Almost There and the BIG NEWS!

The renovation is mostly complete! I am hoping that by the end of this weekend the last of the studio contents will be back in place. It's been a long, and at times overwhelming, journey...but it's sew much better than it was! Bright, cheery, and of course with a splash of 'slime' green!

And...

It now has a longarm quilting machine in it!!!
















For a while now, Lisa Alley and I have been tossing about the idea to join forces to start a business. When the flood came and everything fell apart (so to speak) in the studio...well, I just knew it was time! If you have to put things back together why not make them much better than they were before?

We are Sew Sisters, LLC. We're up and running! We provide longarm services, make commissioned quilts and more. Hop over to www.sewsisters.biz and check us out! We are on Facebook and have a blog too. Please come visit us often, and bring your friends :)

And do keep coming to see me here too. I promise there will be studio pictures soon!

Oooh...pretty!

Hmmm....what to do with all this thread...

:)

WE WON!!!!

The Southwest Forsyth Little League Juniors Blue All Stars won the State tournament!!!! A four game undefeated sweep! Couldn't be prouder of these guys!!

On to Regionals...GO SW!!

( note: I have no idea why the picture posted so large in the original post...I did it via mobile and have never had that issue. I guess it was that big a victory :) Correction  to size via desktop post-publishing.)

Feeling "Crabby"

These are so dang good I just have to share...

My garden has been producing lots of zucchini so I have been searching out recipes. A girl can only eat so much chocolate cake, you know? Wait, what am I thinking... LOL!

Nevertheless, I found this savory recipe for "Crab" cakes that are so good my whole family devoured them! It gets 8 thumbs up:

2-1/2 cups shredded zucchini, lightly salted
1 egg, beaten
2T melted butter
1-1/8 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup minced onion
1-1/2 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Flour (about 1/2 cup)
Oil

Combine first 6 ingredients, mix well. Form into patties and coat with flour. Fry in a pan lightly coated with oil over medium high heat until golden brown on both sides.

That's right...there's no crabmeat in these! And they are amazingly good!

Little Pieces of Normal

Still pushing hard on the renovation and the light at the end of the tunnel grows bigger each day! I'm almost done with the carpet...

And I've started putting little odds and ends back in place...

It's far from finished...there's lots still to do to get everything back in and sorted, culled, and organized. But those little pieces of "normal", just seeing small things in place, give me a big boost to keep charging full steam ahead.

Won't be long now! :)

Time Out for Cake

I'm still marching on with the renovation and all of the rest of life. I don't yet have carpet on the floor, but I'm nearing the end of the painting (the whole perimeter of the basement is getting waterproofing paint), the electrician is coming Monday to upgrade the lighting and add an outlet, and hopefully by the end of this weekend there will be some carpentry completed. We're getting there!

Meanwhile, my garden is producing...well... produce! like crazy, not the least of which is the zucchini. And you know what THAT means.... (you don't?)

It's CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE TIME!! :D

Yummy with blueberries or raspberries. Pottery mug by NC artist Frumpy.
(And don't  you love my chicken pitcher? I have a funky chicken in every room. )

I stumbled across this recipe in Southern Living several years ago when my boys were little and didn't like many vegetables. Nothing like a little stealth cooking! This cake is so delicious and moist...you would never know it's packed full of zucchini. It remains a favorite at our house! Here's the recipe:

Prepare a tubed cake pan (Bundt or straight sides) by greasing with shortening and dusting with cocoa (works like flour but doesn't leave your cake all white-powdery afterwards. And, it's more chocolate. What's better?)

Preheat oven to 350*

Combine these and set aside:
3 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt

Next:
4 large eggs
3 C sugar
3 (1 oz.) unsweetened chocolate baking squares, melted (pop them in the micro for about 20 seconds)
1 1/2 C vegetable oil
3 C grated zucchini (I do mine in the food processor)

Beat the eggs at medium speed with an electric mixer, gradually adding the sugar and beating until well combined. Add oil and melted chocolate, continue beating until well blended. Gradually add the flour mixture beating at low speed until blended. Fold in zucchini. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let cool in pan for about 10-15 minutes, turn out onto cake plate and cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!

Back to painting now...

The Renovation Continues...

The nasty old carpet from the stairs came out today. I've been painting and there is a hint of what's to come in the right corner (of course I'm working that green into the redo! You know I am!)

Slow and steady progress. Between juggling work and kids and waterproofing contractors that had to make a return visit to fix a few things they didn't get right the first time...I won't go there. Suffice it to say, it put me two weeks behind schedule and I had to put my #itch pants on and stand my ground to get them back. I hate it when that happens.

But things are back in forward motion and I'm hoping that by this time next week there will be carpet on the floor.

I'm anxious to get things put back in place! And, I'll have some exciting news to share when I do.... !!

Stay tuned...