• Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: sneak peek edition

    Last week I worked on a piece for possible publication and sent it off to meet a deadline. I wish I could show the whole piece because I was so happy with the way it turned out.

    This is just a piece of a corner.

    I’ve also been working on my scrappy quilt again. I decided to change how I am doing the binding so I needed a solid border around the whole quilt. I got that finished yesterday and started making the binding. I’ll share my quilt progress in another post.

    I also had to share my traditional gift to my neighbor for his New Years eve birthday. They generally have a party with all the neighbors invited. It’s really great since it’s right across the street. No driving required.

    Each year I give him some sort of beer but in recent years I’ve been trying to be clever about it. Last year was Rein-beers.

    And this year I got him some Canadian beer…of course, it’s cold there so they needed some hats to keep them comfortable.

    I’m still chuckling at the little hats although I am easily amused.

    Today is more sewing, laundry and cleaning. And shoveling. It’s currently snowing and we are expecting 2-4 inches. Hopefully it will stop and the roads will get cleared before the teen has to drive home from school. It was bad enough that he took off for school as the mess was beginning. The grey hairs have started from worry with a kid driving. Glad I’m blonde…..I should be able to go gracefully into grey. HA!

    What are you doing today?

    T stands for Tuesday

  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: rum cake edition

    This year for Christmas we changed things up a bit.  In the past several years we’ve had a Christmas brunch and it worked out very well since the kiddos weren’t too great at waiting to open presents. In those days I think they would have preferred everyone spend the night and get up at 6am.  Since they are older now, we decided moving back to a more traditional time for our family was best. That meant we’d need a dessert.

    I decided to make a rum cake. I’d made this one before and it was so yummy. The recipe comes from a cookbook called Booze Cakes that I checked out from the library.  The first time I made it I used a vintage Nordic Ware bundt pan in the classic bundt shape. This time I decided to get a little adventurous and use my fancy bundt pan since it looks a bit like Christmas trees.

    rum cake

    As it was baking, I was realizing that the tree pan was smaller than the classic pan…I kept watching it in fear that it would run over as it baked. I was lucky…

    rum cake

    Look how beautifully it came out of the pan! I took a lot of time preparing the pan in hopes that it would work.  So cute!

    rum cake

    Remember I mentioned this was from a cookbook called Booze Cakes…yeah…that bottle was full when I started and I wasn’t sampling. I don’t even like rum in drinks…but I sure do in cake!!!

    Just before serving I dusted the entire cake with powdered sugar giving it the appearance of snow. I totally forgot to snap a photo though. You’ll just have to take my word for it. It was yummy and boozy.

    The kids head back to school after winter break so I’ll be all by myself for a change…well I’ll still have Marvin to keep me company.

    Marvin

    What are you doing today?

  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: Wednesday edition

    I’ve fallen a bit behind with T stands for Tuesday in both posting and visiting. I blame it on the holidays and birthdays this time of year. Time seems to slip through my fingers like sand through an hourglass.

    I did finish up an art journal page on Christmas morning while we were trying to determine if we’d have to delay our family get together due to the sheet of ice covering everything. Instead of worrying, I created. grateful heart

    The words reflect what I was feeling.

    grateful heart

    I even included a coffee cup as each morning I start my day with that as well.

    Today will be spent on laundry, sewing, maybe a bit of shopping and quality time with my girl.

    What are you doing today?