Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweet Valentine's Day wishes to you and yours.

This little case was fun and easy. I only had gigantic magnetic snaps, so I used some sew-in velcro dots.

 Then I made some coordinating bookmark from Skip to my Lou's cute tutorial.

Gigantic button mushrooms simmered in red wine, beef broth, garlic, butter, Worcestershire sauce and dill. Simmer for hours so your house smells wonderful. Based loosely on the Pioneer Woman's Burgundy mushrooms. They're better than meat. And don't forget the crusty bread to soak up the sauce.

Aha moment. I had no idea you could peel a soft boiled egg! I'm newly obsessed with soft boiled eggs, but I usually use an egg cup and dip toast "soldiers" into the egg. There's waste. This method is easier and just as tasty. The aha part, bring your egg to room temperature before simmering on a low boil for 4-5 minutes.

I did a little card making for my sweets yesterday. Bought them some treats too. And I have a special dinner planned to celebrate. Now to get some work done so I can play. Happy Valentine's Day!

Don't forget about the dress giveaway. There aren't many comments, so your chances are really good!

Sunday Stash #43

Had to snag a yard of Malka's new fabric line called "A Stitch in Color." I really wanted a fat quarter of each design. Thank goodness my LQS didn't have them cut. So I settled on this one that reminds me of fried green tomatoes or Viewmaster reels. Now I want a Viewmaster. Do kids still play with them? I bought a matching zipper not because I'm thinking of making a bag, but because zippers were cheap. I only get to this fabric shop once a month and usually have to rush off after our guild meeting, so I miss stuff. They have all kinds of neat things.

Two fat quarters also came home with me. Please tell me I'm not the only quilter that purposely looks for selvage edges on fat quarters. I'm hoarding that Lotta Jansdotter fabric on the left.

Flannel and upcycled cotton chenille baby washcloth. Our daycare providers swore by soft cotton washcloths. We never did buy or use diaper wipes. The baby washcloths are part of our rag collection now, but I smile every time I see one. I might make a matching bib for the new baby who is due next weekend!

Happy almost Valentine's Day. I had some time to play in the scrap bag yesterday. Poor dogs are upside down. I just noticed that.

I played a little with some fabrics that were already fused. This might be an AAQI quilt if it gets cuter.

I'm totally crushing on this gorgeous quilt by Rumi who lives in Bulgaria. Her blog, 3patchcrafts is pretty neat too.

Don't forget about the Shabby Apple giveaway right here. You could win a beautiful dress that would look beautiful on you. Not many people have entered, so your chances are pretty good! ;) The giveaway is open until Sunday, February 19.

Not So Shabby Giveaway

I found this wonderful site for women's dresses. Shabby Apple also has skirts, swimwear, accessories, jewelry, home decor, flirty aprons and even kids clothing. Some of the styles have a vintage vibe to them, which I adore. I've been wanting to wear more dresses, and Shabby Apple has some really cute styles. A lot of them look really comfy too.

Here's the Giveaway!

The stylish folks at Shabby Apple are sponsoring a giveaway to one lucky reader. This elegant little black Boogie Woogie dress can be yours. Just check out that gorgeous floral appliqued skirt. The bodice is a soft cotton jersey knit, so how comfy would that be? You could boogie all night long! Here's the full description:

Some things are just better together: peanut butter and chocolate, Ella and Louis, love and dancing.  We decided to pair two things we love—the soft, cotton jersey of our favorite t-shirt, and the gorgeous sateen of our Jazz Age collection—to create the Boogie Woogie, an indispensably comfortable-yet-elegant little black dress.  A luxe jersey cap sleeve top is gathered at the waist with a wide satin sash, and a veritable bouquet of appliquéd, ruched flowers and leaves adorns the full sateen skirt that swirls just below your knee.  A truly inspired combination,the Boogie Woogie has star potential.

Entering to win is easy. Go here to like Shabby Apple on Facebook and then leave a comment on this post. Entries close Sunday, February 19, 2012. If you're not a follower of Nostalgic Cafe, I'd love to have you, though it's not a requirement of the giveaway. ;) The dress is only available to US residents, but if the random thingy picks someone outside of the US, I'll provide a prize for that person and the dress will go to the runner up.

If you're impatient like me or need a new frock stat, Shabby Apple is offering readers a 10% discount if you use the code: nostalgiccafe10off. Go check out Shabby Apple's fun and stylish clothes. It's almost Valentine's Day and you deserve a treat!

Rolling Along

Creamed spinach pinwheels for Superbowl Sunday. I defrosted frozen creamed spinach and added a little shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan and Panko breadcrumbs. Smear the mixture on puff pastry and roll jelly roll fashion. I froze the "log" for a bit to make slicing easier. Once sliced, bake them on parchment paper. Parchment paper is my latest discovery. Nothing sticks and clean up is easy. I need to buy a case of that stuff.

I pinned this recipe for Texas Roadhouse Rolls a while ago. I halved the recipe like she did. Gobs of rolls. I put a bit less sugar as we were eating these with Italian sausage soup and I wasn't sure a sweet dough would mesh with the savory soup. The dough is wonderful to work with and rich enough to warrant a few "oooh, fresh rolls?" from the peanut gallery. I used skim milk, but a richer milk would add some yummy calories. It took me a year to get used to skim milk. Now if I drink whole milk, it tastes like ice cream. True story. But really, if you go through the trouble of making rolls, you should use full-strength milk. They're not bad with skim, but go the extra mile.

Yeah, I'm a bread baking machine. The sour dough bread a couple of days ago wasn't the best. A whole week babysitting that starter, and the bread was so-so. I tossed it. But I did get a new pottery bread baker, so I made some beer, dill, cheddar bread the night before last. Oh yeah, it was good. That's butter in the middle of the rough loaf. Killer. I tend to like these artisan loaves better than the white bread stuff. This bread will be off the chart toasted with a poached egg on it.

The Italian sausage soup was good too. Brown a pound of Italian sausage and remove to a bowl. Drain excess grease if your sausage rendered a bunch. You'll need a little fat to saute the veggies. Add onion, celery, carrot, garlic to pot. I had a bit of a red pepper leftover, so I threw that in too. Saute veggies a bit and add a can of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, a bay leaf, and Italian spices. Let simmer 20-40 minutes. After simmering, throw in a drained and rinsed can of your favorite bean and whatever pasta you like. Frozen chopped spinach too. We're trying to avoid making a salad! Get all the veggies in one dish so you don't have to make a salad. Garnish with fresh Italian parsley and shaved parmesan. Serve with crusty bread or those Roadhouse rolls.

I didn't take a picture of the soup last night, but here it is for my breakfast. Like most soups and sauces, it's even better the next day.

The paper pieced heart block turned into a potholder.  Now what kind of bread can I make today?

Superbowl Sunday

I was a paper piecing machine over the weekend. I gave this LOVE mini quilt a try. It may need a little more quilting in the white parts.

And I also found a little paper pieced heart that looked fun. This little block is destined to be a thank you potholder for free concert tickets.

Self portraits are scary.

Speaking of free concerts, the Jimmy Buffett concert was great. Our new arena is amazing. Huge! Inspector Gadget and I had a great time and made it up past midnight. Today, I'm looking forward to making and eating appetizers and watching cool commercials a little later. I already have a baby shower under my belt, so the rest of the day is mine.

Finally Friday. Let the Weekend Commence.

So I started this sourdough bread starter on Monday. I halved the recipe because I didn't have eight cups of rye flour. Day three it really blew up (bubbled and grew) and it kind of had a weird odor. I guess sour means sour and we are kind of making our own yeast here. I'm still plugging away and adding new rye flour and water and changing out the bowl daily.

Here's what it looked like Wednesday. Scary, huh? I'm not sure I can wait until Sunday to use this stuff or if I can find a big enough bowl to transfer it to. It's really growing! I hope it doesn't turn green or take over my kitchen or something. Attack of the sourdough bread starter! I'm almost afraid to look today.

Guess who I have a date with Saturday night? Inspector Gadget, not Jimmy Buffett! Jimmy won't even know I'm there. We're going to go see Jimmy at our newest arena. We saw Jimmy in concert before kids and it was great. We've always been fans of his laid back, beachcomber, and sometimes philosophical  music.

Hollywood listened to Jimmy on the ride to and from daycare for years. She knows many of his songs by heart and it still troubles her to this day. She can't figure out why she can belt out Buffett songs. Ha! Maybe we should have been playing Rosetta Stone CDs, but who knew?

I am addicted to edamame. I buy them frozen and just put them in boiling water for 4-5 minutes. A cool water shock keeps them from continuing cooking and turning gray. I sprinkle sea salt on them. Just look at this edamame goat cheese toast. I need more soybeans, stat! My grocery store sometimes carry the frozen variety, but they didn't have them today. I can always find them at the Oriental market. Now I need a spare hour or two for the Oriental market. I can get lost in that place. And spend lots of money.

Work has been busy, but I had a little spare time to make this cathedral window pincushion. The tutorial is fantastic. I think I've tried this technique before, but this time it seemed much easier. No hand sewing involved unless you count the ladder stitch to close up the bottom panel. I even covered a button, which may have been my first.

Happy weekend everyone!

Time Well Spent

I found a cute new blog to stalk enjoy. Nicole at Mama Love Quilts has the neatest fabrics, creates the cutest quilts, sells adorable stuff and is generous with her tips and tricks. And she just started blogging in January, the little overachiever! ;) Oh, and did I mention she has cute babies? You know what a sucker I am for babies. Go say hi and welcome her to the land of blogging.

Check out the Sew Out Loud quiltalong too. As a text fabric lover, it will be fun to see what these talented quilters come up with. Oh boy, more new blogs to love. Isn't life grand?

The AAQI February art quilt auction started today. These little quilts make great gifts for friends and family. Our guild collected 15 quilts to donate today. It was so much fun seeing everyone's creations. What a talented group. Yumi and I are still making quilts to send too. I never tire of making those little quilts.