Remember the iPhone pouch I was making for our veterinarian's mother? She's a big Nebraska fan, so he asked me to put their logo on it for her. I couldn't figure out how to do it with needle-felting, which was how I made the Apple logo on mine, the one our vet saw me wearing. I found the logo as an embroidered patch at The Patch Collection. They had several sizes, so I picked the size that fit best. I found some fabric in my stash for the lining.
Pauly doesn't have much in the way of clothing, so I decided to make him one of my Wonderland Turtle pullover/cardigans. I used the smaller size, of course, but there is a larger size for the slim Happy Kidz dolls or the plumper American Girl/Boy dolls.
Tuesday, we had our Madroña Vineyards Zoom "pop-up" meeting/party. The plan this time was for us all to make the same recipe and pair it with different wines to see how the wines went with them. Everyone got this link to start with for the recipe. The daughter of the Vineyard owner said she recognized it as the "TikTok Pasta" recipe, so that's how I saved it in my The Recipe Box app (See my recipe in photo below). I made some changes, the main one being using feta crumbles instead of a block of feta, because of availability, and sliced salad olives...just because. It worked fine, we thought. The recipe calls for roasting the feta cheese with olive oil and seasonings first.
While it's roasting, you cook the pasta. Then you mix the cooked pasta in with the roasted cheese and tomatoes, along with basil and garlic. Some basil leaves decorate the top and then the sliced olives. We used gemelli pasta, and the grooves collected the juices from the tomatoes nicely.
It was delicious, and we'll make it again! We had a Terra d'Oro Barbera 2016 with it. I thought it was great with every bite, but Charlie thought it was better with a bite of the pasta and cheese but not as much with a bite of mostly the tomatoes.
The greenhouse demolition is coming along. The floor was poorly and cheaply made. Charlie will build a new floor.
With his part of the bathroom closet done, Joshua is working on our front porch/deck. He found the front posts placed directly on the ground, which is not to code. He believes the house was probably inspected before the porch was built, as that often happens. Then it may be expedient to build the porch without abiding by code. It will be up to code when he finishes with it. The bannisters were wobbly, and that will be fixed, too. He is replacing the wood that rotted as a result of coming into direct contact with the soil.
Joshua set up his workshop between where our trailer is parked in the trailer driveway and the fence to the back yard.
The books are starting to go out to friends and family first and our first preorders. I was excited to learn that another check with royalties from the first two books had gone to St. Jude. They have now received a little over $325 from the sale of the books in two years, with more of it coming in the second year. It's good to know that as little as it is, that support will continue after I'm gone, as long as people still buy the books.
This week's cuteness is Miss Daphne, reading my latest book. (I got a kick out of how she texted me, asking when the book would be out. She seemed excited to get it.)
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's books. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our other books, Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my needles: Still the Hinterland Pullover (some more very slight progress made) and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating). Cast on Pauly's Wonderland Turtle and finished the collar. The pattern is Pippa's Wonderland Turtle.
What's on my loom: Dust, but I still plan to make some placemats.
What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt.
What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress..
What's in The Doll's Storybook: Fall Is for Falling came out October 14th. Pauly sees trees that have turned red or yellow and thinks they're changing their clothes. Mandy and Emil help him understand how leaves change color and fall to the ground.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: Fall Is for Falling came out October 14th. Pauly sees trees that have turned red or yellow and thinks they're changing their clothes. Mandy and Emil help him understand how leaves change color and fall to the ground.
What's on my iPad/iPhone: Listening to Plan for the Worst, Chronicles of St. Mary's, Book 11 from Audible.
What's in my wine glass: Sinfonia vinho tinto from Portugal. Nice enough.
What's my tip of the week: My recipe for TikTok Feta Pasta––Enjoy!
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes.
Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.
Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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