Loom Knit Socks

I am teaching myself some new tricks.  These are thick slipper socks. Not bad for my first attempt at them.

Christmas Surprise

My husband gave me a gift card and took me to a yarn shop for Christmas! I picked up several projects worth and two books. I have visions of projects dancing in my head.

Craft Time with Grandmama

A little bit of cardstock,  two button eyes, and some cotton balls.....equal a happy little boy!

A Family Favorite

Sweet potato biscuits with sausage 

Gift for a Friend

My favorite professor is retired as of Friday. This was my retirement gift to her.  I made this on the loom.

Using Up

I hate to waste food and I had a handful of veggies that needed using up. A quiche was just the answer. A few mushrooms, a bit of peppers and onions from another meal prep, and a handful of tomatoes to round it out.  Veggies all used up, and in spite of the higher cost of eggs, still a frugal meal.

Vanilla Birthday Cake

This recipe from Duff Bakes is wonderful--Two thick layers, avoids my allergens, and my grandson loved it.  I topped it with a simple buttercream frosting.

Sorry for the messy cake plate photo. The after photos with a clean plate and slices were blurry.

Grandmama's Little Helper

The kitchen in one of my favorite places to be and who better to share that with than my favorite helper. I made buns for our burgers and he rolled out dough for rolls.  

Of course, he absolutely had to help clean up the kitchen when we finished.

It must have been hard work.

The burgers were good though! 

Winter Warmings

The Saturday after Thanksgiving my mama, sister, and I went shopping. I went with a set list and armed with coupons. We went to Joann's, where I bought an iron, 2 cones of worsted weight crochet cotton, and a set of knitting looms.  I also bought a coupon calendar that was unplanned.

I was hoping the knitting loom wouldn't bother my arthritis as bad as needle knitting does. So far it has been a success. 

I've made four hats--all from stash yarn leftover from other projects.

The red and white was for my sister.

This colorful rainbow one was for my mama.

This camouflage is my husband's hat.

The hot pink is for my daughter.

And in addition to that I've started learning different stitches and I am working on a shawl.

Texture photo 

And lest you think I didn't have plans for the cotton yarn, I am on placemat three out of six.

I'm joining in with Ginny over at Small Things for the weekly yarn along.  Please go over and see what everyone else is making.

Duff Bakes -- A Cookbook Review

One of the things I love to do best in this world is bake. I originally checked out this book from the local library and I quickly found that it was one I would refer to over and over. (While I have always loved to cook from scratch recent diagnosis of anaphylactic allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and fish have made it a necessity.  I am amazed at what they put in things or process them with/next to.)

Duff Bakes by Duff Goldman and Sara Gonzales is a fabulous book.  There are a few recipes where nuts are prominent and I can't adapt them, but all in all I believe more than 95% of these recipes will work for my family.  

We started out by trying the Chocolate Cream Pie with Oreo Crust and Marshmallow Meringue. (To be safe I just ate some of the filling, but my family loved the pie.

The crust is simple -- crushed Oreos and butter.  The filling is a chocolate custard that uses both cornstarch and egg yolks. It is cooked in a double boiler.  The meringue has traditional ingredients with melted marshmallows added.  (I had never made meringue with these added, but it held its shape well and did not weep -- even by the second day.)

My family ranked this pie a keeper. Their second request was the Vanilla Birthday Cake, which is similar to a "Funfetti" cake. I will share how that turned out later this week.

Welcome

Welcome to my little corner of the world.

 This is a place for me to share all the comings and goings of my life and the things that important to me.  Near and dear to my heart are my family, crafting, purposeful living, and literature. I am a wife, mother and grandmother.  I love baking, cooking, and collecting cookbooks. I knit, crochet, sew, quilt, and do almost any craft I can get my hands on. In fact, my list of passions is quite long...so I reserve the right to ramble at times and hope you'll bear with me.

I am looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new.

For those of you that read my old blog, I'll slowly catch you all up on the craziness around here.  All I can say is I am glad life is returning to normal...well as normal as it gets anyway.