A Tastey Shrimp Dinner That's Quick to Make

This is one of my favorites to make for my family; it's really quick to make.
What you will need:
1 large bag of frozen uncooked shrimp
celery salt
2-3 cups of real butter
zucchini cut up
yellow onion cut up
vegetables can be added to this what I like is carrots, pea pods, fresh frozen peas, green beans, celery or without like the picture.
White Instant rice.
First add the butter to a large frying pan, onion, celery salt, pepper, when the butter is all melted add your veggies such as the zucchini as in the picture cook till veggies are almost tender now add the shrimp and begin cooking the instant rice or minute rice, cook the shrimp until a nice pink color.
Now dish the shrimp and veggies over the rice using a large soup ladle as to also get the seasoned butter sauce to drizzle over the rice also.
You can also use garlic salt or a season salt what ever way tastes good this recipe has lots of variety and is very quick and easy so make it your own, I do suggest sticking with the butter it makes it say much better.

How to Make this Silly Aged Butterfly

I did this butterfly just out of silly thinking and dreaming of what I thought an aged butterfly should look like. There was no patters used for this just some free hand drawing
First I used muslin for the body of the butterfly and stained it with a washed out black and browns and a touch of red. I baked it in my oven at 200 degrees until it was dry.

Next with a sewing pencil or washable marker I drew out a bit of a bone shape making one end of the bone shape larger because this will be the head of the butterfly. I cut out 2 pieces and sewed the eyes on and painted the nose on with acrylic paints and let that dry for a day. Then I sewed all around the body making a small slit in the back for adding the fiber fill.

I found some wonderful fabric that was a mixture of cotton and acrylic fabric, and I just drew out the shape of the wings onto the fabric using a white sewing pencil and then I cut out the wings and stained them with a brown walnut stain and once again baked the fabric at 200 degrees. I better mention I cut out 2 sets of wings and sewed them together being sure to leave an opening to turn the fabric.
I then gathered the wings in the center with a running stitch and sewed them to the back of the butterfly covering up the slit in the back.
Finally I used a bit of fishing line for the top of the butterfly by just sewing the line through the fabric and knotting.

Life is always Full of Change

Life can be so interesting sometimes, full of changes; well its another big change for me and my husband. I think this year was the most we have ever struggled due to the tough economy. So it was time for a change....
What a big change my husband gave up the mule train log truck and is now training to be a tanker truck driver, it is huge change because it means him having to be away from home for while until we can sell our home and move closer to the new work.
It has been tough to make this choice but I know Heavenly Father has been guiding us along the way and for me it means lots more prayers to keep my husband safe because if I thought driving the log truck was dangerous now he will be driving around in a large gas can as we joke about this, so we still have a sense of humor.
Leaving the log truck behind was hard because he enjoyed it, seeing some beautiful country side and he has done it for more than 12 years.
So this is the last picture of the mule train fully loaded and our home at this time.
Next year the home will have to be sold the job location is to far away and we need to be closer.

A Summer nap and Catch for the Day, whacked out pillow

This is one of the very first pillows I ever whacked out, and what do I mean by whacked out?
Well its a form of cutting out fabric to design a scene, such as this one, I cut out each piece of fabric and placed it onto the cut out size of muslin then sometimes I will use a stick glue; just a dab and some eembroidery thread that is not knotted and sew a few stitches through to hold the cut out pieces of fabric in place.

Then I will sew the fabric into place by using a selected stitch on my sewing machine; in this case I used the blanket stitch. I often just cut out my pieces free hand because you can get some interesting cut out pieces of fabric.

After I have sewn the the front of the pillow then I look for fabric for backing and fill the pillow with fiber fill, sometimes before I back I will add buttons or other items and sew them on by hand to just give the pillow, a creative look as I put it.

In the case of this pillow its all about a little boy who seeks adventure so leaves his town to the near by lake to catch that glorious catch of the day, but falls asleep due to the wonderful, peaceful summer day.

I will be adding the pillow to my art fire store in a few days so be sure to look for it there to purchase.

A Recipe from 1927, Peanut Butter Bread

This is from one of my favorite cook books called Forgotten Recipes by Jane Rodack.
I just love these recipes and tips they are easy to do and taste great.
This recipe is from 1927, and is so great alone or with some honey spread on it.
What you will need:
2 cups of flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 sugar
1/2 peanut butter ( in my case I used crunchy peanut butter; it was good)
1 1/2 cups of milk
Mix the first four items, then add the peanut butter. Make sure this gets mixed well, now add your milk and beat again, and pour into well greased large bread pan or 2 small bread pans because this can make one large loaf or 2 small loafs. Bake at 350 for an hour or until tooth pick comes out clean.

An old time hint: did you know you can make color frosting from jelly beans? Its true just dissolve them in a bit of warm water.

Brown Sugar Brownies

These are just yum when served warm; I love to make these anytime and the recipe is not that hard to do for a sweet homemade treat.
What you will need:
2 eggs
2 cups of brown sugar
1tsp. of baking powder
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of melted butter
Mix all the ingredients and spread into well greased 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 until done, by sticking tooth pick in and it comes out clean.
These will go fast!

Working on new Halloween Quilt, a painted wall hanging quilt

This is the Halloween quilt I am working on; is painting with acrylics onto muslin with Halloween cotton fabrics around it.
This is a picture of how it is going so far, the picture is of a Kitty looking back into the window of his home with a creepy pal spider.
I am using a wash of colors for the back round so that you get the idea its dust and I have cut out my blocks that will go around the picture of the cat.
I will seal the acrylic paints but it probably still will not work to wash this quilt in a washing machine.





These are photos of close ups of the cat and the spider so far, I have really enjoyed working with the acrylic paints on the muslin.