Hive & Home Barn Quilt

Our newest barn quilt in the Whatsoever Ye Sow Collection for 2020 is so darling!  I love bees.  Maybe it came from my nickname A-bee.  It seems every year I receive a bee hive or piece of jewelry with bees on it.  My husband says it is because I am always busy as a bee.  I know you will love this Hive & Home Barn Quilt no matter your level of obsession with the little yellow and black cuties.

This gorgeous barn quilt it sealed for indoor or outdoor display.  Can you imagine it in a solarium or garden shed?  I just may need my hubby to build me one this spring.  I am in the process of entering the artwork for this quilt into my digital world to create a fabric quilt as well.   So, watch for it and the other Whatsoever Ye Sow Barn Quilts coming this year from our Tweetle Dee Shop.
I'm hanging this one out by the garden door in hopes that we get more sunshine and less snow.  I'm dying for those flowers to bloom and this may just bring them out.  

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Hive & Home Barn Quilt

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

Are you the one who loves to eat peanut butter right out of the spoon?  I know no one admits it is their secret craving saving, but I'm here to bust that craving our into the open with the best peanut butter cookie recipe ever.  One bite of these sugar crusted, peanut saturated and honey touched cookies will satisfy any craving you have.  These Honey Peanut Butter Cookies are an old family recipe that you will want framed, it's that good.

Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

1/4 C. Room Temp Butter

1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 Cup Fresh Peanut Butter (Adam's Chunky is our Favorite)

1/2 C. Honey

1 Room Temperature Egg

 Mix in a mixer until smooth.  Sift together and add into the mixture slowly.

1 1/4 C Flour

1/4 Tsp. Salt

1 Tbs Baking Powder

Mix together and chill for an hour.   Line your baking sheets with baking parchment paper and preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll into Ping Pong size balls and roll in Raw Amber Sugar.  Place on cookie sheet about 1 1/2" apart.  Use a slotted spatula to make the lines (or a wide fork).  Press one direction and then the opposite direction to make a criss-cross pattern.  Bake for 6 to 8 minutes.  Let cool on a baking rack.  

Be prepared to eat them all...well, just sayin' these are soooo good with the crust of the raw sugar and the light, soft texture with a hint oh honey and a burst of yummy peanut better.  You can thank me later!  If you would like to watch me on Fresh Living follow the link and learn how to honor your PB addiction.

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Honey Peanut Butter Cookies

Tweetle Dee Stitching Cloth

A field of flowers, a basket of weeds and a wilting seed pod all the bounties of the mountain we live on and love and now they are forever sealed into our hand dyed stitching cloth and in Our Shop for you to stitch, piece, and quilt with.

Tweetle Dee Hand Dyed Stitching Cloth

The inspiration for the Hand-Dyed Stitching Cloth came from my boredom with flat colored embroidery cloth.  You know I love depth of color and texture in all of my work whether it is in paint layers, hand- variegated threads, or fabric, I want my pieces to look well-loved, or vintage.  I adore the faded colors of these stitching pieces.  

With each batch we brewed, the colors out of hiding and the water baths were like a cherished prize wine.  As the cotton linens were added to the pots we could see those beautiful living colors blend into the fibers making each piece unique with the folds of the fabric and pockets of dye.

This process is done for each batch of stitching cloth.  It takes a lot of love and time to make each full fat or half fat perfect.  We fell in love with this little bit of extra to each of my embroidery pieces.  As you stitch you will too,  knowing that those colors came from a hand picked bloom, seed, or weed  and now add that little something special to your embroidery or quilt piece.

You can purchase all twelve colors in The Shop in a Full-Fat 22" x 22" and a Half-Fat 11" x 11".  Whether you use them for quilting, slow stitching or embroidery, you will love stitching with these fabrics.

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Tweetle Dee Stitching Cloth

Grandma Rose's Sugar Cookies

 Recipes get passed down through generations for many different reasons.  Some for traditions, or remembrance of the maker, and some because they are just too good to forget.  I found my Great Great Grandmother Rose's Sugar Cookie recipe in a stash of loose paper recipes my mother gave to me.  For years I have used my Grandma's Sour Cream Sugar Cookie Recipe and that is the one my children have loved forever.  

This Valentine's weekend I decided to try my Grandma Rose's cookies to see what the difference is and why my mother, who is a fabulous maker saved this one with stars and hearts.  My mom wrote a little note that these cookies were made when she would visit Grandma Rose as a little girl and that the scent of them baking always reminded her of her favorite grandma.  So, there you go...you know why I had to try them.

We had our kiddos over and made them with them after church on Sunday and indeed the house smelled of sugar and nutmeg.  What I discovered when I made them was their texture is that of a macaroon.  They are so soft on the inside, it was like biting into a soft pillow with a puff of sweetness in the layers.  Goodness, even my husband said they were the best sugar cookies I've ever made.   I had to tell him it was a different recipe!  I'm sure Grandma Rose Helena Fay was looking down with a smile on her angelic face and we know why they were passed down through at least four generations of baker-makers.  You will love these cookies!  If you are not a fan of nutmeg, you can omit the amber spice...but I promise you, they are so good with it.

Grandma Rose's Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 Cup of Soft Butter 1 1/2 Cup White Sugar 3/4 Cup Evaporated Milk 2 Teas. Real Vanilla 3 Eggs Room Temp.
Mix together in an electric mixer until a golden yellow smooth mix.  
Sift together and add to mix...
1 Teas Baking Powder 1 Teas Baking Soda 1/2 Teas Ground Nutmeg 3/4 Teas Salt
Mix in electric mixer until all the powder is incorporated.  Add one cup of sifted flour at a time...it will take 3 1/2 to 4 cups of flour for the dough to hold together with a slight stickiness.  Use a rubber spatula to push the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.  
When chilled roll out on a floured mat or counter and cut to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into shapes and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are slightly tan of the bottom.  Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes on the tray to cool before moving them to the cooling racks.  Once on the cooling rack, let the little sugar cookies get totally cool before you frost them!

Creamed Butter Cream Frosting
1/2 Cup Soft Butter 2 Teas Real Vanilla 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Mix in an electric mixer until the powder is blended with the butter and vanilla.  With your whisk attachment on a slow speed drizzle 1/4 Cup of Whipping Cream in the mix.
Mix at a medium speed until the mixture starts to fluff a little.  Slowly add more powdered sugar a little at a time until you get the consistency of frosting you want to frost with.
This Creamed Butter Cream Frosting is like a soft buttery puff cloud in every bite.  I love a good butter cream...but adding Whipping Cream instead of milk and giving it that extra whipping to fluff it, gave it a lightness that you usually don't get in a frosting unless they have added shortening (which I do not like).  This frosting held up to all the swirling our kids gave it and stayed soft overnight.
These two recipes should go in your file to pass down as well.  Grandma Rose would be so happy to have shared it with you!  xoxo 

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Grandma Rose's Sugar Cookies

Prairie Paints Collection

Our Prairie Paint Collection us here!  After a few years of doctoring paint colors to achieve the perfect vintage colors for our barn quilts and furniture, we decided to create our own line of beautiful gel-chalk paint.  Introducing the Prairie Paint Collection .

The dream of creating our own paint line with the 32 signature colors we paint our barn quilts and furniture with seemed like the impossible dream a few years ago, but here we are!  It is launch day and we could not be more excited to share these uniquely formulated paints with you our dear friends.

We knew we had to create a paint that was thick, so thick.  It also had to have immense color saturation to allow for one coat coverage.  It had to adhere to various surfaces, and hold up to indoor and outdoor elements.  

Hay Down Prairie Paint 
After a lot of testing we created a unique formula that is a chalk-gel paint.  We loved the finish of the chalk paint and the thick-smoothness of the gel.  It is amazing to paint with and we fell even more in love with it when it came time to antique it.  The colors do not "bleed" onto each other...the reds stay red with one coat and each color has the vintage-dusty, well-loved look that is our signature.

Old Walnut Prairie Paint

We have used these paints in our classes around the country for the past year and have had favorable reviews from our students.   Everyone who has painted with them has been anxiously awaiting their release.  

 Here are some answers to the common questions we receive.

•  Our paints come ready to use, no mixing needed. 
•  They can be thinned for a lighter finish.  
•  They are the colors & paints we use on our barn quilts and vintage signs.
•  We have tested them indoors and out for the past year with perfect results.
•  They have zero VOC, are non-toxic, and odorless.
•   You will LOVE them!

Old Orchard Prairie Paint

Burleigh Blue Prairie Paint

Each color in our Prairie Paints Collection has a special story behind it's name, those stories come with each color you choose.  We will be highlighting a color each month and sharing those stories with you here on our blog, along with special paint projects using the paint of the month.

Both of us have designed and created many things over the years that we loved, but nothing has brought us more pride and joy than creating our very own Prairie Paints.  We can't wait to see what you create with them.  You can find them in our online shop, Amazon and at your local retailers soon.  

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Prairie Paints Collection