the last of summer here ...

... see you sometime in September!

just the facts

::dinner was delicious
::it's highly windy & raining wildly because of this storm
::so far this book is very good
::i heart this juice
::obsessed with this game
::this movie is fabulous

paint + foot + sheet = Z's idea

Since the beginning of summer, Z has asked to paint a sheet with his feet. I don't know where he came up with this idea but clearly my craftyness has rubbed off on him (Yay!) soooooo this afternoon, on probably the hottest day of the week so far, we went outside so he could paint a sheet with his feet. He was giddy with excitement and the sweat was worth his happiness. Now to the pool ~ where I will put my feet in water!

A dinner birthday party, haircut day, AND an earthquake ... it is only Tuesday, right?

Yesterday was my Mom's 61st birthday. We celebrated over the weekend for a girls lunch and last night we had the family celebration. Everyone came over and I fixed, at her request, curried chicken, which is a family favorite. It's served over rice with peanuts and raisins and well, it's delicious!!! I can never make it like my grandmother because she has some kind of gravy talent I lack but everyone seemed to enjoy it, even my grandmother. I'll be heating up leftovers for dinner shortly.

Didn't take many pictures last night ~ decided to park the camera for most the evening. Here's a picture of Mom's cake. I didn't make the cake but did make homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it ~ great combination. Who doesn't like a party?

- - -

This morning I took the boys for their end-of-summer-back-to-school-is-soon haircuts. Let's just say Zack was more willing to get in the barber chair (and behind the camera) than Ben. Ben always much older after his haircuts and I can't believe my 12yr old is so big. Time moves too fast ... I know I say that often, but it does!!!

- - -

We lunched after the haircuts event and then took Ben to a friend's house for the afternoon. Soon after that while driving it felt like all 4 tires were going flat and the road became quite wobbly. I changed lanes and it stopped and felt normal. Then I noticed people everywhere outside on their phones and turned out we had a rolling earthquake hit measuring 5.9!! Got home to pictures on the wall crooked (this bothers me on a non-earthquake day!) but have left then for Ben too see because he'll want to see the damage from the quake. It's been over a century I think they said since we've had an earthquake here. Very scary though and thankful we are all OK.

cosy

It was such a bright and sunny morning ~ after lunch out we were going to head to the pool but the clouds came out and hid the sun! Completely dark outside now and a storm is on its way ~ tea is made and my book is good; the children are occupied and this is turning out to be a blissful Sun-day afternoon after all. Just ask the Miss Maddy.

Birding 101, Free pattern, and of course a recipe ...

Birds are fascinating to me ~ not the movie Birds (that's just freaky!) and I have no real knowledge of which bird is which from another other than the Virginia Cardinal (red) and the nasty Blue Jay (blue - easy one) and you know I can spot a squirrel from a mile away. That's a bird in another variety. Anyway, finally, finally found a feeder that the squirrels can't climb, pull down, and break so the birds are content eating in peace while the squirrels meander on the grass for scraps that fall. This morning the feeders were busy as usual but by the time I grabbed the camera, a few were left for posing. Oh and time, again, to fill the feeders -- these birds sure eat lots.

Miss Maddy was too sleepy to bird watch this morning -- for all I know she probably did her viewing earlier. She's hiding now.

Last night I fixed a favorite comfort food recipe. The best thing about it -- leftovers for tonight so no cooking for me! I've probably posted the recipe before but just in case ...


Mama's Hot Chicken Salad
2 Cups diced cooked chicken (nice way to use a rotisserie chicken from the store!)
2 Cup cooked white rice (I used brown rice for the first time last night - even better!!)
1/2 Cup mayo
3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 t lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 can cream of chicken soup, undiluted

Combine all. Pour into flat, buttered baking dish. Cover with Rice Crispies. Bake 30-45 minutes in 375 degree oven.

- - -

I designed a little free chart for you but somehow a squirrel got in it!! Monique - are you happy?!

3 birds & 1 fat squirrel
Free chart by The Sampler Girl
Copyright 2011

(Click chart to enlarge.)

baking, reading, summer stays ...

Remember these muffins? Well, I made blueberry ones last night for breakfast this morning and well, they. are. delicious. I think I prefer them to the raspberry. They are fantastic!! The lemon extract and the blueberries are married together perfectly. Didn't have any half and half so I substituted 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream. Both of which I luckily had in the frig for homemade ice cream recently!

Finished Emily & Einstein and loved it. Beautiful story that actually surprised me at how much it touched me in the end. Highly recommend it!! One I do not recommend is Burnt Mountain by Anne Rivers Siddons - weird. Strange. The beginning was good and I liked the characters but the last half of the book took a bizarre turn and it was like some hokey camp movie, and not a good one. Although I could see it as a movie on the Lifetime channel.

A book that is so good that I'll recommend without having even finished it yet is Love Always by Harriet Evans, recently read by a good reading friend, Siobhan, and it is really hard to put down! My library doesn't carry it so I got the Kindle version.


Summer lingers here. I know several blog mommies have kiddos in school already! Mine don't go back until the day after Labor Day and you can bet they're excited about that. They do get out later in June so it all balances out but I do like that we have until Labor Day to summer it up. Hope your day is most splendid and if you fancy a muffin, I think there are a few left ...

A R T

The forecast was iffy this morning so on a whim after breakfast we headed into the city; I hadn't been to the National Gallery of Art in several years (terrible!) and there was a French Paintings Exhibit that I'd been wanting to walk through. Today was the day! We got a splendid parking spot (I really have the best luck in DC finding a parking spot - very cool talent) around the corner from the East Building and in we went.

Here are a few snapshots of the gorgeous French paintings as there are many in the exhibit and we practically had the rooms to ourselves which was nice. The museum began to fill up towards the lunch hour and was pretty packed by the time we left around 3pm. We took the lighted movable walkway underground to the West Building which is very cool for the boys. Lunched in the cafe which was delicious. Came home in creative moods and souvenirs. Wonderful summer day with some education thrown into it ... just don't tell the boys that!

good morning

Give me the joys of summer,

Of Summer Queen so fair,
With wealth of lovely flower
And fruits and sun-kissed air!
-Winifred Sackville Stoner

sprinkler

Happy Week-end!

The Dolley Madison Sampler

Dolley Madison sits on right ~
her niece stands at her left.

No woman in this country and few in any other filled a larger sphere in their day than Mrs. Madison did in hers, and non will ever leave a name and memory more respected, loved and revered.

-August 11, 1849 (162 years ago today)
Hon. Alexander H. Stephens (later to be the VP of the Confederacy)

...

This week I watched American Experience's Dolley Madison currently on Netflix. It is a well-done documentary and I highly recommend it to all American History lovers. If you have followed me for awhile then you remember my First Lady Sampler Series. I did research on several of the early First Ladies and designed a sampler of tribute to them, including their biographies in each.

In 2003, I designed a sampler dedicated to Mrs. Madison. The research on Dolley, which is included in the pattern pak, is most interesting and informative. A few years ago I stopped printing The First Lady Sampler Series and continue to get emails to re-release them. Lady Washington's Sampler is still available and now The Dolley Madison Sampler is back on the website. These patterns are only for purchase from me. Click HERE for info on The Dolley Madison Sampler.


A companion sampler is in the works!

Wordless Wednesday.

read & eat

They say never judge a book by its cover but I sure hope this is a good read because the cover is so gosh darn cute! I'm just a few chapters in so far and I'm curious how it will all turn out ... never heard of this author before now.

It's been a sun-mixed-with-clouds kind of day. The boys are in Vacation Bible School this week so the mornings are my. own. I've been near giddy getting back to the gym after dropping them off and so far the six hours to myself have restored me greatly. Summer is relaxing but can be a zoo at the same time. My boys are 7 years apart in age so it's tricky to find things they both will enjoy doing but I'm fortunate they work together, most the time!, and are good sports for the other when dragged to something they rather not. Recently, Zack has started using Ben's old Gameboy Advance. Remember those? Well, Zack thinks he's struck gold and it's funny listening to Ben try and get Zack to 'the next level' as he knows all the tricks even after all these years. Nice to already have this stash of vintage electronics (ha!) in hand-me-down-drawers I might add.

You know if I post a recipe here, it's a keeper! So this one will wow you like it did me. It's just the prettiest quiche ever, don't you think?


Tomato & Basil Quiche
recipe from allrecipes.com
1 T olive oil (or more to coat your pan)
1 onion, sliced (I used 1/2 of a large onion)
2 tomatoes, peeled and sliced (I used 3 small ones)
2 Tablespoons all purpose flour (I used double that)
2 teaspoon dried basil
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust
1 1/2 cups shredded Colby-Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake pie shell in preheated oven for 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion until soft; remove from skillet. Place tomato slices in a bowl of flour and basil to coat. Then saute them in the skillet for desired darkness. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk; season with salt and pepper.

Spread 1 cup shredded cheese in bottom of pie crust. Layer onions over cheese and top with tomatoes. Cover with egg mixture. Sprinkle top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 15-20 minutes or until filling is puffed and golden brown.

Think I'll have one of my favorite cookies with tea later -- the packaging always makes me smile.

this & that AND homemade ice cream ...

Almost a month until school starts here so there's plenty of summer left to enjoy. This week the boys are in Vacation Bible School ~ the big one is a helper and the little one is a participant. And I'm one happy Mama .. my mornings are my own this week!! I spent the first one at the gym and luckily remembered how to get there since it had been a few months since my last visit. It felt so good to be back in my workout wear!! Didn't even take the Kindle today or listen to music but rather plugged into the TV screens and the time went merrily by especially when the Rachael Ray show came on and Gwenyth Paltrow was the guest. She fixed a recipe from her book and immediately I knew what was going to be dinner!

Here's the recipe for Fried Zucchini Spaghetti! I did use a bit more flour to dredge the thinly sliced zucchini pieces because don't know how the suggested amount could possibly coat everything and also fried them up in a wee bit more olive oil. Oh MY they were so delicious and well, see for yourself ...


It was very difficult to not gobble them up before the pasta was finished. Here's the finished dish! See the parmesan saucey ooey goodness?


Still going in slow mo with the stitching progress and then my Mom surprises me with this stunning sampler pattern over the weekend. The designer is Willow Hill Samplings. I've been doing a lot of genealogy research on my family this summer and this sampler will be fantastic to create for an heirloom. I love it! Been thinking I need to enlist those elves of the shoemaker (remember that fairytale?) to stitch everything I desire while I sleep.


Our neighbor brought over a dozen tomatoes from her crop and they. are. out. of. this. world. good. Even better than the farmers market, Yes! They found their way in BLTs last night and will be added to a tomato and mushroom quiche tomorrow. Nothing quite like a fresh summer tomato.


Lest you think all we do is eat around here ... ok, we do. There is a lot of serious kitty napping going on to fight the heat and humidity.


Many late nights spent reading lots of good books ...


...and playing this stupid, fun, addicting, crazy, time-consuming, wonderful game in every version available; the Rio one being the current favorite. Oh and Words with Friends is a fun, fun, FUN one too! I keep telling myself it's good for my brain so game on :)


Went to a few thrift shops recently with my grandmother and found some great treasures. One of which is this cute decoupage on wood with a Ballet studio scene. I think the girl standing, holding her doll, admiring the window filled with ballet pretties is so sweet. Reminds me of my childhood days in Ballet classes. I hung the picture above one of my grandfather's sketches of a ballerina that I cherish. He drew it in 1951.


I guess we always come back to food ... my kitchen was lacking an ice cream maker. I know, I know -- but I'm a kitchen gadget nut and it was on my wanna-get-list-sometime. I've had a few birthday gift cards that I hadn't used yet (from January!) so put one towards a Cuisinart brand and love. it. We've only tried the simple chocolate ice cream recipe so far and if the others are anything like it, then we've struck gold. It is beyond delicious.


Finally I leave you with a picture that I most see during the week -- water in mid air.


Oh I love summertime.

simple pleasures

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string."- Lucy Maud Montgomery