Happy birthday Dad

Today is Dad's birthday. I just love this poster Kaylynn made for him. He loves turtley. The balloons are so cute, green his favorite color.

Peach and Blackberry Cobbler

One of our family's all time favorite treats. It is super easy!

Fruit Mixture
2 pounds fresh peaches
1 pint fresh blackberries
3/4 c sugar
3 T cornstarch
3 T butter melted

Topping
3/4 c flour
1/4 c cornmeal
2 T sugar
1 stick butter
2 T cold water


Heat oven 350 degrees

Fruit Mixture
Combine peaches, berries, sugar and cornstarch.

 Place in 8x8 oven proof dish. (A cast iron skillet works great.) Drizzle melted butter over.

note: This recipe is very forgiving. I never weigh my fruit, I just fill the skillet. I am sure I put in way more than 2 pounds.  I also substitute different fruit depending on what I have handy. Blueberries, pears, etc. Just don't leave out the cornstarch or it will be runny.  Guess how I know?

Topping
Combine flour, cornmeal and sugar. Cut in butter

 (see my pie crust recipe for directions on cutting in butter) Add cold water.

                                                              Crumble over fruit.

Bake 45 minutes until top is golden

Serves eight maybe ten if your kids are not all hungry teenagers.

I am linked up at Somewhat Simple  and Delightful Order

 

Long day

You know it is going to be a long day....when you get a call telling you there is an IRS agent waiting for you as you are driving to work.... and he needs some paperwork. Is there anything scarier?  Not the best way to start a morning. When I asked if it was for real. Ron said "he seems real, he has a badge."
 I spent the next ten minutes of my commute (it seemed a lot longer) wondering how my day would end. At least I might get out of making dinner, someone else would be making mine. And I was pretty sure if I got arrested that federal prison is much nicer than Sheriff Joe's tent. 
Lucky for me he was very nice and there had been a possible glitch in the system (what? our government?!) because a lot of reports from that quarter were missing, etc. Whew!

Bobbin Organization

Why didn't I think of this before! Really, Why?! I have spent some serious time and effort on organizing bobbins. I know crazy when so much of my world is neglected and in chaos. But bobbins and thread all messy makes me nuts. I also am a bit OCD about my thread and bobbin matching when I sew and can't stand to wind one color over another color on a bobbin.  I have tried that and eventually need the color under the one on top. Then I have the dilemma do I unwind the top color and waste all of that thread or just wind over the top color again and make a rainbow out of this thing.  I know if only I had used my obsession for curing cancer or world hunger. Sorry, all wasted on bobbins.

Find a shallow container. This is one I found at a thrift store. Mark the width on a kitchen skewer.

Cut the scewer at the mark. Measuer up and repeat with the rest of the skewer. My box is 4 1/2 inches wide so I was able to make two out of one 12 inch skewer.

I am partying today over at youaretalkingtoomuch , creatingreallyawesomefreethings and craft-o-maniac

Cupcake Sailboats

I teach the 16-18 year old girls at church. As a girl I loved this poem that hung on my sister's bedroom wall and I wanted to share it with my girls.
I didn't think to take a picture  because I was ditching Sunday School to finish them until I was dashing out the door. Kind of lame that they are in the pan for transport but hey what do you expect from someone playing hooky. The boat is a Oreo Cakester cut in half and the little red flag is made from a bit of fruit roll up. Linking up at craft-o-maniac

Thrift store therapy

I have been having some thrift store fun. I am still on the hunt for a Haymore Milk bottle. I found this Prescott Dairy one at an antique store in Mesa, it will have to do for now. I always snap up these glass plates when I find them. My grandma had a set of these she used for her bridge parties. I love them.

I am making a valentine bunting so that was my justification for the fabric, $2 for 5 yards.  I still need one more crochet doilie.  I am going to make a bunting from them for my kitchen window.

The cake pan stand is first attempt at making my own cake stand. It is made from an old heavy cake pan and  a candle stick. It looked darling with cookies in it. But it is crooked!
The candlestick is heavy and seems so solid but it is sadly warped somehow. I am not sure if I am going to keep it or if I can fix it. Looking at it makes me a bit crazy.

Betsy Ross Flag

I found an old piece of scrap wood. I think it may have been a sign in a former life because the corners were already rounded.

I tried using spray paint but the wood was so old it just sucked it up and you could not tell I had painted at all. So I used a couple of layers of exterior paint as a primer then spray painted white. I would have liked to have left it distressed looking but the whole time I kept thinking how much paint I would need to use so my husband would realize it was suppose to look the way it does and not throw it out. He does not appreciate rust and chipped paint like I do.

Using a craft ruler apply tape to mark stripes. This was a tad tricky because the board was 21 1/2 inches tall. I needed 13 stripes and the taped was 1.41 inches wide. Way too much math! Reminds me of one of my dad's riddles.

 Mark off the field. I made mine too small. It is square and I thought that is what I was suppose to do. But it looked weird and I  had to fix it in the next step.

 Paint stripes red. I moved the right side of the field markings over a couple of inches making it more rectangular. Using a plate I laid out my stars. The stars on a Betsy Ross Flag are oriented out. Spray blue.

 All done. I think it needs to be toned down a bit. Sanded a little or something. Maybe once Ron gets use to it he won't notice if I shabby it up a little.