Breck's Double Geranium Collection Arrived Today

They look great with very healthy-looking roots.   I went out and immediately planted them.

Just so I can remember where they are, I am posting these pictures:

Southcrombe Double planted here:

Birch Double here:

Summer Skies Double Here:

If I don't take pictures to document where they are, I will forget and dig them up to plant something else!

Early this morning, I finished putting together this quilt block of a pilgrim lady carrying her Thanksgiving turkey to the table.  Now I can begin to make her husband, who's carrying a pumpkin.  It's a fun project!

Crafty Saturday at Home

I spent yesterday creating things...including a big mess. :) 

Since J does all the cooking during the week, I try to take over that task on the weekends that I am home.  I make extra for the freezer, so he always has something he can heat up quickly if he does not feel like cooking. 

I made something new last night-- Buffalo Wing Chicken Meatballs.  They were stuffed with a piece of Feta cheese.

I used 2 lbs. of ground chicken breast mixed with an egg, diced red pepper, diced red onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and whatever spices you like--I used poultry seasoning, basil, salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes (depends on how big you make them). Don't over cook or they will be too dry.
While baking melt 1/2 cup butter and about 1/2 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce.  Lightly toss the chicken meatballs in this sauce just prior to serving.

I also added some spring colors to a denim wreath I made last fall:

and I turned these little paper pieces into that heart quilt block:

All in all I had a most enjoyable frigid winter Saturday staying home in my p.j.'s the wholel day!  I am planning to do pretty much the same thing today!

Grocery Store Shock & Bracing for More Snow

I had a moment of grocery store shock Sunday--when did Miracle Whip go over $5 for a jar? Wow! I told DH I didn't need it, so wait for a sale.

 Am I the only person who hates those little stems they leave on fresh spinach?

 The stems are always there when I order a salad in a restaurant. When I buy spinach, I cut them off before I make my salad.  I wish the chefs would also do that.  This time I was not making salad. I gave the spinach a quick saute and ended up with this:

Can you believe that's $4 worth of spinach?  It's about three good forkfuls!

We are in the midst of another big snow storm.   I have not checked the weather forecast, but it's pretty bad out there right now. 

Wait.

 I will peek out the front door into the blustery winter weather to see what's it's like.

It's a winter wonderland. The driveway was just cleared 1.5 hours ago, so it's been falling pretty hard all afternoon.  My mom just called to make sure I made it home from work OK. Isn't that sweet? I guess mothers never stop worrying.

While cleaning this weekend, I finally found my Mikasa crystal wine bottle coaster. I have been looking for it since last summer.

Evidently I needed to add some height to the butter dish and stuck the coaster under it, then put both on top of the china cabinet.  It is so pretty. What a waste to hide it up there where it can't be seen unless I stand on a chair. I cleaned the silver dish and put a piece of wood under it instead of the crystal.

Last night I felt like sewing, but did not want to start a big project, so I decided to see what I could make from my few small remaining bags of fabric scraps. ( I threw away a full garbage bag full over the weekend.)  I decided I would use this pattern because it only takes small skinny pieces of fabric.

 I made four of them.

 Then sewed the four blocks together:

It will make an interesting 9-inch square pot holder.

I also tried a second pattern with a less scrappy look.

 I like this one much better. It may work its way into something more special than a potholder. :)

On to the New Year

We had a great time on our New Year's Eve weekend dinner/dance party.  The dinner was steak and a skewer of  scallops and bacon, with a baked potato bar.  It was good.  Dessert was a raspberry ice cream ball encased in hard white chocolate and drizzled with dark chocolate. Once you cracked the white chocolate shell the ice cream oozed out......Ci są pyszne, vi sono deliziosi, vous sont délicieux, que son deliciosas.... no matter what language you use, it was delicious!
  

We really loved the band. As you might guess by their picture, they played 50's & 60's R&R.   DH wore that black hat at the top.

The hat added another 4 inches to his already tall (6.3” ) fame .  I must say  he looked  quite dapper twisting to the song made famous by Chubby Checker.  He was doing the twist with a widowed friend so I was sitting at the table watching. I had no idea the man could contort his upper body like that! 

We left very early Sunday morning so we could beat the big blizzard predicted to hit the U.P. about noon.  The roads were snow covered, but not too slippery as the temp was slightly above freezing. We made it home by 11:00 a.m. and after unpacking, I spent the rest of New Year's Day cooking, relaxing, and watching a movie.


I had to work today. I just got home and it is really snowing here. Someone at work told me we are supposed to get over 8 inches and I think we have.  This is our first official snowstorm. I plan to stay inside the rest of the day and work on whatever it is I end up making with these little 4-inch tulip blocks:

I felt like making some paper-pieced blocks last week.  Now that they are finished, I have been thinking of what to make.........I am leaning toward incorporating them in some kind of apron.

I still have my Christmas trees up. I decided to leave them until Jan. 7. Yes, me, who almost always starts removing on Dec. 26.   This year I am in no hurry to take it all down.

I hope you are all having a wonderful new year!

Seeds 2011,Turkeys & Cupcakes

You all know that I can't grow anything from a seed...I've been telling you about my seed disasters for the past 7 years.

Ever the garden optimist, I buy seeds again this year.

Just look at these beauties!

I am most excited about these two:

I have never even heard of Poppy hens and chicks....but they are a true art form....how great will these things look in indoor arrangements? I get all tingly just thinking about it!  Bells of Ireland, I have grown once before.  They are just cool because they are green and so unique in an indoor arrangement.

I googled Poppy hens and chicks and found that they actually do get a flower! I was wondering, since the seed packet shows only the seed heads. I got this info here.

I am sooooooo excited about these. I hope I can get some to grow.  Are they just California poppies? That is what they look like to me.

Other than my normal  8.5 hours at work , I have been spending my snowy days inside sewing.  Cupcakes and turkeys--that's what I've been making........

I puttered around until I figured out how to make a turkey out of a Dresden Plate quilt block.

I made two of these guys (slightly different) and I am intending to make a table drape for Thanksgiving with them.

I went to Joanne's on Sunday and brought home some cupcake fabric. I am currently working on something using these little cupcake squares:

I will show you the finished results, should I ever really finish them!

Mother Nature can be so Cruel

This is what we woke up to this morning.  We had no idea we were going to get over six inches of snow.  As you can see we still have a lot of snow. It looks like it will be quite a few weeks before I will be doing any garden chores.

So I spent my entire Saturday morning in my sewing room completing this lovebird quilt block.  I had tons of problems, but finally got it done about 11:00 a.m.

Then I did a couple loads of laundry, changed the bed linen and cooked a pork roast for dinner.  Quite a delicious dinner, if I do say so myself.  I made some more of those Parmesan cheese baked potatoes that we like so well last month.The meal was easy to prepare and DH loved it. 

While I was in the basement doing laundry, I spotted my painted wooden kitchen utensils and brought them upstairs so I could use them to display pot holders. I just put a wonky outhouse pot holder on the spoon and  set it atop the knobs on the kitchen glassware cabinet.

This wonky house on the fork is my favorite.

The fork is what I like. I like the outhouse potholder better than the house.

Despite Mother Nature's cruelness, I had a pretty good day.

I hope you did, too.

Brownie Cupcakes

I needed to find a recipe to use up this buttermilk:

This is what I ended up making:

 We don't drink buttermilk, but I sometimes buy it for a recipe.  I have already forgotten what I bought the buttermilk for, but I really hate to waste food, so I looked through my recipe file to find something I could bake today to use it up.   I decided on cupcakes--these are rich and chocolately -- sort of between a brownie and a cupcake.


Recipe:

3/4 cup water
1 cup Hershey's cocoa
3 sticks of butter, cut up (I know it sounds like a lot, but it makes a lot of cupcakes and you use no butter for frosting)
3 cups flour
3 1/4 cups brown sugar (light or dark--does not matter--I used light)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line your muffin tins with paper liners. I used 27 large liners and 14 small.

1.  Put the 3/4 cup water, butter and Hershey's cocoa in a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in microwave for one minute. 

Stir. Microwave about one minute more, or just until the butter is melted.

2.  Slowly pour the mixture into a mixer bowl and beat slowly until combined. 

Then add the brown sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time and beat on low until just combined.

3.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Pour this slowly into the cocoa mixture and mix on low until just combined.

4. In another bowl, mix the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Mix this into the flour cocoa mixture -- again do it slowly and don't over mix.  Just get it all combined.

5.  Fill your paper-lined muffin tins about 3/4 full. 


6. I put my small cupcakes on the top shelf of the oven and baked them for about 16 minutes. 

The full size cupcakes baked for 26 minutes.

7. I did not think these needed any frosting.  I just sprinkled powdered sugar over the tops before serving.




I froze half of them as I always feel that when I cook or bake, I should enjoy the fruits of my labor for at least three meals.

Yesterday I made Pepperoni Pasta for dinner

and, of course, I froze half of that for another night.

I did a lot of cooking and sewing this weekend. What else is a girl to do when it's 8 below zero? Thank goodness it is not a work day and I did not have to go outside! 

Instead of scrubbing the floors(as I should have done), I spent most of the day sewing. I fininshed the second nutcracker block today and some tree blocks that go with the snowman blocks I finished last week.  Here are all the Christmas blocks for next year that I've completed in January:

I actually made 4 more tree blocks than what you see here. I decided that I needed to make them today before I used up all the blue background fabric for something else (that is why I did not get the floors done).  It felt good to get them all finished and now I will pack them away until I decide what to do with them.

Now I need to go check on my chicken that is roasting in the oven.  It's no wonder DH felt like buying me flowers yesterday--he's been eating like a KING for the past few weeks. 

Baking, Sewing, Online Shopping--That's My Evening

Big outlet reduction at my favorite clothing store (C*old*wat*er C*r*eek)--up to 85% off. I picked up just a couple of items...

another jean jacket - love the vintage lace on this one...also LOVE the big mark down - was $129.99, now $29.99!

This lightweight white cut out detailed shirt will be great for this summer.  I've had this one in my shopping cart for three weeks, just waiting until the price came down. Tonight I decided it was about as low as it was going to get and placed the order.  If I wait for it to go any lower, my size will probably sell out....it's like a game...sometimes I make out like a bandit; other times I lose the item by waiting.  I also found a code for free S/H - AFLC201 - in case anybody wants to use it. It just worked at 6:30 p.m., but I expect it to expire very soon.

I have not been doing much of interest the past few days.  It's been snowing - terrible roads when I went to work this morning. 

Last week I  finished the first nutcracker block. I have started another one.

 I am also putzing around with some  hearts. I have not sewn anything tonight because I am just not in the mood.  I did bake some little cakes, using a couple of pans I rarely use--hearts and mini bundts.

They match the heart blocks! 

A Snowy Weekend

It's been snowing all day--just big light flakes--it looks like a few inches of accumulation so far.

I just love to stay home on snowy weekends. I shower, put on a clean pair of jammies, and sew, cook, & read all weekend.

I sewed a few hours this morning and finished snowman block #4.  I decided I needed a girl snow person, so did one with a pink scarf.

These 4 blocks represent a minimum of 20 hours of work.  I am getting tired of making these blocks. I think I will stop at 4. 

If you remember, I am planning to make holiday chair covers with these snow people.  I had intended to make six of them, but now I am thinking that four snow people is plenty and I can then make two nutcracker blocks for the two end chairs.

I bought this nutcracker pattern from paperpanache.com at the same time I bought the snowman pattern.  If I change the green background to the same blue fabric as the snow people, I think it will look just fine. . . even more interesting than six of the same snow person pattern.

The only household work I did today was to wash bed linen and change the quilt and bed skirt on my bed. This off-white lacy bed skirt will go with anything, so that is what I decided to use with one of my green log cabin quilts.

When I switch to my Valentine pink heart quilt, this bed skirt will be just fine.  I switch quilts so often that it is nice to have a skirt that goes with everything.   It's a big pain in the posterior to remove the mattress so I can change bed skirts.

 I did not even remember that I had this neutral lacy bed skirt.  I went to the basement to rummage through my "bed skirt" Rubbermaid box and I found two of these!   I wonder when I bought them?  It must have been  years ago. One of them has never been opened!

I have some pork ribs in the oven with potatoes and a broccoli veggie mix for tonight's dinner. I pulled a couple of the ribs out before applying BBQ sauce to them because I want to use the pork in my yellow split pea soup tomorrow.  YUM! We should be having good eats this weekend!

My blog friend, Dianne, at Dianne Rambling On is having a Martha Stewart cookbook giveaway.  I love Martha cookbooks. You can still enter, just go over to Dianne's and leave a comment.

I hope you all have a great weekend!