Recipe and daily stuff....

Well MacBeth (my scottish terrier) really did it this time. Last night Brownie (my small brown cat) escaped from the house and a few moments later we heard a loud screeching noise. When I opened our front door MacBeth almost knocked me over as he speed past me. In addtion to the cat's screech I now heard loud growling, yipping and howling. Brownie zoomed out of the bushes and ran into the house. When I picked her up she was wet - I looked at my shirt and there was blood.

So I go rushing into the bushes yelling and waving my "CSI" flashlight (you know the big black one that looks like a lethal weapon!) Anyway, Macbeth comes out all terriered-up but bleeding. I get them both in the back seat of the car and race to the vet hospital. Long story short...MacBeth spent the night and came home with one less tooth and a few stitches (and very proud of himself I may add) while Brownie just needed a few scratches taken care of and some antibiotics.

It was a long night and I did very little sewing today.

On a lighter note...yesterday an American friend brought over a British quilter she knew. I forgot how fun it was to pull out the quilts and do show-and-tell. Lots of fun. A bonus...she makes jams and is willing to show me how to make blackberry jam next week! So after they left I put on my hiking shoes and long sleeved jean jacket (works well against the thorns!) and walked down to my favorite blackberry patch. As you can see in the photo I will be picking here for many weeks to come!

In addition to getting the blackberries I get to visit with the sheep and the cows along the right-of-way. OK not visit...but take their photo from a very long distance! (one of those bad boys is a bull and I don't care how friendly the farmer says he is...that is a big, big bull! or should a venture - a lot of bull!) The hills way off in the background are the Malverns.

I am almost finished the last two rows of the repro quilt top from two posts ago...slow going. Seems like the only squares left are the same fabrics...the fabrics I didn't like well enough to use earlier. I know I shouldn't but I went up to the quilt room and pulled some more fat quarters out to cut a few "nice" fabrics. I can't help myself!!!

Bonnie over at Quiltville was talking about recipies using bananas. Here is my favorite recipe for Hummingbird Cake:

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

3 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple with juice

1 cup chopped pecans

3 medium size bananas, mashed

Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

in a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separeate blow, mix togter the beaten egg, vegetable oil, vanilla, crushed pineappple with juice and bananas. Fold into the dry ingredients. Add pecans and blend well. Pour mixture into tube pan. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 cup butter, softened

8 oz pakg cream cheese, softened

16 ox powdered sugar

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. chopped pecans.

Blend together the butter and cream cheese. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Stir well. Use th pecans as garnish.