Freshness and Goodness!

Mothers Day Yesterday, a seasonably cool and fresh day, with enough chill to inspire a soup and bread menu.  And my day was meatless, though it wasn't our intent!  Daughter recently was at Panera and had her fav Broccoli Cheese soup and we searched and found a similar recipe online.  I put hubby to work making Italian Herb bread in the bread machine, and the last hour, we all worked to create a mom pleasing meal!  And to top it off, I am including a buttery Lemon Pound Cake, to top with some simple berries, this recipe from my Mom's archives.  She noted, she served in 1980 to her Allspice Group, a church ladies soirre, my mom was always a celeb in the baking department!
I hope you will try these recipes, with my variations, and real time pics.

Panera Style Broccoli Cheese Soup

Lace Crazed

Following up on my last post, I showed you how I spend my hours substitute teaching with little hand held projects I carry along.  I love to sew and craft, but I have to get creative to find take along projects that don't require alot of stuff.  In my sewing room, there is always a top or sweater waiting for something to take them from blah to rah!  Even though I work part time at a clothing store, I am always taking inspiration from what is in the stores, and trying to translate it to my closet.

Vintage and New Crochet Craziness...

From one piece of vintage crochet table cloth, inspiration to embellish springs forth!

   

An intact piece cut from the crochet panel you see on the left, chosen for its'  nice scallop edging fills in the deep v of a cream colored cotton sweater.  It was so plain jane before, but it rocks with the crochet touch!

Valentine Casserole Cozy and my first BLOG HOP!!!

Hello, welcome to my blog, and welcome to the

Hugs and Kisses Blog Hop. 
Thank you Jane of Jane's Fabrics and Quilts for being our awesome cheerleader for the Hugs & Kisses blog hop and Madame Samm of Sew We Quilt!

Shopping your local thrift store for crafting materials...

I am an infrequent poster on other sites, but I just stopped by one of my favs, Going Green Crafters and Artists...and left the following post.  If you are just stopping by my site, for the first time, please leave me a comment!  I will reciprocate!

Thrift stores are great places to shop for the raw materials to craft great gifts!  This past Christmas season, I took a few trips to my local Goodwill.  There you will find the castoffs from households that can yield great fodder for unique ideas.

Christmas Memories 2012 and Craft Wrap up

Just a word or two about our2012 holiday, it was a quiet one in our house, and very modest. My family all live south, and hubby's family does celebrate with one big party.  Pics of the McM party here which was held at a local Community cabin...days before Christmas.

A little Santa Action!

My namesake Sandy...

created havoc in my hood...Ya, in the safe state of Ohio, we got whip lashed by the hurricane.  And as usual, our neighborhood got hit hard with the wind and driving rain, resulting in major power outages and inconvenience.  Of course, I am grateful for several things as a result.  My son had the fore-sight to buy gas and power up a generator that we saved our food and the neighbors with.  That we had recently bought candles, fire starters and chopped wood so that we went on survival mode as soon as it passed and left us in the dark.

Falling in love with Fall

and grateful, we survived the hottest summer on record...I have been storing up lots of summer and early fall memories, mostly in my camera...


boating with my 2 gals

grilled pizza, with our homemade sauce and tomatoes

I'm baaaaaccccckkkkkk...

from a long hiatus that is!  4 months is a long time for me to be gone, but I just haven't gotten much done except getting through each day.  This past month has me working less since school is out, and my retail job has less hours too, so I feel I am breathing again.  And indulging in my favorite pastimes, dreaming up and creating.  Even my craft room finally got a much needed cleaning and now that I can see table tops, I can begin anew. 



Because it is summer, it is the time for working outdoors, and my garden has really been ablaze, even with the recent drought.  Recent storms have caused alot of new blooms, and my roses have grown huge this year!

Finishing Nothing, Finding Peace

What do I mean by this title!  Not sure, but having a long spell away from my sewing/crafting, as my two jobs demand my attention.  Digital crafting by pinning my favs on Pinterest, I fill my longing for creating by looking at others contributions.