SUNDAY RIDE AND EAT

Today was a beautiful and sunny day here in Florida.

Jorge and I rode our motorcycles to church and afterwards,

we decided to explore the northeast part of Jacksonville.

We went to Amelia Island. What a beautiful place.

Because we were on the motorcycles,

I was not able to take pictures of the beautiful old houses that we saw.

Thanks to Google, I can share them here.

This is one of the houses that I fell in love with.

Jorge and I are going to definitely have to come back and spend more time here.

The last time I was on a ferry I got horribly seasick.

A severe thunderstorm caught up to us and we were

going back and forth and I was turning every shade of green.

This ferry ride was so much better.

No storms and it was sunny and smooth sailing.

At the end of the ride, we were greeted by pelicans.

Once we were on the other side of the St. John's River,

We were in Mayport, Florida.

We learned that Mayport is known for its delicious shrimp.

We definitely need to come back and try some.

This also serves as a naval base.

From the road, Jorge and I could see a carrier.

We have no idea what its name is.

This picture I took from Google.

There is so much to explore here in Florida

and Jorge and I plan on doing a lot more

field trips and learn more about this area.

FLORIDA GARDENING

Since Jorge and I are now living in Florida,

gardening here is very different than what it was back in Indiana.

When we moved to our house last August,

I already knew there were things I wanted to do in the yard.

For one thing, the property has WAY TOO MANY bushes.

I didn't want to pull any out last year because I didn't know what they were.

So I waited till now and found out what several of them are.

After making inventory of the bushes and what I have

I came up with a plan.

So far I have removed eight bushes.

Today's bush was the hardest one to take out.

It took me almost an hour to dig it out.

The bush I took out was a Japanese Boxwood.

It was right next to the house in the back.

The Elephant Palm I pulled out last year.

The Japanese Boxwood is to the right of the palm.

During all of the work, I found poison ivy.

Thankfully it did not touch my skin.

 It took me almost an hour and drinking a lot of

water but I finally dug out the bush.

 I put edging all around

 I also planted grass seed.

I had to add soil because since this is Florida,

there is a lot of sand.

 I went to Lowes and bought 20 bags black mulch.

I did have a young man load it all up in the Suburban.

I should have brought him with me to help me unload it all.

Three pots filled with flowers.

 Landscape fiber down and now the black mulch.

I'm very tired but very happy with the results.

I will need to go back and buy more potted flowers.

I'm learning new things about gardening in Florida.

KEEPSAKE QUILTING

Four years ago was the year of weddings for my husband and me.

We were invited to 16 weddings and that included our son's.

Now from most of those weddings, babies are coming.

I have been busing making baby quilts.

There is a quilting catalog that I receive and it's Keepsake Quilting.

There are so many of their patterns that I just fall in love with.

If only I didn't have responsibilities and my job,

I could spend all of my time quilting.

As I was scanning through the pages,

I saw a quilt that I knew would make a perfect baby quilt.

It's a really easy quilt to make if you break it down.

The basic pattern for this quilt is a nine patch.

I made my block to be a 9 1/2" unfinished block.

So this past weekend (Easter weekend), I made it.

It is a great stash buster and I challenged myself 

that I was not going to buy any fabric but to use what I had.

Last night I finished piecing the quilt.

I was very please with the way it turned out.

I'll finish quilting it and then mail it to Indiana

for the mom to be's baby shower.

One of my favorite catalogs.

This is the pattern that I found and fell in love with.

My own quilt using my fabric stash.

Now that I have finished piecing this one,

I'm off to piece another one.

I'm going to be busy.

FLORIDA SHOP HOP

This week seven quilt shops in the area had the first shop hop of the year.

Back when I still lived in Indiana, I had only done one shop hop.

It was a lot of fun.

The theme for the shop hop that I participated

is called Florida Breeze.

Each shop of the seven shops designed their own block.

They made a quilt featuring their blocks.

The participants were able to get the block at each shop.

It took me two days to complete the shop hop.

I had to exercise EXTREME self-control.

I finished my shopping today and went 

to the last three shops I needed to go.

The weather did not cooperate but I completed my task.

This was what the day looked like all day long.

It was not fun driving in the rain.

My passport for the shop hop.

These are the patterns for all of the blocks in the shop hop.

I'm looking forward to making my

first Florida themed quilt.

Fabric I bought

Foundation muslin with a wonky Log Cabin

and three spools of thread

I could not pass on these patterns.

After having a great two days of visiting

the seven different quilt shops,

I'm looking forward to getting started on 

some of the projects that I purchased.

FABRIC ORNAMENT

In between finishing quilts for clients,

I found online the directions to make this fabric ornament.

I decided to make it and you can use a lot of

leftover scrap material in making this.

It took me less than 30 minutes,

from beginning to end, to do the ornament.

Here's the link:

Katrina's Tutorials

PERFECT LATIN FLAN

My family and I love flan!

It is a very delicious dessert and my husband

 has told me I make it the best.

Well, last night we were watching PBS

and the program was America's Test Kitchen.

I love this show.

They showed step by step a flan recipe

that I knew I had to try.

It was different than from the way that I make mine.

All I can say is that it's delicious!

Here's the recipe from America's Test Kitchen

Serves 8 to 10


This recipe should be made at least one day before serving. We recommend an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan for this recipe. If your pan is 9 by 5 inches, begin checking for doneness at 1 hour. You may substitute 2 percent milk for the whole milk, but do not use skim milk. Serve the flan on a platter with a raised rim to contain the liquid caramel.
INGREDIENTS
2/3cup (4 2/3 ounces) sugar
2large eggs plus 5 yolks
1(14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1(12-ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2cup whole milk
1 1/2tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS



1. Stir together sugar and 1/4 cup water in medium heavy saucepan until sugar is completely moistened. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, 3 to 5 minutes, and cook, without stirring, until mixture begins to turn golden, another 1 to 2 minutes. Gently swirling pan, continue to cook until sugar is color of peanut butter, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl pan until sugar is reddish-amber and fragrant, 15 to 20 seconds. Carefully swirl in 2 tablespoons warm tap water until incorporated; mixture will bubble and steam. Pour caramel into 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan; do not scrape out saucepan. Set loaf pan aside.


2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Line bottom of 13 by 9-inch baking pan with dish towel, folding towel to fit smoothly, and set aside. Bring 2 quarts water to boil.


3. Whisk eggs and yolks in large bowl until combined. Add sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, whole milk, vanilla, and salt and whisk until incorporated. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer into prepared loaf pan.


4. Cover loaf pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in prepared baking pan. Place baking pan in oven and carefully pour all of boiling water into pan. Bake until center of custard jiggles slightly when shaken and custard registers 180 degrees, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil and leave custard in water bath until loaf pan has cooled completely. Remove loaf pan from water bath, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and chill overnight or up to 4 days.


5. To unmold, slide paring knife around edges of pan. Invert serving platter on top of pan and turn pan and platter over. When flan is released, remove loaf pan. Using rubber spatula, scrape residual caramel onto flan. Slice and serve. (Leftover flan may be covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 4 days.)

MODA CHARM PACK

When I came to Florida in late July, I was looking at houses

for my husband and I to move to.

I had gotten to a point that I was so tired of looking at houses.

As I was traveling back to the apartment,

I saw a beautiful and wonderful sign:

Quilt Shop

The name of the store is The Calico Station.

I fell in love with the shop.

I bought five charm packs from Moda called Lilies of the Field.

My husband has been after me for such a long time 

to make a quilt for our bedroom.

When I saw the fabric, I knew in that moment that is what I wanted.

So today I started working on the quilt.

This quilt will be my husband's birthday present.

His birthday falls on December 26th.

I got the squares all sewn and now

I have to go back to the shop

and buy more fabric to make the

sashing and the borders.

 

The charm packs all sorted out and ready to be put together.

They are now sewn by two's and now the fun

is to decide how to put them together.

Fifty-two squares are done and now they wait till

tomorrow when I but the fabric for sashing and borders.

I'll be putting more pictures of the progress.

I'm safe about posting this because he doesn't read my blog