Start your new year with one of my favorite new recipes.

German Apple Pancakes

GERMAN APPLE PANCAKES
4 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teas. salt
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teas. cinnamon
4 T. butter, divided
2 medium apples, peeled and thinly sliced
Preheat oven to 400. Place 2 pie pans in the oven to heat.
Beat the eggs, flour, salt and milk on medium speed for
 1 minute. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon
and set aside. Take the pans out of the oven and put 2 T. butter
in each pan, moving it around to coat the bottom and sides.
Spread the apple slices in the bottom of the pans. Pour half
the batter in each pan. Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 400 for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and puffy.
Serve warm. Serves 4. ( I say more like 2!)

I used 9” cake pans and added pecans on top of the apple slices.  I baked them for 25 minutes to make sure they weren’t doughy. We ate them with a little bit of syrup on the side for dipping!  You could also have extra cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top. One of my top recipes that I have tried this year .... Delicious!!

My husband and Mom loved them.  We thought they could be served as a dessert with vanilla ice cream.

Thank you to my friend Kathie for giving me this recipe!!!!

Grand Prize Winner

The Grand Prize Winner of Amy's Hairy Christmas Cats quilt is Patricia Ottem.  Merry Christmas!

Movie Trivia & December 23rd Daily Winner

Forbes Top 10 highest-grossing stars of 2013

-Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) ($1.3bn) "Fast & Furious 6", fantasy romp GI Joe: "Retaliation" and two other smaller films

-Robert Downey Jr ($1.2bn) " Iron Man 3"

-Steve Carell ($964m) "Despicable Me 2", "The Way Way Back" and "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone"

-Vin Diesel ($887m) "Fast & Furious" and "Riddick"

-Sandra Bullock ($862m)  "Gravity",  "Heat"

-Paul Walker ($789m) "Fast & Furious"

-Billy Crystal ($743m) "Monster University"

-John Goodman ($743m) "Monster University"

-Chris Hemsworth ($701m) "Thor: The Dark World" and "Rush"

-Jennifer Lawrence ($700m) "Hunger Games: Catching Fire"

I love movies and I thought this was so interesting.  My husband and I went to see "Twelve Years a Slave" this week.  It is not a movie for the faint of heart.  It is very graphic.  If you fall under that category wait for the DVD so you can fast forward though the graphic parts.  I didn't realize that Brad Pitt has a small part in it and is also one of the producers. The movie tied "American Hustle" for the most Golden Globe nominations: seven.

The daily winner for December 23rd is Becky Thomson.

Show and Tell & December 22nd Daily Winner

Anne sent me this photo this last week. I just LOVE getting photos from quilters that have made up my patterns.  Anne just finished the "Princess" quilt for a December baby shower.  Her new grandchild Aubrey is coming in January.  What amazes me is that she did the satin stitch instead of the blanket stitch.  I think it takes more time but looks beautiful when I have seen it done on my patterns.  I asked her if I could share the photo because she did such a great job making it up in a different color way then mine.  Thanks Anne!

The daily winner for December 22nd is Kathleen Wardwell.

Snowman Game & December 20th Daily Winner

We played this game at our veterinary clinic Christmas party this year.  You don't have to venture outside to build a snowman in this lively competition.

What you will need:
-Toilet paper
-Red crepe paper
-Black card stock or construction paper
-Tape

How to play:
1. Divide your group into pairs.  One will be the builder and one will be the snowman.  Give each builder a roll of toilet paper, a length of red crepe paper, and three circles cut out of black paper and backed with a loop of tape.
2. At "Go," the builders race to wrap their partners with the entire roll of toilet paper, finishing off the look with a crepe paper scarf and the three black paper buttons.  The first builder to complete her snowman wins.

The daily winner for December 20th is Susan Peverley.  Susan chose the Animal Whimsy quilt pattern.

Another Item Off My Long List & December 19th Daily Winner

I bought an old table at a local antique store here in Lawrence.  It was painted brown with a light turquoise decorated top.  I repainted it black in our garage.

I scanned a bunch of my favorite photos and reprinted them in black and white.  They are now under glass and I can see them daily.  It's still not quite pulled together.  If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them.  I thought about decoupaging the whole table top in newsprint but I have never decoupaged in my life!  My friend Rosie says it easy but......

Two things off my list.  Do you think I will ever get to sewing my kitchen curtains?  It hasn't happened in the last eight years but who's procrastinating!

The daily winner for December 19th is Cynthia Rivera.  Cynthia chose the Snow Day Sew Day pattern.

Christmas Game & December 18th Daily Winner

Players draw Christmas pictures on paper on top of their heads.

Players:
2 or more players
Needed:
Paper, pens, books for support
(I cut cardboard and taped paper on the cardboard using painter paint. Our Christmas party was at a restaurant and we had 45 players.)
Rules:
Everyone places a large book on their head with a piece of blank paper on it.
They each have a pen. The host then gives a series of instructions. Without
looking, the players draw onto their page, which is over their head. Here are
the instructions:

1. Draw a line for a floor
2. Draw a Christmas Tree.
3. Draw a star on top of your tree.
4. Draw a fireplace with a mantel next to the tree.
5. Draw a stocking hanging from the mantel of your fireplace.
6. Draw a present below the tree.

Have everyone remove their pictures from their heads. It can be pretty funny
to see what you have drawn.

*We also have done self portraits.  I still have my families portraits from about 10 years ago.  They still make me laugh when I look at them.

1. Draw the shape of your face.
2. Draw your eyes and eyebrows.
3. Draw your nose.
4. Draw your mouth.
5. Draw your ears.
6. Draw your hair.

The daily winner for December 18th is John Werner.  John chose the Dragonfly quilt pattern.

Great New Banana Bread Recipe & December 16th Daily Winner

I made up this banana bread recipe this last weekend and it is delicious.  The recipe calls for butter and you definitely can taste it.  I always grease and flour my bread pans.  This recipe calls for you to lightly coat the pans with baking spray.  The loaves came out wonderfully.  The recipe was in this weeks copy of American Profile in our newspaper. 

http://americanprofile.com/articles/judith-choate-banana-bread-recipe/

The daily winner for December 16th is Ardelle Coult.  Ardelle chose the Planetary Party quilt pattern.

Off My List & December 15th Daily Winner

My new spool cabinet that I bought myself for my last birthday finally got spools!  It took about an hour this morning to sort through all my old spools by color.  I will now enjoy walking by it full of colorful wooden spools.

I found a use for all those mixed cassette tapes and country tapes that I still have laying around.  (Remember making mixed tapes!!) The spools kept rolling to the back of the drawer and this solved the problem.

These are the extra spools that I had left over.  I put them all in the bottom drawer of the cabinet.  I can now use these cookie sheets again.  They have been full of spools for the last two months waiting for me to do this project.  I just love when I can mark something off my list of projects!  Yea!

The daily winner for December 15th is David Langford.  David chose the Animal Whimsy quilt pattern.

December 14th Daily Winner

The daily winner for December 14th is Grace Mulcahey.  Grace chose the Stitch a little, talk a lot quilt pattern.

December 13th Daily Winner

The daily winner for December 13th is Dawn Bishop.  Dawn chose the Snips & Snails are her free pattern.

The daily winner for December 12 is Gail Marks.  Gail chose the Penguin Paradise pattern.

The daily winner for December 11 is Deborah Rummer.  Deborah chose the Happy Halloween quilt pattern.

The daily winner for December 10th is Melissa Levinsky.

The daily winner for December 9th is Gerald Astwood.  Gerald chose the Merry Christmas quilt pattern.

Gingerbread Houses & December 8th Daily Winner

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County had their annual gingerbread house viewing and auction here in Lawrence, Kansas.  It didn't work out for me to take my granddaughter Rowan this year but I still took photos to share with you all.  The amount of work that goes into these houses is amazing.  It is so wonderful how these artist give of their time to help out the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

The daily winner for December 8th is Doug Weaver.  Doug chose the Fabric Addict Doll pattern.

Dec. 7th

We all have our favorite Christmas decorations and this one is mine.  It is always fun to unwrap these Christmas memories each year.  I have a few decorations that are really kind of ugly to anyone else but are precious to me because of the memories that they hold.

The daily winner for December 7th is Lynne Burdette.  Lynne chose the Planetary Party as her free pattern.

The December 5th daily winner is Cindy Stanley.  Cindy chose the 1 little 2 little 3 little Quilters as her free pattern.