votives

Okay, So I was cruising through someone's blog's links and found ...I think wise-craft. she posted a picture of votives hanging from an umbrella from martha stewart. We did something similar for my daughters wedding last December and even have a picture of it. These are quilted jelly jars with beads and even some chandelier crystals hanging from the bottom. The bride made most of these. The wire bail also had beads added, anything to fracture the light a bit. I thought they looked real pretty. They burned all evening. We also made candles to float in the pool, we had to test them to see if they would burn long enough, they did. (I made them blue to go with the wedding colors but at night you could not tell what color the candles were.

water fun

I just read one of Angela's recommended blogs; Rocks in my dryer, but have no clue how to do what she said to do to post a new idea but here's mine:
One activity we did for a birthday party in the backyard was to hang up a white sheet, make paint out of watered down washable tempera or even food coloring and give the kids large brushes to use. The sheet can hang for a few days and then goes in the wash. I thought it was a lot of fun but with our HOT climate and a pool 20 feet away only one child painted.

texas babies

I have a question for my other Texas babies out in the world, Do I hav/ I mean get to make one of the texas flag quilt for each of your non-texas babies? (I really mean your first child not every child).

Texas flag quilt

I went to my local quilt shop, Quakertown Quilts, to visit one of my quilts last week. (I sell the pattern and have a model up there and do not have one at home.) I was surprised to note how much it has faded. It has been there for 3 years and has never been in sunlight but has been under fluorescent lights during business hours. I plan to borrow it soon to clean and possibly use some fabric paint on the most faded spots. I developed the technique for my first grandson's birth/quilt. Then went on to do 3 more designs.

*Quakertown Quilts no longer exists.  If you want my pattern just e-mail me at lauriekstone@gmail.com

Pecan Sandies

Can you show by the raising of hands who loves Pecan Sandies? I haven't bought them for years but remember how they crumbled like sweet sand in your mouth. Well, yesterday I made some cookies called Drommar. Deciding to make these cookies is all mixed up in cleaning the laundry room so I can paint it; knowing I need to get rid of some cookbooks; thinking I could just send some to my kids without looking at them; looking at them; finding a different recipe; boiling the butter for 15 minutes! that I just had to try; it being the first day of school and needing, wanting to do that old fairytale thing of having homemade cookies and milk to eat when they arrived home.
So I made them and if I'd chopped pecans and added them they would be pecan sandies. Here is the recipe:

DROMMAR
From Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookies 1994 pg. 55
1 cup butter
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
2 cups all-purpose flour
Blanched whole almonds, toasted (about 50)
Place butter in a large heavy skillet. Cook over medium-low heat withour stirring about 15 minutes or till butter is a light tan color. Pour into a mixing bowl. Place over a bowl of cold water and chill until firm.
Add sugar, baking powder, vanilla, and cardamom; beat with an electric mixer till combined. Shape or stir in flour till well combined. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each with an almond; press almond in slightly.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or till golden brown. Remove to wire rack and cool completely. Makes about 50.

radio

So, the first day that I can listen to talk radio after a summer of listening to just kids, the astros has a long boring press conference and absolutely everyone on am radio was bradcasting it. I figure I'll listen to fm radio and just listen to music for a while and I discovered that SOMEONE has messed with my dials since the last time I listened to FM...2001 or somewhere thereabout and I have to use the scan button. This is where it gets weird....EVERY CHANNEL it stopped at was in Spanish...I didn't believe it, so went through it again and again. My radio must have been built in Mexico! I did not hear a single song...I checked; it was on FM. So I went back to the Astros... they fired 2 managers and hired a new one and are looking for another. The manager is going to play baseball the way it was supposed to be played; with enthusiasm and skill! wait, don't they all do that? say that? What news! I only listened for a few minutes and heard the same story 6 times!

sherbet

This is the easiest bestest summer dessert ever. I have Norma Trunnel from 15-20 years ago to thank for this recipe.

1 half gallon of pineapple sherbet, softened
1 bag mixed frozen berries (actually it's best with just your favorite berries; like a bag of blackberries or raspberries-but Roger likes the mix best.)
3-5 ripe bananas
Combine and refreeze
Yummy
It is very difficult to scoop unless you let it soften a bit before scooping. It doesn't work to mix it at 3 and then try to serve it at 7; it needs longer to refreeze.
We had a ward ice cream party last night but Roger didn't want to be tempted by all that fat so I made the above and he took a bowl packed in ice to eat after he finished playing ping pong. (Yes, someone with a truck went around the ward gathering ping pong tables.)
Roger has spent every minute he isn't at work, gym, or eating (almost) working on a movie of the 465 photos he took at Jeffrey's summer scout camp. Usually he goes to bed about 10, since he started working on this he's had a few 1:30 nights. Last night he finished it...well he finished it for the second time, he isn't showing it until the court of honor on Wednesday, so I do not know how many times he will finish it between now and then. It looks great but we used the best music we could find for this movie; what will we use next year. Out of the 222 cd's we have only 3 pieces of music worked. So next year we have to a accumulate another 222 cd's?

newbie

So, I was convinced to try this. But I am sooo boring!

The picture is just to see if I could post one and sure enough it did not go where I thought it would. This is the hawwaiian quilt that I made of a friend in exchange for all my hair cuts, perms and coloring. Her husband is Hawaiian and his nephew was getting married. It is machine quilted.

I finally painted the ceiling of the laundry room this morning. Glidden has a cool paint that goes on pink but dries white so you can see easier where you have missed. I still missed many spots; I think it has something to do with bifocals and things not being quite in focus at certain angles. When did painting get so hard? Maybe at your 37th birthday painting jumps over to 'wow! this is hard work' from 'wow. this is so cool to cover this ugly ceiling.'

It's raining pretty hard here, so nice to not have to water.


R. went on a long bike ride this morning but now is getting our repaired lawnmower and edger, and taking in the leaf blower and should have taken in the chain saw, but figured we have no need of it so why fix it. I think he is considering hanging the mahagony nicknack shelf that I bought with my sewing money this summer. We can't figure out the best place for it. Centered over the couch? centered in the wall over the couch? rearrange the room?