Gomez is a cool cat

'nough said.

Block of the Month

I finished the first block for the Designer Mystery BOM from Fat Quarter Shop. This is a great BOM and if you haven't joined click on over to Kimberly's shop and sign up. Don't forget to get the finishing kit because you will be so happy you did when UPS brings it to you. I'll wait right here.
Wow that was a long time. What else did you buy???!!!??

Recession Garden Update

I meant to post this Sunday so consider this old news LOL! The Recession Garden is doing great thanks to the extremely hot and humid weather.
The tomato plant that is outgrowing its cage is an heirloom tomato called "Mr. Stripey". Mr. Stripey has flowers but no tomatoes yet. I wish Mr. Stripey would get his act together and put more energy into tomatoes than trying to escape the cage. He may need a high-rise cage soon. Yellow squash is taking over the right side of the garden. We are going to have yellow squash with every meal I think this summer. Yellow squash on toast with eggs, yellow squash sandwiches.... In fact, this is the very first harvest from the garden hmm what do you know...YELLOW SQUASH! This yellow squash ended up in stir fry. Yum!
I snapped this photo of one of my lace-cap hydrangeas before the sun got too hot. Hydrangeas are very melodramatic and if it gets too hot in the afternoon, they lay down their leaves and look all droopy and wilty. Then perk up in the evening and morning. Southern belles, what can you do! I'm really happy that all my ornamental shrubs made it through these past several years of drought. I practice Darwin-style gardening. No watering except for the veggies.

A Bit of Culture and A Big Surprise

Well another roasting day here in Atlanta (upper 90s). Got up this morning and decided to spend the day at the High Museum of Art in nice icy A/C. The new exhibit is Monet's Waterlilies and there are four waterlily paintings on loan from the Museum of Modern Art. Here is Claude in his garden.
Impressionist paintings are amazing in real life with all the color and texture. There was also a really interesting photograph exhibit of Richard Misrach's On the Beach series. It was lots of fun and a great way to spend a too hot day. Lunch was a trip over to Howell Mill Road to Taqueria del Sol, one of my favorite restaurants. I always have fish tacos and queso dip and chips. Today was a perfect day for a margarita on the rocks with salt so I had one of those too. A toast to a long hot summer in Atlanta.

I came home and was checking through blogs in google reader. To my huge surprise I won a blog giveaway!!! Good golly miss molly, it was the way fab bag sewn by Anne Sutton and her talented Chelsea!!! I nearly fell off the couch! See photos of the stylin' tote I will be toting soon here. I'm so excited I can't stand it.

Finally Friday

This week just dragged by, especially today--it was a clock watching kind of day. I knew I had a UPS package waiting for me at home from the Fat Quarter Shop.
It's the 2009 Designer Mystery BOM block one and finishing kit. The fabric is the wonderful Glace line from Moda. I am so excited to start this BOM.

It is another hot, humid, icky day here in Atlanta, which means more summertime cat poses.

Here is Stella melting into the corner of the sofa (just so you know I do have A/C that is kept at 78 degrees so it's not that bad in the house).

Done with Summer

OK we are OVER summer already here in the ATL. It's supposed to be in the upper 90s the rest of the week and possibly up to 100. Hello it's 80 degrees outside right now at 1:11 AM. This is Edgar Poe's summertime pose for hot and humid ATL,

which is remarkably similar to his larger cousin in another hot and humid area.
Cat minds think alike.

It's Peach Time

Peaches are in season here in the Peach State. South Carolina really produces more than Georgia, but we don't talk about that. Anyway, I love fresh, local, perfectly ripe peaches like these
I don't like eating the skin on peaches though. Bleh too fuzzy! On my never ending quest to find the perfect peach cobbler recipe, I decided to try the recipe in The Joy of Cooking.
Peaches are peeled, sliced, mixed with sugar, flour, and a dash of cinnamon (not in the recipe--my addition).
The topping is similar to biscuit dough. Sometimes I use my Cuisinart but this time I went the old fashioned way (I only use real unsalted butter and King Arthur flour for baking because well I'm a cooking snob I guess).
I finished up the dough, give a couple of kneads, and roughly flattened (let's call this a Rustic Cobbler)
Sliced the dough in rectangley shapes, place on peaches and brush with egg wash and throw some sugar for sprinkly fun.

While baking, sew some half-square triangles.
Here it is. Super yummy by my standards and looks pretty. I don't have any ice cream in the house--vanilla would be perfect. Go check out Marlene's posts for her homemade ice cream to go with this post :) And another one (if you can stand it...)