The BOOK Signing

Have you ever heard of The Pioneer Woman? 

I'm sorry if you haven't.  You should check her out. 

www.thepioneerwoman.com

She's AMAZING!!  She's AWESOME!!  She's REAL!!

She'll make you want to cook. 
She'll make you want to take pictures. 
She'll make you want to buy dangly jewelry, spike heals and boots. 
She'll make you want to own a Kitchen Aid mixer.
     If you already have one, she'll make you want another.

She'll make you want a dog like Charlie.



She has a great new cookbook out:  The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  She's also doing a second round of book signings.  She had one here in DC last night.....and I got to go!!!!!

It was so exciting. 

There were tons of people.

PW spoke briefly and answered some "burning questions" and then got to the signing portion.  I couldn't believe that I was actually in the same building with Ree Drummond. 

I can be so dweeb-like sometimes.

My friend and I got in line for the signing and low and behold, we were two people behind a friend of mine from church.  There was a lot of standing in line.  And since there was a lot of standing in line, there was a lot of chatting amongst all the people.  Turns out that the two gals standing between us had connections to us:  one goes to the same church and is in a small group with a good friend of mine and the other's brother was in a video played at our church last weekend.  It is truly a small world.....especially because we go to a pretty big church.

We waited and waited and gabbed and gabbed and laughed and laughed.  It was great fun!!

Then we got closer and closer.  We got so close that we could have spit on her.  (Ree, we wouldn't have REALLY spit on you.........I promise.  We like your blog too much for that!!!)

I got really nervous.  What was I going to say to her?  Ack!  And would she sign my book in a different way from the way all the folks at Borders wanted?

(I got my cookbook as a Christmas present from my husband.  He was sneaky and awesome.  He bought the book, mailed it to a friend who lived close to the book signing in West Chester, PA and our friend got the book signed for me.  I have the BEST husband EVER!!!)

So my book was already signed, but I wanted to have my picture taken with PW and have her sign my book TWO more times. 


****so greedy, I know****


I wanted her to sign it on the Chocolate Sheet Cake page for my youngest daughter--because she is a self-proclaimed choco-holic.


I ALSO wanted her to sign the page where she shows off pictures of their mustangs--because my oldest daughter is obsessed with horses these days.


Pioneer Woman was so kind to sign for BOTH of my girls!!  I feel so special.


Oh....and about our conversation:  it included the words conceived and conception.  Both words repeated many times.

Did I mention that I am such a dweeb?  I have about a minute and a half with Ree Drummond, THE Pioneer Woman.......and we talk about conception.

At least we both have good taste in names...........she almost named her oldest daughter the same name that I chose for my oldest daughter.

Oh...and here's my proof: 

My friend Lauren and I with PW!!!!

**I may or may not have cried when I got to my car, being overwhelmed at having just met PW**

i CAN quilt!

I finally did it! I completed a quilt. I can't believe it actually happened.

I've been interested in quilting for more than a decade.......and about 5 years ago actually started learning how.

I have cut LOTS of fabric.
I have pieced together lots of fabric.
I even have multiple quilt tops just taking up space in my sewing room (including one for my 2yo niece that I've had pieced for more than 2 years--it was supposed to be a baby present).

I have never finished a quilt.....until NOW!



This was such an easy baby quilt to make....and was lots of fun. I was inspired to make it from the left over fabric from the nursing cover up that I had made for the mom earlier.



I now know why I have put off actually quilting and binding my quilt tops.

1. I have trouble sewing lines that aren't straight.
2. I thought binding would be hard to make.
3. I thought binding would be hard to attach to the quilt.


I discovered that you can just quilt it in straight lines and have it look interesting. It doesn't have to curve or swirl or arc. It can just be straight! I like that a lot.




The binding has left me shaking in my socks for years. It's actually not that hard to make.....it only took me two tries and I had really nice long bias binding with which to bind the quilt--which turned out not to matter since I decided to go with satin binding in the end.

The catch for me was in attaching the binding to the quilt. I got it on okay for the most part. But my corners are terrible. They were supposed to be mitered. I did something wrong, so they curl and aren't quite mitered. Gonna have to work on that.

One side is pretty, with all the colors that Mom has in the baby's room. The other side is just a fun, kid friendly print.



In the end, the quilt is super cute--even if the corners curl up a bit and the miter isn't really a miter. I expect that those things will resolve themselves as I actually get to finishing some of the quilt tops that I have.


Now I need to go. I have a quilt to finish for my niece!!

Jump Spins

For months and months, I have been preaching to my girls about the dangers of jumping on the bed. I have heard from lots of other people that they always let their kids jump on the beds....I however, don't think this is a smart decision. I now have proof of this!!!!


Meet my youngest daughter:


This is what she looked like last week. A lovely 3 year old full of smiles.....lots of toothy smiles!!!















This is what she looks like now:





Still a lovely 3 year old full of smiles. Only now, they are a little less toothy.










Apparently a jump spin off the bed results in a missing tooth and an impacted tooth. We spent 3.5 hours in the ER where the very kind Dr removed the impacted tooth. My brave girl was incredibly brave.....and the entire ER staff doted on her the whole time. A trip to the dentist the next day revealed that there is no other lasting damage.......save for the missing teeth.

Praises be to God for it just being some baby teeth. We now have to way 1.5-2.5 years for her permanent teeth to grow in. I guess I'll be cutting up a lot of apples between now and then!!



Oh........and you would think that this would have quenched the jumping on the bed thing. Not so. The very next night, there she was: jumping!

Long Overdue Wedding Cake Pics

I was recruited by a friend this past spring to make her wedding cake. Now, this isn't the first wedding cake that I've made.....but it is only my second.

There is a lot of pressure that comes with making someone's wedding cake. At least there is for me. I may have been crazy to agree to it. Not only did we have some insanely crazy travel plans this summer, but I severely sprained my ankle 4 weeks before the wedding, my husband was out of town for the week before the wedding: this meant that I was slightly limping while juggling the cake baking, decorating and my children's entertainment. Needless to say, it was a bit chaotic at my house. I am truly grateful to several friends who helped me out during the week before the wedding.

Ultimately, the cake turned out really well and the bride was pleased. This is one of the pics taken by one of the photographers. It's a really great picture!

Despite all my anxieties about making this cake, it was all worth it. It was delicious and beautiful and lots of fun.

The Birthday Present

My only niece turned 2 this summer. Isn't she adorable?









In a previous post (a really long time ago) I made reference to a project that distracted me from getting my sewing room organized. Now, many months later.....

...my sewing room STILL isn't organized! But the project for my niece is done!!


I bought this pre-printed pattern many years ago and started it right away. I was so excited about it. But then, as with many things sewing related, I got frustrated and realized that my skill level wasn't up for this. If only I had lived near my talented mother at that time-she would have had it finished in no time.

But since I didn't have Mommy close at hand, I just set it aside.

I now have more confidence and a little more skill and I finished it!!! It is completely adorable!!







I still can't believe how adorable the doll turned out.

The Tooth Fairy

My oldest just lost her second tooth. How did my baby get old enough to be loosing her teeth? The way time flies as my children grow, will always remain a mystery to me.

When they discover their first loose tooth, we get down to business making their tooth pillow. I made a special tooth shaped pillow with a pocket in the front for the tooth to go in....and a strap to hang over the door knob of my girl's bedroom. This saves the tooth fairy lots of trouble not having to hunt for the tooth that inevitably will fall on the floor beside their bed as they squirm in their sleep.



At our house, the tooth fairy leaves a dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickle and a penny. My girls think it is fabulous. The tooth fairy also leave a sprinkling of fairy dust (silver glitter) all around the pillow and surrounding floor area. My girls think that the tooth fairy takes baby teeth and turn them into pearls (not sure why the believe this, since they know that pearls come from oysters!!)......so when the loose their last teeth, our plan is to leave them pearl earrings or necklace or bracelet.

I am also saving their baby teeth in a small box. My husband thinks this is gross, but he'll just have to get over it. I don't save pregnancy tests, umbilical cords or any other odd gross things.

Ahhh.......childhood milestones. I hope my girls have fond memories of loosing their teeth!

Cake Bites

About a month ago, one of the lovely ladies in my bible study group provided us with these amazing treats. It was incredible to watch 7 grown women drool over, stare at and devour an entire plate of cake bites.

Today, I ventured into the world of making cake bites, per the instructions on her blog. Truthfully, they aren't as pretty as hers were....but they do taste just as good as I remember.

I encountered several problems, rather faults of my own making. First, I should have reserved a bit of cake out before mixing in the icing....while it tastes moist, I think that some of my later issues (see below) would have be avoided. I could have always added it back to the mix. Second, after I scooped out the balls, I should have hand rounded them just a bit, to get rid of a bit of the lumpiness--I did do this for the last bunch that I made. Third, well.......all of my inexperience at dipping things in chocolate is compltely to blame.

I'm just not good at it........no surprise, since I've never dipped anything before. I had TONS of crumbs in my melted chocolate, I had several just fall completely apart in the middle of dipping them, and I had a few that ended up with so much chocolate coating that you needed a carving knife to cut them!!!

And last, but not least, for the pretty drizzle on the top........I just need some help. Mine are much more like globs. Good for eating, but not much to look at--despite everyone's comments on them!!

All in all, they turned out well. Will I do better next time? Hopefully. I will probably be smarter, having made them once already. I will make them smaller also--I think this will make them easier to dip and also there will be more to eat serve.

I hope you will try them......and know that even if you make the same mistakes that I did, at least they will still taste good!!!! And know that if you take them to a gathering.....there probably won't be any to bring home!