Christmas Coconut & Date Balls

december 1970, 2 years before i was born, muzz wrote this recipe down. it uses oleo, which is an uncommon ingredient today but was used quite frequently 30 years ago. basically, it was pre-margarine. i had a friend make moon pies about 8 years ago and she actually found oleo in the market, but we were in the south, so that may have something to do with availability. i think it is more of a cross between crisco and parkay. (remember the old parkay commercials? miss them!)

c&d balls!

new favorite

found this sewing book that is just about perfect. (she also has a website that i added to my sidebar.) the ease of projects and the beautiful layout along with the included patterns makes this book a must have for a beginner like me. the problem is, which thing to make first?

got together some shower invitations--am determined to use scrapbooking supplies that are hidden in my craft/heap/closet/mess. want to sew today but have school commitments, so have to study instead! arg!

Frozen Fruit Salad

Basically you take the following ingredients and pour them into the juice cans (use some Pam). Garnish with additional maraschino cherries. Freeze fruit salad until firm. Then you slide it out of the cans (run warm water over them first) slice it up and presumably eat it or hit someone over the head with it. Reasearch found that this is a recipe from 1950 with some modifications made by Muzz. Sounds quite cool on a hot day, right?



"3 bananas 4 ways?"

I am really noticing a theme with processed foods as I go through the recipes...must have been the shortages during the war and the prices of fresh foods.

"charming handbag" from angry chicken's new book

my first attempt on this bag went awry--probably 'cuz i am a novice? anyway, hopefully one of the nieces can use it to play with. the "not so charming" bag:

crafty goals for the week

(um, does this ad scare you?)

Christmas spoiler so don't read if you are family and want surprises:

-would like to find the clear plastic stuff people are using to make necklaces with? which means a stop at hobby lobby. also need to finish 2 scrapbook-y Christmas gifts and a baby pillow, as well as edge a fleece blanket.

-lee and i have been tossing around ideas for Chritsmas so it looks like I will be getting him in on the act. everyone will either love or hate the gifts this year--so we may throw gift cards in for good measure although i have learned to detest them.

-so far i have finished:
3 fleece hats
2 backboards for pictures

-need:
cd's w/ covers
t-shirts
necklace stuff

-have a kit for making lipgloss that i will have to dig out. want to knit a baby hat as well. think i am going to do loads of fleece this year for kids. hm.

Molded Fruit, anyone?

"This sounds absolutely horrible."
-Lee on the following Frosted Fruit Mold (say THAT 3 times fast):




Something about cheese and lime jello just does not compute.

newsworthy

so i made my first quilt today-a little miniature one for a baby (over the car seat or in a swing is what i was thinking). next comes the little pillow. i like that it has a pocket and i used a soft white towel for the backing so it has a great weight to it.

in other news, muzzy's driver's license expires next week and she doesn't plan to renew it.

chicken cordon bleu for pat and liz

comfort food is a good thing. here is a recipe for you guys--enjoy!

sympathies

just wanted to post my sypathy at my SIL's loss of a family member--he was 36 years old and died of a massive heart attack this morning. so sorry, liz!

"carrotts, anyone?"

muzz must love carrots--whenever i would visit we would have them in some shape or form. i would always try to duplicate cooking carrots in my home but they never turned out as sweet. she claimed she just boiled them. she must have added something? i'm thinking sugar...

this recipe is very good--why wouldn't it be? it has velveeta in it!

super trooper

i love it when storm troopers use photo booth to take their pictures. those guys sure are smaller than i expected?

funny first bag

this is my first attempt at sewing--i actually lined this and everything--so even though it looks petty amateur, i learned a lot and had fun doing it. next time i'll make the straps narrower and make the bag longer or something. all i know is that i love my sewing machine. thanks to tiny happy for the pattern!

Southern Living Freezer Rolls

muzz doesn't have a middle name, which i couldn't really understand as a kid. she used to sign her name "Doris B. Lastname" and the B. stood for her maiden name. this worked out convienently enough for me in that when i married, my maiden name changed from a "K." to a "B."--so guess who got muzz's family silver? i did--complete with beautiful flowing B's engraved. now using the silver is another matter. i'm not one for polishing.



these freezer rolls were another company stand-by. i like how muzz writes on her recipes if something is delicious or not. think i'll come across one that was "just ok?" mom just told me that she has a recipe box full of more things. can't wait to see!

"crop"

don't usually like to go sit among strangers and work on my scrapbook--like it even less now that i am kinda burnt out on the whole idea (11 years and i am out of ideas!). but it was ok. was with a friend who i haven't seen in a while, so that made it better.

working on presents that i can't post here, but did manage this:

Fishing



Hole in One

chicken divan for patrick

i'm thinking this is the chicken casserole muzz used to make for patrick (my brother). in high school, he went over to muzz and pop's house once a week to fill up. muzz still talks about that every time i see her--it must be a good memory for them both.

chocolate crinkle, anyone?

muzzy made these cookies quite often for church socials:


muzz was a church secretary, so she typed pretty much everything (that's why i love her hand-written recipes). she used to take me up to the church office with her and i would be allowed to rummage the desk drawers of another secretary in hopes of finding bits of paper and tape to make things. i was a little obsessed with making purses out of scraps & tape and filling them with paper-makeup: little lipsticks and powders. wish i had some of those stashed away. oddly, i never saw anyone else who worked at the church. i think muzz hid me away.

fab rick (tehe)

went to the fabric store after getting this is the mail:


got very inspired. walked all around and picked up some nice things then went to get them cut at the counter. now, being a new sewer, i have no idea what i am doing. so why do i feel like i need to lie to the saleslady and act like i am not in in need of her proffered help? ah, well. such is pride. she asked me what i was going to do with the linen blend i bought on sale and i mumbled something about lining a bag. she probably thought i was nuts as i bought 3 yards of the stuff to use here and there.

Pineapple Cheese Ball

this is one of my all-time favorites. 6 or 7 christmases ago, muzz made this for a family get together and we had an entire ball left over, which mom and i wrapped in foil and hid in the fridge. i'll never forget getting it out at about 10 o'clock that night and eating some of it with crackers. my mom and i were watching pride and prejudice for the umpteenth time when she looked over at me and said, "are you going to eat the entire thing?"



(remember to click on the recipe to enlarge it)

pretty things up

was looking on ebay and found some stethescope name dangles (nice name)--but they were $10 and not quite what i had in mind, so i came up with my own. had to find the black circles and ended up using eye glass parts from hobby lobby. all in all, cost me about $3 for letters and used many of the things i had at home. this was a quickie, so i actually finished it!

doctors can steal scopes, so maybe they'll think twice about walking away with a pretty one (maybe not).

Bran Muffins from Audrey...

muzz always stuck a prune in the middle of these heavy babies (or a date) but these are just as nice without. they fill you up as well, which is good for those of us working on our fluffy-ness. as muzz always says, "ewe's not fat, ewe's fluffy!"

beaded

making stuff, originally uploaded by allthingsbright.

beaded

beaded, originally uploaded by allthingsbright.

picked up a library book today on paper crafts and got all excited. only had time to whip together a bookmark for an upcoming birthday. it turned out sweet.

yellow

yellow, originally uploaded by allthingsbright.

Someone said today is yellow day, so here is my contribution...I love pens, don't you? This one is totally unusable but makes me smile, anyway--which IS a use?

luncheon salad

Here is a lovely recipe from Muzz: Better Homes and Gardens presents a yummy Luncheon Salad. I will be adding her recipes here as I work on a scrapbook devoted to them. Fun, fun!

This is the first day of my "everything" blog. I am an avid crafter gone astray...I love to do all sorts of things but never seem to finish much of anything. My scrapbooks have pages missing, my knitted sweaters have arms and seams missing, and inherently I make a recipe now and then with an ingredient missing.

Here is my chronicle of an imperfect crafter. I like it all and am good at little. There will be few posts of perfection--and I am not a photographer. But try I must...because I love being crafty.

Oh, and Muzz is my muse--she is my almost-ninety year old grandmother who taught me to crochet and encouraged me to knit and hardhanger (both of which I struggle at). She always had her sewing machine humming when I went to see her on my summer breaks as a child. This blog is dedicated to her, one of the best friends I have ever had. I love you Muzzy.

ps click on the recipes to make them larger