More Pretties in the Yard

And a recipe for you.

I thought I'd share my recipe for meatloaf with you today. I've had this one for a long time, and it's really good.



Glazed Meat Loaf
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup oats, uncooked
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons horseradish
Combine all ingredients and shape into loaf. Place in shallow pan.
Mix:
2 tablespoons chili sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Smooth over top of meatloaf

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour, or until done.
Four generous servings.
We had it for lunch today with some potato salad, green beans and biscuits. (I know, Margaret, these are not biscuits to you, but I'm in Texas. :)

Sometimes these old fashioned foods are just the best.

These little guys are on our dining table right now guarding treasure.
Sinful. Stay away! This means YOU! (Actually it means ME, but I don't always.)

It's a beautiful day here. Hope yours is good, too.

Hugs and kisses,

Pillaging the Chicken Yard

This morning I raided the chicken yard - not for eggs, but for compost. I've been working on re-making the flower beds that were destroyed in our recent plumbing work.

Our chickens think I am the most marvelous chicken in the world. They follow me around and get under foot as I rake the ground and dig up compost. They each want to be first in line for the goodies I uncover. I'm sure they're in awe of my "scratching" abilities! :)



I love having the compost to put in our garden beds. It is so rich and our plants love it!

But, we have to have a fence around each and every garden bed in our back yard or they will be overrun by chickens and/or dogs. It's hard to imagine the amount of damage they can do!

My friend Anne gave me these two gloxinias at church last night. I've put one in the repurposed wheelbarrow outside my sewing room window. I haven't decided about the other yet.

The little lemon tree I planted last year is teasing me with buds again. Maybe this year we'll actually have some fruit! I have to admit I'm a little jealous when I see all the citrus trees in our neighborhood loaded with lemons or oranges.
And always in the spring, I am so thankful for the azaleas. They are so beautiful and so faithful to come back year after year.

Remember this little quilt I finished last week? I took it to church last night. I knew exactly who would get it. And then things changed. During praise and worship, I felt that "nudge" I know so well, and I knew I had to give it to someone else. A dear brother in the Lord is in the hospital fighting for his life - a young man with a family that needs him. His wife was there at church last night. I quickly went and got the quilt from the van and brought it in. Our Pastors prayed for this man, as did the whole congregation, while this quilt was wrapped around his sweet wife. She took it to the hospital after the service for her husband to sleep under. Don't you just know he'll feel the love and the prayers surrounding him!

I truly hope each of you feels the love of the Lord each and every day of your life!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Want to Make Something?

If you have time today, you owe it to yourself to check out this beautiful quilted bowl made by a quilter in Romania. She has a tutorial in very clear English.

I found her on my friend Karen's blog. Karen and her husband Johnny are dear friends we've known for years. We haven't seen each other in forever, it seems, but thank God for email and blogs! We met them when they gave our daughters their first jobs at a concession they were running at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (which is going on right now, by the way).

Got to get outside and play in the dirt!

Have a great day.

Hugs and kisses,

Little Things

So, last night I had to have some small sewing. You know how it is when you finally finish something and then you just want to have fun? Well, that's how it was. So I made this little pincushion. I've been seeing tutorials all over the place and this has been on my to-do list for a while. So, there's hope. Things actually do get done around here! (We won't talk about that cute little quilt top under it that I've not touched for months. Okay?)

Recently I ran across the sweetest site, The Toy Society. Anyone can join and then you make or buy a toy and drop it somewhere anonymously for someone to find and enjoy. You should go to their blog and read some of the sweet things that have happened. Kind of restores your faith in humanity, if you've misplaced yours. :)

Anyway, I decided to make a little stuffie. I didn't have a pattern, just winged it. My poor little bear looks a bit deformed, but I hope someone will find him and love him anyway.

Note how I've shamelessly posed him on a quilt that I actually HAVE finished. :)

I remembered tonight that I had a few of these pre-printed toys. I had already sewn them, just hadn't finished stuffing and sewing them closed. (I know, I know. More unfinished business.) Tonight sweet daughter and her boyfriend sewed the openings on these two, so - two birds with one stone. Good deeds and projects finished! Win.Win.

And here he is, ready to be dropped off where someone will hopefully find him and take him home and love him.

Have a great evening!

Hugs and kisses,

What's in the Yard?

But only because I hung it on the edge of the chicken yard. :)

I finished this little quilt last night. I'm nowhere near the expertise level of so many of my fellow quilters, but I enjoy what I do, and I'm happy with the end results. I guess that's all that really matters when you get right down to it, isn't it?

We've got flowers on the blackberry bushes! I love blackberries. They always remind me of my childhood when we went out into the woods on my grandparents' farm and picked blackberries, and then the oozy, sweet pies and jams and jellies that followed. Good times!

The azaleas are in full, riotous bloom. Gorgeous!

These are kalanchoes that have naturalized in the front yard. We haven't had enough cold weather the last couple of years to damage them. This picture does not do them justice. The red is brilliant.

And last of all, the chickens are very sure they could thoroughly renovate the back yard. If only I'd let them out. Having seen multiple examples of their renovation - - - I'm very cautious in allowing them freedom. They mean well, and they are industrious, but they are extremely destructive! :)

`

Have a great day!

Hugs and kisses,

Making Me Happy Right Now

This view when I walk out my front door.

Sewing on this little quilt.

Having a nice cup of tea.

This pretty little yellow teapot Mr. Sweetie Pie and I found while out wandering today.

Isn't it just the happiest!

It's cold here tonight. But here in our little house, we are snug and happy.

Hope you are safe, happy and comfortable, too - wherever you are.

Hugs and kisses,

How About a Nice Chowder?

This morning was really chilly here, and I decided it would be a perfect day to try a corn chowder for lunch. I was reading about corn chowder on some blog posts over the weekend and it just sounded so good I wanted to make some.

This is the recipe I used:

Corn Chowder
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup chopped celery, with tops
2 tablespoons flour
4 cups milk
8 oz. frozen whole kernel corn
1 large potato, peeled, chopped and boiled until almost tender
1/2 cup chopped leftover ham
salt and pepper to taste
snipped parsley
paprika

Melt butter in large heavy saucepan. Add onion and celery and cook until tender. Stir in flour. Cook over low heat, styirring until mixture is bubbly. Stir in milk Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Stir in corn, potatoes, ham, salt and pepper. Heat through. Sprinkle each serving with parsley and paprika.

This recipe started out for me in my old tried and true Betty Crocker Cookbook. The original had bacon, but since I had ham leftover from yesterday's lunch I substituted that and used butter to cook the onion and celery instead of bacon drippings.

This was really delicious! By lunch time it was not nearly so cool here, but this chowder was still mighty good.

We had it with some corn sticks.

And some pound cake from my grandmother's recipe for dessert along with a scoop of ice cream and some canned peaches.

MAMA ANNE'S POUND CAKE
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond or lemon extract
Cream butter. Add sugar gradually. Cream until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add flavoring, and then the flour. Do not over-beat after adding flour, just until blended well.
Pour batter into a tube or bundt pan which has been coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour, or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

On Saturday morning early before the rain started, we got busy and put all the bricks back for our backyard patio.



Don't they sort of remind you of a quilt? Or is that just me?

Anyway, I came in and started sewing together some nine-patches from charm packs of American Primer. Don't you just love these bright primary colors!
I'm going to do a disappearing nine-patch with these.

I know. I know. I have several started projects that I really should finish first, but they've just been sitting there mocking me, so I thought I'd start another one. :)

Have a great day!

Hugs and kisses,