Quick meal

Hi all:

Up here at the cottage, sometimes the last thing I want to do is cook a heavy meal, especially in this heat.  I love easy, quick, salad-type meals that you can assemble instead of cook. Below is another meal I made recently that fit that bill perfectly.

Quick Salad

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1 box  quinoa - cooked ( I used Casbah brand, Ancient Grain mix)

1/2 red pepper - diced

1 handful Craisins

Cooked chicken ( I used store bought, pre-cooked chicken strips - diced)

Feta cheese

 Cook the quinoa according to package directions. I usually make the entire box at one time and keep the unused amount in the fridge for future meals.

This is a really good blend of quinoa, couscous etc. and has a great texture.

Dice the red pepper and add to some cooked quinoa on a plate. Oh, and have a glass of wine while cooking this. This is a very important step. I love this wine called Sunset, from Silver Sage Winery. It has actual fruit blended with the wine and is absolutely delicious! Does that count for my daily fruit intake in the Canada Food Guide?

Next, add the feta cheese.

Now add the chicken.

Toss in some Craisins.

You are done. Enjoy! It couldn't be simpler right? I don't usually add a dressing to this type of salad as the salty feta and the sweet Craisins are great on their own, but sometimes I add a drizzle of olive oil to add an extra layer of flavour. Add whatever vegetables you like. Cucumbers, tomato, corn and black beans work well also.

Bon apetit!

New Jewellry Designs

Hi everyone:

I am still making jewellry and may sell my pieces again at the summer market this year. I am still sitting on the fence on that, but started making some new designs to sell.  It seems everything is about the chunky chain jewellry these days so I have made a few bracelets and plan to make some necklaces as well.

Here is a look at the bracelets I have made so far.

I made them in both silver and gold plated metal and have included a heart somewhere on the charms.  If you look closely, you can see that some of the charms have cubic zirconias, so they sparkle very nicely as well.  They are very comfortable to wear and look great with jeans or if you want a dressy look.

Let me know what you think.  I will post pictures of the necklaces once I finish 1 or 2.

Rosie

It's been a while!

Hi everyone:

I know it has been a while since I last posted. There has been a lot going on here.  I finally finished my courses this semester at the end of April,  attended an out of town wedding, promptly got a very bad cold that lasted for about 3 weeks ( and I am still coughing after 6 weeks), had a huge garage sale last weekend and am looking after another member of the household who now has that same nasty cold; a lot of sleepless nights, buying cough medicine etc. Whew!!

I look forward to some relaxing this summer, although I have to register for the Fall semester already on June 20th. I have 2 more years of 3 courses to complete; Music History, Private trumpet lessons and Class piano. I am wondering if I should continue or just forget about it all. I would really like to finish the program, but I also need to find work as well, so I am having quite a dilemma.

My jazz band is performing its final concert on Sunday June 15th.  The entire music society always performs a free Father's Day concert in the park.  It is always a very nice event to attend.  I will be playing 2 solos.  One solo I have performed before and the new one is one I composed for the Miles Davis chart, Blue in Green. (Again, it is  supposed to be an improvised solo so of course, I have to write one out because my improvising chops are hit and miss!)  The arrangement is by Les Hooper and there is a great video on Youtube where the soloist is playing a flugelhorn.(it originally calls for a Harmon mute).  I find the Harmon mute hard to play for long passages so I have borrowed a flugelhorn to play the part and solo.  Hopefully it will turn out OK.

I also had an idea about another quilt where I change up the "Shape Shifters" block.  I plan to try my idea today, so if it works out, I will post pictures.  The other quilt I am working on, the farming one, is on hold right now and spread out all over my dining room table.  What a mess!

Anyways, that is about it here.  I hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Rosie

New Look

Hi everyone:

I have been playing with the look of my blog and making a few small changes.  Let me know what you think.  I am new to Blogger, so am not sure what I am doing.  If anyone knows how to layer another picture under the text but on top of the background, please let me know.  I may tweak things a little here and there, so please bear with me as I try to "pretty" this blog up.

Thanks,

Rosie

Upcoming Concert

I haven't posted anything for a while as I have been very busy with my classes at College. However, my jazz band is having a concert this Thursday night in Vancouver and it is open to the public. I have 3 solos I have been working on: 1) Such Sweet Thunder.  2)  And Then Came the Blues - a new piece by composer Lloyd Abrams   3) Stompin' at the Savoy . I hope all will go well, particularly "Stompin'".  It is improvised and those are always the most difficult for me.  I composed solos for the other two, so they should be fine. (I like to write my own solos as I usually don't like the ones already written out, for various reasons). Here is a picture of the poster.

Wish me luck!!

Rosie

Original Finger Pin Cushions made by Rosie

Hi all:

Due to the overwhelming interest in my finger pin cushion tutorial, I decided to make a few of my own original creations, to sell.  I have looked into the Etsy store route but found that the added service charges do not make that a viable option at this time.

Below are pictures of the one-of-a-kind pin cushions that I have created. I would like to sell them myself for between $8.00-$10.00 plus the cost of postage and bubble envelope packaging.  Canada Post can be very expensive to use and I found that shipping these would cost between $10.00-$14.00 to various points in Canada.  To the US, the cost can be anywhere between $8.00-13.00.

Let me know what you think about these pincushions.  I would appreciate your comments.

Rosie

Here they are.  Hot out of the oven!!!

A pooch with a red ball and red hearts with a red Rose.

Purple ribbon with lime green fabric and button.

Lime green fabric with butterflies and a green button.

Watermelon fabric scrap from the quilt I am currently working on with a green button.

Tomato fabric scrap from the quilt I am currently working on and an orange button.

Pink dots fabric, brown dot ribbon with a white flower button and red Rose.

Red and pink floral fabric with a large green button.  The purple "Crown", as in my previous post.

Pink and green swirls with dark pink dot ribbon and a pearly white shell-like button.

Navy strawberry fabric with blue dot ribbon and a blue heart.

Enjoy the "oven-baked" goodness!

Rosie

Finished baby quilt

Hi everyone:

I finished the farm baby quilt last night.  Whew, that is a lot of work for a small quilt.  I bound it with strips of the same block fabric and used bits and pieces of leftover flannel for the backing.  I hope you like it.

It's been snowing non-stop for the past day or so and this is the view this morning, outside our living room.  Kinda' makes you want to snuggle down with a cosy quilt by the fire, doesn't it?

As well, I have been meaning to post pictures of the aprons I made recently.  I love vintage things and when I saw this apron panel, I just had to have it (both actually).  The panels are pre-printed and come with cutting, sewing and assembly instructions, so these were very easy.  Plus, they were on 1/2 price, so what could be better than that?  I had been looking at the most adorable aprons on another website, but they ran about $30, so of course I said, "I can make something just as cute for even less!"  And I did......

How cute are those lemons?

These are the ceramic measuring spoons I just love and had to have.  I saw them originally on Giada Di Laurentis' cooking show and scoured the internet for them.  I found them on Amazon and they are by Sandicraft (I think I remembered that correctly?). I love them!

I love the ruffle on the bottom.  Very June Cleaver!!!!  I also like how the waist ties come back around and tie at the front.

The brown and pink in this toile print fabric reminds me of Neapolitan ice cream - you know, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.  I had to buy it too. Each panel cost $9.00, so I got 2 cute vintage style aprons for $18.00 - what a bargain!!!  I also made one for my sister.  She loved the apron panels too.

Have a great day!

Rosie