Nesting

Debbie over at Debbiedoos is having a pet party, and I thought I'd join in.  You all met our baby girl, Socks, back when Debbie held her first pet party.  Besides Socks, I don't really have any other pets to introduce you to other than our fish that just won't die.  Outside our house, though we do have some new friends.

Do you see her?  Hiding behind the flowers?

I put this little basket filled with silk blooms outside to dress up our front door area a couple of weeks ago for Easter.  It's still cold here, and nothing's blooming yet, so I thought a little Spring color by the door would be nice.

A house finch decided that it was the perfect spot for her to make her nest.  Every few days, I'd come home and find some of those purple flowers discarded in the front garden.  She needed a bit more room.

Even with the constant comings and goings through that front door, she felt like this was the perfect spot to start a family.  5 perfect little eggs.

She's become accustomed to the front door opening, and will only fly off now when the storm door is opened(it's a bit noisy.)  Does anyone know if finches come back every year?  Our robins do.  Each year they come back and lay eggs in this nest.

It's still a bit cold for them, so they haven't arrived yet.  We definitely consider our robins pets as they've been coming back for the last 8 yrs.  Socks, on the other hand, would love to call them dinner.  She spends hours in the garden window watching them.

Thanks for popping in and checking out our unconventional "pets."

Spinach & Goat Cheese Tartlets w/ Caramelized Onions

I told you about our theme night Saturdays when I posted my Black Forest Torte.  It's been a lot of fun baking and cooking for German, Italian, Mexican, etc. night.  This past weekend, we were having a tough time coming up with a theme night idea, and we ended up going with Pie.  Not a country, but a fun food idea.  We had turkey pot pies, a chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert, and I made Spinach & Goat Cheese Tartlets w/ Caramelized Onions for an appetizer.

I had this fantastic Rosemary & Garlic Goat Cheese in my frig begging to be used.

I mixed 2/3 cup of the cheese with 1/2 a block of frozen spinach that had been thawed and squeezed between some paper toweling.

I rolled out 1/3 of my Puff Pastry dough recipe and, using my pizza cutter, sliced it into 3 inch squares.  You can use the boxed frozen stuff if you're not gluten-free.  I placed a generous tablespoon of the spinach mixture in the center of each square.

I folded up the edges of the square, overlapping the corners, and topped them with some caramelized onions.  When all the tarts had been assembled, I chilled them in my freezer for 15 minutes while preheating my oven to 400.  It's important to have your dough well chilled when working with puff pastry, because it's the cold butter particles that will eventually puff up in the oven.

Just before placing the appetizers in the oven, I brushed the edges with an egg wash.  These bake for 20 minutes or until they are puffed up and golden.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Ruffled Shrug

I snagged a really pretty sundress/coverup from TJ Maxx the other day for $15, but it hasn't been warm enough to wear anything sleeveless yet.  This would have normally meant that I would have put it in my closet until it warmed up some more, but I've found a new fearlessness with making what I need on my sewing machine.  Kaysi over at Keeping it Simple is constantly showing off the really neat ways she modifies off the rack t-shirts & turtlenecks to create fantastic looking skirts & tops, and I was inspired to make my own something.  I created this Ruffled Edge Shrug to go over my new dress.

Here's how it started.  I grabbed an old t-shirt from my only-good-for-the-gym pile.  This t-shirt had seen better days.  It looked like it accidentally had met some bleach in the laundry room.

I cut off the bottom half of the t-shirt,

cut the shirt in half up the middle,

and rounded the corners.

I then created a v-neck and cut the neck off.

I cut 3 - inch wide strips of fabric from the bottom half of the shirt, and sewed the strips together to make one large strip of fabric.

I pinned this strip all the way around the cut edge of the shrug.

I sewed the strip on using a 1/4 inch seam.

I pressed the strip flat, and stitched just inside of the seam to hold the seamed fabric in place.

To create the ruffled edge, I stitched as close to the cut edge as I could with a zigzag stitch, with a stitch length of 2, while pulling on the fabric to stretch it out as it went into the machine.  This is the easiest way I know how to make a ruffled edge on a knit fabric.

I ruffled another strip of leftover fabric and stitched it into a rosette to cover a big bleach stain.

I decided not to add ruffles to the sleeves, because I thought it was already girly enough.  But for a little girl, the more ruffles, the better.

Thanks for popping in and sewing with me.  I'm linking this up to Between Naps On the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday, and the Graphic's Fairy's Brag Monday.