Hands on in my home

So on New Years eve day I went crazy in the kitchen and started clearing out cupboards and drawers.  I've been tackling one or two a day, and I'm quite happy with the result, even though I still have the main pantry to finish.  It's already made cooking easier.  Now I don't have to paw through a million gadgets (including 3 zesters, what. why?, a dozen stray chopsticks, old barbecue baster brushes, and assorted camping utensils) to find the potato peeler.  One drawer in particular which holds all my cloth napkins, tea towels, dish cloths and aprons is finally organized.  Previously they were spread across three different places in the kitchen and now I have them all in one deep drawer, freshly washed, folded, and ready for action.

In between all the cleaning I have been reading The Hands-On Home, and I can't recommend it enough.  Well written, with beautiful photographs, Erica Strauss of the blog
Northwest Edible Life, shares her modern homemaking tips in the way of recipes for meals as well as cleaners, canning, preserving, and tips for keeping a natural home throughout each season. The recipes and ideas for what the heck to do with all my lemons (preserving lemons in salt, recipes for lemon curd, lemon glaze over olive oil cake, lemon ricotta and aioli.  who knew?) was worth the price alone, as was a simple dessert for roasted pears with caramel sauce I made last week and shamelessly slurped out the remaining sauce from the pan when no one was looking.

about half the fruit picked from my Meyer lemon tree in the garden

The patchwork squares from my previous post turned into this little mini quilt, a pattern from Temecula Quilt Co.  It finishes up at  11.75x8.5 inches.  I used a piece of flannel instead of batting and I like the way it works in a small quilt like this.

Now before you go I have a couple more links to share with you.  If you have been missing Dottie Angel since the blog closed down, this pod cast/interview with Tif Fussell  at Woolful, might help fill in that gap a bit (and explains why she stopped blogging).
Also this Louise cardigan, I want, want, want and that Anna Maria Horner skirt too!

Until next time :)