Goofin' Off With the Start of Fall 2017

Mr. Goofin' Off kept telling me earlier this week that he felt like someone had flipped a switch and it had gone from summer to fall in a snap. The weather is cooler, the skies are gray, and the days are definitely getting shorter. Well, I guess officially it is fall now.

With the first days of fall, I am brought back to my days as a little girl. My father worked a late shift, so often my mother would often bake at night after we went to bed while she waited for my dad to get home from work. In the fall, I would sometimes wake up to the smell of pumpkin bread...mmm...pumpkin bread. That memory inspired me to make some of my favorite pumpkin muffins this week.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin

2 cups sugar

1-1/4 cups vegetable oil

1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

1.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. 

2.  In a second bowl, beat the eggs, pumpkin, sugar, and vegetable oil. 

3.  Stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. 

4.  Fold in chocolate chips.  

5.  Fill muffin cups approximately 2/3 full. 

Bake approximately 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. 

Makes approximately 20 to 24 muffins. 

There is just something that smells so good about pumpkin muffins fresh out of the oven. I found a recipe a few years back that tasted very similar to my mother's recipe. I tweaked it a little so that I could add chocolate chips to the recipe. My family loves them, so they don't last very long around here.

Pumpkin Goofy!

I have added a gratuitous Goofy jack-o-lantern picture here from our trip to Disneyland because well...it's Goofy...and it's a pumpkin.

I found myself with some time yesterday and got my next quilt all cut out. Here are the pieces for the blocks.  

Pieces for Block A

Pieces for Block B

Pieces for Block C

Pieces for Block D

I love this fabric of Woody from Toy Story.  This will be one of at least three Toy Story quilts that I'll be making from the Toy Story fabric that I've purchased.  The pattern I am using is from the book Modern View 3 Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson of Fabric Cafe. I ordered it Monday from Amazon, and it arrived on Wednesday. Gotta love Amazon Prime. 

Modern Views with 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson

Modern Views with 3-Yard Quilts

I already have about half a dozen of Donna's quilt patterns but none of the patterns in this book. Each pattern uses 1 yard each of three different fabrics. These are the perfect size for the charity quilts I make. The bonus of this book that I hadn't expected was that the book gave instructions on enlarging the quilts to twin and queen/king toppers.

Well, it's time to get in gear and work on the fall cleaning, baking, and getting those Christmas checklists started. Yes, I said it. I said "Christmas". It's going to be here before I know it, and I need to be prepared.

Let me know below. Are there any foods that remind you of the fall months? What are your favorites? I'd love to hear about them...and maybe drool a little bit over them.

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Goofin' Off at the Evergreen State Fair

We received some free tickets last weekend for the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington. Mr. Goofin' Off did some volunteering at a table for the Historic Flight Foundation for part of the time while I wandered around the exhibits that I knew wouldn't excite him. Wait until you see what I discovered.

As the month of August and my "sweets" projects come to an end, I am reminded of a quote by Charles M. Schultz:

All you need is love.

But a little chocolate now and then

Doesn't hurt.

I have finished the blocks for the Gingerbread Square Dance quilt. Is that a hidden Mickey I see? 

Blocks for Gingerbread Square Dance Quilt

The blocks have been assembled with the focus fabric to create the rows for the center of the quilt.

Rows Assembled for Gingerbread Square Dance Quilt

I hope to have a picture of the completed quilt by the time of my next blog post. Fingers crossed!

Although I didn't have a lot of stitching time this week, I did manage to get a little bit more stitched on Goofy's pirate hat.

Mickey and Pirate Friends Cross Stitch as of 08/30/2017

As I mentioned before, we got some free tickets to the fair last weekend due to Mr. Goofin' Off doing some volunteer time there. The table he was at was near one of the doors. I noticed that right outside the door was the entrance to Frontier Land.

Entrance to Frontierland at Evergreen State Fair

Wait! Were we at Disneyland? Nope. But it got me thinking...about Disney of course...and how much Disney did I think I could find. I went on a Disney discovery tour. It didn't take long before I was getting a little hungry and went out to the food booths. What should I spy there?

Dole Whip Stand at Evergreen State Fair

There was a Dole Whip stand. Unlike the one at Disneyland that has waits of up to 45 minutes for this tasty treat, there was no line up here...at least not yet. It was pretty early in the day when I passed by, and as the temperatures rose up into the 80's, I am sure they got busy later on.

Out by the rides I came across these babies...

Teacup Rides at the Evergreen State Fair

I chose not to climb on board one of these as 1) I didn't have a little one with me and would have looked silly; and 2) like the ones at Disneyland, I have a feeling I'd have been queasy the rest of the day.

On to the exhibits I went exploring. Would I find any Disney projects at the fair? Yep. Lots and lots of them...so many I couldn't possibly post all the pictures. But here are a few of my favorites. 

My Favorite Quilt

Technically, this probably isn't a "Disney" quilt, but I immediately noticed one...no two...possibly even more hidden Mickeys in this quilt design. I was totally in love with the quilt, the colors, and the hidden Mickeys.

Star Wars Lego Sculptures

These Lego pieces were fantastic! People are so creative. I can see Mr. Goofin' Off working on something like this.

The last piece I'd like to show you really caught my eye. 

Star Wars/Dr. Who Quilt at Evergreen State Fair

This quilt was made up of a mixture of Star Wars and Dr. Who fabrics. While I probably wouldn't have thought to put them together, the colors went along so well that this became my second-favorite quilt of the day. 

I feel it wouldn't be right not to mention all of the tragedy and devastation that has happened in Texas with Hurricane Harvey (as well as other things going on throughout the world). My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected. If you feel so inclined, go do something nice for someone today. You never know what they're going through. 

Thank you for dropping by to read my blog. Feel free to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you. 

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Goofin' Off With a Mid-Summer Breather

We've officially passed the mid-summer point here in the Pacific Northwest. We don't measure the summer by school calendars here but by the weather. We generally have sunny weather June through September, so that's what I consider as summer.

If you've been following my blog much, you'll know that we've had a busy summer so far. I decided to take a breather and reflect on what we were doing a year ago before proceeding with the rest of the summer...(spoiler alert:  it involves a destination wedding).

I got to spend some time the past couple of days cutting up the strip sets for my Gingerbread Square Dance quilt. There were a lot of these little blocks, but it was so much quicker than if I had had to sew the strips on each individual block...

Cut Strip Sets for Gingerbread Square Dance

But, then again, now I have to add the strips to the sides of the blocks, so I did make some progress and got one of the sides sewn onto each of the blocks.

Side Strip Sewn to Gingerbread Square Dance Block

I decided it was also time to pull Mickey and Pirate Friends back out and do a little stitching on it. I made a little bit of progress on it. I am working towards a page finish for the chart at the moment.

Mickey and Pirate Friends as of 08/27/2017

As I was going through what was happening a year ago today, I came across these pictures and realized that it had been exactly one year since we had been to Disneyland. It was a great vacation with just me and my two boys. We called it our "first-class vacation." I had been setting aside money from each paycheck to upgrade this vacation.

Mrs. Goofin' Off and Goofin' Off, Jr. - First Class Lounge

I upgraded our seats to first class...which wasn't as expensive as one might think between Seattle and Disneyland. We all enjoyed the first class lounge and grabbed some breakfast while we waited for our flight.

Mr. Goofin' Off and I hunted down the infamous Club 33 doorway. One day...maybe one day...we'll get to eat here and check it off our Disney bucket list. For the time being, a picture will have to do. I've heard of people making vision boards of goals and dreams...maybe I should make one with this at the center. 

Mr. & Mrs. Goofin' Off Outside Club 33 - Somebody Please Let Us In

Mr. Goofin' Off and Goofin' Off, Jr., really enjoy their churros.  Imagine how thrilled they were when we encountered this churro cart. Six different flavors of churros. I don't remember which flavor was purchased, but I do remember it was enjoyed very, very much. 

Some people search out pictures of hidden Mickey's while they're at Disneyland. Not us. Mr. Goofin' Off is always looking for pictures of Goofy. We found one at the Disneyland Hotel. Maybe one day we'll eat here...another Disney bucket list item. 

Mr. Goofin' Off Found a Goofy to Take a Picture With

Going through these pictures has me thinking about vision boards. I had started one a while back and didn't get very far. Maybe it's time to get serious and put one together of just my Disney bucket list items...including Disney projects I'd like to do. Hmm...

Have you ever done a vision board? I'd love to hear if you have and if you have any pointers. The nine months of gray weather will be here soon, and anything I can do to brighten up my office/sewing room will help me through those months. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Please feel free to leave me a comment or send me a message. I consider you all my friends, and I always love hearing from you.

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Goofin' Off With a Sweet Mystery Start

I’m up bright and early this morning for my mystery quilt. The clues should be starting to come in at any time now. In case you don’t know what a mystery quilt is, it’s a quilt where you have no idea what it’s going to look like when you’re finished...it's a mystery. 

The fabric requirements are given out ahead of time, so you can be sure you have enough of your fabrics. I wrote about my fabric choices way back in July here. I chose the sweet treats fabric to be my main focus fabric. These sweet designs sure do make me hungry.  Hmm…maybe I’ll have to go make some cookies.  

Fabric Choice for Mystery Quilt - From Stash

Close Up of the Focus Fabric...Very Sweet

A couple of weeks ago, the cutting instructions for the mystery were posted online.  I have gone ahead and cut out the fabrics as indicated. Now I just have to wait as patiently as I can for the first clue to come out...any time now...

Mystery Quilt Pieces All Cut Out - What Will It Look Like?

Each clue will give further instructions on how to sew all the pieces together that you cut out. Clues are given out and pre-determined intervals. For this particular mystery, all clues will be given out today. Yippee! You’ll have to come back next week to see how my quilt is coming along. 

Since I have been patiently waiting for the clues to come out, I went ahead and finished another small section of my Mickey and Pirate Friends stitching.  I have decided I’m at a good point to set it aside and am going to do a couple of smaller stitching projects…inspired by the “sweet” fabric I’m using for the mystery quilt. 

Mickey and Pirate Friends - as of 08/12/2017

And since I didn’t quite have all the threads I need to get very far on the stitching yesterday, I decided to make some cookies to tide me over. They are key lime yogurt cookies…very moist and cake-like with just a hint of key lime. The recipe is one that I created that was based off of a lemon cookie recipe I've had for almost 30 years.  Here is the recipe:  

Ingredients

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup key lime yogurt

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.  

Grease cookie sheets or cover them with baking parchment to keep cookies from sticking. 

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.  

Beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer until well creamed...approximately 30 seconds. Add sugars and continue beating until fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla, and yogurt and beat well.  Add dry ingredients to the beaten mixture and beat until well combined.  

Drop the cookie dough from a spoon onto a cookie sheet...space approximately 2 inches apart. 

Bake in 375-degree oven for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.  

Remove and cool on a wire rack.  These usually make 30 to 36 cookies for me.   

***Mr. Goofin' Off is not a huge lemon or key lime fan, so I finished these off with a little buttercream frosting. You could just as easily sprinkle them with powdered sugar...or use a glaze made from powdered sugar, milk, and maybe a little key lime juice (Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice is a favorite in the bigger family) if you're a key lime fan.***

Goofy Admiring the Sweets On The Table

As you can see, Goofy stole a plate for himself and sat down at the table to eat them. I just noticed how well they match the fabric for the mystery. I guess if he drops some frosting on the fabric, it won't be too noticeable.

Hope your weekend is as sweet as mine!

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Goofin' Off With Father's Day and Cars...But Not the Disney/Pixar Kind

We celebrated a great Father's Day this past weekend.  Mr. Goofin' Off insisted I take a picture to show what he got for Father's Day to my blogging friends.  Technically, we're calling it a Father's Day present, but I promise we don't spend this kind of money every Father's Day...seriously, we don't...not even close.

First I'd like to show my few updates.  Captain America is coming along nicely.  The blocks are almost complete, and then we'll just have assembly.

Step 4 - L

Step 4 - M

Step 4 - N

Step 4 - O

Step 4 - P

As for my cross stitch progress, it is coming along nicely as well.  Goofy's pirate hat continues to expand in the picture.  I am still on track for us to catch a peek at Goofy's eyes before the month of June ends.  I am pretty sure once you can see that, you'll be able to see the enormity of the project and the details will be appearing.

Mickey and Pirate Friends Cross Stitch - 06/19/2017

Now back to our Father's Day.  I keep hoping that my last blog post where I showed you the Disney/Pixar Cars fabric I had ordered didn't prompt this whole expensive weekend, or I'll have to re-think my blogging.  It will get too darn expensive if Mr. Goofin' Off uses my blog as an excuse to make big purchases.

Anywho, late last week (hmm...again, probably the same day as my last blog post), Mr. Goofin' Off mentioned to me that he had received an e-mail from the Hyundai dealer.  We've been saving our money for the past three years for an Elantra...the catch being Mr. Goofin' Off really, really, really wanted a sunroof.  Well, the dealership said they had the model available that had the sunroof on a huge sale this last weekend.  

We hadn't quite saved enough in our "new car fund" to pay for it, but we also know the current car was coming up on needing some major maintenance that would probably cost thousands...which would offset the difference in what we needed to buy the new car.  We decided buy...then decided don't...and then late Saturday decided if we could get them to a certain price we'd say go ahead and buy.  

Mr. Goofin' Off got up and headed out to the dealership Sunday morning.  Came back home and said they couldn't come to an agreement, but it was so close.  Then we talked some more and...

Mr. Goofin' Off in His New Car

...several hours later, we were able to take this picture. I asked Mr. Goofin' Off if I could take his picture. He insisted that I do, as long as he can poke his head out the roof and wear his Goofy hat. He wants to be sure my blogging friends know that he really is a Goofy guy and proud of it.

I haven't seen the new "Cars 3" movie yet.  But they were showing the original "Cars" movie on cable this weekend.  This quote really hit me and says exactly how I feel about Mr. Goofin' Off...even after 28 years of marriage.

Mater:  I knew it!  I made a good choice!  

Lightening McQueen:  In what?  

Mater:  My bes' friend.  

Love you bunches, Mr. Goofin' Off!!!

Linking up with Moving It Forward Monday and Midweek Makers.

Goofin' Off Crossing Off Bucket List Item...Or Did I?

This update has me reflecting on whether or not I actually crossed an item off of my Disney bucket list.  First I'll give my project updates, and then maybe you can help me decide.

First off, I'll show you how Captain America is progressing.

Step III Is Complete

Step IV - A

Step IV - B

Step IV - C

And as for how our Mickey and Pirates cross stitch project is coming along, you can see for yourself. This piece will be poster-sized when completed, so it may be hard to tell at this point what is what, but since I know what the completed picture looks like, I'd say things are looking pretty accurate. We've got more of Goofy's pirate hat taking shape at the moment.

Mickey and Pirate Friends - 06/07/2017

Now where was I?  Oh, yes, last post we had just finished up with Day 3 of our Disney cruise trip report.  Well, the morning of Day 4 arrived early.  The cruise director had mentioned the night before that we would be going under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco about 6:30 in the morning. So, if we wanted to see it, we had to be up early.

Mr. Goofin' Off and I managed to get up early enough, but whether or not we would actually see it would be another story.  It was a bit foggy when we first got out, but by the time we reached the bridge, well, the fog had burned off and we had a lovely view.

Approaching Golden Gate Bridge with Fog

Getting a Little Closer to the Bridge and a Little Less Fog

We're Almost There - Fog Is Almost Gone

We had a small pod of whales, probably four or five, guiding the way in front of the ship. Unfortunately, they weren't breaching so it was difficult to get them in the pictures.  But it really set the mood nicely for the morning.

Our excursion for the day had been to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum and then see some of the other prominent sites around San Francisco.  We went with the excursion offered through the cruise ship.  I won't say too much about our guide, but let's just say she didn't seem too prepared for this tour.  She had never been to the Walt Disney Family Museum...and she was guiding a bunch of Disney nuts, so she really didn't have much to offer early in the tour.

Our first stop actually turned out to be at the Lucasfilm headquarters which is just down the street from the museum.  We only had about five to ten minutes here, so I snapped a quick picture of the Yoda statue out front.  Who doesn't love Yoda?

Yoda Statue and Fountain Outside Lucasfilm Headquarters

After a few wrong turns in the Presidio, where the Walt Disney Family Museum is at, we managed to arrive at the museum about a half hour late.  Our tour guide then went in to purchase the tickets for us, while we waited an additional 15 minutes on the bus.  We would have thought since this was a Disney Cruise tour that the tickets would have been ready and waiting...but no. When she returned with we were able to get off the bus and I was able to snap this baby...there may have been a tear or two of joy shed because I am such a Disney nerd.

Walt Disney Family Museum - Front

I snapped lots of pictures...in the first gallery of the museum, but since I'm pretty sure most of you really don't have the same Disney affinity that I do, I'll only share a couple that had meaning to me. First is the picture of the furnishings from Walt's original apartment at Disneyland.

Furniture and Furnishings from Walt's Apartment at Disneyland

The other picture I'll share is one of the Oscar's Walt Disney won.  Of particular interest to me was the one he won for Snow White.  It was a large Oscar with seven little ones next to it.  As a child, I loved watching old Shirley Temple movies, and there is a clip of her talking to Walt about this particular Oscar that always comes to mind.  Who couldn't love Walt and Shirley Temple?  

Walt's Oscars - Snow White Oscars Front and Center

Now visiting the Walt Disney Family Museum has been on my and Mr. Goofin' Off's Disney bucket lists for long, long time.  While, technically, we did make it to the museum, we wound up with a little less than an hour and a half there. The tour had to move on.  The museum has 17 galleries, and we only made it through 3 of them.  We didn't even begin to see the things we had wanted to.  So one has to ask, did we or didn't we check this item off our bucket list?  Please let me know if you think we did below...seriously, I'd love your thoughts (or maybe I'm just trying to rationalize another trip).

The tour moved on.  We tried to go to Twin Peaks, but the road was closed, so the bus couldn't get there.  So...another strike against our unprepared tour guide.  We diverted to some park so we could at least get a potty break.  Then we headed to Lands End Lookout.  I have to admit, there were definitely some beautiful views here.  

Lands End Lookout

Lands End Lookout - Seal Rock

From there, we headed to the Golden Gate Park.  We had a few minutes here, so we snapped some pictures, did a very short hike, and grabbed a snack.  

Golden Gate Bridge as Seen From Golden Gate Park

Alcatraz As Seen From Golden Gate Park

We left Golden Gate Park and headed back to the cruise ship.  Mr. Goofin' Off and I admittedly came away from this tour a little disappointed. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the top deck of the ship and catching a little sun. We didn't see very much sun the entire cruise, so it was a nice treat to grab some Vitamin D. Then we had dinner, went to the show, and came back to our cabin for a good night's sleep. It had been an early day, and I am pretty sure I zonked out early.

So here it is a few weeks later, and we're still deciding whether or not we can say we can cross this off our bucket list.  I think I know Mr. Goofin' Off's thoughts because he was already researching a trip to San Francisco before we even got home.  

Thanks for dropping in.  I love to hear from you, so please feel free to leave a comment.  

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