I Like Thursday: Spring is Springing

Ahh.... It's Thursday!  Time to share some good stuff with LeeAnna's I Like Thursday!  

I like my series of quilts from this year's Project Quilting.  I participated in all six challenges.  I had a lot of fun trying out a variety of paper pieced patterns and working through a bunch of scraps.  

I Like Thursday: Cooking and Quilting

Missed last week's I Like Thursday - nothing to show and tell.  Been busy, though.  Let's see.  I baked a lot - tried three new recipes.  First recipe was for lemon poppy seed bars which were delicious.  I was told this recipe is a keeper.  I used a pair of lemons I picked from my parent's lemon tree.  I'm amazed it produces lemons - the tree is only a few feet tall in huge pot on their back deck.  How cool is that?

I tried out a butternut squash couscous salad recipe.  It was good, but I don't know if I'll make it again.  

On Sunday I made these cranberry scones for breakfast.  Yum!

I Like Thursday: Lots of Goodies

I've been doing!  Just not posting.  Some highlights of my week:

I like baking.  Rob wanted to capture an action shot.  Irish soda bread was cooling while chocolate oatmeal bars and cheesecake stuffed cookie were in the oven.  I was mixing together peanut butter sandwich cookies.  This is typical - ingredients and recipes scattered across the countertop.  I never bake just one thing!

I Like Thursday: Lots to Do

It was a good week - lots to like.  We'll see if I can speed-write another blog post, though, because it's been a busy week as well.

Baked some more.  This mess is an upside-down cheesy biscuit bake (downsized for two).  That topping is bacon, maple syrup and brown sugar.  Decadent.  We had it for breakfast on Sunday.  Recipe is here.

I Like Thursday: Sewing, Baking and Outdoors

I continue to be obsessed with kite blocks.   I finished with the little flower kites mug rug - which I love.

Then I looked up at the string kites I have on my design wall and started to wonder what other patterns I could create with these.  I played with some of the little ones I have.  This has promise.  I also have an idea similar to the strings one.  So I at least have two more quilts I want to make with kites.  

I Like Thursday: Lots of Plants

Another week already?  Where does it go? 

I tried out this recipe for  Apple Pandowdy.  It needed to be in a bigger pan with more apples.  Still, it was quite tasty (there's none left).

Apples!  I also made Apple Sausage Pie.  The house smelled delicious. 

I Like Thursday: Feeling Accomplished

It's been a busy week.

Making progress on my quilts.  Creekbed is sandwiched and I know how I want to quilt it.  That's on hold as I get the braid quilt ready for quilting, too.  The borders went on without too much fuss (although I needed to tack on 3" to be long enough).  I stitched together the backing - of course discovering it wasn't quite as long as I hoped.  I'm now I'm piecing together a stripe to go across the middle.  I plan to have that assembled, then sandwich and baste the quilt before the sunroom gets too chilly to work in.  Then I can focus on quilting both quilts.

 

I Like Thursday: Outdoors, Leftovers, Flowers

Lots of nice weather in this week's post (I guess my first like - it's been nice getting out!).

Rob and I went for a drive, for a change of pace and to get his car out of the garage (it had been sitting there for maybe two weeks).  We passed by this farm - the view was fantastic (and way better in person).

Later in the week, driving down to my sister's place, I enjoyed all the freshly turned fields.  All that dark dirt (and in some fields, new sprouts).  It's good to see things growing.

I Like Thursday: Research, Adjusting and Creating

Another week has flown by.  A lot of time on research (which is going well - albeit a little overwhelming).

I tried this recipe for Custardy Baked Oatmeal.  I swapped out the walnuts for almonds, and added strawberries to the blueberries (I only had a half cup left).  It was quite delicious (and I forgot to take a photo!).  I froze some of the leftovers - I'll see how they reheat this weekend.

I pulled out several favorite recipes this week I haven't made in a while:  Chicken Stroganoff, Meat Pie, Gumbo Biscuit Bake (hmm.... I may need to post recipes for these).  It's nice to have time to cook.  Whipped up some goodies too:  Date bars (I added some cinnamon and cloves), pretzel bars and even some stuffed figs.  Yum!

We had snow on Saturday.  No accumulation (that white spot in the lawn is a patch of bluetts), but a couple of squalls blew through during the day.  Not what I expected in May.  (That's what I get for buying seeds.  LOL)

A good day for sewing - which is how I spent the afternoon.  I made some more wavy strings.  I wasn't thrilled with them at first, but they're growing on me as they hang on the wall.

I Like Thursday: Treats

Oh, yeah, a week for chocolate.

We grocery shop on Saturday morning - which was the day after Valentine's Day.  So we scooped up some half-priced Dove chocolates.  Yum.

We had to make a trip to Springfield.  A stop at Cerrato's Pastry Shop made our errand worthwhile!  These three were what was left after the ricotta cake and chocolate bomb disappeared. (Didn't think to photograph until after they were gone.)  Delicious.

I Like Thursday: Snow and Baking

January is flying by.

Attended a Game Day last weekend.  It had snowed the night before, just enough to make everything pretty but shallow enough to hike easily.

I Like Thursday: Snow Activities

December already?  How did that happen?

With December came snow... about a foot and a half.  The sun came out on Tuesday - it was beautiful.

Rob and I went snowshoeing at lunchtime.  Quite the workout!





While it snowed on Monday I baked cookies.  It was a perfect day for baking.  Christmas cookies all packed and off to various people.

I Like Thursday: Fun Finds, Flowers and Food

Lots of this and that this week.

My Christmas/Thanksgiving/Whatever cactus (half blooms in the spring) is seriously happy in the sunroom.  I don't know when I've seen this many buds on it.  Just wait until it blooms!

I Like Thursday: Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I love this old Lanz dress.  I bought in the late '90s as a Halloween costume.  I trot it out every 7-9 years when I dress up as Mother Nature.  Most of the leaves on the hem I picked from the yard earlier that evening.  I feel a little guilty stapling them to such a nice dress!  I lost about a dozen leaves at the dance.  Said I was shedding.  It's Fall, after all!

Lots of people liked the dress the Halloween dance.  Very retro.  It has a wonderful full skirt - so it was fun to dance in.

There were lots of terrific costumes there.  Black cats and witches.  Several kitted out pirates.  An aviator.  Beetlejuice.  Johnny Cash.  A pair that came as Ursa Major and Minor - those were really cool.  It's fun to see people's creativity.

I Like Thursday: Fall Ball, Fog and Faucet

I ended a rough crazy week of work with a day of dancing.  Oh, the Fall Ball!  Great music.  Fun dances.  Lots of happy twirling people...

and twirling skirts.

Health issues kept me from dancing as much and as long as I wished.  I was grateful to last as long as I did.  And while I rested I got to spend time with friends.  Listen to the music.  Watch the people dancing.

I Like Thursday: Improvements

Welcome to this week's linkup to Not Afraid of Color's I Like Thursday.

I like the unicorn fabric I found on Saturday.  Whimsical!  I just had to bring it home with me.

I am not fond of my morning burpees.  But I can't argue with the results:  I had my fastest swim time for a mile this week (32:41) - best in at least three years!  So I'll stick with them, thank you very much.

Never underestimate the power of some time with friends.  Enjoyed Game Day a lot.  (My friends seemed happy to see me, but it may have been Sour Cream Coffee Cake and Date Bars I brought.)

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I used to make this cake all the time.  Then I didn't for years.  I dug out the recipe last month when I needed to use up some sour cream.  The typewritten recipe I have is very terse, most of the method I had learned from watching my aunt.  I had forgotten a few of the tricks, like how to layer it in the bundt pan.  It looked funny, but was still delicious.

I made it again - just to make sure I remembered it all.  Maybe add a few more sentences to the instructions than:  Layer mixture/topping/mixture/topping in a 13x9" pan or bundt pan.  That way, if I don't make it for another five years, I'll still know what to do.

Looks much better this time.  Was a hit at Game Day.

I Like Thursday: Buried

I had been hoping that 2019 would calm down a bit from the end of the year stress.  Not really.  We've added some new fun features!  But I have carved a little bit of time to share the good things I have experienced (even if it's a bit later than usual).

Work has been brutal, being asked to work weekends and evenings and it needs. to. stop.  However, the coworkers I deal with day-in and day-out are the best.  One guy I jokingly call my work-husband - we've been working together since '91.  He keeps me sane on the worst of days.  The rest of the team - I strive to do my best for them because they help me out whenever I need it, too.  I hope we all catch a break soon (we deserve it).

We spent a chunk of the weekend at the hospital.  Everyone is fine (and I certainly like that).  I also liked the staff we dealt with: doctors, nurses, orderlies.  They all treated us with professionalism and kindness.  It made a stressful and unexpected experience a lot more pleasant.  

Now for some fun stuff!  Don't you love finding unexpected treasure?  This week it was in the form of Christmas cookies.  I had been positive I had polished them off.  But  behold!  One last box of the good stuff.  Yum!

I Like Thursday: Blogiversary #8

Look at that... I Like Thursday and a blogiversary on the same day.

Another year.  Where did it go?  Gained a pig.  Lost a car (and, omg, as of yesterday afternoon, have a replacement).  Did lots of sewing and reading.  Had fun with my new years resolution of trying out new recipes on the Game Day group.  Danced my tootsies off.  Kayaked with my sister.  Herded guinea pigs and clipped lots of piggy nails.  Enjoyed time with my friends.

Lots to like.

Then I blog about it.

Christmas Baking Mishaps and Successes

I did a little last-minute Christmas baking.  First was a chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake for Christmas dinner.  This has been bookmarked for some time - originally earmarked as a Game Day experiment before I decided to bring it to my family's Christmas.  The recipe is for a massive cheesecake, so I made it half sized.  According to various sites for pan conversions, half of a 10" springform pan should fit into an 8" round cake pan that was 2" deep.  Well... not quite.  I had to add sides to it to make sure it didn't overflow, because I clearly had more than two inches of batter.

I successfully halved the recipe but the rest was a comedy of errors.  Reconstructing the pan required redoing the crust.  Then I mixed sour cream and cream cheese in the wrong order, over-beating the batter.  Recipe clearly stated that will cause a crack.  Which it did.  Made for anxiety-free baking knowing it was going to crack regardless!  Then I layered it wrong, mixed in the chocolate chips too early.  Seriously? 

I ended up with extra balls of cookie dough because I made a section that was dough-free (anticipating family preferences).  I used the extra cookie dough as decoration.  It also identified the cookie dough-free section of the cheesecake - thus the uneven placement.

Good news is, it popped right out of the pan once it was chilled.  Made a  nice presentation, too.  Only one tiny wedge came home with us - the rest disappeared.  So it's a hit!  I will certainly make this again (and hopefully do a better job following the instructions).