Red Geranium Cottage

We have a winner!!

WOW thank you for all the comments and those entries.  The winner is..............................

Ok, you'll have to wait till the end of my post. Otherwise you'll move on. Especially if your not the winner. lol    Just kidding.  

The weather here was so nice today.  I had a brief encounter with Spring fever I do believe.  I opened the front door wide, opened the doors in my sewing room downstairs and let the fresh air in.  I vacuumed and mopped the kitchen floor,  did some laundry, cleaned up the family room,  and yes I even cooked.  I made a Gooey Butter Cake and I have a turkey breast cooking right now. It's smelling so good.  I sort of made up my own recipe for this.  Would you like to hear it??? 

I took a boneless Butterball Turkey Breast, I melted a stick of BUTTER, yes real butter.  I mixed in some garlic ( I use the garlic in the squishy tube)  ground sage, and ground thyme along with some Natures Seasoning.  I use that stuff on everything.  I just tossed in whatever I thought I needed. I didn't measure.  I whisked it all together then took my hands and rubbed it all over that bird.  I mean all over!!!!  The bird was a butter bird when I was finished with him/her.  I cooked it on 325 for almost 2 1/2 hours. But check the temp of yours to make sure it's done.  We don't like real done meat.  It loses it's juices if you over cook.  

Next up I made a Gooey Butter Cake which I make often.  This was a St. Louis cake from way back when I was growing up.  A corner bakery used to make them when I was growing up and they were so good.  I acquired my recipe some 30 years ago and have used it ever since.  

You don't have to have a red Kitchen- Aid but I'm pretty sure your cake will taste better if you do.

You mix in your egg, one stick of melted margarine and one yellow or white cake mix.  

Let that baby roar!!!!  Mix her up. 

This is what it should look like. This will be your crust.  

Put it all in the baking dish and pat it down to form your crust.  Yes those are my finger prints all over that cake.  haaaaa  Looks funny doesn't it? 

Next up the filling. The ooey gooey part.  One package of cream cheese,  two eggs and  and one box of Powerdered Sugar or 4 cups.  

Couldn't you just eat that with a spoon? 

Pour over the crust you made earlier.  The crust is unbaked at this point.  

She's ready to be baked.   This is the easiest dessert to make I promise and everyone loves it.  There are other recipes out there using flour, using much more butter, but this one is the best I think.  Of course I think that because it's the one I've been using forever!!  

Ooops forgot to say that you cook the cake at 350 for 40 min. But watch it cause sometimes I cook mine for 35 and turn the oven off the last 5 min.  It's up to you. I like mine more gooey inside.   Thanks Yvonne for letting me know I forgot this part.  

Debbie are you drooling?????????     Tada!!!!  A Gooey Butter Cake.  I'm dying to cut into this.  My cousin Gary requests this for his birthday from me.  An easy gift.  And Debbie requested this when we would get together.  Should I mail her a slice??  :)

Along with baking I've been gardening.  Inside!!  I brought this Geranium inside when the weather started freezing.  I've never tried to grow one inside but it worked.  I've even had blooms.  I'm so happy.  

Isn't it pretty?  I keep it on the floor in my sewing room by the sliding door.  So green.  

Love the leaf veins.

This is my African Violet.  My Green Thumb has reappeared I do believe.  

Ok for the winner. Drumroll please............................

 

Dianne Mitzel said:

You have a wonderful , sweet husband..what a joy to share you life with someone so very thoughtful. I am blessed with one very much like him..I adore the little sewing kit!! Hope it comes to live with me!

Dianne, email me your mailing address and I'll get your little heart shaped sewing kit out to you.  

Ps. I'll be doing another give away soon!!!  So don't stay away too long.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love is in the air..............

Well around here it is. How about there?  I had one of the best Valentine's Day's I've had in a long time I think.  Remember me showing you the pictures of the antique shopping day? Well look what I woke up to  this morning.

Yep, it's that red stool I wanted and did not go get.  I meant to go back and get it but kept getting side tracked. Hunka said he kept waiting for me to come in all bummed out one day because it would have been gone!  He had it hiding somewhere in the house.  

I wanted this too but the price said FIRM on it and I didn't want to ask them about it.  But  I was dying to have it for my garden this Spring.  Well, guess who went in and  asked and got it for me?  I don't think he still understands what I would want that thing for.  lolol  

Remember this quilt..........

Well it's in my house now!!  The lighting is bad so it looks light colored.   Yes, hunka  went to the other antique shop all the way across town and bought it!!!  

I got these from Hunka yesterday........  I'm sorry girls I will not share him!! I just won't.  I'm keeping him forever.  

And these were delivered yesterday from Boo.........These came yesterday and I had no idea what they were or who they were from. Hunka says,  well it's not from ME. lolol   These are to die for!!  Shari's Berry's I think they are from. I'd have to look at the box again.  But the strawberries are huge!

My doggy got groomed today for her  Valentine's Day. She looks like she's ready for her date.  Rockin that pink polka dotted scarf.  

While I was at the antique shop last week I bought this little sewing kit for a give away. It is the shape of a heart and has little thread spools in it. Too cute.  If you leave a comment I'll pick a winner.

 And if you go to Pam Kitty's blog she has a giveaway going on too.  I'm not sure how long it lasts so hurry!!!

I hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day!!!! 

 

 

Happy Birthday Wilster!!!

I'm not sure how this happens. Your children grow up right before your eyes.  

Today is my Wilster's 32nd birthday.  How can that be even possible.  I still remember him being a little guy running around the house in his underoos.  lolol He'll kill me for that. But I won't show a picture of it alright?  Now he's a grown man and I couldn't be more proud of him.  I always tell my boys how much I love them and I need to tell them how proud of them I am more often.  Because I am.  I couldn't have asked for a better son in Bill.  He's a great guy, he has a great career which he loves, and he's just very nice guy over all.  Treats people like he should.  Probably because he knows his momma will smack him upside his head.  lol  I am still the momma right?   

Happy Birthday Bill!!!!  I love you more and more every day.  

Antiquing is so much fun!!

Hunka and I went to another great antique shop close to our house the other day.  I had no idea this one was here until Boo told me. Yes Boo knew and I had no clue.  But he did share his info with me so it's ok.  :)  This is the place where he bought my  sled at Christmas time.  I love my sled.  I took some pictures  this time for ya.  I wanted so many things in here. 

IF this was RED..............well you know where it would be now.

Ditto!!  I know, I know!! I could spray paint but I didn't wanna. 

Lots of good things in this booth.  Can you see one thing that caught my eye?

How about a closer look.   And no we didn't get it. But I think I'm heading back there because it would look so good on my front porch with a pot of RED Geraniums sitting on it.  Don't ya think?  Can you see the wiring holding the thing together under the seat between the legs? It's barbed wire.  Very odd.  But different too.

I wanted this soooooooo bad.  It was sold we think because we couldn't find a price so I'm having hunka make me one.  We have a bunch of old windows and mine doesn't have to be exactly like this one.  I love it!!

Loved the cubby thing in the background against the wall. Oh and that red stool.  lol

I saw a couple little sewing machines.  Loved the blue one.  I think it was 30.00 and I'm sure they would have taken less. I should have asked.  

Then this one...........loved it too. This one was in really good shape and a whole lot more. 

Lots of old spools.......

A laundry bag with clothespins.

Then these three quilts. The one was in such good shape. I really wanted to buy it but passed at the last minute.  

One half of this quilt...............

And the other side. It was a huge quilt.  Still folded in half.  I only took photos of part of it. I love the blue gingham in there.  

This actually was just a top not quilted.  But look how bright that blue still is. 

And I have no idea where this came from or how much "it" was. I didn't ask. I ran!!  I did notice him following me around the store though.   

Have a great weekend!!! I'm going to. My Boo and his girlfriend Hillarie will be in town.  Yippeeeeeee.  :) 

 

 

Red is for Valentines Day.

Sorry I didn't come back right away. I don't know where my time goes. True I stay up till late, then don't get up until 10:30ish everyday but still,  what happens to my time?  Seems like I get going around noon and then it's 7pm before I blink my eye. Don't you remember when you were younger and your mom and gramma would say, "just wait till you get older, time flies by so fast".  I thought to myself, are they crazy? Time moves soooooo slow.  The wait for Christmas day would take forever in my little world.  But now, I swear December is two weeks long.  Haaaa   We would go visit my cousins who lived about a half hour away and now it seemed like that trip was at least two hours long.  Now I always think about that as I'm driving up there to see them.  

I drug out a few Valentine things, very few.  Once Christmas is packed up it seems like the whole house is so emtpy doesn't it?   I have to admit I still have two big bins full of Christmas stuff sitting in the dining room floor waiting to go downstairs.  I'm wondering which one of us will get tired of tripping over it and move it. So far it's not bothering either one of us.  Maybe I should move it over closer to Hunka's path he walks everday.  

I thought my Jubillee quilt I made and kitted for the website would look good on the table now.  I love Pam Kitty's fabric line.  I'm happy I used it for this quilt.  It looks like a great picnic quilt too doesn't it? 

I love my cabinet that Hunka made me.  I always have it on the end of the dining room table.  Good thing we don't hardly ever eat at that table so I just use it to decorate.  Which I really enjoy as you can tell. 

Can't remember where I got the Valentine card holder but I love it. I keep all my cards I get and stick them on there.  I think I bought this when I lived in Ca.  But can't remember where.It's shaped like a heart.  Not sure if you can tell that or not. 

 Red polka dotted things, my favorite!!  I also love how I can use them at Christmas and move right on into Valentine's Day. I need to change out that quilt though. ICK! Doesn't Fen Shuey me one bit.  Matter of fact, I'm feeling queasy.  

The flash really messed up this photo. But I bought this frame at Christmas and I love it. It's a neat red washed out color.  Doesn't look so good there. But hey, I think I was 20 in that photo.  

Moved the birdcage and put in a red lamp. Remember I had it on the table for Christmas.  I changed the shade.  And of course my Valentine Annie that Debbie made me years ago.  I love how her heart is pinned on her apron.

I always have an Annie on my baking area. Nicole has made some cute Valentine ones too, they area all over the house.  

My newest find. My friend Paula invited me out to lunch at a tea house this past week. When I walked in I spotted this beauty right away.  After we lunched I made a dash to the front where this was.  Luckyily she was still there waiting for me.  

I decided to put photos on this table for Valentine's Day.  I love all my photos but with the digital cameras I hardly ever print out photos anymore. I've got to start doing that again.  I love frames and I love setting my photos out.  

Do you see that big photo of the boys hugging? Well I cherish that photo because I don't think I'll ever see that again!!!!  I took the photo and had it restored because it had faded so bad over the years.  It is my all time favorite photo of any I've taken of them.  Be still my heart.  I have the best boys ever. Have I told you that lately??

Isn't this little guy cute? Homegoods!!!  The two guys in the polka dotted frame are pretty cute too.  

Freakin cute  little things.  They make me smile.

Not happy with this little happening but it's all I got.  I need Hunka to make me a red little cabinet like that black one.  Then it would be making me smile.  The quilt on the wall my friend Tammy made me.  Can you see the X's and O's?  So cute.  The heart quilt was a tutorial I did a couple times.  

I had this out for Christmas too but like I said I rolled it right over to Valentine's day if I could.  These candles smell sooooo dang good. Of course I'll never light them.  I love them just the way they are.  I wish my computer was scratch and sniff cause you would be scratching like crazy.  Trust me on that one!  

Guess I'll stop here and get back to my REDwork.  I've been doing a lot of that lately. Red runs through my veins.  Well, yours too, but more so in mine!!!  

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to come back soon.  

 

 

 

RED, RED and more RED

I can't believe we're starting week 2 already this year. Around here it feels like we are having Spring. It was almost 70 on Friday, Saturday  close to 60 and who knows what next.  The poor plants and trees are going to be so confused soon.  I'm wondering what this will do to all of my bulbs that I planted last year?  I hope they still come up. Last winter was so bad it even snowed into March so my bulbs didn't all bloom. I'm thinking this year might not be so good either. I went to get a pedi today and dug out my flip flops. People are walking around in shorts and t shirts.  That's unheard of here in January.  How's the weather where you are?? Crazy too?

I've been quilting on my Gammill. I finished a football themed quilt for Hunka that I started, oh about 8 years ago. Haaaaaa    I swear, it could even be longer.  It's all quilted now and the binding is sewn on, I just need to sew it down.  It's a full size quilt so that will take me awhile. It was a surprise when he saw it. Only bad thing is it's not RED like his favorite football team. The SF 49ers.  It's green and brown. More Packer fan really.  But still he likes it. He better.  :) It's not real exciting unless your a guy and a football fan.  

He liked that it was these retro football players.  I do too.  Just wish it were red/gold.  :(

 

I'm still dragging out my Valentine stuff. I don't have a lot like other holidays but still I've got enough. I love making pillows for Valentine's day each year.  I have another one I just remembered. I'll have to find that one. 

This is the one I made for this year.  It's a kit too on my website.  :)  

Check out what Boo gave me for Christmas. I told him I'd love to have an old rotary red phone just to use for decorating. And he found one!!  This thing is soooo heavy.  I love it. I can't believe he found me one.  Isn't it awesome? I'd love to use it. Do you think it would work with the rotary dial on it?  

I love my red suitcases, cakestands, annies and of course pillows.  All in RED. 

I was just looking through my older photos and found this one. Now where did I put that little quilt?   Isn't it funny how your forget about them, then you make yourself crazy trying to find them again.  

Check out my little helper.  Of all places she could lay in my sewing room. She thinks she's  a cat.  lolol

My pan O hearts!  Some of these were given to me by Doe years ago. And some I made this year. 

Love my dotty clothespins.  

Took down the Christmas stuff and put up a different house. I love this potting shed.  

Put this back up there too by the house. I love the things hunka makes me. 

Ok, enough RED for one post.  Be back soon with more.  :)  I'm a blogging role you know. 

 

 

Nothing much over here!

How's your New Year going?  So far so good over here.  But we're only 6 days into it so I won't get too excited.  

Today is my wonderful Mother in law's birthday. We miss her so much.  She was the best lady, and the best gramma to both of my boys.  Wasn't she pretty?  

Today is also the day that Hunka and I first met in San Diego.  25 years ago.  Who knew time would fly by so fast?   Yep we met on his momma's birthday.  At least we never forget the date right? 

My poor Pfaff had to go to the sewing machine doctor.  I turn her on and she has a seizure for about 20 min. I just couldn't stand to watch her anymore suffer like that.  Yesterday we dropped her and it was a sad day for me. I'll have to wait for two weeks before I get to see her again.  :(    Oh yes I have other machines. Lots of them matter of fact, but none stand up to my Pfaff.  I've probably had her for over 24 years.  Hunka bought her for me at a Home & Garden show in Ca.  That machine is a work horse.  Do you have a favorite machine like that at your house?  

I wanted to show you a couple things I got for Christmas.  One is a quilt and pillow cases that Nancy made me.  

Isn't it cute? I think I'm the one in the middle with the red dress on and she is the one standing next to me with the green skirt on. 

And King Sized pillow cases to match.

Beth made this one for me.  Sooo cute.  Love Civil War fabric.

While I'm showing quilts I thought I'd show these again.  Hunka made this quilt hanger to fit in a hallway when we lived in Ca. We brought it with us and it fit perfectly at the bottom of our stairs going into my sewing rooms.

These are two little mini's I made. Not too hard but fun to make and quilt.  I'm into the mini's now.  I'm running out of room for quilts in this house.  My boys have so many they say, NO MORE!!   All I can hope for is a couple daughter in laws that will want them.  

That's about all I have for now.  Not a lot going on over here.  I'm still taking down Christmas and putting it away.  Bringing out my Valentine decor too.  It's always fun to see it after a year of hiding.  

Thanks for stopping by!!

 

 

HAPPY 2012

Happy New Year everyone.  Here's to a great new year for all of us.  I think mine is off to a great start.  At least I'm happy with it so far.  :)  True it's only day one but still.  I'm optimistic. Which doesn't happen often with me.  My cup is usually half empty.  lolol  

I know Christmas is over but I still have some stuff to show you.  We had Hunka's cousins over for dinner right before Christmas so got out lots of my red dishes.  I loved the way my table looked.  

I loved having a lamp on the table. Made me feel like I was in a fancy restaraunt. Even though I was the chef at this restaurant.  Still felt good alright?

Ok, I'm not so sure why this photo is LARGE!!

One more thing with Christmas.   Just one please!!  Can you tell I love red?  Well, I do.  And now that Valentine's Day is coming I can continue with my RED.  This quilt I made years ago and I love it.  It is a big one let me tell you. Thought I'd never finish it. My bed is a Ca. King if that tells you how big it is. 

 

I wanted to make something using Natalie of Cinderberry Stitches new fabric line.  So this is what I came up with.  I just started messing around with a couple rulers.  I'm happy with it.  Now to quilt it.  And it's red so you know I love it.  

This is going to be one of the Monthly mini's on Daisy Cottage.  Sort a busy looking but not too bad in person.  haaaa Let's just say it's HAPPY ok?  

Another project in progress.  This fabric is also from Natalie's Woodlands line of fabric.  

I hope everyone is having a great January 1st today.  Now if you'll excuse me while I have some of chocolate taht Boo gave me for Christmas.  Yes, it's Godiva too.  Only the best for his momma.  

 

 

Yes, there's more.

I'm back with more decorations. I'll be showing you my crap right up until Valentine's Day I'm afraid.  haaaaa  Because truly I won't have all of it down and packed up until Easter the way I'm going.  But lucky for me some of you volunteered to come over here and help me clean up.  I can't wait till you get here.  We'll make a party of it ok?  I'll send you home with fabric for helping me. Deal?  

Ok here goes more!!!  Buckle up and let's go.  

I bought this pie box/case/????  years ago in California.  I love it and move it all around the house.  It is a great thing for decorating with.  I've had it everywhere in this house I think.  Now it's in the dining room.  I need to come up with stuff to put inside it.  

It's just blank and dusty inside.  Not even a pie in there.  Maybe I should set a pie bird in it?  Not sure why that fruit basket thingy is there.  I probably just threw it in to hide it.  

My latest Annie doll.  I KNOW I KNOW!! I have a serious problem.  I'm in therapy for it.  And, it's NOT working.  I sent Nicole some of the Christmas fabric I had and asked her to make this for me.  Did I already tell you all of this??  Please excuse me if I did.  

These are some of the gifties I made for my friends this year.  I love giving gifts to my friends just to let them know how much I care about them and to surprise them.    For me it's not getting the gifts. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE GIFTS as much as the next person. But honestly I do love giving.  I always have.  I am so lucky to have lots of good friends that are good to me and genuine friends.  Nothing fake about them. They expect nothing from me.  Even if I sent nothing they would be my friend. It's been a rough year for me in the friend dept.   I know I did my best to be friends with those that choose to not friend me. I am a loyal friend and I always will be. I will go to the very end for my friends which I have done for some.  It came back to bite me in the @&& but I did it and I'm glad I did. Sometimes that's not good enough though.  That's all I can do.  Really the petty stuff is just that, petty.  Life is to short to carry grudges and it only makes you miserable inside.  I'd rather be nice to those around me. And if they chose to not like me, well so be it.  Nothing I can do about that.  Sorry to be so sappy but this time of year that's how I am.  Remembering the ones I  care about.  I can hear those that don't like me or care for me mumbling now,  but that's ok.  I'll continue being the way I am.  I like who I am and how I treat people. I am quick to forgive and forget but sometimes you can only take so much abuse from others before you react.   I could go on and on but I'll stop.  But before I stop, I have to thank God that my very good friend Beth is here to enjoy Christmas after what she went through this morning.  I have never been more happy to hear her voice as I was this morning.  If your on my FB you know what I'm talking about.  Like I said before, life is too short.  So enjoy those around you this Chrismtas.    

Hunka told me a couple weeks ago he had a surprise planned for me and I had to dress warm. That is all he would tell me.  Well, it was the best surprise ever.  We have the Daniel Boone home here in Missouri.  It is the most awesome place ever if you love history.  But for Christmas they do this candlelight tour. They put out over 3,000 candles. No lights at all.  You have a guided tour going through all the buildings. A church, a mill,  a general store,  some houses,  and finally you tour Daniel Boone's home and they have him there. Well not HIM but someone who is supposed to be him.   The people in each building are re-enacting back in the day 1820's or so. We were just ghosts watching all of this. They don't interact with us at all. They just go about their business.  It was so awesome I can't even tell you. Only problem is that I couldn't take photos.  It was DARK.  The things in the homes etc, were real items from back in the day and some belonged to the Boone family from way back.  

These photos were taken as you start your tour so there were lights.  

Can you imagine riding around in these when it is snowing, windy and freezing outside? I sure would love to have one now though. 

This is what it looked like in the dark.  Candles everywhere. 

I think this one was in the general store.  

Every house had a real wood burning fireplace roaring inside.  I'm telling you I could have pulled up a chair and stayed.  I love that era.  

In the church where the choir was singing. We all sat in the pews and listened.  It made you wanna go to church I'm telling you.  

These big candle holders were out in front of the houses. I want one! Wish I could have gotten a better picture but we were told NO FLASH.  And you know me, I would die if I flashed and blinded the folk from the 1800's.   

I asked Hunka a few weeks ago if he would like to make cookies with me.  Well can you tell by that face the answer????   Lord help me!!

Do we have a mess going or what? He's over there checking out his recipe.  He went through my cookbooks and picked out what he wanted to bake. 

I'm not sure I like him enjoying using my mixer.  That is MY mixer.  But he loves power tools.  

So I told him that is not a good thing when your dough does not fall out of the pan.  But he's happy so let's not ruin it for him. 

Can I tell you how many times I told him to put the lid on the brown sugar?????   And can we just talk about that apron for a minute?   He is rockin it isn't he? And it's a Moda Home apron. We don't mess around over here.  Only the best when we are baking. 

We haven't killed each other.........yet!!!

Got my mixer back!!

That makes me happy, happy, happy

Can you tell which cookie tray is mine and which is his?  He asked me, why do they all have to be the same size????  Oh I don't know.........

I hoped you enjoyed the photos.  This was heavy in the picture dept.  

Hunka and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  

 

 

 

 

 

Decorating Part Deux

Look at me speaking French.  Impressed aren't you?  :)   

Now with gifties galore.  And I still have wrapping to do.  I'm not diggin the wrappin scene. 

The fancy gifts are Boo's. He and Hillarie wrapped them.  I'm very impressed.  

Speaking of Boo and Hillarie. Here they are.  They were here this weekend.  Isn't she cute?  We liked her so much.  She's even wearing my favorite color.  

My little helper.  

This was before we did our lights.   I love the Christmas quilt.  It's fun to change them each season. 

and after......

We weren't even going to put lights outside but I think I hinted so much Hunka decided to do some.  Next year will be better but I'm happy with them.  The problem is we had all these decorations and lights that we put on our house in Ca. and since we've moved here we haven't planned on the lights for this house. That's going to change next year.  

I decided to bring up a couple of my red suitcases.  Put this tree in my bedroom. Now I have two in there. 

I like pictures without the flash.  

Do you like my little tree mat?  Wendy made it for me.  I love it so much.  She also made me a cute little coin purse.  I'll show you that too.  Talk about a nice surprise.  

Here's the cute little coin purse Wendy made me.  Love it.  Thank you Wendy.

 

Love my old birdcage.  I could not decide what to put inside. Then I found this big box full of red ornaments.  PERFECT.   

This is one of my favorite Christmas quilts.  Just noticed it's hanging upside down.  haaa

This year I decided to hang my Christmas cards from Baker's Twine using red and white polka dotted clothes pins.  Sorry the pic is so blurry.  I tried three times. 

You can sort of see it through here to the right. 

Ok there's part two.  Be back again with three and probably four.  Who wants to come over and help me take all this down in January???  Anyone????