Felt Menagerie

The owl and pussycat now have company.  I made the gray kitty for a friend of mine who recently lost one of her cats.  I personalized it by embroidering the cat's name onto a heart (which is the same color and shape as the tag he wore).  My friend's birthday was coming up and I thought this would make a nice little present for her (and give me more practice making these).  After finishing that project I began to work on the puppy dog pattern (from weefolkart.com) and realized that it looked just like this same friend's dog!   I added his tag and presented them both to her this week.  I think she liked them.

This got me to thinking about creating one of these that would replicate my dogs which are of the Shih Tzu variety and have mask faces (as do other breeds).  It took me a while to figure out how to do the ears but eventually I prevailed and voila, another dog.  

The Owl & The Pussycat

Recently I was hunting online for fabric and wool felt.  As always happens, one link leads to another and voila! I found some kindred spirits at weefolkart.com  These talented ladies make all kinds of cool crafts besides felt items and best (kindest) of all: they share their patterns and how-to's.  

I immediately had to make the Kitty Doorstop.  Now, I'm no master stitching person.  I sort of do my own thing when it comes to that.  I know how to do some stitches, such as a chain stitch, I just don't wanna sometimes.  And because this was my first attempt at such a project, I'm a little wary of showing you the end result.  But here he is:

After tackling this project I of course was ready to take on the Owl doorstop.  I had to do my own thing with regards to his face, though theirs was cute too.

Back and side views:

More Owls.....

My owls have sold quite nicely at my booth over in Jenks- who knew?  All I know is that I really enjoy creating new designs and sewing them at night while watching tv.  Here are some that I just finished.  I'm loving the wool felt I got from Tadaa Studio's Etsy store.  Huge variety of colors and  ways to purchase.

I decided to jazz these owls up with sequins (even though you can't see them very well here):

I have recently created some new, different owl patterns and cannot wait to begin putting new ones together.  

On a quilting note, I just got the fabric I ordered to make a new baby quilt for someone special ;o)  As you can guess, it has OWLS in it too.  Here are some of the main fabrics that will be used in it:

This fabric is called Hoo's In The Forest.  I think it's so cute.  Will post pictures of the finished quilt, but that probably won't be until later this spring.

Owls

I'm not sure what's gotten into me lately, but after making a Christmas stocking for my g-niece, I got interested in making owls, of all things.  I found quite a few patterns online that I downloaded, then enlarged.  I had lots and lots of wool felt quarter-pieces stashed away that I bought probably 7+ years ago when a local Wal Mart store closed/moved.  And so I began experimenting with different pieces to see what I could come up with.  

I was so silly and thought I would have time to work on these when I went to visit my (18 mo old) grandson last month- ha!  I never even got them out of my suitcase.  But, since my return, I have found myself looking forward to working on these guys after my chores are done and I'm ready to sit down in the evening.  Television gets worse and worse as the holidays approach- series end or go on hiatus.  There's almost nothing really good on until January.  These give me something to work on while I half-listen/watch what is on.  

The only thing I went out and purchased was some more floss.  I found a variety pack at JoAnn's that was less than $5.00 and had a lot of colors to work with.

My husband asked me last night what I was going to do with these and I told him I'm not sure, yet.  I may sell them in my booth or give them away as gifts.  I then promptly began cutting out what I refer to as Version II of these owls.  They are "waiting in the wings" to be assembled.

Shortbread Cookie Pans

Shortbread Cookies- yum.  Delicate, delicious and divine.  What an easy recipe, too.  Butter, sugar, flour and vanilla.  I used the Pioneer Woman's recipe for a batch as well as one from King Arthur's website.  Both were very tasty.  There are several ways to bake these, one of them being in a Shortbread Pan.  I was so intrigued by these that I had to have one.  

Or two.  That's what happens when you shop online at Amazon: choices.  These are both Cast Iron Aluminum pans made by Nordic Ware.  I have no idea why one is silver/gray and the other is dark.

The batch from KAF were what I used in the Snowflake Pan, but it took some searching long and hard to find just the right apparatus for pushing this dough into the pan.  Pastry rollers seem to be a thing of the past but not fondant rollers!  I found mine in the Wilton Cake section.  When you place the plastic wrap on top, this thing works like a charm.  

Voila!

These pans are so pretty and the packaging on them suggest using them for other things, such as cakes, cookies and biscuits- I thought: why not?  And so I tried an experiment and bought these "snack size" mixes:

The cookie mix worked just fine, using the plastic wrap and roller.  They tasted OK- well, like cookie mix cookies.  I suppose if you iced these, you could see the designs on them better.

And the brownies-

...came out pretty.

I think I will try making cornbread in one of these as well as biscuits.  Should be fun!  

"Breasert"

I want to share a sinfully delicious breakfast casserole that I made during the Thanksgiving weekend.  It could also be served as desert, so some refer to this as a "breasert".  Whatever you want to call it, it's fantastic and even better if you use homemade bread!  

My sourdough bread recipe makes two loaves so I usually have one or two loaves in the freezer.  This recipe is perfect for that use. It was featured over on Tasty Kitchen and comes via the blog Bake Eat Repeat.  I am all over breakfast dishes that can be made the day before and popped in the oven first thing, without preheating.  That's because I need at least one if not two cups of java before I can think straight.  So, by the time I have had said coffee, the smell of apples swimming in gooey caramel delight and the french toast toasting is heavenly.  I give it 5 stars.  And I will be making this again, very soon.

Apple Bourbon French Toast Casserole

Yield: Serves 5-6

Recipe by bakeeatrepeat.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 Tablespoons bourbon

3 large apples (I used Honeycrisp), cored, peeled, and sliced

6-8 thick slices day old bread

4 eggs

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a small pan melt butter and sugar together. Whisk to combine. Cook until slightly thickened. Add bourbon and whisk again. Continue to cook for about 1 minute.

2. Pour butter mixture into a 9" x13" pan. Arrange sliced apples on top.

3. Arrange slices of bread on top of apples.

4. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour mixture over bread.

5. Cover dish and refrigerate over night.** In the morning, place casserole dish in oven. Heat to 350 degrees. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until apple slices have softened and bread is golden brown.

**Note: If you are preparing the casserole the morning you are serving it, dip bread slices in egg mixture before putting them in the pan. Pour remaining egg mixture over top of bread slices. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Gourds

While choosing the seeds that I wanted to start last winter, I threw in a packet of "decorative gourd mix" because I have always wanted to grow gourds.  And then make things out of them.  Like birdhouses and bird feeders.  Who knows?  Maybe even get an artistic streak and do something crafty with them...

Last February my seeds all started well in their little makeshift green houses.  In fact, I had lots and LOTS of little starter plants- so many that I gave quite a few away.  Tomatoes, yellow squash, cucumber and herbs.  Gourds, lettuce and even broccoli.

Yeah, well....what nobody expected was the unbelievable heat we had starting in June.  I can't even remember all of the records broken, but when it's too hot for too long and tomatoes can't handle it, then not much else will, either. I remember we hit 114 and I remember we were above 100 for weeks.  

Once the heat finally left, in early September, those plants that had survived began trying to make a comeback.  My gourds and morning glories had barely- BARELY- clung to life during the heatwave, looking wilted and close to death most days.  But that all changed quickly.  As the temperatures cooled  the gourd plants soon were climbing the fence wildly. One day I looked out my back door and thought I saw something weird out near the plants.  After the brutal summer, I had long ago stopped looking for fruit of any kind to appear anywhere out there.  But, what was this?

Oh my goodness, it was GOURDS.  I ran out and began searching like it was Easter for eggs.  I discovered quite a few of them, in different shapes and sizes.  There aren't very many of these little white ones:

There are 5 or 6 of the one's used for bird houses and feeders (more are hidden in back, near the fence)

And then I discovered the strangest of all, to me: the long-handled dipper gourd:

This sucker is 3 feet long and still growing!  I have read that if these are grown hanging down (as this one is) they can grow to almost 6 feet tall!  Every time I go out to look at these (there is at least one more) they have grown several inches bigger and longer.  

In my research online, I found this gentleman in Hartselle, Alabama.  His name is Johnny Self and he grows gourds for fun.  His record longest dipper gourd is 59 inches!  

I have also learned that you don't cut these off the vines until the vine is brown and dead.  That should occur sometime soon as we are having cold, near freezing nights these days.  You then cut them off, leaving 2-3 inches of the vine on it and preferably hang the gourds somewhere for 5 months until they dry out completely and harden.  Then you may do with them what you like.  

I will post pictures of anything interesting that I make or do with mine, but I am cautiously optimistic here.  My neighbor grew gourds 2 summers ago, dried them and made bird feeders and houses out of them.  He said squirrels destroyed them in a matter of days :o(