Happy Valentine's Day!

The smell of cookies...

...is wafting through the house.

I told the guys at work I'd make them some cookies this week.

Little did I know I have no butter and no shortening in the house. But I had oil. So off I went in search of a recipe that used only oil.

It wasn't easy, but what I found turned out to be great.

Chocolate Crinkles. Yum!

I didn't have any unsweetened chocolate squares, but I knew I could substitute cocoa powder and oil for that.

Chocolate Crinkles

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 vegetable oil

4 squares unsweetened chocolated, melted and cooled (I used 12 tablespoons cocoa powder + 4 tablespoons vegetable oil)

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

sifted powdered sugar

Combine flour and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, stir together sugar, oil, chocolate, and vanilla. Beat in eggs.

Add dry ingredients; beat until blended.

Cover; chill (I didn't chill mine, oops. Perhaps they would have kept their shape more if chilled them?).

Using 1 tablespoon dough for each, shape into balls; roll in powdered sugar.

Place on greased cookie sheet (I just covered my cookie sheets in parchment paper)

Bake at 375 for 10 - 12 minutes. While warm, roll again in powdered sugar (I skipped this part, and just dusted them with a small amount. I didn't think it necessary to roll them in it).

Makes 4 dozen.

My Little Potted Garden

NOTE: This post is not about quilting, or sewing, or any other activity that most people would consider a craft. But to me, gardening is a craft, and a skill and something I am proud to have accomplished this year!

Some day I will have a nice big yard, with a nice big garden that I can fence off and keep the dogs out of. But until then, my small potted garden will have to suffice.

I started more seeds than I knew what to do with inside this past spring. I tried my hand at grape tomatoes, basil, Thai basil, cilantro, chives, hot peppers, lavender, thyme and... (I don’t remember if there was anything else). Lots of things made it, but lots of them didn’t. The only seeds that I had which did nothing were the lavender. I think I may have gotten one small lavender to sprout, but it piddled away early on. And unfortunately when I transferred plants from the seed pots to their larger pots I lost quite a few things. Lesson learned: next year I will use a different seed starter kit, the one I used this year made it impossible to get the plants out of without damaging them.

But anyway, what did survive is nice and healthy and green! In fact, we had some of the fresh basil last night in our dinner! The hardiest plants, the ones that are flourishing now are my tomatoes, pepper plants, chives, basil and Thai basil. Everything else either died after transfer or never really got established to begin with.

Here are some photos of the plants. They aren’t very large, but boy are they healthy!

First set of flowers on a tomato plant!

Thai Basil, oh my! This is a really happy pot of Thai basil :-)

My basil is flourishing! A few of the leaves of this plant found their way into dinner last night, yum!

The pepper plants were a little shy when it came their turn to be photographed, but here is one flower bud just about to pop open!

And one last shot of one of the beautiful tiger lilies in the yard. My lilies have exploded this year, they are huge, and gorgeous!

Slacking...

I've been slacking... a lot, since I started this Blog. Springtime has given me much more motivation to be outdoors, instead of inside sewing. But I moved my sewing machine and craft table downstairs yesterday (it had been hiding behind the piles of stuff in the spare room) so that at least I could see it and let it remind me of the projects I need to accomplish. I can't stand to look at a sad and lonely sewing machine every night, therefore I will have to sew!

Here's to getting back into the sewing groove!

Fabric, oh my!

I got the fabric today for the baby quilt I'm making. I can't wait to cut into it!

I've caught the bug again...

The sewing bug that is! (It's a good kind of bug to have :-) )

An old friend of mine from college recently approached me about making a quilt for her to give away as a gift. I was honored and flattered that she would even ask me to do it, and of course I said yes! In my opinion it's the best kind of quilt to make, a baby quilt. They are so much fun to make because the fabrics are so cute and cuddly.

I have already figured out the design and made my shopping list for Joann Fabrics. Some of the materials I want are on sale so I am going to head over there tomorrow and get what I need. This doesn't have to be done for months, but now that I have it in my head to do, I'm very motivated!

In the meantime, I have been working on a few things I have laying around at home. I finished another block of the blue quilt I have been working on for years, and I experimented last night with making quilted coasters with some left over blocks from another finished project. They came out really cute, I will post a picture perhaps tomorrow when I have some free time tomorrow.

Once I pick up the fabrics for the baby quilt it will be my number one priority, and I will post some pictures of the fabrics I find tomorrow.

Here's a hand sketched design of the quilt. It's actually not going to be that many blocks across and down, I mis-calculated, but you get the idea :-)

A Work in Progress

I love fabric. I love to sew and quilt. But finding the time, and motivation isn't always the easiest for me to do.

I'll start a project, but stop part way through and put it aside and pick up something new. I get bored easily I guess.

4, (yes, 4) years ago I picked up the material to make a beautiful blue and white quilt. At the time it was going to be made for a wedding gift, but the detail involved made me realize that was very impractical, and it would never get finished in time. I cut most of the pieces, or at least a good portion of them, and put everything together in a box and put it aside.

A few months ago I pulled out the box and was looking at all the beautiful fabrics and got motivated again, for awhile anyway.

Here is one finished block... and a stack of neatly piled pieces waiting to be sewn into more pretty finished blocks...





I've lost it again, the motivation I mean. So the piles are neatly sitting by my sewing machine waiting to be joined together. I'll get to them, when the time is right. I don't know who's home this quilt will end up in, but after the years I have put into it, it may come live with me.