Saying goodbye to a dear friend

I have had the good luck to be a member of a quilt group made up by some very wonderful ladies. We call ourselves the Rowdy Bunch. We have several "long distance" Rowdies those who have moved away but are still members of our group. Our motto is "Once a Rowdy you're always a Rowdy!" Well, now we're losing one more. And this post is to say goodbye to Jeanie. She and hubby Clifford will be leaving for Tuscaloosa, Alabama this week. Jeanie, I wish we had found you sooner. You have become a wonderful friend and you will leave a big hole in our little group. You gave us ideas, things to talk about, and laughs. You taught us all about your bubble and I have to admit sometimes I have tried it and it works! You fit into the group just like you were meant to be there. We will miss you terribly. Please keep in touch with us or you might end up with the whole Rowdy clan on your doorstep! You know how much we love road trips! Take care dear lady. Till next time....

Thar's moles in them thar hills!

As I've mentioned before we live out in the country on a river. Which means we get a lot of critters that pass through, fly around or take up residence. Right now we've got moles, voles, gophers or some sort of other subterranean creature that is creating a virtual subway in our yard. Every day you can see me out there heel toeing it around the yard as I step on the upraised tunnels not only packing the ground back down to where it belongs but hoping to squash the little varmit that is digging it up. So far, no luck. I am being outsmarted by a creature that doesn't even see the light of day. If we still had cats perhaps they would catch them and Zudi the maltese is pretty worthless as a mole chaser, although she sure can send the chickens running! I saw this thing on the internet (don't you just love the internet? It's like having the library at your service 24/7) that is called the Rodenator. It is a propane/oxygen thingy and you stick this wand down in the tunnel, ignite and wham! the gopher or other subterranean creature is blown up! Well, not really blown up, supposedly the concussive force of the explosion kills the little critter. Ok, I guess I was right the first time, they're blown up. That seems a little excessive to me. I keep thinking that perhaps this mole is really just helping us out by aerating our yard and all it asks in return is a few nibbles off my plant's roots. I guess I'll just keep doing my little heel toe dance on the mounds and hope it gets tired of having to reopen them and move on. Till next time....

Zudi the maltese has picked a winner for the charm squares

Zudi the maltese has picked a winner for Thimbleberries Timeless Grace charm pack. I put all the names on pieces of paper and let her pick one. After chasing her around for about 15 minutes trying to get the paper away from her it turns out the winner is.....Bopeep who has the blog Quilting Granny. You can see it here. Congratulations Bo! Send me your snail mail address and I'll get it sent out to you. Till next time.....

It may be spring in Indiana but it's still winter in Minnesota!

Here in NE Indiana spring has finally arrived! I thought I'd share a couple photos of some of the things that are making their appearance in our yard. This is called a trout lilly. It is growing all over at the back of our house along the river bank. They seem to like it moist with lots of organic matter. And along the bank we have tons of hardwood trees so there are lots of maple, oak and hickory leaves. We just let them lay which means we have no grass back there, but the trout lillies seem to love it.

Here's a little Jack in the Pulpit that I have planted in one of the many shade gardens we have. Lots of trees means lots of shade. He hasn't bloomed yet but he will soon. He really seems to like the spot he's in. When I first got him he was just one lonely little plant and now he's a nice mound!

We are so lucky to have flowers popping up, birds building nests and grass that needs mowing. My poor sister, Wendy and her family in Minnesota are still suffering from the winter doldrums. She sent me this picture of a strange ice "creature" that has latched onto their truck tire! I think that if you live up there where the winters can be so harsh, you have to be a very strong person. I don't know if I could do it.

Till next time.......

A de-stash giveaway for Granny Day

This site has lots to look at and you can enter for a giveaway. Just post a comment about a color and how it makes you feel. Like right now, I feel like the color yellow, like the daffodils that are blooming. http://turningturning.com/giveaway-granny-day-2009/ till next time...

Zudi the Maltese is having a giveaway!

Zudi the maltese came home from the vet on Wednesday. Her spaying went well and now you would never even know that she had had surgery! She's been zipping around like a crazy dog! Since Zudi the maltese is so glad to be home and feeling better she thinks a good way to celebrate would be to have a giveaway. So to keep Zudi the maltese happy I'm giving away a charm pack of Thimbleberries Timeless Grace fabrics. To enter just post a comment about how your dog, cat, pet chicken, iguana, etc. helps you with your quilting. Here at my house, Zudi the maltese likes to run off with spools of ribbon. If you don't have a pet then just post any old comment. And if you link back to this post on your blog you'll get an extra entry. Just make sure and let me know. The winner will be announced on April 24th.

Till next time.....

Home Alone

I'm here all by myself today. Zudi the maltese is spending the day and night at the vet's. Today is spay day for her, poor baby! I know she was wondering why she wasn't getting any snacks last night. And this morning her poor tummy was growling! It's amazing how a 6 pound ball of fur can leave such a big hole when she's not around. :o( You can better believe that she's going to be babied when she comes home tomorrow! I had planned to keep myself busy today so I wouldn't worry. And thanks to my wonderful long arm quilter Lisa O. I have my Rocky Road to Fargo, (or Rocky Road to Kansas, or Endless Chain) quilt back and it needs to be bound. Here's what it looks like . Lisa did a wonderful job on the quilting. Here's what she did in the body of the quilt. And here's what she did in the border, Feathers! I love feathers! But then again, who doesn't? I have sent a lot of quilts to her and I am more pleased with each one I get back. She's really great! Besides binding the Rocky Road quilt, I also get to play with my newest fabric that came in yesterday's mail. It's Windham's Paper Dolls! I have 2 sets of grand-daughters. One lives in Utah and turns 7 next month, so I'm thinking she might be a bit old for them. And I have a set of almost 2 year old twins that live here in town and I'm thinking they might be a bit young for them. But I have them and when they get a little older they can have them. DH, metal man to you all, made the comment that maybe I'll have them all done by the time the girls are old enough to play with them. Ha, ha, ha, not funny, metal man! Well, I'm going to sign off here and head to my studio. There are quilts that need making! Till next time.....

Weekend at Grandma's

I hope everyone had a nice Easter weekend. I spent my Saturday in the kitchen. Once again it was bread day.

I started off making 2 1/2 dozen brown and serve rolls for Sunday's dinner. They are so good. I have made this recipe dozens of times and they always turn out.

I also made up a batch of pitas. Here's a picture through the oven window so you can see how nice they puff up. They look like little pillows! I turned these all into pita chips which I love with roasted pepper hummus. Yum! I just cut up the pitas, spritz with some olive oil and sea salt. Put in a lightly oiled pan in a hot oven and bake away.

And to finish out the day, we had homemade pizza with sourdough crust. I used up all my starter for the crust so now I have a bowl sitting on the counter

getting nice and sour for another round of baking later this week. This time it will be sourdough. My hubby, metal man to you all, is a diabetic and I read that sourdough bread isn't suppose to raise blood sugar like regular white bread. Don't know if it's true or not, but we sure do like it toasted in the morning with butter and strawberry jam!

I used the time waiting for the breads to rise to work on a snowman BOM put out by Sandi at http://alegacyofstitches.blogspot.com/

This one, in case you hadn't guessed, is for January. A friend of mine, Hi Jeanine!, did a bluework snowman quilt several years ago and I have always wanted to do one since I saw her's. This is the beginning of mine.

As for our Easter, we had a nice quiet one at home. The local grandkids went visiting other relatives so it was just dear hubby and I.

Till next time......

Another giveaway

Head over to the the bitchy stitcher for some laughs and a quilt giveway! quilt giveaway

Tornado touches down in local woman's sewing room....

story at 11. Ok, this really didn't happen but by the look of my sewing room you'd think it did. I joined a challenge from Quilting on a Budget to try and get more organized. You can see by this picture that it is in pretty desperate need of something! I tried taking the bull by the horns and I did do some picking up and straightening this past evening. And you wouldn't believe what I found! Remember my basket block that gave me conniption fits and I promised myself I was going to get over my basket phobia by making a basket quilt? Well, can cross that one off the list! Look what I found under all the debris! And it's sandwiched and basted, just waiting for me to quilt it! It's called Amish Baskets and it was a freebie BOM I found on the net several years ago. I am sorry but I don't remember where. I do remember why I never did get it quilted, I was looking for that perfect template for all the open spaces. Well, I have that now too, just didn't remember why I bought it! And I also found this little cutie stashed away. I did stop cleaning and straightening to get it sandwiched and basted. I'm going to quilt this one up now. I need something springy and this one fits the bill. I guess the whole moral of this story is, if your room happens to look like mine, and I know I must be an anomaly, HA!, you never know what you might find once you begin picking up and straightening up. Till next time.....

Crafty Girls are having a giveaway

You still have a few days left to get in on the charm pack giveaway. Crafty Girls

Giveaway at Pig Tale and Quilts

In honor of her daughter's birthday Pig Tale and Quilts is having a giveaway. You can check it out here Birthday Giveaway. If you enter her drawing please mention that you learned of the giveaway on my blog. Thanks

Giveaway at Patches and Pieces

Rhonda from Patches and Pieces is sponsoring a FQ giveaway in honor of her mom's birthday. You can check it out here. Fabric Giveaway

Rain, computers, quilts and cookies

It rained here most of the day on Sunday. In fact we got over an inch and a half. We live in what used to be part of the black swamp. There is a river behind us, a pond beside us and remnants of the Erie Canal across the street. So when it rains we get swampy and I do mean wet shoes, socks and pants leg swampy. Makes going out to the chicken house no fun! So, I spent my Sunday inside sewing and baking, while my dear hubby, metalman to you all, got his new computer up and running. And since he got a new one, so did I! Well, new to me, I got his old one which compared to my old one is practically state of the art. Since I was in the mood for something sweet, I made some wonderfully sinful peanut butter sandwhich cookies filled with a chocolate ganache. The recipe came from http://www.preparedpantry.com/. A really neat site filled with free ebooks, recipes and tips. And they also sell mixes, their donut ones are great, and kitcheware. Just in case you're one of those, "I have to taste it for myself", kind of people here is the recipe. Just a note here, don't skimp on the ingredients. Use real butter and the semi-sweet chocolate you have to chop up. Oh, and let the ganache set up. It becomes nice and thick and makes a wonderful filling. And if you happen to have leftovers, it's great to dip fruit into also. Ask me how I know.... Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies with Ganache Filling Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 cup peanut butter 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda Directions 1. Cream the butter and sugars together with the paddle attachment of your mixer. Add the salt, egg, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the peanut butter and mix. 2. Add the flour and baking soda and beat until combined. 3. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes to firm up slightly. 4. Divide the dough into two portions. Using wax paper, roll each portion into logs 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Refrigerate for two hours or until firm 5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Cut cookies into slices just thicker than 1/4 inch. Place them on a greased baking sheet and bake 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies just start to brown on the edges. Cool on a wire rack. For the filling: Mix 1/4 cup whipping cream, one tablespoons butter, and 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup in a heavy saucepan. Heat until it simmers. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately add six ounces of semisweet baking chocolate chopped into pieces. Stir until the chocolate is melted into a smooth sauce. The filling will thicken as it cools. This can also be made with one cup of semisweet chocolate chips though the lack of cocoa butter in the chocolate chips will affect the flavor. If you use chocolate chips, increase the butter to two tablespoons. I also managed to get my Strip Twist top finished. To be real honest, this is the first time I have ever made a scrap quilt. Being a confirmed, hi I'm grandma chicken and I'm a fabricholic, I have always bought fabric for a project. But I'm trying to be more frugal. And frankly, well, I'd rather buy fabric. It always seems that everyone else's scrap quilts are always so pretty and this one turned out eh, ok. Besides, new fabric is like a new car, there's something about the feel and smell of it that just draws you in. If you're one of the talented ones who make beautiful scrap quilts, drop me a line, I'd love to learn your secret. As for now, I guess I'll just keep my LQS in business. Till next time.....

New Look!

If you remember I told you I was the lucky winner of Quilting on a Budget's blog makeover courtesy of www.acornglue.com. Well, my new look is up and running. Thanks a bushel to Sharnee for such a nice blog template and the instructions were so simple that everything just fell into place. It's wonderful don't you think? I would of have it up and running sooner, but it's spring break time here in NE Indiana and I got to spend a couple of days watching my grandkids. I had a wonderful time! I learned all about Blue's Clues and a show called Pinky Dinky Do. They learned about the ducks and geese we saw and the frogs we heard on our daily walks. And I taught them the peanut sitting on a railroad track song, how to walk like an elephant and how to play Simon Says. The best thing about grandkids is that it's not my job to turn them into responsible adults, my job is just to have fun with them. What's that saying, "If I knew grandkids were this much fun, I would of had them first!" till next time.....