Mountain Musings

Chocolate Soap?

Yes, that's right, below you see chocolate swirled soap just coming out of my wooden soap mold (made specially by a friend). Cocoa butter and cocoa powder were added to my normal recipe, resulting in a lightly scented homemade soap reminiscent of marbled fudge. Not quite edible, though!

This hand-cut chocolate swirl soap has been curing for 4 weeks on drying racks.

Citrus Patchouli is another new soap for February, a woodsy herbal scent with a fresh twist. I have been attempting to market my soap in local shops this winter, and I'm hoping this outdoorsy, gender-neutral variety will be a popular choice. I plan to continue developing a line of scents over the next several months.

Both of these soaps are now listed on the Pleasant View Soaps site. If you would like to be included in updates to this page whenever I add new products from now on, feel free to add your name to the email list below. Thanks for your interest in this new little venture of mine!

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~Hannah

As For Me & My House...

"Choose you this day whom you will serve; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  ~ Joshua 24:15

When we visited friends at Thanksgiving, I really loved the Scripture on their walls. Sarah picked up on that idea and gave me some of the vinyl lettering for Christmas. Yesterday the girls worked on peeling and sticking (definitely easier said than done!) and succeeded in getting the Scripture attached to the wall before the church meeting at our house today.

Old friends and new friends that we met for the first time this morning arrived to worship with us for an impromptu Sunday gathering since all of our paths were crossing this weekend. Here are some scenes from our day.

The men getting acquainted after the meal...

Young men searching the scriptures after the meal...

The ladies enjoyed some fun conversations along with delicious food...

It was a wonderful day, and we'd love to enjoy more Sundays like it. Opening our home for hospitality is one of our favorite things to do.

~Deb

Block-A-Palooza ~ Blocks 1 & 2

In addition to lots of UFO cross-stitching this week, I was able to get both blocks done for the Block-A-Palooza Quilt Along--this link will take you to the Flickr group to see others' blocks in the quilt along.

Here's my first flying geese block designed by Quilt Dad John which he titled Flying Over Fields ~ Block 1:

I had fun working on this block because it was relatively easy to put together. I'm using Kate Spain's Central Park fabric line.

Here's my second block named Word Search ~ Block 2 designed by Elizabeth Hartman over at Oh Fransson!

This block was very labor intensive, and it took me quite awhile to get nine 9-patch blocks cut and sewn together.

I like it though...now that it's all finished!

I'm hoping that the next blocks in the weeks to come will incorporate some larger patterns since Central Park has some large florals and, of course, the animal fabric. I'm looking forward to next week's blocks!

~Deb

UFO Bust ~ Progress Report ~ Bread

I'm again joining Susan over at Blackberry Creek for the UFO (Unfinished Objects) Bust. Although I can't cross anything off my list this week, I've made excellent progress! Here's an updated picture of the Bread X-Stitch...

Last week there weren't as many breadsticks in the canister...in fact, I hadn't even stitched the canister! And there's an extra loaf of bread there which wasn't there before. I've stitched for hours and hours! Hopefully, I can cross this one off before next Friday's progress report and begin on another item on the list...it's actually been fun!

~Deb

Mailboxes, Fabric, & Snow...Oh, My!

I love my mailbox!

No, it's not a pretty one with flowers planted around it or covered in ivy, but it's functional. Our locked neighborhood boxes are over a half mile from our house and protect our newspaper, bills, catalogs, packages, and a rare personal letter every now and then. (I love personal letters!)

But sometimes bad things happen to mailboxes!

When the phone rang early Sunday morning, I knew it couldn't be good news. We were told vandals had hit the boxes in the wee hours and had probably taken any mail not picked up.

Tom immediately headed out to check our box and found ours wasn't one of the ones damaged, and our mail was securely inside. That was a huge blessing! New boxes have been ordered, but in the meantime we have to pick up all mail at the post office.

I am so glad and so thankful that I had just retrieved a package from our box that included this beautiful purple fabric. (I love fabric!)

My blogging friend, Diane over at Life Scraps, found out that I've been collecting purple scraps and mailed me some yardage..from Texas! Don't you love the second one from the left--those little red polka-dot mushrooms are beautiful...and she purchased it special and stuck it in the package at the last minute before mailing! Thank you so much, Diane!

In other news, today we're digging out from 8 inches of snow we received yesterday...we couldn't get to the mailbox anyway even if the mail could be delivered. Unfortunately, we can't get to the post office either!

Here's a picture of our garden in winter, and I know I've shown this snowy scene other years and other snows, but I never tire of it. Plus, I wanted to show Granny what she's missing by not being here in January...that little garden shed (aka basket shed) looks mighty lonely down there.

Snowy days when you can't get out and no one else can get in are great sewing days. I'm almost finished with my Postage Stamp quilt top, and this afternoon I'll start on Block 2 for the Block-A-Palooza. Pictures of these projects coming soon.

~Deb

Rejoicing to Yield

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

Romans 3:31

When the believer is adopted into the Lord’s family, his relationship to old Adam and the law ceases at once; but then he is under a new rule, and a new covenant. Believer, you are God’s child; it is your first duty to obey your heavenly Father. A servile spirit you have nothing to do with: you are not a slave, but a child; and now, inasmuch as you are a beloved child, you are bound to obey your Father’s faintest wish, the least intimation of his will.

Does he bid you fulfil a sacred ordinance? It is at your peril that you neglect it, for you will be disobeying your Father. Does he command you to seek the image of Jesus? Is it not your joy to do so? Does Jesus tell you, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect”? Then not because the law commands, but because your Saviour enjoins, you will labour to be perfect in holiness. Does he bid his saints love one another? Do it, not because the law says, “Love thy neighbour,” but because Jesus says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments;” and this is the commandment that he has given unto you, “that ye love one another.” Are you told to distribute to the poor? Do it, not because charity is a burden which you dare not shirk, but because Jesus teaches, “Give to him that asketh of thee.”

Does the Word say, “Love God with all your heart”? Look at the commandment and reply, “Ah! commandment, Christ hath fulfilled thee already—I have no need, therefore, to fulfil thee for my salvation, but I rejoice to yield obedience to thee because God is my Father now and he has a claim upon me, which I would not dispute.” May the Holy Ghost make your heart obedient to the constraining power of Christ’s love, that your prayer may be, “Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.” Grace is the mother and nurse of holiness, and not the apologist of sin.

C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

Block-A-Palooza Starts Today!

Quilt Dad John has posted his first block for the Bloggers' Block-A-Palooza Quilt Along that begins today.

This post explains the fabric requirements, schedule, and the various quilt designers who will be posting a different block twice a week throughout the quilt along. Should be fun--if I can keep up!

I'll be using Kate Spain's Central Park collection, and I'm loving some of the bright prints in this new line.

I can't wait to get started!

In other quilting news, this weekend I've sewn all of the 272 strips (tons!) for the Postage Stamp Quilt Along and ended up with 27 blocks so far...still need another 27 to be caught up. But I'm totally pleased with the way they're looking!

Okay...which do I start first today...continue with the postage stamp blocks? Or begin on the block-a-palooza? Or what about those UFOs?

Or...how about the house, the laundry, and the meal for tonight...maybe those should come first!

~ Deb

Friday Night Sew-In Progress

Just a quick update....I didn't connect with my sewing machine at all last night at the Sew-In, but I definitely became a close friend with my rotary cutter!

Those 16 jelly roll strips of Bird Song that I showed in the previous post about the Sew-In ended up as 2-1/2" long strips--272 of them! That's a lot of cutting!

So today I sew them into blocks.

Hopefully, by Monday I'll be ready for the next step in the Postage Stamp Quilt Along.

Plus, the Block-A-Palooza begins!

Have a great weekend, everyone. We've got a very chilly 12 degree morning here in the Valley. Staying inside sewing sounds pretty good to me!

~Deb

UFO Bust Progress Report

I recently joined Susan over at Blackberry Creek for her UFO Bust of 2011 and have been working on some Unfinished Objects this week in additon to working on the Postage Stamp Quilt Along.

Cross two UFOs off the list...yay!!

#11 ~ Irish Hiking Scarf (all done as of this past weekend!) It measures 53" when completed (although pattern stated 55 inches), but it's long enough. I even had to go to Michael's yesterday and buy a new tapestry needle to finish it off. I'll post a picture of Sarah wearing it soon!

 
#13 ~ House Sampler x-stitch ~ finished the backstitching last night ~ soaked and washed it today and ironed it dry. This was a quick finish since most of the work had been done.

Even though the Little Green Quilter rules say a cross-stitch picture needs to be matted and framed to say it's finished, to me this is finished. 

This sampler is a cross-stitch picture for Hannah, and since she custom cuts mats and frames projects herself, I'm handing it over to her so she can pick out what she likes. I'm crossing it off my list.

It is definitely a sense of accomplishment to finish two long-ago-started projects!

The UFO I'm starting on next is another cross-stitch that I'll pick up when I have a few minutes to sit and stitch. It won't be as quick getting this one done.

It's #12 on the list ~ a Bread cross-stitch picture for Sarah, and I have to admit I'm not fond of it--too many dull browns and hard to stitch...which is probably why I put it aside long ago.

But I'll start stitching again in between working on some quilting projects--will post more UFO progress next Friday.

~Deb

Friday Night Sew-In

Tonight I'm joining almost 150 ladies over at Handmade by Heidi for the Friday Night Sew-In. You can find more details here if you'd like to participate.

All my extra time this week has been spent on sewing the strips for the Postage Stamp Quilt Along. I'm ready to start Step 2 tonight and make the blocks.

Here's a quick picture of the strips laid out. Bird Song jelly roll is proving to be a good choice.

I'm hoping to get a lot done and will post a progress report tomorrow.

~Deb