The piles have been poked through. The boxes have been dumped. New piles have been created. It's a vicious cycle. However, in the spirit of new beginnings...and completions, I have compiled a list of sewing goals. A list of 12...oops, 18... projects I hope to complete. 18 in 12. ;). Some are UFOs, some are new projects and it is a sure thing that this list will continue to grow.
1. Quilt of Valor - fabric has been collected and I am ready to begin cutting and piecing for our troops. This is an organization close to my heart, even before our son became a Marine. I started out making blocks for Moda's Just One Star program and pillowcases for the VA .Then I made Stockings for Soldiers. Time to start working on quilts.
2. Marine Quilt - Fabric has been bought, but I can not settle on a pattern. I am going to make a quilt for our boy. He has a cammo quilt I made to take with him, but I want to make him one for when he returns home from deployment. He also brought home old cammies that I plan to cut up and make into a quilt.
3. Jungle Baby Quilt - Started last year and only lacks the binding. Hope to make this my first finish of the new year.
4. Road to Spring - This was a Road to Spring Quilt Along a few years back, but I just made it last year. It's at the quilter's, who is the dearest lady and has become a sweet friend.
5. Scrappy Log Cabin - Jackie has this one as well. Once they are both back, I will be a binding fool.
6. Meadow Friends Strip Quilt with Applique - Fell in love with this line and bought a boatload of it when it was half off. I have a plan so it gets a spot on the list. It's even cuter in person!
7.Flannel Snowman - Just got this to Jackie the other day. Just a 60x60 lap quilt, but I bought the fabric a few years ago and it was an older line then and I never found any coordinating yardage. It took a while for me to find something for the backing and I finally settled on some Minky.
8. Western Skies - Pieced, but I think I want this one custom quilted. I'm joining up with SewCalGal's FMQ project this year and hope to gain enough confidence to tackle this. I may have to find a quilter because it's a king-sized quilt and I'm unsure of whether my home machine will be able to tackle it.
9. 30's Raw Edge Circles Quilt - pieced and ready to be quilted. Another big quilt (queen-size) and hoping to tackle this myself. I really oughtta start with small projects, but I'm hard headed that way.
10.Western Many Scrappy Trips - Another monster quilt that I am working on. It's a Bonnie Hunter Pattern, but I first saw it on a sweet friend's blog here. I need 110 blocks. 48 are pieced.
11. Made in Cherry Quilt-Along - Joining in on the fun here. Still working on cutting the squares. I'll be using my vast collection of western fabrics.
12. Scrappy Granny Squares - This poor thing has been deserted, but the blocks I have made still make me happy so I vow to finish this in 2012. I've only made 10 blocks and yes, I will probably end up making it huge. What is it with me and big quilts?
13. 30's Irish Flower Garden - This one has been at Jackie's for a long time. She is learning how to custom quilt, but her customers (me included) aren't giving her any time to do that. This one has hexagon flowers appliqued in the spaces between the triple Irish Chains.
14. Everything from Carrie Nelson. :)
15. Patchwork Wool Quilt - hand quilting needed. Planned on working on this
before Christmas, but Christmas sewing took over.
16. Christmas Quilt - Bought a fat quarter pack of Countdown to Christmas on sale because I was fairly certain I would regret it if I didn't. Still need to settle on a pattern, but I'm so glad I grabbed this up.
17. Charlie Brown Christmas Quilt - should I even add this to the list? The fabric's not even out yet. I've already exceeded 12, but I saw a glimpse of it somewhere when people were posting about Quilt Market and it is a 'must have' in this house. See?
18. Ordered this book to make this quilt.
I am sure that baby quilts and various new projects will be thrown into the mix, but these are the projects that are currently in the hopper and vying for my attention. I am hoping that these will be completed by the end of the year which seems so very far away, but we all know better than that, don't we? If I don't get it all done, I can blame it on Carrie, right?
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Gingerbread Cowboys
Two posts in one day - After the Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake, this is our favorite Christmas baked good. I've been making these forever too. By the time I got around to taking a photo, all the good ones were gone, but these will have to do. I recruited a few elves who were new to the process of decorating. I'm fairly certain y'all have already packed away all things Christmas, but I wanted to sneak these in under the wire before we move into the new year. These are great with a good cup of coffee and the men seem to always get a kick out of them. I should probably make them for the crew sometime, even if it's not Christmas.
Here's the recipe I use, but you can just use whatever recipe your family likes. I double this:
1 C margarine, softened (I rarely have margarine, so I generally use unsalted butter which may explain why the dough is a little dry. Just sprinkle a few tsp of water over it - were all about making things work around here)
1 C packed brown sugar (you can use dark brown if you like)
1/2 C dark molasses
4 C flour
2 1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
*Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses. Combine remaining ingredients. Gradually mix into butter-sugar-molasses. Roll out dough in portions between wax paper and freeze for about 30 minutes. This allows the dough to firm up before cutting out the shapes and it helps to keep the shape while baking. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Cool and frost. I mix up Wilton's Royal Frosting:
3 Tbsp Meringue Powder
4 C powdered sugar
6 Tbsp warm water
Wishing you and yours a New Year filled with blessings!
A White Christmas in the Desert
It began to snow on the evening of the 22nd. Here it is December 31st and we still have some snow. We ended up with 10" in the middle of the pastures and 15" in the yard. DH says measuring in the yard does not give an accurate measurement. :) I am a white Christmas kinda gal and it was great
, but I now realize that my day dream of living in a little log cabin in Montana or Alaska, while still living in Texas because I LOVE Texas, probably wouldn't be very realistic and an entire winter covered in snow does not make for fun ranching.
This kind of weather is hard on livestock. We've had a rough year as it is with no rain and extreme temperatures that fluctuated from -17° to 117°, we are hoping 2012 will be a bit kinder. With 10" of snow, the cattle can't get to feed and with 200 sections, we can't get to all the cattle. DH hauled hay to what he could.
When it started to thaw a few days ago, he would drive around to feed in the mornings and ride horseback, checking things in the afternoon. Thankfully it did not get crazy cold and we didn't have ice everywhere. I did my part by keeping the feathered critters fed:
And our canines are thankful for a fresh bed of hay:
And broken ice:
We really wanted to take the kids skiing, but there was no way DH could get away.
On Christmas Eve, he and DD went to feed and he called. His transmission line broke so DS and I loaded up transmission fluid and the funnel and plowed his way.
Poor guy threw down a tarp and lay in the snow fixing his line:
The road between towns (72 miles) was closed.
The kids turned the situation into a bit of fun until Dad finished mechanic-ing:
I think these 2 have missed each other:
When DS is sweltering in Afghanistan, I will send him these pictures and hopefully they will make him smile:
Back to work:
Since we didn't get to go skiing, we improvised:
This was on the 23rd. It snowed for 2 days after this:
The phone rang again on Christmas day. Christmas day or not, ranchers are on call and DH got stuck while feeding:
So we plowed through the snow once more and pulled him out.
The White Christmas was nice, but we're kind of ready for it to disappear now and praying that it'll be a sign of a wet spring and green grass. We'll be mudding around for a while though.
, but I now realize that my day dream of living in a little log cabin in Montana or Alaska, while still living in Texas because I LOVE Texas, probably wouldn't be very realistic and an entire winter covered in snow does not make for fun ranching.
This kind of weather is hard on livestock. We've had a rough year as it is with no rain and extreme temperatures that fluctuated from -17° to 117°, we are hoping 2012 will be a bit kinder. With 10" of snow, the cattle can't get to feed and with 200 sections, we can't get to all the cattle. DH hauled hay to what he could.
When it started to thaw a few days ago, he would drive around to feed in the mornings and ride horseback, checking things in the afternoon. Thankfully it did not get crazy cold and we didn't have ice everywhere. I did my part by keeping the feathered critters fed:
And our canines are thankful for a fresh bed of hay:
And broken ice:
We really wanted to take the kids skiing, but there was no way DH could get away.
On Christmas Eve, he and DD went to feed and he called. His transmission line broke so DS and I loaded up transmission fluid and the funnel and plowed his way.
Poor guy threw down a tarp and lay in the snow fixing his line:
The road between towns (72 miles) was closed.
The kids turned the situation into a bit of fun until Dad finished mechanic-ing:
I think these 2 have missed each other:
When DS is sweltering in Afghanistan, I will send him these pictures and hopefully they will make him smile:
Back to work:
Since we didn't get to go skiing, we improvised:
This was on the 23rd. It snowed for 2 days after this:
The phone rang again on Christmas day. Christmas day or not, ranchers are on call and DH got stuck while feeding:
So we plowed through the snow once more and pulled him out.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake and a Thank You
better known at Jesus' Birthday Cake around here!
This is our most treasured recipe. I have been making it since 1995 when I found it in an old issue of Ladies Home Journal. Years ago, my MIL and I had a few subscriptions to different magazines and we would save back issues and share them with each other when we saw each other. The first time I made this, our son was 5 and our daughter was 2 and I thought it sounded like a good cake to make to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I don't rightly recall where the idea came from, but it stands to reason that if we are celebrating His birthday He should have a cake. And as much as we celebrate Santa and all the holiday trappings, I really wanted to have a separate, special tradition for the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas here at the end of the dirt road. I remember how absolutely-crazy-excited the kids were about it that first year...and every year. Birthday's were super special and this one was the most special of all!
I only make this cake once a year and it is always, always the one thing we most look forward to making.
Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake
3 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c butter, softened (no substitutes)
2 c sugar, divided
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
6 large eggs separated
1 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped (I just chop mine in half)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease large bundt pan. (I was thinking of replacing mine because it is looking a tad disheveled, but the ones I have seen are smaller and I don't think they would hold this batter. The kids also told me that a new pan was not allowed. It MUST be made in THIS pan). Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in medium-sized bowl. Beat butter in a large bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 3/4 c sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in orange peel. Add egg yolks one at a time. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Beat egg whites at medium speed in a clean bowl with clean beaters until foamy. Slowly add remaining 1/4 c sugar, and continue beating until soft peaks form. Fold 1/2 of the egg whites into batter, then fold in remaining egg whites. Gently, fold in cranberries. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on baking rack for 15 minutes.
Our Marine son and college daughter are home for Christmas and we are over the moon excited about it so I won't be spending much time around the computer until after the New Year, but I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read here and visit with me. It truly warms my heart to get to know you via this medium and I greatly appreciate your kind comments as well as the warm conversations and friendships that follow. You make me wish that the miles were not so far between us, but this is the next best thing to chatting over a mug of coffee and warm fresh cookies from the oven. Thank you so much for your wonderful surprise packages that have brought treasured pieces of you into our home. Your kindness and generosity have brought, and continue to bring smiles to my heart.
Wishing you and yours a very Blessed Christmas and May His presence bring you great peace and joy and comfort in the coming New Year!
Much love,
A very thankful and blessed Dirt Road Girl
This is our most treasured recipe. I have been making it since 1995 when I found it in an old issue of Ladies Home Journal. Years ago, my MIL and I had a few subscriptions to different magazines and we would save back issues and share them with each other when we saw each other. The first time I made this, our son was 5 and our daughter was 2 and I thought it sounded like a good cake to make to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I don't rightly recall where the idea came from, but it stands to reason that if we are celebrating His birthday He should have a cake. And as much as we celebrate Santa and all the holiday trappings, I really wanted to have a separate, special tradition for the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas here at the end of the dirt road. I remember how absolutely-crazy-excited the kids were about it that first year...and every year. Birthday's were super special and this one was the most special of all!
I only make this cake once a year and it is always, always the one thing we most look forward to making.
Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake
3 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c butter, softened (no substitutes)
2 c sugar, divided
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
6 large eggs separated
1 c sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped (I just chop mine in half)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease large bundt pan. (I was thinking of replacing mine because it is looking a tad disheveled, but the ones I have seen are smaller and I don't think they would hold this batter. The kids also told me that a new pan was not allowed. It MUST be made in THIS pan). Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in medium-sized bowl. Beat butter in a large bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 3/4 c sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in orange peel. Add egg yolks one at a time. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. At low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Beat egg whites at medium speed in a clean bowl with clean beaters until foamy. Slowly add remaining 1/4 c sugar, and continue beating until soft peaks form. Fold 1/2 of the egg whites into batter, then fold in remaining egg whites. Gently, fold in cranberries. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on baking rack for 15 minutes.
Our Marine son and college daughter are home for Christmas and we are over the moon excited about it so I won't be spending much time around the computer until after the New Year, but I wanted to take this time to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read here and visit with me. It truly warms my heart to get to know you via this medium and I greatly appreciate your kind comments as well as the warm conversations and friendships that follow. You make me wish that the miles were not so far between us, but this is the next best thing to chatting over a mug of coffee and warm fresh cookies from the oven. Thank you so much for your wonderful surprise packages that have brought treasured pieces of you into our home. Your kindness and generosity have brought, and continue to bring smiles to my heart.
Wishing you and yours a very Blessed Christmas and May His presence bring you great peace and joy and comfort in the coming New Year!
Much love,
A very thankful and blessed Dirt Road Girl
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