Elegant Lady Purses & Other Finishes

I spent Monday doing some finishing on my sewing machine. I confess, I've been pushing myself and feel today like I'm paying for it. It does however, feel good to have a few things out of my hair.

You may remember this piece from Sharon's 2008 Take It Further Challenge:



This was the January project. I really love this block and decided it would make a beautiful purse.

As you probably noticed, I backed out of the challenge in June of that year. At the time, I didn't realize it, but the depression was coming on. It's actually been coming on for years. I felt pressured by this project and just reached a point where I couldn't continue on with it.

I can now see that I'm really not a "joiner". I like to do my own thing, my own ideas and I like to leave myself open for creating just for the sake of creating, with no purpose intended whatsoever. Sharon really comes up with some great projects but I've since learned that I can't take on so much. My ADD tends to jump into things without thinking about everything else I do! And I really do like to do too many things!

I stitched the Sewing Machine Lady purse last January while I had lightening bolts and fireworks shooting off in my brain:



What a horrible experience! But it does show me that my creativity was still there. Even I'm amazed at what came from my "short circuiting brain".

I'm particularly fond of the Sewing Machine Lady purse because of my antique sewing machine. When I saw that picture, I had to use it on a bag.

Next, are my recent little doorhangers:





These are Christmas gifts and I'm happy to say that my Christmas gifts are complete now!

Well, it's not a great day today so mom and I are going to go and wander around Hobby Lobby for little while. Sometimes that helps.

Christmas Cat Pattern

I've just added my Christmas Cat design to my Etsy shop:



Isn't she a beauty? Her name is Lily and she belongs to my blog friend Vicki over at Turkey Feathers. When I saw Lily, I fell in love with those eyes and asked Vicki if I could use her in a design. Thank you Vicki! She is precious!

Gingerbread Cupcakes And Other Baking

I've been running my Kitchenaid Mixer since 9 this morning! I started with Blueberry Muffins for Scott. He loves these:



I've never been big on Blueberries so they don't do anything for me but Scott said that this is a really good batch. The recipe is just the one in the Better Homes & Gardens basic cookbook. The only change I made is that I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

CNext, are my Gingerbread Cupcakes:



I only had a small taste of one and they are incredible! I never made them before. They came from my grandmother's 1963 General Mills cookbook. Here is the recipe:

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES

2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg well-beaten
2/3 cup Molasses
3/4 cup Buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Combine all wet ingredients in another mixing bowl.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.

Bake in cupcake pan at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 3-ounce package Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups Powdered Sugar

Mix frosting ingredients together and frost cupcakes. Add sprinkles.
Makes 12 cupcakes

Next, I made the most incredible Chocolate Loaf Cake:



Again, I just had a tiny bite. I really don't eat too much in the way of sweets but I love making them. I kind of made this one for my dad. He loves chocolate! The recipe came from Food Network. I saw Nigella make it yesterday morning and I knew it was something my dad would like. You can find the recipe here.

When I finished that, I made some applesauce and then some egg salad. I confess, that was probably a bit too much but I can just stitch for the rest of the day now. My laundry is done too and I put my Halloween do-dads away and brought out my Thanksgiving do-dads. I can't stand looking at Halloween stuff the day after Halloween!

Anyway, on to some stitching:



A few weeks back, I started stitching on this vintage Vogart Dresser Scarf that I bought at a Flea Market for $3.00. I have one end of it completed and just started on the other side. I don't plan to start another project until I complete this one. I do hope to have it done by the end of next weekend. We shall see!

Ok, I'm off to stitch.

Happy Halloween!

These sweet little scarecrows are in my Garden Window. I've never really used it for plants. Instead, I like to decorate the top shelf with different do-dads for the holidays and seasons. The bottom shelf is for Lucy. She likes to lay there because of the warm sun. I'll have to get a photo of her laying there sometime. It's just too cute!

Well, I've been enjoying my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer quite a bit. I made about 6 different kinds of cookies so far. My mom and I visit the elderly at our local retirement center every other week. Mom's oldest dog, a gorgeous Black Lab named Chooch, is a therapy dog. So we take Chooch and visit the sweet elderly people at the retirement center. They absolutely adore Chooch! I need to post a photo of her too. Perhaps at Thanksgiving.

Ok, so where am I going with this? Geez, I'm still waiting for my brains to get back in my head!

Mom and I made several different kinds of cookies and fixed up these pretty little treat bags to give to the residents at the center:





Of course, we made the tags as well:



It was amazing to us, how a little bag of homemade cookies could brighten the day for so many people! They were thrilled and went on and on about the cookies and the tags! Some of the residents no longer have family or friends to visit them so they really look forward to seeing mom and Chooch and I. And 2 days later, they're probably still talking about the Halloween treat bags!

I had intended on taking photos of my cookies and sharing a recipe or 2 but again, my brains are still somewhere else at the moment. I will be so glad when this depression subsides and when I can get off of the Zoloft so I can think straight again! My Dr. told me that I have to stay on the medication at least until late Spring. All of the symptoms have to be gone for some time before I can taper off. Well, I can honestly say that the symptoms are still here but at least I can function better.

I stitched up my Holly Doorhanger over the past few days:



I hope to have the energy to run my sewing machine later this week. Once I get these sewn up, my Christmas gifts are done. I still have 2 purses to sew up too. Both from last year.

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Glittered Pumpkins & Pumpkin Biscornu Designs

Well, my new Kitchenaid has kept me quite busy! I've made 3 batches of cookies this afternoon. I also made some fudge and another candy. I'll have photos soon and I'll share my fudge recipe. It's so easy!

In the meantime, mom & I did a fun little project yesterday. Glittered pumpkins:



I was driving to the Post Office yesterday, and decided to stop at the farm market on the way back for some squash. Those little tiny pumpkins always catch my eye! I already had a few but decided to get some more and suddenly, I had this idea to glitter them and add some dried flowers to the top. So I bought 8 pumpkins and drove over to mom's house! (Ya'll know I love my glitter!)

These are the supplies you'll need if you would like to make some:

Aleene's Tacky Glue
Hot Glue Gun
1 inch wide flat paint brush
Fine Gold Glitter (I used Martha Stewart's glitter available at Michael's)
Small Silk Autumn Leaves
Moss
Dried Flowers or dried stuff from your backyard.

First, wash the pumpkins and let them dry. Using a 1 inch wide flat paint brush, spread Aleene's Tacky Glue on the pumpkin starting at the stem. You don't want the whole pumpkin covered. Just the top but you do want it to look like frost settled on the pumpkin. Sprinkle on glitter and let dry.

Then, using a hot glue gun, glue some moss to the top near the stem. Add some small silk Autumn leaves, some dried flowers and snips of dried things from your backyard.

A quick & easy project, perhaps perfect as Thanksgiving Dinner Favors!

I have to go and frost my pumpkin face cookies but I'll leave you with a new design project:



I feel like I missed out on Spring (I don't even remember it) and Summer wasn't much better but I am enjoying the Fall. If you would like to stitch my new Pumpkin Biscornu designs, you can find them here.