It's The Holiday Season

The Christmas rush is ON!!! This time of year is my favorite. The twinkling lights. The delicious smells. The packages and bows. The tree.

A few of you have been checking in to see if I am OK, and the answer is YES!!! And thanks so much for your concern.

I've been sewing up a storm getting orders from my etsy shop packed and on their way. I also have an office job so it's always a juggling act fitting in everything I want to do, and sometimes blogging takes a back seat.  I update my instagram feed all the time, so you can always keep tabs on what I am doing there.

I hope that this Christmas season brings joy and wonder to all of you!!!

P.S. These photos are from my instagram feed. If you would like to see some wonderful photos, please go to my daughter's blog where she has posted all kinds of pictures of our house. ♥♥♥

This Week

This week was the kind of week I really hate to see come to an end. 

Making chocolate dipped Halloween treats and having a fun day with family and friends.

 

Gorgeous blue skies as backdrop to some of the most beautiful foliage I have seen.

 

A road trip to Ikea.  The car packed to the gills, with my grown kids in the backseat, laughing and joking. Looking in the rear view mirror was a glimpse into the past.

 

Fun little fabric finds to add to my stash. 

 

Carving pumpkins while cheering on the Red Sox in the World Series. We love adding cinnamon to the lids. Instant pumpkin pie aroma :)

Happy mail.

I'm hoping to have a chance to follow the Quilty Fun Sew Along and work on some of the blocks from the book this weekend. Can't wait!!

Happy weekend!

September

It seems like I blinked and September is almost over!! I LOVE September, and to me it is the start of the holidays!! Decorating begins. Sophie helped :) We have had perfect warm weather and blue skies. The leaves are just starting to turn golden, and a few of them have already drifted onto the ground.

Our Origami Owl party was FUN! The jewelery was adorable, and I think everyone had a great time and we loved having everyone visit our new house. I love the sound of laughter and chit chat....it gives the house such a good vibe!!

Pumpkins and mums by the back door. ♥♥♥♥♥

My favorite jeans needed a patch, so I used a hexie that was sitting in my sewing box. Not perfect, but kinda cute!!

One of the reasons that September seems like the start of the holidays is due to birthdays!!  Happy Birthday Tricia!!!

And a little Halloween sewing. This is a table runner made with The Boo Crew.  This was a fun rainy Sunday project. Love the ric rac. And the little monsters :)

I love September.

Three Things

1. A happy little project. Made from "The Simple Life" and the puppy is from "Fly A Kite". Pattern by Retromama.

2. Susan Branch stuff found at Marshalls. An under $10 splurge. Makes me happy!!

3. Fresh from the oven blueberry muffin. YUM.

Just a few things that are making me happy today. Wishing you some happy today too!!

Chit Chat

Hello! How have you all been?

I've been up to all kinds of things this week when I haven't been working or sewing for my shop. I wish I had some new cute patchworky things to show you, but you all have seen everything I have been sewing a zillion times!

So I thought I would share some gorgeous flowers that I found at Trader Joe's.

And the new "buffet" that I finally got for my dining room. I have wanted one forever and can hardly wait to decorate it for Halloween and Christmas!

I also painted my old "vintage" cabinet in my kitchen. The last time I painted it, I chose what I thought was red. But it ended up being orange for the past 5 years :).  I like the white as it brightens up all the wood in the kitchen. And I really love the way it looks with my red and white (and blue) dishes.

Last, but not least

Have you seen The Avengers? It is a totally fun summer blockbuster movie. We saw it 3-D, funky glasses and all. And do you love the action hero cake pops? My son's girlfriend made these in honor of the movie. Cute and delicious!!

December 8 - Green Coffee Cake

Every year, for many years, I made a homemade, from scratch, sour cream coffee cake for Christmas morning. It was a recipe made out of tradition more than anything else.  One year, on a lark, I made a pistachio cake recipe that was a relic from the 70's.  My kids LOVED it. They named it the Green Coffee Cake, and it has now replaced the time intensive sour cream coffee cake.  It is delicious AND really easy to make.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a try!

For the cake:

1 18.25 oz. box yellow cake mix
1 3.4 oz. box instant pistachio pudding
1 c. sour cream (you can use light if you want)
4 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil

For the filling:

1/2 c. chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans) you want these finely chopped
4 T. granulated sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl blend together the cake and pudding mix. Add the sour cream, eggs and oil. Mix well. In a small bowl, mix together the nuts, sugar and cinnamon.  Pour half of the cake batter into a greased and floured (or use Bakers Joy) 10" tube pan. Put half of the nut mixture on the batter in the pan and press down lightly. Pour the remaining batter in the pan and top with with remaining nut mixture. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 10-15 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack.

Happy Baking!!!

Summer Love

During the summer months I am ADDICTED to iced coffee, and have been known to stop twice a day at McDonald's (or during my full time job days) at Starbucks. Just can't get enough of the stuff. I had tried making it at home the only way I could think of. Brew a pot of coffee. Put it in the refrigerator. Pour over ice and add cream and sugar. But it was always weak and couldn't hold a candle to the elixir that is Starbucks.

A week or two ago, The Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for Iced Coffee. Hmmmm. Interesting. You pour cold water over the coffee and let it sit for hours. So I gave it a try. And I made a huge mess. But the resulting coffee was delicious. It was better than Starbucks.

I starting googling cold brew coffee and discovered that there is a french press coffee maker designed specifically for cold brew coffee. I wanted one. It was $40.00 on Amazon. Not in the budget.

This afternoon while at Target to pick up a few essentials, I passed  the clearance row, and there sat ONE lonely french press coffee maker. The same brand as on Amazon. And it was $19.00.


I am rationalizing that I will recoup my investment in about one week. No more drive thru coffee for me. I am using this recipe, tripled. If you've never tried Iced Coffee, you should make a batch to keep you going over the long holiday weekend. You might want to grab a can of sweetened condensed milk while you're at it.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

My Best Recipes

Can the cover of this cookbook be any cuter? I adore it's kitcshy vintage vibe, but what I love even more are the memories that this book holds. This cookbook was published in 1969 as a fundraiser for the Central Baptist Church in Jamestown, Rhode Island. I spent the first 9 years of my life there, and this cookbook holds memories of so many people who were a part of my childhood.

There are recipes contributed by my grandfather (who is no longer with us and who taught me to tie my shoes), my mom's aunt (one of my most favorite people ever), my 3rd grade teacher (who I adored) and several members of the small island community whose recipes have become favorites.

I have made this banana bread since I was 12 years old and my Mom first let me have free reign in the kitchen. It is so delicious, freezes well and it is a great way to use up those over ripe bananas that are lingering on your counter. Make sure you preheat your oven, and grease and flour your loaf pan (or use baking spray).

Your family will thank you.

In the Summertime

 It's Memorial Day. I know it is Memorial Day, because along with flags flying, 

my peonies are in bloom!

This weekend has been totally laid back and relaxing. I spent time doing things I enjoyed, like

Planting.

The zinnia seeds have sprouted, and are ready to be planted.

 These still need to be planted. My pots are washed and ready to go,

but I need more potting soil :)

 Grilling.

Nothing better than burgers and hot dogs on the grill. YUM!

I have to admit that I cooked ribs in the crockpot today. Much easier.

One of the best parts of the weekend is hanging out with this cute little puppy ♥. 

I also spent some time this weekend quilting! Will share more later this week.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and thanks to all of the 

men and women who serve and protect our country, 

and to Becky, who provided all of the photos in today's post!

March 17th

Wishing you a rainbow 
For sunlight after showers— 
Miles and miles of Irish smiles 
For golden happy hours— 
Shamrocks at your doorway 
For luck and laughter too, 
And a host of friends that never ends 
Each day your whole life through!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Birthday Cake

 photo courtesy of the birthday girl

The story of the cake.

Conversation between the birthday girl and her mother.
Me: What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?
BG:  (hopefully)  A delicious store bought cake.
Me:  (somewhat dejectedly) No. I mean what kind of cake do you want me to bake for you?
BG:  Yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

The day of the baking of the cake.
Me: What kind of chocolate frosting would you like? Buttercream? Fudge?
BG: The kind from the can.

Argh!! I guess this is what years of being a working mom leads to. Store bought cake? Canned frosting?
Happy 20th Birthday Becky! I love you.

Winter

Last night it decided to snow. And then it decided to rain, and then rain some more, and then freeze.

 So I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies and make caramel corn.

But this morning, I had to scrape an inch of ice off the car. My supervisor from work called while I was scraping, and said there was no power at work. So of course the first thing I do is grab my camera and take pictures.

I am still not sure if I have to work, so while the car finished thawing, I fixed myself a latte and talked to my Mom and Dad who are vacationing in sunny Florida. I hope they bring some sunshine home with them.

Edited to add: No power at work means an unexpected holiday!! Off to the craft room...

Fall Treats

Fall is officially here.

The weekend was spent indoors with one sick girlie and rain and gray skies. I did get to make some soup, and made quite a bit of progress on my shawl.

Yesterday after work I was inspired by her to make Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. I even had all the ingredients on hand. No last minute dashes to the grocery store. The mac n cheese was tasty and filling. Then my sweet tooth kicked in and I made these

I don't think anything says fall more than caramel apples! And if that weren't enough I needed to dip pretzels in chocolate, drizzle them in colored chocolate and cover them in sprinkles.

Perfect way to cheer up a cold and dreary day.

I {Heart} Soup

Soup. Stew. Chowder. Chili. I love them all. I miss them so much during the summer months.

Soup is my favorite thing to cook. I love the idea of taking 15 minutes to prep my ingredients, put them in a pot, and let them simmer til done. No split second timing required. One pot for the entire meal. I especially adore soups that take the afternoon to cook. A cool and rainy Sunday afternoon. Soup simmering on the stove. Snuggled on my chair knitting while watching a chick flick. Going into the kitchen every so often to give the soup a stir. This is even more enjoyable if I bake bread at the same time. Heaven on earth.

Depending on my mood, I use two different recipes for corn chowder. My favorite is Ina Garten's Cheddar Corn Chowder. I love Ina. Ina's cookbooks make me look like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen (I see a whole other post coming about cooking with The Barefoot Contessa).

If I want my corn chowder in a hurry, I use this recipe.

EASY Corn Chowder

1 16 oz. bag frozen hash browns
1 15 oz. can whole corn, undrained
1 15 oz. can cream style corn
1 1/2 cups milk (your choice, half and half is over the top!)
1 medium onion, chopped
8 slices bacon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. worcestershire sauce
1/4 t. black pepper

Cook bacon until crisp in a dutch oven or large saucepan, remove to a plate. Drain bacon fat, reserving 1 T. cook chopped onion in reserved bacon fat until translucent.
Add the potatoes, corn, milk, salt, pepper and worcestershire sauce to the dutch oven and simmer over medium-low heat for about 25-30 minutes. Do not bring to a rolling boil. Serve with shredded cheddar cheese and reserved bacon, crumbled.

Baking 101

On my recent trip to Amish Country, I bought an angel cake food mix at one of the homemade cheese shops. Since it is wonderfully cool today, I decided I wanted to make the cake for dessert. So I pulled out the mix and started reading the directions. These directions warranted a call to my sister, who is the baker of the family.

Me: Hi, I have a stupid question for you.
My Sister: What?
Me: I am baking an angel food cake mix from Amish Country and the directions say to bake in an ungreased 10" tube pan that has been rinsed in cold water.
My Sister: Yeah, ungreased is right I think, but I have never heard of rinsing the pan in cold water. Did it say to dry the pan?
Me: No
My Sister: That's weird.
Me: It also says to cool the cake inverted overnight.
My Sister: (Laughing) Overnight?
Me: (Laughing) Like I could wait that long to eat it.
My Sister: Angel Food cake is always the best the day you bake it. It has that yummy crunchy top and chewy cakey part.
Me: I think the Amish cake mix makers are playing a joke on us.

I ended up baking the cake in an ungreased pan, and I did rinse it in cold water. I cooled it inverted, but only for a few hours. It came out almost perfect.

Labor Day Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is not just for Labor Day, but since I made this for today's cook-out at my parent's house, I thought I would share the easy recipe. And it's not so much a recipe as a list of ingredients that you could put in a pasta salad.

Ready?

1 lb. rotini (or cute pasta shape of your choice)
1 pint cherry tomatoes, whole or cut in half
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 small can sliced black olives, drained
1 8 oz. package shredded cheese (your choice)
4 green onions, sliced
1 cup mini pepperoni
8 oz. Italian Dressing (or amount to taste)

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and cool. Add pasta to all other ingredients. Toss with italian dressing. (I use Kraft Tuscan Italian). Refrigerate before serving. You may need to add more dressing prior to serving.

You really could add any veggie you would like to this, or any leftover cheese or meats you have in your deli drawer.

This makes a big batch, but if you are having a huge crowd can be easily doubled. Leftovers are delicious!

Hope you are all enjoying your long weekend!