Chocolate Sugar Cookies & Thanksgiving Greetings!

I got home from mom's yesterday and I just had to play with my Kitchenaid. I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Sugar Cookies:



My dad loves these and although Scott isn't much for sweets, he too is quite fond of these cookies. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 cup Cocoa
2 cups Flour
1 bag Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips

Cream butter & sugar. Add baking soda & cocoa. Mix well. Add egg & vanilla. Add flour and mix well then finally add the bag of chips.

Drop by teaspoon full on baking sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. I then add seasonal sprinkles! Also, I bake my cookies on Parchment Paper. It helps them to bake more evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes or until cookies are done but not brown.

I'd love to play with my new toy a little more but I'm toast for today now. I'll be taking my bath shortly and laying on my bed with my remote control and the new issue of Artful Blogging. Of course Nightmare, my little guardian, will be hogging the blankets!

I also thought you would enjoy seeing my handmade Thanksgiving cards:



You may want to click on the picture to see them up close. They're very glittery!

I have some new projects rolling around in my mind. I try to keep myself busy in hopes of keeping my mind off of how I feel. I still don't have my head all together yet. I can't do things as quickly as I used to. And I can't seem to organize things well yet. I'm assured that it will all come back in time but for now, it's a little frustrating.

I'm off to fold a load of laundry and put dinner together. We have left-over taco salad for tonight. Scott told me that taco salad was "border-line" cooking. Ha! I said no way! It's browning a package of ground beef and mixing in a jar of mild Pace Picante sauce!

BTW - I'm a little behind on my email. I plan to have that caught up by the end of the weekend. If you're waiting to hear back from me, please hang in there. I'll be replying very soon.

Floral Pillow

Isn't is amazing what you find when you go through and organize your things? I was looking through my stitched pieces that need framing and I came across this little floral embroidered piece that I stitched years ago. Way back in the mid 1980's! It was a pre-stamped design. I did a lot of those back then.



I don't know why I never sewed it up. I guess I just forgot about it or kept putting it off. Well, it's sewn up now and sits in my wicker rocking chair with my cardinal pillow. I stitched that one a few years ago. The design is from my collection of vintage iron-on transfer patterns. It's crayon tinted.

Well, I've been grocery shopping this morning and I have some ground sirloin cooking up for taco meat. We'll have Taco Salad for dinner tonight. When that's done, I'll head over to mom's for a bit.

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.