Snowflake Quilts

This is the very first purse I have ever made. I am normally creative when quilting, but am slightly intimidated by "regular" sewing. This is a wonderful "Lazy Girl Designs" pattern. With a nice long strap, I can wear it cross-body and have my hands free to deal with kids. My favorite kind of purse. Also just the right size to hold my phone, wallet, glasses, and still fit a standard paperback. I am ready to branch out now and add zippers, beading, and use fancier fabrics. Should be interesting!!

You will not believe how moist and good these brownies are!! My kids like them better than regular chocolate brownies. Zucchini Brownies Preheat oven to 350°. ⅓ cup butter or margarine 1 Tbsp hot water 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup all purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt ⅛ tsp baking soda ¾ cup zucchini, grated ½ cup chopped nuts ¼ (or more) cup chocolate chips In a saucepan, melt the butter, hot water, and brown sugar over low heat. Beat well. Remove from heat and beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix flour, powder, soda, and salt in separate bowl. Add to wet ingredients. Stir. Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Pour into 9x9 inch greased and floured pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. I seem to be baking up a storm this week. Thank you Delvis (my next door neighbor) for the baking soda.

Italian Plums - little, dusky purple plums (sometimes called prune plums) are available once a year in your local grocery store. I wait till they are about $1.50 lb and buy about 100 which will give me enough for about 5 tortes. I make 1 or 2 that week and the family devours them. I freeze the rest to be used for my Christmas morning plum torte treat. To freeze: Wash and lightly dry plums. Cut in half length-wise and flash freeze by placing face down in a single layer on a pan lined with wax or parchment paper. Place in freezer for about 1 hour, then remove to a freezer bag. These can be used straight from the freezer in the torte recipe.   Italian Plum Torte Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup flour, sifted (I never bother) 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs lemon juice Cinnamon and sugar mix Cream butter and sugar in bowl. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in another bowl; add to butter/sugar and stir. Add two eggs and mix. Pour torte

Did you know that Vermont has the oldest exposed fossil reef in the world? CEPHALOPOD 480 MILLION YEARS OLD My 9 year old now wants to be a paleontologist...specifically the first to discover dinosaur fossils in Vermont. We have been watching many shows on the Discovery and NatGeo channels and I saw one that featured the Chazy Reef. What a surprise to see it practically in my backyard! http://www.ilmpt.org/ilmpt/Welcome_to_Isle_La_Motte_Preservation_Trust.html Several key areas have been set aside as national preservation trust areas. They have a wonderful discovery walk where you can see and find fossils right in the rock at your feet. The kids spent more than an hour brushing dirt and grass from the exposed rock and finding many different ancient lifeforms. Linda Fitch was a wonderful guide and also instrumental in getting this unique and fascinating area preserved. These are rocks that the kids found loose on the surface. We examined them with the docent at the visitor cen

So I haven't been very good keeping up this blog, but intend to fix it now. Stay tuned for many new quilt posts as well as updates to the Souza family. Lisa

Not a great picture but shows the general insanity that ensued. The pieces exploding off are attached with wire twisted into springs or beads strung into twists. They dangle and tremble nicely on the wall and are the delight to our 2 new kittens.

I just won an exceptional merit ribbon in the Vermont Quilt Festival!!! This quilt is based on a Carol Doak yahoo group member pattern, is 14 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches, and has over 500 pieces.