Flea Market Finds & Tropical Gingerbread Cake

It was a lovely day here in Northern Illinois. Sunny and temps around 60 degrees. We went to a flea market this morning and I found some more treasures to add to my collections. First, some vintage pins and old lace:



I saw the feather pin and immediately thought it was time to do another peacock project!

Next are some vintage handkerchiefs:



I love the ones with the machine embroidered flowers on them. In fact, I'm planning a new CQ quilt project using some of my vintage hankie collection. I think it'll be a nice project to help me get through the Winter months.

Last but not least, are 2 vintage baking booklets. One is from Bakers Coconut and the other is from a chocolate company. Both are from 1925:



Of course, the minute I got home, I had to try one of the recipes using my new Kitchenaid:



Here's the recipe for TROPICAL GINGERBREAD CAKE:

2 cups Cake Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Butter or Shortening
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg, well beaten
2/3 cup Molasses
1 cup Baker's Coconut (shredded coconut)
3/4 cup sour milk or Buttermilk

Sift flour once,measure, and add baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt
and sift together 3 times. Cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg, molasses, and coconut. Add flour alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Bake in greased pan, 8 X 8 X 2 inches, in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 30 minutes.

I frosted it with cream cheese frosting and of course added sprinkles.

Please keep in mind that I typed up the recipe exactly as written in my book. We don't have to do all that sifting anymore. Once is enough.

You know, I used to totally stress about staying on topic as much as possible. I didn't want to stray too far from my needlework theme. Under the circumstances, I'm simply blogging about what I'm doing. I am stitching and will have a photo of my vintage Vogart dresser scarf as soon as it's done but I do think that daily progress photos on that is a bit boring.

Thinking about things now, I'm not sure why I always felt that I had to stay on topic. I mean, there's more to me than just stitching and designing. I've always love baking and I collect all sorts of little vintage things that are pretty and fun to look at. I'm a very domestic person and I guess I'm starting to think that since this is my blog, it can be whatever I want it to be.

I confess, I've lost about 1/2 of my daily readers due to my lack of posting during my illness. I imagine in time, my readers will come back and maybe with a few new topics like baking and other things that I do, maybe I'll attract some new readers.

In the meantime, I hope my readers who have stayed with me through this trying year, are enjoying whatever I write about!

I'm trying to figure out how to have my comments sent to my email address. I would love to reply to everyone's comments but it would be so much easier if could just reply to an email. If anyone knows how I can set that up, please let me know.

Ok, I'm off to wash up a few dishes and then I need to take a bath and call it a day.

Labels: flea market finds

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 4:41 PM   1 comments

Chocolate Sugar Cookies & Thanksgiving Greetings!

I got home from mom's yesterday and I just had to play with my Kitchenaid. I whipped up a batch of Chocolate Sugar Cookies:



My dad loves these and although Scott isn't much for sweets, he too is quite fond of these cookies. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 cup Cocoa
2 cups Flour
1 bag Semi-Sweet Mini Chocolate Chips

Cream butter & sugar. Add baking soda & cocoa. Mix well. Add egg & vanilla. Add flour and mix well then finally add the bag of chips.

Drop by teaspoon full on baking sheet. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. I then add seasonal sprinkles! Also, I bake my cookies on Parchment Paper. It helps them to bake more evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes or until cookies are done but not brown.

I'd love to play with my new toy a little more but I'm toast for today now. I'll be taking my bath shortly and laying on my bed with my remote control and the new issue of Artful Blogging. Of course Nightmare, my little guardian, will be hogging the blankets!

I also thought you would enjoy seeing my handmade Thanksgiving cards:



You may want to click on the picture to see them up close. They're very glittery!

I have some new projects rolling around in my mind. I try to keep myself busy in hopes of keeping my mind off of how I feel. I still don't have my head all together yet. I can't do things as quickly as I used to. And I can't seem to organize things well yet. I'm assured that it will all come back in time but for now, it's a little frustrating.

I'm off to fold a load of laundry and put dinner together. We have left-over taco salad for tonight. Scott told me that taco salad was "border-line" cooking. Ha! I said no way! It's browning a package of ground beef and mixing in a jar of mild Pace Picante sauce!

BTW - I'm a little behind on my email. I plan to have that caught up by the end of the weekend. If you're waiting to hear back from me, please hang in there. I'll be replying very soon.

Labels: cookie recipe, handmade cards

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 4:22 PM   4 comments

Floral Pillow

Isn't is amazing what you find when you go through and organize your things? I was looking through my stitched pieces that need framing and I came across this little floral embroidered piece that I stitched years ago. Way back in the mid 1980's! It was a pre-stamped design. I did a lot of those back then.



I don't know why I never sewed it up. I guess I just forgot about it or kept putting it off. Well, it's sewn up now and sits in my wicker rocking chair with my cardinal pillow. I stitched that one a few years ago. The design is from my collection of vintage iron-on transfer patterns. It's crayon tinted.

Well, I've been grocery shopping this morning and I have some ground sirloin cooking up for taco meat. We'll have Taco Salad for dinner tonight. When that's done, I'll head over to mom's for a bit.

Labels: vintage embroidery patterns

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 10:57 AM   2 comments

Elegant Lady Purses & Other Finishes

I spent Monday doing some finishing on my sewing machine. I confess, I've been pushing myself and feel today like I'm paying for it. It does however, feel good to have a few things out of my hair.

You may remember this piece from Sharon's 2008 Take It Further Challenge:



This was the January project. I really love this block and decided it would make a beautiful purse.

As you probably noticed, I backed out of the challenge in June of that year. At the time, I didn't realize it, but the depression was coming on. It's actually been coming on for years. I felt pressured by this project and just reached a point where I couldn't continue on with it.

I can now see that I'm really not a "joiner". I like to do my own thing, my own ideas and I like to leave myself open for creating just for the sake of creating, with no purpose intended whatsoever. Sharon really comes up with some great projects but I've since learned that I can't take on so much. My ADD tends to jump into things without thinking about everything else I do! And I really do like to do too many things!

I stitched the Sewing Machine Lady purse last January while I had lightening bolts and fireworks shooting off in my brain:



What a horrible experience! But it does show me that my creativity was still there. Even I'm amazed at what came from my "short circuiting brain".

I'm particularly fond of the Sewing Machine Lady purse because of my antique sewing machine. When I saw that picture, I had to use it on a bag.

Next, are my recent little doorhangers:





These are Christmas gifts and I'm happy to say that my Christmas gifts are complete now!

Well, it's not a great day today so mom and I are going to go and wander around Hobby Lobby for little while. Sometimes that helps.

Labels: crazy quilting, embellished purses

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 10:20 AM   2 comments

Christmas Cat Pattern

I've just added my Christmas Cat design to my Etsy shop:



Isn't she a beauty? Her name is Lily and she belongs to my blog friend Vicki over at Turkey Feathers. When I saw Lily, I fell in love with those eyes and asked Vicki if I could use her in a design. Thank you Vicki! She is precious!

Labels: counted cross stitch

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 6:31 PM   5 comments

Gingerbread Cupcakes And Other Baking

I've been running my Kitchenaid Mixer since 9 this morning! I started with Blueberry Muffins for Scott. He loves these:



I've never been big on Blueberries so they don't do anything for me but Scott said that this is a really good batch. The recipe is just the one in the Better Homes & Gardens basic cookbook. The only change I made is that I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

CNext, are my Gingerbread Cupcakes:



I only had a small taste of one and they are incredible! I never made them before. They came from my grandmother's 1963 General Mills cookbook. Here is the recipe:

GINGERBREAD CUPCAKES

2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Ground Ginger
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg well-beaten
2/3 cup Molasses
3/4 cup Buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Combine all wet ingredients in another mixing bowl.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well.

Bake in cupcake pan at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 3-ounce package Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 cups Powdered Sugar

Mix frosting ingredients together and frost cupcakes. Add sprinkles.
Makes 12 cupcakes

Next, I made the most incredible Chocolate Loaf Cake:



Again, I just had a tiny bite. I really don't eat too much in the way of sweets but I love making them. I kind of made this one for my dad. He loves chocolate! The recipe came from Food Network. I saw Nigella make it yesterday morning and I knew it was something my dad would like. You can find the recipe here.

When I finished that, I made some applesauce and then some egg salad. I confess, that was probably a bit too much but I can just stitch for the rest of the day now. My laundry is done too and I put my Halloween do-dads away and brought out my Thanksgiving do-dads. I can't stand looking at Halloween stuff the day after Halloween!

Anyway, on to some stitching:



A few weeks back, I started stitching on this vintage Vogart Dresser Scarf that I bought at a Flea Market for $3.00. I have one end of it completed and just started on the other side. I don't plan to start another project until I complete this one. I do hope to have it done by the end of next weekend. We shall see!

Ok, I'm off to stitch.

Labels: baking, embroidery, vogart

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 3:37 PM   6 comments

Happy Halloween!

These sweet little scarecrows are in my Garden Window. I've never really used it for plants. Instead, I like to decorate the top shelf with different do-dads for the holidays and seasons. The bottom shelf is for Lucy. She likes to lay there because of the warm sun. I'll have to get a photo of her laying there sometime. It's just too cute!

Well, I've been enjoying my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer quite a bit. I made about 6 different kinds of cookies so far. My mom and I visit the elderly at our local retirement center every other week. Mom's oldest dog, a gorgeous Black Lab named Chooch, is a therapy dog. So we take Chooch and visit the sweet elderly people at the retirement center. They absolutely adore Chooch! I need to post a photo of her too. Perhaps at Thanksgiving.

Ok, so where am I going with this? Geez, I'm still waiting for my brains to get back in my head!

Mom and I made several different kinds of cookies and fixed up these pretty little treat bags to give to the residents at the center:





Of course, we made the tags as well:



It was amazing to us, how a little bag of homemade cookies could brighten the day for so many people! They were thrilled and went on and on about the cookies and the tags! Some of the residents no longer have family or friends to visit them so they really look forward to seeing mom and Chooch and I. And 2 days later, they're probably still talking about the Halloween treat bags!

I had intended on taking photos of my cookies and sharing a recipe or 2 but again, my brains are still somewhere else at the moment. I will be so glad when this depression subsides and when I can get off of the Zoloft so I can think straight again! My Dr. told me that I have to stay on the medication at least until late Spring. All of the symptoms have to be gone for some time before I can taper off. Well, I can honestly say that the symptoms are still here but at least I can function better.

I stitched up my Holly Doorhanger over the past few days:



I hope to have the energy to run my sewing machine later this week. Once I get these sewn up, my Christmas gifts are done. I still have 2 purses to sew up too. Both from last year.

Well, that's all for now. Hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Labels: crazy quilting

posted by Pam Kellogg @ 5:51 PM   5 comments