Today's Another Minor Holiday

Today was Jodie's first ever banana split! I'm fairly sure I haven't had one since the turn of the century. But you know how it goes, it's imperative for us to honor a national holiday together - especially if it involves sweet treats! 

We had a choice of four ice cream flavors.

Three kinds of fruit ... that darn near makes this a salad!

Gooey toppings are necessary.

Jodie's masterpiece:

This was Abby's first ever banana split, too. Very clever to use a circus animal cookie as a spoon.

And a good time was had by all.

Jodie took all these great photos.

Today's Strawberry Harvest

Eight! 

Count 'em. Eight large strawberries!

I thought my plants were done fruiting since so much of their energy is used sending out new shoots at this time of year. This may the the most large berries I've harvested all summer. So tasty!

These deserve to be eaten with a scoop of high quality vanilla bean ice cream this evening. What a treat!

Can you tell? I'm always surprised when things I plant grow and flourish. For example, I now have six sunflowers in bloom, and at least two more that will show their color tomorrow. Love it. Last year none of my sunflowers grew.

America's Favorite Cookie

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. So I made a batch yesterday with enough to share.

I "cheated" by using pre-made cookie dough from the grocery store. 

They're not quite as tasty as homemade, but home-baked is still pretty good.

They're best when hot from the oven/

But next day is darn good too!

Not all minor holidays involve sweet treats ... but perhaps the best ones do.

What's Red and White and Cheesy?

Yesterday was National Homemade Pie Day and National Raspberry Pie Day. What's a girl to do?

I made a pie-shaped raspberry cheesecake. Fresh berries inside and berries on top. Hairy berries.

I got to share with Jodie and Dale. 

So good!

What's for Lunch?

It's not every day that's National Junk Food Day ...

But when it IS National Junk Food Day, pizza rolls, Cheetos, Nilla wafers, lemon iced tea and Gummy Nerds are on the menu. (My guts are begging me for fruit and veggies now).

It's also Global Hug Your Kids Day. So I spent some time with Jodie and Abby doing just that.

Morning Snack

I worked outside for several hours yesterday morning. Pruning. Transplanting. Cleaning. Fertilizing. Propagating. As the temperatures started hovering around 80 degrees, I stepped inside for a break to cool down and stretch my sore muscles.

Then I realized, it was National Raspberry Cake Day!

What's a girl to do?

These might as well be cakes rather than muffins. They're sweet enough to eat without butter - or icing.

It was good to share them with Kit, too. They'd come over to "play in the dirt" with me.

Yum!

Beans & Franks

Yep. Another minor holiday. July 13th was Beans and Franks Day. 

That made the question about what to have for dinner easy.

I haven't had this combo in years. It was a blast from the past.

The fun of celebrating minor holidays is tapping into something just one step out of our ordinary daily activities.

Celebrating Minor Holidays

Yesterday was National Blueberry Muffin Day. Did you know?

I had these ready for Dale when he came in from his morning walk. Mmmm. Made from a mix, but with a big fresh blueberry on top.

I used "special" foil cupcake tins. Sparkly in the sunlight.

We ate them down to the last crumb. Yum!

Celebrate the little things.

The Round Tablecloth

Last year, or maybe in 2023, I found this lovely tablecloth at a thrift store. It's a large oval made of a nice heavy damask fabric. I bought it to convert it into a round tablecloth that would fit our dining room table.

Then the math happened. I know I've mentioned it before, but sometimes getting the measurements correct gets away from me. It's a bit of a problem for a crafter. Last October I finally bit the bullet and cut the oval down to a circle. It worked. Whew!

I wanted to see if I could finally learn how to do a rolled hem using the specialty foot on my sewing machine. The idea is that you carefully wind the edge of the fabric into the spiral of the foot. As it comes out the other end, the fabric edge is folded over twice and is perfectly lined up with the needle to get a very narrow rolled hem.

I did some practice runs using the remnants of tablecloth fabric, but I couldn't get it to stitch consistently. I'm pretty sure it's because of the fabric's hefty weight. So I'll save learning that technique for another time. Realizing that my original idea wasn't going to work, it took me two more months to come up with my next plan.

What I wanted most was to have the tablecloth's rounded edge nice and flat, with no ripples. A fabric circle is both on grain and on the bias. Part of the edge is nice and firm (on grain) and part is stretchy (bias). That's been my ongoing problem trying to sew with fabrics cut on a bias. The hem gets all wobbly due to the extra stretch. 

So I started with a staystitch 1/4" around the edge of the tablecloth. I pressed it well on that basting line. Then I folded and pressed, folded and pressed, being very careful not to stretch the edge. I gave it a lot of steam. Then I pinned it in place keeping the pins very close to each other. I didn't want anything to move.

I set the speed of my machine to "slow" and really took my time as I sewed.

I used my clear zipper foot with the needle set to the left position so that I could sew very close to the top edge of the hem. I also got out the seam guide attachment. The guide attaches with a screw to the machine and you can adjust it left and right. It helped me keep the folded edge of the tablecloth exactly where I needed it so that the stitching remained even at the top of the hem.

Those techniques made all the difference. The hem came out beautifully! And look! I got the math right! That's the ideal amount of fall off the edge of the table.

This is going to look wonderful when I want to be fancy.

I think the damask is beautiful with my delicate china pattern and cut glass goblets and serving dishes. 

What do you think? Shall I use it on Valentine's Day for a quiet dinner with my sweetheart?

p.s. I inherited the china plates and teacups from my mom. But the matching teapot, sugar bowl, creamer and quite a number of other serving dishes were purchased for an incredibly low price at ... a thrift store! I'm still on the lookout for inexpensive matching salt and pepper shakers and the lipped plate for the butter dish.

Love Shack - Building Supplies

Alas, my eldest and I didn't get together before Christmas to build our traditional gingerbread house. But I bought a kit, and don't want it to go to waste, so ... I plan to build a Love Shack for Valentine's Day instead! I've gathered most of the supplies already.

I found lots of inspiration photos online, this among them:

Of course, that's only a jumping off point. Here's what I've gathered so far: the gingerbread house kit, a bunch of glittery baubles in many shapes and sizes, some cake decorations and sugar sprinkles, and many heart-shaped candies.

I've got plenty of royal icing mix and cake decorating tips and even a heart-shaped silicone mold if some bigger hearts are warranted.

Of course, I only bought the kinds of candy that I'd eat myself. If there are any leftovers after the house is built, I'll enjoy consuming the rest.

This includes M&Ms and Hershey Kisses/Hugs.

I was also sure to include classic conversation hearts. 

I've never created a Valentine Love Shack before. I'm hoping Jeanne/Kit will be able to join me in the construction at the end of the month. We usually have fun together making up stories about the people who inhabit our buildings.

Oh, Fudge!

Dale and I finished the fudge!

There's one for each of our three closest neighbors.

We gussied up the red platters with some greenery, silver ball ornaments, a statement ornament, and tied it up with a bow. To protect the fudge from the rain during delivery, we wrapped the platters in clear cellophane.

One of our neighbors doesn't celebrate Christmas, so the statement ornament was a winter berry bush rather than an elf.

In case our neighbors have some dietary restrictions that we don't know about, I made a little sign with a list of ingredients.

We also gave them a copy of the recipe that we used in case they like the fudge and want to make some for themselves.

We love the neighborhood we live in. It's fun and heartwarming to share holiday treats with our lovely neighbors this way.

 

Santa's Workshop - Kitchen Edition

What do you get when you combine candy morsels, walnuts, dried cranberries, and pure vanilla extract

with sweetened condensed milk,

some greenery,

some bright red platters and ornamental decorations?

The start of some fudge rings for special people in our lives.

Dale and I make a good team in the kitchen this holiday season.