Thursday, February 16, 2012

Hummingbird Bundt Cake

Since I am a southern girl I was raised on southern cooking.  I began cooking when I was ten years old.  I have always loved to bake ... especially sweets!
When I saw this cake in the February issue of Southern Living magazine I knew I had to make it.
I made it last week and it is delicious!  It would be good without the glaze if you want to cut calories.

    Hummingbird Bundt Cake

    Cake Batter

    • 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
    • 3 cups all-purpose flour 
    • 2 cups sugar 
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt 
    • large eggs, lightly beaten 
    • 1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
    • (8-oz.) can crushed pineapple (do not drain)
    • 3/4 cup canola oil 
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • Glaze
    • 4 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened 
    • 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • to 2 Tbsp. milk 

    • 1. Prepare Cake Batter: Preheat oven to 350°. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring halfway through.
    • 2. Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in eggs and next 4 ingredients, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Sprinkle 1 cup toasted pecans into a greased and floured 14-cup Bundt pan. Spoon batter over pecans.
    • 3. Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 2 hours).
    • 4. Prepare Glaze: Process cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp. milk in a food processor until well blended. Add remaining 1 Tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. at a time, processing until smooth. Immediately pour glaze over cooled cake, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup toasted pecans.

    • It's yummy!
    • Thanks for visiting.
    • Hugs,
    • Donna

    Tuesday, February 14, 2012

    Sweets for Valentine's Day

    My husband and I had nothing planned for Valentine's Day.  To us it's just another day ... sad but true for us!  However we had some errands to run this morning and I saw where a lady I know had set up shop for a couple of days to sell her sweet treats.  I knew she baked goods for showers. weddings, etc.  My hubby and I both have a sweet tooth so of course my car immediately turned towards the shop :)

    Here's what came home with us!  Cookies and notice the little lady bug.  The lady bug is a truffle and so cute.  It's on a green chocolate leaf.  Oops ... I forgot the chocolate covered strawberries in this pic! 



    I had to have these lips!


    Love the reds for Valentine's Day ...


    And of course you must have a heart for Valentine's even if it's stitched on a vintage hand towel!

    Have a wonderful day!

    Hugs,
    Donna

    Friday, February 10, 2012

    Pink and Love ... Perfect for February


    I am still here!  I can't seem to get anything done these days.  I am so easily distracted ... maybe it's because I am a year older :)  I start one thing and then go to another room and begin another project.  I did some reorganizing of our master bedroom closet.  I can now get from one end to the other without tripping over something!

    I am still working on decorating my piano room.  I decorated it for Christmas and now I am deciding on the everyday decor.  This is just a little bit of pink that I am using to decorate this room.  I love the pink candle and topper covered in buttons.   It is me to a tee!!  It sits on top of a pink heart shaped plate.  I bought it years ago from Yankee Candle.  I just don't burn it much!  I elevated it by covering a book with vintage doiles.  My little teacup with my mom's glasses and all kinds of vintage jewelry sits in front.  This is just a tiny bit of this room to let you know I am working on it.  I never really "finish" a room.  There is always something I have to redo!


     Jennifer came home on Monday and we celebrated my birthday a couple of days late.  She brought home yummy cupcakes and these adorable cookies!  Is this not the cutest cookie!  She bought them from Edgar's in Birmingham.  I so wish I could decorate cookies like this!  Did I tell you they were yummy :) 
    My sweet baby girl is so thoughtful!  She handed me two birthday cards and said I got two this year.  I am thinking to myself she couldn't decide on which one to give me so she bought two.  I opened the first one and it was from her.  When I went to open the second card it had an angel on it and it was from Amber.  Jennifer saw the card and immediately thought of Amber ...it had purple on it too :) I love my girls ... here on earth and in Heaven :)

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!

    Hugs,
    Donna

    I am joining Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

    Monday, February 6, 2012

    Valentine Heart Wreath and a New Look

    I don't do much decorating for Valentine's Day.  I have a few things I bring out of storage every year to use around the house.  I needed something bright and cheery in the kitchen.  It has been so dreary, gloomy and rainy here.    So I decided to make a wreath.


      I wanted a heart shaped wreath but didn't have one so I gave my husband a pattern and he cut the heart from  heavy cardboard.  I then covered the heart shape with torn pieces of fabric about 1 - 2" wide and wrapped it until the cardboard was covered.    I didn't even use any glue.  Next I had red fabric and red ribbon.  I tore the fabric into the size strips I wanted and tied them all around the cardboard.  I did the same thing with the ribbons just tying them all around.  It was easy peasy!!  A quick fun project and only cost a few dollars.  I had most things in my stash.  I only bought a couple rolls of ribbon.  Very inexpensive!

    Do you my new blog look?  Misha of  From My Front Porch in the Mountains designed it for me.  I love it!  She really captured "me" so much in her design.  If you are looking for a new "blog look" you should go visit Misha. You will love her blog about living with her critters and horses in East Tennessee!  She hopefully will be a guest blogger for me soon!

    Well that's all for today.  Jennifer is coming home today to celebrate my birthday with me.  It was Saturday but she had to work.  Today we will go to lunch somewhere and she wants to shop a little.

    Thanks for visiting!
    Hugs,
    Donna

    I am linking to Linda at Coastal Charm for her weekly NTT party.



    Friday, February 3, 2012

    Sweet Tea Quilt Top Finished!!

    I have worked on this quilt called Sweet Tea forever!  I finally finished putting on the borders yesterday.  I am so glad to have this quilt top finished.




    This is not a great pic but it's the best I could do with the lighting.   There are teacups around the border.  The fabric for the ribbon border is actually a dark burgundy ....it shows up darker in the pic.   I will have to add the "tea bags" after it is quilted and a few buttons here and there.  I posted about this quilt top here

    I am so glad it is stitched together. There's paper piecing, machine applique and piecing in this quilt.  It feels good to have a large project completed!  Now I have to find the perfect backing for it.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Thanks for visiting,

    Hugs,
    Donna

    Friday, January 27, 2012

    Dresden Plate


    Dresden plate quilt blocks are so popular right now on many quilting sites.  The block has always been one of my favorite designs.  I began mine last Fall and just put the center on it yesterday! I decided on the cherry fabric for the center of mine.  I hope to get more done soon!

    Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill Designs has a free pattern on her site and has formed the Scrappy Plate Club.  A great way to use up scraps!  Although mine is not made with scraps I have bins full of leftover scraps.  I so need to use them! :)

    I have one more border on another quilt top I have been working  on forever!  I will take pics and post it as soon as I get it finished and pressed really well. 

    And then there's Tiny Town I am working on!  I like to have an applique project in progress along with a pieced top so when I am watching television I have some handwork to do.

    That's all for now ... gotta do some organizing of scrapbook supplies! 

    Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend!

    Hugs,
    Donna

    Friday, January 20, 2012

    Finally ... I Made Something

    Before I get to what I finally made ... I have been having issues with blogger!  I haven't been able to leave comments on other blogs.  It would go to a blank page. I read on other blogs that they were having the same problem.  Finally I emailed a sweet blogging friend and she told me to install Google Chrome and it worked!   Thank you sweet blogging friend :)

    Now to something I finally made!

    Last week I was in a gift shop and spotted some hand towels made from osnaberg with printed images.  They were $18 a piece.  They were adorable with a fork, knife and spoon on them. I didn't have a need for kitchen hand towels. It was the only design they had and I wanted something different.
    (I love to go in gift shops for inspiration!)

    I knew I already had the permanent press osnaberg fabric at home along with the transfer paper to print the images I wanted to use.  I went to the Graphics Fairy blog and downloaded the images.  I could look at her blog all day long!

    Here's my hand towels.



    I adore cloches and I had to use the image with the potted plants.  I also have a small collection of crowns (not real ones LOL) so of course I had to have a crown!  The shop's towels were pleated along the border instead of a ruffle so I pleated my edges as well.


    Here's a better pic of the images I used.  I have a cloche like the same shape as the one used so now I need to fill mine with little potted plants!  I will use the crown one in another room.

    The best thing about these ... they didn't cost me a thing!  I had everything in my sewing room so I saved $36!! (I wouldn't have paid that much anyway)  They did take a couple of hours to make by the time I downloaded the images, pressed them on (it takes a few minutes for each one), made the pleats and hemmed all around the edges.  But at this point in my life I have more time than money!!  I needed to get busy doing something anyway :)

    I have been working on my tiny town quilt I posted earlier this week and it is adorable!  I will share more of it with you next week. 

    I now have a Valentine wreath I am going to make this weekend.  I can't  wait to start it!

    Thanks for visiting!

    Hugs,
    Donna

    I am joining Linda at Coastal Charm for weekly NTT.

    Monday, January 16, 2012

    I Can't Get Motivated!

    I just can't seem to get motivated this year.  After the holidays I always dread the cold dreary days of January.  I don't even have much to post about :(

    I have been working s-l-o-w-l-y on this project I started last week that  I posted in the previous post.  I do enjoy cutting and placing the little bitty pieces of fabric on my little tiny village.  The picture shows one block ready to be stitched and the smaller one above has another piece to be added. And of course there's plenty of hand embroidery to add to each piece. The fabrics do make me happy ... they are so cheerful!
    Before Christmas I won this wonderful book that Sweet Bee Cottage was giving away.  I received it a couple of days before Christmas and with the holidays I never really had a chance to look at it until after Christmas.  It is full of ideas and vintage images.  So much fun to look through!  Thank you Sweet Bee for drawing my name!
    I hope to get out of this slump soon and get back to decorating.  I have pillows to make, a lampshade to cover and tea towels I saw in a specialty boutique that I want to make ... so many things to do if I could only get motivated!
    Thanks for visiting!

    Hugs,
    Donna

    Friday, January 6, 2012

    New Year ... New Project

    I do not need to begin another project!  But with the new year here I need something different to work on during the dreary winter days of January.  Machine applique has always been my favorite thing so this is my new project.  It has been sitting in my sewing room for months now.
     
    It's a kit I bought last year at my local quilt shop during a 30% off sale.  It's called "Tiny Town" by Bunny Hill Designs.  The sample that was hanging in the shop was adorable. I love all the colors used in the quilt.  It's a tiny town with all types of  houses and buildings ... everything you would find in a town.  I will show you my progress as I work on each block.  I can't wait to get started!
    I did finish a baby gift this morning ... a receiving blanket, burp cloths and and two embroidered bibs.  At least I can say I have accomplished something this year!
    Thanks for visiting!
    Hugs,
    Donna

    Sunday, January 1, 2012

    Happy New Year!


    I hope the new year brings us all peace and happiness.

    Hugs,
    Donna