My Version of a PSL

Thanks to my recent coffee obsession I decided to attempt a Pumpkin Spice Latte (PSL), and… I succeeded :)

I ended up making a concentrated base that I add to my milk before I steam it.  It works really well, tastes delicious, and is made with real pumpkin.  Plus, I ended up making like five and half cups of base, so I have PSL base for the whole season lol  I used whole milk in this base, but next time I think I might use some sweetened condensed milk and cut the sugar down.

The perfect balance for me so far is four heaping “teaspoons” (the smaller spoons that you eat with at the table) added to four ounces of whole milk that I froth together with one shot of espresso or a couple ounces of strongly brewed coffee.

Below you will find links to formatted recipes cards.  Please let me know how your PSL adventure turns out :)

3x5 Recipe Card

4x6 Recipe Card

P.S.  You can also simply add Pumpkin Pie Spice to your grounds before you brew.  It’s easier and you get a better froth on the milk.  :)

Coffee Kick & Thrift Store Win

I have always LOVED the smell of coffee.  It reminds me of my parents and makes me feel warm and comfy inside.  But, I’ve never been big on the flavor.  Even in college where many young adults find, not only a love for the stuff, but an undying need for it, I remained a hot tea drinker and coffee sniffer.

But, with my new job has come a new appreciation for coffee drinks.  Recently, a coworker purchased me a vanilla latte from the infamous Starbucks and I actually really enjoyed it.  So, for about a week and a half I have been on the mission to “recreate” a similar drink at home with home brewed coffee, vanilla syrup (see collage to the right; the right half is how I’m storing/displaying the syrup in my kitchen), DIY milk frothing, etc.; since, I absolutely refuse to pay that much for a cup of coffee everyday or to make an extra stop everyday.

One of the keys to getting the consistency I have discovered is frothing the milk.  This is a pain in my rear.  I first tried a hand mixer after warming the milk in my microwave.  This did not work overly well.  I ended up frustrated and giving up before I accomplished any real froth.  Next, I tried my immersion blender after warming the milk in my microwave.  This actually works, just takes a little while.  Plus, I reallllly do not like warming my milk in the microwave.  Let’s just say my microwave is really clean right now.  But, I’m obviously not going to warm my milk on the stove… who has time for that?  So, I began a hunt for a milk frother.  But the only one I have found in town thus far has been a carafe style for $35.00!  Ah, no.

And then there is the coffee part of my coffee drink.  I have tried using my Keurig, but honestly, a) it makes too much in a serving, and b) it isn’t strong or robust enough.

On my way home from the doctor’s office yesterday afternoon, I stopped at a new thrift store (a major hobby in my family).  I was super excited to find an espresso machine with a built in milk steamer/frother and most of its other components!  A $50.00 machine for $6.00!!!  As soon as I got home I started deep cleaning it.  Yay for the internet where I found the user manual :)  And yay for vinegar.  I tried using regular Folgers Classic Roast Coffee brewed strongly with frothed milk and a splash of French Vanilla Syrup.  It was good, but not quite right.  I am going to look for an espresso roast and grind on my next grocery run.  I’m also excited to attempt an adapted version Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe in the October issue of Food Network Magazine, which I will definitely post my version soon :)

I don’t know if I will ever give up my teas and I doubt coffee will ever take the favored spot over hot tea, particularly herbals, but coffee is definitely gaining.  Anyone out there have a yummy latte or cappuccino recipes to share?

I’mmmm Baaack!!!!!

So sorry about the hiatus, y’all!  Over a year, I know.  Unacceptable.  My sincerest apologies.  How about a recap…?

K has moved to town, not far from Hubby and me, which is wonderful.  I get to see her much more now and get to play with her wonderful fur babies – two black and brown Chihuahuas named Frito and Moo (a very young pup).

Mama and Daddy are building a new house in my hometown.  I can’t wait to see it and will definitely do a post dedicated to it when it’s finished.

Hubby and I are great.  Suuuuper busy, though.  I have been at my new job at Jared the Galleria of Jewelry for nearly three months now and LOVE it!  I have great coworkers and bosses.  It’s a much more pleasant environment and no one is allowed to yell or cuss at me.  It’s wonderful.  I am required to wear makeup everyday though :/  So, get ready for some makeup reviews and Makeup of the Day (MOTD).  Maybe even some shoe and hair product reviews, too.  And, of course, plenty of recipes, sewing, crafting, and all that other good stuff :)

Progress & A Finish!

Howdy!

My house is quite again (my wonderful in-laws were visiting this week taking up my attention), so can now update you on progress.  I finished my class project!  It originally had a border, but the back piece was too small.  So, I just cut the border off and moved on.  I really like how it came out :)  (Please excuse the crappy picture. It was taken in a hurry while MIL and FIL were still here.  Also, Ducky just had to part of the picture no matter how much I coaxed).  I can't wait to show all the ladies!

I was running out of hexies in a couple colors, so unfortunately I am back to basting :/  But!  I am using the "flowers" I have done to start "squaring up" the freeform beginning.  That way I really have the beginning of a quilt - and, the pile was getting a little large for my box lol  Pictures of that soon :)

I am also looking forward to doing my Quilts for Kids (Q4K) project and starting my City Sampler Quilt at The Scrappy Quilter this week.  It should be a week full of quilting goodness :)

Strawberry Banana Bread

Howdy!

The other day I found a Pinterest post about Blueberry Banana Bread that had a special ingredient in it - Greek yogurt!  I didn't have any blueberries, but I did have strawberries, so what did I make... Strawberry Banana Bread!  Honestly, I LOVE banana bread.  BUT, banana bread is my baking nemesis.  I have tried dozens of recipes.  Everything from old church lady recipes to modern test kitchen recipes.  It always comes out underdone in the center and usually burnt on the edges.  I HIGHLY recommend this bread.  It was easy and delicious!  AND, it came out perfectly!  This is definitely my go-to banana bread recipe from now on.  Thank you so much, Emily!!!!

The batter is delicious, too ;)

Project Update

Howdy!

I finished basting all the new hexies as anticipated.  I now have 112 more little hexies for my Baby Hexie Quilt.  I will be getting back to piecing today once I finish quilting my class project, which will be a pillow :)

Here's a shot of the pinwheel.  I did mark out the stippling, but changed it in a few places while quilting to make it flow more.

Here is a shot of the back with just the pinwheel done.  You can see the pattern and stitches a little better.  Not perfect, but not too bad for my first time, if I don't say so myself ;)

And here is the first background triangle.  I had marked these for stippling as well, but changed my mind.  Instead of remarking, I used a Zentangle approach to do echoing triangles.

And a shot of the back.  I have two more background triangles done now (both much more consistent).  I plan to finish the quilting today, so that I can show it off tomorrow at the shop when I go for Quilting for Kids (a charity project in San Antonio making quilts for cancer patients that are children.  It starts at 10a if you are interested in joining :)).  After that I'm going to finish the pillow and focus on the Baby Hexie Quilt as much as possible.  I HAVE to have it done my October!

Hexie Baby Quilt Addition & Tip

Howdy!

From you the title I'm sure you have deduced that I am crazy.  I'm ok with that, because when I was at The Scrappy Quilter for my hand quilting class Thursday I spotted a couple of ADORABLE fabrics on clearance that I just knew needed to be part of the baby quilt.  We now know that the baby is a boy, so I wanted to add a dash of blue to the otherwise neutral quilt and the polka dots with the cream background just really matched too well to pass up :)

So, now I have twelve total fabrics going into the quilt.  Here they are all together.

You might have noticed that the new hexies look a little larger in the raw than the old ones.  That is because they are.  After basted hundreds of hexies with the 1/4" sew allowance and being careful not to let them fray while I am piecing, I swore to myself that I would not give myself such little wiggle room again.  I decided to cut these new hexies with a 1/2" seam allowance.  I don't care that it uses a little more fabric, it is SO much easier to baste - and I'm sure it will be easier to piece.  Do what you will, but I recommend larger than a 1/4" seam allowance.  It will help keep you just a little bit saner, which in my case, I'll take all the help I can get lol

At this point I have all the new hexies cut and all of 56 of the polka dots basted.  I should have all the blues basted today and I'll get back to piecing :)

Loads of Fun at The Scrappy Quilter

Howdy!

Yesterday I took my first quilting class at my local quilt shop, The Scrappy Quilter (that I found for the first time the day before).  But let me back up and start by talking a little about the shop.  It's a little over a year old and is absolutely adorable and well organized.  They have fabric styles for everyone from beautiful Civil War reproductions to modern designer fabrics.  They even stock some up-and-coming designers.  But what really made them stand out to me was the service.  Everyone was truly, sincerely happy that I was there and wanted to make me feel at home.  They were joyfully informative and kind.  Not one person, staff or customer, acted like I didn't belong there (something I commonly get since I'm on the younger end of the crafty demographic).  They answered my questions truthfully - if they didn't know the answer they grabbed another quilter :)  Lisa, Michelle, and Alice (and Joyce the next day) took the time to get start getting to know me, AND they remembered me and details about me when I came back for the class.

I took a hand quilting class with Joyce and LOVED IT.  I wanted to take it to learn and meet some people in the area with like interests.  It turned out to be a one-on-one session, but I was ok with that.  Joyce was amazing and delightful.  She was very patient, thorough, and sweeter than wild honey.  I learned so much and will definitely take another class with her given the opportunity.  I have really taken to hand quilting.  Here's a close-up teaser of the project we started in class.

I highly recommend The Scrappy Quilter if you're in the San Antonio area, even if it's just for a visit.  You can find them in the Lone Oak Plaza in Schertz.  Their physical address is 1208 FM 78, Suite J
Schertz, TX  78154.  You can call them at (210)281-8667.  Feel free to visit their website or check them out on Facebook.

The day I found The Scrappy Quilter, I visited several other sewing/quilt shops.  No one spoke to me at the others, and if they did it was in such a way that I didn't feel welcome at all.  I can truly say that I have found my quilting home.  I'm already in love with the shop and the ladies.  I will be back there on Tuesday for Quilting for Kids and I'm seriously thinking about doing the City Sampler Quilt with them, too.  I really hope that you visit them.

Have you found your quilting home, yet?  I would love to hear about it :)

My Family's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Howdy!

We all need go-to recipes.  This is my go-to Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  Everyone that tries them loves them.  Warning:  they are addicting.  Their not overly sweet and they stay soft if you store them properly.  The batch is huge so you can definitely share with friends and neighbors (I took half of them to my new neighbors.  The kids were really excited :)).  I recommend using a cookie scoop whenever you dole out cookie dough.  It's an easy way to make sure that all of your cookies end up the same size and baking evenly.

Design Boards

Howdy!

I saw Lori Holt's Design Boards the other day and fell in love.  So what did I do?  Get foam board and felt (it was on sale).  My foam board was 30"x20", so I was able to to get six 10" squares out of the first piece.  I still want to make three 20"x10" design boards and one full size 30"x20" board.

I am very excited about my design board.  I have been using it as a lap work surface, but I also plan to use them like she discusses in the video for machine piecing :)

I would love to see yours!

Baby Quilt Update

Howdy!

I have been stitching away on this little quilt, which I am coming to realize needs a little more time and attention if I am going to get it all done by D-day.  I have switched to doing flowers since they are more portable and then I can put the flowers together to build rows of the quilt.  I finished up several more flowers since I took this picture (in my new lightbox).  So, I about have enough for a row.  I'm thinking that I should restrain from putting the rows together for awhile, though.  That way I can try to mix things up a little more overall.  We'll see if I can manage that ;)  I'm also getting pretty convinced that I going to need to cut and baste more hexies :/

***** check out the sidebar to track my progress between posts :) *****

Lightbox Woes

Howdy!

I made a new lightbox, since mine got tossed in the move, but I'm not entirely in love with it.  I don't think the pictures are coming out as nicely as they were with my old one.

This one I cut three sides out of a cardboard box, leaving about an inch border on the sides.  Then, I covered the sides with tissue paper and cut a piece of poster board for the back and bottom.  Ducky worked very had on helping me make the one.  My old one was made entirely out of computer paper.

I would love your opinions on how the pictures are looking.

My Fur Babies Settling In

Howdy!

My fur babies are settling in nicely, but really don't appreciate all the noise that their Daddy had to make to get the surround sound hooked up and all the wires run inside the walls. lol

Reversible Beach Bag

Howdy!

T is graduating from 8th grade this today.  We are all so proud of how hard she has worked to improve her grades this year.  This past weekend she had her 8th grade trip to Splashtown (a Texas waterpark).  She was in need of a big over-the-shoulder bag that coordinated with her new coral, white, and black bathing suit.  Enter my need to sew for everyone.

Mama helped me a little with this project, since I had no real pattern and we wanted to pleat the top.  The bag is completely reversible.  And, as she requested the straps are ungodly long, so as to hit her on the hip.

You can see below that it holds quite a bit!  Her shoes, a couple of towels, sunscreen, hair stuff, a change of clothes, sunglasses,  baggies for the wet suit after, and all the other odds and ends that you need for a day trip to the waterpark.

It really turned out wonderfully, unlike the original I did before Mama got there.  That one resembled a papoose with straps that were way to long.  Unfortunately, we got so caught up in making a new one, we forgot to take a picture of the mistake bag before we took it apart for the straps. lol  Oops, my bad!  Just know that we all screw up, even when we think we know what we're doing.

Memorial Day

American Flag image borrowed from http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com.

Embroidery Floss Storage

Howdy!

Awhile back I saw someone on Pinterest storing their embroidery floss using clothespins.  When I saw this I realized how ingenious it was.  Clothespins are cheap and easy to come by and they store beautifully.  So before the move I decided to convert all of my opened floss to clothespin storage.

The original Pinterest Pin stopped at winding the floss on the clothespins, but the worst part of having opened floss is that if you run out during a project and need more of a specific color you're pretty much up a creek without a paddle.  So, I trimmed up the bands I had saved from freshly opened skeins, slid them, on the ends, and taped them down.  Now I have ingenious storage and I know the color number if I need more of that color (or just love it, like the one to the right).

The Cherry on Top

Howdy!

Something I'm loving about San Antonio so far is all the fresh produce!  I found these delicious cherries at my neighborhood HEB.  I'm devouring these fresh, but I'm hoping that I can get to can some soon.  First I have to finish unpacking everything though :/  I'm not letting myself indulge in canning or crafting until the house is in order - the only thing I'm letting myself do is the Baby Quilt during relaxing time.

Do you have a favorite summertime fruit?

Sew Attracted

Howdy!

I mentioned in this post a few tools I found incredibly helpful, if not vital to my hand piecing project.  I now have another!  Mama gave me a magnetic wristband my Dritz that she found at a thrift store for practically nothing.  It was on some horribly uncomfortable and pretty much useless Velcro that kept falling off (sorry no picture of that, Ducky confiscated it to play with immediately lol).  So I took my happy butt to Wal-Mart and got a kids sized sweatband from the sports department and super glued that baby to it.  And the angel chorus proclaims its glory.  Now I have a comfortable and convenient wristband for holding on to my needle or helping me if I drop it :)

Hexie's To Go!

Howdy!

I have officially moved!  San Antonio here I am!  And, since I had to pack everything down, I made a little hexie travel tin :)  I found a 6" circle tin that is about 2 1/2" deep at a local resale store for a quarter.  It's perfect!  I was able to put several of each fabric hexie, a couple of cloth hexie's folded to hold my needle, my magnet wrist band, my scissors, my Thread Heaven, a spool of thread, and some extra needles.  It worked perfectly for the move, both around the house during the down time of packing, in the car, during the ongoing unpacking, everything.  Definitely recommend a travel kit of some sort when moving about whether you're actually moving, traveling, or just running around in everyday life.  I would love to see your travel kits :)

Basting Success!

Howdy!

Shortly after I posted about my Baby Quilt WIP, I decided that now that my need to see the quilt actually started  was satiated I should finish basting all my little hexies.  So, I grabbed a shoe box (which will be made pretty with fabric once we get moved and my spray adhesive is unpacked), lined it, and started basting away.  Technically I didn't baste all my little hexies... The brown fabric with the pretty polka dots in the bottom right hand corner of the picture is a twill and caused some irritation (I will have a post regarding how I dealt with it soon).  As such, there will not be many of these guys in the quilt.  The back row of hexies in the picture is little more tightly packed than the others, so really there's about half a row of each except for the twill, the yellow, and the bluey color in the back.  Do I think that I will need all of these?  I have no idea. Honestly, I may actually be needing more if I did my math correctly.  We shall see :)

The leftover hexies that must find a new destiny :(