Grilled Pizza...Yum!!

I made this for 'brunch' this morning. We are on a 'pizza kick' around here.  Grilled, that is.  So this morning I made the dough and in an hour it was ready to grill.  I sauteed asparagus and caramelized onion then fried an egg.  When the pizza dough was done on one side, I flipped it and added the vegetables, goat cheese and the fried egg.  Made a fruit salad of mango, strawberries and blueberries and a cup of coffee...oh yeah....worth the fuss!




Below is a cookbook I purchased at Williams Sonoma in Des Moines last Wednesday.  Since we had left over pizza dough, we had Thai Peanut Sauce Pizza for supper.  The recipe was from this book. It was delicious!

I've spent most of the day working on the rose that I started in Melinda Bula's class (See yesterday's post).  Its looking pretty good.  This picture was taken earlier today after I put on the last layer of highlights.  I don't have a picture yet, but I have all the leaves done now.  My back was killing me, so I had to quit.  Maybe I can get back to it tomorrow.  Another hot day, another day in the house...

I got some new pillows when I was in Des Moines.  Sale at Pottery Barn...love it!!

                                                                                           

A Busy June

This has been a busy month.  Last weekend was my painting class and this week I attended a quilting workshop in Des Moines with good friend Jackie.  It was a wonderful learning experience! We arrived in town on Tuesday afternoon.  Had to stop at TLC Vintage so I could pick up more Annie Sloan colors (of course!) and then onto Penzy's for some great spices. Had a great meal at Cool Basil and then onto the meeting of the Des Moines Quilt Guild where we heard guest speaker  Melinda Bula, a fabulous, world renown quilter who shared her story.

The next day we attended a workshop taught by Melinda.  What a fun woman and great teacher!  We learned her process for making her beautiful floral quilts and worked on making a rose with her pattern.

 Above is the assortment of fabrics I brought to make the pattern of the rose.  Next is Miss Jackie anxiously waiting to begin the process!

Next are some pictures of the fabulous quilts Melinda brought to show her methods.  Absolutely stunning!

These are just two examples of the exquisite work that Melinda does. And, with her patterns, you, too can make these beauties!

Above, is a rose quilt that is unfinished so Melinda can show the process.

The next day, after spending the night with David and Marcia(THANK YOU, THANK YOU!), we returned to learn Melinda's method of free-motion quilting which she calls 'renegade quilting'.  What a blast! I learned soo much and it was not intimidating at all.  

Above Melinda talks about renegade quilting. She made it look soo easy.  And it was! Next Melinda is signing her book that I brought with me (it is currently out of print).

Next, Jackie gets a hug from Melinda. 

Below is another of Melinda's award winning quilts.  Isn't it outstanding?

What a great learning experience!  Thank you, Melinda!

A" Repainting" Machine!

Here's my next project to be repainted with my Annie Sloan Paint.

I have so many projects but I thought I'd start with the smallest and get the techniques down.  For this table, I only used the Duck Egg Blue paint and waxes.  Since the table was already a dark blue, I distressed it down to the dark blue and then applied the wax.  I should have thought about a stencil, but I guess that ship has sailed....I think I would have to apply paint again. Next time.

Sweet little table, don't you think? What's next?

Annie Sloan Paint Class

Here is the finished product from my Annie Sloan Chalk Paint class!  It really was a fun and easy class and I finished this table in 3 hours!
 Marcia and I arrived at TLC Vintage Collection in Des Moines at a little after 8 am. We met Janet, the owner and wandered around the shop while we waited for others to arrive. She's got lots of pieces that she has painted and many that are waiting for that special someone to take them home. She also has some sweet stencils. I just wanted to get started after seeing all the colors that she had available.
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is a product that I had seen on several blogs that I found on Pintrest and I was dying to try it.  So I finally found some place closer than New Jersey and talked my sister-in-law Marcia into joining me on this adventure.

Above, is the table I took.  To the left of the table is the step stool that Marcia brought.  My table was my mother's old sewing machine cabinet that my father had 'redone' by removing the old machine and permanently attaching the fold out part of the table so it wouldn't open.  There is also a drawer.  Marcia's is a stool made by her uncle and refinished several times.

 This is the first coat I put on my table.  It is called Duck Egg Blue.  No stripping, no sanding, no priming! No kidding!

Marcia applied Emperor's Silk  to her stool. 

Next, after the blue dried, I applied Old Ochre, let it dry and then distressed the piece with a dampened cloth that I rubbed all over to remove some of the ochre.  Then came the WAX.  Clear wax first then a dark wax that you rub off immediately (I was sweating!).

Marcia ran into some difficulty and had to start over (it is pink!), but still managed to have a nicely finished product and finished when I did!

Here is Janet Pillar, shop owner and teacher, talking about my finished piece. (Marcia said I was 'teacher's pet').  It was a fun and informative class.  Now, I want to repaint Lauren's vanity, chairs, nightstands, etc.  Too much fun!! .. I'm even thinking about the center island in the kitchen...

Flowers From Lauren

WOW!  I got flowers from my wonderful daughter...just because!!!! What a sweetheart! And aren't they lovely?  Maybe she was celebrating the summer solstice? Whatever the reason..I love it!

Uncle David was here also  on Wednesday evening.  He had an appointment at the U of I for a heart biopsy.  His last one was 3 months ago! Hope this one continues with the good news.  No rejection is good news!

We went to dinner last evening to Red's in North Liberty. Mighty tasty! Afterwards, Lauren went a little crazy with my camera.  Here are some of the goofy pictures...

Cooper with his tongue peeking out...

How'd she do that?!

Bob..looking confused....

Me, wishing she wouldn't take the picture.

HEY!!!

David's One-Year Milestone!

David received a new heart ONE YEAR AGO on June 14! What a journey it has been for him and Marcia! He has done exceptionally well for which we are all so thankful.

In celebration and to express their 'heartfelt' thanks to Divas (you know who you are), Doctors and dedicated friends and family David and Marcia had dinner at Biaggi's in Des Moines.   It was delightful and delicious!

Above, David and Marcia pose in front of the fantastic cake that was made for the event. What a sweet couple!

Below, is the medical team from Uof I who were able to make it (plus little Rosie!), daughter Lauren enjoying the evening , and "Diva" Diane and her husband Kent, with Lauren.

We look forward to many more years of celebration with David!!!

New Kitchen Gadget!!

Got a new kitchen gadget!  Friends Jackie and Jeannie picked up this 3-pop maker at Williams-Sonoma for me last weekend.  First, you have to put the base in the freezer for 24 hours, then you're ready to go.  There were several recipes in the Hy-Vee Seasons magazine, so I sort of tried one of them.  I say 'sort of' because I never really have all the ingredients and have to wing it.

As usual, there is a learning curve...My first ones were pretty weird looking because my mixture was pretty thick and it was hard to pour a thin enough stream into the pop maker. Plus it sort of spilled all over and instantly froze!  My advice: stick with simple thin juice mixture to start with. But do try different recipes!  I found one for a watermelon pop that sounds divine at yumkid.com! I'll be trying it this weekend!

I should mention that this little freezer thingy stays COLD for quite a while, so you can crank out 2-3 rounds,if you have a lot of mix.  It sets in about 5-7 minutes the first round. By the third, it will take a little longer.  Its a great treat on a summer day!

Fun With My Embroidery Machine!

Well, here's what I did this weekend.  I found a fun website Five Star Fonts while on Facebook.  They had some very cute projects that were done completely in the hoop...including zippers!!  The top project, in the picture, is a zippered bag for my kindle (with a pocket). The bottom one, with the key, has a little pocket in the back that holds a driver's license and credit card. And the bottom right is a zippered glasses case with a pocket. I just used fabric from my stash.  It always takes longer the first time, but it went very smoothly.  The directions were great with pictures every step of the way.

It all started when I 'liked' Five Star Fonts on Facebook.  When you do that, you can get a free 'in the hoop' design.  So I made that one first, and then I had to do more.  I guess I'm an embroidery 'junkie'. Here is the free design I did. The lighting is too bright and it is hard to see there is a zipper going down the center.

  Fun way to spend a hot Sunday afternoon!!

Lunch Time

I was grilling some hot dogs yesterday and looked over the rail and saw the baby wrens squawking for their lunch!  Finally, the parent appeared with a tasty morsel.  There are 3 little beaks to feed so the parents were pretty busy.

Sock Club Yarn Arrived!

My Rockin' Sock Club yarn arrived today! WOO HOO! it a very lovely fingering weight in shades of navy, grey, sea foam green, and lilac.  There are two patterns and a little bit about the process of dying, naming and testing the yarn.

I haven't knit April's yarn, yet.  But I'm frequently behind in all my knitting projects.  A bad case of  my brain thinking it can accomplish WAAAY more than my little knitting fingers can....I hope my daughter takes up knitting in earnest someday.  She will undoubtedly have to deal with some of this yarn..someday.

A Sunday in June

This is the view of our back yard from the upper patio.  The hostas are looking very fine these days thanks to Bob and his green thumb.  We brought most of them from our old house when we moved here.  If the rabbits and deer don't eat them they look amazing!

It was a nice Sunday.  The weather was perfect! This weekend was the IowaArt Fest in Iowa City.  Bob and I went yesterday.  We picked up a pottery piece for Lauren and went back today to get another (didn't have enough cash yesterday).  

I made ice cream with the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker.  How easy is this?  I keep the container in the freezer so that when I mix up the recipe, its always ready to start mixing and freezing.  This time I made Cinnamon frozen yogurt with chopped up Heath bars...Oh My! Got the recipe from the Penzy's Spice catalog that comes in the mail.  Pretty tasty.  

I also made grilled pizza from the catalog.  Look on the recipe page for the recipe.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it!