I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. I'm still trying to recover, we did lots of driving getting the kids to the grand parents so hubby and I could go to the Indianapolis 500 like we do every year. It was a beautiful day on Sunday, HOT (92F) and humid. We were blessed with a nice breeze all day even though we were in the blazing afternoon sun.  I'm only slightly sun burnt  on my shoulders where my shirt rubbed my sun-screen off during the course of the day.

Today I'm going to share a recipe that I came across a few years ago for French Toast Bread Pudding.  It is a tasty dish even if you don't like bread pudding. Don't worry you don't have to make the french toast either you just need to head to the freezer section at your local grocery and pick up something similar to this.

French Toast Bread Pudding

1 1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 box French toast sticks, cut into quarters (my pan didn't seem full enough so I used the whole box)
1 C heavy cream
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C water
1/4 C white sugar
Fruit is optional (bananas, blueberries, strawberries)

Cut French toast sticks into 1 inch pieces. Layer the bottom of a 9x11 baking pan with brown sugar. Lay the French toast sticks onto the sugar in a single layer. Press any extra sticks into the sides and corners. Optional: Slice the fruit and place between sugar and French toast sticks. In a large bowl; wisk together the heavy cream, vanilla, eggs, salt and water. Cover the toast sticks with the mixture, pressing the sticks down to wet them thoroughly. Optional: Leave overnight in the refrigerator for a creamier texture. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the top of the sticks with 1/4 cup white sugar, then place the pan into the oven and bake for 30-45 mins. After baking, broil the top for 2-3 mins to brown the sugar. Let pudding stand for 10 mins and serve.

This week is going way too fast for me.  It is my son's last week of school.  I truely want to make a little something for his teacher and for the bus driver.  I have 2 days yep, I better really get moving fast.  I have to run some errands this morning and then I will have to get myself busy.  I have no clue what I am even going to make.   I will share what I have made on Friday.  I hope everyone has a great day.

Debbe

I attempted to make my own marinade for steak yesterday.  Now, while it wasn't completely a flop, I personally didn't care for it, but hubby really liked it.   What I did like about it was that the steak was unbelievably tender.

Steak Marinade
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder or 1 clove fresh garlic
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 cup or one individual sized bottle of white wine. Choose a wine that you enjoy drinking.

Combine all the ingredients into a gallon sized zip top bag and squeeze around from the outside to mix it well.  Then add your steak of choice, we had sirloin last night.

Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Mine were in the fridge for about 6 hours yesterday.

Cook steak on the grill until desired done-ness.

Now, I said I didn't particularly care for this, what I didn't like was the wine taste in my food.  It is a personal preference.  It seemed a little strong to me.  It could have possibly been the wine I chose which isn't one I normally like but hubby does, you saw he liked it.

I will give this another go some day and use a different wine.  I'm not crossing it off my list completely.

On the sewing front, I didn't get anything done.  I've gotten sucked into reading a book which is rare for me, so besides reading and playing with my daughter that was my day.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

Debbe

I haven't done any sewing since I finished the doll quilt.  I'm starting to have withdraws, so I need to change that today.  I also need to get to the post office and mail my mini quilt.

The past 3 days have been super busy for me.  Friday I cleaned house and had my son's Kindergarten Graduation to attend, and then it was 'date night' for hubby and I, we went to his company's employee appreciation dinner.  It was very nice, his company treats their employees very well.  I can completely understand why several have worked there for the past 30+ years.

I'm proud of my son, He received the attendance award which is given to students who have missed 3 or less days of school for the entire year.  His teacher also handed out awards and my son received the award for being the best listener.

Here he is with his awards, I don't know what is with the way he is standing, but at least I got a little smile and he was looking at the camera.


Here he is with the class pet "Cheddar".


Tomorrow is 'Test Kitchen Tuesday' and I'll be sharing/reviewing one of my own 'concoctions'.  

I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done this week, but I finished up the little doll quilt I was working on yesterday.  Other than noticing a slight mistake after I had quilted it and was sewing on the binding, I'm quite pleased.  I really hope my swap partner likes it.

Gramma's Favorite from a  Snap Sack small quilt kit

I wish I had some time today to do some sewing, but alas, I have a friend coming this afternoon to go to my sons Kindergarten celebration aka. graduation, and then we have a sitter lined up for tonight so we can go to hubby's employee appreciation dinner for his work.   So on that note, I'm off to finish cleaning.  Have a great weekend everyone.

If your visiting from Lee's WIP Wednesday, welcome and thanks for stopping by.

I signed up for a doll quilt swap a few weeks ago and have almost completed the top for the swap.  As long as I don't have any major hiccups when it comes to quilting I think I should finish it up this week.

not so pretty fabric combo...

doesn't look half bad in little bits.

I need to add the borders on the doll quilt to finish the top.  It is only the size of a fat quarter so quilting shouldn't take too long.

Then there is the mini-pineapple quilt that I am giving to my mom.  I still need to find some more of the yellow in my scrap bin, I know I have some, so I can finish the binding. This will be less than 8" square when finished.


Finally, since yesterday was my son's birthday, I thought I would share a picture of his cake that I made him.  No, it isn't perfect, but a 6 year old doesn't notice the imperfections because they are only interested in getting the sugar rush.  I'm not a professional so if I can save $20, I will.



I hope everyone has a great day!

Debbe

Six years ago today our my life changed forever as we welcomed our son into the world.

I know there are several blogs that do a fabric Tuesday, I'm just a few days behind or ahead depending on how you look at it, in sharing. 
Last weekend we took the kids to the zoo. The elephant is the newest baby to be born at the zoo and "it's a girl".


Yesterday I took the girl to the strawberry festival downtown and here she is enjoying her strawberry shortcake and ice cream.


Cheesing it up for the camera, she is usually making faces, see above photo.  lol



I'm almost finished with the mini-pineapple quilt for my mom.  I need to bind it yet, so it looks like she won't be getting it for mothers day.. She will forgive me.



My scrap bin is overflowing.  I need to dive in and cut some things up in to charm squares or strips or something useful instead of this unsightly pile. The blue 'dots' on the yard stick are at 2", 13" and 24" just to give you an idea of how tall the pile really is in my 18 gallon tote.

There hasn't been much sewing going on this week.  We have had some great weather and I have been doing a lot of running errands.  Ok, those were my excuse to get out of the house for several hours at a time.

Today little miss and I are heading to one of the local quilt shops that will be shutting their 'brick and mortar' doors forever, in hopes of getting some good deals.  If nothing else, I am on a mission to get a few 'matching' pieces for a doll quilt swap that I signed up for.  I pulled out a quilt kit that I have the other day and the colors just didn't go together in my eyes.


The top fabric has some sort of metallic gold spray paint look on it and the bottom piece hurts my eyes and just doesn't go at all, but I'm going to make it up with the kit instructions and give it a chance.

After the shopping, I'm taking the girl to the Strawberry festival on the square since she and I share a love for strawberries, we should have a good time and a tasty treat.

I hope everyone is having a great week.   I need to get the binding on my my mini pineapple quilt and take some pictures and then I will share it you all.  

I made this recipe several years ago.  When I went on my retreat 2 weeks ago I brought home some Amish peanut butter and I think the two of these would be great paired together.

I promised earlier in the week that I would share with you how I did the cute little flowers.  You DO NOT have to have the My Memories software to make these, but you are limited to the colors/designs that are shown. There is a code in my sidebar and at the end of this post, where you can get $10 off the purchase of the the My Memories suite v3.

These flowers are so versatile, you can glue them to a craft stick,  and stick in a cupcake for a cute decoration.



Or what about putting it in a pot of flowers as a 'card for mom' this mothers day?

I think they would make cute gift tags, to hang on a gift bag or just tape to your present.  I know I hate buying cards so this is perfect, I can write a personal message on the inside and fold it up.

If you don't want to spend money on large package of card stock, you can go to your local copy shop (I went to Office Depot) and buy it for about $0.08 per sheet.  I think I bought about 30 sheets when I got mine so I have plenty left for future projects.  Craft sticks are available at the dollar store if you have one, you get 100 or more for a buck.  So all in all you can make your own cute personalized card for less than $0.25 and that is counting the ink from your printer.  

Here are the links and the tutorial of how to do these adorable little flowers.




http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_1




http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_2




http://www.mymemories.com/store/share_the_memories_kit_3

1. Download template file and install it into your software
2. Using MyMemories Suite, choose Create Album From Designer Template and find your project
3. Now you can print and enjoy the provided template, or customize it with your own papers and embellishments.

To Receive $10 off your purchase of the my memories suite v3 by using the follow code, STMMMS63458 when you visit My Memories.

I'm suffering from some sort of project overload today.