Today is the last day for Blooming Daisies Crafts’ Christmas in July Sale! You will not want to miss 15% discount on ALL Christmas merchandise including the recently added Christmas Cactus print in WIP Bag (in all three sizes), Q-Snap Bags, and Grime Guards. Gift giving for your favorite cross stitcher, including yourself, has never been easier. Browse under the Blooming Daisies Crafts tab “Christmas Product” for accessories to make your Christmas WIP Merry and Bright; Holly and Jolly; or a Nightmare!
We are officially one month and a few days into summer. How can July be close to its end? Sitting inside watching the summer storms has given me time to work on my Dimensions (70-08948) Christmas Beach Chair WIP, accessorized in the Blooming Daisies Craft’s Frosty the Snowman Grime Guard and Elf and Christmas Tree Needle Minders. I am ready to move off of page one! Using two Needle Minders allows me to “park” multiple needles, so the threads do not tangle and I do not have to end and start colors as I would have before. How relaxing! It is the perfect project for “hot” (it is a relative term, I know) summer days in Florida.
Having returned from Tennessee, my sister has picked up the “groovy” Gnome Sweet Gnome-April. He does have that groovy vibe. The color palette is now down to gray, white, and black. The gray/white gradient is so slight that the cross stitching has to be done in the daylight. Not because of old eyes, mind you.
I am pretty excited to share my niece’s WIP! It is a sentiment that nearly everyone can relate to- “Me? Sarcastic? Never”. If not for yourself, someone close! The colors are beautiful and the hombre is very appealing. She is a Corgi lover, hence the cute Corgi Lover Needle Minder. Stay tuned for her next WIP: a Corgi, of course!
During these dog days of summer, my sister and her husband have taken the opportunity to experiment with their Sun Oven. The Sun Oven is a solar cooker that harnesses the power of the sun. It truly is solar, not powered with electricity produced by solar panels. The reflectors heat the box to regular oven temperatures. Crazy! My sister had played with the oven quite frequently a few years ago, even used to educate Girl Scouts during summer camps, but circumstances, namely a natural disaster and then life, had shelved the appliance. This summer, it is out of its box and “catching some rays!”
(Pictures are all messed up due to my lack of skill - but they do look delicious!)
The following cobbler recipe was used to relaunch the Sun Oven. No, you do not need a solar oven to cook it, a conventional oven works just as well. My sister’s mother-in-law receives credit for the recipe.
Fruit Cobbler
6 Tbsp butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
1 (22-ounce) can of pie filling
Preheat oven to 350*. Melt butter in a 2-quart baking dish using the oven as it preheats or in the microwave.
Stir dry ingredients together until well blended. Make a well in the center.
Add milk and mix until the batter is smooth.
Pour batter into melted butter, do NOT stir.
Spoon fruit evenly over batter, again, do NOT stir.
Bake at 350* for 50-60 minutes in a conventional oven or using the Sun Oven, 90 minutes (depending on the temperature obtained).
Do not forget to check out the fun Christmas product and get it ordered today!