True Confessions...

While I was in Florida recently, I was speaking with my sister, Gail, about the Christmas card I sent her.  She told me she saves them all, but she didn't remember seeing one this year.  I explained it was a folding card, like the one I sent my parents, only a smaller version.  "No, no, I don't remember getting one."  Well, I thought she was simply having a "senior moment" and forgetting the card I sent.  She is two years older than me... But just this week...

I found it buried on my desk at work!  I thought I could hang onto it, and send it this next Christmas, but decided I should go ahead and send it now, admitting that I never sent it in the first place, and admitting that she was right.

Now I ask you - Who was it that had a senior moment?

While surfing the internet searching for craft projects,

(like I don't have enough to do), I came across this photo:

It is was created by artist, Bryant Holsenbeck, and was featured on the website for American Craft Counsel.  He takes craft "stuff" that's to be thrown away and makes sculptures of animals.  He calls it "Wild, Recycled Animals."  I love this bird!

I found this photo of a zipper tapestry.  It is so unique and it really caught my eye, as well.

People are so creative, aren't they?

Hmmmm. What do I do with these?

While I was out and about this weekend, I went to JoAnn's.  I noticed they had upholstery samples on clearance.  My friend, Janie, gave me quite a few, but of course, that just made me more intrigued.  So I bought a few more and...

... bought a couple of purse patterns.  My goal is to make purses with the samples.  They are small, so it might mean being creative.  I am so excited to start one of the projects that I have already picked out the ones I want for my own.

Homemade Bruschetta

I told you a while back - when I went to the Vance sister craft weekend - that Diana made homemade bruschetta for lunch.  It was to DIE for!  I made my own version today.  I did not have toasted sliced croutons, so I had to make my own.  I cut and then toasted pumpernickel bread (which I LOVE).  The tomatoes are from Costco.  I used about half of the package - they go a long way.  I could have used less.

I cored and thickly sliced the tomatoes and browned them in just a tiny bit of olive oil.

I first placed crushed garlic in the oil.  You can kind of see it in the photo.  I let that cook and then added just - a - dash (and I mean a dash) of oregano, salt and pepper.  You sprinkle less than 1/8 cup of sugar onto the tomatoes.  I would suggest going a little light on the sugar, as well.  Flip them, and let them continue "browning." Remember not to stir.  The tomatoes will break down while cooking.

While that's going on, I smeared a little cream cheese on each slice of pumpernickel toast.  When the tomatoes are done, spoon the mixture on each piece of toast.

Broil for just a few minutes, maybe 4 minutes.

Finished!  Mmmmm.  They were really good!

It doesn't look too bad...

I have a small pantry, which I love because I can't fill it up with a bunch of "stuff."

It had a bi-fold door on it, but I find that those don't always work that well.  So I took it off and bought some fabric to create a drape over the pantry.

I stitched the sides, hemmed the bottom and finished with this...

I like it.

Nope, it's not Halloween...

but it felt like it at my house - for just a few minutes - last night.  Kate is having a Wizard of Oz party with her first graders today, but they don't know it yet.  She wanted to make a little something festive to eat, so we found these on the internet.

 So cute!

 Fudge stripe cookies, turned upside down.

A little bit of chocolate frosting to "stick" on the Hershey's Kiss.

Ta da!

A morning at a garage sale

Nicole and Sam had a garage sale on Saturday morning.  It was my intent to get there at 7:00 when they "opened for business", but it was more like 8:15 before I pulled up in front of their house.

I bought a stack of books from Miss Kylee.  You couldn't beat the price of $.25 each.  My plan is to give them to Katie for her classroom or reward box for her first graders.

Kylee and I were looking at the $10 TV thinking it was a good deal.

I bought one craft item - a chipboard bucket.  I guess you would call it a bucket.  Kylee was great about marking the prices and in this particular case, she marked it sold.  I spent a total of $9.25 at the garage sale and that all went to Kylee.

After being outside for the sale and then putting everything away, we ended up at a neighborhood restaurant called Texaz.  Quite a unique and busy decor.

There wasn't one empty space on the wall.  Lots of things to read.

On the recommendation of Sam, I ordered the chicken fried steak which came with red mashed potatoes, biscuit, and corn.  Believe it or not, this is the LUNCH portion.  Did you notice it is hanging off the plate?  I can't imagine the size of the dinner portion.  It was very good, but I had to take more than half of it home.  After lunch, I set out for home ... to take a nap.

Unbroken

I just want to make a recommendation for some great reading:

My book club just finished reading it and we all really enjoyed it.  It is a great testament to the human spirit and I highly recommend it.  

One bit of info:  It is about a WWII fighter pilot/bombardier.

There's quite a bit of history and it made me want to ask my dad a whole lot of questions.

Lydia's Show 'n Tell

Miss Lydia is my daughter, Kimberly's, friend - and they have been good friends since Junior High School.  I have always enjoyed Miss Lydia.  Lydia's mom, Kathy, and I will occasionally get together to craft, or just to share ideas.  It is always a good time and sometimes Kimberly and Lydia will show up.  I just love it!  During their last visit, Lydia told us about a t-shirt quilt she was making and I asked her to share photos.

First she cut the pieces and put them together to make 20" x 20" squares.

She used both the front and back sides of t-shirts from her high school (McClintock) 

and college (ASU) days.

Then she laid them out...

... and sewed them together.

I absolutely love the look and think it is a great way to remember your school days.

Guess who wants to work on this mother-daughter project?    That's right, Miss Kimmy.

I am out of any kind of routine...

When I go out of town, I get all out of whack!  The time change is different, the food is different, I'm sleeping in a different bed, and well, I can't always find internet or wi-fi connections!  Waaaahh!  One thing leads to another and I get really behind in my blogging because by the time I get back, I am out of the habit.  I got back from Florida a week ago after a visit with my parents, my sister and her family.  I had a package sent to Gail (my sister) so that it would arrive while I was in Florida.

It was the Flirt quilt!  (I wanted to surprise her.)

 This is the edging that was sewn on by my friend, Carol, who was also in on the surprise.

 The machine quilting is absolutely beautiful!  I need to give a big thank you to Chuck who lives in California.

 The quilt turned out so nice - the only thing left is to hand stitch the edging.   

This was one thing I shared with my mom because she made baby quilts for each of her grandchildren, and a few of her great-grandchildren.  She had a few questions about jelly rolls.

My parents are not able to get around like they used to, so one of their favorite things to do is to drive through the wildlife refuge, which we did.  We see a lot of birds and if we're lucky, an alligator.  We happened to see two that day!

He is hard to see, but the alligator is in the picture above.  He kind of looks like a log on the opposite side of the waterway.

These photos were taken with my phone so I couldn't zoom in.  But the birds are always fun to watch and the drive is beautiful and peaceful.

This crane was walking through town, right outside the Winn Dixie.

Thanks for reading.