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8/31/12

Giveaway Winner Announced


First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who participated on the giveaway and left such lovely comments. It was very fun and I hope to host many more giveaways. 

The winner of the pincushion is #13 FarahLin Congratulations!


Thank you again for your support!

Martha.

8/27/12

Giveaway!



I'm very excited to be hosting my first giveaway! The giveaway is this little pin cushion I made  specially for this occasion. The word "Pins" is hand embroider (by me). 


If you would like to participate:
  1. Please leave a comment on this post.
  2. If you are a follower of my blog (existing or new) you have a second change to enter, just leave a comment that says "following"
The giveaway will be open through Thursday August 30, 2012 until 9:00 pm PST. Then a winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday August 31. Please make sure you leave an e-mail address where I can reach you. I will be happy to ship internationally, so anyone can participate.

Good Luck!

Martha

8/26/12

Orange Cookies


This weekend felt like I was very productive. I had time to cook and bake and I made a lot of progress on my new quilt, but I will tell you more about my sewing on a later post. I made this amazing orange cookies and I thought I'll share the recipe with you. I have been making this cookies for a long time (they are my husband's favorites). I really don't know where the recipe came from originally. A friend gave it to me years ago when I first became interested in cooking, but I don't know where she got it from. Over the years I have made some adjustments to the original and this is my favorite version.


Orange Cookies
Makes 16-18 cookies

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup corn starch
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 orange (about a tablespoon)
1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
Optional: 18 almonds to garnish cookies



Method:

1- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). In a bowl whisk together flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt, and orange zest and set aside.
2- Using an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg and continue to beat until well combined; then add orange juice and flour mixture and continue beating until all ingredients are well incorporated.
3- Using and ice cream scoop spoon batter onto  baking sheets and top each with an almond. make sure you press the almond slightly into the dough. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Martha.

8/24/12

A Picture... A Moment


 
Blue Plumbago from the garden. I peek out of my kitchen window and I see it being constantly visited by bees, butterflies and hummingbirds; so lovely.
Looking forward for the weekend... how about you?
 
Martha.

8/19/12

Starting A New Quilt




I started planning for a new quilt. I had purchased this fabric a while ago with a quilt in mind. But I had many ideas in my head and I just hadn't been able to decide until now. I found the inspiration from this book. The pattern is for a doll quilt, but I think it will also look great on a large quilt. I did some sketching to decide on the fabric placement and I think I'm ready to start cutting my lovely fabrics and begin and new sewing adventure.

Martha.

8/18/12

Road Trip










Today I didn't get a lot of sewing done. Instead, my husband and I decided to take a road trip. And on our little journey we stopped at a farm stand/park  very popular in the area, but we had never visited before. I don't know why it is such a lovely place to spend the day. The place is filled with antique farm equipment. I felt as if we went back in time. The park even has a small pond with ducks swimming in it. It is such a charming place I think I want go back soon.
I hope you are having a great weekend as well!

Martha.

8/14/12

Sunflowers


The sunflowers finally opened up. They look very impressive standing tall way pass the roof of the house.
Lovely summer colors!
Martha