PHEW!

Phew.... that was one crazy week! I have been on a roll, lots of company and cooking and such, all good :) Last Monday our daughter and her little family drove up from Dallas. Remember those stockings I was in a rush to finish for the boys? Well I got them done in the nick of time for their visit. Aren't they cute? I added vintage gift tie-ons to the bow for a little extra "me" touch. I love vintage doo-dads!

The boys did well with their long car drive and were ready to explore Grandmas house and release some pent up energy upon arrival. That same night our nephew also arrived, he was driving cross country from PA to Colorado and we were delighted to be a brief pit stop on his way.

Tuesday we decided to get out for a little while and took the boys to Union Station in Kansas City to see the automated Dinosaur exhibit. ROAR! Lots of these there!

And then there was the train set up which was hard to capture because it was such a large exhibit and dark but fun to watch dozens of trains going round and round.

Our visit was short but sweet as my pumpkins left Wed morning to continue on to Iowa and more family. But no time to sit and loaf.....next batch arriving for Turkey Day! Our son came home for the weekend from KU and brought his room mate as well. We were a small crowd for Thanksgiving, just the 4 of us LOL, but we had our usual full blown dinner, gotta have those leftovers!

And now my house is quiet, I can hear the clock ticking. I think it's saying Christmas is coming and I better drag the totes up from the basement. And oh my, I just heard the Hallmark Christmas movie is on tonight.... it really is sneaking up fast people!

I had another finish last week, February Annie is ready and on my web site. Won't you be my Valentine Cleo????? I just love getting cards in the mail, don't you? Especially ones with big red hearts on them :) Floss colors used were: Black, #3607 ,#938, #598, #414, #317, #899,

#581, #817, #167 and #758 if you are interested.

I have a new stack of fabric sitting on my cutting table, hope to get some sewing time in this week. Hmmmmmmm... what will it be?

Have a happy week all!

A gift that keeps on giving

Can you believe it, how is Christmas creeping up so fast again! I started my shopping yesterday, I have to admit mine is pretty easy anymore, with our families so scattered I now send gift cards. Sometimes I feel that is a cop out and I miss the fun of buying toys for the little ones. But for many reasons, shipping being the number 1 factor, cards are a great way to go.

Today however I wanted to share a home made project I made for family and friends several years ago. It was a lot of fun and if you are looking for a little idea, this was my all time favorite gift. I made recipes books for my family and friends. The books were special because the recipes were theirs and I added their picture to it, so it was a combo recipe/picture album.

Add some cute Christmas dish towels, bright red or green utensils and you have a very nice gift.

First I collected the recipes from my friends and family. Now the really fun part was looking through all my old photographs and choosing one to put with their recipe! I loved looking at a picture of my Grandma while making her potato salad, or my Mom making her wonderful Christmas cookies, brought back a flood of warm and wonderful memories.

And see, even Cleo shared her favorite recipe: Party Meatballs and they are delish! Recipe given below, a purrrfect appetizer for your holiday party!

I am sure there are various ways to do this but to make a recipe book like mine you will need:

a small album (8 x 8 size) with top loading plastic page protectors (usually comes with 10 pages) enough for 20 recipes.

copy paper, a computer with a design program and printer

Hubby made a master template for the page using a program such as InDesign. The design area was scaled to fit within the plastic page inserts and to include an area to type the recipe and place a scanned photo. Subject photographs were scanned and saved. After typing a recipe in the master template, the photo to match the recipe was scanned into the template and saved for each individual page. Each recipe page could then be printed as many times as needed to assemble your books.

And now for CLEOS PARTY MEATBALLS:

2 lbs ground meat ( I use ground sirloin)

2 Eggs (slightly beaten)

1 Cup Bread Crumbs

2/3 Cup Milk or Half and Half

1/2 tsp Sage or Poultry Seasoning

Combine all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Make into small balls and brown in skillet that has had 1 Tablespoon butter added and melted. Pour off all fat.

Special Sauce:

3 (4-1/2 ounce jars) Apricot Baby Food

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Ketchup

1 Cup Vinegar

1 Cup of favorite Barbecue Sauce

1 tsp Salt

4 tsp Soy Sauce

2 tsp Ground Ginger

Garlic Salt to taste

Mix ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. Pour over meatballs.

Simmer for 15 minutes. Keep hot to serve.

YUM! I'm getting hungry and dinner time is sneaking up, best get cooking!

Enjoy your week :)

Knit one, Purl one

My goodness, these days are blowing by as fast as the leaves are falling! Can you believe it's November, yikes, and that means December is soon to follow. I've been working hard to release this new pattern- "Reindeer Helpers". You sure can tell Santa is in the panic mode because he recruited those silly reindeer to work in the gift wrap department. This cute pattern is now available on my web site and you can find all the details there.
The weather has been gorgeous here in Kansas. We're getting a wee bit spoiled with bright sunny skies and 70s and oh how I wish it could stay this way all year long. Sunday we drove down to Lawrence/KU to take our son the birthday boy out to lunch. You surely must know by now I never get tired of a trip to KU. Not only do I get to see my boy, they have an amazing choice of great eateries and lots of fun shopping. Love it, love it, love it! Sadly I did not get to visit my fave fabric store this trip, I was hoping to stop in and pick up a selection of reds, pinks, dots and hearts, for a Valentines Day project I have in mind. But by the time Jon finished his BIG lunch we were running short on time. Awwww, but look how happy he is :)

This weekend I spied my knitting tote hanging from a peg in the laundry room. In it is a UFO that I have been knitting for 2 years, the second stocking for my twin Grandsons who are now 4! Well, they do have stockings, just not one of these gigantic stockings I have made for each of us since we were 1st married. So much to Cleos delight, the yarn ball is out once again and I am bound and determined to finish up this week, see I'm already down to the toe part!

Knit one, purl one, back to it, enjoy your week!