Say "Cheese"....Macaroni and Cheese

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week! I have been cooking all day. I have been making macaroni & cheese, mini pumpkin pies, homemade bread and a macaroni casserole. My family loves the mac & cheese. I am not sure where the recipe came from but we have enjoyed it for at least 17 years. It is a very simple and easy recipe. I just top it with cheese, but you could top it with Ritz crackers or dry bread crumbs....yummy!

Favorite Mac & Cheese

2 TBS cornstarch

1/2 tsp dry mustard

2 1/2 c milk

8 oz shredded sharp cheese

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 TBS margarine

8 oz macaroni, cook 6 minutes and drain

Set cooked and drained macaroni aside. In a medium saucepan, combine cornstarch, salt, dry mustard and pepper; stir in milk until smooth. Add margarine, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; reserve 1/4 c cheese for topping. Stir in remaining cheese until melted. Add macaroni. Turn into greased 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake in 375 degrees oven for 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Have a great and wonderful Thanksgiving and may God bless you and your family,

Holly

I "Pine" Pinterest

pine (pn)

v. pined, pin·ing, pines

1. To feel a lingering, often nostalgic desire

 

I have recently discovered Pinterest. I love it. Basically it is like a big scrapbook of pictures. You "pin" a photo and the comment about it and everyone gets to share what you discovered or "pinned" from the internet. As soon as I can figure it out, I will put my Pinterest button to the right. To give you a little taste, here are some of the pictures that I pinned or pine(d).

Have a great Wednesday,

Holly

If Stitches Could Talk

Old quilts....I love them. Even with the frayed edges, less than perfect stitches, mismatched fabric scraps, holes, non meeting corners...they are wonderful! If you look closely, you can see the love in each stitch. A loving grandmother, mom, sister, daughter or aunt made these necessary covers. They would keep the family nice and toasty during those nippy nights. Now days, we mainly make quilts for show. Our families are kept warm by furnaces, electric blankets (not sure if anyone uses those anymore), or covers made in China. Very few of us have hand me down Grandmother quilts. I am very fortunate enough to have one of my Grandmother's that my great Grandmother made. I remember using it as a child visiting my grandparents. They did not have a furnace for heat. Just a fireplace and a couple of room gas heaters. We kept warm at night by using many layers of quilts and blankets. Once you crawled into bed, you didn't move. For if you moved, the spot that you had been warming up suddenly disappeared, immediately replaced by icy coldness. Fun times and good memories!!

Above: This antique quilt is one that I purchased at an antique mall. I do have a few rules that I have to follow (because if I didn't, my house would be over run with quilts :).

Rules:

1. They can't be more that $25.

2. It has to be a complete quilt. I don't want pieces of quilts, although I have broken this rule and bought some pieces that were orphaned quilt squares and scraps. I just couldn't pass these up, because the materials used were feed sacks, the quilt square pattern was difficult, or I could see the time and workmanship put into the piece was exceptional.

3. Old traditional non-pretty farmer feed sacks were used to back the quilt. I find these charming.

4. The quilting was done in a Baptist Fan style--LOVE!!

4. The quilt just "spoke" to me.

Above: Just look at the scrappyness of this quilt. It has the Baptist Fan pattern hand quilted into it. The quilt block is complex. Look at the curves. This quilt was also hand pieced. 

Above: Not sure what the name of this particular quilt pattern is. These fabrics look like they could have been scraps from clothing. The borders look like more of that farmer feed sack material. It is a loose weave.

Above: See the repairs on the left. I can see the shadow of the material underneath the patch. Not sure if I should take off the patch and repair it correctly or not. The patch was poorly sewn. This quilt must have been used alot. I wonder how they washed it.

Above: Look at the binding. The white and blue is a recent patch. The rest of the binding is actually the back pulled over the edge and hand stitched down.

Above: Here's a look at the back. This is the feed sack material that I call "Farmer's Feed sack", because it is very plain and loosely woven. I can make out "Jim Dandy", "Cow Feed", "Purity and Quality" and some other stuff that I can't quite make out. It is too faded.

Above: "100lbs"

That's all that I have for today. I hope that you have a wonderful and blessed weekend!

Holly

Can You Yo-Yo?

I love yo-yos. The fabric ones that is. I think they are so adorable and versatile. I have used them on: cards, hair bows, quilts, clothespins, tags, aprons, potholders, pincushions, pin toppers, and on many other things. They are so simple to make. You don't even need a fancy schmancy yo-yo maker. Just some fabric, needle and thread. You can also make them any size that you want. A little hint: the size of yo-yo you want is about half the size of the circle you cut. For example, if you want a 2" yo-yo, just cut a 4 1/4" circle. The 1/4" is the edge that you will turn down.

Step 1: I love using a compass for my circles. I just have a cheap one from Walmart. I set the compass to 1 1/4" (zoom on picture for close up). This will make a 2 1/2" circle. This circle will form a yo-yo approximately 1" - 1 1/4". Draw the circle onto paper and cut it out.

Step 2: Cut the circles out of fabric.

Above: Step 3: Fold the edge down 1/4" (I do this as I am making the running stitch) and make a running stitch around the circle. **Make sure the thread that you are using is strong. Dental floss is great, but it only comes in one color: white. I love to use embroidery floss. You can use two or three strands and of course it comes in 1000s of colors (well...maybe hundreds, but still that's a lot!).

Above: Make sure you leave the tail hanging when you start the running stitch and do not tie the tails together when you finish.

Above: Step 4: Now draw up the tails and tie. Hint: I have found that the closer you get the running stitch to the edge the smaller and more uniformed the gather will be. See in the above picture how the gather is kind of bunchy and not very neat looking. I made the running stitch between 1/8"- 1/4" from the edge. This look is cute, but not what I was going for. In the "above, above" picture of the running stitch (blue circle) I made the stitches really close to the edge.

Above: Here's the difference in stitch placement. One on left (orange) stitch was placed approximately 1/4" from edge and on the right (blue) it was placed almost to the edge.

Above: Happy Little Yo-Yos! I love using them on clothespins. Fun!!

Hope you have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend and don't forget to keep those ten little fingers busy!!

Holly

Thumb-body Loves You!

Blogger has had some problems lately. That is why I am just now posting this. I believe that I promised it over a week ago. For some reason I couldn't sign out of my other blog, so therefore I couldn't sign "in" to this one. Anyway, here's what I made the Music teacher and Preschool Director. They are market bags and this pattern is pretty easy. I stamped all of the childrens' finger prints onto a panel for the market bags (all you have to do to remove the panel is unbutton it). This way if the bag gets dirty, they can remove the panel and wash the bag. I did mix fabric medium with the paint but it still could wash out a little.

Above: The whole preschool class. I tried to make the thumbprint children look as much like the real children as possible. That was a lot of fun!

Above: Close up. I put bows and barrettes in the girls' hair and gave the girls pink cheeks.

Above: Please excuse the mess on the counter. I was in a rush, we had to be out the door in about 2 minutes. Which translates into I almost forgot to take pictures of the bags. Whew....

Above: I love the fabric. I used three different prints, handle-brown print, body-light blue print and lining stripe.

Above: I have really enjoyed my hydrangeas. They are not very big but a beautiful blue.

Above: My gardenias in a small half pint vintage milk container. I have two enormous bushes and Dear hubby wants to move the bushes to another part of the yard and I just know that is going to kill them. I absolutely love gardenias and these particular bushes bloom all summer long and sometimes into the fall.

Have a great weekend and remember those men and women that have fought for our country and lost their lives, for the ones still fighting and for our veterans! God Bless! We are so appreciative of sacrifices that you have done for our country to keep us free and safe!

Holly

Repurpose, Reuse and Vintage-y Stuff

While on vacation this past week, my mom, my kids and I went antiquing/thrifting. I picked up quite a few things. Of course I left my linens in Alabama. Sorry mom, guess you will have to mail them to me. I am going to "re"start making grandma aprons to sell in my Etsy shop. I say "re" because I have made some to sell in the past and love every minute of the process, from designing to sewing to decorating the little tags.

Above: Here's some of the "finds". Vintage kitchen utensils-I absolutely loovvee! I am going to add a vintage utensil with every apron. I think that this just adds to the vintage feel of the apron. Rt-whisk, spatula, vegetable crinkle cutter, ladle, another crinkle cutter, spoon, potato masher, egg beaters, rabbit ear sifter, another cutter. Above-these small molds are going to go with the children's aprons, child's muffin pan and tin cup-which I am probably going to keep and put pencils in it.

Above: Fruitcake tin full of zipper-Score!! for only $2.

Above: Love the graphics, but rum & brandy fruitcake sounds yucky >:(

Above: Vintage tin for sewing machine attachments. I have not heard of a Emerson machine, but I loved the box and it even still had the attachments. Score!!-$1.75.

Above: Tin came with the book for the attachments. Very neat!

Above: I am always on the look out for wooden spools. I just love them. I want to do something with these spools and the little clay mice that I sculpt. That may come later on this summer/fall.

Above: Some more goodies in the bottom-vintage ric rac, rulers, buttons, zipper, etc.

Above: Paper measuring tape. I will probably use this on homemade cards or tags for the aprons.

Above: Isn't this little table runner sweet. I bought it to make four towels to go with the aprons, but I don't know if I can part with it. The little girl feeding the chickens is so adorable. I believe that the edging is tatting.

Above: Two sweet little doll dresses. Not sure what I am going to do with them yet.

Above: Vintage apron that my mom gave me from Kansas City. Love the red.

We are all sinners and by God's sovereign Grace and Mercy we are saved from the wrath that we all deserve! Jesus is risen! The Lord is Almighty! Forgiving our sins by the blood that was shed!

Happy Easter, everyone!!

Love,

Holly