Scrappy Plus Puzzle

Good morning, my friends. I'm writing fast this morning because I'm going to the farmer's market with Erik and Mae. It's one of my favorite ways to start a day. We saw them for dinner a couple of weeks ago, but this is only the second time I'll see them since we've been home from our trip. They lead busy lives, and it's always a treat when I can spend a little time with them and hear about what they've been up to. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I was in the mood for some baking yesterday. I worked on my slow stitching for a while before heading outside. I'm working on the 11th block for the "Kittens" quilt. This photo is actually from yesterday's stitching.

And now, before I forget, I'll just add that finishing up the 11th block for the "Kittens" quilt is going to be my goal for August's

When we head out on our trip to Moab next month, I'll be taking the 12th block along. That'll be September's goal, and then I'll have all of them finished.

Next, I mixed up and got my Caramel Frosted Zucchini Pecan Bars into the oven. They needed about 40 minutes to bake, and I used the time to head outside and water the annuals. I was happy to see the squirrels left the geranium buds alone so they could bloom.

Same goes for the gerbera daisy. Both plants have more buds coming. I kind of remember this from previous years. When I planted them in the spring, the squirrels ate every flower, but then lost interest in subsequent flowers. Fine by me.

Usually I get some volunteer snapdragons in the patio pots each year. I was kind of disappointed this year when there were none. But oh look! There's one right there. One of the pots produced a volunteer snapdragon. They didn't have snapdragons when I bought the flowers originally, and so I'm happy to have this latecomer show up.

And check out this bumblebee. He was completely unfazed by my presence. He just sat there so still, as if mesmerized by something in the flower. I could even stroke his furry bits without disturbing him.

By the time I finished with the flowers, the zucchini pecan bars were done baking. The frosting for this sets up fast, and so it was made right away and slathered over the top. When it was all finished, it looked like this. It smelled so good every time I walked by yesterday afternoon. I could hardly wait to cut into it.

It's more cake-like than bar-like. Think of it as a fluffy zucchini bread with caramel frosting, and you've got it. It's very easy to make, and it's a great way to use up zucchini. You can find the recipe right here. The recipe will suggest lining the pan with parchment, but I found that to be unnecessary. I just sprayed mine with no-stick, and we had no problem getting it out of the pan for our dessert last night. Yum.

Back in the sewing room, I traced out August's block for "Joy in the Ordinary." This is a free BOM from Jenny of Elefantz. I'll get to this when I finish the Kitten block.

With that finished, I went to work trimming the half square triangles for the Scrappy Plus blocks made the day before.

I laid them out on the lid of my project bin so that I could carry them around as I laid out the pieces for the blocks.

And what a puzzle these are to lay out! I'm referring to a diagram, but it probably took me about ten minutes to get this laid out properly.

After that, it was probably another 30 minutes sewing it together. This is the first of four blocks I'm making for this go-round.

I laid out the second one, but then covered it with rulers and quit for the day. 

I still had in mind to make the From-the-Freezer Blueberry Muffins. I neglected to take any pictures of these, and so these next images are recycled from the last time I made them. The batter is mixed up, then ladled into muffin cups. Then they get a sprinkle of some demerara sugar mixed with a little lemon zest. The first time I made them, I worried the sugar topping would simply dissolve into the muffin batter, but it doesn't. It's frozen quickly enough that it stays on top until they're baked and it gives a nice little crunch when you bite into them.

Once frozen, they can be stored in the freezer and baked just one or two at a time. I ended up with 14 muffins from this latest batch, and so I baked two of them this morning to have with our morning coffee. So tasty, and a nice little pre-breakfast treat. For baking, I put them in custard cups.

It takes just 30 minutes from frozen, and then you've got yourself some nice little muffins for two.

You can find the recipe right here, but if you can't open it, feel free to email me, and I'll be happy to send it to you.

Okay so I'm heading off to the farmer's market, and then I'll probably make another stop at the grocery store on my way home. When I get home, I'll get back to work on those Scrappy Plus blocks. It's going to be a good day. I hope you have a good day planned for yourself too.