Pantry hummus

For a recent dinner, we had what K refers to as a "clean the pantry" meal. These meals are quite easy and require just a few simple steps; 1) find and chop every fresh veggie in your house, 2) pick a meat from the freezer 3) put everything in a dutch oven with some broth/wine 4) put it all in the oven for 2 hours 5) eat. As usual, it turned out delicious, but there was one problem....

...leftovers. The whole idea behind "clean the panty" meals is to avoid waste. So, time for another idea.

Put the leftover veggies in a blender. Ours included asparagus, potatoes, peppers, corn, mushrooms, beets, sweet onions, scallions, carrots and celery. Add some fresh garlic, olive oil, 2 cans of drained chick peas, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Dip your favorite veggie, cracker, chip or bread into your leftover veggie hummus!

Genius? Not really, but it sure does make the perfect snack and beats wasting food!

Red, white, and blueberries

Oh, how I love the time of year when my counter is filled with these jars. The sound of popping lids is music to my ears.

All made from boxes full of these delightful beauties. My favorite. Fresh picked in town, delivered to my door and OH...SO...DELICIOUS. What's next on my blueberry season agenda? Blueberries and cream ice cream, blueberry pie, blueberry iced tea and the hunt for the perfect chocolate blueberry cake. Yum!

L4

These little guys waited a long time to come out and play. Yesterday was Lily's 4th birthday! What better gift for a pup than a snuggly new toy?

And, snuggle she did.

Since dogs don't understand "special days," Bee got a new toy, too!

At the end of the day no birthday, human or feline, is complete without cake and ice cream.

That's one satisfied birthday pup! HBTY Lily!

America, the beautiful!

Am I the only one who sits around and daydreams about quintessential small town America? Probably, but I don't care. A small town with the perfect elements in perfect proportions can practically make me weep. There is something so humbling about a quiet stroll through a town full of tried and true American people. A town that, amongst the hustle and bustle of todays moden society, has managed to keep alive the simple way of life of their ancestors. I had the pleasure of spending this past Saturday in the sweet little town of Greenwich, NY. What made this town a vision of my daydreams?

A welcome sign on every light post.

A bank that looks like this.

An old fashioned barber shop.

A statue of a war hero smack in the middle of town.

Local goodies for sale.



The most magnificant flower shop.




A main street filled with cafes, restaurants with intriguing menus, boutiques and county stores.



Side streets littered with houses that look like this.

American flags flying at practically every building.

A park to enjoy some down time with a cup of coffee, a salted peanut vanilla cookie and the girls.

I really enjoyed my day in Greenwich. There were so many more photo opportunites; big beautiful churches, plenty of blooming trees and flowers and even a 4 mile race happening through town. However, I quickly found out that juggling 2 dogs, a weekender bag filled with day trip essentials, a coffee and my camera proved to be quite challenging! Where was K through all of this?

In the next town over learning from master craftsman, Paul Sellers!! Until the next trip to a small town where the days of yesteryear have not been forgotten, God Bless America!

HBTY

Yippe! Horray! Bee turns 4 today! 

Happy birthday to you, Bumblebee! 

Procrastination=stuffie

Most Mom's announce their pregnancy to the world somewhere around 3 months along. Which gives their crafty friends and family an incredible 6 months to make something magnificent. I have never gotten a newborn baby gift to a newborn baby on time ever. I repeat..never. My hairdresser is no different. Six months ago, I knew she was having a baby. A few month after that, I knew it was a girl. She is giving birth soon and my last hair appointment with her is tomorrow. And, again, I have nothing. Gulp.

High five to me for destroying my 0 for (many) record with this sweet little owl stuffie. Isn't she just the sweetest?! I made her in an afternoon and didn't have to buy a single thing. It was a great way to use up some scraps and a perfect little something to display in a nursery or let a newborn snuggle up with. Or perched in a pine tree, where I hear owls like it best. Go ahead, click on the link, and get going on the many baby gifts you have been wanting to stitch up!

Blind hem stitch. Yes you can!



Want to give your drapes a more professional look? Want that bottom hem to virtually disappear? You're in luck! You can have both of those things with the help of your sewing machine and the easy peasy blind hem stitch. See the photo above? I dare you to find the bottom hem. Yep. It's there! Follow these very easy steps and before you know it you'll be playing "find the hem" with your family and friends, too.



First, mark your hem. I'm not keen on raw edges and this is an easy way to solve that. I put the right side of the fabric UP. For this example, I made a 1" mark across the entire bottom hem with my dressmakers pencil. See the blue marks there?



Head over to your ironing board and put the fabric right side DOWN. Make sure the marks you just made are closest to you. Get your iron nice and steamy, fold up to the marks you just made, and iron a nice crisp edge.



Now, fold over again and iron. Raw edge? Where?!



Now, stay at the ironing board and pin the hem you just made. Make sure the pins are facing toward the bottom hem. I'll show you why this is so important next.



Flip your hem under. See how the pins flipped, too? Now they are free to pull when you are sewing.



When you flip, make sure you leave a tiny edge of the print showing. This is the part the stitches will grab onto. To make sure I don't lose that edge, I like to iron it in place. You can just eyeball it, but if you are really hardcore go ahead and measure.  1/4" will do the trick.



So far so good. Time to enlist the help of your sewing machine. Locate and set your machine to the blind hem stitch. It looks like a fancy sideways "W" and is underneath the red light in the picture above.



And, grab the blind hem stitch foot. The white plastic piece and the little silver knob attached to it are important, necessary and will take some getting used to.



Normally, you would chose the thread that matches the front of your fabric, but I used blue so you can see the stitches when I finish. So, remember that little edge you left? That is what the white plastic guide will rest on. Place the edge of the fabric (the WRONG side up piece) right along the guide. The silver knob adjusts the guide and helps control where your stitches will land. You want just the very tip of the "V" stitch to catch the WRONG side of the fabric. This takes a little practice and I suggest trying the whole process, a few times, with a piece of scrap fabric. Now stitch the length of your hem pulling the pins out as you go. I know there are some that sew right over the pins, but the sound of the needle hitting them makes me want to run and hide!



 Now that you have finished sewing you can see how the tips of the "V" barely catch the fabric. That is what the guide is for and why it is adjustable.





If the "V" catches too much of the fabric, this is what you end up with. Instead of a smooth and undetectable finish you have a lump. No amount of steam will take it out. Get the seam ripper and try again!



Once you think you've got it just right, unfold the hem, iron flat and...



VOILA! Now, if those tiny blue stitches matched the fabric, they would completely vanish! Go back and check the first picture in the post to see for yourself! Please feel free to ask questions if there is something completely mind boggling about these instructions. I have never been good at explaining "how to." Happy blind hemming!