Yep. It doesn't take long in northeast Texas to go from lotsa snow to no snow. There's very little left. The electricity was off from about 10 a.m. Friday until about 10 a.m. Saturday. Sam waited until about mid-afternoon before hooking up the generator hoping that the electricity would be back on. Wishful thinking. But what to do while we had no electricity?
Remember this? I think I showed it a couple of posts back. I needed to clean out my sewing/quilting room and the floor of this stash closet so that we can get the carpet out and lay new wood flooring. So...before: 
And after! 
Of course, I still have lots of stuff in the guest room all over the place and plan on sorting as it goes back into the closet. But just about everything you see on the shelves in the before photo is still on the shelves in the after photo. I threw away very little. Hmmm...just scrolled up...the before photo doesn't show much of the shelves...just what's in the floor. So, trust me. All of the shelves were as jumbled as the partial two bottoms shelves you can see in the before photo. Quilters/sewers/knitters/crafters understand.
I've been extremely, kinda, diligent about not purchasing any more fabric unless it is to complete a project. And I think I've done pretty good. I was surprised at how much my stash has gone down. Before Sam retired, I used 50% off coupons at Joanns in Lake Jackson and purchased fabrics for specific quilts. I folded them together and tied a strip of cloth around each 'quilt kit' and slipped a piece of paper under the tie with the quilt that that specific fabric was supposed to be. I am down to just FOUR uncut quilts. Then I get to start buying all over again!! LOL I do need to make a few scrap quilts to get rid of some of the remnants of fabrics in the top two shelves.
I used my blue scraps to make a sample French Braid before cutting my homespuns. It made a lap-size quilt. I need to do the same with the pinks, then the reds.
Knitters! On the bottom shelf, the whitish/clear container with the green lid...there's one on each side of the red yarn in the zippered linen bag. Those are giant economy size containers for the Cascade gel-packs. The one on the left has green yarn in it and the lid kept popping open, so I turned it upside down. When I get to the yarn in the sacks in the guest room, I'm thinking about putting my leftover sock yarn in the other container.
We went to bed last night without any heat. Got up this morning and the house was about 61 degrees. Not bad considering it was 29 outside and we hadn't had heat on since 9 p.m. last night.
I played in the snow yesterday a little bit. Couldn't get Sam to round me up a piece of cardboard so that I could slide down the hill. We have the neatest hill out front...covered with snow...and no kids to slide down it! I started to call the neighbor kids over so that they would play with me...but when I was outside they weren't.
I had a few comments on some previous posts:
Kar: Wood heater...No thanks! That's how Ron (Jonathan's dad) and I heated our home for several years. I remember in 1983, big and pregnant, loading firewood in the heater. The only gas heater we had was in the bathroom. When we no longer had wood to cut that cost us only our labor and had to start buying firewood, we found that propane was as cheap as...and wasn't as dirty. And you certainly don't bring scorpions, spiders, and snakes in with the gas as we did with the firewood.
Karenfae: Generator...No problem for me! ;o) Sam's the one who had to do the hook-up and keep it fueled. But...I've got to learn how to do it too. Sam said something about showing me how. I told him I wanted a 'procedure manual.' Show me this year, drag it out next year (but in our area more like 5-7 years from now) and expect me to remember. HAH!
FFG: I made a snow angel. You should've seen me floundering around like a beached whale trying to get up outta the snow. Come on and eat my cooking...we'll be twins. ;o)
I agree with the comment Kar left on yesterday's post...concerning the overpaying of football players...and the stupidity of the commercials and the companies who paid so much for 30 seconds of air space.
When did sports players become "heroes"?? When did they lay down their life for someone else...or even for a ideal worth dying for? Whose life did they save? They laugh all the way to the bank. And I wouldn't even address the lack of morals so many seem to embrace except for the fact that way too many children, teens, and young adults emulate them.
Why do they garner such inflated salaries?
And the commercials! One would flash by and Sam would ask, "What are they selling?"
We aren't big football fans, but will be watching the game this weekend. And while we haven't anything against the Colts, we do hope the Saints win. Just 'cause.
I pulled a small piece of cooked pork loin out of the freezer last night and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. While the cabbage was frying, I sliced mushrooms for the second side. One day while in a kitchen gadget store, I noticed a mushroom slicer. I picked it up and looked at it. Put it back on the shelf. What did I need another slicer with a different shape in the plastic? I use my boiled egg slicer. Through trial and error I have found that you need to put the mushroom cap down, then slice. 
Jerry Lancon's Sauteed Mushrooms
(Jerry was the Cajun I worked with a few years back)
1/4 pound butter (I don't generally use this much)
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 pounds fresh mushrooms, sliced
4-5 tablespoons wine
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
dash of whatever else you want to put in it...;o)
Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add sliced (or whole if small) mushrooms. Add wine, soy sauce, and seasonings. Saute on low heat up to four hours. (I never saute it that long...generally just until the onions are translucent and the moisture has pretty much cooked out.) 
Plated and served with a homemade biscuit left over from breakfast.
Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lard
3/4 cup buttermilk
Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Cut in lard. Stir in buttermilk. Pat out on lightly floured board. Fold in half, pat out again to 1/2" thickness. Cut with biscuit cutters. Place in greased baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees F for 12 minutes.
** If you have no buttermilk, change the baking soda to 3 teaspoons baking powder and the buttermilk to plain drinking milk...what was once called 'sweet' milk.
How to fry cabbage...you don't really fry it...it's more like steamed. Cook 2 or more slices of bacon. When it is crispy, remove from pan. Add 1/2 head of chopped cabbage; stir to coat. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid. Cook over low heat until done to your desired crispness. Crumbled reserved bacon over top.
This is another inherited cookbook. I don't know where it came from, but it is interesting. 
The cover states "suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources." I don't know where they got the idea that we have limited food resources here. But I do know that certain areas of the world do have food shortages. I just thank God for the corner of the world where I live.
I was going to make some peanut brittle this afternoon. While pulling ingredients from the pantry I discovered that I had no corn syrup. It's on the grocery list and the ingredients for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are laid out ready to be used as soon as the butter softens. Sam will be happy...;o)
Enjoy the game!
Another pair of socks completed! I did these in 'record' time. At least for me!! I cast on the first sock on December 21...closed the toe on the second sock on February 2. Yippee!
I have a confession. I "won" something on eBay. First, please explain to me why you pay for something you "won"!!!! I've been following JessicaSews blog, I'm Sew Happy, for more of her Market Fish. http://jessicasews-imsewhappy.blogspot.com/search/label/Market%20Fish . And I don't even own a cat!
I didn't know until last week that it was a Simplicity pattern (9004). I didn't know until last Saturday that it was a discontinued Simplicity pattern. Off to e-Bay I go, and there it is. AND I "win" it! I'm waiting for it to come in.
I'm going to make one for step-son's girlfriend. Well, I should say for her cats. ;o)
I bet Jonathan's dachshund, Pogo, might like it too. Whaddya think, Jonathan?
If you would like one, but don't sew, go check out Jessica's blog and place an order.
January 25, 2014
I am still amazed at the amount of visitors this tutorial has received since I posted it. You are from around the world and close to home. Be sure to let me know when you have finished your French Braid quilt!
Sherry
August 10, 2012
A Texas HOWDY to my new visitors from Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.
July 30, 2012
WOW! A visitor from Riyadh, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia, via bellaonline! Welcome!
June 14, 2012
Hello everyone from www.quiltingboard.com! Thanks for commenting about my tutorial and all the visitors because of the comments!
Thanks to Feedjit, I have noticed new visitors from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland! Howdy from Texas! Thank you for your repeated visits to this tutorial. I hope that my directions are clear. If you have any questions, please just comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Sherry
January 30, 2011:
HELLO GLASGOW! I am excited that you visited my blog. My great-great-great grandfather's last name was Glasgow. I hope you visit again.
Sherry
April 7, 2011
HELLO JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA! Welcome to my corner of the world. I hope you have found something worth reading. Thank you for visiting!
Sherry
May 5, 2011
Hello Amadora, Lisboa, Portugal and Londonderry, Derry, UK! Welcome to my small corner of this great big world. I hope the instructions are clear enough for you. If you have any questions, please just ask.
Sherry
March 2, 2012
I'm getting a lot of hits from http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/french-braid-pattern-t33758-5.html . Thanks to all of you. Especially kbartnick! So sweet! ;-)
I didn't think to count how many different homespuns I had to start with. Sorry.
A few years back Sam told me that he was considering retiring in 'a couple of years.' He retired April 2003, I quit August 2003. While we were both still working, and Joann's still had a store in Lake Jackson with occasional 50% off coupons, I started buying fabrics for quilts. Some I knew what pattern I wanted to use. With the homespuns...I had no idea at all. So, I purchased 1 yard cuts of each plaid that I purchased.
I've always liked the French Braid quilts. So...
Serge or zig-zag the cut edges of each uncut piece of fabric and prewash and dry. Press if necessary. Square the ends
and start cutting 4" x 10 1/2" rectangles.
Alternate your fabrics as much as possible...doesn't matter how well you do this, you still have to play around with them as you are sewing so that you don't get the same fabric across from itself. Make two stacks.
Hope you purchased lots of your solid fabric because I can't tell you how much I purchased. Sorry again. I tried everything I knew how to do to not purchase this gold fabric. I have yellow skin undertones and can't wear yellow or gold so shy away from it. For purposes of this tutorial, we are going to call this 'butterscotch.' I like butterscotch! ;o)
Cut a stack of 4" solid squares. 
Note: Because of the loosely woven quality of homespuns and the subsequent raveling issue, instead of using the normal scant 1/4" generally used in piecing quilt tops, I used a fat 1/4" seam...not quite 3/8".
Take one square and sew it to the side of one rectangle. 
Sew the butterscotch squares to one end of half of the homespun rectangles.
Be sure to cut your 4" squares...4x4...not like this... 
Sew one of your pieced rectangles to the L-shaped unit. 
Then sew an unpieced rectangle to the right of that...followed by a pieced unit. Continue until your panel measures approximately 90 1/2". 
Sew two unpieced rectangles to either side of the panel...at the top. 
Now...let's trim. I didn't have a ruler 14" wide so put two together. Cut through the points on the top, bottom, and both sides, cutting triangles off. I made five panels 14 1/2" x 91" (including seams). 14 x 90 1/2" finished. 
Take out that butterscotch fabric again. Hope you prewashed and dried it too. Square the ends and cut strips 1 1/2" wide. 
Sew ends together and cut in strips 91" long. You need 10 of them. Find the center of each panel and the center of the long edge of your sashing. Pin and pin along the long edge if you need. Sew a butterscotch strip to each side of each panel. (See why the butterscotch works so well?!) 
The top and bottom sashing is cut 1 1/2" x 16 1/2". Cut 10 of these and sew to the top and bottom of each panel. 
By this time, I've cut all my homespun and needed something between each sashed panel. First I thought more homespun...
then I thought solid black. 
Regardless, I had to purchase another piece of fabric. This time I know how much! 1 1/4 yard. I found some black and cream homespun at Hobby Lobby. Remember to serge or zig-zag the ends, prewash, and dry. Press if necessary. The black/cream sashing between the panels was cut 2 1/2" x 92". You need only 4 of these and sew them on the inside.
Note! Pay attention to the orientation of your panels. They have a definite direction. Generally French Braid quilts run in the same direction. That's what I intended. I made an oops. It was easier to take out one panel and flip it than take out two and flip them. So my panels alternate. Great design change opportunity!
The side borders are cut 3 1/2" x 93". Cut and seam 2 of these. Sew to the two side borders. Top and bottom borders are cut 4 1/2" x 94 1/2". Cut and seam two of these. Sew to top and bottom. When everything is sewn together, serge or zig-zag the outside border to prevent it from raveling away.
Closeup...
The finished quilt will be approximately 94" x 100" which fits my double pillow-top queen just perfectly!
My backing and binding will be the same gold...I mean butterscotch solid.
Finished! With the top at least. Had a 'design' change with this one. The braid panels are supposed to all lay in the same direction. #1, #2, and #4 pointed one direction. #3 and #5 the other. So...I could either unsew and resew #3 and #5...OR just do #1. As you can tell, my panels alternate. ;o)
I've had this one laying around for a few weeks. The homespuns (plaids) are prone to ravel so instead of the usual quilter's scant 1/4" seam, I used a large 1/4" seam...just under 3/8". I have yet to vacuum my sewing room carpet. It's so bad you can barely see the color! LOL
I try to make all of my quilts to fit my bed. It's a queen with a double pillow top mattress...which makes it tall. The quilts aren't quite king-size, but larger than queen. This one measures 94 x 100".
The backing and binding will be the solid 'butterscotch.'
I've been seeing recipes for English Muffins on several websites. So...here's my first batch. The recipe made eight.
Yep, here's the missing muffin. ;o) Sliced and lightly toasted...(toaster is having a browning problem)...
With an egg inside. Great breakfast yesterday!
Today's breakfast...buttered (and lightly toasted) English muffin with homemade pear preserves!
Emeril's Kitchen recipe:
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups warm water (the recipe stated room temperature, but my yeast did not foam...so I poured that out and used water at 110 degrees F)
1 (1/4 ounce) envelope active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 1/2 cups bread flour (I used all-purpose)
2 teaspoons alt
3 tablespoons nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons solid vegetable shortening (I don't keep that...I used lard)
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
Lightly grease a large bowl with the oil and set aside.
Combine water, yeast, and sugar in a large bowl, stir well, and let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients except the cornmeal and mix with a large wooden spoon until well blended, about 3 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 15 minutes or until smooth; adding more flour 1 teaspoon at a time if the dough is too sticky. Place in the oiled bowl, cover, and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Dust a baking sheet (or a sheet of parchment paper) with cornmeal.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal portions. Roll into smooth balls and place evenly spaced on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with a slightly damp kitchen cloth and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. (I used a cast iron griddle.) Add the dough balls, non-cornmeal side first, in batches, and cook until golden brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins over, press down on them with a large spatula to flatten slightly and cook until golden brown on the second side about 5 minutes longer. (Okay...I cooked over low-medium heat for 6 minutes on each side.)
This was not at my house...but didn't store-bought sherbet with a couple of homemade sugar cookies served in clear punch cups and seldom used white tea cups make a nice presentation for a buffet catered by The Friends of the Daingerfield Public Library?!
I have Feedjit over at the bottom of my right-hand sidebar. It tells me where my visitors are from and how they got here...via HGTV MBs, direct, via a search engine, etc. I try to check it every day. Once I had a visitor from the Vatican! You better believe that I blogged about that.
In the last day or so, I had a visitor from Port Chester, New York. He visited me via Google. This is what he was searching for:
"i got circumsized 2 weeks ago, i have a bubble between some stitches, is that normal?"
OUCH! I hope he got an answer somewhere out there! ;o)
And after! 
Of course, I still have lots of stuff in the guest room all over the place and plan on sorting as it goes back into the closet. But just about everything you see on the shelves in the before photo is still on the shelves in the after photo. I threw away very little. Hmmm...just scrolled up...the before photo doesn't show much of the shelves...just what's in the floor. So, trust me. All of the shelves were as jumbled as the partial two bottoms shelves you can see in the before photo. Quilters/sewers/knitters/crafters understand.
