of years of raspberries in the freezer right now.  At this point I guess I can make raspberry jam.  We only picked two times this year.  Hmmm...

One night about 8 p.m., I decided to make a pie using blueberries from the store and my home grown raspberries.  I found a recipe online at Pillsbury from whence my crust came and made the best blueberry-raspberry pie.  It looked pretty good too - don't you think?  As you can see - I was so anxious to taste it that I forgot to take a picture until it was 1/3 gone.  So we were eating pie right before bed...warm with real whipped cream!  So good!

As long as I'm on the subject of food, I thought I would share my fresh salsa recipe.  The tomatoes have been ripening at record pace.  There are two colanders filled with ripe and almost ripe tomatoes on the counter. 

I'm not much of a canning person...so each year I make fresh salsa and oven/freezer tomato sauce.  Usually most of the ingredients in my salsa are grown in my garden...this year the tomatoes, onions and green pepper were home grown.  Here's part of my first batch:

This recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts.  I cut about 12 tomatoes in slices and then cut up pretty small, followed by 3/4 of a green pepper, 1/2 large onion or a bizillion small ones, 2 small cloves garlic, about 3/4 inch of jalapeno pepper chopped tiny, and a generous squirt of olive oil.  Then I sprinkle with salt, pepper, and celery salt.  It keeps a week or so in a jar in the refrigerator but usually doesn't last that long.  Any of the ingredients can be more or less depending on what you and your family enjoy.  I will be making my tomato sauce and will share how I do it in the oven and then freeze.  So easy!

I love jewelry because usually it fits!  I saw this idea in one of the great Somerset books and decided I needed to make a few.  I made three and sold two at our last sale.  On her crown it reads - "Be Bold".  And that's who and what I am - usually.

As you can see its made on a brass hinge, jewelry pieces are attached, and cording is threaded through small decorative beads along the cord and secured with cords running through a bead at the top.  It's a unique piece so it gets attention when I wear it!  It would look better if I had taken a picture of it on black velvet but the mosquitoes are so bad tonight I didn't want to go back out!!!  Yikes!!!  Too much rain and now too many 'squitoes!

Take care and talk to you soon!!!

Bonnie

Lazy Days of Summer?

Well - maybe the last few days have been lazy but not before then!  August 6 & 7 were very busy days - our Farmgirls Country Sale brought lots of people to the country. 

The weather turned out to be beautiful although the set-up days were so hot and humid it was a wonder we lived through them.  Minnesota weather this summer has been extreme.  The last week has brought us more than 5 inches of rain.  It's amazing that there isn't water sitting in the fields because it certainly was yesterday.  By tomorrow the humidity is supposed to be reasonable - yay!!!

Enough of the weather - the sale was successful and now to get everything left packed away until our spring sale.  Hubby is a magician when it comes to storing stuff so we can get our truck/car into the pole barn/garage.

I have to show you a project that I completed for the sale.  It was made out of these things:

This is a baby changing table with a teacup shelf sitting on top.  I painted both items and then Hubby put a nice new wood piece on the top of the changing table and screwed the shelf on to the top.  Now it can be used for a cupboard, mini bar or plant potting station.  Here it is repurposed, recycled and reused!

It's so much fun when something goes together and fits.  I'm always on the lookout for fun pieces that can be used together to build something useful and interesting.

I'm still working on organizing my little studio/workroom. We rearranged the living room so Hubby can use the large school teacher's desk to do his stamp organizing for his stamp collection. I bought a cool piece at our sale to continue to organize my mixed media stuff. I will update that project tomorrow if I get a chance.

                                              
  Take care!