Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Elsie, cinnamon buns, golf cart parade, Cookie & Elsie a duex, new patriotic quilt top continues


HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!  We hopped up early Monday morning (5/30) to get the buns out of the fridge and ready for baking:

they rose beautifully overnight

Elsie was sleeping snuggly under one of our foot stools:   



We got the buns baked and iced 
















and headed off to Paula’s.  Sun City has a golf cart parade on Memorial Day: 




Segway Uncle Sam always participates


an honest-to-God Rolls Royce!!!





and Paula is on the parade route.  She always invites a bunch of neighbors/friends over for coffee, mimosas and pot luck brunch items:



















 The cinnamon buns were a big hit…we only came home with 1-1/2 buns.  When we got home, there was snuggling going on:
















 Michael and I finally got the tomato plant that Paula bought us potted on the deck and I sewed for most of the rest of the day.  I did have to take an hour off to get out 2 sets of minutes that I was behind on…one for Machine Embroidery and one for the Volunteer Chocolate Event happening in October.  I finished up the last blocks from the first 5 strata I had sewn:


And began working on the additional 5 sets of strata I need to finish the top of this quilt.  I headed upstairs at 8:30 to watch TV with my honey and sort some fabric.

Monday, May 30, 2016

hidden wells started, Leila's quilt finished, cinnamon buns



I guess there’s some tropical storm that moved in on us overnight, so we awoke Sunday morning (5/29) to solid rain…no planting for me!  Well shucks….I was FORCED to head to the studio and craft all day long :~).  I worked all day on my patriotic blocks and I got 6 completed by late afternoon:   

final strata...all from Ginny's stash






































Do you see the mistake in my layout???  Look at the top two blocks....I don't have the blue meeting in the center, between the red and blue block.  You have to be very careful laying this out!  

After that I dropped back to finishing Leila’s quilt and that was done by dinnertime:




 We had leftover stroganoff for dinner, then I put together dough for cinnamon buns.  I've never made cinnamon buns and plan to take them to Paula's for breakfast on Monday.  The dough rose for 2 hours, then I put the buns together:

beautiful dough rolled out to a 20'' by 18'' rectangle

laved with butter

sprinkled with brown sugar/cinnamon mix

heaped with pecans

carefully rolled up

voila....ready to rise in fridge overnight

 I hope they will be awesome...I'll bake them in the morning and then cover with cream cheese frosting.  After that it was TV watching, then off to bed.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

garden planting, Leila's quilt started, start of patriotic strata



I have to give a big SHOUT OUT to Debbie & Claude.  Thanks to their timely delivery of an anniversary card, Michael and I realized it was our anniversary yet again :~).  We were hoping to do some kind of special dinner Saturday to celebrate, but it didn't work out that way...it doesn't matter...we had a wonderful anniversary anyway. 

Jan called me early Saturday morning (5/28) and we ran to Harris Teeter.  She bought 2 packages of oreo thins for me, and I bought 2 as well.  I asked Paula to buy 2 also, and that should be enough to get my through my icebox cake demonstration for SWEET & SAVORY in June.  When I got home, MIchael had already left for golf (eventually coming home with an 88, so he was pleased).  The sun hadn’t reached the backyard yet, so I headed out to get some planting done.  I got my 3 roma tomato plants in and my basil seeds planted…


I always plant basil seeds...it's so easy to grow from seed



























By then I was hot and sweaty so I headed inside…I’ll do the rest of the flowers and herbs tomorrow.   

I have these pots plus a bunch of seeds

 I started quilting Leila’s quilt (she always picks the cutest fabric…I love this baby quilt) 
















 and also pulled out some new fabric.  My friend Ginny had quite a bit of red/cream/blue in her stash and I plundered it to begin 2 new patriotic quilts.  Jan is teaching a class at quilting in July called “hidden wells”.  She hasn’t been able to find her old directions as yet, so I thought I’d do my 2 new patriotic quilts in that pattern, and take pictures of what I am doing along the way, so that she could use them if she needs to.  I headed over to Pat’s in the late afternoon, just to chat and was there for almost THREE HOURS!!!!  When I got home, Michael had already eaten dinner and was making popcorn.  Since Pat filled me up with cheese & crackers & spinach dip for MY dinner, I said yes to the popcorn and headed downstairs.  Michael watched a movie and I got a little bit further on my patriotic strata.   



Around 10 I wandered upstairs to watch TV with my honey before bed.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

pots, wheelbarrow, leftover tomato paste, margatitas



We were up early Friday (5/27), as we had lots we wanted to get done.  First up, I took another mystery package out of the freezer…wonder what we’ll have for dinner tonight?  Then it was off to buy pots & plants for our newly renovated back garden.  We got everything we were looking for (and more) and Michael even found me the most BEAUTIFUL pots EVER!!!!   
is this not a GORGEOUS/perfect color???

my handyman drilling holes in the bottom




































By the time we got home, it was NOON and way too hot to plant…so I just carted everything to the back in our new wheelbarrow 
 




 and will get out bright and early Saturday morning to plant everything.  

self seeded petunias (from last year) on back deck

 
our pots all ready to go































 I spent the afternoon in my sewing room, putzing around, cutting more squares, putting things away, and figuring out what to work on next.  The only really productive thing I did was to load up my friend Leila’s quilt 


 and get the program set up to stitch out.  She picked a pattern called "bubble bath" which I just love.  By then it was time to go upstairs to my mystery package.  It turned out to be a pound of hamburger, so I went through my temporary recipes (these are recipes I have saved on my computer because they sounded good and I want to make them eventually.  Once I do make them (and if they are "keepers", they get moved into my permanent folders), and looked at my one pot dinners.  I found a great recipe for One Pan Beef Stroganoff, so that’s what I made.  It used 1 – 2 tablespoons of tomato paste…so what do you do with the rest of the can?  You blob it out on a cookie sheet, put it in the freezer, then pop those tablespoons into a labeled zip lock bag.  



Voila, you’re all ready for the next recipe that only uses a tablespoon or two.  Anyway, Jan came for dinner and we all really liked the stroganoff.  I had broccoli left over from last week, so that was our side dish and we finished off the latest ice box cake for dessert.  When we were at the liquor store earlier in the day, we looked for something "fun" for the holiday weekend, so I made sugar coated (because Michael shouldn't have that much salt) glasses for the margaritas:


 I read my book for a little bit after that, then snuggled in to watch TV with my honey.