Chiefs "Class of 62"

Our last show was at the Villages near Lady Lake, Florida. I think it is billed as the largest retirement community in Florida. It is impressive. About a month ago my mom said she wanted to go to the the show. My mom does travel with me, very occasionally. She liked the comfort of her own bed more than the joy of long car rides, booth building and etc...

She had an ulterior motive! My mom is very involved with her high school friends. This year is the 50th anniversary class reunion, which fall during the Darke County Fair (Largest in Ohio, I am told). My mom has been talking about it since last summer.

Chicago, really Schaumberg

Well the travel really never ceases these days. May has been light for travel, June starts a new series. Right now I am working on an overdue Birthday quilt that needs to be done for this cute child.

Before View Master was cool!

In the final summer of the Atlanta College of Art, my older daughter and I decided to continue our education with some community ed. It was a sad summer to be at ACA, feelings were mixed, their purchase by Savannah College of Art & Design did not fit well with all. As a SCAD grad I understood, but I know that you can't mess with SCAD it has a life force all it's own.

Anyway this post is supposed to be about me being cool before my time:

See the view master disc, I though I was all that. Melody Miller eat your heart out, granted she is the one with a fabric line not me :-)

Crystal Anninversary

15 years of wedded bliss...

 

 

Lordy Lordy....

The love of my life is FORTY!

Our first date - kinda maybe - clean up on the barrier Islands off the coast of Georgia.

Universal Studios is NOT Gluten Free Friendly

I am not a fan of grump posts but if I don't share this info about eating at Universal Studios, well other folk with Gluten sensitivities will be as clueless as I when they visit the park.

To preface this post, two years ago we went to three of the many Disney parks, we purchased the meal plan and loved it! When you purchase a Disney meal plan they ask you about food allergies. While at the park you carry a magnetic card with all of your info, at each restaurant they swipe your card and THEN the chef comes out to talk to you about what is Gluten Free and (in our case) Dairy Free and what can be prepared GF DF. AMAZING! They even had GF brownies for dessert and soy ice cream. At the pop stands they were aware of your allergies and at one stand they ran out of GF brownies and an employee went to another location to get one for my daughter. So WOW and way to go to Disney Parks' customer service for folks with food allergies.

Back to this weekends trip to Islands of Adventure at Universal.

Yum Yum Yummy

I am not a baker, my sole purpose in the kitchen is to make coffee. Yesterday I decided I needed to step to it if I wanted any Gluten Free, Lactose Free yummy treats for the holiday.

Thanks to Dot at Food Whirl's twitter messages there was an amazing cookies recipe, originally posted at Delicious Delicious Delicious. The Chocolate, Cinnamon and Peanut Butter Cookies  recipe is NOT gluten free,  I subbed in Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour and dark chocolate chunks. The dough was super stiff and did not bubble up and melt flat like wheat cookies. Next batch I will probably add an extra egg and more baking soda. If I have it in the fridge I will add some Xanthan Gum, which is supposed to help make gluten free flour less absorbent or something (it is in all the GF bread recipes). The cookies taste great and look good but they are a bit heavy.

PIE!

What is a holiday without Pie! My children informed me that they prefer Pumpkin Pie to Pecan Pie. FOOLS! I made both.

I used a the Gluten Free ready made crust from Whole Foods, these crusts are not dairy free. The crusts have butter, which does not seem to bother my daughter (butter should have very little lactose if properly made), very good cause I am no crust maker.

Dairy Free Pecan Pie recipe came from Dairy Free Cooking, this recipe does not use corn syrup, just brown sugar. Pick you poison I guess. My mom gave us whole pecans in our holiday gift bag, so Arabella took the time to make mandala style designs on the top of the pecan pie. I followed the recipe, the only sub I made was to use tinned Coconut milk for the soy milk and the margarine and GF Flour. The top of the pie crusted beautifully before the middle was done, I hovered a bit to make sure the crust did not burn.

Dairy Free Pumpkin Pie recipe came from Food.com. This is a pretty basic recipe, I subbed in tinned Coconut Milk for the liquid part. I think it could use a bit more sugar, it almost taste healthy and maybe more spice. The crust did get a little too brown by the time the center was done, I should have lowered the temp to 350, I think 400 was too hot.

Hopefully there will be pie to bring to my dad's house tomorrow, last night we had pie for dinner. PIE is healthy, I went through a dozen eggs yesterday and nuts and coconut milk and beta carotene. All very good for you. Hubby asked if we had any veggies yesterday, only if baked beans count. Yeah for the holidays and yeah for yummy food.

Lunarcy

What could be more fun than waking your seven year old up for a lunar eclipse on the longest night of the year. Arabella was so game, she understood the concept of solar eclipse, it took a bit to get that it happens to the moon too. We set the alarm for 2 am, we brought out our sleeping bag, pillows and bunches of quilts and made a snuggly bed in the truck. We only saw about 4 glimpses of the moon as it flashed through the cloud cover but that was enough.

We giggled, laughed and make silly jokes that can only be made  at 3 in the morning while you are getting sneaky glances at the moon, snuggled into the bed of your truck with your family. Daddy keep hushing us cause he was afraid we would wake the neighbors, silly daddy the neighbors should be outside with us. I missed our big girl and I hope that my mom took her out to watch the night show.

Made in America--Kinda

Why is a Jeep Commercial so heartbreaking? I saw this ad and the words made me cry. I don't give a rat's backside about Jeep, they are cashing in on a moment, a realization that as a culture we have lost something.

We all have our soap boxes and I realize mine is a bit shaky. For all of my buy local, support the arts and grow your own foodism--I feel like a hypocrite, in a very big way.

This holiday as I make make make our gifts I realized that even if I am making the final product, many of the components are not made in America (MIA), they are made in China (MIC) or Japan or some other country far away.  Since the ones MIC don't have a disclaimer, they were probably made by children and prisoners.

This leaves me in a quandary, do I abhor all things manufactured outside of the USA? I think I allow myself to temper that thought with the fact that there is not a MIA option. As an artist, crafter, educator and local/online shop owner, I support the making of things. The things I make and sell feed my family, not feeding my family is not an option.

Thinking sucks.

Comedy Of Errors

Have you ever had an idea, then bumbled your way through figuring it out, spent way more than you anticipated and yelled at your kids because it was all for them?

That would about sum up the holiday gifts we (I) made (are making) for my daughters' friends and teachers.

Idea!! Magnets are cool but who wants them for just the refrigerator. I want to make a necklace with magnets that kids can swap (cause I am so over silly bandz).

Research: I see it on etsy, looks doable. A lot of folks use bottle caps, those make me nervous they have sharp edges and you fill them with epoxy, yuck! I see that they now have an epoxy style sticker, still sharp edges. My best bud has a 1 inch button maker I can borrow. DONE! Let's order the magnet button supplies (100 is the minimum, we don't have that many friends, we will give multiples) and something that we can make into a pendant.

Reality: I am cheap, I don't want to order bezel pendants, so what else would work? Dog tags out of stainless steel, much less than pendants.

Dear Mommy

To the gifts you keep forever, written by my 9-year-old for her little sister, a gift to me for my birthday.

Stawberry Fields

Yummy Yummy Strawberries for us! You Pick Um!

Can you see MOM?

Papa Ho Ho & his ballerina

This past week was little ones first ever ballet performance, she rocked the house for about 5 minutes of a 2 hour long performance. My dad (aka Papa Ho Ho to my girls) came down in his gig outfit and cause a bit of a ruckus.

Fall 09 Fabric Festival

Well the weather outside was frightful, but the deals were so delightful.

Thanks to all of you who braved the rain and cold to make our 4th Annual Fall into Fabric Festival a huge success.

Thanks to my girls for stepping up and adding the third generation of worker bees. Another year or two and I can retire and let them take over, right?

Thanks to my moms (Joyce & my other mother Barbara) who got here from Blue Ridge faster than they did from my MIL's house (only 9 miles away). The scenic tour included Acworth and historic Roswell. I know from my childhood that my mom can get you there but she can't always get you back.

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Happy Birthday Baby

 

PUNK Rock Nappy Bag

Happy Birthday Baby Jacob!



I bet Amy Butler never thought there would be such a punk rock version of her Nappy Bag. My little brother needed a diaper bag that was a bit more him. The fabric is from Alexander Henry, Calaveras Bonitas

I really loved this pattern and the bag is so much larger than I expected and I guess it should be since there are 5 yards of fabric used in the exterior and the liner. The construction was very ingenious and I like the canvas used inside as stabilizer, it added a nice weight to the bag. The bag has loads of pocket and was easy to make. I think I may be making one for me, but there will never be any diapers in it (thank god! I am done with my decade of diapers)

Strawberry Fields Forever

Yummy Good Fun !

We went over to Harry Stacy's Farm to pick some strawberries. The girls loved it. Our models for the "shoot" include my hubby, the "girls" and a special appearance by Indie Craft Goddess Miss Shannon.

I made jam this morning and at the request of my #2 child fresh strawberry pie. We still have 3 of the small baskets in the fridge. I think one more batch of jam tonight.

Harry Stacy's Farm

Before you take your off to pick, call and know that the google directions were not good and that the roads have real names and gangster names. We had to get directions. Try to arrive as soon as they open cause they get picked out fast.

IMPORTANT NOTE!! Keep an eye out for LOST MOUNTAIN NURSERY it is on Dallas HWY on the left as we were heading to Harry Stacy's it has an amazing variety of plants. I failed to take any pictures cause I was overwhelmed by the abundance but I will be heading back to both the farm and the nursery soon.

Snowing in Georgia

It's snowing in Georgia... hmm just like last year about this time. Just wanted to share. This video is from this morning.

Arm Warmers

Urgghhhh!!!

What is a mom to do when her daughter tells her she has no clean long sleeve shirt moments before am departure??? Well not laundry thats fur shur!


How about some arm warmers. These are not perfect, but I measured her upper arm and her wrist and the length of the sleeve I thought I needed and made a trapezoid ish pattern. I did not take into account that she would be wearing a cap sleeve (urg) shirt from our summer screen printing extravaganza. When do children learn to dress themselves properly and do their own laundry?