Slacking, again. or What else is new?

I've been super lazy about posting, so you get a TABBY BELLY!  as an apology.

Forgive me.

Video How To: Fat Quarter Roses

I've never done a video tutorial before, it's only recently I have a half decent webcam.  I hope this comes across as clearly as I feel it did, but if you have any questions about the project or hints for the video beginner, feel free to comment!

Materials for this project:
1 fat quarter
1 quilting pin
2 silk rose leaves (with wire)
1 9" piece of stem wire
floral tape
yarn or ribbon

Happy New Year!

A few quick updates.

The new guy stays!  Chase has gained a ton of weight since we brought him in and except for an annoying need to try to escape into the backyard, he's fitting in pretty nicely.  

I've been really busy with projects like this in addition to lots of scarves for family Christmas gifts and baby shower presents.  Unfortunately, none of is has resulted in much in the way of patterns or designing anything.

Lehigh Valley Polar Plunge

Two weekends from now, I'm participating in the 1st ever Lehigh Valley Polar Plunge to benefit the Special Olympics.  If you have an extra $5 click the above link to sponsor my plunge and support a good cause.

Things have finally calmed down at work and I'm looking at having a little bit more time for my yarn, so hopefully some patterns will come down the pike before too much longer.

Happy New Year!  I wish you all the best for 2013!

Christmas Cookies.

So, on Sunday, I decided to make some Christmas cookies.  But if you know me, you know that A) I try to tailor things very specifically to the people they're for and B) I don't do anything halfway.  So there would be NO ORDINARY COOKIES!  Well, except one batch, someone's favorite cookie is Sugar Cookies.

I had 4 cookie gifts to make and this is the criteria I was up against.
1) Sugar Cookies are Tom's favorite.
2) Marnie loves Chai Tea.
3) Dane specifically asked that I make my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies again.
4) I needed something Super Special for Eric, who had given me NO HINTS.

So, grab for the Cooky Book (I have a reprint of the 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book) but it's NOWHERE.  GONE.  Probably packed up in the basement.

But that's what the internet's for, right?

Search:  Sugar Cookies.
Found:  Allrecipes.com Easy Sugar Cookies, that though bookmarked, I can't find again because the bookmark apparently directs to All Recipes Argentina, even though it didn't 2 days ago.  And a new search yields the same error.  But at any rate, they turned out to be chewy, sweet, perfect sugar cookies.
Result:  I'm not sure Tom's kids actually got any of them, because I don't think they survived the day at work.

Search: Russian Tea Cookies.  I'm thinking that these are a pretty bland cookie on their own, but could easily be changed into a Chai Tea Cookie.
Found: Betty Crocker's Russian Tea Cakes.  We mixed some good cinnamon from Penzey's into the powdered sugar for rolling them in, subbed chopped almonds for the usual walnuts or pecans, and used Trader Joe's Spicy Chai Latte Mix instead of most of the powdered sugar in the dough.  After accidentally throwing a few on the floor, we discovered an awesome, mild, spice cookie with a hint of black tea.
Result:  Marnie loved them!  And shared with Carol who agreed!

Search: Nestle's White Chip Chocolate Cookies.  I have it here somewhere!  Ah, there's the bag of white chips.
Found:  After tearing the kitchen apart, I found the recipe I based my Chocolate Cherry Cayenne Cookies on.  I use the same recipe for the dough, but Semi Sweet Chips instead of the White, and then I add Dried Cherries, more of the cinnamon from Penzey's and ground Cayenne.  Except this time we had Cherry Flavored Cranberries instead of Cherries.  (Oops, grabbed the wrong thing in a hurry)
Result: I already know that Dane loves these cookies.

Search: Unique Cookie Recipes.  I still need something for Eric and I'm out of ideas.
Found: After a few false starts, (I didn't have parchment for Meringues, and so on) I settled on Thumbprint Cookies thinking I had to have some kind of interested thing to add to these.  And I found it in the pantry: Blueberry Limoncello Jam from Bittersweet Herb Farm.  I added a few packets of True Lemon to some water to dissolve it and added that, plus a bit of extra flour to the cookie dough and topped them with the Blueberry Jam.
Result: I haven't heard from Eric, but everyone else who's had them loved them!

So all in all, a successful cookie baking day.  I'll get some of the details of the recipes posted over the next few days, but for now, I need to get onto the laundry I've been avoiding.

Our New Friend

While it remains to be seen whether he's staying with us or not, I thought that I'd share this with everyone!

Miraculously, we never lost power during hurricane Sandy.  A dear friend of ours, Dave Chase did however, along with half of everyone else we know.  After a few days of trying to tough it out, Dave decided he was sick of cold showers and not being able to charge his phone, so he decided to stay with us for a night or two.  

The catch is, Dave doesn't drive right now.  (Super long story, don't ask him.  Trust me.)  So I had to get up at 5am to run him to work on Saturday.  And it's a good thing I did!  When I got home, this guy was sitting by the neighbor's porch.  He cried and ran up to me and I scratched behind his ears a bit and started to walk away.  And he followed me.  And when I started up our front walk, he ran ahead of me to the door and cried to be let in.

Which presents a minor problem:  I know nothing about this cat's temperament or health and we already live with a 12 year old cat.  This guy:

Who is used to being the only fuzzbutt in the house.

So we took the new guy to the vet, and got him checked out to make sure he's as healthy as he is friendly.  He's about 3 or so years old, feline leukemia negative, and overall, pretty healthy.  No fleas, no ears mites, and neutered.  So we got him a rabies shot and snuck him into the 3rd floor so we can introduce the boys to each other gradually.  We're thinking of calling him Chase, if we keep him, after Dave, since he's the reason that I was outside in the first place.  (Sorry, Dave, I just don't think that "Dave" is a great name for a cat.  Or at least not this one.)

I'm totally sold on keeping him, Carl's pretty convinced, but Galen gets the deciding vote.  I'll keep you posted!