I've been hunting more Christmas decoration patterns. I found some cute vintage ones for bells, stars and trees wearing little winter hats. I have some vintage trims that I think will look right. I need to go to the storage unit today and dig out my boxes of fabric.

The weather has been more like fall than summer recently, so I've been trying out some cold weather dishes. The original recipe was stuffed in a pumpkin instead of including the puree. I just baked it in a bowl like I do extra bread stuffing at Thanksgiving. Your time may vary depending on how wet you like your stuffing. The family liked it. I used mixed hazelnuts and pecans instead of walnuts, and regular raisins instead of golden ones.
Fall Fruit Stuffing serves 6
1 can pumpkin puree
6 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (16 ounce) can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark rum (optional)

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
In a large oven-proof bowl, stir together first 8 ingredients. Season with ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and mix well.
Heat oven to 350 degrees, bake for about an hour.
variation: Pumpkin puree may be omitted, and stuffing served spooned over pound cake or pumpkin bread, and garnished with whipped cream.
Reviews^^TRACYSUE Nov. 11, 2003 I experimented with this at our Halloween party, I served it with sliced pumpkin pound cake. It was devoured. I did have a little left that would not fit in the pumpkin, I warmed it up and served it over vanilla ice cream, yum-yum. I can't wait to serve this for Thanksgiving.^^ ;; CYNKUEN Oct. 28, 2004 Beautiful presentation and delicious! I mixed the leftovers in oatmeal for breakfast the next day. It did take me longer than the recipe stated to get the pumpkin soft enough to mix in.;;
original recipe (stuffed in a pumpkin instead of including pumpkin puree) from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Stuffed-Pumpkin/Detail.aspx

Today I traced and cut out some patterns for dove and apple Christmas ornaments.

Yes, kiddies, it's time to start thinking about Christmas crafts. I dug out a box of fabric that was missed during the move to storage. Lots of greens and a few reds for apples, and some nice calico to make some doves. I'm thinking of possibly making some trees, as well.

AAAAAKKKKK!!!

I bought a sewing machine! Help Cecil, help! Help Cecil, help!!!

Something came over me... The boys are talking about taking up historical reenacting as archers; the pictures of toys on the internet are so cute (and the patterns are free); I'm going bored out of my mind because my usual crafts mess the house up and we want to sell it...

So I bought one. If I can figure out how to make the silly thing work, I guess I'll be posting some real live crafts.

Check the cabinets for bandaids, everybody - The last time I sewed was in Junior High... and it's no one's business how long ago that was! LOL

I tried to switch pictures and erased the post! oops



These are the woodburned labels I made for the trees. Nothing special, just log cuts propped up under the trees and bushes to let prospective buyers know what they were seeing.
As always, please click picture for closeup.

Lentil and Sausage Bake
1 cup lentils
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 - 1/2 onion, chopped

Wash the lentils, put in a quart pot with 2 cups of the water, and the chopped onion.
Simmer for 15 minutes. Check, if needed add the rest of the water to cover, and cook another 5 minutes, or until soft.
Set aside. It should yield about 3 cups lentils.

1 pound hamburger
1/4 tsp chili powder (the original recipe said cayenne, I didn't have any)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp thyme
1/8 marjoram
1 tsp powdered sage
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp salt

Mix together and fry in a pan.
When meat is done, mix 2 cups cooked lentil mixture, and 1 cup cooked hamburger mixture.
Put in a small casserole.
Set aside and heat up for dinner. (Hubby had it cold and loved it.)

Going great guns to get our house ready to sell.
Not much time for crafts, unless you count wallpapering, packing, or carpet cleaning. I imagine anyone reading this knows how to do that.

Just wanted to put something in a post for April.