Patty Van Dorin

Bee Knees

since it has been so long since I have posted pages from the Flotsam and Jetsam journal, I will post these recent pages. Just flip by anything you have seen before
   
in this journal, I have not been working in any particular order 
 fourth of July - a climber that I added this spring
 

Bees Knees a cute little minature with a rich canary yellow center with pink edges

Liberty Bell Bird Club journal

 
Liberty Bell Bird Club Fabric Journal - crazy quilt scrapbook
available on etsy - click here for more details and photos

mini apple pies

a rare rainy afternoon, so I found myself inside with a perfect opportunity to do some baking
I didn't feel like making a traditional apple pie so I experimented a bit and came up with a good mini apple pie recipe
the idea was to freeze a couple but who am I kidding, these won't make it through the weekend

Mini Apple Pies

2 Granny Smith Apples – peeled, cored and finely chopped
4 Tablespoons sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Butter
Pie Crust – recipe below

Combine sugars, cornstarch and spices.  Stir in apples, coating apples well. Set aside

Pie Crust
1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable shortening

2 Tablespoons Ice Cold Water

Sift flour and salt into bowl.  Using pastry blender or two forks, cut shortening into flour. Sprinkle water over flour. Work water into flour and gather into a ball.
On a floured surface, roll out pie dough. Cut dough with round biscuit cutter. Spoon apple mixture in center of pie crust circle, making a mound of apple in the center. Top apple mixture with a small dot of butter. Place a second disc of dough on top, pinch edges to seal and crimp edges with a fork. Using a fork, poke small vent holes in top. Dust top with cinnamon and sugar.

Carefully place pastry on cookie sheet.
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Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes

Allow to cool slightly and serve with ice cream or whipped cream.  Makes 4 to 5 mini pies.

the lizard eater

 
while browsing the shelves at the library, I found this book
maybe I should have checked it out
now I have something else to worry about
I didn't realize it was such a big problem with raccoons falling through the ceiling
 
there was no book on how to keep the neighborhood cats from eating the lizards
this is not what I had in mind when I made this rocky draw in my yard
the original plan was to catch water run off when it rains and to attract lizards
the calico cat seems to think this rock with the perfect kitty belly divet in it is perfect for lounging and snatching a random gecko
 
the new rose bed started last fall is filling out and the roses are doing well their first season
 
Blue Girl
 
Diana Princess of Wales



 this year I have been adding quite of few striped roses
this one is called Purple Tiger
 
Ralph the Dog is more a fan of the deck planters
he loves to stand at this planter and watch the hummingbirds

Backyard Birds

 
Crazy Quilt Journal - Backyard Birds
available on Etsy - click here for more details and photos

crazy quilt fabric journal

 more pages made today for the crazy quilt fabric journal
 
 
a good place to practice the fancy stitches on my sewing machine
 
 
how cute is this picture
I found it many years ago at a flea market

head first into a big pile of fabric

 
page one

the fabric scraps have been piling up and today was a good day to start another fabric journal
 
page two
 
page three
 
page four

and there will be many more pages to follow in the coming week

the minis

 
last fall, I planted several miniature roses

residing behind a family of bunnies
 
single bloom of Edisto showing off the brilliant red with creamy yellow outer petal and center
 
Strawberry Swirl
doesn't the name fit this little rose perfectly
this miniature rose has mossed buds

Quietness

 

Quietness - Buck Rose

and keeping in the theme of the title of this post, I have a small video below
don't try adjusting your volume, the audio was turned down while recording due to windy conditions
the last page was completed in the song lyrics journal
this journal was started four years ago
it usually doesn't take me this long to complete a journal but this one would be put up on the shelf and taken down whenever I had an interest to work in it.
let's just say the last couple of years there wasn't that much interest.
the idea behind this journal was to capture a small fragment of song lyrics that caught my attention when working on other projects
anyway here is the video:

 

pink skullcap

the path around the fig trees

pink skullcap - a perfect little plant for tucking in along paths and rock gardens, available also in white