NEW - APRIL BANNER OF THE MONTH .... Stormy Weather......and a WINNER!!!!-

A little stormy weather doesn't bother Sunbonnet Sue. She's prepared! Here she is in our latest pattern offering....soon to make its appearance in our sales room. 

April Banner of the Month

Sunbonnet Sue knows "April showers bring May flowers!" In her mind, they're already blooming. This block, basically, a log cabin, is very easy to make, as are all of the blocks we include in our applique patterns.

The rain is coming down.....raining cats and dogs....well, dogs, anyway......

....but even her pooch is protected from the deluge!

On she goes....promises to keep. 

Our banner patterns include instructions for fusible web applique but you can do them any way you please. This sample was sewn with the web and machine appliqued.

Just right for our recent stormy weather!

Again, Joan, over at Moose Stash Quilting has done herself proud, testing our patterns. Thank you so much, Joan, for another gorgeous sample.

And on another note:

A little dust storm called a Haboob came through last week. Haboob is an Arabic word originally describing sand storms in the Sudan. It is pronounced hay-boob. As was the case last week. the Haboob preceded a thunder storm. You can read more about it here. 

And on a final note:

  It's time for a drawing and someone has won their choice of a Prairie Cottage Corner pattern!

And the winner is:  Linda H.

Congratulations, Linda

I Think We Need to Cool Down a Little......and a Give-Away!!!!

Well, we had Christmas in July - now we'll have Snow in August. I didn't get these photos posted during the winter, so I'm posting them now.....hoping it will cool us down a little.....at least, in our imaginations!

Last year, we had our first snow just before Christmas.  It was the day we were to take gifts to some friends who were living rough while building a house. We had a basket of food and goodies as well as presents and supplies for them.

So we bundled into the Explorer. It was snowing heavily. I'll tell you our route through the sage brush along Crab Creek, as we go.

Here we are turning onto Laney Brother's Road from Coyote Heights Road. I love the names of the places out here. That's my forehead in the rearview mirror. It's been so dry out here (alright, I know it's semi-arid, but there are degrees of semi-arid and we have been hitting a mark close to zero rainfall for weeks on end.); the snow was definitely a  source for excitement.

No one else was out on the roads. Actually, we don't often see anyone on this road, at any time. In fact, in our little town, three cars at the main intersection is considered rush hour.

Here, we're approaching the high point on the road, just south of Sylvan Lake and just west of the big meadow where there's a dairy.

Okay, we didn't photograph the dairy. Don't ask me why. The road goes right through it between the house and the barn, so I'm always busy watching for cows, equipment, calves, ponies, dogs, cats and, most importantly, children. Now we're almost to the crossing of the creek. Up to the left in the next two pictures, are eagles' nests.

Bald eagles are quite common along Crab Creek where the palisades line the flood plain. I didn't see one on this day.

These palisades were formed progressively over thousands of years from massive lava flows and eruptions, three different times. The basalt that we see here, can also be found on the seashore at Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Many of the palisades are high and massive. Now, we've made the turn and are on the bridge across the creek. In the background are the palisades we just went past..

 And another view of the palisades.

Then, at the top of the hill coming up out of the coulee, we turn onto Lamona-Kramer Road. It's a primitive road with no warning signs and very little traffic, ever. One of our favorite parts of the short trip. It runs, here, through sage brush and pasture land.....no wheat right here, but plenty of it a mile or so to the south (to the right).

There's our friends' building project in the distance as we're turning onto Downs Road. 

The house is coming right along!

Well, have you cooled off yet? Feel any better? I know I do. I turned up the AC! That, plus the snowy landscape, did the trick.

Hey, you can win a free pattern of your choice by leaving me a comment and telling me 

HOW YOU KEEP COOL IN HOT WEATHER.

I'll draw the winning name on Monday, August 18, 2014,

 at 5 PM PDT.

Thanks for coming by and visiting. We love to hear from you!

Hazy, Lazy, Summer Fare

Is the weather all I have to complain about? It's the (I don't know how many) straight day of 90+ temperatures with very little rain, and I don't want to cook. I don't even want to THINK of turning on a burner. I'm even shy of the microwave - that's how hot it is and how hard it is to keep the inside of the house cool. Yup.

So meals become different when you don't want to use heat. You think about using no heat or minimal heat to prepare food. Thus, today's menu:

Three Bean Salad

Hepped Up Deviled Eggs

Fresh Garden Tomatoes

Toast

How's that for dinner? Sounds good to me!

First, the Salad Dressing Recipe

1/2 c. Cider Vinegar

1/4 c. Water

3/4 c. Olive Oil

1/2 t. Celery Seed

1 to 1 1/2 t. Italian Seasoning

1/2 t.Onion Granules

1/2 t. Garlic Granules

Salt & Pepper to Taste

1 - 2 T. Sugar or Sweetener (to taste)

Place all in a pint jar and shake well. Set aside.

Bean Salad Recipe

Mix together in a large bowl:

2 cans Black Beans, drained & rinsed

1 can Great Northern Beans, drained & rinsed

1 can Cut Green Beans, drained & rinsed

1 can Mushroom Stems & Pieces, drained

1 can Chopped Green Chilis (mild)

1 large Walla Walla Sweet Onion, chopped small

1/2 Green Bell Pepper, chopped small

1/2 bunch of Fresh Cilantro, washed and chopped, stems and all

Pour all of the dressing over the salad ingredients and mix well.

Chill.. You may want to let it stand at room temperature 1/2 hour before serving so that the olive oil loosens up a little bit. So, there's the salad. Now, for the protein side of the meal.....

Hepped Up Deviled Eggs Recipe

Place 6 to 18 eggs (not too fresh) in a soup kettle and cover to a depth of about 2" with cool water. Bring to the boil over medium high heat, covered. When the water is boiling, completely, shut off the burner and let the eggs stand for 15 minutes. Run under cold water to cool the eggs. Peel carefully and rinse in clean, cool water. Cut them in half, lengthwise and remove the yolks to a gallon re-closable bag. Mush the yokes up with your hands until smooth. Place the whites in a tray, ready to fill.

To make the filling, mix together in a small bowl:

1/4 to 1/2 c. Best Foods Mayonnaise

1 t. Gulden's Prepared Mustard

1 can Deviled Ham

1/2 t. Smoky Paprika

1/2 t. Garlic Granules

1/2 t. Onion Granules

1/4 t. Ground Black Pepper

1-2 T. Dried Parsley or 1/4 c. Fresh Parsley

Salt to taste (I don't add any because the ham is salty)

Add the mayonnaise mixture to the bag and mush everything together well. Snip off a lower corner of the bag, making an opening about 3/8" long. Squeeze the yolk mixture out, starting at the bottom of each white and swirling to almost cover the whole top.

Chill well. These should keep in the fridge for about 3 days.

Serve the Bean Salad and Hepped Up Deviled Eggs with fresh tomatoes and toast for a summer's delightful, dinner. Yum. We've been enjoying this since yesterday. The house is staying fairly cool and the cook is NOT frazzled (well, not over cooking, anyway)......AND, she has time to quilt.

Crazy 8 Shop Hop

Heads up, shoppers. It's time to hop to it in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho with the Crazy 8 Shop Hop.

Area quilt shops are offering all kinds of prizes and discounts in their annual shop hop 

August 7, 8 and 9, 2014; 9 am to 6 pm

If you would like a map, please write to me and I'll send one to you.

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Here's the list of shops:

Grammy G's

124 Main Street

Palouse, WA

208-301-8014

***************

Stitches and Petals

1016 W. Pullman Rd.

Moscow, ID
208-882-5672

*****************

Palouse River Quilts

124 Main Street

Colfax, WA
509-397-2278

******************

Rather-Be's

382 Hwy 12 E

Pomeroy, WA
509-843-6162

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Patrick's Crafts

840 6th Street

Clarkston, WA

509-758-2110

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Becky's Fabrics and Bernina

Mall 21 - 1702 21st Street

Lewiston, ID

208-743-4448

***************

Emerald Garden

2125 14th Avenue

Lewiston, WA

208-743-1849

**************

Material Girls Quilting, Etc.

10492 Hwy 12

Orofino, ID

208-476-4646

**************

The Wild Hare

222 Johnson Avenue

Orofino, ID

208-476-3358

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Home Grown Quilts

207 Main Street

Grangeville, ID

208-983-0254

******************

Happy Shop Hopping, Everyone. Now, let's get out there and BUY!