Hello to all my blog friends!  I have been away in London, England for a week and I just wanted to let you know that I am back and I will be updating on my blog about my trip just as soon as I get settled in.  I did not forget about you all, and my family and I had a fabulous vacation.  We arrived home last night and now I have to get everything back to normal around here with unpacking, laundry, food shopping and cooking.  There is a five hour time difference and they are five hours ahead of us here in the US.

Here is a photo of a taxi

I can't wait to share with you some of my photos, places we visited, food and fashion.   So stay tuned everyone and I'm glad to be back.

We had friends over last week for a BBQ and our friends brought with them Potato and String Bean Salad.  It was so good that I asked my friend Donna for the recipe and she gave it to me and now I want to share it with you.  This dish goes great with any meat, chicken or fish dish.


Donna's Potato & String Bean Salad

Serving Size: 8 - 12 people
Prep time: Half hour

8 red potatoes, peeled and cut up
2 lb. string beans
1 container cherry tomatoes, cut in half
4 kirby cucumbers, peeled and cut up
1/4 cup red onion, cut up
1 jar pitted black olives, cut up
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheese sprinkled on top

Peel and cut up potatoes and put into a pot and boil for about 20 minutes until done.  Next boil or steam string beans for about 20 minutes until done.  In a large bowl or tray add all the vegetables and mix.  Next add vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and mix everything all together.  Then add grated cheese on top.



Julie

 How would you like to have a large glass of sun tea?  Well,  if you have a large jug like the one I have then you can make this Sun Tea.  It is so refreshing to drink on a hot summer day.  I used a cute mason jar and sliced up lemons to add and a bright pink straw.


This is the jug that I used and I just set it in the sun in my yard.  I used 5 tea bags and when the tea looks dark after a few hours just bring it inside, take out the tea bags and there you have your Sun Tea.  It is so good that you don't need to add any sugar.


Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

How's everyone's week been?  I have been busy crocheting this dishcloth this week and it is Week 15 of the 52 Weeks of Dishcloths.

It's the American Flag Crochet Dishcloth and I just love it!  It's so patriotic and it was so much fun to crochet.  It involves color changes of yarn and the stitch forms a wave.

This stitch would be good to use to make a blanket or scarf.  Just think of the possibilities of what color combinations you could use.



The yarn that I used is from Lion Brand Yarn, Kitchen Cotton in the colors:  Cayenne, Vanilla, and Blueberry.   The pattern can be found HERE.



Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

How would you like a nice glass of Iced Coffee at home?  You can make your own at home without going to the local coffee shop and paying a lot of money for a large iced coffee.  Step into my kitchen and I will show you what to do.  This is quick and easy and you and your guests will love this.

Make a large pot of hot coffee the way that you would normally do.  Let the coffee cool off and pour into a pitcher and refrigerate to make the coffee cold.

When the coffee is cold you will fill a glass with ice cubes and then pour in the coffee and you can add half and half, or any kind of milk that you like.  If you want to add sugar you can do that too.


Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

This Very Berry Crochet Dishcloth is from Week 13 of the 52 Weeks of Dishcloths.  It is a crocheted pattern that uses the Right Post Stitch and Left Post Stitch.  It took me a while to get used to crocheting this stitch since I had never crocheted this before.  Once I got the hang of it I was glad and I can't wait to make a scarf using this pattern.

Here are some pictures I took of the crocheted dishcloth.





Thanks everyone and enjoy.

Julie

I needed a new sunglass case for my sunglasses and I decided to crochet one myself.  Here is an easy pattern to crochet that I designed myself.  It was so fast and easy to make and I had a lot of fun.  Why not give it a try and let me know how it comes out!




Crochet Sunglass Pattern

Yarn: 1 Skein of Lily Sugar & Cream
Color: Playtime
Crochet Hook: US size I

sc = single  crochet

Chain 20
Row 1 - sc in 3rd chain from hook & all the way across to the end, ch 1 turn
Row 2 - sc in next sc & all the way across to end, ch 1 turn - 18 sc
Row 3 - Repeat until the piece measures 6 1/2 inches.
Fasten off and do not cut the yarn, you will need to leave enough yarn to sew two sides together.
Fold the piece in half. Take long piece of the yarn and sew the two sides up on the wrong side.
Turn inside out and done.

Option:  If you want to you can weave in at the top of the sunglass case with yarn to make a pull string.

At the top here you will weave in the end.  At the other end you will leave the yarn long so you can sew up the sides of the sunglass case.






Fold the piece over in half on the wrong side .




Thanks everyone and enjoy.


Julie

For the next few weeks I will be in Manhattan due to my daughter going to camp.  When I dropped her off today I saw that this tree was yarn bombed.  Look how pretty the tree looks covered in pink and green yarn.


Next I went to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio and here are some photos I took of the window display.  Please excuse the quality of some of the photos because you can see my reflection in the glass.  It is an under the sea theme and made with yarn.

Look at these sea creatures floating on the glass, they look like starfish to me.

Look at these beautiful sea creatures and their pretty colors.
Here you can see barnacles if you look closely on the wood.

Look at this big octopus floating around.  I am amazed by how real this looks.

Look at this mermaid hanging there with the sea horses and sea weed.

Here are some jelly fish floating around too.  If you are in New York City and love yarn this is a must see.

This is yarn that I bought to make for my nephew's wife who is expecting a baby boy in November.  I decided to pick out the light green and yellow instead of using the usually blue.

Here is another skein of light green yarn that I am going to use to make a summer knitted scarf.

Look at these pretty colors, you know what I am going to use these for.

Here is more cotton yarn that I could not resist and it was on sale.  I just love the colors and cotton yarn is nice to use in the summer.