Snow ball 2nd in the octagon series

 Green and Yellow hexagon Snow Ball

 close up

This is the second snow ball in the hexagon series, my color choice was green and yellow.I used yellow rick rack, green lace, floss, beads , 3 yellow store bought flowers, lace embroidered flowers ,shell hears,glass flower beads ,satin leafs and a green flower scrap booking brat that I turned into a button .

Backyard make over

 This is the west side of our house,it has been so hot this year that we could not enjoy sitting out here.

 My new Shade cloth.Just a few hooks and a line to keep them up and in place. It should keep 87% of the sun out ,we did not measure it but it was a lot cooler down here yesterday after we closed it.

 From the leftovers I made a little privacy screen for my deck.

 That's where I have my coffee.

 Finally my husband got my chandelier up. It has been in a box for the last 13 years I bought it in Germany.

 Battery operated candle sticks,real ones would melt out here in minutes.

 Just perfect for our next BBQ,no more sunburned guests.

 Got these two lanterns to light the Arbor at night.

 

It is almost done still need to decide on a new patio swing.

Asian Nights DYB Blocks -India

 All six blocks together.

I finished the pink block and the turquoise  block was done by Theresa.

This pink block was done by Sarma and the turquoise one was done by Carol.

 Here are the last two blocks ,the pink one was worked on by Peggy and yes I knew that Meg had done this paisley on the turquoise block when I saw it.It is so much fun to recognize someones work by just looking at the design and workman ship.

 My work.

 close up of SRE upper right corner

 Seam treatment and Shisha mirror lower right corner

 I just used beads on the design of the fabric on the lower left corner

 This is the combined middle and upper left corner, I decided to use my motive in this paisley. I do love all my blocks! When I first got them back I was a  stunned as there was not as much  put on the blocks a little something here or there but then I saw was each member of this group did ,let this wonderful fabric speak for itself. I have always just been piling it on because that's what I like but my likes are now shifting to see more of what I`m working on. Thank you to all these great ladies of this RR, hope you will sign up for another round as I have more fabrics from India to use.

New Snow Balls

 This is the first of set one. It is all pinks only.

  close up of pink on pink work

 This is the first in the hexagon set.Greens and lavender only.

 close up

Just for fun I decided to make two sets of snow balls. Set one is round and tone on tone and set two is octagon and green with one other color.

Art4mail Quiltie swap

 This is the front,I used fabric ,wool roving's,lace and organdy trim. felted it all down with my machine, did some machine quilting  and added some simple hand embroidery with beads. The Image of the bird was printed on fabric and ironed on. Size is 6x6 inches finished

 This is the back of the Quiltie,machine embroidered the word piece,stitched down the peace sign which is also printed on fabric.

This is the Quiltie I made to swap. It will go to Judy. The theme is Peace and it is the third in the Fruit of the Spirits Series.

It is nap time

 I used these Ikea curtains we brought from Germany to get a little privacy from my nosy neighbor.

I have been baking bread since six this morning and now will go and take a little nap on my deck,it is getting hot but as long as the wind blows from the lake I should get a little snooze .

Done with my breads

 I made three kinds of bread this morning.

 Baguette

 Chives and Garlic Cream Cheese bread

 Foccacia

 the marbled cake

It was so much fun to try new recipes. For two of the breads I made the yeast dough last night and had it in the fridge overnight to rise. Love the Baguette! I made the Cake for my friend Doris and it was so moist and tasty but since we wanted to eat some of the breads we only had one slice of the cake. Doris had made some egg salad and chicken salad just perfect for the breads. We will do this again next weekend.

Marmor Kuchen-Marbled Cake

I have my friend Doris over for Brunch today. So yesterday after work I made this Marmor Kuchen-Marbled Cake. Doris will bring some chicken salad and egg salad so I decided to bake bread,the dough is still rising so pictures later.For dinner our friend Alex will be here and we`ll put some rib's,steak and chicken on the grill . I made my tortellini salad and called my kids to let them know I will drop off the leftovers for them, both boys work late so they have dinner tonight.

Now I`m done !

 Just when you thought I was done I made a few more. Yes I now have enough Pillows for my deck. But I could not walk by when I saw this polka dotted fabric which really goes so well with the other pillows.All counting I now have made a total of 13 pillows for the day bed and the seating group.I can mix them all up as the colors are very similar.

Just

Another Snow ball finished

 I do like to make these dragonfly's, but now I have to think of new items to add for the body parts and make them look different from the last one I made.

This snow ball is for Judy D.,she has no theme or color preference , it was fun to do .I used embroidery floss,silk ribbon, satin leaf trim,beads,charms and metallic thread.

My last one for today

 from this dough

 let it rise

 braide it

 let it rise again

 ready!

1000 grams flour (2 lbs.)
200 grams sugar (1 full cup packed)
200 grams of sweet unsalted butter (2 sticks)
3 eggs
pinch of salt
1 pack of vanilla sugar
1/2 liter milk (2 full cups)
pack yeast
all ingredients should be room temperature!

place flour in a big bowl make a hole in the middle putting the flour up high towards the rim of your bowl and add the sugar into hole. Put the yeast on top of the sugar. Slightly heat the milk add to the yeast and stir ,use some of the flour from the outside rim to cover the mixture and cover with a towel for 30 minutes. Melt the butter add the salt let cool .Now you can mix the dough with the melted butter,the vanilla sugar and the eggs. If it is to wet add a little more flour,let stand for 1 hour to rise. Punch back down,make 3 strings and braid ,let stand for 30 minutes covert with a dishtowel. Brush with egg wash , I do not know where you would find the sugar I use to decorate but you can use almond slices. Put into the cold oven heat to 350 on electric for about 50 minutes.
I use a regular cake sheet but place parchment paper on it so the bred will not stick to it, I also use parchment paper to cover the bread after 30 minutes so it will not get to dark!
please let me know if you made it and how it came out,good luck ladies I know you will enjoy it!

This is my grandmas sweet bread, one of the few food items I remember eating at her house,they came from Romania and my dads siblings are now going back to look for the farm they grew up on.

Fresh baked Bread

 As always I have to taste it right out of the oven,with a lot of butter,it is so good!

For this bread I used 350 gr Spelt flour and 350 gr wheat bread flour,2 tsp salt(15 gr.) and 4 cups warm water with 1 pack of dry yeast,baked it 15 min on 425 reduced it to 375 for  45 minutes on my electric stove.

Chocolate chip cookies

  Yummy! You need 140 gr./or4 1/2 oz. butter

50gr ./2 oz sugar,60gr./21/2 oz brown sugar mix till nicely creamed add 1egg,1/2 tsp.vanilla essence,125gr./4 oz plain flour,1/2 tsp baking soda and 150-200gr./5oz chocolate chips stir place on lightly buttered baking sheet or parchment paper , I used my silicon baking sheet on a regular baking tray, bake at 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4 for 12-15 minutes

Just as quick as they are made they quickly disappear!

I`m ready for a Snow Ball Fight

This is for Alice T. her theme was Under the Sea .

 Close up of my beaded Seahorse , I used embroidery floss,silk ribbon, beads,glass fish, charms, little sea shells and some novelty yarns.

 I made this for ..... which will be traded later this year . I love working on these  one on one swaps.

 Close up of my little Flower Basket

I used embroidery floss,silk ribbon,beads,charms and tatted lace.