but I did make it to JoAnn to purchase thread so I start quilting tomorrow.  

Anna Maria Horner fabric Pieced and ready for quilting

Bolognese sauce from last night

Baptistry - Firenze, Italia

I kind of complained to the husband back in January that our house was looking a bit shabby.  He misunderstood and thought I meant the outside painting of the house and offered the paint the house...no, no I said, I meant the inside.


Especially the rooms we spend the majority of our time - the cave like kitchen that I inhabit for hours a day and the tiny 1950's cookie cutter tract home living/family room. 


So then then husband offers to paint the kitchen.  He was serious and I was practically jumping up and down like a 10 year old girl.  My kitchen has been stark white for the fourteen years we have lived in this house.  When we bought this home my oldest child was six months old and I was not "allowed" to be a part of a decision making process regarding painting.  Let me explain....mother-n-law was involved.  Do I need to say more?

So this is what we had:


So, fourteen years later + nine months I now have a half painted kitchen.  Love the husband very much but he is so SLOW.


But now I have this:

Valence made from Anna Maria Horner Voile fabric

Roman Shade also made from Anna Maria Horner Voile fabric

Just Added:  Forgot to mention the curtains in my post that I referred to in the title!  I made these a few weeks ago and the husband finally put up this past weekend.  The Valence was not a pattern, just a 1/2 yard of the fabric sewn together so the white lines match up.  The roman shade was a tutorial I found online here which I thought was very good.  The voile fabric I used is so thin that it doesn't bunch up as much as regular cotton or thicker fabrics would, but I do not care.  I love the look  and every morning since this was put up, I draw up the roman shade a different way.  

Yellow cabinets/Paprika walls

I was going for a Tuscan look as the husband and I enjoy the Old World style of decorating (have to clarify that as we are not much into decorating).  When I sent this photo to a cousin of mine she remarked that it looked like Paprika and she is right.  I love it though.  This room is quite small and because it is practically unseen from any other room in the house I knew that I could go bold.

Cheesecake Bars

I have been following the Bakerella blog for about a year now and up until I became a fan on FB, had never attempted to make anything that she made.  About a month ago she posted about Cheesecake Bars which looked so good that I decided to make them.  They were just wonderful.  Biscoff cookie layer on the bottom, the perfect cheesiness in the middle and a nice slab of ganache on the top.  I cut most of them up in about 3x4inch rectangles but the most popular size were about 1x1 as you could just pop them in your mouth for a very quick and satisfying treat.  This recipe is a keeper!  

Cake Balls

I hunted around at a few stores for the sticks that are required to make these cake "pops" but was unsuccessful so these just became cake balls.  The three in the photo above are the last three from a recipe of 48 that my family almost devoured in a few days.  My boys were hovering just outside of this photo waiting for me to finish so they could finish them off.  I love Ding Dongs and the crack that the chocolate makes when you bite into the outer shell of these cake balls is almost like biting into a Ding Dong.   Check out the Bakerella site for the recipe and tutorial and if you are so inclined, get her new cookbook.  A little tip:  I used food service clear plastic gloves that I bought at Smart & Final when I crumbled the cake and when I shaped the balls.  Much easier than washing/drying my hands often and the cake/frosting mixture does not stick to the gloves.  

Where am I going to put these?

Biscuits with Blueberry Jam