Not quite V-Day yet...

Ok, so I'm not fond of Black Friday - other than the choco of course. And yes, I know you've seen this already but it bears repeating!!!


Tomorrow is the annual Chocolate in the Stacks fundraiser at my local library. Chocolate themed snacks and drinks are scattered around the library and tickets are drawn for a fabulous Chinese basket auction. Several of the baskets contain tea, quilting, cooking or wine items and gain the majority of my tickets. There are always lots of snacks leftover so we get to take them home. Want to talk about a choco overload!!!

And since there is no one to send me flowers or singing telegrams tomorrow, I bought my own flowers at the local grocery store. LOL. In real life the purple is so dark it's almost black. Gorgeous!

Happy Chocolate Day tomorrow!!

If it's almost V-Day then there's choco!!

My car said it was -8F!!

Monthly Board meetings for work are on the 2nd Wednesday of the month and I typically bring a snack. It was late when I got home from fire meeting last night and I was cold and hungry so I decided to make the mousse bars this morning.

There was a little panic this morning because I thought I had bakers choco but I only had candy choco wafers. I had no idea if that would work so I made brownies instead. Then I read that it had to cool completely. Why do I leave these things until the morning??

That was about the time the news came on the radio and they mentioned how cold it was outside. I honestly had no idea it was that cold since it was blue skies and sunny but I decided to take advantage.

After the brownies cooled lickitey split, I made the choco mousse and drizzled dark choco. I hope the board members like it but I'll be happy to take any leftovers home ;^)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

Need I say more?
Siri knows me well. LOL!

Design Wall Monday

Chaos - that's the only word I can think of to describe this mess...it is organized tho!

From the left on the wall:

• a kitty panel on the bottom - waiting for inspiration
• Tumbler table runner - waiting for time to piece it
• Tumbler flag - top is put together and I have purchased backing. I know how I want to quilt it and I know that I want to keep the angled edges which means it has a "tucked in" edge that is edge stitched and no binding. Any recommendations on the best way to do this? I am guessing sew the three layers around edges and then turn right side out but do you quilt before or after that?
• 2 more civil war blocks completed yesterday
• 3 dresden plate mug rugs that need quilting and binding
• Several hexie diamonds that I have started stitching together with the black sashing
• The angel panel has been there a year and a half - I like to look at her but have no plans to do anything with her yet. Anyone have ideas?
• Top right is a border design that has also been there ages. I don't like it very much and that's why it's still there and I'm sticking to it...

On the table:

• The white baskets have a pieced border I am working on.
• One green basket is leftovers from a "camping" tablerunner I made for Mom and Dad's new camper - they need to be trimmed and put away. Actually I have enough to make a second runner.
• The next two green baskets are bits that need to be trimmed and selvages that need to be put in their box
• The stack of blue fat quarters on the cutting mat are for another Civil War block
• The bag of Snickers is what keeps me sane. Not really. Ok, maybe.

Chocolate Garden

This IS quilt related - can you guess how before you get to the end of this post???

Last night, after dinner at the Hole in the Wall, my friend Jacquie, co-owner extraordinaire, showed me pictures of their latest honey harvest and asked if it had been me who told her of my wish for a chocolate garden. It was!

I think the wish started when the spring catalogs had plants that were either chocolate colored or flavored. Then I found the Chocolate Flower Farm which further cemented my wish. Since I can't decide where to plant my chocolate flower garden yet, I've just begun collecting plants that I can later move to the new bed. Most chocolate plants seem to be brown or dark maroon in color but some are black or dark purple. There are chocolate annuals, perrenials and vegetables (oh wait, I think they are fruit since they have seeds).

My most obvious and official start to the chocolate gardent, is this Chocolate Mint. It has the traditional 4-sided stem like mint altho it's a chocolate color. The green leaf tastes minty with something else but not really a chocolate taste. Hey, it's the name that's important, huh?!

LEFT: This sedum also fits the color bill altho it seems to grow a little wilder and spindlier than my green sedum that is in the back left of this picture.
RIGHT: I have this coral bells (I think it's called licorice). It started the summer a much darker color (dark chocolate?) that has now faded to this lighter (milky chocolate?) color.

Then, there is this cactus. Or is it a succulant? From the top it looks like a hens-n-chick but from the side you can see it's on a stem. I bought the smallest (translate to cheapest) this nursery had but the largest specimen they had available was on a 6-8 inch stem and the "flower" was maybe 10 inches across. I am not sure if I want this plant inside or outside yet but I couldn't pass up such an interesting plant.

 This morning I picked 3 Black Beauty peppers from my garden. They start out green but turn this dark eggplanty purple color. Can't wait to see what color they are inside.

These are off topic but look - my hens-n-chicks had a rooster! I actually have 4 different plants that did this so maybe it's the hot weather we've been having.

Does anyone else have chocolate flowers they can suggest? I'm talking everyday plants that fill the color or name or speciality plants that fit.  TIA.

So... did you guess the quilt relation to this post? My quilt guild's annual "picnic" was held at the Hole in the Wall with a very yummy menu, quilt mystery to solve and our usual show-n-tell.