Getting Ready for Spring

I really enjoy decorating my home, especially kitchen and dining room, to celebrate holidays and the change of seasons.  My mother taught me to sew, and I’m so glad she did.  I sew home decor projects all the time.  I have sewn everything from furniture slipcovers, pillow slipcovers, placemats, napkins, curtains, table runners and more. 

I have a large collection of table runners and cloth napkins that I have made over the years.  They really last a long time.  Every season I have so much fun pulling out and displaying the things I have made. 

I also have a collection of accessories that I have collected, some from my mother and grandmothers, some I have purchased.  I decorate my tables with these items.  Every year I try to come up with new and different combinations–adding in new items as I buy something that really appeals to me. 

Here is a table cloth I made for a small round table in a corner of my dining room.  I placed my Belleek porcelain on it.  I like grouping things together in collections.  The Belleek reminds me of spring!

I am very fortunate that I learned to sew at a young age.  I have been able to make lovely things for my home and family.  Because I make it myself, I can have things exactly as I want and save money. 

I have written several articles on making cloth napkins and table runners.  I hope you’ll check them out 🙂

http://susanm23b.hubpages.com/hub/Decorating-on-a-Budget-Make-Your-Own-Table-Runner

http://susanm23b.hubpages.com/hub/You-Can-Make-Your-Own-Cloth-Napkins

http://susanm23b.hubpages.com/hub/Sewing-Creating-Neat-Mitered-Corners

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A Simple Dessert Made Special

We love dessert in our family–BUT try to be moderate about it.  We usually only eat dessert twice a week — once during the week and once on the weekend.  Our weeknight desserts are usually simple, but simple can still be yummy!

As part of being “moderate” about our dessert eating, we really watch our portions.  We weigh everything in our kitchen to make sure we’re careful about our portions.  Last night I wanted ice cream with a little something extra.  I made chocolate shortbread cookies.  Here is a link to the recipe I used from Martha Stewart’s website http://www.marthastewart.com/316293/chocolate-shortbread?czone=food/holiday-cookies-center/holiday-cookies-recipes&center=276951&gallery=275376&slide=255974

I didn’t do the icing here–only the cookies.  This a really easy recipe–great for a weeknight.

I like to serve this in some of my Depression glass dishes.  A moderate sized dessert seems “just right” when served in a small dish.  It also seems more special too.  Not a lot of calories either–each cookie (the recipe makes eight) is about 165 calories + the ice cream of your choice.

If you’d like to learn more about Depression glass, check out this article I wrote

http://susanm23b.hubpages.com/hub/Depression-Glass-Its-Beauty-Is-More-Than-Skin-Deep

 

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