go green in 2012....recycle the new year

Happy New Year!  Did I make any resolutions for 2012?  Well..... I decided to go green this year and recycle the ones from last year. Why waste time and energy making new ones when the old standbys are at hand and can be pulled out and used again? If you used up your resolutions from years past, then by all means get some shiny new ones and embrace the feeling of a fresh start, I applaud you for it.
But if you have some to recycle - go green in 2012.

I did start my recycled resolutions early though. My dh and I cleaned out our utility closet BEFORE
January 1st!
Must have hit my head that morning or something, but sure enough we dove in to the scary abyss and before we knew it, lo and behold we could find things again. I am unashamedly sharing the before and after pix with you. I think you'll figure out right away which are the before and after, hahahaha. Perhaps it will inspire you, or are your closets already spic and span and well organized? Be honest,  I'll like you anyway if they are. :)
Now I just need to think about the other 6 closets - but I have all year don't I?

Wishing you a very Happy New Year - recycled or not

pretty scary isn't it?

what in the world?????

a bit of an improvement don't you think?

the seal of approval form my helper hubby

twas the days after Christmas.......

Ho - ho - ho - hope your Christmas was filled with delight. I purposely stayed away from the keyboard over the holidays so I would spend my time doing fun stuff like baking cookies, visiting, sleigh riding, napping, eating, watching cheesy Christmas movies......... all that good stuff that goes along with Christmas and the holiday season. Fortunately , unlike my friend Karen, (poor Karen)
I didn't catch a cold nor did my hubby.
I did try some new Christmas cookie recipes though. I LOVE baking and this year I tried 3 new recipes.

The first was peppermint snowballs. They are cookies that get filled with a peppermint cream, baked and rolled in crushed candy canes and powdered sugar. Yummy! Speaking of candy canes my D.H. made me a set of 3 candy cane decorations for the yard. He's a real handy guy.

The next cookies were coco-mints. You make coco wafers and then sandwich them with green mint filling. Also yummy!
The third new recipe was double peanut butter cookies. You make the dough, which is peanut butter dough, form into logs, chill, slice and then add a small dollop of peanut butter, cover with second slice, seal the edges and bake. They are super peanuty flavorful! double yum!

Christmas eve we drove around to see some Christmas lights but didn't go to our usual light display neighborhood because we go there so much we know it by heart. So we picked a different neighborhood and we did catch a few ambitious displays.

We spent Christmas eve at my D.H.'s step brothers house for a tappas party and wow did they have a wonderful assortment! There were 2 kinds of shrimp, salmon and capers, lots of cheeses, chutneys, fruit, carved ham sandwiches, 3 kinds of ravioli, the squash ravioli was awesome! They had sausages, Italian wedding soup and then of course desserts - I will post the recipe for the nut yule log in a day or two for you.  It was unbelievable and it's a super easy no bake recipe. I usually don't even try fruit cake type loafs because they are not always very appetizing. You know all the jokes about doorstops and anchors right? Well, I had 3 pieces of this one - oink -oink!
Christmas Day was going to be in laws over for brunch but my FIL was in the hospital until late Christmas eve. He was too weak still to bring on an outing, so we shared the mid day meal with my FIL and MIL at their assisted living center then came home and took a short nap and then eventually got around to opening gifts.
Our Christmas dinner was quiet, we threw some nice beef tenderloins on the grill and relaxed the rest of the evening. 
I still have a few Christmas cards to mail out - yes really. I know it's almost 2012 but that's another story.......

and the giveaway winners are......

..... hopefully going to be very happy with their prizes. I so enjoyed the comments that were shared and I truly wish everyone a glorious Christmas season. The reason I didn't post sooner is because I was busy wrapping gifts so I could get them mailed off to my family to the north. I was also pouting because the Packers lost the game today. I guess I shouldn't pout though,  it's the first game they lost this year.
Anyway, I also want to get the prizes mailed off to the lucky winners....

The first winner is Mippy and she will receive the $20.00 gift card Congratulations Mippy, I hope you enjoy treating yourself to something fun and unexpected. 

The second winner is Iluvmybugs and she will receive the big stack of wool squares. I would love to see what she will make with them wouldn't you. 

Thank you to everyone for entering and perhaps you won on another blog in the blog hop party. Thanks once again to Michele from quilting gallery for putting this all together and a happy birthday to www.quiltinggallery.com

Tomorrow it's time to bake some Christmas cookies!

a stitch in (double) time.....

Calling all procrastinators.......If you know me, you know that I am the reining queen of procrastinators.
All hail the queen! NOT. Today was spent in my studio stitching in double time. I thought I would be farther along with my gift making but alas here it is a week before Christmas and I am frantically stitching away. Please tell me I am not alone....please don't tell me that you had your gifts done and wrapped before Thanksgiving, don't tell me your cards are mailed and your cookies are baked. That would just be cruel.
One of the gifts I am determined to finish tonight is a scarf made with this really fascinating yarn I found at the last quilt show I went to. Have you seen this yarn? Have you tried knitting with it yet?  I am knitting with 7 stitches cast on and as you knit it kind of twirls itself around and makes a unique accent scarf.

this is the yarn

this is the scarf, so far

I must say it was a challenge to cast on,  and will probably be just as much of a challenge to cast off. Guess I'll find out later.  Next up is to finish an apron....

this is an apron yet to be completed....

 I better step away from the computer now if I want to get these done tonight...tomorrow is another day.
Speaking of tomorrow - (Saturday) it's the last day to enter my giveaway. Scroll down to the last post for entry info. 
It's super easy, and I am loving all the delightful comments you are all posting about Christmas. 
I so miss my family up north. I guess the only thing I don't like about Christmas is not being with them.  (don't mind me, just a small pity party in progress. If you're missing your family you're welcome to join in )


Well... off to knit and hug my darling DH

Holiday giveaway..... with a little extra something

Do you like gift cards? How would you like a $20.00 gift card to Barnes & Noble?  Then you'll want to enter my new (and long overdue) giveaway and perhaps you'll be the one to win it.
In this giveaway I wanted to give a gift that everyone can use and I'm sure that you can find something fun there to treat yourself to.

The $20.00 Barnes & Noble gift card will come in a little handmade gift card holder (yes, I made it)  that you can keep, or reuse to give a gift card to someone on your list. (yes, you can even re-gift this gift card - I won't tell).

This is to help celebrate the 4th birthday of QuiltingGallery.com the host of the Blog Hop Party. Happy 4th Michele and thanks for throwing the party!  There are oodles of other fabulous blogs participating in the Blog Hop Party with oodles of other great giveaways. Click here or over on the link box to the right for the Blog Hop Party to join in if you want to have fun hopping around.
But wait there's more......

Also for this giveaway there will be a second place winner. The second place winner will receive a stack pack of 35 100% Wool 5"squares, after all, this is a blog about creative pursuits.
p.s. just so you know, Woolfelt by National Nonwovens is made in the U.S.A. Hooray for that.
If you're not a stitcher or you don't want to win the Woolfelt charm pack just put a note in your comment and we'll draw another winner. 

So how do you win one of these giveaway prizes? All you have to do is answer the question  "what is your favorite part of the Christmas season" That's it. I'm not going to make you jump through a bunch of hoops.  You do need to post your answer on this (Dec. 9th) post but you have until Dec. 17th to do so. The winners will be chosen by random and announced Dec. 18th. 
Good luck and be sweet and share this event with your friends. If this is your first visit to my blog welcome and read on there's more........

An extra little something for all of my creative friends.....

I put a free download on my site for the instructions on how to make these holiday napkins ties. They're easy and you still have plenty of time to make them to add a cute little accent to your holiday table or to give as a gift.  Click here to get the free project download.

holly and sleigh bell napkins tie

gift box napkin ties

 Now I have to go get busy in the studio with some Christmas gifts I'm making and finish trimming the tree.  Have fun and savor the moments of the Christmas season - Linda

something new - something old

You know the feeling... the feeling you get when you finally put the finishing touches on a quilt you've been making or a room you've been decorating, or even a junk drawer that needed cleaning.
I have just finally finished up an exciting project that I have had in the works since the summer. It is such a nice feeling to have it all come together.
I'm guessing that you have children or grandchildren that you love to make things for. Of course we love to make gifts, that's all part of being a quilter/crafter, isn't it? 
This new pattern is a wholesome toy and quilt all rolled into one.
 Color My Garden.... is a pattern for a playful, interactive quilt that includes a pre-printed fabric panel with 11 fruit and veggies for kids to color with crayons or washable markers, and then "plant" in their quilt garden.
This is easy to make and the instructions are very complete and well illustrated.

I  also added a free download on my site for instructions to make a cute little matching harvest bag for their quilt garden. 

If you want more details you can click on this link or go to my site. I am also going to have a limited quantity of finished quilts available for purchase.


So...what's old you ask.........that would be me!

Actually..... I was going to say the stack of unfinished projects that require my attention. LOL

Of course now I am also working on some Christmas gifts in progress. I have enjoyed seeing that so many people are making gifts again. I know that handmade has always been popular with avid stitcher's and crafter's, but now it seems that even more people are getting into the handmade spirit.
I am happy to see the next generation finding their way to handcrafts and foodcrafts. I believe that taking the time to "craft" something is good for us. 
With today's fast pace, "crafting" makes you take a breath and connect with your creative side,  physical elements, and time.

How many handcrafted gifts are you making this year? More than last year or about the same?
How many did you have the intention of making :) ?
Well, I'm going to go work on my gifts so I don't have to use next day shipping to get them there in time :)

play like you mean it....
Linda

it was a dark and stormy night......

Well, it was dark anyway. It did threaten rain last night, and after the 3 or 4 inches we got the other day it's a bit soggy out there. Today is gloomy and drizzly, perfect zombie weather, but hopefully the rain will abate in time for all the costumed kindlings to trick or treat to their hearts content.  Our candy supply is dwindling though, hmmm wonder how that happened?

I knew I should have bought the candy we didn't like -  LOL - oh well, guess I may have to run out for more.

What is your favorite Halloween candy? Or, maybe the easier question would be, what is your least favorite?

I think the scariest part this Halloween, besides all the zombies, is that the next day brings November already! Yikes!

Tomorrow I also start my new part time employment.
Yes, I will be working and teaching at our local quilt shop, SEW Studio.
They just expanded their retail space and it's fantastic.
I'm really excited for them.
Stop in and say hi if you're in the area.

Happy Halloween and watch out for those zombies, they seem to be everywhere..........and they steal candy!

Independence Day

Wow! It can't be July 4th already, but it must be because an increasing amount of American flags are lining the streets, there are red white and blue yummies at the bakery, firework tents have sprouted up at all the shopping centers,  mosquitoes are buzzing about, and the smell of charcoal is wafting through the air. Yikes...where has the year gone? Do you realize the Christmas is only about 5 months away? The Christmas fabrics are already on store shelves..... That's pretty scary huh?
But I digress.....
Tomorrow we will celebrate our independence and be grateful of the outcome of the war fought so many years ago in the name of freedom. We will salute our men and women in the military past and present for their bravery and allegiance to our country. I do believe that America is special, not perfect, but perfect enough that I am very proud to be an American.
Check out craftgossip or foodnetwork for some amazing looking 4th of July dessert recipes if you need some inspiration.

This is the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Have a wonderfully Happy Independence Day and celebrate like it was 1776!

It's beginning to look....

.....a lot like Christmas, and I should hope so, seeing as tomorrow is Christmas eve!
Wow! Where did the year go???? Has anybody seen it????

Actually we had the tree and lights up pretty early but of course it's everything else that I put off to the last minute that catches up with me. I did get several batches of cookies made and I still have some sugar cookie dough to be rolled out and baked, and frosted, and eaten!
I was able to use ground shipping this year so that's an improvement over years past when I was scrambling to get things ready for fed ex... perhaps there's still hope for the queen of procrastination!
Oh but wait...I didn't mail any Christmas cards this year for the first time ever! Drat!

I did make some gifts, but wish I would have started earlier and made more ......double drat!

We're having Christmas brunch here at our house for just a small group and so I do need to get the house tidied up and I so wish I didn't have to work tomorrow ..... oh well, it'll all get done and if it doesn't look absolutely perfect so be it....I am going to enjoy the miracle that is Christmas, and the blessings of family near and far ( pouty face) and if I see a dust bunny or cobweb bouncing off a sunbeam I will smile and be thankful for the sunbeam. I hope that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.......

had enough turkey?

So...... just how many turkey leftover recipes have you been cooking up?

 I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends. We had half of my DH's step family and his older step brother had the other half. No....there's no bickering, just making the size of the gatherings a little easier for the hosting families. The family has grown with nieces and nephews marrying and adding wee ones and moving closer. It was a great day, the weather was nice and it was good to get together to count our blessings and share our thanks around the table. The down side was I so missed sharing the day with my family up north.  sob, sob , sniffle, sniffle :(
I am so grateful to Alexander Graham Bell so that at least I can hear their voices over the miles. Texting is great and convenient, but there's still nothing like hearing the voice of your loved ones.
Of course it goes without saying that we ate our fill of the Thanksgiving feast and yet as always there was leftover turkey. Last night we had turkey enchiladas and we'll most likely have turkey sandwiches again for lunch today.  We're also working our way through the leftover apple pie.

I promised on facebook the other day that I would post a soup recipe and it's NOT turkey soup.
So here is my recipe for meatball soup...it's easy and it is a favorite of ours on chilly days.

Meatball soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic - minced
2 T olive oil
4 cups water
 2 cans condensed beef broth
1/2 can of 6 oz. tomato paste (3 oz.)
1 cup coin sliced carrots
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup snipped parsley or cilantro
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup long grain rice uncooked
1 can black beans drained

In large pot, cook onion in oil until tender but not brown. Add the garlic and cook about a minute. Stir in water, broth and tomato paste. Bring to boil and add potatoes and carrots. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile combine egg, cilantro or parsley, salt, oregano, pepper, ground beef and uncooked rice. Form into small 1 inch meatballs and add a few at a time to the simmering soup. Bring soup to boil again. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add 1 can black beans and simmer another 10 minutes.
yummy ~ yummy
If you have any leftover freeze it for another day that begs for warm and hearty soup.

By the way, sorry I have not been posting as frequently. Now that I am working in the outside world I have been working on juggling up my free time between, designing, blogging, stitching and all the other aspects of my pattern business and life. Bear with me, I am also working on the next post for the tortoise paced stitch -a-long. At least you've been able to keep up LOL

groovy!

Hahaha
.... if you actually used the word groovy, along with 'far out',  'dig it'  and truckin'  extensively at one time, you're gonna love these snaps! Enjoy a stroll down memory lane :)

Far out!

groovy!

 by the way.... those are vintage suede boots, suede belt, tie dye t-shirt, headband, tank top and some of the jewelry - the hair is new LOL. I'm waiting for the snaps from my friends camera. I didn't have one with us at the downtown festivities. Shame on me, but I know she got some good ones. I'll share soon.

I'll also be posting more of the Stitch-a-long in the next day or two. If you want to see it from the start go to the September 20th posting. 

BOO.....pumpkin painting and finger food

Happy Halloween...watch out for zombies this weekend, you never know where they might be wandering about. I spied this one waking up in our yard.


How many of you carved or painted pumpkins already? Share your links if you have them.
Did you bake the seeds?? They are so good right out of the oven all salty and crunchy.
How are you doing with the candy around the house?
Did you eat most of it already???
Come on be honest, are you going to have to go to the store for another candy run? 
Hubby brought home a big bag of mini peanut butter cups - very dangerous indeed! I snagged a bag of  Milky Way Midnights, mmmmm

Though it's still feeling quite summer-ish here, I whipped up a batch of pumpkin spice mini muffins and also made some ghoulish finger food snacks the other night for our dinner guests.

Some dear friends of ours were at a pumpkin patch and picked out a very nice pumpkin for us last week.
We usually paint our pumpkins because it's still warm here in S.Florida (oh sorry did I mention the nice weather already?) and when we carve them they rot too quickly. So I chose to paint again this year and decided to add a bit of zentangling too. I was torn between a happy pumpkin or scary pumpkin and being a pollyanna at heart guess which won out???

 I had plenty of room left on the other side of the pumpkin so I added the zentangled BOO.

 Then I saw this adorable idea for another Halloween appetizer..... you just take little smoky sausage links, wrap them with a small strip of refrigerator crescent dough, leaving a space for the eyes. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Take them out of the oven and let stand a couple minutes. Then add two dots of yellow mustard for the eyes. Aren't they cute?
They were yummo little mummy dogs!

What are you doing this weekend? Are you going to watch scary movies, go to a party, have a party or just eat candy? What ever you choose to do have a wonderfully spooky Halloween.......
BOO! did I scare ya?

still stitching along .....and a bodacious bloom

Before we get to the next steps in the Stitch-a-long I had to share this awesome blossom that was on our dragon fruit cactus. The bloom at first appeared very similar to the blooms on our night blooming ceresus but on second look we saw this wacky anemone looking part. (lower front) It is actually the pistil of the flower and I think it is just so cool looking. Too bad the blossom only lasts one night.
We're waiting for the fruit to ripen now.

We also came across this striking grasshopper and he nicely posed for the camera, but the poor little guy only has one big back leg. It seemed to be getting around okay despite the missing leg.

So okay, if you are here for the Stitch-a-long with Linda I'm sure you are ready for more stitching directions.  As I told you at the start, it's very simple and stress free stitching so here's the next step for you to work on.

Round up the 1-1/2" strips that you cut earlier, and using one of each color, stitch them into strip sets.
I mixed up the order on my strip sets but you can make yours all the same if you wish to. 

make six strip sets

I mixed up the order of my strips as I made the sets.

 Press all the seams to one side.

After the sets are stiched and pressed, cut the strip sets into segments. You'll cut eighteen  4-1/2" segments and seventeen 8-1/2" segments.

cut strip sets into segments

Using the 8-1/2" segments we are going to make the sashing units.
Stitch one 8-1/2" strip segment to a plain (dark) 4-1/2" square then add another 8-1/2" strip segment.
Add one 4-1/2" 4-patch unit and then one more 8-1/2" strip segment. Make 3 of these sashing units.

make 3 sashing units

Next..... find the 4 shorter border strips ( 30") . Take 1 of the strips and stitch a 4-1/2" strip segment to one end and then add the second border strip to the end of the strip pieced segment ~ see photo.
Repeat to make the second border.

note direction of the strip pieced segment

Okey dokey, that's all for today's stitch-a-long. No one is feeling stressed are they???
Now I need to go and decide on how to paint my pumpkin - it's almost Halloween after all. 
see you soon.......

Easter Eye candy

Happy Easter everyone! I figured we're all getting enough sugary sweets today..... so I decided to share some eye candy with you. These were taken at the Naples Botanical Gardens. We went there recently while my parents were visiting. This first pic is of the wall you see from the parking lot to the entrance and the blooming bougainvillea were just incredible. I just love the colors against the bright green wall.



These arrangements were hanging in the children's garden, depicting how one can recycle cast offs into planters - like these cute planted totes.

This large mosaic was a new addition to the garden and is just so striking and so quilty! Don't you think?
I wonder if the artist could have been inspired by a quilt?

I just loved the happy little group of flowers. I tried getting some butterfly pictures in the butterfly house but they were NOT cooperating.
But they were beautiful.

Oh-oh!  I snuck some sweets in here after all....
My dh commented at Christmas that I needed to make sugar cookies more often and so for Easter I made him some....of course he's nice and sharing them with me :)









This was a stone pillar of an arbor in the Carribean section of the gardens, I'm not sure what the vine is ... but it is such a beautiful shade of lavender.

I hope you all have an egg-stra special Easter, whether it's with a crowd or by yourself - Rejoice!

 John 11:25-26   Happy Easter!

Monkeying around

Today was a total goof off day. Started out with an early lunch with my BFF's  followed by a trip to Barnes & Noble where I ran into an old friend. I used to read about his adventures when I was little and so I was thrilled to see him in person...or should I say to see him in monkey? Does he look familiar to you?
My friends helped critique a small art quilt I have started and I am always grateful for their feedback and ideas. After a leisurely chat there it was then off to take a peek at a new quilt shop, and yes fabric was purchased. I found a really nice background fabric from the fusions collection by Robert Kaufmann. I got the vanilla colorway and I should have bought more than I did. Oh well, an excuse to go again?
Then I got home, bundled up in warmer clothes, and then me and my DH picked up some friends and headed off to the county fair for a night of fun and junk food. We had our first taste of deep fried Oreo's and oh yes - the are very yummy. I'm going to have to take an extra long walk tomorrow.

Tomorrow of course is Valentines Day and perhaps we'll go see Avatar before it leaves the big screen.
I heard it was a must see and we both like sci-fi anyway.
Goodness, with all this goofing off I'm going to have to put work double hard come Monday, but it's worth it..... life goes by quickly, so play like you mean it and have a wonderful Valentines Day doing something you love.