Black Bean Hummus

So if you love hummus as much as I do you are going to love the fact that you can use all kinds of things to make it.  Any bean, roasted egg plant and I'm sure you can think of other ways to make hummus.  My favorite way to make hummus is with cannellini beans, but then I tried black beans and well now I'm not sure which bean is my favorite.  I start always with organic supplies so I do get organic black beans for this recipe.  You must try making it yourself.  So much better than store bought I promise you.  Now when you are using your food processor to mix this us and make it creamy, if you find that it is lumping and the mixture isn't freely going around and around in the processor then by all means add a little more olive oil...just a little more at a time...you can always add more but trying to take it out once you've added it, well that is impossible.  So here's the recipe:

1 regular size can of organic black beans (no flavors added) rinsed well!
1/4 cup a good olive oil
1/4 cup Tahini (this is a must for the best flavor)
3 cloves of garlic chopped or minced well
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme (not ground) fresh is best if you have it use 3/4 tsp for fresh
Pita chips, pretzel chips, pita bread or whatever turns you on!

Put all the ingredients into a food processor starting with the beans.  Process by pulsing your processor on and off for about 3-5 minutes.  If it looks dry or isn't going round and round add a little more oil.  The mixer should be thick but not dry.
Enjoy!

Portable Potting Bench

As you might know (or not) that I love to work with wood.  I've been making the raised gardens now for almost 2 years for others because I loved mine so so so much!
I have been wanting a potting bench so bad.  I purchased one and well it lasted about a year before it fell apart. I was so sad about this.  I paid a lot for it and it was so small and I couldn't move it around.  Well yesterday I decided to make my own potting bench.  I decided that I wanted to move it around so I made it like a wheel barrel I guess you might say.  Anyway I put wheels on one end.  I also put sides on the bottom shelf so that stuff wouldn't fall out if I decided to move it closer to my raised gardens.
I am so over the top about my portable potting bench.  I still have to stain it but haven't decided on a color yet.  I was thinking of doing it in red and yellow, what do you think????
Here are some pictures of my price possession:

If you'd like one...call me.  :)

Karen Kay Buckley and the sewing organizer.

Karen Kay Buckley did a workshop at Quilters Crossing for her Fiesta Texas Quilt.  You can see all the blocks here:  http://www.karenkaybuckley.com/weblog/?p=4618
My friend Linda Love talked me into the class and I agreed even though I felt that hand applique would be more than this girl could handle.  I was wrong, I'm not too bad at it.  So I've been working on my block when it's my TV sit down and relax time.  Here is what I have done so far on the block she demonstrated:

The class was large with many participants but we had plenty of room and the class was loads of fun.

While taking this class Karen told us about the items she sells of course and one of those items is a thread carrier....  Looking at this thread carrier I noticed it was the exact same size as our May's boutique project, the sewing organizer.  We got the pattern off the Pfaff website for free and altered it so it only had three zippered sections to save time and money on this project....  the thread bag was also altered but much less than our alteration.  She made the bag with 4 thread pockets and two larger pockets for sewing supplies.  Anyway, I loved the idea but didn't like her selection of fabric or the generic way it was put together so I decided since I already have the pattern I would just make one for myself!  And of course I did.  Now I am not the worlds best with zippers but I'm pleased with the results.  If you look closely at the picture of the thread in the pouch you will see the each spool was threaded with a needle and run threw the wool I placed along the zipper and the tail left hanging.  This is so you do not have to take the thread out of the pocket.  All you have to do is pull on the tail, cut off what you need and leave a tail for the next time you need that color...  I've seen this before and meant to make one for myself but didn't have a pattern for that one...but I do have this pattern!  You can find the pattern for the sewing organizer on the Pfaff website under free patterns.  You would not even have to alter the pattern except to add wool or some other thick material on the plastic right below the zipper to run your thread through.
http://www.pfaffusa.com/images/content/us/SewingOrganizer_Pfaff.pdf
Here is my thread organizer:

Here it is with all my new thread in the pockets!

Support the SOS

Fabric Yarn Kit Shop on Ebay, I'm always saddened by dishonesty.

I'm not sure why I get so shocked when someone is dishonest....but I am.  I seem to continue to expect people to be honest and kind.
I am part of a wonderful Quilt Guild, we work very hard all year to raise money for some wonderful Children's charities and charities for our Vets.

This year I am the chair for the boutique.  We work like dogs all year making things to sell at our quilt show. All the profits are used for these charities.  We are making so many wonderful items this year.  Our theme is the sewing room, so all our items will be related to helpful items for your sewing room.  I sure hope you can make it to our 2014 Quilt show and support our Guild.
Anyway, one of our projects is a design wall.  I designed this wall for my self and have had several ladies want me to make one for them...so I thought wow this might be something that would sell at the boutique.  I set out to get the best possible price for 54 inch wide flannel, in two yard cuts.  I found this shop on Ebay:  http://stores.ebay.com/fabricyarnkit "the owner is Katharine Keller" through people from our guild.

In January I ordered 40 yards of this flannel in 2 yard pieces....so I would have 20 design boards.  The cost was amazing...so I thought.  Stupid me didn't open the 18x14x18 inch box when I got it.  This workshop to make these design walls isn't till June so I was in no rush to open the box.  Yes I know that was a big mistake...however it wouldn't have mattered if I opened the box right away.  In my opinion this Ebay seller set out to short me fabric.

When I finally opened the completely full box and found only 20 yards of fabric I thought to myself  "I thought I bought 40 yards" but figured I was mistaken so I contacted the seller for 20 more yards.  She made a listing for me and told me that my last order was for 40 yards...(I guess trying to get me to order 40 more yards so she could cheat me again)  So I ran upstairs took all the fabric out of the box, counted the 2 yard sections, found the receipt still at the bottom of the box.  So I messaged her back and told her she was correct I did order 40 yards of fabric but only received 20.  I told her I wished she would have informed me there were two boxes because now it is probably too late to contact the post office to find out what happen but if she could forward that tracking number (since I only received a tracking number from one box) I would try to find out what happened.

She messaged me back and said that only one box had shipped.  So I took a picture of the label the box and the contents to show her not another piece of fabric would fit into this size box.  She messaged me back and said that the label stated the box was 27 pounds....  and that that was how much 40 yards of this thick double brushed 54 inch wide fabric would weight.   So I weighed the box...I also with a friend tried to place 40 yards (nearly two bolts) of this same fabric into this same box...it was of course impossible.  So I messaged her back and told her the box did not weigh 27 pounds, it weight 12lb 14 oz and that she had made a mistakes.  I explained it was for charity and that if she would be so kind as to send me the missing 20 yards I'd appreciate it.

Well of course she would not, I now believe she set out to cheat me in the first place.  Had I opened the box the day I received it with the erroneous weight on the box we would have had the same conversation.  "The box label states it weighs 27 lbs so you received 40 yards of fabric and you must have forgotten and used the 20 extra yards someplace else"  Yeah, I forgot using 20 yards of fabric and the box didn't come close to 27 pounds.
I asked her to please test and see if 40 yards of the same fabric would fit into the same box...she said she did test and it fit fine...then in the same message she said she was sorry she didn't have any more of this fabric to sell me 20 more yards....  So....she is a liar, she never tested it, she never intended to test it.  How can you test if you don't even have the fabric....  Each yard of this fabric would be equivalent to one pair of average size blue jeans....if you can fit 40 pairs of blue jeans in a 18x14x18 inch box...then you are a miracle worker...

So the lesson was learned, there are people that would cheat charities out of money.
I would suggest you do not make a purchase from this seller or any dishonest seller and I would suggest that you make it know if you have a similar experience with an Ebay seller.  It would have been helpful if I had know she was going to be dishonest.  If you absolutely have to make a purchase from her I suggest that when the box arrives you look at the weight listed on the box and decide if it is correct before you accept that shipment, then open the box and be sure you have received what you paid for.

It really is sad....I have found another resource I am happy to say, and if you would like that information just let me know.
Update:  I have a friend in the post office that did some more research for me.  She said that when the box was scanned in it was also weighed, it actually weighed 12 pound 7 ounces.  Well I already new it didn't weigh the 27 pound this dishonest seller put on the box...am I going to write her again and let her know there is proof of her deceit, no, it wouldn't matter anyway.  People like this are just out to rip anyone off and they seem to pray on anyone they can.