Sunday Chat – Christmas Movies, Cookies, and Gifts

This is such a fun time of year. Putting up decorations, listening to favorite holiday tunes in the car and while puttering around the house. My Sweet Babboo put up green garland and holiday bells on the veranda this year. We don't do much because no one comes up here. These decorations we can see …

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Sunday Chat

It has been a crazy busy week this past week. Every one of my clubs had their holiday event, and one club had two. Tuesday night we went to a party, Wednesday was our guild tea, Saturday was a car club breakfast, followed by a drive out to Balsam Mountain for a party and overnight …

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Cooking for Thanksgiving

With just days to go before the big day, I've been thinking about what I want to make for the holiday meal. Of course, we'll have turkey. For us, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving with anything else. We'll have our jellied cranberry sauce, too, served in my grandmother's dish. But, everything else is subject to consideration. …

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Fall Fortnight Recipe – Stir Fry Beef

Fall Fortnight continues today with a wonderful and easy recipe from Milk Street in their Shorts cookbook - Stir Fry Beef with Mushrooms and Snow Peas. This recipe has an interesting technique called 'velveting' which was demonstrated on the Milk Street TV show just a couple of weeks ago. It involves a short marinade to …

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Sunday Chat

The drawing for the raffle quilt benefiting Steps to Hope was held this week. I am happy to report that the charity made almost $800 from its efforts. Thanks to Pam B in Delaware who graciously allowed her stunning quilt to be the raffle prize. The money raised will help residents of the shelter take …

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More Fun at the Mountain State Fair

It has been a crazy week, with multiple cooking contests and lots of entries to find in the Expo building. Today, if you can tolerate the tooting of my own horn, I'll show you a few more ribbons in other divisions. In Senior Crafts, this holiday theme table topper won second place in Holiday Decorations. …

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NC Mountain State Fair 2025

The NC Mountain State Fair this year has been as much fun as ever. I worked the quilt take-in table for a shift on Labor Day, then back to the Expo building on Wednesday to work as a judge for the Professional Crafts Division. Both days were fun, and so inspirational to see the wonderful …

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Welcome Autumn with Apples

As August draws to a close, the harvest begins. It isn't quite fall yet, but I am ready for cooler days, and the flavors of fall. Apples are my transition theme for cooking and decorating this time of year. Labor Day weekend is our local Apple Festival, and it was gorgeous weather for it with …

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Sunday Chat – Quilting, Birding, Cooking

I am happy to report that Lemon Twist is almost finished! When I finished ripping out all the bad stitching (see my post Quilting Lemon Twist), I did some trouble shooting and discovered the top thread was not seated into the tension discs. How it jumped out is beyond comprehension, but there it was. I …

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Sunday Chat

Time for a Sunday chat, so get yourself a cuppa and settle in for a long and picture heavy post. There has been a lot of activity in the garden lately, as it is in lovely bloom now. The day lilies have been giving us two or three blooms each day. The orange ones I …

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