Girls Day In

My Stampin Buddys, Toni and Theresa came over on saturday.  Seems like we get to do this about twice a year.  We always say we should do it more because we have such fun and the day goes by so fast, but the year flys by and we don't do it. 

We were productive and got some cards and tags made.  We had good talk, good food and good friendship.

Here is an Autumn/ Thanksgiving card I made.

Toni is the newest stamper and is really doing well.  Her cards were very pretty and her tags had lots of of bling.  Theresa are always beautiful and she puts lots of thought into them.  Theresa has the most gadgets of all of us.  If we are looking for a certain something she always has it.  I am sorry I didn't take any pictures of their cards.

Tom put up the rails that I got from IKEA on Friday night.  The studio is getting close to being organized now.  I will put buttons in the glass jars and the baskets have spool of ribbon. I was happily surprised when I realized that the paper towel holder hooked onto the rail. How clever is that!

I have put all of my ink pads on the corner cupboard and it is working out well so far.

Tom also put up the rods that hold the marker containers. 

It will be easy to pick the color I need and also it adds a nice visual element.

Ready for the Springtime

I have the garden storage shed all ready for spring.  My gardening items fit in there just perfectly.

I am going to have to plan for the landscaping around the house.

I will be pouring over the gardening books for sure after Christmas.

Tak'in the Chill Off

A few chilly mornings this week I got up and the house was 62 degrees.

I got out the handy dandy remote control and turned on the fireplace.

It's great and warmed the room up in no time.

I thank the people who invented this.

We are very blessed!

Happiness

I love hand quilting and embroidery.

I don't need to get things done as quick as I can.

When working on these things I make a lot of mental lists and is a very calming time.

I made this pillow a couple of years ago, but just found it again.

It's a happy pillow.

Ta Daaaa!

We are able to get all the vehicles in the garage.

Not that there isn't things to put away elsewhere, but it's a nice feeling.

A Little Cheesy

It has been a pretty full weekend and week even though it is only Wednesday. 

That's why I haven't posted for a few days.

 I was out running errands on Saturday and stopped at The Rustic Hutch.

I had been watching this cheese plate move around the store and thought it would look quite pretty on my corner cupboard.  So here it is.  I love the golden color and the sunflowers .  A nice fall flavored plate.

Now to have a little wine....I really enjoy Oliver, semi-sweet.  Soft Red and Soft Rose.  A good home grown Indiana Wine.

Hey, I would like to know what your favorite wine is.

In the comments write me because I am always open to learning about new wines.

While I was gone on Saturday, Tom did a really nice thing for me.

He took off all the plastic on the windows of the doors into my studio.

It took him 3 hours, long and tedious hours I am sure.

I really dreaded doing this.

Thank you My Dear!

The Best Biscuits You Will Ever Taste

These are called Cloud Biscuits.

They absolutely melt in your mouth.

They are good with butter and honey, butter and jelly.

Toasted in the morning or using for biscuits and gravy.

MMMMMMmmmmmmm.

You are so lucky because I am going to share the recipe of these gems. 

They are so good that they automatically split in the middle for easy opening.

Cloud Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

1 T sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

Sift together dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening with knife or pastry blender till mixture resembles course crumbs.  Add egg and milk to flour mixture.  Stir till dough follows fork around the bowl.  Turn out on lightly floured surface, knead gently with heal of hand about 20 times.  Roll out thickly and cut with large round glass.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. 

Still Unpacking Surprises

I found some treasures while unpacking a box tonight.

This fork and spoon came from Assisi, Italy.

My friend and co-worker Theresa took a pilgrimage to Assisi this last May.

She brought a set of these back for all of us in the office. 

They are just beautiful and I had forgotten how much so, since I had to pack them up for the move.

True Italian pottery.

These are my pieces of polish pottery utensils.

They are so delicate and beautiful.

Fantastic Recipe!

On a scale of 1-10 this cake got a 10 from all in the family.

Here is the recipe.

Oatmeal Spice Cake

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 cup oatmeal (I used old fashioned)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9X13 pan.

2. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over oats.  Mix well and cool.

3. In a large bowl, combine butter or margarine, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.  Add cooled oatmeal mixture and stir to combine.  Pour batter into pan.

4. Bake for 35 minutes.

TOPPING

 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup flaked coconut

6 T. melted butter

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup cream

1. While cake is baking, combine sugar, brown sugar, coconut, melted butter or margarine vanilla and cream in a mixing bowl.  Remove cake from oven and turn on broiler.  Drop mixture by small spoonfuls on top of cake.  Spread evenly and carefully.  Broil for 2 to 5 minutes until topping is bubbling and lightly browned. 

Dannon® Give Hope with Every Cup

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Dannon will donate to the breast cancer research.

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The history search

1.  North Clinton and Berry.

Mother George Marker

2.  Main St. at Clay.  The original well of Fort Wayne.  It is by the fire department.

3.  Edsall House on Main Street Across from Perfection Bakery.

This is a beautiful building.  The Home Buyers Association owns it and it is right behind the Edsall House Apartments coming to the stop light so I think it can be missed because there are so many things going on around it.

4. The Columbia Street Landing

5. Fort Miamis Marker just North of Main Street at the river behind the Fort Wayne Newspapers.

6.  Wabash and Erie Canal Groundbreaking Marker at Main and Growth Avenue.

7. Wayne Knitting Mills on Growth Avenue Also.

The brick road leading through it.

8.  The Bass Mansion on the University of Saint Francis.

Kevin and the Gargoyle.

We had to make a pit stop so we stopped at my Niece and Nephews house.

4 out of the 5 were bidding us farewell on to our next stop.

9.  Hardin's Defeat.  This is way out on Carroll Road off of State Road 3.  It was a beautiful day to drive the country.

The Grass is Greener

Here the beautiful morning sun is shining on our new grass.

It is coming along fine.

A little more rain would be good, but of course we are thankful for every little drop.

Happy Fall

Sam was on a treat buying spree and thought of me while buying goodies.

I finally found my third wooden pumpkin.

Now it's complete.

Around the house a second time

It has been fun seeing all my fabric and quilts to be as I unpack.

This block was made by Tom's great Aunt.  She was his Grandmothers sister. 

Grandma died when she was 99 years old and she was the youngest of the family.  I am sure these blocks were made in the 30's because the fabric has that look.  Her name was Daisy and she did exquisite work, all the buttonhole embroidery is just perfect.

Here is another color and I probably have 12 more of the blocks of all different fabrics.

This block and many others like it were in my Mom's quilting items.

She did not make these but they were probably purchased at an auction or garage sale. 

On the back they use newspaper for stabilizing it.  This paper has dates on it from the 1950's.

This happy fella is going in the outdoor bathroom.

Here is a picture that Kevin has drawn and painted.  I want him to finish it then I will frame it and put it in his room.

I am always thankful when fall rolls around.  I thrive on the cooler weather and all the colors of the trees.   I love to drive with my windows down, and smell the smoke from the fires and burning of the leaves.  I also love to put on soft warm sweatshirts.  It brings on different foods like chili and cornbread or simmering beef stew and biscuits, beef and noodles and mashed potato's.  I also feel like baking things from scratch, pies, bread, homemade cloud biscuits and cookies.  I love to see the farmers in the fields taking in the corn and soy beans, what a feeling of accomplishment that has to be for them.  I love to drive home on the winding road and see the sun sparkling on the blue ponds and shining on the colors of the trees.  It makes me smiling happy. 

Watching the news tonight I am amazed at how long those Chilean mine workers have been trapped.  I get a tight chest and teary eyed when they show the family members and how anguished they have had to feel.  Thinking how I would feel if a family member of mine were in there.  What hope we all have for everything to go safely to bring them out.  They were saying it was going to start soon and how the mine workers said that they didn't want to leave until everyone was out and that they were fighting over their numbers to go up.  They all wanted to be last.  How brave they all are.

I loved the colors of these leaves....I was amazed that they came off the same tree.  I had not seen a tree that had leaves of completely different shapes.

Here is a munch on snack mix we like at our house.  Usually we have some kind of cereal, in this case it is Reeses Puffs, then we always have to have some kind of M & M's, this time peanut and peanut butter.  We put pretzels in and some kind of nuts, this time it is cashews.  It is always a favorite.

Last year Sam decided he wanted some Halloween lights and decorations.  I like his choices with the orange and pink lights.  I think the wrong way sign is funny too.  His green skeleton head coming out of the dirt is the topper though.

He's Creepy.

You always need a skeleton hanging on the chair.

We have the basement storage pretty well organized.

It is essentially my area.

Tom gets the whole attic to put his extra "stuff" in.

The boxes and things on the shelves are all of my fabric.

These are all my boxes of magazines and books.  Books are a real weakness of mine.

I didn't want to stack them up because then I couldn't get to them when I wanted something out of them.

Next year I plan to go to the Rustic Hutch to purchase a large bookcase for the Gathering room. I had notice a couple of nice tall ones there.  I also plan to put a bookcase in our bedroom.  There is a perfect spot for one. So for the time being they stay in their boxes.

Right now we have a nice short carpet of grass popping through the straw.  Today is a forcast of rain and it would be much appreciated.