Chocolate Chip Cookies...yum yum

Trying to get the pictures posted....why is computing so hard??

Chocolate Chip cookies...YUM-YUM

Greetings on this Monday morning. Rain again today...still better than snow. I have a quilt to get going up on the frame today...yellows and blues. My dear friend Stephanie is coming to sew with me, too. We always have a good time working on things together. I think one thing I must do is get the binding made for our guild raffle quilt. I plan to sew different jewel tones together for the binding. That will pick up the jewel tones of the stars on the front of the quilt. I will post a picture as soon as I finish.
The best thing I want to do today is post my favorite new cookie recipe. It makes gazillions of cookies too, and they are yummy.
I got this recipe from a mystery novel...I got hooked on Joanne Flukes little Hannah Swenson mystery stories. They are great airport books....but the best part is all the recipes she puts in her stories. I think she is working on just a recipe book for the future, which would be great. Anyway, I hope you try these out. They are fabulous.

DESPERATION COOKIES

2 cups melted butter (4 sticks) 5 C flour
3 C white sugar 3 C chocolate chips or combination of chips
1 1/2 C brown sugar peanut butter, white chocolate etc.
4 tsp vanilla 4 C chopped nuts or combination of
4 tsp baking soda nuts, coconut, crushed cereal, potato
2 tsp salt chips or dried fruit
4 beaten eggs

Melt the butter you can use the microwave
Mix in the white sugar, brown sugar...mix slightly, add the vanilla, baking soda, salt, and mix. Add the eggs, and mix it all up.. Then add half of the flour, chips and chopped nuts. Stir well to mix thoroughly and add the rest of the flour and mix thoroughly.
Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. (12 per sheet) I use a little icecream scoop. (I also did not grease the cookie sheets) If the dough does not handle well, chill slightly first.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or till lightly browned. Let cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet--which I did do! Remove and finish cooling. I put my cookies out on clean newspaper to finish cooling....I have done this since a child...I guess my mom did it this way, and it hasn't killed me yet! It works great. Yield...about 10 dozen I always put in coconut which makes these the greatest cookies ever! I hope you enjoy them too......

Well, guess I better get to the studio, so I can meet Stephie and get busy sewing.....love, jude

Happy Friday!

Good morning all! No pictures today, as I am on the lap-top and can't access pix.
Today is Friday and next Thursday is Thanksgiving already. Where does the time go....it seems like only a few days ago I was moving the koi from the old pond to the new, and that was back in August. With all the rain we have had, I will be glad for the sunny days of summer to come.
I hope you are all getting ready for Thanksgiving. We will have a quiet one with just my brother and his wife. My hubby will brine the turkey and then use the barbecue to cook it. THe turkey tastes great prepared that way. I should include my favorite salad recipe for you all too.
I always use it for the holiday potlucks as well.
We still have the goats..I hope they can stay permanently. They are doing fine in all this rain and chilly weather. Even the koi come up a bit when we have a warmer day. I will be glad when they stay down for good, then I don't feel so bad not feeding them. I even have a fish on lay-away at my fish place. So I brought them some food last week to keep him happy. He is in a tank with some friends for the winter. I did not want to add a new one so late in the season...he is a pretty yellow koi. I will have to come up with a name, since my other yellow one is called Sunshine.
I am still trying to figure out how to answer comments to my posts....I wish I were much more computer literate. Now our big computer is on the way to the junkyard, and we have my lap-top in the house and are using it instead. I have the keyboard hooked up though, as I think it is hard to use a lap-top keyboard with my old arthritis fingers.
I am getting 19 quilts from Freddy, and working on one right now. It has cute little girl figures and is done in Australian fabrics. I am quilting some really cute little kiwi birds in here and there.
Well, speaking of that, I have another hour to quilt on that one, and need to put in some fish and tropical plants yet....hope you all have a great day....judy
I will post my salad recipe next time along with a great chocolate chip cookie recipe. I want to get a picture of the cookies to post, too. Talk to you later, again! Judy

My Lonestar Quilt top!

Somehow my lonestar did not get on the blog...but I did get 2 of the same....I guess it is hopeless with me and the computer!

Rainy Day...again!

Hi dear quilters....

It is already nearing Thanksgiving, and I am soooo behind. It has been way too long since I have written....this time of year not much goes on except quilting. It is too wet and cold to work in the yard. The fish are supposed to be sleeping, except today I noticed about half of them were near the top and looking for food. They have a long wait till May, or if they are lucky, maybe April. I miss seeing them and feeding their happy little mugs. The Goatgirls seem fine....when I try feeding them, they are good at knocking the scoop out of my hand and wasting their food. We fixed their shelter to try to waterproof it a bit more. But since they are critters, I have to remember that they are probably pretty warm even in the rainy weather. I fixed their house with some nice clean straw, which they promptly dragged outside onto the grass.! Goats are silly litle critters...but I am definitely attached to them.

I taught a couple classes recently...one my Asian pattern, or I should say a pattern designed with Asian fabric in mind...but anything would work. The girls did a great job. One new quilter got her top all pieced in the one day class. Then, my mystery quilt was great fun, with 11 gals all hanging out and piecing. We did some funky techniques and the girls put their own blocks together in their own way. I love to teach things like that...no pattern, and no plan. I know it can drive some people coo coo....but that is my favorite way to work.

I also did a couple more Freddy style pieces...bright colors, of course. I will post my last one, and get the others done, so I can post them, as well. My patterns are for sale, and even some of my quilts. I should post some of them, so you can see what is available.

I hope you all are having a great fall, and thinking about Thanksgiving. My brother and his wife will visit us....other than that, we have no family near by. You should feel very happy and blessed if you have a big family to share Thanksgiving with this year.

My goal is to get busy and dig out a whole big section of the studio. I plan to put in a rack to hold several rolls of batting. It is getting way out of hand...all the batting, not to mention all the scraps. I have to get busy and donate some more. I use some of the off-cuts for wall-hangings and small projects. I want to make a few more lone stars....I think I have a bee in my bonnet for lone stars right now!

Freddy and Gwen are sending more quilts for a new book, so that will keep me busy. I have been trimming 1 1/2" selveges from fabric to use in a selvage quilt. Freddy inspired me to finish one. I have been collecting for a few years, and better get busy. I did do one block.

Well, not much other news. Just have to get busy and plan classes for next quarter at the local shops. Of course, machine quilting will be one class. I have some other ideas, like maybe lone stars!

Will try to be more faithful with the blogging...and trying to figure out if someone writes me. I am having a hard time figuring out the Facebook thing. I just don't have enough hours in the day to do all that computer stuff! Have a great week, and I will write later....Judy

Fun with Freddy Moran

Freddy teaching at Aunt Mary's.

Freddy's string quilt..it is fabulous!!
Me with Freddy! I plan to use this green leaf as an inspiration for my challenge quilt. I took lots of leaf pix at Fred Meijer Garden Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Hi at last......where does the time go?? Too much work to do and not enough time. We have been trying to get all the winter chores done...getting the fish ready for bed and the goats a little better shelter for the winter. I think everything is pretty well battened down for now. We have even had several good frosts...scraping the car windows type frosts....which I don't like, but that means spring is just around several corners!

What a great time we had with Freddy Moran when she came to teach at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop. Freddy was her usual sparkling and fun self. We had three days to play with lots of techniques from her new book, Freddy and Gwen Collaborate Again. In fact, Gwen is with Freddy now in CA where they are creating some wonderful new quilts for another book....maybe string quilts or who knows what wonderful surprises they will come up with. They will surely have fun in the process.

I made a whole lone star quilt, as well as parts to two other quilts. I am working with a lot of orange in one, and can't wait to get that one done. I found the most fabulous Michael Miller fabric with oranges and polka dots...what a find!!! It will be perfect for a border...I wasn't planning much of a border originally, but this is too good to pass up, and will look fun and happy in the quilt.

Now I want to make about 3 more lone stars. I have the fabric already picked out, and it is from my stash...even better.

Freddy inspired me to apply to teach at Asilomar, which I must get busy and do. There are always those pesky deadlines to deal with. I would also like to apply to teach at The Road to California. That would be great fun I think. So, I have to get on the ball and get going. There is also a Machine Quilting show on the east coast I would like to try for, and now they are going to have a show in Portland....MQX. Check it out on the web.

Well, time is a flying by, and I have to get into the studio...shame on me for not writing sooner, it just seems like finding time for everything is getting harder and harder. I am hoping that after vacation, Quiltfest, and Freddy, things will even out and my old routine will return. I hope you all are finding time for everything, especially creating some new quilts. This year I hope to get at some projects that have been in utero for some years! I will post some pix from my recent activities....have a great day! judy