Monday 26 October 2020

Pumpkin Soup, Auction Bidding, Binding Stitching, Christmas Quilts, Mouse Update

 When in the work world, I often lamented not enough time for my hobbies. I used to think I would spend all morning reading for instance, when I retired and had nothing else to do. However, to sit around reading in the mornings still doesn't work for me. My days must still have busyness in them but, what do you know, there is no end it seems to the things to do. Filling the hours is not only not a problem, it is uncanny how busy we seem to be and this is even in a semi-lockdown situation.

Autumn Ornamental Grass at the Farm

For instance auction bidding took up part of one evening. Pool stuff, a headboard for our bed, duck decoys all caught our attention and we won everything except the ducks which were my favourite part. We were willing to go to $50 and they sold for $55.  There were four wooden and one ceramic. This is a house that totally suits ducks. To do this week will be venturing to a new part of the city to pick up our winning items. 

Last night I made the barest of meals. A pumpkin soup cobbled together with veggies from the fridge added to a large can of pumpkin. One of the recipes I consulted suggested adding maple syrup and despite misgivings about it, I did, a little at a time, taste testing all the way.  It was good and gave the raw pumpkin added flavouring, which if you've ever tasted it, you know it needs. Toast rounded out that supper.  Feel like I should come up with something with meat for tonight.  Protein, iron and all. 

About meat. I must research and order a Sous Vide for us. I've talked about it for years now-even here on the blog, and don't know what is stopping us. If I'm going to pay for grass fed beef, I should be cooking it carefully and properly. Apparently these things take all the guesswork out of it, a good thing for me these days. And they're not just for cooking meat. Even oatmeal can be cooked perfectly with a sous vide. This video explains how versatile it is. And I do like my small appliances!

Look what's keeping my lap warm these nights.  I machine stitched the front of the binding and am now hand stitching it to the back.  I picked more modern and not exactly flowery kind of fabrics for the binding but ones that have soft colours to suit the hearts. This must be finished this week no ands, ifs or buts!

Down the Rabbit Hole Looking: 
I found this free pattern for a more modern-ish looking Christmas quilt I thought you might like too.

The link is here at the All People Quilt site.

While searching about I found more I liked here - Swoodson Says- 30 Modern Christmas Quilt Patterns, so you can take a stroll through yourself.  It's from 2018 but still more or less modern I guess.

Mouse Update

 Two Humane Mouse Traps- Mice captured and released to date-6

I forget just how tiny mice are. This one was itty bitty with a tiny sharp nose. Yes, I have old batting and cloth in there because it is cold in a metal box on a concrete floor. There is also crackers with peanut butter. Daughter said I'm providing hotel accommodations, mouse style.

As long as it keeps them out of the cars, that's all I care.

Here's hoping all of you have a great week.

Linking this post with Kathy's Quilts, Our World TuesdayQuilting is More Fun Than Housework, Home Sewn By Us and The Jesh Studio.

23 comments :

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I've often marveled at how easily 'busy' seems to fill our hours and how quickly the days/weeks/months are passing. Facing another winter of lockdowns really doesn't worry me insofar as having enough to do.
Our #2 son has/had a sous vide and was quite enamoured with it at first. Haven't heard anything about it lately so I wonder if he's still using it. Will be interesting to hear what you think of it.
And...what a lovely trap for wee mousies!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

you are very humane to your mice :) I'm afraid I'm brutal if I find them and have no compassion for mice or any other critter than gets in the house - well I take that back when the frog came in on one of the plants I caught it and brought it back outside and same with a lizard a year or two ago :)
I love that Christmas pattern you show with the spiky star
I tend to stay busy too and although I don't do auctions I stay busy with other things.

PaintedThread said...

That mouse is cute with its black, beady eyes. But they need to stay out of places they shouldn't be!! I have friends that do sous vide and love it. Rob's been trying to convince me to get one to temper chocolate. Yay for binding - finish soon! That quilt pattern is cool.

Jenny said...

Pumpkin soup is always tasty, although I've never used canned pu plain, not sure if we have it here. I add cokmed bacon and onion to mine with a little curry powder. Not long now to go on your heart quilt now you are up to the binding

Brian's Home Blog said...

Those wooden ducks are really nice and the pumpkin soup does sound pretty darn good!

Ruth Hiebert said...

You certainly are much kinder to the mice than I would be. I've dealt with so many in the past, i just want to get rid of them.

Jenn Jilks said...

It's fun being a hobby person.
I nearly bid on an auction, but ended up giving up. I just didn't have the patience. It was a bad day.
I tend to fall asleep reading in the afternoon!

MissPat said...

My husband asked for a sous vide from his daughters for Christmas last year and it's never been out of the box. I thought it was a terrible waste of money. For one thing, we never grill steaks and that's the only thing he saw made with one. I hope you are moving the mice way away from your house/garage. You could be capturing the same ones over and over again. Cold and rainy here this week.
Pat

Stephanie @ Swoodson Says said...

Good luck finishing this week! Thanks for linking to my roundup of Christmas quilt patterns :)

Stewart M said...

Shame you missed out on the ducks - I don't think I would have the self control to resist another bid!

Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

Kim said...

I'm with Karen about mice.....so sorry. =) That modern-ish Christmas quilt is so pretty. How cosy to be stitching that lovely quilt of yours in the evenings.

Lin said...

Is your mouse with a pointy nose a shrew? Well thats what they are here anyway. Your soup looks delicious. How we ever had time to go to work I do not know! Stay safe and well. xx Oh yes, and great Christmas quilt pattern. x

Michele McLaughlin said...

I just made pumpkin soup yesterday and I thought it was kind of blah although my husband loves pumpkin and said he loved it. I might add a bit of maple syrup to it--thanks for the tip! Uh...well I'm afraid of mice so that wouldn't work for me. You are a very kind person Jocelyn! Have a great week!

Linda said...

Your pumpkin soup looks delicious. We've seen the sous vide demonstrated on "Chopped" on the Food Network - looks pretty neat. Your heart quilt looks cozy and pretty.
I feel sorry for mice, in spite of being bitten by one as a teen while I was releasing it from the trap Mom had set for it! A mouse recently made an appearance from behind the refrigerator in our new kitchen. Husband set a sticky trap and caught it, but alas it died in the process of trying to release it outside. :(

Brenda @ Songbird Designs said...

I really have no compassion for mice! I love that Christmas quilt pattern. Thanks for the link!

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Jocelyn! Oh shoot - too bad about not winning the ducks. (I accidentally typed wining - that may have let you WIN the ducks if you had wined them first.) Yay to almost having the Hearts quilt finished. I love slow stitching the binding down - I drag my feet at this time of year just to have the quilt sitting on my lap longer. I am cracking up at the mouse hotel. I love that you are capturing and releasing - I hope they're not smart enough to just run right back into the hotel. You'll have to add a little identifying mark so you can tell if it is 6 different mice or 1 mouse, 6 times. {{Hugs}} Thanks for linking up. ~smile~ Roseanne

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

We keep pretty busy here, too, considering we are both retired and stay home quite a bit! It's always interesting what fills your time. Your pumpkin soup sounds yummy! And I love the peek at your heart quilt. This is the best time of year for sewing on binding, isn't it? I'm doing that right now, too, and enjoying that extra layer

Cheree @ The Morning Latte said...

Oh my goodness, you are much kinder to mice than I am! Everyone needs to go if you ask me but I'm a farm girl and they can really cause problems, especially in the chicken coop and in the garage! The pumpkin soup sounds yummy! I have so many pumpkins right now I've been wanting to make some soup!

Angie said...

Jocelyn - I couldn't agree with you more - ever since I retired, there are not enough hours in the day for everything that I want to do!!! We recently visited family, and my sister-in-law made a pumpkin soup that was out of this world - no maple syrup or sugar of any kind... I had never heard of Sous Vide - I had to look it up! I must have missed a previous post about mice - just wondering - do you think you might have caught the same mouse more than once?

eileeninmd said...

Hello,

We have had some expensive repairs to our cars a few times. It was due to mice or some critter eating the wires. I am not sure what would keep them out of the cars. The soup sounds delicious! I love the heart quilt and the Christmas pattern. Take care, enjoy your day!

QuiltGranma said...

Did you know that if you eat a meal or many meals without meat you are still getting more than adequate protein? Yes, the animals we eat get theirs from the grains, greens, etc that they eat, and when you eat the critters you only get protein, but not the roughage that you need... and animal protein is harder to digest, slows down the bowel and will ferment in you intestines? Does that sound lovely? Try vegetarian dishes, save money since meat is so costly and fatty, and see if you do not feel better.

Sheryl said...

I love pumpkin soup and yours looks delicious with the added veg. The lap rug looks soft and inviting to settle with a good book. Too many hobbies to keep me busy in retirement.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

Fine decorative wood carving is a fabulous art form and Canada has produced many world champions. I have had the good fortune to interview several of them. But their work is going to cost you a tad more than the ducks you bid on!