lemon shortbread squares

20 Oct

I love shortbread.

It’s buttery, crunchy, travels well, and last for days.

These travelled with me to the sewing summit.

I think it’s always best to travel with cookies.

lemon shortbread

2 sticks butter (at room temperature)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

zest of one lemon

2 teaspoons vanilla or vanilla paste

2 drops lemon extract

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In bowl of mixer combine butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Beat on medium speed for about five minutes, or until the dough is soft and light in color. Add vanilla, lemon extract, and ginger and mix to combine.

Slowly add flour and mix until just combined. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press by hand into a thick rectangle, wrap with plastic wrap and chill dough for 1 – 2 hours.

Once chilled, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll to about 1/4 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into squares. Place the squares onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkle with sugar and bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the start to just turn golden on the edges. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes or so before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.

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i was a bit preoccupied

18 Oct

The past few weeks I’ve been getting ready for a trip.  It was a big deal because I haven’t travelled solo since the 90′s.  I was feeling confident until one night when cj was in tears asking how I could leave when I promised him I would always be there for him.  Talk about some Mom Guilt!  I took a deep breath, had some friends and the spouse promise me that all would be well and…

I went to the Sewing Summit…

It was cloudy when I arrived, so I was shocked to see the mountains outside my window when I woke up the next day.

All I can say is there are not enough adjectives to describe the trip…amazing, funfilled, overwhelming, thoughtful, kind, inspiring, exhausting, hilarious…

It was lovely to hang out with people who’s blogs and tweets I’ve been following for so long, and also to meet new people {including Megan‘s awesome Mom & Dad!}

Honestly, it was just great to hang out and instead of typing LOL we could actually just laugh together.

I was lucky enough to be Amanda‘s teaching assistant.  You can blame the boom of mini quilts that’s about to happen all over the internet on her uber-inspiring class.

I got to sit with Claudia during the improve piecing class.

I know what you’re thinking a bunch of ladies on the loose, there must of been some crazy nights…

like this, but she‘s Canadian, and she’s awesome…

mostly, this happened…

(thanks for sharing your pic Amanda)

I love this pic too.

All the classes and dinners and chats and stitching flew by and I was heading home before I knew it.  Oh and  I also saved a camera.

Things at the cottage were fine.  The spouse learned how to make tacos, lulu was thrilled I was able to find sock monkey flannel to make her some new pj’s, and cj keeps the little owl I found him by his bed at night.  He had some trouble sleeping while I was gone and there were a few extra “NO” and “I don’t want to” last week, but he seems to be getting back on track.

I’m doing my best to finish all the projects I’ve already started before starting anything new.

We’ll see how that goes.

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my name is…

9 Sep

Here is the name tag I made for the Sewing Summit.

The tutorial for the felt dahlia can be found here.

I put a separate pin back on the flower so I can remove it and wear it separately.

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a bit strap happy

4 Sep

I needed a new camera strap cover.  I thought it would be the perfect project for this fabric.  Now, every time I grab my camera I get to see these sweet little cowgirls.

{made using cluck cluck sew’s tutorial}

I also made this strap to secure my suitcase.  I’ve sat on planes and looked out the window as they remove luggage.  Luckily my bags were fine, but it left me with horrible visions of my undies flying across the tarmac. {shudder}

This should help…

{made using i like orange too’s tutorial}

I was able to find a two inch buckle at Hancock’s, but they didn’t have the glide.  I improvised and used some velcro strips to help hold the extra length in place.

Next up, I’m hoping to get a back put together for Cj’s quilt so I can bind it at Friday’s craft night.

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sweet and salty fried eggplant

1 Sep

The spouse’s birthday was last week.  I made his favorite cake.

I also made a chicken, stuffed with garlic and onion, roasted on a bed of carrots and more onion.  Served along with mashed potatoes with gravy, sliced carrots, corn on the cob, and fried eggplant.  We sat down to lunch and the spouse stopped to thank me for the meal, when lulu piped up to add a thank you to Laura.  She’s our farmer, and lulu figured she deserved some credit with this meal since every one of the vegetables involved (and the eggs in the cake) came from her farm.  Props to Laura, she has one heck of a green thumb.

This was my first try at frying eggplant.  I prefer my eggplant chopped and baked under layers of cream, fontina, and parmesan.  I also know that one should only eat so much of anything baked under layers of cream, fontina, and parmesan.  At the same time I have to grab those eggplants at CSA pick up because Laura notices if you don’t get all your veggies.

This recipe completely won me over.  I will be grabbing all the eggplants I can now.

sweet and salty fried eggplant

1 medium eggplant – sliced paper thin

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup corn starch

1 cup panko crumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

oil for frying

In a shallow dish, mix powdered sugar, corn starch, panko, and salt.

In a large pan, heat oil to 360 degrees.  I use a stock pot for frying to minimize splatters.

Dredge a few of the pieces of eggplant into the panko mixture, pressing to coat well.  Fry pieces in oil for 1-2 minutes or golden brown.  Use a mesh strainer to remove from oil.  Cool on rack placed in a sheet pan to catch drips.  Season with salt if you like.

Repeat with remaining eggplant slices once oil has returned to 360 degrees.

Can be made ahead (1 hour or so) and served at room temperature.

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a bit of home improvement

31 Aug

We are lucky to still have a lot of great original features in our home.

Our mantle is not one of them.  The previous owner bulked it up.  So much so, when you open the window next to the fireplace, it hits right into the corner of the mantle.  I do love having a great big shelf for display, but wasn’t loving the trim.

I went scouring my files for before pictures of our mantle.  This was more difficult than I thought it would be.

I found this…

It’s from 2008.  You can see the flourishy things in the center and corners along with the bullseye and ribbed pieces along the sides.  You can also little lulu in the amazing Sleeping Beauty dress that my mom made for her.

Here you can see where my dad chiseled off the scrolly things for me.

I knew I wanted them off, but wasn’t sure what to do once they were off.  Matching stain would be a pain, but I didn’t want to paint the whole thing.  Since we couldn’t decide what to do, we left it…

for over two years…

Then my mom called to tell me about a fireplace she saw on This Old House that was just painted on the bottom…

done…

We swapped out the bullseye blocks that didn’t go with anything in the house and were wider than the boards beneath them, that were also replaced with something more understated.  I’m still not 100% committed to the tile, but at least I can look at the fireplace without frustration.

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laundry from paris apartment

18 Aug

I wish my laundry was in a Paris apartment!

This is my new travel laundry bag made with Bari J.‘s Paris Apartment line.

I’m working with fat quarters so the back uses one quarter with the front pieced to match the size.

You put right sides together, stitch the sides and bottom together, leaving the top open.  Then turn and press the top down 1/4″, then turn down another 1″.  With the bag wrong side out, edge stitch the bottom edge for the drawstring pocket/casing.

Then turn the bag right side out and edge stitch the very top of the bag.  Make a couple of bar tacks at the top edge and bottom edge of the casing, then use a seam ripper to take out the stitches between the bar tacks.  This gives you a little hole for the drawstring.

You could use ribbon, but I made a spaghetti style string for mine.  The main panel on the front is the embroidery sampler from Bari J.’s new project, We love french knots.

I love the look of all the knots clustered together.

Well, all this talk of dirty laundry has reminded me I have my share waiting for me down by the washing machine…

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