Date and Nut Tea Bread

I've updated my date and nut bread recipe, and I'm having some with a cup of tea from my old faithful Sadler Brown Betty teapot. 

 

 

My favorite teacup for January is Johnson Brothers Friendly Village. It's fun to imagine myself in they pretty scenes.

A friend of mine dropped by with two of these handmade coasters that she created.  Isn't her work exquisite??  They're much too pretty to use as a coaster, don't you think? 

 

Yield: 1 loaf or 4 mini loaves

Author: Kitty

Date and Nut Tea Bread

I updated my tried and true recipe, by using butter in place of shortening, brown sugar in place of white, and using brewed tea.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans are good)
• 8 ozs. of pitted dates, chopped (don't buy the already pre-chopped dates). You can quickly chop them with a pair of kitchen shears.
• 1 and 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup freshly brewed strong tea
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups sifted flour

Instructions

1. Combine nuts, dates, soda, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and freshly brewed hot tea.   Allow this mixture to stand for 15 minutes. Stir to blend.
2. Beat the eggs slightly, add vanilla;, and add this to the date mixture.   Add the flour a little at a time, and blend well.
   
3. Place in a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour in a 350 degree oven. Cool before removing.
4. NOTE: If making mini loaves, check to see if they're done at around 30-40 minutes.

 My youngest granddaughter is starting ballet and she needed a tote.  I made this for her to carry to class. 

 Thank you for your visit!  xo

I am sharing this with:

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All About Home with Debra 

All About Home with Amber 

Love Your Creativity Link Party

Meal Plan Monday

Christmas Jam

 This old kitchen Santa is one that my daughter gave me years ago, when we exchanged Santas.  Isn't he cute in his corduroy overalls and flannel shirt?  Don't you love his metal pail, cookies and wooden spoon, with his sack of flour?  He always makes me smile and today he was in the kitchen when I made Christmas Jam.  My dear Mom made me the Santa pillow.

 

Every single morning, I have breakfast in bed, unless grandkids are spending the night.  I always put milk in my teapot, so it's ready to pour.

 

I love the vintage look of this teacup by Johnson Brothers, and I have the matching luncheon size plate to use for my breakfast.

 Here's my bed after I make it for the day.  I love the red quilts for Winter time, and red always makes me happy!  The bears were gift from my late hubby many years ago. 

 This is my view from my bed.  I made the Chubby Snowman and I placed the tree and him on my childhood sled.  The lights are on a timer and pop on for a few hours in the morning and then again in the evening.  You can see how I made the snowman by looking here.

yield: 7 half pintsAuthor: Kittyprint recipe

Christmas Jam

My late beloved and I always made several batches of this wonderful jam to give as gifts, and now I make it by myself, and remember our times together in the kitchen. You can decorate the jars by using muffin liners, ribbon, cross stitch, springs of holly, etc., or doilies.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (12-ounce) package of fresh cranberries
• 2 (10-ounce) packages of frozen strawberries, thawed (I use a 23-24 oz.container of sliced strawberries in sugar now, because I can't find the 10 oz. packages any longer)
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 (3-ounce) package of liquid pectin
• 1 teaspoon of butter, to reduce foam

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Coarsely chop cranberries in a food processor.
2. Combine cranberries, strawberries, sugar, and butter in a Dutch oven, and bring to boil, and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat, and add liquid pectin to mixture.
4. Return to heat and bring to a full rolling; boil 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and skim off foam with a metal spoon, if needed.
5. Quickly pour jam into hot sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace, wipe jar rims. Cover with metal lids, that have been boiled in water, and screw on bands. Process in boiling-water bath for 5 minutes.
6.  NOTE: Instead of processing in a boiling water bath, I turn the filled, lidded, banded jars upside down for about 5 minutes and then turn upright. In a few minutes, you should hear the jars seal, with a "ping". I have never had this fail, and this tip was shared by a friend about 40 years ago.

http://www.kittyskozykitchen.com/2016/12/christmas-jam.html

Created using The Recipes Generator

I am sharing with these lovely parties:

I was featured!

Tuesday Cuppa Tea 

Teacup Tuesday 

Cooking and Crafting with J & J  

Share Your Cup

Full Plate

Foodie Friday

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Monday Social

Sweet Tea Challenge at Thistlewood Farms

 Recently some Texas bloggers met at Jemma's lovely French country farmhouse,  for a day of arts and crafts and a wonderful lunch.   Jemma, the hostess with the mostest,  blogs at At Home With Jemma,  While there,  we had the pleasure of meeting the bubbly and enthusiastic Karianne from Thistlewood Farms. We were also gifted some charm packs of KariAnne's new fabric line,  in our gift bags from Laura, who blogs at Decor To Adore.  We were challenged to come up with  what we would do with our charm squares.  Both Laura and Judith from Botanic Bleu demonstrated beautiful crafts.

 Here are the charm packs that we received!  I was especially smitten with the Sweet Tea pack!  Hmmmmm....I wonder why?!

 

I got busy and started sewing for the :

Since I love making mug rugs, I thought that these little squares would make an adorable design.  I quickly got busy on my machine, and did an in-the-hoop mug rug.

 Here's the finished watermelon mug rug.  I love the soft colors and it's perfect for my iced tea in my mason jar.

 I also knew that I wanted to make a Disappearing Nine-Patch design with nine of the squares. I wanted to make something that I would use and enjoy.  To make this , you sew the squares in rows of three and then join the three rows together,  normally leaving a dark square in the middle.  

After the squares are all sewn, you cut down the middle from the top and from the side.  You then arrange them however you like.  Once you rearrange them, it makes it look like a complicated design, but it's not, as you can see below!

This is how I arranged my Disappearing Nine-Patch,  and since I like to decorate tea trays, I added white rick-rack and backed the design, to make a pretty napkin.  I'm also thinking that I could stuff it and turn it into a pretty pillow for a guest room, when I redecorate my late beloved's office space.  The napkin is what I submitted for the challenge.  Please go to Thistlewood Farms blog to vote.

I am sharing this with:

Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Share Your Cup 

Foodie Friday and Everything Else 

Thank you for your visit!  xo

An InLinkz Link-up

Purse from Recycled Jeans

 Here's my "Designer Purse" made from my late beloved's jeans.  He loved wearing cargo type shorts, and I thought they would make a cute purse, and  then have a reminder of him.   I also used some of the leftover jeans to make a lined cosmetic bag.  

Isn't this teacup a beauty?  A sweet blogging friend sent this to me, along with the Earl Grey Tea canister.  Don't you love the rim of the teacup?  I think I need a cup of Earl Grey to perk me up,  after all that sewing!

 I cut out the pockets of the shorts, leaving enough fabric around to make a rectangle to the  size that I wanted.  You can see that there is a paint splatter on one of the pockets, for he was always helping someone paint or do any project that someone needed.  I covered up the paint splatters with some flowers.  Of course, I had to add some lace trim, for some added embellishment.

 I lined the inside with some cheery polka dot fabric,  and made pockets for sunglasses, etc. 

Here's one of the sides, which I decorated with yo-yo flowers and used a zig zag stitch for the stems and leaves.  On the sides of the purse, there were more paint splatters, and I covered those up with a tree and a sun. My "designer purse" is a sweet reminder of my hubby and I can carry a little bit of him with me.

Of course,  it was pouring when I wanted to write my post, therefore, I'm sharing some fairy garden pictures that I took of the McKinney Home and Garden Show that I attended over the weekend.  Isn't this one darling, with the Ferris wheel at the base of a huge tree?

This cute one was done in a vintage hat box,  and as you can see it's a beach setting.  What fun!

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

Tuesday Cuppa Tea 

No Place Like Home 

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Tea Cup Tuesday 

Cooking and Crafting with J & J  

Share Your Cup

Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Foodie Friday

Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

 

Thanks for your visit!  xo

Apron from My Late Beloved's Shirt

 I would like to take you on a little tour of my sewing room today.  The chest above was from my childhood bedroom set, which was maple and I painted it white to brighten up the space.  My daughter covered the SEW letters in scrapbook paper for my special space.  

 My late beloved hubby put together two kitchen cabinets, back to back, for storage for my supplies, and for a large cutting area.  I put two cutting mats on top, which comes in handy.  On the side of the cabinets, I used beadboard wallpaper to cover up the seam of the cabinets that were put together. 

 I hung this quilt that I hand appliqued and quilted over thirty years ago, when my youngest child was a baby.  A group of us in Columbus, Ohio, had a small quilting group, and we would meet every few weeks in each others homes. 

 In my sewing room, I have double doors on a closet.  My hubby and his friend built a shelf for my sewing machine, shelves on  the sides, and they put up a pegboard, with a fluorescent light above.  I can close the doors over to tidy things up.

 

 On one side of the doors, I hung these shelving units to hold stabilizers, sprays,  and other items.

I have had my late beloved's shirts, knowing that I wanted to make an aprons from them.  After two and a half years, I finally was able to bring myself to make some over Valentine's weekend.   There are plenty of tutorials on the internet on how to do these.  A ruffle, some trims, eyelet in the top pocket and a cherry applique adds a decorative touch. 

 Basically, you cut off the sleeves, and the front from the back at the yoke.  You leave the collar intact, but cut around the back edge of the collar, from one side of the yoke to the other.    I sewed the bottom of the shirt together to close the gap. 

 I drew a line from the collar down to underarm, and then cut that off.  You then press that edge twice and sew the edge. I pressed and sewed the side seams, but you can just cut them at the seam.  Most shirts have a a very nice french seam on the side.  I'm just picky and wanted the seam enclosed. 

I cut the sleeve off to make a pocket on the front of the apron, and sewed on some trim, pressed the pocket and then pinned and sewed it on.  I used the back of the shirt to make the ties and also sewed together two strips to make a ruffle for the bottom edge of the apron. I have several more aprons to make for loved ones in my family.  Sh-h-h-h it's a secret!

After all that sewing, I'm going to have a some tea in this beautiful cup that my daughter gave me for Christmas.  Doesn't it look so pretty in my sewing room?

Won't you share some strawberry chocolate cake with me and some yummy tea a sweet friend sent me?  I will share the recipe for the cake soon.

 

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

No Place Like Home

Tuesday Cuppa Tea 

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Tea Cup Tuesday 
Roses of Inspiration 
Cooking and Crafting with J & J  

Share Your Cup

Full Plate
Thoughts of Home on Thursday 

Foodie Friday

Weekend Potluck
Dishing It! & Digging It!                                                                                   I was featured:

 

Thank you for your visit!  xo

Button Covered Heart Pillow from a Sweater

 I wanted to make a pillow for my sofa from an old sweater that my sister gave me.

 I cut off the sweater under the arms and then put right sides together,  and used one of the side seams of the sweater as a side seam for the pillow, cut off what I didn't need from the other side, pinned and then stitched around the other three seams.  I left a space at the bottom to insert my pillow form that I already had saved from and old pillow. You could always stuff the pillow with Poly Fil, in place of a pillow form. 

I stitched the opening closed and gathered shades of brown and neutral buttons and hot glued them in the shape of a heart.  I loved how it turned out!

 

I am sharing this with:

Make It Pretty Monday

Roses of Inspiration 

Share Your Cup

Foodie Friday