Tea Time

Tea is my beverage of choice...always has been. Somehow I never acquired the desire to try coffee. I am not even wild about the smell of coffee. I suppose when I was growing up, most adults smoked and drank coffee. Perhaps it was this awful combination that turned me against the idea of coffee. So, ever since I was a child I have been attracted to teas. As it turns out there are many health benefits to drinking tea. And...there are so many teas to try! I have quite a collection of teas and tea pots and using them gives me great pleasure. Years ago I found an antique wooden box with a beautiful dark patina that serves as my tea box. In it are many types and flavors...each with their own mysterious benefits.

To celebrate my love of teas my next project is going to be a mini quilt that I will use on my table when serving tea. It will consist of 4 main appliqued squares set on point...the sashing and trim in coordinating fabrics (yet to be planned). Here is the start of the four blocks....

Kitchen Creativity

Today was a busy day....many errands completed.

This, unfortunately left me no time to sew,

so I used my creative energies in the kitchen instead,

making a scrumptious dinner for Hubbs.

I thought I would concoct my own recipes tonight. Here is what I came up with.....

Grilled Chicken with Mango/Pomegranate Salsa

1/2 cup chopped,fresh pineapple

1/4 cup chopped,fresh mango

1/4 cup fresh pomegranate

1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

3 Tablespoons chopped red onion

2 tablespoons chopped serrano pepper

salt and pepper

juice of 1/2 lime

Combine above ingredients and serve on top of grilled chicken. I marinade my chicken first in a local Greek Dressing and then cook on my Cuisinart griddle/grill (works like a George Forman grill....locks in the juices). I served this with a spinache salad with avocado slices, pomegranate, almond slices and dressed with sesame seeds and a fresh French Herb Vinaigrette. Paired with Simi Russian River Chardonnay....this dinner was fabulous!

French Herb Vinaigrette

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 T. fresh lemon juice

1 t. sugar

salt and pepper

2 cloves of garlic....minced

1 tsp. fresh thyme

1 tsp. fresh parsley

1 tsp. fresh chopped rosemary leaves

Enjoy......this meal is so fresh and bursting with flavor and anti-oxidants....yummy and healthy, too.

And The Winner Is....

Well, since I had enough extra fabric to make two sets of canning jars, I have decided to have 2 winners. Hubbs pulled two names from the hat (drumroll please.......)

Khartquilt

&

Elise

Please email me (<--click there) and I will pack these sets up and ship them to you tomorrow morning.

Happy quilting!! Remember....you will need black fabric for the background, a fabric for your shelves and grey or gold for your lids (a very small amount of fabric is needed for the lids).

Happy January......now let's get sewing!! I still need to quilt mine and add the bias binding. Then it is off to the next project! Hmmmmm....what shall I plan for February's quilt?

New Years Fabric Giveaway

If you are interested in making this quilt....leave me a comment and I will have a drawing for a set of pre-cut rectangles of all these fruits and veggies.

Drawing: Sunday Evening....I will post the winner here on my blog.

If you win the fabric, you will need 1 1/2 yards of black fabric and 1/2 yard of "wood" fabric to complete the quilt top. Directions are below in another post.

Have a great weekend!

PS: In order to leave a comment, click on "comments" at the bottom of this post...when the comment box opens...click on either anonymous or name if you do not have a blogger account. This will allow you to post your comment. Please let me know who you are though, so I can post your "name" if you win!

An Alternative to Football...

Well, I started watching the Penn State vs. USC game (Rose Bowl) and gave up at half time....my oh my, Penn State looks terrible (apparently things got a bit better in the second half). So, I moved myself up to my sewing room and assembled my mason jars....

I thought I would add a quick tutorial at this point.

I drew a template for my mason jars on a piece of graph paper. You can do the same and make your jars any size or shape that you like. I will give you the measurements that I used, in case you would like to copy.

There are so many ideas for this jar quilt. I have seen it done up adorably using all sorts of insect fabric...like bugs in jars.....so cute! You could use fabric with sewing notions to make a quilt for your sewing room....oh there are so many possibilities!Here are the measurements for my template:



A (veggie fabric) 6 " by 8 1/2"rectangle.

B (black) 1 3/4" squares

C (black) 1 1/4" squares

D (grey or gold) 1 1/4 by 4" rectangle

E (black) 1 1/2 by 4" rectangle

F (black) 2 1/4 by 2 1/2 " rectangles

G (black) 1 1/2 by 8" rectangles

Sashing (wood print or brown) 1 1/2 inch strips of 44" wide fabric

Start by sewing squares B onto A in the top corners (right sides facing) diagonally across square. Fold corner to outside and press. Repeat the same with squares C onto lower 2 corners of A. With right sides together, sew G to each side of A.






Assemble top rectangles by sewing D to E (right sides together) and then add F to right and left side.




Attach your jar lid piece to your jar piece to complete block.












Assemble blocks in a row and add sashing between rows.



Finish by adding sashing across top of top row and down each side.


You can then add a border around the whole thing and complete by quilting and adding bias binding.

All seams are 1/4 inch.

If you have any questions feel free to email me!


PS: The secret to accurate quilt piecing is accurate cutting....nothing beats a cutting wheel, and a 1/4 inch presser foot. These presser feet have a little straight edge on them that guarantees a perfect seam every time!

A New Year....A New Project

Ah......New Year's Resolutions.....we all make them, we all break them. This year I decided to make a realisitic resolution. Along with eating better (we already eat very conscienciously) and getting more exercise (yikes! More exercise means less sewing! Uh Oh!) I would like to try to do a quilt each month. Of course I will also work in lots of various other projects besides that.

So as to not fall behind in my goals, I have started my New Year with a new quilt. Last year, a popular project amongst quilters was the "Jar" Quilt. I am doing my own variation of this quilt and calling it my Pantry Quilt. I found 14 luscious fat quarters at my favorite quilting store and have begun turning each into mason jar blocks. Here is the beginning....

I will use wood-grained sashing so that the jars appear to be sitting on shelves. I will also post my template for these blocks a bit later in case you are interested in this project. It is so simple....no applique, just sewing various sized blocks together....straight lines!

PS......Happy New Year to you. Please feel free to leave me comments....I sure enjoy hearing from you!

After Christmas

Every year, after Christmas I get an incredible urge to clean out and re-organize.

Today was the day for such activities.

My sewing room was starting to be over-run by thread clippings the size of small tumbleweeds. A few hours of labor and my room is now clean

and ready for me to start another year of creative endeavors.Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully the start of something fun!

Now that Christmas is over, I can share with you the picture of Hubbs' gift that I made. He loves crows, so I thought he might like this pillow. It is made with wool scraps, wool felt, and then embroidered and needle felted. I think he liked it a lot!

The Best of Christmases

This was perhaps one of the best Christmases of my life. The days were filled with fun, family, and friends. We had decided to tone down the gift giving this year which ended up being a great idea. A gag gift exchange left us all laughing like we had not laughed in so long....deep, infectious belly laughs....roll on the ground laughs! Our day began with Andy making stromboli for a lunchtime snack...how about that apron!!

The Stromboli was terrific....he's one great cook! The afternoon was filled with family fellowship...speed scrabble, pool tournaments, competitions on the Wii, and the infamous gag gift exchange that will live forever in our memories!

Here is dear Hubbs in his gag Mrs. Clause outfit! Yes, that is a wig!!

Our meal was delicious and more laughter ensued as we opened our Christmas Crackers and shared our jokes.

As usual, the chief photographer, (me) made it into none of the pictures!

Grinch Cake?

Grinch Cake

1/2 C. butter

1 1/2 C. sugar

2 eggs

2 T. cocoa

1 C. buttermilk

1 T. vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 oz. red food coloring

2 1/4 C. flour

1 tsp salt

1 T. vanilla

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs. Combine cocoa and food coloring to make a paste. Stir into creamed mixture. Sift flour and salt. Add flour mixture alternately together with buttermilk to mixture. Blend well. Add vanilla, vinegar and soda. Do not beat....just mix. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes in a greased pan(s).

Frosting:

3 T. flour

1 C. milk

1 C. sugar

1 C. butter

green food coloring

Cook milk and flour, stirring constantly until thickened like a paste. Place a piece of plastic wrap across surface of milk paste and chill. (The plastic wrap prevents a skin from forming on the paste.) When chilled, beat in butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until it resembles whipped cream. Add green food coloring until desired color is reached. Spread on cake and serve.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Brrrrrrrr.....Old Man Winter has arrived with a frosty punch!

We awoke to snow this morning.

It snowed for a few hours at daybreak and covered the ground with a lovely white blanket....

but not enough for a snowman.

Sadie and I were out at 6 AM this morning. By 9:30 we finished our morning farm chores and headed back to the house to get warm. It is a perfect day to finish a few Christmas preparations and finish my snowman quilt. A few stitches to finish the edging and here it is.....

Are You Ready?

Each year, for weeks preceeding this one special day,

we shop and craft and bake and wrap and decorate.....

And we remember the anticipation that we felt as children.

We realize that Santa still lives in our hearts

and we are filled with good will and excitement!
This year, perhaps more than most, we are reminded of the meaning of Christmas.

With the woes of the economy, we have less money to spend and many of us

are turning back to simpler times and making gifts for our loved ones.

We are reminded the the most important part of the holiday is not the gifts

but the time we share with our families and friends.

It is my wish for you that your holiday season be filled with love and warm memories.

Remember that the most meaningful gift you can give anyone is yourself.

The gifts, the food, the decorations are special for sure, but not essential.

The most special part of Christmas is the love that we share.

For without the love, there would be no Christmas.

Merry Christmas, dear Friends...

Warm, Bear-Hugs to you......

Bev

Taking Shape

There is still snow on the ground from yesterday's storm, but a warmer day has caused much melting. I had a bit of time to work on more quilt panels today and just finished assembling the body of the quilt. Now I need to decide how to trim the quilt....perhaps a border of red and white pinwheels. Well, back to the cutting board...I have a bit of work ahead of me! This quilt is wall-hanging or lap sized. I hope to have a quilt made for each season, so that I can rotate them throughout the year. Perhaps I will hang them on the loft banister overlooking the great room in our log home (you can follow construction progress on my farm blog).

Happy Holidays to you!

And We Have a Winner!!!!

I put all of the names in a hat and one name was drawn.......drumroll, please.......

The winner of my Touch of the Past Christmas apron is......

Bridget

Merry Christmas to all of you!

I only wish I had made 50 of this apron

so that I could send one to each of you!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog over the past year.

I will try to continue to bring you fun and inspiring projects throughout the coming year.

I will continue to have occasional giveaways throughout the coming year.

It's a Blizzard Outside!

But inside, it is warm and toasty! My Christmas shopping is finished. I spent most of the afternoon wrapping. In between activities I found a little time to start another quilt. Here is the first patch....I will add snowflakes to this patch. There will be 4 more just like it....snowmen facing different directions. Between these snowmen patches will be red and white pinwheel patches...like peppermint candies. If the weather stays like it is, I will probably finish this cute little quilt tomorrow.

Fabric Fun

Amidst Christmas shopping and laundry chores, I took a little time today to play with some yummy fabrics. You might remember a couple of months ago that a friend from work gave me a huge bag of fabric samples. These are not your average fabrics, but very high-end fabrics from all over the world. I must tell you, nothing could thrill me more. I have stored these delectable fabrics in their own tote and frequently look at them...dreaming of what they might eventually become. Today I threw a few random fabrics together and constructed this shopping tote. It has an inside pocket and magnetic closure. The tie is just for decoration....as I had a little grommet trouble. I am really happy with how it turned out.

Again....Thanks so very much for the fabric fix, Nancy and Bill!

Some of Our Traditions

Dear Friends....it has been great fun to read about your favorite holiday traditions. I thought I would share mine with you. Every year at our Christmas dinner, I set the table with our finest china and silver. At each place-setting, I put a Christmas Cracker.

Christmas Crackers are a British tradition. They are colorful paper favors filled with small gifts, a crown and a joke. We each pop open our cracker before dinner and take turns sharing our jokes while we each place our crowns on our heads. Lots of laughter ensues!

After dinner we all gather around the fireplace and the kids (now grown) open their stockings. Each stocking is filled with small essentials like soaps, gum, chocolates, socks, a kitchen tool or toolbox tool....all sorts of small things that fit nicely into their stocking. I think they have more fun opening these than anything.

Christmas music plays all day and a fires are kept burning in the fireplaces for the whole day. The house is warm and inviting and full of love!

Christmas Apron Giveaway

Happy Holidays from Bee Haven Acres!

I have been working like an elf these past few weeks

finishing gifts, shopping and wrapping.

My packages are in the mail.

A home-made Christmas is planned for the most part.

I would like to offer one last apron give-away for the year,

as a thank you to all of you who visit me here on my blogs

and leave such sweet comments.

I have met so many wonderful readers this year...I hope to meet even more in the

coming year.

Please leave me a comment to enter this giveaway...

and tell me your favorite tradition during the Christmas season.

If you are not a blogger, simply send me your comment in an e-mail and I will enter your name.

I will enlist Hubbs to pick one lucky name from our hat on Wednesday, December 17th.

Please check back next Wednesday for a posting of the winner.

That person will receive this apron in the mail :

Happy Holidays, Dear Friends!

I'm Dreaming......

....of a White Christmas.

Alas, today it is cold and rainy.

We really need some.......

Here is today's Christmas project. It is a little wool felt pillow. The reverse side is made from the softest, felted, black, and grey and white snowflake sweater.

It's Beginning to Look a Little Like Christmas!

I have always held a great affection

for snowmen.

As a child, the first snowfall

would invariably end up rolled into balls

and stacked in the front yard.

A carrot from the fridge,a scarf, and some sticks and stones would help that frozen sculpture morph into a "being". And there he would stand until the temperatures rose.

Some of my most treasured holiday decorations are the snowmen that I have collected over the years. They grace my mantle, my windowsills, and any other empty space I can find. I thought I would share them with you.....

Santa's Workshop

Well, the elves have been busy today. A dreary, rainy, cold day is good for.....Hmmmm, let me see......well, sewing of course. I finished up another special order. This pillow: (Heather, I hope you like it!)

And a wonderful gift for Hubbs....of course I cannot show you that picture....it is a surprise! I will post a picture after Christmas of that one.

Another Christmas Order

Early awakening makes for extra sewing time! Here is another special order man's barbeque apron...reversible.

Filling Christmas Orders

Here is hubbs modelling the latest in men's barbeque aprons. I just completed this apron as a special order. One side is digital camo and the other is a hunter's print. All he needs are tongs and he's ready to throw another steak on the barbie!!