Kelly Ann's Blog

Lifestyle, cooking, gardening, travel, crafting

recent posts

about

I’m Kelly Ann aka KA … I’m a maker of things and doer of stuff. Thank you for joining along.

  • Comfort in a Cup

    You know that time of the afternoon … between lunch and dinner … you need a little bit of something to either warm you up, fill your belly or just something to sit and sip while reading a good book. Well I have a few things to show y’all that will do all of those things…

    First up…Golden Latte from Epicure … my friend Kristi had an online party and I ordered a few drink mixes and once I made a cup of the Golden Latte I can say that I am hooked on the flavor.

    INGREDIENTS: Turmeric, cardamom, vanilla, and organic coconut cream powder make for a bright, warming taste with peppery notes. A low-sugar, vegan alternative to coffee shop drinks with only 5 g sugar per serving. All sources of maltodextrin used at Epicure are made with rice or tapioca. Epicure only uses gluten-free ingredients.

    I’m sold on this mix and will check out the others through this company, nice clean ingredients.

    Next up…today’s hot drink is a cup of Millie’s Sipping Broth

    Ingredients – Thai Lemongrass

    YEAST EXTRACT, SEA SALT, RICE HULLS, DRIED GARLIC, DRIED LEMONGRASS,
    DRIED CARROTS, DRIED ONION, CRYSTALLIZED LIME (CITRIC ACID, LIME OIL, LIME JUICE), DRIED TOMATOES, DRIED CELERY.

    A totally different flavor than the Golden Latte, it’s savory and really is like wrapping your hands around a cup of comfort.

    You might also notice my cute little cup, a gift from my friend Kathy and we both love to listen to Mipso…Mipso music makes everything better.

    Back to the sipping broth…I can actually see sipping a mug of this if we’ve had a late lunch and looking for just a little something in the evening. I don’t typically have caffeine after 2pm, so between the Golden Latte and the various flavors of sipping broths I think I know what I’ll be having for a pick me up.

    Let me know if you try any of them…or let me know what you favorite afternoon hot drink is

    KA

  • Nope…I did not go into WITSEC

    If you were wondering…WITSEC is the Witness Security Program or just Witness Protection Program

    We are adjusting to Andrew’s retirement and I’m trying to get a better handle on what semi-retirement, for me, really looks like. While Andrew retired, really retired, I’m still working Neked Sheep Wool and Kelly Ann’s Quilting on Etsy, but I’m trying to balance out my work/play time. I was spending way too much time on the work and not having time to play or for right now, time to clean out closets, drawers and hidden nooks and crannies.

    So list and goals are my friends these days. I have goals of decluttering the house and my craft/sew studio, organize all of the spaces I manage to declutter. I know I’m not the only one organizing this year and while I’m not throwing everything out I am getting rid of clothing I’ve not worn in years, cleaning out expired medications and that kitchen drawer…y’all know what I’m talking about..

    So if y’all have been looking for me…this is what I’ve been doing…

    KA

  • Long Story…

    So…this story starts in the year 2000ish…

    I received some pretty fat quarters for Christmas from my BFF who lived in Hawaii at the time. The fat quarters were fallish colors and as soon as I saw them I knew I wanted to make a Churn Dash block

    In my mind I could see the blocks coming alive, I just need to pick up background fabric. At the time there weren’t a lot of quilt shops in the area, or at least any that I knew of and Google wasn’t as a big of a thing back then. I had seen an add for G-Street Fabric in Centreville VA so off we went. I had my fat quarters in hand and nothing was striking my fancy till I saw it…it’s like the heavens opened up and a spotlight was flashing over this beautiful bolt of a butter yellow fabric, it was PERFECT. I started off thinking I would need about 6 or 7 yards for the front and back and as the fabric was being laid out on the counter I kept saying…add another yard…when finally I just told the lovely lady helping me to give me the whole bolt…which was only about 10 yards but I loved it that much.

    Let’s flash forward …. I still had the fabric and fat quarters, uncut and in 2004 we started on the journey of opening Kelly Ann’s Quilting and any personal projects got pushed to the back burner…heck, not even the back burner, it was taken and put on a shelf behind a closed cabinet door and the memory of the project faded.

    As the years went on the fat quarters got used in various projects, some for projects for the shop where I showed people how to use what was in their stash, I think I actually still might have a few. I used the background fabric, but just a little at a time, because I loved it that much that I just couldn’t bear to cut into it too much.

    It’s now 2020 and the world was shutting down and I started a block of the week/month on the Kelly Ann’s Creative Circle FB group and pulled out the butter fabric and used it in one of the blocks. (side note…I can’t find that block) After seeing the block, it was white with the butter yellow, I knew I had to do a two color quilt using that block with those fabrics…and I was aiming for king size…crazy I know.

    EDIT***** I found the block

    Now 2022 has arrived and I found where I had started cutting and piecing, mostly a bunch of half square triangles and a few 2 1/2″ strips sewn together, I put everything I found on my ironing board thinking I would get to it super quick…let’s all pause to laugh and laugh and laugh….okay…on with the story.

    2023 and as I was starting to clean up the sewing studio I started on the ironing board….and yup, buried under a bunch of stuff I found the bin and just wanted to get the project done but decided not to go with the king size or even the original quilt pattern. So I grabbed the half square triangles and turned them into hourglass blocks, pieced four together to make a 9 1/2″ block, grabbed more of the sacred fabric, cut out squares to match the size of the pieced blocks, and started sewing them all together…and now this project is behind me, except for the quilting.

    After taking the picture I realized that it’s not as “butter” as I remembered, it’s more gold and I wish I had laid out the quilt and taken a picture before piecing but over all I’m happy….and I think I have enough for the back and binding.

    So there ya have it…the 10 yards of fabric purchased in 2000 has finally found it’s purpose and there might be a little life lesson in there…if you wait long enough you’ll see that everything has it’s purpose or buy the 10 yards now and it will soon speak to you … hahahahaha

    Thanks for reading along

    Until next time

  • Weekend Crafting

    I was straightening up my sewing room and came across some blank pillow covers and had to think for a few minutes about why I bought them….and then it hit me…I follow My 100 Year Old Home on IG and read her blog and she does some really cute things with the pillow covers, paint and thread.

    With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I knew exactly what I wanted to do with one of the pillow covers, so I popped over to Leslie’s website and found the project I wanted to do.

    Valentine’s Pillow from My 100 Year Old Home

    And here is mine

    Super easy and here are a few tips I want to pass along

    • Be careful when stamping your hearts – have a visual on where you want the placement – once you start stamping you can’t go back
    • Don’t remove the “cardboard” inside the insert till the paint has dried. I used a big piece of bubble wrap because I had it on hand and it work perfectly allowing me to give a good press with the heart shaped cookie cutter
    • I used a black thread to outline the hearts and really just loosely followed the shape of the hearts that I had stamped and painted.
    • I wish I had used a bigger cookie cutter for the stamp
    • I used a dry brush method to paint, didn’t glob the paint on the brush, it really gives a watercolor effect.

    If you pop over to Leslie’s blog you’ll see she has all kind of pillows to make using this method and you also might notice this pillow

    I made this from her instructions and then did a blog post here and a video on how to use the yo-yo maker here

    So many possibilities when it comes to making the stamped pillows…and don’t worry you don’t have to do the free motion on your sewing machine, you can do some hand embroidery or no stitching at all…just have fun and go with the flow.

    until next time

  • The Magic of Harry Potter

    We were a little late to the Harry Potter world…we didn’t read the books but I did get sucked into the movies. A few years ago we watched them all, back to back and I was hooked. Through the years I’ve caught all the movies again on various cable channels and when we were both under the weather with Covid we laid low and managed to watch the entire series, a few times over.

    I friend of ours posted about the Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience on FB and I was like a kid looking through the pictures I knew we HAD TO GO. I texted our friends that like to go on adventures with us and we made a plan to go after the holidays. Because it is an outdoor adventure we wanted to go when it wasn’t too cold or wet, Leslee kept an eye on the weather, called me up, and our adventure was sent in motion.

    Now comes the photo dump of the fun we had…and the pictures don’t do the magic of the lighting justice…

    We had such a good time looking around at all the cool effects that I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I normally would…but the good news…they are bringing it back again next year. We did experience a little rain, nothing too bad and it didn’t dampen our fun.

    If you are in the Leesburg VA area there is still time to enjoy the adventure, last day is February 11, 2023 but one of the helpful staff told us last night that they will be back next year.

    One word of caution…be mindful of the Niffler…they are sneaky little pick-pocketers.

    KA

  • Soup Weather

    It’s that time of the year…Soup Time…well for us anytime of the year is Soup Time…but this time of the year I make hardier stick to your ribs soup.

    I woke up yesterday morning thinking of this soup and what I would throw in to it and what I needed to pick up at the store. I went on a quick trip to Lidl to pick up three different types of tomatoes, had the rest of what I needed, but I also picked up a loaf of their Farmhouse bread and with it’s extra crunchy top it was perfect.

    I threw all the veggies on a sheet pan and tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and Garden Gourmet Basil (I love Garden Gourmet herbs for the winter). I used three different types of tomatoes, carrots, sweet mini peppers, onions and garlic…you can add any veggies you want to roast.

    roasted-tomato-soupDownload

    I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we did…any guesses what we’re having for lunch today?

    KA

  • Did Someone Say Fish?

    Salmon Bowl by ka

    First of all we are big fish eaters and that is all thanks to Wild Alaskan Seafood Company and their seafood boxes…here is a code if you want to sign up.

    While watching the Food Network this past Saturday, The Kitchen came on and Sunny Anderson shared her Sambal Salmon Bowl AND she shared her secret to removing the skin…let me say…game changer. Here is a video I found on Redit…so easy.

    I followed Sunny’s recipe with a few changes…

    1. I used brown rice vs white
    2. I used Taste of Thai sweet chili sauce because I didn’t have Sambal sauce on hand
    3. I cooked my broccoli on the stovetop…not a big fan of micowave cooking, but that is me.

    I embrace cooking with a passion…it is another creative outlet for me and I can get lost when reading new recipes and normally making them my own by changing things up. I also like to take a few ingredients and running with it, making it up as I go.

    So I’m dying to know if you try this recipe and if you give the fish skin removal technique a try.

    KA

  • Let’s Get Motivated

    I have a Facebook group called “Let’s Get Motivated” … I started it in 2020 before the world shut down. I was on a mission to walk everyday and was posting it on my FB page and someone made the comment about starting a FB group to help with motivation and that is how the group came to be. I was good about posting but like a lot of things on social media it was put aside and something else took it’s place. This year I decided to have 23 objectives for 2023 and one of those objectives is to connect with people/friends that needed a little motivation so why not start the group back up.

    Last week I posted this….

    “I read something and thought it was share worthy…

    “Just because we flipped the calendar to a new month or new year does not mean we have to change our entire lifestyle.”

    This is my take away ….

    You do not need to wait to make small changes..small being the perfect word. If you try and change the entire way you eat, add exercise and start cleaning out your house you are setting yourself up to fail. I did start the new year off with new movements but kept our eating the same, but we really do eat healthy. I do want to clean out closets and my crafting/sewing/working spaces but will do it all a little at a time.

    One of my 23 for 2023 objectives is to be healthier than 2022 and little changes can make that happen!”

    One of the group members responded with.. “thanks for the pep talk” and that really stuck with me…maybe that’s what we all need occasionally a really good “pep talk”

    SO…

    here is your Pep Talk…

    Small changes … think about whatever it is you want to accomplish and tackle it like you would eat an elephant…one small bite at a time!

    Until Next Time

    KA

    Photo by u0422u0430u0442u044cu044fu043du0430 u041au043eu043du0442u0435u0435u0432u0430 on Pexels.com

  • First Finish of 2023

    While not my usual way of making a throw…quilting is normally my go-to…this throw should have a disclaimer attached to it. First, until I started this one I had not picked up a hook in many many years…second…I started this in 2020 during the Covid, put it aside to start something else, and didn’t pick it back up till December 2022. While both of the skeins of yarn were chenille, the two colors had two different weights and that caused the blue (heavier) to be wider looking even though the stitch count stayed the same…lesson learned on that one. I have two large pink skeins to do another one, thinking of trying a bigger hook…we shall see how it turns out…stay tuned.

    Now on to the next project…

  • Taco Pie

    While scrolling through Pinterest I came across this recipe for Taco Pie from Kelly at Smart School House and knew I had to make it.

    Kelly Ann’s Blog

    The recipe is made in an 8″ square pan, which for us is four servings.

    Here are my changes to the recipe:

    I used ground turkey and made my own taco seasoning with chili powder, cumin and oregano and I also used salt & pepper. I did chop a jalapeno pepper and toss in the meat while cooking.

    To reheat I placed the two pieces on a baking sheet I sprayed with cooking spray (Pam) and baked 375° for 20 minutes, then checked to make sure it was heated all the way through, it was perfect.

    I served my homemade guacamole with it, which I’ll post that recipe soon, but you could also serve a salad with avocado & tomatoes with a salsa/sour cream dressing.

    Let me know if you try it and what ya think.

    Until Next Time

    Be Kind

    KA