Pics from tamale fest

This from second day of tamale fest...only 8 cups of meat leaft...the hanger is for the cut string. I

use string to tie my tamles. I dont trust to just fold them....yeah, right!!!!

Here they are, all steamed and ready to bag up and freeze. They are so yummy!!!!

Tomorrow is again tamale day

Spent the day prepping for the making tamales. The red sauce turned out great and had lots of it. Put all of it in the meat...total of 16 cups shredded. I got 75 tamales done and am too sore to continue today. Sooooo...............tomorrow I will finish the other 75 or so. But Mark says they are really good. After handling them all day long I am not in the mood to eat any tonight. Ah....tomorrow :-)

Tomorrow is Tamale Day!!!

Well, the meat is cooking and will be ready to be shredded and chopped when I get up later this a.m. it is pork and beef, found this is great combination.
I have three types of dried peppers to roast, devine and deseed, then rinse and soak.
Lots of masa dough to make
Make the red chili sauce that goes into the meat
My corn husks are soaking
I will be pretty pooped out by tomorrow evening but will hopefully have about 140 tamales package and in freezer.
Will take photos of progress and post later today.............

Woke up to heavy wet snow, this will melt but more snow in the next day or two. Luckily for me, Mark, is buying my 4 new tires for my car. The ones I've had for the past three years have been a nightmare. Bought at Sears they have no grip on the raod at all, last year it was like ice skating, very scarry. But tomorrow all will be changed :-)
I've been doing a bit moe quilting of late, even this past summer when I spend most days outside in the garden. I taught two "Wheels of Wonder" classes using my accuQuiltGO. When I first say this contraption at the quilt show down in Madison about 5 years ago all I could think of was how lazy can you be...but since my arthiritis is kicking my butt and is ravisihing my hands I thank god for this wonderful invention :-) BIG SMILE!!! This is one of my favorite blocks, but as you may or may not know, it is 12 curved pieces that make a square and one of the keys is accurate cutting. I can still cute with rotarty cutter but would take me about a week to cut out, now in a matter of minutes or an hour i have all the peices I need. Then I taught a "Tube" dyeing class and this was wildl successful. I just love to teach especially to first time dyers, they are stunned that "I made this beautiful fabric all by myself".
This top was made with one great tiny striped batik I've had for years plus one pack of three 1/2 yards cuts of my hand dyes. It really turned out awesome! I am trying to upload more photos but computer not cooperating so I will end this for now. Stay tund for some neat projects. Aloha for now...........

The day after the sweat lodge, on our way home from Bond Falls I found this fledgling Broad Wing Hawk on edge of road...just a few steps from being road kill. I gently walked up to it, placed a towel over it and was able to pick it up and bring home. Mark, Laura and I all on our cell phones and I got ahold of a licensed rehabilitator of raptors and he basically told me to find the exact spot we found bird, walk into the woods and let it go ?!!....Mark remembered exactly where we had stopped, there was a drive way?...found the spot, parents circling overhead. Climbed up and down the ditch and into the woods, gently placed bird on ground and he was able to flap up to a branch about 10' above the ground and wait for his parents. When we got back in the car, a small feather floated down right onto the car....the nest was right above us. I see these birds when I drive to Iron River. A Ojibwa elder told me, it is probably one of my helper spirits :-)

My sister was here for two glorious weeks in August. We went to a PowWow and got to dance together and the next day had been invited to a sweat lodge...so inspiring. Hadn't seen Laura in about 6 years. We had a blast. This day we are at Bond Falls and was a great day. I am trying to get her to move up here :-).

My bountiful garlic harvest...learned alot this year. Still have to order garlic to plant very soon. It is getting cold fast here but have plenty of time before the ground freezes. Not as big as garlic you buy in the store but so much more flavorful!!!!

The weather was odd this summer but got lots of snap peas, pole beans, zucchini, cukes, pickle cukes, and a variety of hot peppers. The carrots were great! The cabbage immense and Mark make hot pickled cabbage out of most of it. The tomatoes made a poor showing. The potatoes are not quite done. Got four crops of radishs to Marks delight. Of course my raspberries pumped and made lots of jam...this year I found a wonderful citrus pectin so could use way less sugar. Now Mark loves the jam I made...I thought it was too sweet myself although Victoria told me she diffenately wants my sweet jam. Transplated three of the pepper plants and brought them indoors.

Mark totally redid inside porch (air lock), pulled out walls, insulated, drywalled the ceiling too and redid hard wood flooring and painted...it is awesome, a year round "plant room" Yipee!!!!

Just baked Mark three dozen peanut butter cookies with reeces peanut chips plus two loaves of zucchini bread. I think it is okay but the men who have tasted it go nuts, rave about it...wonder if it is that Vietnamese cinnamon and fresh ground nutmeg that affects men so...............

Yeah...Im done!!!!

I am finally done with my radiation treatments for squamous cell skin cancer on my face :-) I had 31 treatments, 5 days a week. It was absolutely grueling and the right side of mouth/cheek is so sore, red and swollen but I am happy that the treatments are over. I have several big owies in my mouth but hopefully within the next week they will finally heal. I cannot believe how tired it has made me but today I forced myself to do some stuff.
I finally planted a half pound of garlic yesterday...do you realize how many cloves are in a half pound of garlic? Alot! The other night I separated all the cloves and got ready for planting. Then yesterday I added compost to soil, turned (ugh) and then planted. Today I used some gauze I had and laid down on top of area planted...dumped lots and lots of dried leaves and then covered with gauze and laid down a bunch of wooden stakes on top so it all doesn't get blown away. I am stoked to have this chore done. I love fresh garlic, bulbs smaller than in store but so much more flavorful and alot of oil....sooooooooooo good.
Today I spent hours in the raspberry patch...pruning the plants to about 3-4' and then cutting out all the dead wood. Last year I somehow forgot to cut out all the dead wood and it was a nightmare. So............this year I got it done. Got most of debris out of yard, but Mark bailed, so wheel barrow full, needs to be dumped and then I can get rest of stuff out of yard.
These where two big jobs I needed to get done. I am feeling wiped out but very satisfied I completed these two chores :-)
Now, tomorrow would be great if I spend some time in my sewing room which I have been neglecting lately...all I did was get treatment and come home and crawl into bed. I still need to be careful and take care of myself but I want to hang out in my sewing room. I am not happy with the head I did for my mermaid doll. She is being made out of some hand dyed lite green fabric and I feel I use too dark of colors when I did her face...like I was using white or off white fabric. I think the colors should be more subtle and maybe use greens........doesn't look natural. Will see how it goes. If I can sew head and get it stuffed and sculpted tomorrow I would be happy.
The last two days have been beautiful....sunny but about 45. It gets down to the 20s at night, need to get my concord grapes into house, basement for now. We are hoping to insulate and heat front porch area. It will be like a big green house for me...Mark doesnt realize it yet but that is what I want to use the area for, lots of plants. He is going to put a 10=12" ledge below all the windows. Will be a great place to start the veggies this spring.
Well, that's it for now

Aloha

My latest projects...I buy really nice t-shirts from St. Vinnie's and then put Hawaiian applique designs on them. Today they had their "bag" sale; anything you can fit into a brown shopping bag for $2...I scored!!!! Got 25 t-shirts; two pieces of really nice fabric, possibly for dolls; two very small pyrex cooking dishes and found two round lids to fit them. Plus, I found metal hangers...I use them to unplug bathtub and the like, maybe even use for doll armatures, who knows, but they are so hard to come by, so I got a bunch for thirty cents. All in all a very good hall. Plus on the way to Vinnies, the Masons were setting up for a rummage sale tomarrow, got to go in check out. Bought two boxes of pint jars for only two bucks each; some very nice picture frames and two very kool pieces of velvet. One is red devore...I'm stoked.

Here is a close up of the "hibiscus" design. I think I have enough t-shirts to make one of each design. I am using my hand dyed fabric, maybe I will use a couple of batiks to do a few. Plus, Victoria request a long sleeve black t-shirt and a no sleeve black t-shirt. Found one on sale at WM for only $3; got her the short sleeve at Vinnie's today, but no long sleeves out yet and to find a solid black one without a design on it will be a challenge. But I am still looking. The designs she wants in pink or a mix of pink and blue...both hand dyes by Nana of course :-)
Our garden is going nuts! I already picked all the broccoli; cauliflower; the rutabeggas are done; the cabbage is ready, my snow peas will produce until the fall.....and Mark's pickling cucumbers are starting to produce. It is so soon for harvesting but it was very very hot, long long days and plenty of rain...guess a good combo for up here. The raspberries are almost all picked. I will be canning into the night!
Things are going well, I need to finish quilt in basement on gamil and then start working on some dolls, and finish that kool sock I was working on. When the sun is out, I hate being inside, soon enough won't be able to spend much time outside. The summer has seemed to just zoomed by this year. Maybe cause I missed the spring while on was on Kauai. Still dreaming about that warm pacific...I miss it so much....