I am about to embark upon a wonderful stretch of days of crocheting owl purses, celebrating the holidays with family, blowing glass with Dean, and more crocheting. I have a new idea about a combo crochet/glass concept that needs to be more fully explored and hopefully started or even better – finished! The holidays are the best time to chill out from work and sink into some serious creating.
Oh and, I just stumbled upon Jill Barklem, a childerns book author/illustrator – how have I never seen her work before?? Must find these books somewhere, they are amazing!
So I am in love with little metal sew-on purse frames, they work wonderfully with my fine gauge crochet. Here is my first owl purse, I am working on a green one right now. I am hooked.
We made these as a prototype for a blown glass custom order and I thought they would make lovely bells adorned with crochet flowers. This one is a Christmas gift for Gram, sending a little Texas sunshine up to her in Minnesota.
Dean and I experimented with some of my silver wire crochet in a glass paperweight last night during our glass-blowing session. Pretty interesting stuff, we will definitely work on this some more to see how we can cross-pollinate our crafts.
What a strange reaction to our President receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Everywhere on the media I watch and read about how surprised and confused everyone is about why this has happened because of the perceived lack of concrete actions taken by the president.
What people of this opinion are not aware of is the power of the ideas that Obama has been socializing since he started campaigning for Pres. He has been planting seeds of change. Did we as a public believe that the minute he was elected that everything would change instantly? Are we that foolish? We need to be acutely aware of the effect his words and ideas will SLOWLY have on the American public and other nations. Words and ideas of openness, exchange of ideals, understanding and awareness. This message that is being conveyed in and of it self, is a form of action. This is the seed. Concrete results will slowly occur if we as a nation support these ideas and messages in our actions and support elected officials that assist with moving these ideas into further actionable outcomes.
Be patient people, more is happening that we all even realize.
I have been working on a new line of crochet lace wash clothes. 100% cotton, great colors and they are wonderful for use on your face as a light exfoliant, yet soft enough for all around use.
Here is my favorite new recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup – I usually go sans tortilla.
3 small boneless skinless chicken breasts (smallest package of chicken breasts you can find)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbl dried parsley
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 jalapeno – diced
1 small onion – chopped
3 cloves garlic – minced
1/2 cup celery
1 small red bell pepper – chopped
1 small orange or yellow bell pepper – chopped
Hidden Valley small package dried ranch dressing mix – use to season to taste (adds salt)
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can diced tomato
1 can mexican salsa – something with good flavor
Swanson’s chicken broth – add enough as needed after you have added all other ingredients
Lime wedges. fresh cilantro, fresh diced onion, shredded Monterrey jack cheese, avocado – for set ups at the table.
In large soup kettle, cover chicken breasts with water, add pepper, garlic powder, parsley, onion powder and cumin to water and boil for one hour. Remove breasts from broth and shred in bowl with two forks. Strain broth for fat and put back into soup kettle with shredded chicken. Add all other ingredients and simmer for 2 hours covered.
