Happy New Year and Baking Bread

Happy New Year to all !!
One of my favorite things to do is make bread. All kinds of bread. I've baked homemade bread since I was a teenager. Back then I used a lot of arm muscle to mix this stuff by hand. So happy to have a stand mixer with dough hooks now. Here is a loaf of white bread baked New Years Eve. Nothing better  than the scent of fresh baked bread my husband experienced when he walked in the door at 2am. We shared our New years kiss and some hot slices of bread slathered in butter! The next morning I made hamburger buns. After that soft pretzel nuggets. They were excellent. The extras are stored in the freezer. Just pop them in the toaster oven and they taste like they were just made. Let me know if anyone is interested in any of these recipes. I don't have time right now or I'd have posted them too. I hope to get myself a bit more organized so I can post more on here, so back to work for me. Until next time......

New Doll Pattern ~~~Anya is her name!

I apologize for such a long time in between posts but life gets in the way. I'm always sooooo busy everyday all day long. It makes me wonder how did I manage to get all this done when I had a full time job outside the home too!!!?
Anyway I just finished her last week. Here's Anya my newest Raggedy Doll Pattern. Available in PDF download form   Click here for the PDF
Also available in mailed paper pattern form actually on sale right now Click Here for Paper Pattern 
I don't have her listed at all my venues just yet, only at the two links here in this post.
I'm off to try and finish another pattern real soon I hope. I don't know, now that we are in Christmas Season it's time to decorate the house and make all the gifts for family, friends, and neighbors. So thinking in terms of reality I'll be surprised at myself if I get another one done before the first of the year. But it is the time of year for miracles......
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Season to all!

My Helper!

I got out the fabric, opened up the pattern, set the instructions down on top of the fabric, turned around to get the scissors and this is what I see when I turn back around!!

This is Pebbles, she loves to help me!! She sometimes lays behind the sewing machine and puts her paws in there when I'm sewing!! What a clown!

No wonder it's taking me so long to get these costumes done!

International Quilt Market
Houston 2012*

October 27-29, 2012
George R. Brown Convention Center
Houston, Texas
*Trade show only. Not open to the general public.
Hours:
Sat., Oct. 27 - 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 28 - 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 29 - 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Ticket prices:
Buyer Admission $25 advance/$30 on-site with proper credentials

October Already!!

Ok Aug. & Sept. flew by so fast I don't remember seeing them!! Wow! It's October. So after I froze some wonderful Colorado peaches-----by the way THE BEST peaches I have ever had!---- I made peach butter from some California peaches. This is all that is left of that. It was very good. I sent some to my Mom in Maine to enjoy. 
The kids are back in school. We've celebrated the daughter in laws birthday and our 2 daughter's birthday's. The end of Sept. starts the frenzy of birthdays, anniversaries, holidays,and craft shows that I host and participate in for the year! It ends Jan. 4th with #1 grandson's birthday. Then just a few celebrations the rest of the year.Whew!

Ahhh, the fruits of summer.......Blueberry Jam--practically seedless. I strain out as much of the seeds as I can when I make my jams. I just don't like the seeds. I will be making Strawberry jam this weekend, and most likely Blackberry after that.

We went to the play Wicked the other night for one daughter's birthday. What an excellent show----really enjoyed it. That was the first play I had been to. I may have to see more. The daughter saw online that there will be a movie of the same out in 2014.

Canning or Freezing Peaches, That is the question

Canning or freezing 16lbs. of peaches? Freezing won out for this batch. I bought a case of Colorado Peaches. I made a peach pie and we've eaten several. Yesterday I spent a good hour and a half blanching and freezing the rest. I have 8 Quarts in the freezer. I must say these were the best peaches I can remember eating. They have our vote for getting 2 cases next time!! I'm getting another case in Sept. but these are coming from Calif. I'll be making peach jam out of those.

I've been busy sewing school clothes for my niece. And as usual trying to organize all my supplies and fabric. It's a never ending process! Years ago when I first started collecting fabric----now I used to sew most of what I collected back then ------ I was working at a fabric store and I couldn't turn down the good buys. 3/4yd. and less on the bolt was put in a box under the cutting table and at the end of the day we could buy whatever pieces we wanted for 10-25 cents each. Needless to say I started collecting a lot of fabrics. At that time I was mainly sewing my kids clothes and things around the house like draperies, pillows, table runners, placemats and the like. It was after the kids hit Jr. High and wanted store bought clothes that I started crafting and quilting more. I started an organized fabric log. It was quite handy and at that time I only had about a dozen containers full of fabric. I gave up on the fabric log once the containers doubled in size. But it was a great idea while I kept it up. I wanted to share a link to someone who has done the same and created a printable for y'all if you'd like to try your hand at organizing. My log sheets were very similar.

http://www.sewweekly.com/2011/11/fabric-swatch-notebook-printable/