Countdown to Houston!

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. i was late getting my paperwork in but at least I got it!! Will be in booth 564 for both Market and Festival. My tester Mary sent me some great display items. I can't wait to get my booth up and display it all. =) I'm just a little fish in a big sea so.....wish me luck!!

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish each and every one of you Happy Mother's Day. Whether you are a mother, a grandmother, or just a significant person in someone's life, you have played the role of a mother...so this wish is for all of you.

I have spent the morning baking a cake for our family gathering in an hour. The family is gathering to honor my grandmother. She is an amazingly strong woman and has outlived both of her sons and then her husband. She will be 90 on her next birthday. When I lived in Hawaii (1995-97) she came to visit us.....so she was 76 at that time. We hiked a mile up a mountain to go see a waterfall. We couldn't keep up with her! Kept having to ask her to slow down for us. LOL She always has food frozen so that if she has unexpected guests or isn't in the mood for cooking she can pull somethings out and heat it up. She always has at least one buttermilk pie in her freezer. YUM! So today I made something that reminds me of when I was a little girl. She used to make chocolate mayonnaise cake. I made one for her today. I'm making a fluffy white icing with it too, just a little twist on the way she made it. I'm sharing my recipe with you all.

CHOCOLATE MAYONNAISE CAKE

3 c. unsifted flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cocoa
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. real mayonnaise
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Grease 2 (9" x 1 1/2") layer pans; line bottoms with waxed paper. Sift together dry ingredients into a large bowl. Stir in real mayonnaise. Gradually stir in water and vanilla until smooth and blended. Pour into prepared pans. Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool. Remove from pans. Frost with chocolate frosting.

Here is the icing that I used:

WHITE FLUFFY CAKE ICING

1 c. milk
5 tbsp. flour
1 stick butter
1/2 c. Crisco
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla

Beat together milk and flour. Stir on low flame until thick. Then place aside to cool. Put butter, Crisco, powdered sugar, and vanilla in bowl and beat together until creamy. Then add top ingredients and beat together until stiff.

I'll post an image. I'm having to put it in a carrier so it won't be a beautiful cake pedestal.

4 Laws in digitizing

http://www.impressionsmag.com/impressions/content_display/embroidery/e3i98782c058bdfe7fd1d694658b88d80c4

Behind the scenes at Moda

Recipes to die for!

• rachel's peanut butter delight

• Healthy Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies
  

Plethora!

Yep, that's right....plethora. There are a plethora of blogs that have free tutorials and patterns. Be sure and check all my links on the right.

Speaking of, check out this site as they have some great videos.
http://www.quiltstar.com/quiltingvideos.html

If you want to do a specific search for quilter's blogs, check out this site: http://quilterblogs.com/


Looking for quilting quotes? How about these: http://www.aprairiehomequilts.com/quilting-resources/quilting-quotes.html

Scrapbooking

Cuttlebug Links:

• Altered Tin
  

BossKut Gazelle Links:

• BossKut Gazelle: Terri Mouw
• BossKut Forum
  

Other Links of Interest:

• Tim Holtz tutorials
• tons of cutting files
  

Scrapbookers Blogs:

• Mel Stampz