Cookie Cutters Found

Yesterday I saw a fancy pie on FB that inspired me to look for yet another hidden treasure.  I knew I had many cookie cutters, so not a problem... just didn't know it was going to be another treasure hunt.

These surely are not your typical cookie cutters.  Of course cookie cutters can come in a vast variety of shapes and sizes.  I bought these particular ones several years ago at IKEA. Until today, the tape had never been taken off the cover so I could take one out.  Things like these don't have very much purpose most of the time, until you remember you had these... somewhere, and you don't know where that somewhere is cause you have moved a couple times and nothing is in the place you remember you put them.  Now I don't make very many cookies that require using a cookie cutter, and especially not a moose... but this pack of cutters was with all the other cutters... but I could not remember where.

Persistence does pay off. I knew there was a possibility I might not have these anymore, but I did know I would still have cookie cutters... somewhere. I not only found these after many trips in and out of the garage and up and down the stairs, but I found a whole drawer full of cookie cutters. Of course, when you are on a treasure hunt you can find lots of things you didn't even know were lost.

I decided today would be a good day to make quiche and my cast iron biscuit pan was the perfect pan for little mini-quiche delights. I sauteed some mushrooms and onions, then added some mixed veggies.
Topped it off with some shredded cheese before adding my egg/milk finish.

I did use two of my cookie cutters to try out the pie crust critter thing, but I am not sure this technique works too well on top of a mini-quiche.  Besides the squirrel and snail were a little big for this biscuit pan. In order to have them show up, I think I needed to brush them with an egg wash so they would brown up a little.

Oh well, these tasted wonderful and a mini-quiche with a little salad on the side made a perfect lunch.

Heffalump

 She is known as Shorty, but she is often referenced by a few other names. This morning Heffalump came to mind as she positioned herself on my lap.  She knows how to get quite comfortable. 

Shorty is an old kitty, well semi-old anyhow... 13.  Since we left Wildflower, she has become an indoor kitty and has lost her youthful physique as a result of a "less active" lifestyle. She does not like to be picked up, but has no problem invading your space... if she is in the mood. Very lovey at times.

One of the hazards of kitties in the house is the occasional mishap that can occur.  I think it was likely Boston, who loves our bed, who put a hole in one of my prized quilts.  The hole was towards the edge, so I just think she grabbed ahold when she was jumping up on the bed.  The resulting hole was only about the size of a quarter, but if left unattended would certainly have grown larger.

Once the hole was discovered, I removed the quilt from the bed to keep it safe while I hunted for a scrap of fabric.  I was sure it could takes months to locate the scraps I knew were hiding someplace. 

I had made a few expeditions into my stash to explore all the nooks and crannies that fabric can hide in, without success. When I finally found this little stack of triangles, it was kind of like when you stop looking for something and it just shows up.  Totally not on my agenda to search for this scrap yesterday.  I was in my quilt room and decided I should do some reorganizing when I discovered this little plastic container with random stacks of little cut scraps.  This little stack of triangles are the only scraps I found from this quilt.

I thought it was amazing that I made this discovery, but even more pleased at how well fabric glue can work on little holes. I know where the hole was, but even I have to search for where the hole was.

First Saturday in September

Morning glories are one of my favorite flowers, and that would be mostly related to its germination reliability. I planted these last year along the two front sections of our side fence and it totally covered those sections of the fence, including the roof of the shed on the inside of the fence.  They are annual flowers, so saving the seeds is essential to keeping them going year after year.  This is only the second year for these, but they did an amazing job of covering the fence again.  Next spring I will have to prep the ground the full length of the fence and add in some more colors... I am thinking red, white and blue would look awesome. Did I forget to mention that prepping the ground for any planting around the house is a major task as the soil is like digging through hard packed clay. You almost need a jack hammer. Nothing like our previous house that was in the middle of the sand dunes... or so it seemed. So I still have to haul in my planting soil even though sand is not an issue.

I don't have lots of space for a garden here at our current location, which probably is not a bad thing as I can get a little overwhelmed with all the tasks involved with staying ahead of a garden here in South Texas where rain is a precious commodity. The good thing about gardening here is you can have a garden going almost year round.  I have scaled back and focus mainly on trying to keep some herbs growing along with my flower beds.  Most of the herbs I planted in the spring have succumbed to the torture of the sun and lack of rain.  I am not nearly as vigilant with my watering as I should be. Now that we are on the other end of the hot summer, it will still be "hot" for a while, but I can start thinking about some new herbs.  I am actually a little late at the start, but not finding any plants at the nurseries yet,  this is my attempt at sprouting some seeds before putting them in some soil . Hopefully I can get some plants started to put outside soon.

I finished a quilt yesterday. The duck blocks have been sitting in my stash for at least 20 years.  I thought it was about time to do something with them.  These were passed down to me and had previously been trimmed to size, which made it very difficult to keep the corner reed bunches intact.  Not sure what the original intention was for these blocks, but they are beautiful, and required fusing the edges to a border.  I contained the raw edges with a machine applique stitch, which hopefully will not fray in the washing process.  Not sure where this quilt will end up, but I am hoping to find a home for it where its history can be appreciated.

Just a little note here... comments help with inspiration. Occasionally someone tells me they really like my little tidbits of info I share, but not many comments are posted here.  I guess I am used to Facebook and all the comments that appear. I tried to make it easier to acknowledge a post was enjoyed by the check boxes at the end of the posts, but even those don't get a check. Granted, not all posts are interesting to you, but even a constructive comment...  A word here and there would be appreciated, and it could inspire more fun and interesting posts.

Quilts are in the queue

I have been focusing on some of my completed tops that have been waiting to be quilted.  Some have been in the queue for a long time.  I gathered them all in one place and proceeded to measure them. It was then that I found out there were no appropriate backings to be found in my stash.  The backings for five quilts have now been ordered and should be here soon.

First on the list is my Star for a New Day quilt that has been waiting for more than ten years to be quilted.  It was featured as a block of the month project and it used paper piecing. This project gave me the incentive to hone my skills with my paper piecing.  It was quite a challenge to take on.... the center medallion star does not show in this picture, but some of the pieces were quite small, which would have been next to impossible without the aid of the paper piecing technique.

These are a couple more small references for the other quilts.  I have accumulated quite a stack of quilts and decided it might be time to let some of them go. If any quilt I post happens to catch your eye, there is a possibility that it could be for sale. Make your inquiry and I can let you know what I think is a reasonable price... that is if it is one that I don't have a special attachment to.  This also includes many quilts I have posted previously.

 

Now back to the kitchen... the new kitchen, or so it seems.  We removed the Over the Range Microwave and put a new range hood and a shelf for some racks to display my favorite plates... they are red.  Of course the strip lighting creates a nice glow to enhance the new look.

The new microwave moved to the other side of the kitchen.  Did I say that my kitchen is not very big.  The addition of the new island finished off the ambiance of my great little kitchen.  The stainless steel top has already proved to be a quite awesome work surface, and the additional drawers are great.  Even though we added an additional, semi-large piece of furniture to the middle of the kitchen, the whole area feels more roomy and organized.

I smile when I walk into the kitchen... it makes me happy.