An April Catch-up Post...

Hello my dear friends.. 

It has been awhile but I am happy to finally get this post published.. 

I have had it here partly done for a couple of weeks.. 

No excuses!  smile. 

 

How are you all? 

We are doing fine here in the province of New Brunswick.. On the East coast of Canada.. 

So much to catch up on today so I will get right to it..

 

We had Easter.. 

It was lovely and we spent a day with Shonda and Dave..

She served a beautiful dinner.. 

Here are a few pics.. (better late then never, I hope)😏..  

She had a most beautiful table setting.. 

Note the centrepiece which she made out of a hollowed out cabbage!  Imagine! 💗. 

I have to mention her fish water pitcher which make a gurgling sound when poured!  💧.. 

She has perfected her sourdough making... 

The food was delicious! 

She made her Great Aunt Mary's White Cake recipe.. 

Aunt Mary would have been so proud.. smile.. 

And I had to include this dear pic.. 

Because of circumstances... Trevor working, some of the grandsons working or studying the only grandson there was Matt.. 

This is a pic of our upcoming doctor counting his egg hunt booty!!

Love this pic... I am his Grandma!! 😊.. 

This was the tail end of our drive back home that day..  

All was well and we had a beautiful family time.. 

Here at home I had made a few decors for Easter... 

Another needle felted cushion... 

For the living room.. 

I know I shared some of this stuff on Instagram.. Sorry if you are seeing it twice..

Then I made this bunting from an old hymn book that was pretty old.. 

I drew crosses and cut them out then painted a few vines around the cross and hung them on the hutch... 

Well. that is enough about Easter.. 

Here are a few things I have enjoyed crafting.. or whatever.. 

Soaps using flowers that I dried from my Mom's funeral and others that I had collected and dried last summer.. 

They are lovely.. 

Lavender and Patchouli

I housecleaned our living room.. 

Well.. Mostly..  

Terry is painting a bit in there this week, I hope.. 

Love having the sun shining!

We take a few drives out to check up on the farm..

The snow is gone!  Yeah!

The herbs are coming up... 

I even picked some fresh Thyme... 😀

Dear friends from Arkansas sent me a most lovely cookbook.. 

I really enjoy reading cook books as much as cooking from them, don't you? 

The photos in this one are beautiful! 

Thank you dear Becky and Mark and Becca!   

So happy to have met them in person!  

She had been following my blog and we connected.. 

Then they made a trip here to Canada to visit Prince Edward Island and we spent some wonderful time together.. 

Then one of my sweetest cousins made this and mailed it to me.. 

Isn't it darling?  

It is a stitched post card! 

And the envelope was hand painted... 

Thanks dear Val!! 

I hope I don't sound like I am bragging but just wanted to thank these sweet friends for thinking of me.. 

 

One sweetheart passed me a bag and told me to look at it when I got home.. 

A few of us had met for lunch and she passed it to me afterwards.. 

I was so touched when I opened it up.. 

A handmade quilt by her.. 

It was too beautiful to just throw over a chair so I put one of my Mother's crochet bedspreads on and redecorated the room.. 

Made a wreath to top the bed as to match the quilt.. 

Thank you so much my lovely friend... 

Then my darling daughter gave me two of her handmade crochet bags.. 

Market bags!! 💕

I just love using them. 😊

And finally... 

My dear husband came in the house with these beautiful roses and passed them to me... 

Just because..... 

Don't you think that fresh beautiful flowers can make your day?

Gotta love him!  😗

A bit of cooking as always...

Homemade No Knead Bread... 

And a Sunday Supper Cake.. 

My Great Aunt Emilie's !

please forgive the recipe.. 

the book is ancient!  smile.

Well dear hearts this is about it.. 

I seem to do much better on Instagram as it does not take long.. 

To be honest I am not on there consistently...

Anyway...

Thank you so much for being patient with me and sending me little notes and such.. 

I appreciate you all.. 

And welcome to you new followers here and on Face Book... 

God Bless you!

Take care and let's keep putting Jesus first in our lives.. 

He makes the difference.. 

Hugs 

A March Ramble and Roll Post..

Good afternoon my dears.. 

Welcome to the Blessed Hearth blog today.. 

So happy to sit down here at the computer and chat with you for awhile.. 

I think this is going to be a rather disjointed kind of post! 

More like a newsy kind of phone conversation.. 

Do you remember those? 

I still love them and probably always will... 

Thankfully, I still have a few friends who feel the same! 

I remember the first time a sweet much younger mother told me she would rather have a needle inserted in her eye then chat on the phone...

 I was so shocked!  

I didn't realize there were actually ladies  who would much rather text or message then use the phone.. 

That was several years ago and now I realize that it is a new lifestyle practice for the younger generation.. 

They can just take their thumbs and type a message in a heartbeat... 

Oh well.. I digress! 

Back to the same song but second verse.. grin.. 

The pics on here are in no kind of order.. 

It takes much shorter amount of time to just copy them on here then not have to copy and paste them into order.. 

So we will give this a try for once.. 

K?  

This pic and the one above is of a new cake I made for us last week.. 

It is excellent!  

We both loved it and as we just sliced it thinly it lasted several days.. 

Here is the recipe..

 

Lemon Yogurt Cake..

1 1/2 cups of flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

1 cup of plain yogurt

1 cup of sugar

3 extra large eggs

1/2 cup of oil 

1/2 tsp vanilla 

Mix wet ingredients and add whisked dry ingredients.. 

Place in a parchment lined 81/2 x 41/2 x 21/2 inch loaf pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes or until baked through..

Mix up in a small bowl 1/3 cup of lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar.. 

Let your baked cake sit and cool for 10 minutes.

Place cake on a rack over a sheet pan and while still warm  pour glaze over top and let it sink in.. 

Enjoy.

I have been trying to make a habit of setting the table and putting a bit of effort into it for our meals this winter.. 

It is so easy when you are retired to just sit in your fave chair with a tray meal on your lap... 

Not a good way of taking our meals.. 

Once in awhile is fine but we were doing it way too much.. 

I actually look forward to sitting after the meal is over with my pot of tea and just enjoying our time..

A beautiful drive we took on a sunny winter day.. 

We still have snow here in Maritime Canada although not as much as lots of years.. 

I am trying to recycle some of my lace into projects.. 

 

Gave it a good wash with Gain (my favourite lace and linen soap) and hung it out on the line for the day and a frosty night.. 

It turned out lovely! 

My first project is to turn the tablecloth into a lined bed runner.. 

We shall see... 

I was looking at the thrift shops for a linen sheet but could not find one but I did find a nice heavy cotton that will do, I hope.. 

It is all in my head so may not turn out.. 

Will keep you updated.. 

I have been felting.. 

A few cushions covers for Spring.

I love rabbit crafts... and cat crafts and... lol... 

I have finished three of these.. 

For some reason I forgot to put the other pic on here .. 

Terry told me to do something rather then rabbits so 

I have another in mind... 

I have to sew these together and finish them first though.. 

We have had a few storms.. 

Not much mind you but enough to know that we can't count on winter leaving quite yet.. 

We also had a few fun times.. 

Met Shonda and Dave for a meal in a restaurant... 

It was lovely.. 

Our son-in-law gifted me with the beautiful napkins and soap in the pic above.. 

Way back before he and Shonda married he would sometimes bring me a package of lovely napkins.. 

I so love it when he still does all these years later.. 

Thank you, Dave... 

One of our lunches.. 

Quesadillas and Garden Salad with Chive Vinaigrette   

I didn't realize I was going to share this recipe with you or I would have looked up the proper spelling.. lol... 

sorry... 

I made a batch of homemade sausage the other day.. 

Terry loves these and always asks did I actually make them myself.. lol .. 

Here is the recipe.. 

So simple and easy..

18 ounces (0.526 kg) of lean ground pork

1/5 large onion and 1 clove garlic finely chopped

heaping tablespoon of bacon fat

1 tsp salt

pepper 

1 tsp summer savory

1/2 tsp sage or Italian seasoning 

pinch of allspice and pinch of cloves.. 

Mix all together with your hands and make 6 patties.. 

I freeze these in packs of two and voila 3 breakfast meals.. 

Also trying to get through some pantry preserves and freezer foods.. 

Preserving batches of strawberry jam along with rhubarb and raspberries.. 

Do you preserve in the winter.. 

I still have a pumpkin to do this week.. 

Mornings are getting so beautiful, eh? 

Out my kitchen window before the time changed. 

Last night.. smile.. 

I am an early riser most days.. 

I love it when you get up and it is daylight, though.. 

A few pics here are from my Instagram account.. 

blessedhearth.. 

just showing some plant love here in our front hall.. 

bread making ... 

I made fish stew one evening.. 

An old recipe I have had for about 30 years.. 

It was my dear father-in-law's favourite meal that I would make them.. 

And finally in this food expose.. grin.. 

Potato pancake.... 

A new recipe from the same link as I gave last post on the breakfast sandwich.. 

This was excellent and so nice for a brunch meal.. 

And another Instagram post.. 

Made a kitchen table centrepiece from a bouquet of my Mother's old tulips.. 

Bought the sweet container from Michael's for half price almost.. 

You know Spring is almost here when Terry brings home a bunch of smelts.. 

So tasty... 

Anyway dear girls, I am almost done.. 

sorry about all the food posts.. 

I didn't realize there were so many until I started typing.. 

It is time to make supper... 

I wonder what time the sun will go down tonight.. 

So glad you all dropped by.. 

I hope all is well in your part of the world.. 

This new way takes a bit of adjustment, eh? 

Some are back to normal they say but I personally don't think it will be back to normal for a long time if ever.. 

Removing a mask does not put things back to normal.. 

It kind of feels like we are in a boat with heavier weather ... 

all the time.. 

But... 

We know the Master of the wind... 

He is also the pilot of the boat and all is well.. 

We just keep on hanging on.. 

Doing our thing and trusting in Him..

Blogger is not cooperating so I need to say goodnight for now! 

Please leave me one of  your sweet notes here or facebook or intasgram if you don't mind! 

God bless till next time!