From My Kitchen - Freezing Kale

My children had started on a new binge of making smoothies every day.  We've bought a lot of frozen fruit and fresh spinach and baby kale.  The kale and spinach we bought in large bags from Costco.  And it was all getting used up.  And then the binge started slowing down some. And the kale went bad and we threw it away.

But that does not need to be.  The next bag I bought, I froze.  Here's how it goes. 

You rinse the kale to get the dirt off.

 

And then you put it into your blender with a little water.  I added enough water to go to the bottom of the handle.  And then you blend. 

Keep adding more kale to it until you have quite a bit of blended mixture done.  

The longer and higher the speed of the blending

 the smoother your kale will be.  You can see in the picture below that some wasn't blended as long and the difference.  I don't think it matters when it comes to the real smoothie making, because you are still blending then.

I put them into muffin tins.  You can also use ice cube  trays. Just set them in your freezer for a few hours and then transfer them to a freezer bag.

 One cube is all your need for each smoothie.  Each cube packs in a lot of kale.  The same can be done with spinach.

Now we are even growing it in our garden, so I'm planning on freezing a lot of it.

It is fresh with the morning dew and the big leaves are already to pick.

Cute Girls with New Cute Hats

I had knitted the gray sweaters a few weeks ago and decided to do hats for them also.

 My first pictures were without the sweaters, but then I decided I should make a time with them.

But this one was cute so I kept it.

I used knitpicks cotton and a pattern called Isabella.  Here is my Ravelry link.  I did change it though.

I did a stockinette instead of the purl because I wanted it to match the sweater.  I also couldn't get my gauge the same as the pattern so I used less stitches. And I made 2 sizes.  The pattern comes in one size. Therefore there were adjustments for that also.

 I also did the bow a little differently.

These hats took the full skein of yarn with very, very little left.

 The hats look great on these wonderful little girls. Now I think I might make a newborn sized sweater and hat to match.  Better go see how much yarn I have left.

New Porch Swing Cushion

I love sitting on my porch swing when the weather is beautiful outside.  The swing is good in the late afternoon as it gets the sun but not too much of it.  But it had it's down side.  It felt hard on my tusch.

So I found a piece of foam in our shop that I had cut to size and covered it with an old curtain lining that I had laying around. 

 

I found some fabric at Joann's that I decided to get just because it was the one I liked.  So it has a light of white... Yes, it will get dirty, and will have to be washed. I cut it all and made the piping.

 And put it on my cushion.  I have a zipper on the back side that goes most of the length of the back.  And I put velcro tabs underneath to keep the cushion on the swing.

 Now it looks like I'll have to make some pillows to match.

And the girls love to sit on the swing with me.

Clara Naomi -My New Granddaughter --- and Some Quilting

Yesterday afternoon, a new daughter was born to my oldest son and his wife.  Now they have 3 girls.

She was born early (34 weeks) and weighs 4#11oz.   She is bigger than Eloise was at 3#15oz.  And she looks healthy and is doing good.

Clara Naomi 

 Daddy shows the girls their new little sister.

 

And I still do quilt.  Especially these days it's been some applique. The weather has been great and I was able to do it outside.  So very nice.

 These are the pots sitting on steps of my red and white quilt.

 I like how they are turning out so far. When you make it up as you go, it gets kind of chancey.

Tuscan House Block

I think I have 9 blocks for my guild picnic later this month.  I like houses so it's been enjoyable.

This is the pin hat I copied. 

 

I also have another house in progress.  This one is for my grandchildren.  My son Joe is building it for me. And he just got engaged!  So it can be a together project if they have time.  Or a together Saturday project after their marriage.  It's early in July, so it's coming up fast.

 The girls can't wait to put their furniture in the house.

 

Hawaiian Turtles

My finish this week is the turtle wallhanging that I appliqued in Hawaii.  When one goes to Hawaii and is a  quilter, one must do an Hawaiian quilt. 

 It is officially called "A Herd of Turtles" and the pattern can be purchased here.

 This was very fun and easy to do.  Since it was my second time doing it, I had all the freezer paper patterns all made ahead of time.

 Here is a link to the first one I made.

 This is the back side.  I bought the fabric in Hawaii to go on the back.

I made waves in the water.

 And pebbled the blue on the turtle shell.

Stems and Leaves - The Red and White Quilt

I design as I go.  I laid my paper flowers on the  quilt and decided on the placement of my stems and leaves. And now that applique is happening.

I'm still making decisions on the colors of the flowers.  I keep going through new ideas.  We'll see how that comes out.