Lovely cake, in spite of snow.....spring sewing underway too!

Above, wishful thinking! Though we have had a week of sunshine....the flowers are delayed!

This beautiful yellow cake reminds me of daffodils which are usually in full bloom by now.....the recipe is HERE .

Snow again today though surely it will be short lived?!? I was cleaning out flower beds yesterday, seeing my peonies sticking up their noses....and daffodils in bud.  Back inside today!

My pansies don't mind the cold!

Inside here fabric is ready to become spring dresses for the granddaughters....

         
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Because warm weather will come again, my friend and recent house guest, Tracie, bought me a sun umbrella as a thank-you! ....beautiful and "patchworky", I love it! [Lots of purple too!]

While she was here, Tracie shared her birthday bouquet with us.....her son chose this for her!

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My handwork this weekend includes doing big stitch quilting with perle cotton on this "3 generation quilt".
My grandmother pieced some flower garden blocks from her scrap bag (some fabrics from the early 1900's....other fabrics up to the 1940's!)
I found the green print background fabric for my mother to use as she appliqued the blocks with embroidery floss and a blanket stitch.
Now, that Grandma and Mom are gone and it is my turn, to quilt and bind this treasure!

         
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Last, but not a sure thing, unless a sale comes along.......this pintucked shirt from Anthropologie....

...the indigo shibori dying is already done...and the shirt is already sewn......WOW!
.....hmmmm.....

Back to cutting out size 3 toddler dresses now!

Snowy Sunday

 

16 degrees F, the temperature is dropping and it is still snowing, lightly. St. Francis out in the weather, above, doesn't seem to mind!

Our neighborhood is quiet!

Mr. P just left to go help a neighbor dig his car out, after he got stuck!... a favorite sport around here

A good day for tea drinking, and reading....

And playing with snowflakes! These were made last year by my SIL, Melody! Now going into my Smash book

I just finished knitting this strawberry tea cozy.....now to enjoy a last day of Christmas treats!

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Since the Christmas tree and its cheerful lights are being put away, these little lighted branches help dispell the gloom of dark winter days! Not costly, they have LED light bulbs and the branches are flexible!

 

Still snowed in!

Icicles and snowy backyard!

The east side yard...

7 inches with ice below...

I sewed this apron over the weekend....went to work ( Steve drove me) Saturday but they sent me home as there were no customers!

Tree is decorated! And I am ready to sew at the breakfast table today...why try to heat the downstairs studio?

My little Singer featherweight sewing machine will be just fine for this project! Making dresses for the twins...I have had the dresses cut out and ready to sew for a month now. It is good to have the time and space to finish them!

I'm also sewing some hooded bath towels for them, larger than those I made when they were infants!

 

also trying to trace down a large sum of money which the federal reserve seems to have taken from Mom's estate bank account... !!!!

 

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backyard this afternoon

 

I’m trying some features from the new computer with this photo taken this afternoon. we have record snowfall! So Mr. P didn’t go to work today..first time ever to be stuck home by weather conditions!

Now, he drove down the hill to get groceries and got the car stuck a mile away from home….to be retrieved tomorrow, weather permitting!

A winter cake...

This delicious recipe is from December 1, 2010 Woman's Day .

The recipe makes two, 8 inch round cakes....I think one will be enough cake for me and Mom. [I am visiting her for a couple of days this week]. So, a half recipe perhaps with 1/3 of the original sugar amount will be what I bake!

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This afternoon we made this recipe from Real Simple, "Quick Beef Bourguignonne". Tender and tasty....we let it "stew" a couple of hours. It works well in a slow cooker too! Even better the next day!

We have had days of SUNNY WARM weather and the time change brought lots of positive energy...Awakening Joy for sure! [recent journal page]


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We are now having another taste of winter with some sleet and snow. I am supposed to work in a booth at a "Taste of Home" cooking school this evening....I hope they will have great samples there! LOL![ We will have sewing machines in our booth!]

Cold weather makes me crave comfort food. Here is a recipe from Weight Watchers for a wonderful meatless main dish! [Shown above]

I will be making Irish soda bread this weekend, for St. Patrick's Day. I plan to make the whole wheat version that Martha Stewart has in her current magazine issue. There are also lots of whole-wheat Irish Soda Bread recipes on-line including one from Weight Watchers.