Another Lazy Summer Day

I have been "busy" all day watching the goings-on of the birds outside. It's so much fun to have my computer and my sewing machine right here at the window where I can look outside and see what's happening. :) Here's a blue jay enjoying some fresh sunflower seeds.

Here's another one up in the angel trumpet "tree".

Then I went to the back door and there were wrens - new ones without all their feathers yet - hopping around and having a wonderful time on the patio. Sorry, I couldn't get a shot of them. They're FAST!

Then along came this grackle to enjoy a little seed and water.

Poopers came running to see what he was doing, and the bird flew.

Leaving Poopers to quickly grab all the seed he had spilled on the ground. Poopers is my hippie chicken. She is a Polish chicken with the feather hat mostly obscuring her vision. She can see directly in front of and below her line of vision, which makes it really easy to pick her up, but leaves her blissfully oblivious to most of what goes on in the world.

I have my latest quilt all pinned up and ready to start quilting.

I'm just getting myself psyched up to start. :)

Meanwhile, Miss Chloe is everywhere, doing whatever she pleases,

and overseeing everything that is going on!

Hope your day is going well!

Hugs and kisses,

Who Knew?

I feel pretty dim right about now, but it never occurred to me that I could bake quick breads and cakes in my bread machine. What can I say? Here was my poor little bread machine languishing on the counter feeling neglected. Then today I decided to bake some bread in there and took the instruction booklet out. Lo and behold I discovered that not only can I bake regular baking powder/salt type quick breads, but it says I can even bake cakes!

I got straight to work and made a Cranberry Nut bread.

Can I just say, "DELICIOUS"! It came out very moist and tender, too. Yummy. It's not too sweet and the dried cranberries give it a nice tartness.

Here's the recipe is you'd like to try it.

CRANBERRY NUT QUICK BREAD

1 cup milk (room temperature)

1 egg

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup dried cranberries (the recipe says "coarsely chopped", but I didn't chop these)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Place all liquids in bottom of bread pan, then all remaining ingredients. Set the control to "Quick Bread", and that's all there is to it.

My kind of cooking on a hot summer day!

On the sewing front, I'm working on a new quilt for our daughter's friend Nikki who has a birthday later this week.

Said daughter was having a bit of a laze this morning with boyfriend's dog to keep her company.

And the cats - what can I say? They were doing what they always do - just as they please!

Have a great day!

Hugs and kisses,

Birthday Greetings

Some years ago there were two sisters living in a small town in Mississippi. In the summertime, they visited with one set of grandparents about a hundred miles to the north and also with the other set of grandparents who lived about a hundred miles to the south. The picture above is me (on the right) and my younger sister at our maternal grandparents' house. They lived to the south. Papa was a Presbyterian minister. He had a wonderful sense of humor and loved to play games. We always had a good time with him for an entertainer. Mama Anne was not so much fun. She was the best housekeeper I've ever known, the best cook, the finest seamstress, the most talented gardener and a very talented painter, just not that great with kids. :)

I got this picture in the mail today along with a little treasure trove of goodies from my sister Sue.

Just as soon as I get the little bed in my sewing room uncovered (another quilt is in the making), I'm going to put this pretty pillow sham to work.

And I have this excellent-looking book to peruse,

as well as the cutest little notepad, and a butterfly emery board and an expandable washcloth (I'm holding myself back from opening this one just to see what it looks like.)

I had a very good birthday with family, heartfelt sweet cards, wonderful gifts and now a few more! Life is good!!!

Hope you've had some good surprises in your day.

Hugs and kisses,

Takeover.......

I Did It!!!!

Yep, I finished my brother's quilt. I think it is the busiest quilt I've made so far. I hate waste. I really do. I've incorporated some of the blocks I had left over from other quilts into this one.

I'm not sure that I should have........but it's done now!This is the back (and the bats).

And look, I've even put his name on one of the bears. :)

I KNOW I shouldn't have done this, but I really NEEDED some chocolate! And these brownies were just perfect.



Now to wash this quilt and get that label sewn onto it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs and kisses,

Getting Closer!

I have been working and working (off and on) on my brother's quilt. I am very near completion now. I'm sewing on the binding!!!! Yay! Yippee! I even have the label made and ready to sew on when the binding is done.

I know everyone doesn't like these bats, but they are God's creatures, too, and he likes them. It is his quilt, after all :)

I thought I would show you a little trick I figured out to make the corners act right in my binding. I sew up to the corner, then stop and sew a "V" in the binding, and then take up the sewing again on the other side of the corner.

As you can see, when you turn the binding, it lays really flat. Probably you more experienced quilters figured this out a long time ago or something even better, but I just "got" it on my last quilt or two and I was so thrilled that it works!

One of our daughter's friends had a birthday yesterday and she made this cake for the party she and her boyfriend had for him last night. I took this picture before she transferred the cake to a pretty serving piece, since that was being done at said boyfriend's apartment. I think she did an awesome job, don't you?

Hope your weekend is going well!

Hugs and kisses,

Is Nothing Sacred?

Okay, the kitten has even trespassed onto Bruno's bed.

Not right!

What? What's wrong???

Have a great day.

Hugs and kisses,