Apple time!

As I write, the wonderful smell of home made apple sauce is wafting through the house. It is definitely apple time in Wisconsin!

My daughter, son-in-law, husband and I recently toured the Lapacek apple orchard near Poynette, Wisconsin. I snapped this pix on the right of the three of them at the highest point in the orchard while on their "scavenger hunt tour"!

The orchard is a delight from the apple trees in full fruit to the pick-your-own raspberries to the wonderful craft shop. There are great activities for adults and children alike, and you can even meet friendly animals, such as Mac 'n Tosh, the emus pictured below.

But the most fun was meeting Kim and her mother-in-law, absolutely splendid folks! You can see me with my daughter and Kim below, too. You can tell us from the emus, can't you? ;) Kim actually is an Etsy seller as well with fantastic quilts and many other items. Please check her out at http://KimsCraftyApple.etsy.com/

Kim was also kind enough to put some of my apple scrubbies in her shop, so if you are in Columbia County in Wisconsin, you can see them at the orchard. Whispering Orchards here in Sheboygan County also offers my apple scrubbies, so there's opportunities to purchase them there besides my Etsy Shop.

A..........pplesauce

One of my fellow Etsy Bloggers, Mystic Wynd, inspired me to create in a non-crafting way and blog about it today. You can find her shop at http://mysticwynd.etsy.com/ She is doing a series about our five senses and her post today was about smells. So off to the kitchen I went for some McIntosh apples, a paring knife, cutting board and our slow cooker. In about 20 minutes I had the apples pared, cored and chopped and into the water. After draining the apples, I added 1/4 cup of sugar (which for those of you with greater will power could omit), some cinnamon and 1/4 cup of water.

Then the slow cooking, (on low) began. Within a couple of hours, the most fabulous smell was emanating throughout the house, bringing back so many memories of my mom's and grandma's kitchens. After a couple more hours and a stirring or two, it was ready to make a great warm dessert for dinner.

Why not try some yourself? You won't be disappointed! It doesn't take long, and it's s.........ooo much better than store bought applesauce! Other types of apples, especially baking apples, work well too. This makes 4-6 servings and really doesn't take that much time to make. It's heart healthy as well...especially if you add very little or no sugar.

In the first picture, you might have noticed in the upper portion a small part of our wonderful lazy susan. This is from another wonderful Etsy shop: http://woodmosaics.etsy.com/ If you're in the market for one, you can't go wrong with Robin's intricate work!

C.........ustomers inspire me!

It never ceases to amaze me...whenever I concentrate on listening instead of talking, (which for those of you who know me, that's hard to do!)
I learn so much and get so many ideas. Recently a customer asked if I could make the apple dish scrubbies in green and yellow as well as the usual red. Of course I have often seen different colors of apples in the stores but it never transferred into a crafting idea. So here they are, and they seem very cheery. Do you think I'll learn a lesson this time??

B.........iggest sellers

In preparation for my "etsyversary" on January 17, I thought I'd do a two-part series on what I consider my greatest successes over the past year. By far and away, the apple and pear dish scrubbies have been the most popular. These are original designs and were such fun to create and market. I attribute their popularity to their price, practical use, and originality. They are available in pairs and also by the half dozen which saves even more. Folks have told me that they like to tie these on a package as a little extra, and I even had another etsy seller, zamzamdesigns, feature these on her blog! I plan to do a blog giveaway this weekend and these might be the prize!

F.........rom the flower comes the fruit!

For those of you who enjoyed the flower scrubbies, here are the fruits that follow! As my kitchen is decorated with apples and pears, these are a logical choice. They are strong enough to help with pots and pans and yet don't scratch the dishes. I'll be working on a peach soon. Then maybe we can have a "peach of a pear"!

A.........pple Scrubbies

Because fall is the season for apples, this post seemed perfect for the the September 29 blog carnival! It seems that everyone likes the standard nylon net scrubbies, I thought I'd show my original design for scrubbies in the shape of a red apple with a green leaf. They work as well as the other scrubbies and I find them more fun to look at...of course my kitchen has apple decorations!
Seeing as many of you asked for the pattern, I'll give it as briefly as I can. You will need a size "I" crochet hook...if you crochet very tight, you might want to up it a size or two...and two 2" strips of nylon netting, about 8 yards of red and 1 1/2 yards of green. Because nylon net comes 72" wide, you can get quite a few from one purchase.
With red, ch 3, sl st to form a ring. Work 8 sc in ring. Join with sl st to first sc. Ch 1. Work 2 sc in each sc around and join with sl st to first sc. (16 sts). For row 3: ch1. Work sc in next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc around. Join with sl st to first sc (20 sc). Last row (apple shaping): Sl st in next sc. Work hdc in next sc. Work 3 dc in next sc. Work hdc in next sc. Work 2 sc in next sc. Work sc in each of next three sc. Work 2 hdc in next sc. Sl st in each of next 2 sc. Work 2 hdc in next sc. Work sc in each of next three sc. Work 2sc in next sc. Work hdc in next sc. Work 3 dc in next sc. Work hdc in last sc. Sl st in first sl st and finish off.
Join green strip in the sl st you just finished. Sc in next 2 sts on top of the apple. Work 2 sc in next st on top of apple. Ch 3. Turn. Work sc back to center and finish off.
Hope you can follow this! If I would need to write it out more carefully with illustrations I would have to sell the pattern Hope you understand. I do have finished scrubbies for sale in my etsy shop. There's a link on the right!