All Good Things...

...came to a crashing halt! Literally. Let me explain. Remember how I was on a roll?  Catching up on on UFOs and working both forward and backwards on those blocks-of-the month? I even promised to spend National Quilting Day piecing those blocks that I was behind on and showing you the leader-ender blocks that are taking shape at the same time. Well, truth be told, that didn't happen. Last Thursday evening, as I was wrapping up another whole-house cleaning day and rushing to get everything put away, I caught my foot on the vacuum cleaner hose, tripped and fell flat onto the floor; landing squarely on my left shoulder. Even though the pain was immediate and intense, I hoped it would improve and delayed a trip to the ER for eight hours until I couldn't stand it anymore. X-rays there revealed a three part fracture of the proximal humerus (there's nothing humorous about it!). The best laid plans... interrupted... just like that! I was going to report about quilting this Potato Chip scrappy quilt with the new (to me) Knit 1 Purl 2 pantograph shown here, which I just love. That will have to wait, for now.

I was planning to show you progress on Agnes Platt's Strawberry Sampler by Blackbird Designs, none has been made in the last seven days.

I wanted to share this easy-peasy egg salad tip; I tried this before the fall and was delighted with the results. Crack a few eggs into a greased baking dish. 325 degree oven for 12 minutes. Turn out the baked eggs directly onto a cutting board and chop. No fuss, no peeling hard-boiled eggs individually. Add whatever ingredients you use for delicious egg salad!

Also, while I was in the kitchen last week, I baked up a batch of whole grain pumpkin apple dog biscuits.  Augie wouldn't eat them! Seriously. He's sharing them with friends. 😉🦴

So, here we are; almost a week later. I've seen an Orthopedist and have been moved from an immobilizing splint to a sling. I've learned that there's no rotator cuff involvement and that surgery isn't necessary. Two big cheers! I'll return for a visit with him in two weeks and then begin PT. In the meantime it's rest and heal. The only food coming onto our plates is from the gracious kindness of friends and family who've rallied to fill our fridge and freezer not to mention our hearts! I have SO MUCH to be thankful for! I've been reading and watching a lot of TV; but I've also spent much time in thought and prayer. I know that I need to allow this time of  rest and recovery to occur without complaint so that God can work through me.  I admit though that my plans, and His, often seem misaligned! The words of that sampler above are in my mind today: "The bee~ his labor is a chant, his idleness a tune". I pray for God to let me learn that lesson and to allow this downtime idleness to be tuned... to Him. 

I shall return... it's all good.

Life is Good!

Upstairs, Downstairs

With apologies to the British drama series of the same name, Mr. G and I have  been living a very "Upstairs, Downstairs" existence over the past three + months. For the most part I am in the sewing room during the day, or in the kitchen; while he's been sequestered in his basement-level woodworking shop. Unlike the series, he's not down there because he's servant or staff but rather because he's consumed with  cabinet making for our soon-to-be kitchen re-do! It's exciting! The upstairs activities of sewing and cooking have taken an interesting turn as of late. While in the sewing room, and stitching away, I have been watching cooking shows on several streaming networks. Most recently it's been The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. Every once in a while I have to stop and jot down a recipe to make later. As a result, we've been eating well lately! These Wafflemaker Hash Browns proved to be intriguing; I had to give them a try. You might want to download this recipe, we loved it; it's a winner! I'll be posting a few more of the latest tried-and-true recipes in the days to come. 

Current scenes from downstairs, the basement workshop. The cabinetry is all made from solid Hard Maple. He's running out of space down there for all the face frames, drawers, raised panels and piles of materials. This is a big job; it's been much more time consuming than he ever imagined! He has created every panel, every dovetail joint, every drawer and every frame one at a time. Any space that's not populated with lumber is piled high with boxes of drawer slides, hinges, hardware and other supplies. The best representation of the accurate color of these cabinets is in the picture below. Even though the color is off in this collage you can see the enormous amount of work that he's put in downstairs since the first of this year. All of these will receive a clear finish coat before moving upstairs in the next few months for the big reveal!

This photo of our laundry room reveals the true, over-all color and look, it served as the audition space for what we thought we'd like in the kitchen. It's so much lighter and brighter than what we had; we loved the change and voted to move on with it! We are updating our countertops (as shown above), light fixtures and all of the appliances as well, it's time for a whole new look! But, since it's going to be the same old people living here, I'm trying to 'up' my game with what's set on the table come mealtime, it's the least I can contribute. 😉

Wish me luck!

Life is Good!

For the Love of Honey

I have become spoiled by honey; good honey, really good honey. Over the years I have stepped away from grocery store honey and learned what a special treat raw and unfiltered honey can be, I can't ever go back. Depending on where honey is purchased, and from whom, sometimes the beekeepers will allow tastings and suggest certain honey varieties for certain purposes. I am enamored by the rich and unique flavors produced by the different plant pollinators and time of year that the honeys are harvested at the small, local apiaries. I use honey in cooking, for sweetening and often in my tea. I discovered a honey brand that I just love, and I try to buy my honey varieties exclusively from him if I happen to be in the vicinity. I was talking to our daughter on the phone the other day and she suggested a honey specialty store about an hour and a half from our home; it's a pretty day-trip there, in the North Carolina mountains. She is as picky about her honey as I am, so I wasn't worried. I double-checked the website to make sure that they were open. Mr. Goodneedle and I took a drive up there on Thursday. You probably already guessed where this story's going. Yep-- they were closed (the website failed to list that fact that they're closed during the week in the winter months!)!🙁 We bought some generic honey at the cheese store across the street and had an awesome barbecue lunch; the weather and the scenery were spectacular that day. I'll use that less-than-special honey in my cooking.

One thing that I use honey for is Granola. I make a big batch every other month or so and eat it every morning with a dollop of plain yogurt and a drizzle of honey over the top. Here's the recipe,  in case you'd like to make some for yourself. I've been making this for the last fifteen years or so, ever since we stayed at this Inn, I substitute dried cherries for the currants. 

My latest homemade obsession (and honey requirement) is Elderberry syrup. We take a TBSP every morning to boost our immune systems. I order the dried Elderberries from Amazon. Here's the recipe- cheers!

In the meantime I am planning another day trip-- 

one to the location of my favorite honey, the really, really good one. 😉

How far will you go out of your way for something that you really love?

Life is Good!

Up next: Alliteration

Which Came First?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? As you well know we can go around and around on this one and not come up with an answer that everyone can agree on. One thing that we can agree on, though, is that my life has become a lot easier since the arrival of the Instant Pot at Chez Goodneedle. Our son and daughter-in-law have had one for quite some time. I heard all the great success stories of their wonderful, healthy meals prepared in a fraction of the time. Who couldn't use more time? I was intrigued but not convinced that I needed one. After all, it was an electric pressure cooker! I had never used a pressure cooker. My childhood memories of a pressure cooker were of a mysterious cast-metal locked bomb pot with a bobbing, sputtering valve on the top, sitting on the stove's front burner on Sundays; ours always contained a pot roast. I recall my mother warning us to "stay back" when the pressure was released as if this whole procedure was dangerous to the point of being life-threatening. Because of that healthy fear, I was never interested in pursuing the art of pressure cooking as an adult. I felt lucky to have survived those weekly threats. Then our daughter requested one for Christmas. Soon after she began extolling the virtues of Instant Pot cooking and I saw her dedicated Pinterest board grow with pinned recipes. She would happily report about her yogurt making and the delicious soups and meals she was turning out in the limited amount of time she has after work, to the raves of her family. Okay, I did some research. Maybe this would be something that could earn its space in our kitchen. I remember that same back-and-forth in my mind that I went through before we ever got our first microwave. Did we need this? Could we get along without one? Hadn't life been okay in our Instant Pot-free home up until now? I also remember that a week after getting that first microwave I couldn't imagine life without one! Our Instant Pot arrived last week. So, which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken. I cooked a whole one for dinner, start to finish, in 45 minutes; it was moist, flavorful and delicious! Next came hard boiled eggs. In the pressure cooker they were done in the same amount of time as if I had done them on the stove top-- but, the difference is, these peeled perfectly! Never again will I have a mutilated egg. And then, on Saturday afternoon, I whipped up a positively wonderful homemade Tomato Basil Parmesan soup to enjoy on a rainy, cold evening; employing both the pot's saute and pressure cooking functions, leaving only one pot to clean up afterward. Score! Stay tuned, the Instant Pot adventure continues, my own Pinterest recipe board is growing every day.

Life is Good!

 

Cookin' Don't Last...

Chicken Soup #1, 60" X 80"

...but quilts do! I've been talking about the "Chicken Soup" quilts for a while now; I'm making two. The first one, unimaginatively nicknamed Chicken Soup #1, is now a full-fledged flimsy. I plan to load it onto Sundance this evening. The idea behind these quilts is that they're to be gifts for my daughter's family as well as my son's, one per family, for those inevitable "sick days" that just happen. They are to be quilts that stay shelved until one of the grandchildren (or children, for that matter) need an extra get-well hug from something that promises to be a cure-all for whatever ails them... Chicken Soup in the form of a quilt! It took a while to collect all the low volume fabrics, it took no time to piece this first one.  All the ingredients have been chopped for the second batch of Chicken Soup too... it's been thrown into the pot and is being stirred and is simmering as we speak! Chicken Soup #2 will measure the same as it's predecessor, a generous 60" X 80". A quilt engages the senses just as much as a pot of soup does... and it lasts a lot longer too! The "recipe" for Chicken Soup #1 is from Sunday Morning Quilts; #2 is a one-patch Tumbler.

Life is Good!

A Day In The Kitchen

A day spent in the kitchen yielded a LOT of food, a load of laundry and some very dry, dish-pan hands! In preparation for the Quilt Ministry luncheon today: casseroles, salads and a buttermilk chocolate cake with fudge frosting was prepared. Along with a whole buncha COOKIES! The oven was already hot so I decided to finish up my once-a-year Almond Cookie batches along with some Snappy Turtles (recipe below) after the lunch prepping was done. I don't know about you but when I cook I use many, many towels. This year I decided to wash up and use the lovely Christmas towels I have received as gifts over the last ten years. It makes me happy to open the towel drawer and find these festive additions to the kitchen, all fresh and new for the holidays!

 Here's a quick recipe for a fast treat. Place pretzel snaps on a cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment.

Top each snap with one half of a Rolo candy. 

(The most time consuming part of this recipe is unwrapping the Rolo candies!)

Place these in a warm oven for five minutes, just until the candy gets soft.

Remove from oven and top each snap with a pecan half, press into softened candy and let them cool to set up. YUM! I love the new pan lining paper by Reynolds, it worked perfectly for this.

Snappy Turtles!

A few applications of some moisturizing hand cream and I'm ready for the day!
Life is Good!

Pan-tastic!

My dear MIL gave me this terrific pan for making Danish Ebelskiver, little filled pancakes. Have you ever tried them? They are simply wonderful, crispy on the outside and light, sweet and delicious on the inside. They cook up quickly, only a few minutes on each side and they're done. I made my first batch last night. I used strawberry preserves for the filling, they were good, but I'm going to do some experimenting and try putting in a sweetened cream cheese next. One of the suggested fillings is chocolate hazelnut spread, but I'm not a big fan of the noisette; I think that plain chocolate would be great, however. What about cinnamon spiced apples; or how about cooked cherries or blueberries? The possibilities keeping pop-pop-popping like popcorn kernels in my head.

Life is Good!