It's Monday again

Well!   Good Monday morning to you today.  I am camera-less so I can't show you all I worked on and made this weekend but I can tell you it was a good one. 

The "shutdown" gave me an unexpected weekend at home so I jumped into an impromptu craft stroll that was a big success.  So much so that we're planning a spring and summer version to add to the fall one.  The wind could have been a bit more cooperative but it was a nice time at any rate.

I finished up the King size T-Shirt quilt (and a whole week and a half early!)  King size quilts are hard on the arms! 

That will be shipping out today.  Gives me a few days to add some finishing touches to my kids Halloween costumes this year.  One Sonic the Hedgehog and one Leafman (from the movie Epic) in the works. 

The girl wanted to be a horse, so I found her a costume online.  So far she has worn it 45 times.  I think she likes it.

Have a great day and see you tomorrow with a banana bread recipe that flies off the cooling rack!  It's so good!

Kitchen sign

I'd like to share a corner of my kitchen with you today.


I moved into this 1937 farmhouse about a dozen years ago.   One of the first tasks we had to complete was the big pile of wood stuffed in the space underneath the front porch.  Unfortunately, that huge stack of wood had become quite a lovely place for a rampaging heard of termites so just about everything we pulled out was rotted and destroyed. 

That also meant the wood floor of the porch received some termite damage as well.

During that repair work, we pulled off the facing boards of the porch and there were a few large pieces I was able to recover from the burn pile.  I just love old wooden planks.  I made a doorknob towel hanger for my downstairs bath with one that had the most white paint left on it.  A few thick coats of poly sealed it in place.

With another I made this sign for the blank spot above the doorway in my kitchen.

A few brushes of white paint over the rough surface and large rubber stamps gave me this sign that makes everyone giggle when they first see it.

Just under my sign and to the right of the doorway I had another blank spot so this summer I framed some of my mother's and grandmother's recipe cards.   I love their handwriting on the cards, I love that it is their favorite recipes, and I love the history behind each card.

 

That's just one corner of my kitchen.

I'm attending an impromptu mini-craft festival this weekend.  Many of us were rained out last weekend so when we got online to talk about it, we decided to make one of our own!  

If you are in the area for the Gratz Fair Craft Show, stop in to Millersburg as well.  

Happy Friday Y'all.  :)

A Simple Roasted Chicken

There is something wonderfully magical about a simple roasted chicken that makes a perfect end to crisp fall day.  The smells of chicken, onions, and lemon from the oven leads everyone inside to warm up and look forward to a delicious dinner.

The cast of ingredients in addition to a whole chicken are onion, lemon, and some fresh herbs.

 

I picked a hand full of herbs from my window box to place inside the cavity of the chicken.  Some parsley, oregano, thyme, and globe basil.

I also have some chive olive oil which I used to drizzle onto the chicken and the pan to keep it from sticking.   I just picked and washed some fresh chives and placed them in the bottle along with extra virgin olive oil. 
 

The onion and lemons are quartered, the lemons squeezed over the chicken before stuffing them inside with the herbs.   Any extra ingredients are placed in the bottom of a shallow roasting pan.   A little oil on the top with salt and pepper.  Don't be afraid to season heavily.  It needs it.

You can also tie up the drumsticks if  you prefer.  It keeps the chicken looking a little more plump as it roasts.

Place in a preheated 400-425 degree F oven covered with some foil for about 45-50 minutes.  Remove foil for the remaining 15 minutes or until the chick is thoroughly cooked.   Use a meat thermometer to test.

Simple, easy, and delicious as it can be.

Weekend + two

A rather simple and quiet weekend around here, which is just what I enjoy the most.  How about a few highlight photos?

 I did manage a little cooking this weekend, however bland it might seem.  It was still good comfort food for us and I'll post the recipe for my Simple Roasted Chicken tomorrow for Recipe Tuesday. 

Due to my strange scheduling I still have two more days off to look forward to so I'm hoping to finish up this large quilt (just need the final quilting, it's all sandwiched and ready to go....) 

Plus I'm making a batch of Pioneer Woman's Granola Bars today.  A favorite here with the kids.  This time I'm subbing in some mini-choc chips.  Let's see how that goes.   I toasted off the oatmeal yesterday while I had the oven on for my chicken.

Happy Monday and enjoy your day.

Weekend plans have been rained out.

We received close to 5 inches of rain in the last two days so most of the local fall festivals have been cancelled.   Which worked out well for me since I came down with something stomach thing and spent most of my Friday on the couch.  

Please explain to me why there are so many food related commercials on all the channels??   Ugh, I did not enjoy that.  I did manage a piece of toast and some Sierra Mist but that was about it all day.

On tap for my long weekend without a craft show is another big t-shirt quilt push.   I finally put together a layout I'm pleased with and I'll be piecing it together this afternoon.

I'd like to do some cooking, we'll see if  I'm up to that today.  Might be a good see-what's-in-the-freezer-to-reheat day.   I'm glad I put away extra meals just for this sort of occasion.


Have a good and dry weekend everyone!

Some other things I've been working on.... or how I'm pretending I'm a "real artist"

Have I mentioned what I've been working on recently?  I mean, I've shown you odds and ends of craft fair things, and some house projects, but have I talked about my Graduate Art Show?

On top of mommy stuff, running a household, teaching, craft fairing, and general laundry mayhem, I've been working on preparing artworks for my Master of Arts degree in Art Education.   20 years after finishing my B.S. degree in Art Ed.

 Not that it took me that long to work on the degree, I just didn't get started until 2011 when life-as-I-knew-it changed completely.  I figured, everything else was going to be different now, might as well toss in some career development into the fray too, right?

I wrote a bit about my studio course in Papermaking two summers ago.   Here, here, here, and here, with a class recap post here.  This semester and next I'll be working with the same professor (and my graduate adviser) to complete some Graduate level artworks for a show all my own.   My first big "important" art show.

This stresses me.

I'm an artist, but I do all sorts of odds and ends things.  I paint basketballs and soccer balls for graduating seniors in my school district, I paint murals at the baseball field, I make giant checks for the PTO fundraisers.   I'm not a "real" artist.  Am I?   I am I suppose.  I just don't feel professional and authorized to have an art show.

Anyway..... here's some things I've been working on just to entertain you on this Thursday.  It's a mix up combination of paper making, fibers, sewing, and hand stitching.  

The center piece will have another 9-patch section below in a different color.

And a few close-ups....

Weeknight Fresh + Fast pizza crust recipe

Pizza, as usual, is an all around child-pleaser in my household.  Especially when I have a little time to make a homemade crust and they can top their own to their liking.   I've tried a few from online, but today I decided to use an actual real book from the cookbook cabinet for a change.

The pizza dough recipe is all the way in the back of the book.  I've doubled it tonight to have some dough to freeze for later.

 

1 TBSP dry yeast

3/4 C + 2 TBSP warm water

1 TBSP olive oil

2 3/4 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

(Again, i doubled mine today)

Activating the yeast is the most important first step.  If you have active yeast, combining it with the warm water will make the water look like this.  Creamy, bubbly a bit, and smells like something is going on in there.   Put this in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer.

Measure out your flour and salt, add it to the yeast mix by 1/2 C amounts until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

Then you wait.   Put the dough into an oiled bowl (or into your warm oven), covered with a piece of plastic wrap until it rises to about double it's size. 

I turn my oven onto it's WARM setting before getting my ingredients together.  Then I turn it off so it stays around 130 degrees in there.

Then it's pizza making time!
Enjoy

My weekend in pictures

 These jewelry pendants were a big hit at the last craft fair.  I decided to make a few more for this weekend.   My personal favorite is top right. 

Took my oldest for sushi at his request (once he felt better)

Picked these from the yard.  Nastursiums, mums, petunias, and phlox.  Added a few fall touches to the kitchen table.

Finished, packed, and shipped this beauty this morning.  Hoping it finds love and keeps it's new owners warm and cozy this winter.

It was a hard one.  She is a Duke alum.  I am not a Duke fan.  

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Carolina Blue Tar Heel, thankyouverymuch. 

You can't tell from the photo, but I picked about a dozen of these ever-bearing strawberries.  In October.

They smelled like jam.  They did not make it from the garden.   I did share with my children.  I promise.

( This last one was for the oldest who wasn't feeling well so we put it away for later. )

...and found quite a few of these garden friends again this year.  They are so awesomely neat. 

Weekend plans

I have big plans this weekend to finish one and get half way through another of these Custom shirt quilt orders.  Therefore, mother nature has decreed it will be 90 degrees.

This happens every time I quilt.  Without fail.

Quilting when it's 90+ degrees Fahrenheit in the kitchen/sewing counter is not my idea of a lovely fall day's activity.

However, I'm on a deadline.  So quilt I must.  

I've also planned a bit of fall cleanup activities around the house.  Putting up some motion sensor lights, tilling the garden, and a general tidy up of the yard area.   I'll do that when I'm too hot to quilt.


Have a great one

Backpack corral

         Ah the days of fall.  I love the crisp morning air, the gently falling leaves, the dappled sunlight streaming through the trees.   What I don't love are the piles of papers, backpacks, shoes, and books that appear on my floor as the kids ramble in from school. 

          This year I decided to head them off at the pass with a backpack command center.  One place for everything to go and one place for things to stay out of the walking path. 

Our coffee filter snowflakes are from January.  They didn't want to take them down. 

        Behind the back porch door was a lonely, unused spot but perfect for a few inches of storage.    I hung up a blackboard from an upright stand that was passed down to me from somewhere. 

       Then I pulled out a board that fit in the spot and I gave it two coats of white paint.

       A trip to the hardware store for three double hooks, which I screwed into the board before I hung it on the wall.    The blackboard and backpack board were fastened into the wall studs for strength and support.

         I decided on double hooks to hold the white canvas bags behind their backpacks.   Those have all the papers they might need later, like field trip forms or instructions for month long projects, etc.  I stenciled those in an earlier post. Quick Letter Bags.   That post also shows you last year's organization center.   Organizing: it's a work in progress.

         That painting is from my 'college days'.  It's oil on a Masonite panel and the colors fit my kitchen fairly well considering I painted it 15 years before I had a kitchen. 

Have a great day!

Design change and the best pancakes ever

Good morning everyone.   Do you like the new look of the blog?   I was in the mood for a color change.

I have a delicious pancake recipe to share with you this morning!   My kids are big pancake eaters.  Any style, any size, any fruit.  This one highlights the mulberries from my yard but using any berry or soft fruit like banana or peaches would work as well.  If you don't have buttermilk, you can use regular milk and add 2 tsp of lemon juice to it for that same tangy flavor.

Buttermilk Pancakes
1 C whole wheat flour
1 C all purpose flour
1 C quick cook oats
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP sugar
(1/2 tsp nutmeg - optional)
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C buttermilk
4 TBSP melted butter + 1 TBSP for the pan
mulberries

-combine dry ingredients (first 7 (8 with nutmeg) )
-combine eggs and vanilla and 2 cups of the buttermilk, reserve 1/2 C buttermilk for adjusting consistency)
-Mix wet ingredients into the dry, stirring gently just enough to combine.  add remaining 1/2 C buttermilk if it's too thick.

 (helpful hint - mulberries stain, a lot.   Use gloves.   Which I did not.)

 -drop into skillet preheated to medium heat.   Some days I make monster size, other days tiny silver dollar pancakes.   It all depends on the day.    Sprinkle the fruit onto the top of the pancakes as it starts to set up in the pan.   When you see bubbles appear in the center, it's time to flip over.   

-serve warm with syrup or honey. 

This recipe makes about a million pancakes.  When we are finished with breakfast, I spread the remaining pancakes on a baking tray lined with a little plastic wrap and put them in the freezer.  When they are frozen, into a zip bag they go to wait in the freezer for another day.   I can pull out 3-4 individual pancakes and warm them in the microwave when we have a rushed morning. 

 

Enjoy your breakfast!

 

mint optional for decoration :)