Christmas 2009

Snow in Texas. Snow in Texas in December. Snow in Texas in December at Christmas. Doesn't happen very often, and personally I'm glad for that. But, it's okay for the thrill the kids out of it.

The kids were over last night for our gathering, and Robert's 25 minute drive home took an hour and a half. And then they had to walk the last 1/4 to 1/2 mile because they couldn't get the truck up the hill because of the slipping. The kids were real troopers, and wrapped their blankets around them for the hike.

Speaking of the grandkids blankets, here are the happy recipients. Lily acted like she was sleeping under hers, Rhett was being silly, and Ashlynn just smiled sweetly.
We managed to get in a game of bowling on the Wii. I've only had it a short time, so it was fun to have everyone joining in. Lily beat the socks off everyone with her skills, but we all had a good time. The kids get a laugh out of my bowling technique, and I'll admit I came in last place, but it was fun. Gee, it's a shame I've run out of room or I'd post the picture. ;)

While it's still Christmas, I'll say, "Merry Christmas to all".

SSSS

Over on the HGTV boards there's been a Secret Santa Stocking Swap going on. Sign-ups were held, little lists were given of our interests and likes (as well as dislikes!!), and teaser pictures have been posted by some. Rather than open it as soon as it came in the mail, the instructions were to wait until December 21st at 10:00 p.m. EST for the grand reveal. As you can see, I was good and my package sat patiently waiting for me. It probably helped that there was a ton of tape and I couldn't sneek a peak if I wanted to!

Well, I'll qualify the above by saying that I did start taking some of the tape off a bit early so it wouldn't take so long when the party started!

I was concerned that I'd fall asleep on the couch just before opening time, especially when my eyes got realllllly heavy about 15 minutes before then. But I rallied, and I did open my package. My Secret Santa knew I have an interest in cq-ing (crazy quilting to all of you non-quilters), and she really took care of me. My stocking was the cutest little cq design, and tucked in all around it were little packets wrapped in fabric from her stash...all perfect for cq. Here's a picture:

So, what are some of the supplies a cq-er needs? Well, fancy fabric is nice (check), along with embroidery floss (check), silk ribbon (check), thread (check), beads (check), pieces of lace and trim (check), needles (check), ornate buttons (check), a pincushion (check), needle threaders (check), and of course a container to store it in (check).

And here's my stocking:

My secret Santa? None other than Tea Sea in Iowa! Thanks Tea Sea, for a nice kick-off into the Christmas season.

it's that time of year

You know how it is...hustle, bustle, shopping, cooking, visiting friends. And I wouldn't change it one bit!

Went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes Thursday night with Linda and Carolyn. (They were a couple of my traveling buddies back in the summer.) We went out to have some Mexican food first, though it was hard to believe this place didn't serve margaritas,but oh well. Then the show was really nice. I think my favorite parts were The Twelve Days of Christmas, and The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, and the Living Nativity, and... well...you get the picture. Every routine was so precise and well choreographed.

I was out Christmas shopping, and found a cute little waffle grid. I really enjoy waffles, but chunked my waffle iron several years ago. It only made big ones, and was hard to clean since you couldn't immerse it in water. This was at Target, and makes 4 little waffles. You flip them over like you would a pancake to cook the other side. My first batch I pretty well burnt because the heat was too high. My next batch I cooked on medium, and they did much better. Yummo with blueberry syrup.

Also while shopping, I picked up the dvd Julie and Julia. I don't buy a lot of movies, but I enjoyed it when I saw it at the theater 2 or 3 months ago so thought I'd add it to my video library.

And in the spirit of the season, I stuck Santa in the front yard. I made him several years ago, but haven't set him out in a couple of years. Kind of startled me though as I pulled up last night and saw his shadow in the yard up by the house! I'd show you his picture, but I'm having problems with loading pics from my camera these days.

That's it for now. Got a house to clean, laundry to do, a quilt to bind, and some projects to work on.

Have a good week everyone.

Charley came to visit me

"We need a medic over here. It's Elsie. Yes, I said it's Elsie."

You know, it's a given that our division at work is expected to work the first Saturday of every December when our community has the annual tree lighting event. But requirement aside, it's a fun place to be. More fun when the weather cooperates, but still fun. Especially since this year one of the guys brought his propane heater, and we also had a "wall" to block the wind coming in.

We collected the toys and canned goods donations (which even with the poor weather and smaller attendance was still substantial). We were up and down, able to sit and warm our tootsies in between drop-offs.

The event came to a close, and after packing up, I headed to the parking lot with a co-worker. Well. There was a bit of a decline, and I found myself having to take it a bit slower since my calf muscle was jumping around a bit. I told co-worker, you might want to get the car and just pick me up here. Before I could get it all out, Mr. Charley Horse jumped up and caught my attention.

Now, if you've had a charley horse, you know how painful that muscle spasm is. Poor co-worker, she really snapped to when I grabbed her shoulder and gripped for dear life! To make a long story short (only a few minutes, but felt f-o-r-e-v-e-r), it was no time and some of my guys were there. I could hear it going on the radio "that's right, it's Elsie". Then there were some more of my guys and a medic. Fortunately by then the spasms were easing up, but the medic was great in doing a deep rub into the muscle for relief (thanks, Steve). And thankfully we were able to disregard calling an ambulance.

The last tree-lighting event of my career, and I made it a memorable one (for me at least). Wouldn't you know.

What caused this you say? Generally it's from letting yourself get dehydrated, maybe low on potassium. And looking back over the day, I didn't drink enough water. At home I try to keep Gatorade on hand, it helps to drink it right after the episode. Yes, I've had Charley visit me before, though it's been a few weeks since the last time he called. Back off, Charley. I don't like your visits.

Has Charley been to see you?

another vacation is history

It's been a really good week, and I've loved being off. Not much longer, and being off will be the norm! I checked my work's email the other day, and it was a bit strange to read the internal posting about my position coming available. Sigh. But not strange enough to make me change my mind!

I got to keep this little cutie two days while her momma went to work. She got in a little quality Grams time. :) A lot of her quality time was spent sleeping, but that's okay.

And of course there was Thanksgiving (see previous post), and it's always nice when I can be with everyone.

I finished this quilt top for Ashlynn. I'm really pleased how it came together, and think she'll like it. I'll be tying it off for the finishing. This takes care of the older grandkids' quilts for Christmas, and for me, three quilts in 3 months is doing pretty good.

I mentioned in an earlier post about the Secret Santa Stocking Swap I'm in over on the HGTV quilting forum. I even got that boxed up and mailed yesterday! I know December will be busy, so better to get it out in plenty of time than to wait and fight the crowds at the post office. And since it will take a week or so to get there, I didn't worry about sending priority mail since it's plenty early.

Another birthday has come along as well. I don't think you'll ever see me complaining about that, I like to see them keep on coming. One of my presents was Julia Childs cookbook "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Now when I issue an invitation, everyone will really be asking "what are you cooking" before they give an answer...

happy Thanksgiving

"How did you make that corn dish, David?" and "alright Mom, what did you put in that cheese ball??? are you trying to sneak something over on me??? oh wait, it's not bad." "I'm so full" and "show me the tv and a couch, and I'm good for the day".

Yes, another Thanksgiving dinner has come and gone. Fortunately for me my preparations were relatively easy this year, since Robert and Angela hosted the festivities at their house. Good company, good weather, good food. A nice day indeed. The cousins had a good time playing in the back yard, including the age-old favorite of hide-and-seek. Little Elise got to celebrate her first Thanksgiving, but she did end up sleeping through at least part of it. :)

This morning I did one of those little elf videos, using pics of me and my brothers and sisters. It made for a nice little family portrait, didn't it?

I also had some fun with my geocaching today. Last weekend Robert and I hid a cache in his vicinity, and today was the "first to find" on it, meaning someone was the first one to find it and post their entry. This cache is full of orange items, asking people to trade out with other orange items. I like having a variety of things in the cache, and will usually include a couple of toys, some fabric for a quilter who might come along the way, as well as something to appeal to adults. In this case, there was a sudoku puzzle book and a carabiner, among other things.

Yes, I'm thankful. I've got many blessings in my life.

getting ready

That magical day is fast approaching, and I've got to be ready. Yes, retirement is around the corner. I've come a long way around the block, and almost to the home stretch. March 31, 2010 is my target date, and that will be here before I know it. So...

My plan when I bought my little Hyundai Tuscon almost 3 years ago was that I would trade it in about now, and start out fresh with a new vehicle. I didn't go with a brand new one, but last night I got a 2008 Toyota Highlander (check this link for a shameless plug for where my son works). Woo hoo! It's a bit roomier, the gas mileage should be comparable to the Tuscon, and will be a comfortable ride for my trip to Idaho next summer, as well as any other excursions I set out on. No pic today, maybe one of these days.

And, it will be able to pull a little travel trailer. My thoughts right now are that I might get a little trailer, and be part of the Sisters on the Fly community. You've got to check out the gallery of trailers that these women have. I've got my eyes open for a vintage trailer that's in pretty decent shape, and reasonably priced (meaning cheap!). Sherry, do you know of any in east Texas??? I've posted a notice at work looking for one, putting the word out. Nolene and Joe suggested I look at a dealership that sells small travel trailers with an eye towards a new one. There is something to be said for electricity and water. And, um, other amenities.

Yea! Kelly made it through!

Yes! Kelly Osbourne made it through to the finals on Dancing With the Stars!

I admit it...I'm hooked on DWTS. I think Kelly may have been a bit of an underdog at the start, but she has worked all the way through and gracefully influenced a lot of voters. The way the judges ooohed and ahhhhed over the model every week led me to believe she'd probably be there, though I didn't agree.

Do I think Kelly will win? No, I really think M'ya has it, and deservedly so. But it's nice to see Kelly up there.

Okay. Back to the real world...

too late for second chance...

I got an interesting piece of mail the other day from a life insurance company, addressed to my husband who died 10 years ago. "Here's that second chance you hoped for, Mr. xxx." And, his acceptance is guaranteed, regardless of the condition of his health. Yep. It says so. In black and white. They go on to say they want to do something for a too-long neglected group. Ummm, it's really a bit late for a second chance, and I don't think his particular group is in a position to care.

I know names get on mailing lists, but really. 10 years and 2 moves later, and he still gets mail?

the torch has been passed

For quite a few years, I've made deviled eggs to take to family gatherings. What's ironic is my own kids don't even care for them, but my sister's kids seem to really like them. "Is Aunt Elsie bringing her deviled eggs?" I can even remember quite a few Christmases ago showing two of the next-generation cousins, Brenda and Stephanie, how to make them. They were young girls then, but the seed was planted.

Back in July I went to a baby shower for grand-niece Brenda. Everybody brought a little dish of something, and she requested I make the deviled eggs, which I did. Alas, when I left that afternoon I forgot my egg container.

Then for yesterday's gathering, I was asking my sis what she needed me to bring. I had thought of baked beans, but no, they had that covered. She did say that Brenda wondered if I was bringing deviled eggs. Since I was at the store, I picked up another container, went home and made up some eggs. Well.

I got to sis's house, walking in with my eggs and no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies (another favorite...yum), and lo and behold there was my first egg container filled with eggs! Brenda made some herself! Mighty proud of that girl, for the eggs were quite tasty. I told her, the container is now yours, and the torch has been passed.

The question for future family gatherings? Is Brenda bringing her deviled eggs?

edited to add "recipe" on making deviled eggs:

I don't use specific measurements. Peel some boiled eggs, cut in half length-wise, and scoop out the yolk. To the yolks, add a nice spoonful of Miracle Whip, a squirt of mustard, a spoonful or so of pickle vinegar, and some salt...all to taste. Mash/stir to a less than pasty consistency...you don't want it too dry, but not too runny. Spoon the mixture back into the egg whites, and sprinkle the top with paprika. I usually chill them for a bit before serving. Theoretically you'll get 2 deviled eggs per egg. Actually I usually lose one or two halves in the process...some might be "fragile" and split, but also I like them to have a nice rounded filling, so I fill the firmest eggs first and toss the one or two that might be left...or use them in another recipe.

jingle bells, jingle bells...

I'm surprised I don't have Christmas music in the cd player, it's feeling so much like Santa's workshop around here. (Am I telling my age by mentioning cd player? So many have their ipods now...)

Anyway...I've mentioned the quilts for the grandkids. I found the fabric for the third quilt this week, and can get started on it. I've pre-washed it, but that's all so far. I've been working on quilting Spidey-man, and that's taking a chunk of time. I've about decided to tie off the next two, partly for simplicity, but also because I want to practice more on smaller quilts before I free motion on these. Spidey's quilting doesn't show up as much as it would on these two, and I want them to look as good as him. Make sense?

I'm participating in a Secret Santa Stocking Swap over on the HGTV message boards. I've made this little stocking to hold the goodies. Our size limits were 8" by 12", and I'm right there. I'll probably come back and put her board name on there some way or another, then our instructions are to have them to the recipient so we can all open them by December 23rd. Surprises are always fun. I like what she's getting, hopefully she will too.

I'm also working on some handwork for the girls at work.

Oops, speaking of work, gotta go finish getting ready so I can head out the door. Merry Christmas all!

my photo shoot

"Slide your top off the right shoulder. Lean in towards me. Step to your left. Roll your shoulder in. Stick your back side out."

What's this? Have I turned into a fashionista? Was I in a photo shoot or something? Work it, work it!

Oh, there were pictures taken alright. Probably some of the most important ones I've had taken this year. I'm sure you've guessed by now that today was my mammogram day.
How about you? Have you scheduled yours this year?

too late for the parade, but....

Doing a little surfing, and I came across this blogger who hosted a Rooster Parade! She had links to people in bloggerland who all showed their roosters, though I don't know if all the links are still there. The parade day was late in August, so I have it bookmarked to go back and look at those who commented, and I'll look at their individual parades.

Of course I'm a day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes. Since I missed out on her rooster parade, I thought I'd post my own for all the world to see...or at least those who choose to visit me! Some chickens are in the parade, but that's okay...they can join in too.

I found this little pin cushion at an antique mall, resisted for a day, and went back the next day and got it.
I've always liked redwork embroidery, and when I saw this pattern, it was a no-brainer to do it. The nifty bird to the right actually came from sister Sue. It originally had a fabric behind it that was starting to unravel (probably why she was ready to let this gem go). I may put a fabric backing at some point, but like it this way just fine.
I came across this candle holder at Mervyn's, back when they were still open in our part of the world. It's one of those rare purchases that I didn't even wait for it to go on sale...I figured it would be gone and I'd regret it.

These have been around for awhile...
and this little chick was at a senior citizens craft fair in Cleburne. Love it! Simply an empty can painted black, with the chicken hand painted on it...for about a dollar if I remember right. What a deal. :)
My little spoon rest has been around many years, one I made back in my ceramic days. Let's see, that would have been in the 80's. Almost an antique, wouldn't you say???

This little fellow keeps watch over the front yard.

And you could say my kids are part of my rooster collection.

This is my latest acquisition. I actually got 2 of them, but figured the picture of one would serve the purpose.

I have quite a few other roosters, but as I pulled up the pictures I took, it came home that I'm not the best duster on a day-to-day basis. So rather than clean house top to bottom, let this suffice...


Hmmm...I may have to have a moose parade too one of these days...

second top finished

Spiderman has made good progress this week, and the top is finished. Just need to get the backing together, and it will be ready to move on to the quilting part. I'm pleased with how it came together, even though it's not the original shadow quilt I had envisioned. That's how it is sometimes...start out in one direction, then take a turn in the road. When the stripes didn't work out for the shadow, I wasn't sure what to do until I decided to separate it from the darker blue print with a border. I chose to have the stripes going out from each side, and mitered the corners. And really, I don't think that little grandson of mine will care too much about the design once he sees Spiderman all over the place!

I've told them at work that I'll be retiring come the end of March. Kind of scary in a way, but not enough to change my mind! I think they've finally realized I really intend to do this, so they're starting to take steps to fill my position. Some of my projects only come around once or twice a year, so this will give them time to learn a bit about it. As fast as this year has gone already, just a couple more blinks of the eye and it will be here.

And I forgot to say in my last posting that I've topped 100 geocache finds! That's not a lot in the geocaching world, where many people have hundreds, some even have thousands of finds. But it's been fun, and there will come a day when I'll have more time to pursue it. In the meantime, I cache when I can. Check out the link to learn more about geocaching.

That's it for now. Stay healthy, and have a good week.

another yummo

Just a nip of Fall in the air, and I start getting the urge to cook something. As I've mentioned before, I have been known to bring in unsuspecting guests to try out a new dish on them. This time I thought I'd actually try it first.

I really enjoy country pork ribs. Reggie used to fix them on the smoker, and m-m-m they were good. After he died, I managed to fix them once or twice that way, then the smoker gave out. I didn't see much sense in getting another one for the little bit that I'd use it. This recipe isn't the same as his by any stretch of the imagination, especially since it's fixed in the crock pot and not a smoker, but it came out well. I do think I'll be making it again.

So, here it is: Tasty Crock Pot BBQ Country Style Pork Ribs:

Uh oh, I may have to re-think this. Going over to hook up the link to the recipe, the nutrition facts jumped right out at me. Darn. Alright folks, you don't have to worry about me serving you this the next time you're over. I'd like to keep you (and me!) around awhile.

I'm on Grams' leave

I'm off this week on Grams' leave. New moms and dads get maternity and paternity leave, so I think my time can be designated as Grams' leave without any problem.

Ellie and I have got to spend a little bit of time together. Well, along with her Mom. ;) But we get some quality bonding time when Mom's taking a nap or I feed her. Yesterday we hung out together while she got some tummy time in. To give credit where credit is due, Elizabeth took this picture, but since it was appropriate I snagged it to post.

And I've been able to get started on the grandkids' Christmas presents. I've decided on quilts for the older kids, and have made a good start. Here's the fabric so far. I found the Spiderman fabric on line, since I was having a hard time finding anything locally. This was my first time to order fabric this way, and it's certainly more convenient, but I would have preferred to feel it first to know the quality of the material. If they would put the thread count in the description, that would certainly help. Anyway, Spidey will be a shadow quilt, similar to how I did this t-shirt quilt. The puppy dogs are checkerboard, and will have one or two dogs appliqued on the back side. I'll probably pick up my third print in the next few days. I plan on doing the quilting myself on Maggie (my new little Janome Magnolia), so I'll certainly get some practice in!

she's here!

We welcomed our newest addition to the family last night. Meet Elise Rose! She's wonderful, and Mom and Dad are doing fine. She didn't want to wake up enough to pose with her eyes open, but I have a feeling we're going to have plenty of waking moment opportunities soon enough. ;)

And because its my blog, here's the now-traditional Grams-and-the-baby picture:

My son-in-law does have a sense of humor. They didn't have her name firmly in place until after she was born. In fact, when I left the hospital last night, still no name. This morning as I got on the elevator to go up to see them, along with David's sister Kathy, we each got a text, simply stating the name: Elise Lowes (first and middle). We were actually kind of excited, and thought how appropriate, knowing how he loves shopping at his favorite home improvement store. Leave it to him to exercise his privilege of choosing the middle name, and come up with Lowes...ha ha ha, lol! But no, she's Elise Rose, and it fits her just fine.

Happy birthday, Little One.

a good weekend

I took off work yesterday to go to the Trinity Valley Quilters' Guild quilt show in Fort Worth. It's always a nice one, and I try to make it every year. They had lots of pretty quilts to look at, and several vendors. I think the number of vendors was down a bit, but I attribute that to the economy.

The theme this year was Log Cabins - Timeless Treasures, so there were quite a few log cabins to look at. They're pretty, but I can't say they're my favorite. Now this moose up here...that one speaks to me! But I'm partial to mooses anyway. The other two just caught my eye.

The find of the day however, was this nifty little cover to go on a tv snack tray. It's made with the insulated material that's used for ironing board covers, and is so convenient to have handy at the sewing machine.

This morning was yard work. We've had so much rain lately that it's gone kind of crazy. I mowed and edged the front, pulled a few weeds, and pulled almost all of the marigolds out. I decided I needed to take a picture of my geraniums (edited to say "begonias") at the front entry, as a reminder to plant them again next year. I've enjoyed them all season, they did so well.
That's it for now. I'm hoping the next post can have baby pictures on it!

don't have to say darn it anymore

Since my little Singer gave out on me, I knew I needed to do something fairly quickly. After all, this is the busy time of year for most people who sew. Without going into detail, I've got at least 3 projects on my list that I need to get going on.

Sooooooo.......

I did it! I jumped out there and bought a new machine! One of the ladies on the HGTV quilting message board recently bought a Janome Magnolia 7330. Every comment on her post was positive about the brand. I took a look at the same model, found the price to be in my range, and feel like it will fit my needs nicely.
Now I just need to get busy and get past that learning curve!

darn it...

My sewing machine messed up today, and now I can't sew. It was doing fine until I tried to do some of the decorative stitches. Maybe reading the instructions would have helped. Anyway, some of the material dropped down in the little hole that the needle goes down into, and I had to tug to get it out. After that, I can't get the bobbin thread to come topside.

What to do? Spend $80 for a service/repair job on my inexpensive little Singer that probably cost $150 to begin with, and that was 10 years ago, or break down and get a new one? Hmmm, that's really kind of a no-brainer, isn't it? Alright, I talked myself into it. Now to see what's out there, without spending an arm and a leg.

There. I feel better already. It feels good to be able to have these little chats with myself. :)

On other news, no baby yet. Of course, Elizabeth's not due till the 20th, but I still think Little One will be making her entrance early.

much needed rest

Ah, Labor Day. A day of much needed rest for the working masses. (My last year to fall in that category!)

I finished the Little Cowboy quilt last week, and my mind is turning to see what other projects I want to move forward on. Let's see...I've been working on Christmas crazy quilt type blocks since about February; I'd love to try a paper-piecing challenge that's going on over at the HGTV quilting board (didn't sign up for it, but I'm taking copious notes so I can try my hand at it as it's convenient); my poor little leaves-blowing in-the-wind wall hanging is more reminiscent of an occasional gust of wind the way it gets worked on in spurts; some burp cloths are calling to me; I really could use some placemats and maybe a table runner; and Christmas is just around the corner. What else? Of course the sewing room could stand to be straightened up quite a bit, I have a dress form that I want to put in a new stand and put on Craig's List, there's always a bit of ironing to do, and I won't even mention that my room could use a good vacuuming.

But it's Labor Day, a day of much needed rest for the working masses. I think it can all wait another day, don't you?

quick little blanket...finished!

I finished little Isaiah's quilt, and washed it so it would pucker up the way a quilt ought to. It was my first one to machine quilt (other than Wild and Free, which was just stitching in the ditch), and I'm real pleased with how it came out. I purposely chose a simple layout, partly so it would come together quickly, and partly so I could try my hand, er, machine, at doing the quilting. Here it is:
I used Sharon Schamble's technique for basting the quilt, and really like this method. Takes a bit longer, but lays out so smooth, using no safety pins. I set my stitches a tad longer for the stitching, and that helped too.

Think little Isaiah will like it? (Shhh, they haven't got it yet...hopefully today.)

a lesson learned

I was on another blog early this morning, and saw she was giving away some quilt batting. Hmm, thought I, that would be nice. So I commented, thus entering myself for the drawing. Then I saw I could check a box, and follow-up comments would be sent to my email address. Ahhh, thought I, she needs to be able to reach me if I win! I checked the box.

I checked my email this afternoon. Oh no, thought I. I had at least 200 emails notifying me of comments made to her blog following mine.

Won't be doing that again, thought I.

little cowboy

I found out late last week that one of the fellows at work and his wife have just adopted a baby. Needless to say, I started thinking about a quilt for the little one. I found a piece of Lil Cowpokes material in my stash, made a trip to the LQS (local quilt shop) for some coordinating prints, and have gotten this far. (Click on the picture so you can see the print better.)
I still need to trim the right side, but I'm not sure yet how wide I want it. And it's not a fancy layout, but I wanted something that would come together fairly quickly. And it's not a totally original design. I've seen some similar on other blogs where they make many to donate for babies. Cute, isn't it?

That's pretty much my excitement this weekend. :)

inspiration...

Yesterday I went to see Julie and Julia with Carolyn, Marilyn, and Jennifer. Really cute movie, and yes, I give it a 2 thumbs up.

I came home thinking, I really need to try preparing one of her recipes one of these days. I wonder if I can con the family into coming over if they know I'm experimenting again? I'll have a better chance with John and Bonnie, and Nolene and Joe. Whether they're truly open to trying new things, or just polite, I'm not sure. (I have noticed that they now ask what we're having before committing!) But my kids are not so adventurous. Ah.

So anyway. This morning I got hungry, but didn't have a lot on hand and didn't want to get dressed to go to the grocery store. I scrounged around, and found a biscuit mix, deciding on cinammon biscuits. Should be easy and quick enough. Well.

First I reduced the amounts, just needing a few biscuits and not a whole panful. I may have been off a tad on my measurements, but no matter. (As I remember now, Julia did mention in the movie that all recipes needed measurements.) So I stirred it up, patted it out, and placed them in a pan. Into the oven they went.

They baked, I washed a few dishes, read a blog or two, and the timer went off. Hmmm. They don't look a lot different. Onto the plate they went.

I tasted, and I think I can honestly say they were about the worst biscuits ever. Flat. Bland. Even with the cinnamon-sugar topping. Into the trash they went.

It's a good thing noone was here. If anyone had seen this, they might not want to try future recipes!

Gracie handbag project - check!

I picked up some fabric about 3 months ago to make a couple of purses, and finally got one finished just a bit ago. Well, close. Just need to get a button or some kind of embellishment for the closure flap. It stays shut, thanks to the velcro on the underside, but the embellisment will give it a nice finishing touch. There's a link on the sidebar to see the video on making one of these.

Always nice to get projects checked off the to-do list!