Crafty Mama Part III

My mom's time with us is coming to a close (boo)…and there were a few projects that I wanted to finish before she left.  Mother-daughter-wisdom-imparting and all that.  First off, I finally finished Toby's stocking!  I've blogged about this before, but since my mom made a Christmas stocking for me when I was little, and Eric's mom made a stocking for him, I thought it would be fun to be able to make stockings for our kids, too.  They are all different: Maggie's is felt, Ben's is cross-stitch, and Toby's is needle-point.  None were completed for Christmas #1, but all for Christmas #2.  The boys' stockings (and Eric's) hang to the left and the girls' hang to the right. Ah, symmetry. :)  It was fun to do Toby's stocking, never done needlepoint before, and I think it turned out great!  My mom helped me cut it out and sew the backing on securely with a machine.  Eh voila!

All three proudly displayed on our new mantle.

The other project I've been thinking about for awhile is canning.  Our power has been off a TON and so even though we have freezer space, I'm constantly worried about the state of things in the freezer.  I had put some canning equipment on the container but had never tried canning before, although my mom has lots of experience.  We tried a batch of pickles which basically turned out (not quite vlasic, but not bad).  Then our dear house helper Salvatore has been sick for the last month so I have done a lot of scrambling to get meals ready, make spaghetti sauce, bread, etc.  (again, SO glad my mom is here right now).  Fortunately he is back now, but his absence inspired me to put away some "emergency stores."  We mixed up a giant vat of spaghetti sauce and another one of a vegetable soup base.  And here it is, yielding 5 quarts of spaghetti sauce and 8 quarts of soup base.  All the jars sealed so it was an exciting evening. :)  Some days I feel a little bit like "Little House on the Prairie," although honestly we're a long way from that.  Nice to get in touch with my pioneer self!