Say it with red and pink.

We girls recently had the happy opportunity to host a Valentine’s Day luncheon for the ladies at our Church! Our Church is small on the people side, but big on the love side.

It was so fun to plan our menu. The main course was manicotti, French bread, and salad, with three different yummy desserts — homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie, Cream Wafers, and Creamy Strawberry Dessert.

Our pastor’s wife supplied the drinks (raspberry lemonade and water). We decorated each place with a special party favor bag, complete with candy hearts, red & pink Hershey kisses, and York peppermint patties, all tied up with red and white twine.

We dipped into our Mom’s vast (and gorgeous) collection of vintage tablecloths for all the tables, and borrowed her ruby red vase collection for all the flowers.

We had mood music on (of course). How is it that music softly playing in the background can make such a difference??

It was such a wonderful experience for us, and a great time was had by all! It’s amazing how taking just a couple hours out of one Saturday to spend time with others can be so refreshing. We are already planning our next luncheon (picnic theme!), and can’t wait.

xoxo Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah

Grandma’s Coated Club Crackers (You can’t eat just one… trust me.)

A few years ago when our Grandma was still living and writing us letters regularly, she passed along the recipe for these yummy, fancied-up Club Crackers. We hadn’t made them for years, until just recently. It’s amazing how simple they are, but oh so good… what do you expect from something that’s coated with butter and sugar and nuts? Enjoy!! xo

Grandma’s Coated Club Crackers

Take a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and cover with aluminum foil. Place Club Crackers in a single layer on pan. (Grandma used about 42 crackers.)

Melt one stick of butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Once mixture comes to a boil, let boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly spread over Club Crackers. Sprinkle with chopped nuts (we use pecans).

Bake in 350 degree over for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool and remove from foil. (Grandma always stored hers in the cookie jar.)

Saying it with Red.White.Blue.

Happy July! Ever since we were little, Independence Day has always been fun. Mom's always been a red, white, and blue fan (that's an understatement), and has always taught us the importance of never, EVER letting July 4th roll around without proper clothing to go with the day.

See? Now we have this thing about us (we tease Mom and call it a 'complex') — we just can't let Independence Day roll by without wearing red, white, and blue. It just isn't happening.

We spent some time this morning looking at all the fabulous July 4th party ideas on Pinterest. Here are some of our favorites to put some firecrackers in the day…

We are definitely trying these Sugar Cookie Bars out.

This bunting is pretty enough to use all year round.

Boots. What else can we say?

Popsicles are a must. (And red, white, and blue makes them tastier.)

Tablesettings that make us happy.

And, we can't forget the fancy wear.

Happy, happy Independence Day!

xoxo Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah

A Fabulous Friday.

Three cheers for Friday! A big thank you to all those who placed orders with us this week! We have been (no joke) filling them morning, noon, & night. We'll get everything to you as soon as possible!

What are you all loving this Friday??! Kisses and hugs from here~ xo KAAAA

{Apphia's picks}

1. some chambray + lace sewing inspiration for spring…

2. mmmmm…..

3. yes, a grateful heart.

4. so pretty!

{Abiah's picks}

1. Catalina Island, CA. One of my dream places to visit!

2. this camera bag is the CUTEST! Love the color!

3. I think I need these sandals in my shoe collection!

4. Dino and Angie Dickinson on the set of "Rio Bravo"

{Achaia's picks}

1. I can't wait to get this pattern and get stitching!

2. Recently read this book on Edith Head — excellent stuff

3. Dior

4. peacocks always fascinate me. Gorgeous colors.

{Abigail's picks}

1. a classic movie poster of my favorite movie!

2. my backpack from Target and my army style jacket from Old Navy

3. my favorites.

4. my tambourine!!!

{Kristie's picks}

1. my Calico fruit dishes (a collection started by my Grandma)

2. love these mixing bowls!

3. vintage ricrac glasses — we love drinking out of ours, and everything tastes better in Vintage (especially Mountain Dew!)

4. ruby glass

For a sandwich fix…

We love a good sandwich. This one (we think) is probably the best. We've eaten it since we were little…and we still love it. Made by our Aunt Betts (well, technically, Mom's aunt and our great-aunt), we still affectionately call it "Aunt Betts Sandwich". So here you go!

Aunt Betts Deli Sandwich

-1 loaf French or Italian bread

-leafy lettuce

-shaved ham (we got about half a pound of all the meats and cheeses)

-shaved turkey

-shaved bologna

-thin swiss cheese

-colby cheese

-onion, tomato, green peppers, or whatever you fancy (confession. We don't always put all the healthy veggies on ours. We just used lettuce on this one)

-mayonnaise

-Italian dressing

-mustard (optional. We usually just use the mayo and Italian dressing)

Makes one stuffed sandwich!!

1. Slice open your bread (we only used half so we could save the rest for another day soon), and put mayo on both sides. Put on entire lettuce leaf so the ruffled side sticks out.

2. Layer on your meats and cheeses. Follow with your vegetables. Now put your "top" on, and go eat!!

Enjoy!!!

xx, Abi and Abiah

Full Week.

Whew! The last week has been so busy… the birthday bash, Mom's birthday, starting to prep for Quilt Market, and throwing ourselves into something brand new!! It's been fun, so no complaints. We especially couldn't complain when the brand-new-something required us to spend the day with best friends (!), a new friend, eat cupcakes, sample chocolate, and dash in and out of the rain. It was a fun, full 12-hour day.

Today feels like the first "break" day, but it won't last long. We have custom orders to sew, more Quilt Market related work, and it's almost time to start sewing for the booth. Oh, and the laundry is full too.

We're not sure we are ready for summer to be over. How 'bout you?

xoxo Achaia & Abi

State Shake Night

Are you a Taste of Home subscriber?? We've been subscribed on and off over the years, and I was so happy to renew my subscription recently. The recipes they have in their magazines just seem to fit our lifestyle perfectly — not too complicated or loaded with a bunch of ingredients I've never even heard of. The most recent magazine was so much fun to peruse! I saw a lot of yummy looking recipes, but when I came to the 50 Shakes for 50 States I knew we had to try some of them. right. now.

Saturday was labeled 'the night' and everyone was given a few days ahead of time to read all of the 50 shake possibilities (yes, I know, that's a ton to choose from!), so we could get the goodies on our shopping trip.

It was lots of fun!! We tried very hard not to let the States we liked color our shake choices. *smile* It was busy there for awhile making so many different varities at once (only 2 of us picked the same thing!), but the results were well worth the bother.

These are only three of the yummy varities we tried. Everyone loved the one they chose! We finished the night off by watching a double feature of one of our favorite shows. It's nice that just a little change-up in routine can be exciting! I've already had requests for another State Shake night. After all we still have about 40 more kinds to try!!

xoxAchaia

Two weeks that went by way too fast.

Our time in Indiana was the best! So much the best that we were sad to come home. But, work and other duties called, so we couldn't say no.

Everyone up there is so special, and we can't say thank you enough for all that they did to make our time wonderful. But we especially have to scream hugs, kisses, and thank yous to our most wonderful Paps and Nanny who put up with us sleeping in their upstairs, sharing their one bathroom with us, letting us leave our things strewn around their house, keeping them up late playing games, watching movies, or having a family jam session, and taking us around wherever they went. Everything is extra wonderful because of you two. Thanks to them we have a second home.

We hope you enjoy the sneak peek into our past two weeks.

All our love~ Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, & Abiah xoxoxox

Strawberry Freezer Jam

Freezer jam is a favorite around here. To be perfectly honest though we've only had strawberry flavored — but that completely sold us anyway. Last week was my week to plan the menu so I decided to include some fresh strawberries on the grocery list so I could whip up some freezer jam. Piled on top of a heavenly homemade biscuit and you have a winning combination. Below is our wonderful Nanny's awesome strawberry freezer jam recipe that she's passed along to us… enjoy! xoAchaia

Strawberry Freezer Jam

4 pounds fresh strawberries

12 cups sugar

3 packages Sure-jel

2 1/4 cups water

Clean strawberries and cute in half (or smaller pieces depending on size). Put in bowl and mash with potato masher. You should end up with 6 cups total.

Pour sugar on strawberries and stir (you'll need to make sure your strawberries are in a big bowl). Let sit for 10 minutes.

While strawberries are sitting pour Sure-jel packages and water in saucepan. (Don't worry about lumps). Stir constantly and bring to boil over high heat. Boil one minute.

Pour Sur-jel/water mixture into strawberries. Stir 3 minutes.

Pour into small freezer containers (old butter dishes work great too). Put lids on and let sit out on countertop for 24 hours. Then put in freezer.

When ready to eat simply get a container out of the freezer and use! If there's any leftover, store in fridge.

spring and everything in between.

The first half of April sure has come and gone quickly for us. If you aren't a newsletter subscriber we wanted to let you in on a happy little sale we're running over on the website! Through April 20th spend $60 on the marie-madeline studio site and receive a free pattern!! Every $30 spent earns another free pattern too ($60 = 1 pattern, $90 = 2 patterns, etc.). Of course, the free pattern is your choice, so be sure and leave a note to us on your order, giving us your choice!

Some new fabrics popped in here last week, and we are completely taken with them. As you can guess they are Lecien AND their newest Old New 30s line! You can shop them all here, but we want to give a little warning… quantities are very limited so don't wait. Once it's gone, it's gone!

In other news, Apphia is hard at work on some new patterns for this summer (yay!) which we can't wait to show to you all. The other night we stayed up til 2am watching Lawrence of Arabia. It's 3 1/2 hours long, though there is an intermission (which we promptly used up by leaning over the counter and chewing on marshmallow bars and cherry chip cupcakes). We all found it fascinatingly good and are looking forward to watching it again.

We plan to be back tomorrow with some fun happenings that we're happy to be involved with! (Look on the sidebar for a hint….)

xox KAAAA

Pie Breakfast Perfection

Mom has fond childhood memories of going to visit her grandmother in the hills of Southern Kentucky. They would stay for the weekend, climb steep stairs to sleep in the attic, and eat orange slices & circus peanuts out of a glass rooster dish. Grandma was a cooking master — she never measured the ingredients for her to-die-for biscuits. She also would make fried pies… homemade biscuit dough, dried apples, and a pinch of cinnamon. They would stay on the counter all day, covered with a flour sack dishtowel so you could snack on them throughout the day.

None of us ever got to know our Great-Grandmother (she died in the early 80s), but we love the memories Mom has of her. In fact, we now get the pleasure of having her old meal-chest in our dining room, the same meal chest she'd stand over and knead her dough on. One drawer was full of flour and the top had linoleum on it.

We now make our own version of Grandma's Fried Pies, and we wanted to share it with you. In true Grandma fashion we're not giving you any measurements — just use your own good sense. They are absolutely delicious for breakfast with a glass of cold milk.

Grandma's Fried Pies

-Refrigerated Grands Bicuits

-Regular Applesauce (we like the kind with no sugar added)

-Cinnamon & Sugar

Seperate biscuits. Take one biscuit and roll out into a round flat dough (you'll need some flour on the counter to prevent sticking).

Spoon some applesauce onto half of your dough, leaving space on the sides for sealing. You really don't have to overfill them. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar to taste. (We usually move our dough to the lightly sprayed cookie sheet before putting the filling in, but you can do whatever suits you.)

Fold other side of dough over and seal by taking a fork and pushing down.

Continue with the rest of your biscuits.

Pop into the oven and bake at 350 degrees. We cook them for about 15 minutes, then check with a toothpick for doneness. They might need cooked a few more minutes.

Happy Eating! We think Grandma would be proud — even if we don't use made from scratch dough.

Hugs and kisses,

xox us

Playing Around.

Please forgive the fact that we haven't been talking lately. Nanny arrived last Wednesday, and as usual, that always makes for lots of fun! After picking Nan up at the airport we hit a local antique store for a couple of hours, and then went to eat at Chic-Fil-A. Thursday consisted of messing around here, Friday Nan and we girls went shopping at Macy's and ran some other errands. We finished the day with the mandatory movies and pizza (we loaded Nan up with Mountain Dew so she could watch everything….). On Saturday all the boys were out working so we took the liberty of spending some fun time letting Apphia do make-overs on all of us (above). We did make a little bit of time for some house cleaning.

Today is scheduled for work on new patterns (!), possibly some closet cleaning, sewing, and other odds and ends that need to be done here in the studio. We have to work hard too, because tomorrow is slated for deep dish pizzas (a new favorite recipe), snacks, and an afternoon movie. It will probably be The Sound Of Music….

We'll plan on sharing more soon!

Happy Monday to all of you (and special hugs and kisses to you, Paps, if you're reading!!)

xoxo Kristie, Apphia, Achaia, Abigail, Abiah & Nanny