chickenfoot

squeeeeeeeeeeeeee

tonight mr. chickenfoot surprised daughter and me by taking us to the mall to buy us new shoes!! ok, he drove to the mall and he went his way and we went ours, but hey, he gave us the money for the shoes!!! dont you just love my new shoes?? bought them at tjmaxx for $20 and then went to shoe carnival and saw them for $35. so i saved him money, right??? its kind of hard to tell but they are flat and cloggish (meaning they have no backs). i just adore these shoes. hence the squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

now that i have mailed off my dqs3, i can turn to some projects i have had sitting, waiting for me. this is that little circle that i made after i got the book by jan mullen. i decided since its small (about 10") that i am going to embellish it. with all those bright colors i figure it was calling out for it. i have the binding almost sewn on and have done a little bit of embroidery on it, hopefully i will have a little time to finish it tomorrow.

i was over at jills blog and saw a recipe for biscotti that looks really yummy (and i am not a biscotti girl).  then i saw this recipe at cupcake project for greek birds nest cupcake toppers that looks sooooo sinful, i think i may have to make these soon. i almost died when i saw this post on bakerella for cupcakes made with the characters from garfield. when daughter use to go with me to the flea markets she collected garfieldanalia. she actually has quite the collection. but these were so sweet. go check them out! oh, one last recipe, for lemon bars over at campfollowerbags. yum!! geez i just got over my period so i dont know whats up with all the sweets???

oh yeah! i almost forgot, simplify is having a give away, of the most gorgeous quilt. you need to go over there and leave a comment. if you think of it, could you tell her i sent you? i get extra entries if you do, but if you dont want to, thats ok too....but geez why are you so petty???

i mailed off my quilt for dqs3.  this is just a peek of it finished. i wanted to wait until my partner got it, to show you, because i wanted it to be somewhat of a surprise.  this one turned out really nice, if i do say so myself. the block was roman stripes. i vaguely followed the directions given by mary johnson. there are a lot of nice tutes over there, you should go check it out. i will wait. while im waiting i will just tell you that i did have a couple changes to her directions. once i had my foundation block, i ironed, then sewed down 1/4" to the right of the ironed line. then i laid my strip on top of the foundation block with the right side of the strip lined up with the sewn line. clear as mud? i also cut my strips 1.25"wide and cut their length after i had sewn them down, im not sure if she says to do this or not, but i find you waste less (same with log cabins, i dont cut until after i have sewn the strip down).

i am thinking this will be my last doll quilt swap, except for maybe an occasional one on one swap. while i was quilting this quilt and the one before it, i realized how much time i was spending on this, not to mention materials. the biggest thing for me was that i was progressing with my quilting/sewing skills but you couldnt tell, because everything i was making was being sent off. tracy and i also started a flickr group for swapping 6" mini quilts. i think this will be much better for me, as it should take less time and materials and it just seems like fun! and to be frightfully honest my quilt wall is starting to get full, so i can start another small wall of little 6" quilts!

i think i am beginning to see a pattern here( ok, i really am not BEGINNING to see, i have known all along!) this week my spendy purchase was....you guessed it! a book!!! this book to be exact. i love it and i think not only will i be able to make oodles of pot holders with it, it will serve as inspiration for my 6" quilts. go, scoot, run and get yourself a copy! while i was at the bookstore spending my evening alone, i decided to pick up one of our favorite childrens books (scroll down for "in the night kitchen") for my great nephew that is getting baptised this weekend. we love any book by maurice sendak, but this was a special favorite. i would pause on certain pages and she would "read" what was on the page. ah memories! all told for the two books i spent $21. not bad....

i stopped off at a great little restaurant owned by a sweet jordanian after hanging out at barnes and noble. i felt the need for falafel. i also got some yolangee (stuffed grape leaves). these are super yummy. you know they are good when they taste just like the ones you make!! these are the first ones i have tasted in ages that actually taste like someones mother made them, not like they used a can opener!! so if youre in vernon hills, il anytime soon, stop off at the pita grill....

Bean salad and the Germans

i know you wont believe this but.......

i only had one small slice! geez my family loves their sweets! i was kind of surprised i didnt have a bigger hand in devouring this, seeing as its my favorite, yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  i ended up throwing this last bit out because i figured they didnt need anymore, and my butt is already too big.

isnt she the sweetest? now i know i shouldnt be out spending money, but it has been ages since ive been to the antique mall, and hubby and i had words tonight. i needed to get out of the house, and of course what else could i do but spend some money. i was good tho and spent around $15. i will show you my other sweet find tomorrow. i have to have something to tease you with! i am thinking she will become a pin cushion. i just adore these little german figurines. before i forget,i am going to post a recipe for the recipe box swap.....its what i had for dinner tonight

bean salad
2 cans (15 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans (15oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 bag frozen corn...16oz size
one large green pepper, chopped
4 or 5 green onions, chopped
as much cilantro as you want, chopped
mix all the above, in a salad bowl. i put the corn in frozen, to save time.  it will thaw just fine
dressing
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 t. chili powder
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes (more of less to taste)
2/3 c. olive oil
combine all of the above and pour over beans
this is good by itself, or with torilla chips or as a taco filler, or....you get the idea. i did make a couple changes. i didnt put in crushed red pepper flakes, because dangit, i dont like them. i use powdered garlic, as i didnt have any fresh, and i used sweet red pepper. i like them so much better than green ones and it added a little sweetness to it.

let them eat cake~

hello my bloggy readers! today has been a little on the crazy side. i went out to dinner tonight with some friends, but i am waiting on the ok from corporate to tell you about it, so that will have to wait until tomorrow......ooooooo mysterious.

i did finish the bath mat i was working on for my etsy shop... i havent put it in there yet tho, because i just finished it after i got back from dinner.  i am pretty happy with how it turned out, and i got the seal of approval from the teenager, who doesnt necessarily like everything i make. so thats good, right? i didnt realize until i was cutting the fabric that the one on the bottom left is japanese fabric. now where did i get that??? that stuff is pricey and i am a self confessed cheapskate. hmmm?? i love it tho and i had to use it in this mat, it just called out for it. the floral, and the print in the upper left are repro 30's fabrics. then of course you got yerself them solids there. i dont know why i spontaneously break into accents online. i never do that weirdness at home. which reminds me of a story! when i was in third grade, my favorite teacher, mrs. goodwin assigned us an essay to write. so i thought i was being really clever and i wrote a story like i was from way down south up in the mountains, if you catch my drift. well imagine my astonishment when i got my paper back thinking there was going to be all sorts of praise happening here......and she corrected my grammar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ugh. i have to tell you she fell a notch in my book after that. i mean how could she not know that i was a great speller and would never write like that, unless it was intentionally??? pheew, that felt good to get off my chest!

the lovely teenager that lives in my house decided she needed to bake something today. notice the scotty dog jammies. hehe. i teased her today and told her i was going to steal them and cut them up and use them in my sewing projects.

wip

it has taken me the better part of the day, but this is what i ended up with. after sewing all the 1" strips together, i found the black strips were just too dark. so i ripped them out and made a couple more "blocks" of colored strips and then cut them into weird triangle shapes. i originally sewed them to some green fabric but i hated how that looked, so i tore that out. then i sewed the white strips on. i liked them, but of course didnt have enough of this thicker white to finish the border so i used this white circle patterned one. after all that i dont even know if i will use this one. i am not sure i am loving it. i am going to quilt it then start on another one. i will see which one i like best when they are both done, and send that one out.

i couldnt remember if i showed you these pot holders i made???? i made two of the same. i put them in my etsy shop, but there is just the pot holders and a set of coasters in there so far. i am working on it tho!! i have made a few other things, but need to find out shipping prices on them.

i was talking with someone else tracy in the dqs3 and we are cooking up something fun to do, but it will be in about a month or so, so for now i will just tease you!!!

ok, so i burned them a bit, ( i was a little busy trying to post on my blog before my teenager steals my laptop again) but these are so good. they are new from morning star farms, veggie cakes.

they come in two flavors, southwestern or ginger teriyaki. the ones i am chowing on are the ginger teriyaki. that there is soy sauce they are swimming in. mm mm good

week o' cupcakes

i thought i would try something new this week and see if i can post every day.and to make it more fun i am going to post a cupcake recipe each day. i want to start with a cupcake for my daughter, the chocoholic.

chocolate cupcakes

these are chocolatey without being too chocolatey, if you know what i mean. a nice touch would be to add chocolate shavings with a veg. peeler.

1/2 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 c baking cocoa

1 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 c buttermilk

1/2 c hot water

in small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. beat in egg and vanilla. combine dry ingredients, add to the creamed mixture, alternating with buttermilk and water. mix well.

fill paper-lined muffin cups two thirds full. bake at 375, for 12-15 minutes or until done. cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

1 dozen cupcakes

creamy chocolate frosting

2 c heavy whipping cream

2 c semisweet chocolate chips

3- 3 1/2 c confectioners sugar

in med saucepan, bring cream to a simmer, about 180, remove from heat. stir in chips until melted.

place pan in a bowl of ice water stirring constantly until cooled. gradually whisk in sugar until smooth and thick. store in fridge

photo pilfered from chocolate.com