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Cajun Soup Recipe

What feels like a hundred years ago, which in reality was 2016, I took a 30 week French cooking class at The Seasoned Farmhouse in Columbus. I met a lot of people all different ages and backgrounds but what we all had in common was we liked to cook, wanted to learn different things in the kitchen and of course eat. During those weeks, our Chef Tricia, threw in a day of cooking cajun recipes, which I certainly didn't have a lot of exposure to living in Ohio.  We cooked a Chicken & Andouille Smoked Sausage Gumbo from the book of Paul Preudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. We also made a cajun meatloaf and a shrimp etouffe but I enjoyed the gumbo the most and I decided to dust off the recipe we made and make it again in 2023. I admit I didn't stick closely to the recipe, which most southerners who know how to make gumbo would know doubt have something to say about that and I know. I'm not trying to be them. I'm just trying to make a tasty soup.  To make this tasty gumbo y
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Singer Treadle Sewing Machine

Last fall, I decided to try my hand at refurbishing something over the winter. Something I had never done before and I didn't really have anything in mind. So, after some internet surfing and going down the YouTube rabbit hole, I found myself watching video's on how to restore vintage singer sewing machines. And the more I watched, the more interested I became in these old machines. After all, I sew and quilt so it peaked my interest. I started digging into the history of the sewing machine, which I will not get into here, and realized that the actual technique for machine sewing really hasn't changed all that much in the last 100 years or so, which I thought was pretty interesting.  And I thought, maybe I could find an old treadle sewing machine and restore that over the winter. I've never done anything like that and some of those old machines are pretty cool. I also knew that they are fairly common and not that expensive and I thought it would be a nice affordable pro

On Wander Lane - Block of the Month (May)

 Our next month in our 13 month long quilting project for On Wander Lane was for the month of May. After sewing the background fabric together (I didn't change any this month), I ironed down the pre-cut applique pieces that was sent to me in the packet. I used the block guideline to help place everything. There was some really small pieces in this one. The birds beaks and little hearts were tiny and the fabric was fraying even with the interfaced glue on the back. One of the hearts tore and I wasn't sure about trying to sew these little pieces down, so I decided to cover them with embroidery floss. In addition to the main block, we had 3 additional blocks to make. The bird block, the flower block and the house block.  First, I cut all the separate little fabric pieces from the enclosed fabrics sent and there were a lot. It takes a while and I go slow and check everything off as I cut the pieces. Then I can follow the instructions to put everything together. The instructions hav

On Wander Lane - Block of the Month (April)

  Our second BOM for On Wander Lane is for the month of April titled Bunny Knoll.  We had a slight hiccup with our applique pieces but it was pointed out and the provider got corrections sent to us. Which means, I couldn't do the main block first and so I worked on the three border blocks first.  Tulip Block This block went together fairly easily. The background fabric squares were sewn on the diagonal on the tulip fabric and trimmed, while the green leaf fabric was placed on the background fabric. Sew the pieces together and you get a tulip flower.  Block on Block This block was made using a 3.5" square piece with a picture of a house and flower on it. Some background pieces was added using two different fabrics and sewed together.  Flower Basket Block This block was made using half square triangle (HST). I've never done HST's this way before but I've seen it done. The instructions were clear and I didn't have any trouble. It's difficult to see but I'v

On Wander Lane - Block of the Month (March)

Well, I bit the bullet. I joined a block of the month through Stitchin' Heaven . I have never signed up for a BOM simply because of the cost. I figured I can cut out my own stuff. Well, after several years of starting and never finishing sewing projects, I realized something. I don't have the patience, time or energy to do everything. If it's a simple cut fabric and sew together quilt, that's fine but if there's a lot of applique involved, forget it. I will buy all the fabric, because let's face it that's the fun part, pet it for a while and be all excited about the quilt project, get started then realize that making the thing is going to take at least a year and roughly 462 months.  And let's face it,  life gets in the way and then I spend less and less time with my project and the excitement wanes. Then I've got pieces and parts laying around and no energy to figure out where I left off. Sounds familiar, right? Don't lie it totally does. I cann