featured...

My cake stand made it onto littlebird's blog today! How exciting! Check out her blog.

popover perfection...

Feeling in a 'bakey' mood, I decided to test out my latest kitchen gadget: a popover pan! Normally I wouldn't have purchased such a one-trick-pony, but for $1 at the Hospice garage sale, I had to give it a try.

A popover is a quick bread with no yeast and a minimal time commitment (hence the name 'quick'). As they rise in the oven to double their original size, they develop lots of air bubbles - leaving holes. Best served warm with a dollup of butter (yum). My darling hubby arrived just in time to enjoy them hot out of the oven. Perfect when you have (1) only a few ingredients on hand, (2) only a little bit of prep time, (3) don't like to do many dishes, and (4) love bread with dinner! :Recipe:

-ingredients-
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

-directions-
heat oven to 450°
grease popover pans very well
beat eggs slightly
beat in flour, milk, & salt - beat just until smooth, do not overbeat
fill popover pan 1/2 full bake 18 minutes
reduce oven temp to 350°
bake 8 more minutes
remove from pan
note: you can also use 6oz custard cups or experiment with muffin pans


The recipe is from recipezaar - a great site if you haven't tried it out yet.

temptation island...

OK - so this isn't a craft, a recipe, or even a decorating tip - it is just a confession. I probably haven't partaken of 'regular' soda in several years, but today the cheerwine in the fridge was calling my name and I just couldn't take it anymore. So, today for lunch I had chips and cheerwine - so delicious!

If you don't know cheerwine, you should! It is produced (and almost exclusively distributed) in North Carolina. One of our kid's had relatives in from the Carolinas and he brought a case of it to Campaigners. (Thanks Skippy!) Cheerwine is like a more cherry-ey tasting cherry Dr. Pepper. Oh, and it is completely non-alcoholic :0)

this just in...

The thrill of the hunt, the excitement of th catch, the anticipation of the arrival of your newest ebay purchases! I unabashedly love ebay - even just 'watching' items is fun. I recently stumbled across some sale fabric at Mrs. Miller's in Charm. (note: do NOT go here to buy just one fabric, it doesn't work!) Moda: Blossoms by Urban Chiks This, of course, coincides with my new plan to join the Wonky Log Cabin quilt-along!

After checking out ebay, I got a FANTASTIC deal on a jelly roll (40 - 2.5" strips). They normally run around $30-$35 - a steal at $15+$4s/h! I was so excited to find a bonus 1/2 yard included for free - I highly recommend this seller.

Finds from Mrs. Miller's in Charm:

t-shirt transition...

Announcing the latest of the unfinished to finished projects: the t-shirt tank top! Digging deeper into the depths of the ufo's, I discovered this trendy little number. Originally a too-big t-shirt, the only finishing details were to sew on the straps and buttons and to trim all of the thread ends. and VOILA, a new top for me! Kinda cute isn't it?! (the tank that is :0)

The pattern for this came off craftster (I think!); unfortunately it is nowhere to be found :0(

happy squid-day to you...

To celebrate Aaron's birthday, I wanted to give him his very own squid... Well, not a real squid of course, but a Squid USB cover. Since the unfortunate death of his ipod (moment of silence) he has been in need of a portable drive. I think this 4gb jump drive will be perfect. As an added bonus it sports its very own, handmade cover. He is constructed from teal wool-felt. I simply hand stitched his body together and then turned him rso. Then, with some scissor snips and a few tugs, I formed his tentacles. The eyes were a little bit of a challenge, I tried several iris variations, but ultimately decided that plain black eyes were best! The USB drive just slides in under the tentacles and is ready for use. I had to leave him a note: 'hope you don't get ink all over your laptop!'

note: I must confess, this is NOT my original idea. There is a great artist on etsy who creates these charming guys...

spring in summer...

Hooray for the second project to emerge complete from the cardboard box of unfinished objects! By my calculations these wool pieces have been cut out in a plastic bag for 4 years.

This project has been an interesting process - originally to be appliqued onto a skirt, my ideas on how to finish the project were many; maybe a bag, perhaps a pillow, a pretty wallhanging, or even a table runner. But as a happy coincidence, this little flower basket fit perfectly into a vintage frame I had! I am very pleased with my self as I made my own backing board and even used finishing nails to hold the project in place.

It feels good to see something through to completion - so many pieces of my life never see a concrete conclusion. So I shall celebrate today!

note: the laptop bag is moving along, still a ufo (UFOs=UnFinished Objects)

piecing it all together...

As I continue on with my plan to complete previously started projects, I am constantly tempted with the allure of new projects. They beckon to me, 'wouldn't this be nice in the living room?' 'your friend would really like this!' 'ooh this would sell on etsy.' It's as if no one has told the endless supply of free tutorials on the Internet that I am trying to finish past projects. So the current fascination is with a new quilt. I was wondering if it could be counted as a UFO (unfinished object) if I used my fabric stash? I mean, those towering piles of fabric certainly are unfinished... right? Maybe the time spent perusing the net for the perfect quilt pattern would have been better spent finishing projects? At any rate, I think the next quilt will be a coin quilt. I was very inspired by a few blogs. The picture above is from a really sweet blog called a quilt is nice - definitely worth checking out!