Gerome comes for a visit

I belong to GSOLFOT......... We are an international group of miniature makers, collectors and enthusiasts with a bit of insanity thrown in. If you click on the link you can learn about us, even more perhaps than you wish.... We have daily chats and I am often sitting here chatting with folks from UK, Netherlands, Germany, Australia and all over the US including Hawaii.

One of the special "members" of our group is Gerome, a gnome, who travels round the world visiting the members and joining in their lives for a week. Instead of using the TARDIS like they did in Doctor Who, the British TV show, Gerome comes from our printer................ and proceeds to change our lives.

Over the next week I will share with you his adventures

Gerome arrived at my house yesterday. He got here just in time for dinner naturally. Here he is checking out the menu. .

We had oven roasted chicken, homemade potato salad and a veggie melange of zucchini, mushrooms and red peppers, sauteed greek dressing.

After dinner Gerome claimed he needed to chat with the other gnomes that live here so a meeting was held.

And next he visited my very messy GSOLFOT office. I think he wanted to know why I didn't straighten it up before his arrival. Well, I imagine I had better do that pretty soon. A number of the items in the office were made by other members of GSOLFOT in our occasional "makes. " A Makes is a project that we sign up to complete without knowing what we will be making nor to whom it will go..... Our illustrious leader, Noni the Oz, makes up the rules and we must follow. Usually it is quite a challenge. But oh so worth it.

My "GSOLFOT" Official Title is called the Keeper Of Antiquities and Other Old Junque. This came about because I run an antique shop in real life. So a lot of the items in the "office" represent my title.

WE are in the midst of a "MAKE" period so I can't talk about what I am doing but will document it and show all once it is allowed.

Oh what a tangled web.....

You never know what will be on my blog.....
This morning we were looking out the kitchen window and discovered a lot of spider webs that had been made visable because of the fog. The bits of moisture in the air seem to show the webs much better. Not sure how the spiders feel about it.

I was impressed with their artistry though this one got a bit over blown I think.

Comforts of Home

Fall is almost here, and apples are abundant in our yard. It has definitely made me think of the comforts of home as we get ready for the cooler seasons.

I have finished all the machine sewing on the coverlet. I will do the "tying off" later. That is when I make a little tie in each joining corner. And it will need pressing too. I did bind the edges of the coverlet using the backing which was larger then the front. It went very well. I will enjoying using it, just don't want it to be too soon.

While harvesting the many apples we have from our trees I made some plans for dinner tonight.

I went on line to find a recipe.......... This recipe was excellent, the pork was VERY tender and flavors blended well together. Because it was just the two of us for dinner I cut the recipe in one third, just using 1/2 pound of pork. It worked very well. I bet I make it again soon.

TENDERLOIN OF PORK WITH APPLE-RAISIN GRAVY

I found this recipe at Cooks.com

1 1/2 lbs. pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground sage

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

3 tart apples, sliced

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 c. orange juice1 tbsp. vinegar

1/2 c. raisins
Season pork with salt, sage and pepper. Roast, uncovered, in a preheated 350 degree oven 30 to 40 minutes.
Combine apples, brown sugar, flour, orange juice, vinegar and raisins. Pour over roast. Return to oven and roast about 30 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 170 degrees. Baste several times during roasting. Serve with hot cooked rice, if desired.

And for dessert, it was time for apple pie. I messed up on cutting one of the vents but it didn't hurt the flavor or consistency at all. The pie won't last long anyway.

The Kitties

I am still working on coverlet. More pictures this afternoon I hope..... but now for a bit of a change of subject................... Just a couple of pictures of our kitties.

Our kitties keep us entertained as long as we feed them I suppose.

Tuffy is on the left, Bentley is in Back and Spooky is on the right.

And here is Tuffy taking a nap in a little "nest" she created for herself behand the pillow on the couch.

Quilting for winter warmth

Winters in Pennsylvania are NOTHING like they were in Maine...... but they still get cold and I like to be comfy in my house.....

A few days ago on one of my shopping trips I found an upholstery store that sells lots of goodies...... and you can get fabric samples there too...... So wandering around in the store and seeing what was
available led me to the samples that I ending up picking through. I found enough to make a nice patchwork coverlet. And then picked out a piece of fabric for the backing. I won't need to add batting to this. It is plenty heavy. And will keep me toasty warm on winter nights when I sit in front of the tv. Or curl up on the couch with a good book. Here is the fabric I picked out.

The first step was laying out all the squares in a random fashion. Then starting to sew up the rows. That didn't take too long. The best part of this type of quilt is NO CUTTING. I labeled each by pinning a small yellow square paper at the top left of the row and numbered so they would go together in the right order.

My sewing machine is set up in an area where I can watch my shop for customers. That helps a lot.

I started putting the rows together, there will be 7 rows of 6 squares. That should make it approx 42 by 49. We shall see. But meanwhile you get the idea. I hope to get a lot more done this afternoon and then put the thing together. Well before winter arrives.

I hope to have real progress tomorrow.

A Trip to the Beach

It is rainy, cool and dreary here so what better day to think about Sun and the Beach.

While on our trip to New England we stopped to visit friends in Gloucester, Mass. They live very near to Long Beach, just a short walk actually so we took a leisurely stroll. It was a beautiful day, weather wise and because it was a work day the beach was not as full as it would be the next day. So it was a good time for us to be there.As you can see there weren't the big crowds like on weekends but those who were there were enjoying themselves. There are a lot of rental homes along the beach and close by so, if you like the beach, it would be a great place for a vacation.Or to build a fancy beach house.

Just across the harbour from the beach are The Twin Lights. It was such a beautiful day the picture really show well.

Gloucester has great restaurants, fun shops and lots of good sightseeing. We hope to go back soon and get to see a lot more.

The next town north of Gloucester is Rockport, another great tourist destination. We ate at Brackett's restaurant while there........... And I had my first clam dinner of the trip.

Tomorrow I will interrupt my trip again to show pictures of my latest projects. I am making a coverlet to use in the winter when I sit on the couch watching tv.

So until then..................

Too Early...

FALL COLORS Are Beginning


I know I promised a trip to the beach but changed my mind when I saw the tree across the road that was ALREADY changing color..... Too early I think......



















But some fall colors are really welcome..... Here are a couple of pictures of the Rudbekia (Black Eyed Susan) in my yard. They seem to thrive in the place they are located in my garden. They are just outside my kitchen window which is even better.


































I found this nifty "Rusty Rooster" to put amidst the Rudbekia. My daughter took a picture of this a few years ago and printed out a sign for the eating area of my kitchen since it over looks this scene. I always wanted a Name for that area.... sort of like a cafe.


WELL, hope you enjoyed the pictures. Will try to do the beach tomorrow.