Made dessert for Craft's Group tonight

I have Craft's Group on Wednesday evenings and we have it at Jamie's Quilted Heart quilt shop. We used to meet in each others homes and the hostess would make dinner for all of us and we would "craft" after dinner. It's much easier to concentrate after a great dinner and dessert. Plus, we can't move much after eating so we keep our hands busy with the "crafting"! LOL! Anyway, since Jamie opened her shop we meet out there but we were bringing "bag" suppers.....not so much. Half of the fun was the great food! So, lately Carol's been making a dinner and I've been making a dessert....so here's our dessert for tonight...Lemon Merengue pie.....my favorite!

and MORE books!

Here's what I am reading right now....so many books....so little time! What are YOU reading? You ARE reading I hope?

Books, books, books!!!!

Oh how I love my books....it is my passion no doubt about it! Here is a book I just received that I had ordered. Oh, I love vintage anything and here's a book with LOTS of those old patterns that remind me of my childhood. Aren't they just the CUTEST?

I made my first batch of homemade laundry detergent!!!! I haven't used it yet because I am trying to use up what I have on hand. This recipe gets RAVE reviews on Mary Jane's Farm website so I will include the recipe here for any of you who are interested. It is pennies to use and gets clothes clean plus I use 1/2 cup of white vinegar for softner and my towels have nap and the clothes just FEEL cleaner without all the "gunk" on them.

1 cup of Washing Soda

1 cup of Borax

1 cup of grated Fels Naptha or Kirk's Castile

1/4 cup of Baking Soda

I have a grater on my Kitchenaid mixmaster that grated the Fels Naptha bar soap in no time! But there is a website where you can buy it already grated and where I got most of my supplies: http://www.soapsgoneby.com/

You only use about 1 Tablespoon per laundry load or more if you have especially dirty or greasy clothes.

Ran out of batteries!!!!

Every time I went to use my camera the batteries were dead and everytime I went to the store I forgot to buy them! I hope everyone had a nice Easter. I mowed on Saturday and look what I found! I almost ran over her. I think it is a her because someone told me a long thin tail is a boy and a short fatter tail is a girl. The picture REALLY doesn't do her justice because she's beautiful! She has red on the side of her face and is SO CUTE! I haven't named her yet...I have to think on that for awhile.

Here's my Card Trick block! I'm all set for class tomorrow now with my "homework" done! Now all I have to do is pack a "school lunch"! LOL! No, really. I don't know what were working on tomorrow but I'm taking my camera and will photogragh the finished quilt that's hanging on the wall at the quilt shop. Oh, this is FUN!!!!!

Here's my second quilt block from my quilt class. It the log cabin block which you quilters will certainly recognize. My quilt teachers gave us a tip for storing and transporting our blocks.......a "new" (clean) pizza box! They are like 14" square and most blocks are 12" square so it works perfectly! What a great idea!

Well.....baked my Mary Jane's Farm Farmhouse sourdough and had hot bread and butter for breakfast! YUMMO! Some might think it is too sour but I LOVE IT!!!! It still doesn't rise a whole lot but it's enough for me and the texture is wonderful. The recipes are on her website www.maryjanesfarm.org
It's like having a pet though....you have to feed it every day!

OH!!!!! Is this cute or what!!!!????? I stopped at the Thrift Store on my way to Wally World and there it was. I was really looking for some extra measuring cups but since they didn't have any I looked around and found THIS! I am old enough to remember Dick and Jane and Spot too!
It is framed under glass and was only $13.00! I know, Nancy Jo, not as good as the prices you get but I wasn't letting this one go! It had my name on it! Well.....not literally but you know what I mean.

So sorry I haven't been on.....I'm still recovering from the "germs" the grandchildren left me and also I've been having problems with subscriptions at Mary Jane's Farm and yada, yada, yada.
But here's a little of what's been going on here in Horseshoe!
Here is a quiche I made last night that was SO easy and SO good but it is not too filling so I had 2 big pieces plus they suggested having some crusty bread and a salad with it....neither of which I had made.

Butter, for ramekins

Coarse salt

1 package (10 ounces) frozen broccoli florets

6 large eggs

1/2 cup half-and-half

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (3 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter four 8-ounce ramekins (or a 9-inch pie dish); set aside. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli; cook 1 minutes. Drain well; transfer to a cutting board, and blot dry with paper towels. Chop coarsely.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in broccoli and cheese.
3. Place ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Ladle broccoli mixture into ramekins, dividing evenly. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve with crusty bread and a mixed-green salad, if desired.

Per serving: 266 calories; 19 grams fat; 17.2 grams protein; 5.9 grams carbohydrates; 1.7 grams fiber

This recipe came from www.pbs.org on their Everday Food t.v. program that comes from Martha Stewart's kitchens. I watch Everyday Food on Saturdays here in Arkansas and they have great recipes. I went to Walmart grocery shopping today and got several recipes worth of groceries so I will update you on how they turn out. They were all from Everyday Food.

Lizzie seems to be working!

My sourdough starter, who is named "Lizzie", came through once again this weekend as I made Mary Jane Butter's cinnamon raisin, nut bread. It is great although being ill lately has been very detrimental to my taste buds.

I have been doing nothing but laundry and blowing my nose the past few days and I am convinced that I have used a tree's worth of it so far.

But I am slowly catching up and even did some ironing today but now I need to go lay down.

Trying to "catch up".....

Here is my first quilt block that I made at my first quilting class last Tuesday. It is a Jacob's Ladder block. Don't look TOO close.....it is my first after all. I have to have a Log Cabin block done by this coming Tuesday and I had better get going!

Whoa Nellie!!!

Oh boy......I didn't think I would ever get back to this blog again! First I had company and then I got sick while they were still here and for a few days after they left. In fact today I got up with a "coughing jag" that I could not quell at 3:30 a.m. so I just keep "keepin' on" until I get too tired I guess.

My company was my son, Ben with his son Uriah and my daughter Amy with her son, Sam. We had a ball and made a lot of good memories and those grandbabies are darn cute but a little "germy" evidently.

Here is the sign out in front of my friend, Jamie's quilt shop. There's her phone number too if anyone wants to call her and buy from her or get her to quilt for you since she has 2 long arm quilting machines. I bet she is less expensive than some you may know! Cute sign huh? This is where I am taking my Beginning Quilt Class on Tuesdays from 10:00 - 2:30. Next week I will post the quilt we will be making....also very cute!

Here is my quilt material for my new quilt that I will be making in my Beginning Quilt Class! I am so excited because although I have tried almost every type of craft...quilting is one I have shied away from. I love these colors and the fabrics. We were to pick out 10 fabrics in darks, mediums, and lights. I had the hardest time with the lights since I LOVE the darks! They kept telling me to "go towards the light" but I kept wanting to go "over to the dark side"! LOL!

It is time for Spring cleaning or rather ANY cleaning around my place would be an improvement. I have WAY too many irons in the fire but I digress. I am going green and today is St. Patrick's Day...how symbolic! I am replacing my chemical/store-bought cleaners with homemade "green" cleaners. PBS has been having their "pledge week" and of course they bring out all the BIG GUNS and one was Graham Haley of "Haley's Hints" so I ordered one of his cleaning books but also wrote a few recipes down to test before ordering and the above was his carpet and upholstery cleaner. Well......my BIG dog just happened to throw up BIG TIME on my beige carpet the other day. IT was a big mess to clean up and it smeared into the carpeting and left a yellow stain even after using commercial carpet cleaner on it. So, I whipped up Haley's recipe which is the following and you can see the result...FANTASTIC!!!!

CARPET & UPHOLSTERY CLEANER:
1 tsp vinegar
1/2 tsp ammonia
3 Tbs dish soap
3/4 C water

Put in a "foaming" bottle and mix. He said you could get "foaming" bottles at the drugstore but being the PACKRAT I am I had saved a foaming hand soap bottle from Bath & Body! It worked perfectly! Now, I need to go back and clean all those new "free" chairs I got! A woman's work is NEVER done! Happy Spring everyone! OH......forgot to mention one of the handiest gadgets I have that I highly recommend. For about $20.00 I got a label making handheld machine at Wally World. I label everything with it....files, bottles and containers, even drawers! LOL!
Trust me...I need all the help I can get!

Saturday was baking day with my sourdough starter and here are the results. The cake is carrot cake with the infamous cream cheese icing. I am not a big cake person because many times the frosting etc, is just TOO sweet for me but this turned out excellent I must say! It was Julie's (Willowcreek) recipe from Mary Jane's farm blog on "Bread, the Mary Jane Way" . It called for raisins but I don't care for them so I left them out and instead of walnuts I used pecans. I didn't want to eat the whole thing (and I very well could have it was THAT good!) so I took 2 pieces to each of 3 neighbors....I keep telling myself "be the change you want to see in the world" so that's a start!

The pizza was also great. I had Italian sausage, red onion, tomato sauce, fresh mushrooms, red pepper (on sale! and cheaper than the green can you believe it?) and Provolone cheese and Italian 5 cheese blend on it. I used my parents old stone for baking it but the bottom was a little too soft for my taste (I like crispy crust) so next time I think I will just put it directly on the oven rack without the stone. It's the best pizza I have ever made so I think my Italian relatives were helping me from above!

One question...does anyone know how I could "dress up" the cake a little for company? Like should I sprinkle some grated carrot on top? Cooked or raw? It looks a little plain and I know sometimes chefs put something on items to tell the "eater" what is on the inside. Any ideas would be appreciated to "gussy up" my food....they say you eat with your eyes first but personally....my food goes straight to the mouth!

Okay...there is LOTS to blog today! I have been a busy little bee.....here is a before picture(s) of my guest bathroom and here is after...I certainly hope you can tell the difference! LOL! Anyway...I tried removing wallpaper from drywall that had not been sealed properly....what a mess....but finally researched and asked around and found out how to fix it all....VERY proud of the result and I have never mudded or messed with drywall compound before plus there were deep holes in the drywall too. I still have a lot to do in there but the worst is over!

This is just one small corner of my friend, Jamie's The Quilted Heart Quilt Shop....it is just the cutest best decorated quilt shop in all of Arkansas! Yea Jamie!!!! Every Wednesday we gather after she closes the shop and we bring our supper and our projects which can be anything and we stitch and talk and laugh and have the best time. I feel very blessed to have this group and I really look forward to it each Wednesday and NOW I am starting a Beginner's Quilting class at Jamie's shop on Tuesday nights so I will show you my progress (hopefully I will have some) while taking the class. Can they REALLY teach and old dog new tricks???
This is Sally, quilter extrordinaire....she and her friend Dian (not in the pictures) are going on a quilt spa retreat and have been working on their "challenge" quilts which are turning out SO CUTE!
This is Jamie....the owner and sole proprietor of The Quilted Heart.....a nicer and more talented gal you will never meet and decorate???? She could teach the experts....everything she touches turns into cute and marvelous immediately! She's holding up a bag of wool squares she's been cutting for months now....you should see the cute stuff she makes with them.
This is Linda and she is hooking a wool rug that she designed herself! First time she has ever done it too.....this gal does everything and anything and she is good at it right out of the box!
No, I did not make this.......Jamie's daughter , Kelly did! Cute cat quilt just waiting for Jamie to quilt it on her long arm quilting machine. The little pony tail belongs to Abigail....Jamie's grandaughter.

It's Spring in the Ozarks!

Yes...it's Spring here for sure! I hung 2 loads of clothes out and the wind is really whipping today and they dried in record time. The daffodils are blooming everywhere....they come up in the woods all around here too. The white blooming tree is in my side/front yard and is a Bradford Pear. It's about the only tree that didn't get damaged from the ice storm. So, for those farther North.....get ready! Spring is on it's way to you too!