another fall, another chili bean...

The chili cook-off was a hit again this year!

There were six peeps

that got out their

"cauldrons".

They stirred up their

bat wings

and

eye of newt

and spider webs,

and cooked up a big pot of ...

chili...

yeah, chili...

for All Hallows Eve.

There was food aplenty.

Besides all the chili there were

corn bread and zucchini pie and all kinds of chili "toppings"

at the bonfire.

And inside, while watching the game:

Veggies and snacks - plural.

Cakes, pies, cookies and candies - plural.

Kettle corn, caramel corn.

Way too much!

Here are a couple of pics before it got really dark

(and before we went inside to watch the state football game) :

The "cauldron row":

 The fire that sure felt good as the

temperature dropped into the low 40's:

This year's winner was called "Game Day Chili"

It had a real "kick" in the spice department!

Next year,

I told everyone it was going to be

BYOB....

Bring Your Own Bean-o

:)



No, to market, to market

I am a little sad...
Fall Market is this weekend in Houston...


I am not going to Quilt Market this fall....

(insert sad face here).


But, I can't wait to see everyone's posts about their trips!
And all of the new "stuff" from all the designers and shops!

I know that Primitive Gatherings has their own line of muslins that will debut...
and Brenda from Pumpkin Patch Primitives is going to go look for
some great stuff to have in her online shop.
Blackbird Design gals have new stuff.
Rosie is going, but, for the first time, no new patterns are going with her!
And, that is OK, 'cause she has been whipping them out lately!
(I still want to get the "Brown-eyed Girl pattern!)
Some of the gals from across the water: Lynette Anderson,  and Natalie and have some great new patterns that they have hinted about on their blogs.

I know that a lot of the local shop owners around here are going to Market.
And I know they will find us all kinds of great STUFF!!!

It's that time again!

Time...
it sure seems like it has been flying, lately...
And, since it's almost the end of October,
that means it's chili cook-off time again!

Can't wait for Saturday night this week!
Nice, cool, fall weather with a bright moon and clear skies.
A great bonfire,
and a Party!!!

I invited the neighbors and friends and family.
So far, RSVP's are great!
Among others, these are the cook-off chilies that are coming:
a "famous chili",
a "turkey-10-alarm-chili", and
an "Italian chili"!   

Going to have to step up my recipe, it sounds like!!!

Oh, yeah, and get some more tables down to the fire pit!

meanderings...

more meanderings...
I think these are both to be Christmas gifts...
Bea's:

Imagine a great, fall colored quilt here...golds, blacks, tans....
for some reason, the photo will not load onto blogger....
Grrrrr!  And if I do say so myself, the quilting was nice, too!
Sorry, Bea!  :(


And, Roberta's:

How are people so far ahead this year with their gift making???

What's the secret?

Please tell me!

Both are great, aren't they?
I really want to get this far along in my Christmas gifting!
Might have to get to work instead of visiting blog land, huh?

Happy new week to you!
p.s.  I have heard it is only NINE, yes, NINE weeks until Christmas!

blue plate special

Remember the " blue plate special"?

I remember the local mom & pop place in town

always had a sign outside for a "blue plate special".

Do you suppose they really had blue plates?

But, that is not why I bring up the "blue plate"...

I recently read

some study

that was about eating habits

and how those eating habits are affected by the

color of the plate you eat from...

Supposedly,

the color blue is not pleasant to your senses when combined with serving food,

therefore, you would unconsiously eat less if served on a blue plate...

Don't know if this is true or not, but,

just in case...

this is the color of my snack plates:

And this is the snack

that I put on my snack plate last time:

Yep, that's my turtle cheesecake...

I don't know for sure if

the blue plate/eat less thing

is working for me, though...

I still ate the whole thing!

well, Cheesecake!

No, that is not an expletive!

It's just that - cheesecake!

I have been in the mood for cheesecake lately,

but if you have ever made a cheesecake,

you know that they are not small!

So I waited.

And waited.

Patiently.

Not my best attribute, waiting patiently.

I think I used to be more patient.

Maybe I have become accustomed to

our life of instantaneous results...

Like microwaved food - almost instant hot food.

Pop it in the little box,

poke some numbers,

and just a minute later:

WaLaa! Hot food!

Or maybe like fast food restaurants -

drive through, pay and pick up a meal.

Or maybe the worst culprit: 

picking up your cell phone

and texting or calling someone RIGHT NOW

and having them answer AND

not having to wait until you get to a Pay Phone or back home.

Pay Phone??? What's a Pay Phone???

Well, anyway,

back to the cheesecake...

I had to wait until I had a reason

to make a cheesecake

that feeds 16.

And the occasion arouse over the past weekend.  Yay! 

And I had a cutie of a helper...
(this pic was before we started licking the utensils
and before chocolate was on the white t-shirt! 
Oops, time to get out the aprons!)

I made this scrumptious

Turtle Cheesecake:

It was well worth the wait! 

Scrumptious!

a crust of pecans and flour and butter!

(whole wheat flour, of course)

Then the filling of

Two pounds of cream cheese,

eggs, sugar;

Dark chocolate mixed in with some of the cheesecake,

for a bottom layer of chocolaty goodness,

and a "turtle" layer of caramel and pecans!

Bake for a couple of hours...

then chill and cover with a ganache.

Ganache is that french goodie

that includes warming some whole cream

and pouring it over a good, dark chocolate, stirring until smooth.

What could be better?

Now,

I am going for a walk...

a very long walk!

meanderings...

Yes, the quilting jobs are abundant

as we move toward that gift giving season! 

Yes, I'm Lovin' it!

Check out this first one:

This one I got to work on for Cathy.

It is an old top that was mostly hand pieced, 

but had some machine piecing. 

The light fabrics were many different white with blue shirtings.

The dark fabrics were navy blues: some solids, and some small prints.

Cathy said it was a family piece,

and that her daughter really wanted it to be usable,

not a top just for display. 

So I did some repairs, quilted it, trimmed and bound it. 

Now it is living in a very appreciative home! 

And it is a real beaut, isn't it?

Then, wait until you see the next quilt I got to meander over...

It is Carolyn's.

And I tried to talk her out of this,

but she insists it is a wedding gift for a niece!

She did the birds as a block of the month at a LQS.

 

Then I helped her figure different borders

so she could make it large enough for the bride-to-be. 

Lucky, lucky girl! 

Carolyn actually made a second set

of the bird blocks as she worked on this one. 

So she will have a second, very similar quilt.

She says that the second quilt will be hers!

I'm still trying to figure out how

I could be

some relation to Carolyn

so that I could be on her gift list!!!

Let me know if you have an idea about

how I can talk her into this!