Fruit leather (home-made fruit roll-ups!)

I have been given too many peaches!!! What a great problem! I was contemplating freezing them or making some preserves....but then I got to thinking about fruit-roll ups. I have no idea why since I think it's been 10 years since any have graced my pantry. Turns out to be pretty easy. Just boil the peaches until they are mushy - run them thru a food mill to remove the skins and make a puree. I then added some sugar, ginger and cinnamon until I thought the "soup" tasted good.

It was a hot, sunny day - and I thought I could save some oven power by taking my concoction out to the grill and simply letting the closed lid heat up and dry the puree.  By the way, I just lined the large cookie sheet with Saran Wrap.  Apparently it can withstand less-than-boiling temps!

Actually, the grill idea would have worked - except the afternoon ended up stormy.....so inside the pan came and into a 170 degree oven.  (The recipe said 150 degrees, but that's the lowest setting on my oven.)  No worries - it worked out fine.

The recipe said 8 hours ---- it turned out to be about 11 hours....not sure I'll do this again unless I can truely use the "solar grill" - seems like too much energy!

Here's the end product...

Lifted out of the pan -

The leather lifts easily from the plastic.

Started cutting with the pizza cutter.  Ended up using scissors!

All bagged up ready for snacking!

Surprise Sam's Club Porta-Potti

Ya just never know what you're gonna read about on the W.O.K. !!  

So, most of you might know that I frequent Sam's Club for my business supplies every month or so.  I went on Friday morning...cup of coffee in hand.  It's about a 40 minute drive.  I'm telling you this, because, of course, I needed to use the ladies room when I arrived.

But, as I approached the restroom area, I could clearly see roped off entrances and signs saying "Under Construction".

As I got closer, a nice construction worker pointed and told me politely (probably for the millionth time...) that the restrooms were outside. 

I thought that was a bit strange as this Sam's Club does not have an "outside sales area".

But, I followed the signs as I didn't want my Sam's Club shopping experience to be, well, you know, tense.

Wandered outside expecting green porta-potti's.  Not my favorite experience, but nature calls!

I was a bit surprised when I found this instead.

But, I was even more surprised when I opened the door and found this!!!  Nice job, Sam's Club!!

Pretty veggies

As usual, I've been getting "gifts" from Dick and Lindy's garden....yum!!

Blueberries....I spy a cobbler in the makin'!!!!

Mmmmmm -  Corn Porn!!  Wink, wink!

More berfday fun - re-purposing fabric to make free-form beach bag

You may recall a certain dress that I made last year - that I thought looked horrible on me.....

I had cut the major pieces from the dress and stored them last year with the left-over scraps.

I just cut out a rectangle that looked like it would be the right size for the "base" of the bag.  Then I measured the perimeter of the rectangle to determine the size of the "body".  Here is the lining.  I was off by about 1/2 inch as I sewed it together.  No worries - snip, snip and it's perfect!

The finished outer shell - inside/out.

Coming together nicely!

I don't know what I did with the already-done sash from the dress - I must have tossed it in the trash....because it would have been helpful. No worries. I had plenty of fabric to make new "handles".

Ironed the seams to make them lay smoothly.

Turned right-side out and almost ready to assemble.

Decided at the last minute that a inside pocket might be nice - easy to assemble that with a couple of rectangular pieces.

Add some velcro - all I had was black....not my pick for this application, but it worked out fine.

Stitched the pocket just to the lining before assembly.

Attached the handles to the outer layer - ready to do "final assembly".

Ta-Da!

All done!

Ready for the berf-day girl!

Berfday and Tie-dye Tshirts

Since I've given my sis her birthday gifts, I can now post about tie-dying.  Once again, for our sailing trip, we made tie-dye tee shirts for the "crew". 

A few years ago,  I made one extra for my sis - and she told me recently that she had worn it so much it was a bit tattered. 

So, I had to make her a new one, of course!  I didn't want to post about it until I gave her the shirt!

Same process -here are a few of the shirts...coiled up with dye:

And the corresponding shirt - 24hrs later.

Duane's Shirt:

Carolyn's shirt, I believe:

And Cecil's:

Next we needed to apply the emblem.  The last time, we ordered the shirts silk-screened.  This year, we decided to try an iron-on transfer.  It worked fine, but I think for all the trouble, I'll just custom order screen printed white tee shirts next time!

The ink-jet printed emblem that we collectively made - even had to get some help from Duane's sis Carolyn!

Ironed-on per the instructions -

Rinsed a few times and they're ready to wear!

You've seen some of these photos from the trip - but just a few shots of folks wearing their shirts!

Lindy and Sharon made their shirts themselves - I made Cecil and Carolyn's since they were traveling before the trip.

And believe it or not, this is the best photo I have on my sweet sis in her shirt!  It fits her perfect!

Visitors!

Time for the "West Virginians" visit! Teresa and Rafe stopped by on their way to a week at the beach last weekend....just time for a few fun games of pool and dinner out before they headed down to Topsail Island for the week.  Can't remember who won!

They had a bit more time to spare on the way home!  Richard and Miranda had the whole crew over for a little visit and grilling-out!.

Lot's of visiting - the puppies enjoyed the visit too!

Miranda introduced us to the newest member of the family....a ferret.  Soft and sweet!

Richard got a-hold of my camera at some point!

Very nice visit!

Oh, Richard and Miranda gave Duane a belated father's day gift....a cool tie with airplanes on it.  Duane had to prove he could still tie it with no mirror!  Good fun!