This and that.......

Been doing a bit of this and that lately. Haven't been setting any records, don't really care. Having a hard time getting motivated to start certain projects but I'm not idle...….

I bought a few runner kits from Jordan's Quilts - these kits are so fun, so easy, all fabric cut precisely. They also have directions online to take a kit and make placemats so I also made 4 placemats. This set looks like winter to me so it will be put away to be brought out next winter.

This is the shawl out of handspun that was recently finished - I finally blocked it.  It's the Pretty Basic shawl pattern although I kept going on the lace section on the bottom making it much longer than the original pattern. This pattern is no longer available on Ravelry from the designer.

Yesterday I sewed this sleeveless top from some rayon I had in my stash. A very comfy and crazy summer top. Our 90 degree weather has now gone back to the 60's but it will be hot again very soon.

In the grocery pick up last week I was given way too much of certain produce, bananas being one of them.  This is not a great picture but these are incredible banana crumb muffins. I mean really good, really really good...…...but don't expect healthy, they have their share of butter and sugar. The recipe says it makes 10. Muffin pans are for 12 so not sure why it makes only 10 but they ended up huge. If anyone else makes this recipe divide up to make 12 muffins. This is what I call a saver recipe - one I will be adding to my recipe collection. It's one of the best banana muffin recipes I've tried.  You can find the recipe HERE.

And now a few pix of what's going on in the yard.....here is my little garden, it's already growing

One of the apple trees is loaded with 'baby' apples - we should have a bumper crop as long as we can keep Misty from eating them - she's already eaten 2 baby apples off the other tree pulling branches off along with them.........I was not happy.........

These are the red grapes, there are also green grapes

I didn't realize this was a lilac, it's not shaped like the ones I grew up with

And the rest of the pix are of the roses.  I have 15 rose bushes - here are 12 of them, two aren't blooming yet, the other one the picture was fuzzy.  These bushes are taller than me and are covered with hundreds of blooms. I'm thinking I should have cut them back further back in February, still learning about roses. 

Yum....preparing for family

I'm trying to get ready for family arriving the middle of next week, cleaning house (argh), baking ahead of time, and thinking on menus. It's a little overwhelming for some reason, probably because I'm overcommitted as usual, but I'm plodding along. The other day I baked some muffins to put in the freezer. You see, I don't cook breakfast so everyone is on their own. Muffins, bagels with fixings, cereal, fruit........I will make oatmeal though as it's a staple in this house.

These are two of my favorite muffins to bake. Blueberry Streusel Muffins, these made with berries we picked this summer and froze. Here's the recipe.  Banana Nut Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel, mine are minus the nuts as I like to eat nuts on their own but don't want them mixed in with my baked goods or ice cream......yes, I suppose that's strange. Here's the recipe for these.  It killed me not to sample but straight to the freezer these went.

I'm trying to decide if my pumpkin streusel cake would freeze well. I know my lemon blueberry bread will so I'll bake some of that up in the next few days.

It's that time of year........

It's the time of year for fresh cranberries. We spent the weekend on the coast where there are tons of cranberry bogs. At the Bandon grower's market there were no 'dry picked' cranberries, only 'wet picked' ones so that's what I came home with. They won't stay as long in the fridge as dry picked so I made cranberry sauce this morning.

Look at these beautiful berries - they're the size of grapes.

Here they are all cooked down with water and sugar. I got 3 containers of cranberry sauce for the freezer.

I made sure to keep out a couple cups to make some cranberry muffins since Sam requested muffins or bread. Gotta love this time of year - cranberries and pumpkin everywhere.

Been working on gifts here and there so nothing I can post to the blog. Also finished up everything for the surface design program I'm presenting this week. East coast brother arrives this week as well as a Seattle cousin and Oregon uncle - will be a busy fun week of catching up and visiting.

Getting close.......

I'm getting close to being able to get back to close up work after eye surgery. I wasn't sure what counted as my first day of back to normal activities, it was either today or tomorrow - since I was out part of today I decided I could wait one more day.  Vision is clearer although not perfect, just a little wonky, especially today, apparently it takes time for vision to dial in. Hopefully I'll pass the eye test at DMV when I renew my license within the next 3 weeks. It's been a boring 7 days of not being able to do the things I need and want to do. I'm far behind on things I have deadlines for - getting a little panicky but trying not to think about it today..........tomorrow will be here soon enough......

On Sunday I decided to bake pumpkin streusel muffins to put in the freezer for when family comes to visit in a couple weeks. See the beautiful muffins in the foreground? Those are the ones that had both the brown and white sugar the recipe calls for.  See the muffins off to the left? Those are the first batch where I forgot to add the white sugar. Stunted little raggedy looking muffins but they taste just fine.

Yesterday I made a pepper relish with apples, pears, red bell peppers, jalapenos and onion.....and of course a fair amount of sugar. It was a big time commitment since after chopping everything up it had to sit with canning salt on it for 6 hours before cooking and canning. I haven't decided if it was worth it or not yet -  although it is pretty tasty over cream cheese on a cracker.........

It's that time.....

 It's that time of year again - new calendar time. Look at this fun one I found that I get to have fun cross stitching. I also bought one for a gift but a different stitching design. It's from Heather Lins Home - one of the winners of the Martha Stewart American Made contest. I've included the link to her website but just looking at it I see she's sold out of the calendars but one can check out the retail establishments she has links to in case they have any left.

 I thought I'd stitch one as each month neared but then thought again.......I'll get too busy and it won't happen, I'll get a month behind, then another, then I'll just put them up without stitching. So, this week I'm taking a week off from the etsy shops so I'll get to work stitching them. January is done, February is started.  I took a week off from my etsy shops but shoppers have not......and today everyone is shopping.......

I had leftover pumpkin puree so I looked for a pumpkin muffin recipe. Made 24 of these late this afternoon - definitely a keeper recipe - they're yummy.  Pumpkin Muffins with Streusel Topping........my streusel topping doesn't look like the picture but they taste great so who cares.

A safe and happy new year to you all.  We'll be asleep long before midnight, as usual, just how we like to celebrate the evening..........

Yum

Yum - this is what was for breakfast this morning - not the usual fare in this house where it is a choice between oatmeal, cold cereal, yogurt/fruit or bagels which are the special breakfast we have when on the coast.  There are no eggs made in this house, no french toast, no frittatas, no quiche - I have an egg allergy. I can handle a bit of egg in baked goods but too much and my throat will close up. I had this mix in the pantry from when I bought a few things from a Tastefully Simple party.....I didn't attend the party but my cousin in Michigan was hosting one so I ordered to help boost her party sales. All that's needed is a cup of water to make the muffins themselves - good thing no eggs needed as I rarely have them in the house.  The topping did require melted butter, box called for 1 stick, way too much, have lots left, if I had another box of this I'd use a half stick. Sugar high at the moment......hoping I don't crash in an hour or so.

The last of them.....

This is the last of the muffin baking for a while - blueberry struesel muffins - recipe here on the Taste of Home website. I won't be baking anymore muffins until the freezer stash is depleted.......or until autumn when it's time to make pumpkin muffins. Why pumpkin? Because I reorganized the walk-in pantry over the weekend (out of date stuff was cleaned out a few weeks ago) and found 8 cans of pumpkin (3 large, 5 regular size) - yikes. Pantry is looking good, keeping things toward the front of the shelves so I always know what I have and nothing gets lost in the back.......like 8 cans of pumpkin......

Tomorrow our county fair starts - we set up our spinning display Saturday. Par for the course the temp will be 100 tomorrow, 106 forecast for the rest of the week. We're lucky to be in one of two an air-conditioned buildings but it's going to be a tough week for fair-goers and the animals.

More muffins - yum

I couldn't resist the blackberries at Fort Vannoy Farm this morning - farmer gave me a sample, the sweetest blackberries I've ever eaten and there are a lot of blackberries in in SW Oregon. So, I had to make more muffins - these are the best ever loaded with berries. This recipe is courtesy of Taste of Home website - glad I chose this recipe. Making muffins in the afternoon could get addictive - a warm from the oven muffin makes a nice afternoon snack. Most of these muffins go in the freezer to pop into Sam's lunchbox. I went to the farm for corn, the best corn we've had out here....that's saying a lot since what we have generally found around here is what my Dad called field corn that you feed the pigs......we miss that Silver Queen corn from the east coast but this corn is a good second. Also picked up peppers, 2 kinds of squash, nectarines, peaches, red & black plums.....tomatoes are running behind due to the cool late spring. I love that this farm is 10 minutes from the house since I don't often get to the big Saturday morning grower's market in town.

I did get a bit of time at the loom this afternoon to work on the towel warp - 4 towels woven using a natural weft - think I'll try white next.

Yum

Just made a batch of banana muffins to avoid thowing out those last 3 bananas.....Sam says there's only a very short window for eating a banana before it gets too ripe- sheesh. So, I went looking online for a recipe for a banana struesel muffin. This recipe says it makes 10 muffins - who makes 10 muffins??? muffin tins are made for 12. So, I decided I'd make 12 anyhow and they'd just be smaller. Note to myself for the next time making this recipe - definitely make 12, they overflowed the top of the muffin tin, if I had only made 10 it would have dripped on the bottom of the oven. Taste test - oh my gosh, they are yummy.....but how could they not be with all that good banana flavor and a buttery, sugary struesel topping. Calories could definitely be kept down without the topping and they'd be just as yummy. This recipe is a saver. Next I need to find the perfect blueberry muffin recipe......or maybe just make that lemon blueberry bread I have a recipe for.....