Cooking, cleanin' and sewing

Lately I've been sewing, drying foods and clearing out clutter. It's nice to get things out of the house that haven't been used for a long time, and send it on to a new life with someone else. We have some great 2nd hand stores that support organizations such as St Vincent de Paul's and the Old Town Mission, so I try to send most of my things to them. Two big bags of clothing, several flower vases and even some silk flowers are off to the 2nd hand store. Right now I'm making a skylight cover for Heather's house for the front room. It's nice for the winter, but makes it really hot in the summer, so hopefully this will help. The project before that was a button-up shirt for David as a father's day gift, then an apron and pot holders for my niece, Franki's graduation. She loves to cook! I want to make me a nice caftan-style dress for casual wear around the house, but pretty enough to wear out if I want. Since it's a little too hot to do any canning, I've been drying apples, celery and next will be peppers. I want to make 'dinner in a jar' recipes. I found them on Chef Tess' blog, and they are so interesting. Done in bulk, they use freeze-dried meats, dried vegies, etc. Put together in quart canning jars, all you have to do is dump them in a pan to cook. I'll let you know how it works out.