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Sunday, November 21, 2010

Pumpkin Bars

Daughter M asked for the recipe for my Pumpkin Bars on Face book and several people wanted the recipe, so I'm posting it here for you all to enjoy.  The recipe if simple and fast to make.  The ingredients are probably already on your pantry shelf especially this time of year.


Being a traditionalist, I mix the sugar, oil and eggs together, then add the dry ingredients.  Last, I mix in the pumpkin well.  At this point it looks like this.



You will put the batter in two 13 x 9 cake pans that have either been greased and floured or sprayed with baking spray -- the kind with the flour in it.  That's what I do, it so much faster and easier!  After 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven, they look like this.



Next comes the good stuff -- the cream cheese/butter frosting.  I sift the powdered sugar, but you don't have to.  It just makes it creamier to me, so I take the time to do this.  It's up to you, but it is SO creamy when you do this.



Since there are TWO, you can keep one at home and take one to share with friends or co-workers.  That's the best part!



That is Starbucks coffee made with freshly ground beans, but these are equally good with Earl Grey tea.
YUM!  and your house will smell terrific as well.  Enjoy.  Here is the recipe. I know you are saying "Finally!"

Recipe:

PUMPKIN BARS

2 C. sugar                                                                                       1 tsp. cloves
1 C oil                                                                                            2 tsp. cinnamon
4 eggs                                                                                             2 tsp. baking powder
dash salt                                                                                          1 tsp soda
2 C flour                                                                                          1 C pumpkin

Put in a large bowl and beat well.  Bake in two 9 x 13 cake pans 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting:

2 tsp milk
3 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter (yes, the REAL thing)
1 8oz package cream cheese (can use the 1/3 less fat version to counteract the butter)

Beat cheese and butter smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients and continue beating until well blended and smooth.  Spread on the cooled bars.

Hope you enjoy this as much as our family does.

Lois

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Flagstones

When we lived in Alabama, we built a flagstone patio.  I absolutely loved it!  I loved it enough to move literally a ton of stone and placed most of the stones myself.  The colors were wonderful and Fall-like to me.  I took a picture of some of the stones and played with it in Photo Shop.  The result I liked best was watercolor, so I printed it out on watercolor paper.  I also printed it out even larger on fabric, quilted and embellished the mini quilt with beads and a leaf skeleton after attaching the photo to the quilt top.  Here is the result.  I hope you like it as much as I do.





 The lighter rectangle in the center is the photo printed on watercolor paper.  The leaf skeleton is to the left of that.  Unfortunately, the beads do not really show up , but they make the sandy area between the flagstones sparkle a bit.

This is the original picture with no enhancement or help from Photo Shop.  I think I LOVE Photo Shop!  Yesterday my new camera came and I can hardly wait to play with it.  It has 12mp as opposed to the 3.1mp on my old one.  This should be a lot of fun.

Enjoy the photos and let me know if you like them.

Till next time,
Lois

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Missing Quilt Photos

My plan today was to post photos of all the Autumn colored quilts I have made, but I've discovered that a couple of years worth of photos did not get transferred from the last computer to this one.  Those photos will have to be retaken.  Of course, some of the older quilts were not in digital format so they will need to be retaken as well.  Guess it's time to schedule a photo session.

I hope you enjoy the one I am able to post today, though.  This one is called "Fire on the Mountain" and was made in response to the fires that plague the Southwest.  When I showed this one for the first time to a guild in Florida, I did not tell the name of the quilt.  After the lecture, a woman came up and said she was very touched by the quilt as it reminded her of the forest fires in California where she had lived most of her life.  When I had flown out from Phoenix we passed over a fire that had burned thousands of acres and was still burning.  This quilt hangs behind my desk in my office at work.  On the file cabinets nearby are two books the company worked on that are in the exact same colors.  I love the colors and I love the quilt.  It is also the quilt I was privileged to demonstrate on "Simply Quilts" when that show was on HGTV.

Now I need to get busy quilting and figuring out when I can retake the photos of the quilts that are missing.  I may even take a photo of the first Autumn colored quilt that I did.  It's not lovely, it is obviously a beginner quilt and it is readily apparent that it was made in the 1970's.  It is humbling!

Until next time,
Lois

Friday, November 5, 2010

True quilt Story

Our granddaughter who is 5 and in Kindergarten asked her mother (our daughter) for permission to take her baby quilt to school for rest time.  Her mother told her no as she didn't want to have the quilt be on the floor of the classroom.  Later that day when our daughter  picked the kids up from school she noticed our granddaughter's backpack was bulging.  Upon opening it, she found the quilt.  Our daughter asked why H had taken the quilt to school when she'd been told not to.  H's answer, "But it's my special Grandma Lo quilt and I love it!  I had to take it."  That's when you want to hug em, right?

I've been thinking about teachers and how grateful I am that many have been in my  life -- good teachers!  Teachers who have inspired me to want to learn not just repeat back facts on tests to get a good grade.  First was my mom who often sent us to the dictionary to look up a word rather than tell us how to spell the word.  We learned a lot more from that than the spelling, of course.  She also taught us good values and to appreciate people, places and things.

I'm grateful to my first quilt teacher and the many who followed her.  I'm grateful for the students I've been privileged to teach since I learned as much from them as they learned from me, I'm sure.

Who are you grateful for?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Introduction

Maybe we've already met, but if not, let me intruduce myself.

I'm a wife and mother of 3 grown children.  I am also the auathor of Pine Tree Quilts. We have been blessed with 11 grandchildren and this year 1 very sweet great grandchild.  I'm not sure how all that happened since I certainly don't feel old enough to be a grandmother let alone a great grandmother or as my friend, Diane, says, a gigi.  That I think I can handle.

We've lived in a lot of different states, but have been in Arizona the longest of any.  I like it here even with the extremely hot summers.  We've lived here twice so we must like it here! I miss the change of seasons in the other states, but the mountain views and the wonderful winters make up for it a bit. Cotton grows here -- I like that a lot!  Cotton = quilt fabric and quilt batts! We drive by cotton fields every day. The sheep have just come down from the upper pastures.  There aren't as many this year which makes me sad. Apparently it is harder than it used to be to get the right-of-way to bring them down.

Quilts are among my favorite things.  My mother was a quilter and my grandmother at least pieced quilts since I am fortunate enough to have a quilt pieced by her and quilted by my mother.  Quilts are cozy.  Quilts are fun to look at.  Quilts even record American history. As long as I can remember quilts have been on our beds.  We used and probably abused them using them for everthing from picnic table cloths to tents.  In some ways I wish we hadn't done that, but, ah, the memories!

My favorite quilt is always the one I'm working on now.  Of course, I'm usually working on more than one at a time.

Cooking is a favorite, as well.  There is an armoire in the family room full of cookbooks.  I love to look at them and decide what would be good for the Holiday meals.  The cooking channel is a favorite as well.  One of the grands has already put in her "order" for what we should have for Christmas this year. She'll get it, too.

I have other favorites which I'll introduce you to in later posts.

Till next time,
Lois