An Apricot Weekend

My dear blog friends it has been way too long since I last posted. Thanks to a dear friend for the motivation this evening to write a new blog post. Where does time go these days?! Is it just me or does it seem to fly? I've had an apricot kind of weekend. You may ask what is an apricot weekend? Well it seems to be the theme I had going although it was entirely unplanned.

One of my favorite rose bushes is in full bloom of beautiful rich apricot colored roses. They are at the end of my rose garden and I pass them every day and they are so fragrant! 

I made some apricot pineapple jam yesterday. I saw beautiful apricots in the produce section of my local market and couldn't resist them. I'm still learning the tricks to making perfect jam but this tastes so good it doesn't matter if it's perfect or not! The little daisy is a new crochet project I'm working on. More pics of that to come. 

 This evening I made some 'Wholesome Whole Grain Muffins.' These are truly one of the most delicious muffins I've had! They are filled with apricot filling and serious delicious. I made them with chopped pecans which added to their wholesomeness. Ha ha but it made them even more delicious.

You can see a tiny bit of the apricot filling in this pic! This is the filling I used and it also would be good with cherry or raspberry. I think I'll have a cherry kind of day next time I make them!

I'm thrilled to share this recipe with you!

Wholesome Whole Grain Muffins

1 cup oats (old -fashioned uncooked)

1 cup whole wheat flour (or white)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup wheat germ

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp grated orange peel

1/4 tsp cardamon (optional)

1 egg lightly beaten

1 cup low-fat milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup  fruit spread (I used about 1/2 can of the apricot cake and pastry filling by Solo) 

finely chopped nuts (I used pecans but you could use walnuts or is optional)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 12 muffin cups with non-stick spray. Set aside.

In large bowl, combine oats, flour, brown sugar, wheat germ, baking powder, orange peel, cinnamon, and salt, nuts; mix well. Combine egg, milk and oil- mix well. Add to dry ingredients all at once; mix just until blended. (Batter will be thin) Fill each muffin cup 13/ full with batter. Carefully spoon 1 teaspoon apricot fruit spread in center of each muffin cup. Spoon remaining batter over fruit spread, dividing equally over all muffins. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes (if you can!) Serve warm or cool. Yummy!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday and to my dearest sweet friend thank you for inspiring me to get back to writing my blog regularly! I have missed it and all of my blog friends too.

~Tanya

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Beautiful Easter Sunday

It's a beautiful Easter Sunday. Spring is finally here and it's a day to celebrate renewal and the gift of our Savior. It has been a day to reflect for me and to look forward to new things in life. I wish you a Happy Easter and some yummy chocolate too from the Easter Bunny!

I made this Easter outfit for my niece years ago. She was precious as a toddler and truly one of the loves of my life! The French Heirloom bonnet was a t-bonnet made of French laces and puffing strips. I repeated the idea in the detachable collar. Along the hem of the dress there are scalloped shaped pintucks.  

Easter is perfect for pink roses! 

Happy Easter!!!

~Tanya

Everything must change...

It was recently announced that the sewing publication Sew Beautiful would no longer be published. The publication was an inspiration to many who fell in love with French Heirloom Sewing. I was introduced to the magazine and French Heirloom Sewing when I was just nineteen years old. I signed up to take a class at a local Bernina dealership offered by Susan Oliver. She was one of the very early teachers at the Martha Pullen school and had studied and honed her skills. I admired her generous and kind heart as she taught this unique sewing style. I remember sewing on my not 'top-of-the-line' machine during the class and longing for one of the newer machines with perfect tension that didn't seem to chew up my lace and fabric!

  

The magazine also was the first place I had my writing published. Working with the editor and seeing my first magazine article was a real thrill. I queried the magazine at the urging of a university professor and how exciting it was to receive that first acceptance letter! 

 I've had many years of enjoyment and inspiration from this wonderful magazine. I've enjoyed it both personally and professionally.

It may be the end of an era for this sewing publication but the inspiration it offers will last many generations.

~Tanya

Tell me on a Sunday...

A beautiful spring Sunday filled with promise, hope and inspiration.

I can only imagine the winds that carried the tiny seeds of this tiny grape hyacinth and planted it in between broken concrete. Yet, it bloomed in the most unusual and difficult circumstance.

Inspiration and beauty can come in the most pleasantly surprising places.

~Tanya

Duckies

Nothing cuter than baby ducks!

These are paper-pieced three dimensional duckies! 

Their little wings are so soft and flap as fast as they paddle. Calm and cool on the surface but paddling like crazy under the water! 

A joy to make for a special little one.

Quack! Quack! Happy Day!!!

~Tanya

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Tell me on a Sunday please

Snow Rose...

Beautiful perfection. Nature does it like that.

Sunday is a time for peaceful reflection and hope for the future. It's also a time to stay happily in the present. We had a longer than usual  rose bloom season this last year and I decided not to prune in the fall but to wait to prune roses in the spring. Perhaps I was being a procrastinator, okay maybe I was a little bit but I'm so happy I did! What a delightful gift I was given by my loving Heavenly Father when I saw this.

Take time to smell the roses, no matter the season.  He blesses us in His time and in each season.

~Tanya

Red for February 1st!

February 1st. How did it get to be February already?  I am working my way through a stack of UFO's and this is my February project. All the piecing is finished now I get to be creative and quilt it. I can't wait to see how the quilting adds dimension and it will really bring this one to life.

February is red, pink, hearts, roses!

Hundreds okay maybe thousands of 1/2 square triangles for this queen/ king quilt.

As much as I love pink I also love vibrant and this one is vibrant for sure.

Happy February 1st! 

~Tanya

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