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.

My New Toy & Some Stitching

I bought myself a new toy. As most of my long time readers know, this has been an awful year for me. A huge tree limb fell on my house a week before Christmas last year and although the damage was minimal, we still had plenty of damage to deal with. I had a mental breakdown and went into a state of horrifying depression on Christmas Eve (my birthday). I had to say goodbye to my teddy bear Garfield and among other things, the current state of the economy has not been good to us.

There were months there, where I couldn't stitch or do my designing. I didn't have the energy or mental capacity to run either one of my sewing machines. I was able to make cards with my mom and I was able to bake. And bake I did! There must be something about it that has been helping me get through this awful experience. I've baked more this year than I have in the past 5 years!

Anyway, I've been wanting a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer for quite some time now. Thinking back, I remember looking into them about 8 years ago but I was very specific on the color. I wanted a Professional heavy duty mixer in Pistachio green. Well guess what? I bought one for myself:



I wanted the Professional model because I intend to make bread in it. It just arrived last night!

I haven't been able to use it yet but mom and I have been playing with hers so at least I know what to do and don't have to read the instructions. As soon as I get something made in it, I'll share some photos and more recipes.

In the meantime, I stitched up a doorhanger:



It looks like a pink blizzard doesn't it? Me, who loves Christmas so much! NOT! And mentally crashing on Christmas Eve last year does not help me to like it any more. But my mom gave me some suggestions to make it different this year and to keep my mind occupied with something more fun. I asked Scott if he would either take me to JoAnn Fabrics on my birthday or the Antique Mall that I love. Being the sweetie pie that he is, he told me that we may be able to do both! That should help.

So, that's my Christmas doorhanger. It'll be a gift. I'll be starting another one shortly and then I'll sew them both together at the same time.

Ok, I'm off to try my new toy out!

Altered Cookies

It seems that all sorts of things are being "altered" these days. One of the easiest things to alter is a basic cookie recipe:



This recipe for Drop Sugar Cookies is the recipe I sent in to Just Cross Stitch this year to go with my ornament design:

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/3 cups flour
1 bag mini chocolate chips

Cream butter & sugar. Add vanilla, egg & baking soda. Mix well and add flour. Add mini chocolate chips. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls, flatten with a glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown.

I altered this recipe by adding the zest of 1 large orange, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

I've made this cookie recipe many, many ways and will share my "alterations" as I make them again. Give these a try. They are really good!

Be sure to visit my Boutique!

Spider Purse & Flea Market Treasures

First, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to email me. I believe we have my email working properly again. I kind of freak when this sort of thing happens because I don't know what to do! My friend Chris helped me with it and hopefully, it will continue to work for me!

I finished up my Spider Web purse:



There are 7 spiders on this bag. Can you find them all?

The ladies at the Post Office were drooling all over it yesterday. Everyone is fascinated by crazyquilting!

Next, I thought I would share my recent Flea Market treasures with you. I hit the jackpot this last Sunday! First, with a pair of cat figurines that I absolutely fell in love with:



I plan to repaint my guest room light pink and stencil cabbage roses around the room. I want it to have a very cottage vintage look and I thought these would be pretty sitting on the dresser.

Next I found yet another pile of vintage embroidery transfers:



Ya'll know how much I love these! I've done pretty good with the iron-on transfer finds this flea market season.

I know I've recently mentioned that I've been baking a lot. It's helped to take my mind off the terrible depression symptoms that I've been dealing with. I started a new collection (like I need another one) of vintage baking cookbooks:



I paid $2.00 for each of these. In fact, the Betty Crocker Cooky book is one that my mom has had since the 1960's and I maul it every time I'm at mom's house! I was thrilled to find my own copy at the flea market. Esp. for only $2.00! I think Borders bookstore offers it but it's around $15.00 or $20.00 now.

Anyway, the Christmas Cookie booklet is from the 1950's. Mom told me that the electric company used to send out cookbooks and other little things now and then. Interesting! Now we get the bill and pray it doesn't go up!

I also found this pile of vintage appliqués:



I'm sure they'll find their way onto one of my crazy quilts eventually.

Last but not least for today, a vintage hat and 2 spider pins:



I bought the vintage hat for the silk and velvet flowers. I can usually find these for about $4.00 or $5.00. I take the flowers off and use them on my stitching or on cards.

And where were those spider pins when I was working on my spider purse? I've never seen one on a web before.

I do have one other treasure that I bought but I had a hard time getting a good photo of it. It's a stitched framed piece with roses on it and a little verse. I'll try taking it outside on a sunny day and see if I can't get a decent photo. It's gorgeous and is also intended for my guest room when I get it repainted.