i have to say...

they ate it all!

I have decided to wait until Thursday to make more candy since my family keeps eating what is made. So far 2 batches of fudge, 1 batch each of caramel and salt water taffy is gone.

Gone!

Don't want to end up at the dentist after the holidays, so I will wait until right before we need to deliver.

For anyone that's interested, Greenfield Hill has arrived in my shop and full-collection bundles are posted, with yardage coming later this afternoon.  This collection is very pretty and it takes you back to simpler times.

Have a great day preparing for Christmas!

a little uptown girl meets delilah

Emily made a Christmas gift for a little girl she knows and it came out SO cute! It is a reversible Uptown Girl Jacket made with Delilah.

Wouldn't it be fun if this pattern came in adult sizes?  I would certainly be compelled to make myself one.

Have a lovely day!

***This post is part of Heather and Megan's Fabric Tuesday.

a cold-weather recipe

This post is really about the Oven-Baked Beef Stew recipe, but can you believe the size of the biscuits?  I mistakenly doubled the recipe (I have to with my basic recipe because they get eaten so fast) not knowing that these babies rise.  and rise.  and rise.  Plus they are really good.  The recipe I used is here, but I omitted the cheese and sage. This one replaces my basic recipe for good.

Now for the stew.

I found this recipe years ago in one of those little cooking magazines you buy at the grocery store checkout line.  The mag has now lost it's cover and it coming apart from use, but that only indicates that it's loved and well used.  This stew is quick to put together and once the prep work is done, you stick it in the oven and 2 hours later it's ready.  Easy!

Oven-Baked Beef Stew

3 TB. oil, 2 lb. beef stew meat, 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 marjoram leaves, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 16-oz. can tomatoes, 1-1/4 cups beef broth, 2 cups cubed peeled potatoes, 1 cup sliced celery, 4 medium carrots sliced, 1 large onion chopped, 1 bay leaf

Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Heat oil in 4-quart dutch oven over medium heat.  Brown beef in oil.  Add flour, salt, garlic powder, marjoram and pepper.  Stir in tomatoes and beef broth; mix well.  Bring mixture to a boil and add remaining ingredients; mix well.  Cover; bake at 325 for 2 hours until meat is tender, stirring twice.  Remove bay leaf and serve with giant biscuits.

Your family is gonna love this one!

I am going to revive the Recipe Box Swap after the first of the year.  Details will come after the holidays.

christmasing

It is time to start Christmasing! And I am excited about it!

We have a thin layer of snow outside so that puts me in the mood to spend the day shopping with my hubs.  Going out to lunch and seeing a movie will fit into the day as well.  I am not going to push for How Do You Know? with Reese and Owen, but we will see The Warrior's Way, making ninjas and cowboys a trade-off for the mall and downtown.

It's the least I can do, you know.

I am sure this weekend we will watch Jingle All the Way, Elf and Christmas Vacation.  Or at least we will make a dent in the Christmas-movie pile.  There are some that have to be watched every year, no matter what.

It's just part of Christmasing in our house.

Do you have any special Christmasing that you do?  Please share!

guess what we are doing today!

Making candy!

My kitchen becomes a candy factory at this time of the year.  Fudge, Homemade Caramels, Peanut Brittle, Salt Walter Taffy (that comes out more like hard candy, but it tastes good) and Butter Toffee are all on the menu, as they are every year.  The hardest part about this is trying not to eat it all, since most of it is loaded with butter and sugar and deliciousness.  This type of thing tends to stick to me, if you know what I mean!

You can find my caramel recipe here (be sure to dip them in chocolate!).   Tracy's Peanut Brittle recipe is the same as the one I have used for years.  It's made in the microwave and it comes out great!  The Fantasy Fudge recipe is simple (no nuts are allowed in our batch) and it also comes out quite yummy.  Maybe too yummy?

Happy Christmas-ing!

house party

Every year we have a "house party".  We invite friends over to make gingerbread houses with us and it's always a bunch of fun!

This year we had a "girl" side and a "guy" side on our family's house.  This was, of course, to avoid unwanted weirdness where Aubry and I were decorating.

The girl side has a garden, with a "compost root beer barrel" and two elves getting married before a candy cane heart:

The girl side of the house would not be complete without the UPS van delivering lovely bolts of red fabric:

This might be consided the "guy-girl" side of the house. Our dog Seamus, a chocolate lab, resides here along with a couple of garden gnomes:

 

The guy side of the house has a pool complete with a diving board and a drowning man:

Solar panels and army guys scaling the walls can also be found here:

Next year we will be making 4 houses with our group: one house for the dads, one for the moms, one for the girls, one for the boys.  The dads have already planned lots of heavy equipment and roadkill on theirs, and us moms will be designing store fronts including a fabric store and a coffee shop.

I am already looking forward to next  year's party!

our pink tree

We parked and started looking, fanning out into a couple of groups.  It took a while since there were so many opinions.  Trying to find a tree in the forest is a bit tough since they lack the symmetry you find on a tree lot.  Finally we found the perfect one and this handsome man carried it to our car:

Sheesh!  You can find some cute guys in the forest, girls!

This adorable family was just waiting to be photographed in the forest too:

They even let me pose with them while my camera was precariously perched on a boulder:

Here she is in all of her pink glory.  Admittedly the pink ornaments don't show up quite as well as I would have liked, but I think she looks lovely.  The cookie cutters with ribbons sort of blend in with the tree:

It's working though, since none of my guys have complained about the pink.  That's quite an accomplishment, if you ask me! :)

shop notes: soul blossoms is here!

The long-awaited Soul Blossoms has arrived!  This collection is full of color, amazing prints and lots of fun.  Here is Amy's decription of how the line came about:

"I wanted to create a visual story to share my wonderful experiences while traveling to India. It's impossible to spend time in such a soulful place and not be inspired by the culture, rich colors, amazing textiles, and ornate architecture. I was instantly consumed by the heartbeat of everyday life and smitten with the beautiful way people expressed themselves. This collection is my interpretation of an enchanted, modern passage through the floral delights of India. Dreamy jewel toned prints in multi-hued flowers and designs - uplifting and passionate - weave together my ethnic inspired story. My three color collections; Passion, Joy and Bliss, work in a harmonious treasure box palette for endless exotic combinations. I hope you are as delighted as I am, and that you find your own inspirations to help your creative soul blossom!"

You can find the entire line in my shop.

Also, I do have gift certificates available in my shop for Christmas gifting.  If you need a particular amount not shown, I can set up a listing for you.

Have a lovely weekend!

nicey jane bag. check!

 

It's all coming down to getting things checked off the list, isn't it?

My Nicey Jane bag is done and I have to say that I just love it!  The pattern was actually quite simple and I even added  a magnetic snap for the first time.  Those snaps are impressively strong!

My favorite thing about this bag is that it opens up like this for when you have tons of stuff to carry:

This bag has a destination, but I would love to make one for myself after Christmas, of course.  Even though it's handmade it feels sturdy (it's lined with canvas) and as if it could competently carry all of my stuff.

Now to get really serious about Christmas sewing.  You would think I would have gotten to this point earlier, but there is something about the 70 degree days we are having that keeps me from recognizing that it's just aroung the corner.  I REALLY need to do some shopping too since packages need to be mailed.  SOON!

Have a lovely day!

**This post is part of Heather and Megan's "Fabric Tuesday".

i am in one of those "i really like my family" modes

Which is, of course, a really good thing!

I like that my boys are old enough to put up the Christmas decorations by themselves while my hubs supervises.

I like that they let me take pictures even though the sun is in their eyes and the wind is blowing like crazy.

I like that Aubry gets together with her friends to make hats.

I like that  I get to go to Family Force 5 concerts and jump around and be crazy and embarass my kids a bit.  (This is their version of Carol of the Bells.  Very fun!)

I like that my hubs goes to work every day and comes home every night to spend time with us.  This is big, you know!

I like that my daughter is here in my home for a little while before she leaves to start a life of her own--in about one month.  I love this girl!

I like that my new son-in-law texts me occasionally with a "have a happy day, mom" type of greeting.

I like that my girl in California sets up phone dates with me.  Today at 12.

I like that these people make up most of the days and hours and minutes of my life.  They really are such tremendous people and I feel so blessed.

I really like my family.