How much wood would a wood duck chuck...?

Strange to think that, in early March, we're "late" into the flower season, but the camellias are rapidly browning and falling off the bushes.  We still have our jessamines...

A few of our azalea bushes have started blazing...

And oh, the redbuds!

The warmer weather has really brought out the birds.  For the first time in two years, I spotted a wood duck!

Beautiful bluebirds everywhere.  Here's a male and female pair (the male is the more brightly colored):

Robins have come in hordes to eat the berries from our bushes.

It's not just birds that are more active in the spring...here is our darling Clotilde, who loves to nap on our deck...

...or drowse in the back garden.

Tabitha is ever watchful for this intruder...

...well, most of the time.

In other news, I finished my grey gingham quilt...and I love it!!

It measures around 52" x 74" - too small for a bed, but larger than your average throw and perfect for snuggling under...I mean, if you live somewhere where winters are cold! :)  I decided on a very simple way to quilt it - to "stitch in the ditch," or directly over the seam where the blocks are sewn together, and then 1/4" out from that seam.  I had an abysmal time stitching in the ditch.  I was using cream-colored thread, so any swerve showed prominently against the grey fabric (belatedly, I've discovered that my work station is 4" too high for ergonomical correctness, which complicates finishing a quilt, and that I also need a side table to rest the fabric on so its weight doesn't drag against the needle and cause wonky stitches).  I was so disgusted with my quilting that I almost  - almost! - scrapped the whole project.  But adding the 1/4" line drew the eye away from mistakes, and washing it seemed to help too, and now I LOVE it.  I'm halfway through another quickie throw project, so my pile of homemade quilts is rapidly growing!

Incidentally, I would probably never scrap a quilt.  My big practice quilt is currently (and permanently!) a cat bed for Bosewichte.  It's on top of a cabinet by my desk where I store my construction paper, and he can generally be found there, enjoying the quilt more than I ever could.

Fancy baking for March is next week, but I did make a little funfetti cookie cake for a neighbor...

...and I discovered an AMAZING chocolate muffin recipe.  I'd wanted to make some healthy muffins for Todd, but wound up falling for them myself, despite the fact that they contain no butter and NO processed sugar.  Well, unless you count the chocolate chips!

They're around 175 calories each and very generously sized!  I made these with bananas, and even though I'm not a banana fan, I thought they were absolutely delicious...large, fluffy, moist, sweet, and flavorful.  There's a hint of banana flavor, so next time I'm going to substitute pumpkin puree.  Here is the recipe if you're interested!  I highly recommend it, and baking with raw honey in general.  I've had great success with it.

Enjoy your week!

It will taste awful...a mailable waffle!

There's nothing like starting the day out with a delicious waffle breakfast, right?

Well, that's not what I did today.  This is not an edible waffle.  Do you remember the mailable foam-and-caulk cake slice I made last year?

This is a waffle version!  I bought some air-dry clay...

...and pressed it into my waffle iron.

Two point two pounds of clay yielded three 'waffles' and some leftovers.

I bought a small package of yellow clay and shaped butter pats.  I spray painted these waffles with yellow and brown spray paint and affixed the butter pats with hot glue.

I mixed glue and brown food coloring for the syrup.

It gives the 'syrup' a nice realistic quality.

A circle of cardboard is spray-glued to the back and written on like a postcard.  Let me tell you, there were puns aplenty!  "Butter" believe..."syrup-titious"...etc., etc.  Unfortunately, I did not take care to make the first mailed waffle tidy on the address part, and it was never delivered.  I'm sure it's nailed up to a post office wall somewhere!  But I was more careful on the second waffle, and it was delivered in just a few days.  There will be more mailable food in my future!  :)

The turkeys, having made it through Thanksgiving none the worse for wear, spend a lot of time hanging outside my office windows.  I love watching them.

 

I finally got a few 'action shots' of them flying across the pond.  They're really beautiful!

 

Besides working and watching turkeys, I had two holiday parties to bake for this week.  I made a big spread...

Brown sugar bundt cake from the Back in the Day Bakery, Oreos (recipe blogged here), a funfetti cookie cake (recipe blogged here), chocolate chip cookies (too crispy for my taste), snickerdoodle cupcakes (eh, not as good as other recipes I have), and a pumpkin roll.  I used my M1 tip for making both buttercream roses...

...and the frosting 'stars' on the funfetti cake.

I used Brown Eyed Baker's pumpkin roll recipe, but added a handful of cinnamon chips, of course.  The chips made it harder to roll the sheet of pumpkin cake, but it still worked.  The basics of making any kind of jelly or cake roll are the same.

Bake your cake in a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.  Carefully turn the slightly cooled cake onto a clean damp towel that's been generously dusted with powdered sugar.  Roll it up and put it in the refrigerator until it's cool.

Unroll and dollop your frosting on top.

Spread it out...

Roll it up.

Done!

I didn't get to taste it, but Todd said that his co-workers gave it high marks.  I'll probably make another one in January so I can have a slice myself!

After all that baking, the kitchen was absolutely destroyed.

Oh, well!

Have a great week!