... and we're back to our regularly scheduled life

Houses awaiting their doors

The vacation was not long enough. It wasn't nearly long enough. However, it was a welcome respite from the regularly scheduled stuff that seems to happen around here.
I made good progress on my Homes wall hanging. I have to put the little doors on all the houses.
I didn't do it at the cottage because the iron there doesn't heat up enough. I wanted to use fusible web to attach the doors. That is best done at home, where the iron is marginally better.
I saved the bits lefts over from the cutting charm squares to make the doors.
Then, just as I was about to decide which little house would go on which large square, I realized I forgot the post-it flags I normally use to label rows. This meant I would probably get it all messed up when it was time to put all the blocks together. I refused to go into town to get the silly post-it flags. Instead, I called in the technological marvel that is my camera.
I took a load of photos while I was auditioning the houses onto the blocks to make sure I had a clue where my thoughts were on my layout. It takes me forever to arrange blocks, and now I won't have start all over again. I am so glad I remembered to take that photo -- even if I did forget my helpful little flags.
While we were away, I tried a new  "company" dessert using summer berries. This version of tiramisu is amazing. It has little Maria cookies dipped in Tia Maria as the crust. Here's what you do:
Dip the cookies quickly, and then gently press them against the sides of a glass bowl or deep dish pie plate. Beat a 475 gram tub of Marscapone cheese with 1/2 cup of whipping cream. This takes about three minutes. It should be like whipped butter.  Refrigerate for at least two hours. Prepare the fruit mixture: 1/2 cup of hulled and halved strawberries and a half cup of blueberries, stirred together with 3 tbsp sugar. Cover and refrigerate.

This is berry good

At serving time, top the dish with the berries and juices. Serve. Take a few bows -- and try to blush attractively at the compliements.
I made this twice for company while we were away. It was elegant without too much work, and it was a perfect end of a summer meal.
While I was working on my wall hanging, one of my guests, a quilter who travels to a quilting meeting each week, admired my pin cushion for its petite and portable size. It is from last autumn's issue of Mollie Makes.
When I returned home, I made her a pear with some of my many pretty scraps. I found the lady bug at the dollar store. It is really a push pin, but I glued it into the pear as a decoration. I hope my friend likes her new pincushion, and that it travels well.

A single traveling pear

Now that I am home, and all my deadlines are met, I am hoping to work on some just-for-fun projects before I plow head long into the Christmas making.
One of them is a new Tilda doll. More on that very soon!