Mug Rug made by Zina for me - front

Isn't he lovely?  Oh but look on the back....

Mug Rug made by Zina for me - back

Had breakfast with him too.  All courtesy of Zina, my Goodie Swap 2011 partner who lives maybe a mile from me.  A mile!  Goodie Swap 2011 was an international swap (hosted by Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting who lives in Ireland) with many gals from the UK participating so how funny is it that Zina and I somehow got paired together.

Not only did I receive the above mug rug but she also sent me the coolest bag...there was no photo I could take that would do it justice.  And she threw in a couple of fall colored fat quarters.
Please go visit Zina's Flickr page to see some of the other creative things she has made.   Thank you so much Zina for making my first swap so successful!  By the way I had seen this mug rug on the Flickr group and so when I saw who the package was from after I returned home from school last night about 9:30pm I squealed!  I knew right away that I was receiving one of her lovely fireman goodies.

A Work In Progress Update:

This is Supernova being based on the only solid surface in my house wide enough....just wide enough at 64 inches!  So glad I thought of doing this instead of the carpet as now that I am in the quilting stage, the back looks so much better.  I purchased the binding fabric and hope to get going on that by the weekend.

What's left on my WIP list:
Italian Sorbetto
Sliced Coins
School Yard

Lastly, it feels like Fall around here so I baked up a two loaves of Pumpkin Bread.


Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday,
Susan

I came down with a cold this past Thursday evening which although irritating has not kept me from being productive with the sewing machine or in the kitchen.  In fact when I get sick I always seem to want to bake...maybe the comforts and warmth of the kitchen help to heal me in some strange way.  More on the baking below.

Friday morning I sewed the nine Supernova blocks together and then began working on the borders.  I sewed up one side of the borders and then realized that the spacing was off with where the coordinating print lines up with the Supernova blocks.  By Friday afternoon the kitchen needed attention so the borders were put on hold and Pumpkin Bread was made.

I have a love affair with (almost) all things pumpkin:  Pumpkin Bread, Pumpkin Ice Cream, Pumpkin Cheesecake, Godiva Pumpkin Truffles, etc., but I do not like Pumpkin Pie.  Mmmmm Pie...but not Pumpkin Pie.  The downside of baking with pumpkin is that there are months out of the year when cans of pumpkin are impossible to find in the store.  Pumpkin is a relatively easy crop to grow...if you live in Southern California -  where I've grown one of these in my backyard for years:

My oldest at 3...sitting on an 80 pound pumpkin.

One downside of this love of pumpkin is that the pumpkin crop can be subject to regional difficulties such as drought, flooding and pests.  Sometimes there are months out of the year when cans of pumpkin are very hard to find in grocery stores and for a few months now I've had to get my fix for Pumpkin Bread at Starbucks as my pantry has been empty.  Last week though I got lucky and found canned pumpkin on my local grocery store, bought the six cans on the shelf and then was teased for being a pumpkin hoarder.  Gotta have my pumpkin.  

My go-to Pumpkin Bread recipe comes from The Foster's Market Cookbook, a cookbook in which I have yet to find a bad recipe.  Please go here for a link to the recipe.  The recipe makes two 9 by 5 inch loaves, one of which is practically gone within hours and the other I slice, place in sandwich bags and freeze to enjoy whenever I want.

Pumpkin Bread in my freezer door

Do you have a favorite quick bread recipe that you freeze and enjoy at a later date? Share it with me and I'll talk about it on my next podcast.

Enjoy your Sunday,
Susan