Oink Oink

Hi, Tywanna here!  I hope everyone is having a great Thursday.  I just had to show off my adorable pig; yes, I love pigs/hogs whatever you would like to call them.  I grew up on a little mini farm where we raised hogs.  I even had to bottle-fed a little piglet at one time.  Sometimes you might have a litter where one is the runt.  She didn't stay a runt long with my TLC.  Well, I am off to put the finishing touches on a cross stitch that I am doing for a client.  We shall call it Issachar!

Serve it Up!

TGIF everyone!  I am so ready to just throw my feet up and I hope the weather this weekend turns out nice so that I can sit outside and watch the birds eat from the feeders. 

I made this piece for my parents.  This piece is called Serve It Up!  One of the best pieces I have done this year. 

Y'all take care and come back again to see my next work of art. 

Chili Shrimp Quiche

I made this side dish Chili Shrimp Quiche on Sunday for the first time.  This recipe came from my The Great Fish and Seafood Cookbook, which I have had this cookbook for many years say about 12 years and I have never tried any of the recipes until yesterday.

Pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
2 tbsps butter or margarine
2 tbsps white cooking fat
2-4 tbsps cold water

Filling
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
3 green onions, chopped
2 green chilies, seeded and chopped
8 oz cooked and peeled shrimp
Salt
Cooked, unpeeled shrimp and parsley sprigs for garnish

1. Sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl.
2. Rub in the butter and fat until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Mix in the liquid gradually, adding enough to bring the pastry together into a ball.
4. Wrap the pastry well and chill for 20-30 minutes.
5. Roll ou the pastry on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin.
6. Wrap the circle pastry around the rolling pin to lift it into a 10 inch flan dish.  Unroll the pastry over the dish.
7. Carefully press the pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of the dish, taking care not to stretch it.
8. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the dish to remove excess pastry, or cut off with a sharp knife.
9. Mix the eggs, milk, cream and garlic together.  Sprinkle the cheese, onion, chilies and shrimp onto the base of the pastry and pour over the egg mixture.
10.  Bake in a preheated 400F over for 30-40 minutes until firm and golden brown. 

January 2013

It is a new year and a new me.  I have decided I will not look back into or concentrate on anything related to 2012, but will move forward into 2013 with new ideas, new resolutions and just a brand new me.  I am starting this year off with a finished cross stitch of a lady arranging flowers.  At first I had thought about making this into a pillow, but a new idea surfaced and more than likely I will go with the new idea. 

Happy New Year 2013!

Teddy Bear

Well I have completed the hand-knitted teddy bear.  He is adorable and it turned out well.  At first, I thought my teddy would be horrible due to the fact that I never have knitted a teddy bear let alone a stuffed hand-knitted animal.  As you can see, this will not be my first knitted animal. 

In this picture, I am putting all the pieces together to be stuffed and sewned.













In this picture, my teddy is all completed.  I used buttons for his eyes and nose.  He is the softest teddy.  Just too cute!

You have to admit, he is one fine looking teddy.  The scarf was made by Lois.  This teddy will be given as a gift to a child with love.

In the shoebox my teddy goes.  Isn't he cute?  Hopefully the child that receives this shoebox will have many years of enjoyment.  The shoebox was loaded down with toys, even a knitted hat and scarf to go along with teddy's scarf.

I am walking down memory lane today.  Below is a picture of my son (18 years ago) and Marvin's daughter (16 years ago).  When I put these pictures on the table together, I was in awe of how much these two little people could go for brother and sister if you didn't know otherwise.

I had a sweet tooth, so I made this chocolate sheet cake the other night.  You can see how much the Haynes family love sweets.  Not sure if you can see the dishcloth, but I knitted this and if you look closely you might see the word HOME.  I knitted the border in seed stitch.  I love the way the seed stitch looks instead of the garter stitch.

Home dishcloth

Marvin pulled out the Christmas tree and got all the limbs all bushy to hold all the lights and ornaments.  This tree was purchased the same year my son was born.  As you can see, we are getting ready for a beautiful Christmas. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, I must say it has been a while since I have blogged.  Life is good, but busy.  It seems like yesterday my son graduated from high school even though I know it has been many months now.  Where is the time going?

I am back and will blog at least weekly to keep everyone abreast of what project(s) I am working on.  Even though I have said in the past I would not work on more than one project at a time, well guess what.... never say never.  I have several project(s) I am doing at one time.....

I have been working on this piece for a while and I have to say I lost my mojo for cross stitching.  Seriously, yes!  It can happen to the best of us, but now that I am back this piece (which I believe is called Legion) will be finished over the holidays.  I am going to turn this piece into a pillow. 

Now that my mojo is back in full steam, I decided to cross stitch another piece.  This piece I believe is called Good Coffee, Good Tea.  This is a beautiful piece with a woman on the left hand side (one is holding coffee, the other is holding tea).  Most definitely this piece will be framed and hung in my kitchen. 







Along with my love for cross stitching, my other love is knitting.  Knitting is so soothing and for all you knitters can't you hear the click, click, click of the knitting needles?  This is the body of a teddy bear.  I have to make two pieces of the body, two pieces of the arms, two pieces of the legs, two pieces of the ears, one head, one snout and then sew it all together and stuff.  If you want to come and knit with me, this pattern is taken from Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss.  This is my first knitted teddy bear, so I am looking forward to seeing the final product.

Lastly, I am still working out, slimming down and still a member of Weight Watchers.  This dish is Baked Apples.  Man-o-man it is delicious, even my partner (Marvin) loved it.  The apples are cooked in a slow cooker and makes your home smells devine.  The taste is superb and the apples melts in your mouth.  If you are interested in this recipe, it can be found in the WeightWatchers Weekly November 4-10, 2012. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!