Good To The Last Basket.

Here is the yummy recipe for our strawberry muffins. 

We used the whole basket from our trip to the pumpkin patch the other day. 

(Minus a few here and there that were picked up by little fingers.)

It is just our basic go-to muffin recipe taken from an old copy of "Better Homes and Gardens-New Cook Book" given to me 10 years ago when we got married. Add chopped strawberries and extra lemon zest and presto! Pretty good. MUST be eaten warm and a dollop of butter doesn't hurt for sure. We didn't use paper baking cups and you may want to if you don't want caramelized strawberries on the outside of your muffin. The berries exposed to the side of the pan will do that. (We liked it that way.)

"Last Basket Strawberry Muffins"

You'll need-

1 3/4 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

1 beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil

What to do-

Grease up or line your muffin pan with paper cups.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Make a well in the center of dry mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine egg, milk and oil.

Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir just till evenly moistened.

Spoon into cups and bake for 20 minutes or until they look perfect and golden.

Enjoy!

I have to move along. We got some carving to do. 

Wish me luck!

The Pumpkin Patch-Full Color.

We love this pumpkin patch. 

We can technically call them neighbors because in a farming town your nearest neighbor can be, not very near. These guys are a couple of miles out, so I like to think we get to buy our pumpkins and support our neighbors family farm.

These guys are understated as far as pumpkin patches go these days, which I prefer. No bouncy houses or anything. Just organic pumpkins on the vine, friendly dogs, a kid-sized hay maze and pyramid and lots of other farmin' goodies.

We just run around and let the boys pick our pumpkins for the year. Minna got a pear shaped little guy that Colyer proudly picked out for her. She walked around with it tucked under arm. 

The boys quickly found theirs this year with no grumbles or comparisons in size. They each found their perfect mate.

This farm also grows delicious strawberries and I managed to pick up one of the last baskets during our visit. Very red and still very good. We made some muffins out of 'em and can't wait to share our recipe for "Last Basket Strawberry Muffins", probably tomorrow.

What a fun and easy-goin'  trip to the patch. 

Hope carving goes as smoothly...

Week'o The Pumpkin.

This is the opener to Pumpkin Week out here!

We will have pumpkin patchin', pumpkin carvin', pumpkin bread, pumpkin stamps and covering pumpkins with fabric. All the pumpkin fun aside, look for cute kids in costumes and a special Halloween wordless weekend too. 

So...

...YIPPEE-HOORAY FOR PUMPKIN WEEK!

Any pumpkins popping up around your place?

Have a great Monday.

sunday

saturday honorable mention...

saturday

We are all back together again!

Let the weekend begin... Hope yours is splendid.

Santa Before Halloween?

Yes. 

Here is Advent Calendar Santa patiently waiting for a house to visit. In the mean time he is perched on my monthly calendar. See those tally marks in the back ground? Those are keeping track of my stitching time.

I added several more yesterday while this lady napped away.

Have you noticed the hoops getting larger and larger? I really like the whole drawing to be framed nicely in the hoop so I am constantly on the look out for bigger hoops. I have a feeling this is as big as they get and probably would be seen as impractical to a real embroiderer, but I like 'em big so I am rollin' with it.

The project is coming along. I have finished all the reindeer now and the roof is complete. 

Top level, here I come...

Something Strange Going On Today.

Some funny occurrences...

I came upon a fancy colored feline prowling around the boys room.

I was surprised to see a fire chief doing Colyer's homework.

And right in Sully's place at the dinner table was none other than Harry Potter himself. 

(Yes, the Harry Potter phenomenon has reached us all the way out here.)

Looks like Halloween is coming soon. 

Not going to be a handmade Halloween for us this year but we pieced some things together. Sully put an order in for a Gryffindor patch for his cloak. 

I think a hand embroidered patch will fix up our standard Darth Vadar/vampire/miscellaneous black cape quite nicely.

Hope it meets Harry's standards.

Anything odd or spooky going on at your place?

Baby Grass Instead.

We went for a stroll today after the middle boy was out of school.

The destination was supposed to be a small pen with two sweet little calves living in it. They are being bottle fed by one of our neighbors and we wanted to meet them and give 'em a pat.

We toddled down the hill going little-leg pace, enjoying the air and sun after some good rain yesterday. We passed by baby grass popping up all around. We said hello to some big cows relaxing and the dogs frolicking. They are probably very happy to be dry!

We got to the pen and the youngest of us was TERRIFIED by the sounds of the tiny moos we heard. Poor lil' girl. I don't hear that scared cry often. I don't know why she felt so frightened inside, only she knows that and fear is sometimes inexplicable anyway. So, needless to say we hustled away and there was no meeting or patting of baby cows.

We explored a little more as we walked back and Colyer yells out, "Mom! At least I found a baby skull!" Sure enough, a tiny skull was makin' it's way into C's pocket. 

I am thinking a rat skull, geh.

Sometimes what makes a neat treasure is also, inexplicable.

Have a nice Tuesday evening.

Gray Out, But Bright In.

So we are being rained on out here.

Minna and I are keepin' busy indoors while our boys are busy at school. We have been cutting fabric, or, I was cutting and Minna was observing and scrambling around in all the scraps. I had a basket full of all her pretty clothes that don't fit or are stained beyond repair and she was organizing it for me. What a great helper.

I cut up all those sweet clothes that meant too much to give away in order to make a neat garland like this, (second photo). I think it will be a nice addition to the room Minna will move into shortly. Her very own room!

All the strips are hanging in waiting for the perfect ribbon to string them on. I may even trim them all into petal shapes. I am adding the tulle that I used for a weak tutu I made months ago. 

(Amateurs Side Note-If you are winging it like me when it comes to making a tutu, get about 100 times more tulle than you estimated or you will end up with a pretty sparse tutu:)

Back to our lazy rainy day. 

Hope you enjoy yours, rain or shine.

sunday

saturday (and a bit friday)

Beyond Thread.

This embroidery gig is the best ever.

A friend came over last night while all our fire-fightin' family members went to a fancy dinner. We had our own dinner and milk-shakes, then decided to pull out some craft books and see what happened. All of us, ages 5 to, uh yeah, 32 gravitated toward the embroidery books. 

Thanks to Sublime Stitching and all their neat stuff, we traced, colored, shrank plastic, made cards, cut up a storm and dreamed up all sorts of things for several hours. We worked in our jammies until everyone got home, which was late. No one wanted to sleep with all the colorful pictures and fun black line drawings that were actually fabric transfers, but can be so much more.

What a fun evening. Plus, while working alongside the kid creators, I got to finish this... 

...another tissue case. Here it comes, Jess.

Have a wonderful weekend. 

We will be picking pumpkins. 

What are you gonna be up too?

Sniff-Sniff...

A few days back I held my very first give-away! What fun! I didn't have a MILLION participants but the few I did have were very enthusiastic, thanks guys. Plus, almost everyone won! (Sorry Mary, next time:) The first prize is complete and will be on it's way shortly. I am showing bits here as a sneak peek for fun but to also share the cute project! It is just so appropriate for this cold, runny-nose season.

I was inspired by the cool Japanese craft book, Patchwork Style. The photos (which are the best part of craft books for me) are adorable and the projects look so fun and fresh. I have seen it mentioned many times in blog-world, so when my fave bookstore just happened to have it, I just had to as well.

As you can see the finished product is not at all patchwork. But these little tissue cases are just too sweet and the pattern was so simple that I knew I could do it and also tweak it. I felt I could put my budding embroidery skills to good use and make a hand stitched version. The pattern called for felt but I used canvas that I had on hand. The felt version would be even easier because no hemming would be needed. Gotta' try that one next.

I must say I am happy with it. I need to make one for Jess, the other winner and then I think many acquaintances of mine desperately need one or they just won't survive the weather.

 

So here's to staying cold-free, 

but having a cute case handy for your tissue if you do catch one...

Rainin' And Shinin'.

Happy first rain of the season! (for us anyway)

We have been pre-occupied out here in Two Rock. We're thinking about boring grown-up stuff, doctor’s appointments, moving, jobs, etc. I also have Halloween costumes on the brain and the holiday-embroidery-crazies are certainly creeping in. 

When I was starting to consider being overwhelmed, with no answers or finished projects in sight, my middle boy said, "I need a camera envelope Mom." I snapped to and said, "Lets just make one then."

We measured his new prized souvenir camera (thanks Grammie:) and started planning, cutting and sewing. In less than 30 minutes we had the perfect camera bag or "camera envelope" complete with strap and button closure. Please do not confuse this handy bag for a purse. Mr. C. will not hesitate to correct you on the spot.

It sure felt good to be spontaneous, create something with Colyer and most importantly for me right now, see a project through from conception to completion.

Colyer sure was thankful too, he said, "Thanks Mom for making this with me! I really love this! Don't touch my lens though." Uh-huh, a little true-blue photographer that helped snap me back to what is really important, enjoying right this instant...

..the rain, mud and the unknown all included.

sunday

saturday (and a bit thursday-friday)