Happy New Year

In just a short while we will enter into a new year that when I was a small child never seemed possible. In a word, Wow! Here’s hoping everyone has a very happy & peaceful 2020.

Addictive

I hope you enjoyed the 4th of July. I sure did. Good eats, great company, & fireworks in the evening.  I did find some time to myself.

I’ve just completed 3 more index cards. If you’re wondering about the holes at the top of each card, I’m storing the cards in their own tiny notebook. 

Celebrate!

I'm celebrating International Women's Day with one of my favorite songs....

 

2019

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Fly Like A Eagle

Here's my latest addition. At this time, I'm going to step away from my blog to celebrate the rest of the year with family and friends.

Here's one of the latest little people. Look at those cheeks. Believe you me, I pinched & kissed him until he cried enough!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate it, and a fantastic rest of December!! I'll see y'all in the new year!!

Be Safe

For those who celebrate Halloween, be safe out there & have fun!!

Yumminess

Sorry about the poor quality of the photo.

Many thanks to one of my favorite blogs Plain Chicken for this fantastic recipe. Of course I tweaked it somewhat to fit my family's taste, so if you want to original recipe, pop over to Plain Chicken to find it plus some other great recipes of all kinds!!!

Here's my version.

• 4 cups chow mein noodles
• 1 cup candied pecans
• 1 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup of your other favorite nuts
• 1 candy bar finely crumbled
• 3/4 cup semisweet white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 to 1 cup peanut butter

 

1. Combine chow mein noodles, nuts and crumbled candy bar together and set aside.
2. Combine sugar and corn syrup in saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. This takes about 5 minutes.  Add peanut butter to that and continue to stir another minute or so until peanut butter dissolves. Remove from heat. 
3. Pour melted mixture onto dry mixture.  Gently stir together and pour onto a large greased pan spreading mixture evenly.
4. Allow to cook at least 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
5. Cut into bars and enjoy!!!

This was the second batch I've made in a week so they go fast!!

 

Now onto something awesome, if I do say so myself.

Two of my grandbabies are growing up so fast it blows my mind.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

The Day After

  Airy Muffins!!

See this muffin....it's the last one of two dozen!! My wacky girlfriend Kathy gave us the recipe the other day when we met for a lunch date.

Here we all are enjoying the laughter & craziness we seem to generate.

Sorry, I got side-tracked.

That muffin was the last of my Thanksgiving meal. I looked around and the turkey was gone along with the dressing, greens, yams, pecan pie and ice cream. I grabbed the last muffin to take a quick photo before someone claimed it.  Whew!

I hope all who celebrate Thanksgiving had a good one. I'm pleasantly tired but enjoyed every moment of it.

Here's the recipe for the muffins which are light and airy and oh so tasty!!

• 1 box of butter pecan cake mix
• 1 small box instant vanilla pudding
• 3 Tbsp. poppy seeds (optional)
• 1 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil or Canola oil
• Chopped pecans
• Dried cranberries (optional)

Directions:

Mix cake mix, pudding, poppy seeds and water with mixer until well combined.

Add eggs and oil. Mix well.

Divide evenly among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle chopped pecans and/or cranberries on top prior to baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 23 to 30 minutes.

It's Wild Around Here

Warning!!!   Warning!!!   Warning, Will Robinson!!!!  Okay, sorry I couldn't help myself with that opening from Lost In Space which was one of my favorite TV shows way back when. But seriously, if you're squeamish, look away NOW!!!

All the photos were taken with my iPhone. It's a handle thing since my camera is always misplaced.

 

As most of you know who follow me, I live in the country where there are plenty of wild things lurking about. In the above photo you are seeing a mole.......dead, thanks to my cousin Clark. This critter had been wrecking my yard for weeks leaving giant mole mounds. Clark is the local mole exterminator & he offered to "take him out" so to speak.

He did it!!! The mole was very crafty but Clark was patient. Look at the teeth on this thing....OMG!!!

I'm sure this isn't the end of my mole problem but it sure feels good to know that the granddaddy of all moles is no longer.  Thank You Clark!!!

Update:  Here's the latest photo of little "Show Girl," Showee for short. She stopped, posed for me, even started towards me in curiosity, then backed up. She's so funny to watch. Fairly soon afterwards she realized that her mom had moved off so off she dashed with her little tail in the air.

This beauty was fluttering about as I was gathering up some fallen branches after the big storm the other night. I was able to get quite close for the pic. This photo doesn't lend the beautiful coloring.

Finally, this is a photo of a branch/creek that fun thru the back forty. I'm thinking of doing a mini quilt from this pic.....if I have enough energy after all the hay baling.  We'll see.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and a nice Mother's Day.

Happy Easter

John 12:23-25 - Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

For those who celebrate Easter, I hope yours is filled with love, family, food and happiness!!!

 

 

Mr. Cowboy decided to take a spin in his old Ford Galaxy. I must say, he looked real good!!!

If you're wondering what this photo is, it's part of a pork roast. I thought I'd take a photo before everyone dug in and ate it all up. I, also, wanted to share the recipe.

• 1 large pork roast
• 1 pot of brewed coffee
• salt/pepper
• 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 whole onion

1. Heat the cooking oil in a large Dutch oven or cooking pot. While oil in heating season pork roast with salt/pepper or any other seasoning you use. I sometimes add a package of dry ranch dressing mix.
2. Place seasoned roast into pot and sear on all sides. Next add the pot of coffee into the pot and the onion. Cover and allow to simmer for 2 1/2 hours or until tender. If the roast is very large, cook for at least 3 hours.
3. Remove from pot, allow to cool for 20 minutes before slicing. I, also, save some of the liquid to dribble over the slices.
4. Serve with rice or cabbage or sweet potatoes and a green salad. Yummy!!!!!

Emmanuel

Norman Hutchins & JDI

Christmas

7 Year Itch?

Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage, kick back for a few minutes and walk down memory lane with me, if you will.

One of the best things that ever happened to me is "blogging!"
I've now been blogging for seven years!!! Where did the time go, I ask you??  I've learned a lot and made loads of great friends!!
By blogging, I've been able to visit other countries and enjoyed the scenery so much. I would have never been able to manage this by traveling....so thank you are for sharing with me.
I started my blog along with my wacky girlfriends and at this point I probably couldn't live without it. Although I don't blog as often as I use to, I do try to post once or twice a week.
Last year I started to spread a little love around with my Mug Rug Thursday. I've had to scale back this year but I still love creating and sharing them with all my blogging friends.
I've also been sharing a lot of my designs with whomever wants to try them out. You can find them on the BOM/BOW page near the top of the blog.

Through the years I've participated in a photo hunt challenge; apron swap; pincushion swap; mini quilt swap; fabric postcard swap; a 10 inch square fabric swap; a couple of round robin swaps; a few blog hops; and a yearly wacky quilt challenge.....whew!

I also, during a moment of craziness with my best friend Jerri (Jerri passed away a few years ago, but I swear that she's still looking over my shoulder with a big smile on her face), purchased a Janome 11000 which I have to say was a very wise purchase. All the wackies own a Janome which makes it ease to help one another when one of us can't figure out what we're supposed to do...hehehehehe

Here are a few of my favorite quilts that are stored somewhere in my sewing room waiting patiently for me to get around to quilting them......sigh. and a few of my favorite mug rugs and machine embroidery projects!!

A Wacky challenge

 

Some of my favorite types of fabrics - landscape and textiles.

 

Outhouses, a project that was in my head for a long time. We had one when I was little.

These blocks, I've shared with everyone. See BOM near the top of my blog.

 

Teapots - another project rolling around in my head and a BOM which I shared.

Fractured Diamond - using several green fabrics (my favorite color) and the strange pink floral. I love this design because of all the possibilities.

Barns - another project that I'd been thinking about for some time. Also shared in a BOM.

This wonderful blue fabric was in my stash and I finally came up with a use for it.

Another BOM, which I didn't share the designs and I don't have any idea where I put my designs. They are probably under a load of fabric or at the bottom of a UFO box!!

I love trees so this was a tribute to them. Also shared the patterns.

Little Princess "Ayden" loves the color pink and insisted that I make a quilt using this particular fabric that she had me purchase.

This was a project that I'd had in the works for a couple of years while collecting fabrics. Also shared the designs.

 

This was one of my first mug rug give aways.....Gobble, Gobble!!

Open Range was a quilt that I worked on when on retreat. Everyone was afraid of the rattler at the bottom. They all wondered why I'd put that one in the quilt when I'm not a fan of anything that crawls, flies, slithers, hops, gallops, swims, flutters, etc.

I think this is my favorite mug rug to make. It reminded my of the old westerns on TV.

 

This was my first Christmasy quilt.

A Wacky challenge from the Nickel Square books.

My first big applique quilt using Steam-a-seam.

From my Janome. I sat and watched it stitch out....couldn't take my eyes off it.

On & Done challenge from Fons and Porter. I placed in that one.

Pretty log cabin blocks. I was happy with this one.

My friend, Phil asked me to make a small wall hanging for his wife for their anniversary. They love rabbits so this is what I made for them.

Half-square design quilt that I doodled out and them stitched up from scraps.

My old high school asked me to make a band quilt for a raffle using some of the band uniforms. It was a challenge but once I got started I could hardly stop myself. I decided to not only make band blocks but sports that the band might play for. Twenty blocks were designs and stitched by me. This is a fantastic way to help your school out.

 

This was one of my first apron swap projects to a secret pal.

Ayden's first baby quilt. She liked it so much. I could tell because of all the drooling!!

This one was made with a 9 degree ruler. I really need to get back to that ruler....sigh!

First fabric post card to my secret pal.

Out Pastor's wife is from Jamaica and these are the colors she wanted.

Oh, here's a quilt from a magazine or quilt book...now that I see it, I remember it....LOL....I need to make another one of those. This is a great one because you can adjust the squares and 9-patches to whatever size you wish to make the quilt larger or smaller.

Yard Birds is a BOW (block of the week) I designed and shared. I love the chickens with an attitude.

This little quilt was made from that grid interfacing some years ago where you lay the squares onto the interfacing, press them down, then sew up and down and across. That one went out pretty quick.

A round robin challenge. We had to make the center ourselves then each month it gets passed around, added to and then the big reveal 6 months later.

This was one of my digging through my stash to see if I had fabrics to duplicate a clipart image. That was fun but I didn't get very far with it.

Feathered Star was a challenge that my Wacky friend Molly forced asked us to participate in. She talked us through the entire process and after everything was said and done, we were all proud of our blocks.

 

My contribution to one of my Wacky friend's row quilt.

 

Toilet tissue roll cover challenge.

Another Wacky challenge - row quilts. I chose to go vertical one. My row is the first with the hummingbirds. We each had a year to make each others rows.

I love birdhouses and these came from a quilt book. Of course I used my favorite adhesive - Steam-a-seam!!

This was made as a Quilt of Valor. I was so happy to participate in helping our veterans in some small way.

I saw a pretty quilt on one of my blogging friend's post and she encouraged me to make a Granny Squares quilt. I hadn't ever heard the name before but jumped right in and made this one....Love it!!

Another Wacky challenge but honestly I don't remember why we did this one or who came up with the idea. But black/white is one of my favorite fabrics. I do remember that I purchased that rose fabric in San Antonio.

I started this "Illusions" quilt but never got very far....lots of half square triangles.....lots!!

 

Blue is not my favorite color and I have very few in my stash but I did manage to piece this beauty from them. The rows are on the diagonal and if you know me, you know I was dizzy by the time I finished this one.

One of my first spider webs made from colors that came from some bundle I purchased at a quilt show.

This was my chicken phase. Several of my girlfriends made blocks to add to my UFO blocks and I sewed all the blocks into this wonderful quilt.

 

This cowboy quilt was made at a retreat for a lady's little boy. Thanks to Steam-a-seam, I was able to start and finish it in three days.

Another Janome effort.

Also, another Janome project with colorful fabric squares to add interest.

 

This project was from 2013. I shared designs, as well.

Love these fabrics which are always a part of my stash.

Half-square project which went to my helping hands group.

 

I hope you enjoyed walking down the 7 years of my blogging experience and thank you for your patience!!