Mail Call....and a Cake

I ordered several patterns from Amy at Down Sunshine Lane and they came last week. I love new stash! What I received is Pumpkins 4 Sale by Little House Needlewooks...My Lady's Quaker and Gentleman Quaker by Jardin Prive'...Autumn Days by Val's Stuff...Cottage Pinkeep Sampler by Midsummer Night Designs...Peacock Pin Pillow by Beehive Needleworks. I probably won't get the Autumn designs done this year as I am starting to wound down by Fall stitching, and moving on the Winter and Christmas items.



Even though Fall does not come until September 22, according to the calender, Mother Nature has decided that it needs to come now. The days are getting shorter and the temps are cooler during the day and almost cold at night. You need a light jacket during the mornings, but can shed it during the afternoon, and we are getting our share of rain. Even though the trees have not started to turn, there are leaves falling to the ground, so should not be long before we have beautiful trees. Wayne and I will make a trip to the apple farm before the end of the month to purchase apples to eat, bake with, and share with others. Since the weather is cooler, it makes me think of pumpkin, so yesterday I baked a Pumpkin raisin snack cake and will share the recipe with you.


Pumpkin raisin snack cake.....

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
15-oz can pumpkin
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

Thoroughly blend the sugars, pumpkin, butter, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with a whisk or electric mixer. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture. Add raisins and nuts. Pour into a greased jelly roll pan or 13 x 9 baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes for jelly roll pan, 35 to 40 minutes for baking dish, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool. Spread with Cream Cheese Frosting. I use store bought Cream Cheese Frosing, or you can use the recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 to 3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, 2 T milk and vanilla until smooth. Add additional milk if needed to make a frosting consistency.

TIP: Coat the raisins with flour before adding to the mixture to keep them from floating to the bottom of the cake.

Fall is my very favorite season of the whole year. I love the colors of Fall and the cool nip in the air. Do you have a favorite season? Make the most of it by baking, stitching, and decorating your homes.

Blessings,
Barbara

The Merry Month of March.......

I can't believe March is already here....but March brings many things for us. The first day of Spring, my hubbies birthday, my mom's birthday, our grandson's birthday, my step-dad's birthday, and the birthday of two nephews, phew, a full month of birthdays. March also brings the start of planting season for some flowers and vegetables. And, we have St. Pat's day in March and the wearing of the green!


Frist I have a photo of my DH, who will celebrate 70 years young this year (don't tell him I told). Wayne and I met at Crowder College here in Neosho, taking speech class. We were married in May of 1965. The photo shows him with our two dogs, Fred and Maggie Mae. This photo was taken last summer (and I think I posted it last summer also).




Now..for some stitching.

The is a design by Heidi at www.needlenecessities.blogspot.com. This is the design she shared for the month of February. I love the way this turned out. For the handle I simply cut strips of the backing fabric and braided them. Each of these designs will be hung on my Christmas tree this year. I am very anxious to see the next one, which she will post on March 15. These are quick easy designs to stitch up and I do stitch them up quickly, but my problem is getting things finished. As you can probably guess I would rather stitch than finish!

The first photo is the front and the next photo is the back of this very cute design.





You can click on any of the photo's to enlarge them.

I hope each of you have a Merry Month of March also.

Blessings,
Barbara

Stitching in January...........

I did quite a bit of stitching during the month of January and the following is what I stitched up and put a finish on.

This first design is by Heidi, www.needlenecessitites.blogspot.com. Heidi is a wonderful, caring person. She quilts, makes lace, cross stitches, and now she is designing a few cross stitch items. This was the design she made for December for her home. I am very pleased with the way mine turned out. I hope Heidi is also. You can see the front and back below. I have it hanging in my setting area and simply love it. Thank you so much Heidi. When are we going to get another design? This was a free design by Heidi.








This next design was a freebie from Betty of primitivebettys. My DH has his grandfathers old pocket watch and I thought this would work very well next to it. I love Betty's designs. I did the back in a dark green fabric and love it also.





The next photo is a design by Jenny Hoffman, Country Rustic Primitives. It also was a freebie and you can see the stitched design and the backing I put on it. The fabric on back was a gift from Nancy, www.knittingpathsof life.blogspot.com
She is also Heidi's Mom. OOPS, this is not a free design. I ordered it from PatternMart as an email pattern. Sorry!






This next design is also a freebie, but for the life of me I can't remember who designed it. I love all patrotic designs (our son is in the military, as most of you know). I did not make the pillow, it was one I purchased and you just slip the stitched design in it the opening.




This following design is also by primitiviebettys, another freebie. Here again I did not make the banner. I just slipped the stitched design into it. Very simple!




Now, this next design is the January pinkeep from Maryse in France. She is doing a different pinkeep design each month during this year. She has already posted February's design and it is a very cute heart shape. So I need to start on this new one, so I don't get too far behind.




I have also joined the group on, fortheloveofstitching, that Tanya leads. Several of us are doing a Christmas SAL of ornaments and this was my January ornament. We can stitch any Christmas or Holiday design we want. Maybe by Christmas I will have 12 new designs as we started this in December, 2008. Here again, I did not make the banner.



I hope you have enjoyed sharing my stitching pieces with me. You can click on any of them to enlarge. Please feel free to leave a comment for me.

Happy Stitching,
Blessings,
Barbara