Mary Ellen Stringham, Author at Spindles Designs by Mary and Mags

Snowman Table Runner

September 16, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

We have been keeping a secret! We are excited to announce that Spindles is to be published! Holiday Crafts 2020 magazine is publishing our Snowman Table Runner Pattern. The issue will be on newsstands starting September 18.

Used with permission from Holiday Crafts magazine. ©2020 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The Editorial Project Manager of Holiday Crafts magazine contacted us in February. She said she had seen the patterns in our Etsy shop and would like to feature our Snowman Table Runner pattern in the magazine to be on the newsstands in September. Holiday Crafts magazine is a Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication.

We were so excited! What a great new adventure! Let the process begin. They wanted a physical table runner for their photographers to take pictures and a copy of the pattern. Well, we didn’t have an actual table runner to send. Because it was requested that the finished runner and pattern be mailed in a little over 2 weeks time, we needed to make one… fast. It was fun we got together and picked out special fabrics. We wanted the finished product to be as close as possible to the one in the pictures she had seen. We reread the pattern to check for errors and off it went with the finished table runner to the publisher. After some paperwork and lots of emails back and forth it is really happening. The magazine hits the newsstands this Friday. WOW!

This is one of those things that you hope for but can’t believe it’s true. It is just a little scary and we are still pinching ourselves.

Please follow and like us:

Pumpkin Honey Muffins

August 27, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

It’s getting to be that time of year with Fall just around the corner. Not that I need a special time to prepare something with pumpkin in it because let’s face it why wait until Fall. Pumpkin is a flavor we like and we use a lot of honey in our baking so when my husband found this recipe for Pumpkin Honey Muffins we thought we had to try it. I wish I knew where so I could give credit where credit is due. But at least I can share it.

Oh, and lets not forget the pecans. Pumpkin, honey and pecans…I’m in heaven.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp backing soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 ground nutmeg

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup honey

1 large egg

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Shimmer Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. In an electric mixer, beat butter until light in color, about 2 minutes. Add honey, egg, and pumpkin and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just blended and no flour streaks remain. Fold in pecans.

Using about 1/4 cup of batter evenly distribute batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp Shimmer Sugar over each muffin. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and cool on rack.

Like other pumpkin treats their great for dessert but these are not super sweet so they are a great breakfast muffin. Great for after school snacks too!

Please follow and like us:

Grilled Turkey Breast

August 6, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

We used to joke that our boys would eat anything cooked on the grill. While that is not entirely true, almost, “Grilled Turkey Breast” is their favorite.

Years ago when we discovered this recipe it was easy and fairly inexpensive to buy turkey tenders. Now it can be quite costly to purchase enough already boned turkey breasts for our whole family so my wonderful husband bones a couple of turkeys, large turkeys, every summer so we can have this family favorite.

Grilled Turkey Breast

1-4 lbs boneless turkey breast cut in large chunks

Marinade

2 cups lemon-line soda, not sugar free

1/2 cup oil

1 cup soy sauce

1-2 tsp ground horseradish

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix together the marinade and pour into a gallon sized re-sealable plastic bag. Add turkey to the bag and seal. Refrigerate. Marinate overnight turning every 4 hours. (please don’t get up in the middle of the night just to turn your turkey). Grill over medium heat until done.

We love is served with pasta salad, fruit and home cranked ice cream.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Please follow and like us:

Camping Crafts

July 30, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

We love to go camping with the grandchildren. I always carry a box full of different supplies just for our camping grafts. There are always those lazy warm afternoons in between hiking, lunch, going to the lake, bike rides, etc., that the kids want to do something and parents/grandpa, want to take a nap.

We had to cancel some of our other vacations due to COVID-19. As a result we were happy for a little longer camping trip this Summer. We went well prepared.

My daughters and I brought lots of craft supplies to help entertain the troops and we all had a blast making a variety of crafty things.

Who would have thought that pom poms, or puff balls as the kids call them, would be so popular.

We didn’t stop with pom pom critters, we made foam animals as well.

Thanks to Pinterest we were able to find lots of ideas, monkeys, unicorns, dragons, cats and much more.

Besides animals we made felt camp journal covers thanks to the cute patterns at Bareroots.

We made corner origami bookmarks that look like monsters…

and para-cord bracelets. Some of the kids had 4 or 5 of them up their arms. We had a great time being creative and keeping kiddos busy.

Please follow and like us:

Molasses Cookies

July 22, 2020 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

Last week we bought some Molasses Cookies that tasted really good but there were only 1 dozen in the package. They lasted about 20 minutes, well really a couple of days. So we bought another package and well…out came the recipe books combining an old with a new recipe, I came up with this “Molasses Cookies” recipe.

When my children were little ours was the cookie house. The cookie jar almost always had cookies in it and all the kids in the neighborhood new it. Most of the time they were chocolate chip cookies but I was always trying new kinds. Another favorite was Molasses Bars. I just didn’t want a bar cookie this time.

Molasses Cookies

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, softened (not quit room temp)

3/4 cup unsulfured molasses

1 large egg

Shimmer Sugar

In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until it forms a grainy paste. Scrape sides of bowl, add molasses and egg. Beat until fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients and blend into sugar mixture until just combined. Do not over mix. The dough is very sticky. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half in waxed paper forming 2 inch diameter rolls. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. Unwrap chilled dough, slice about 1/2 in thick and place on un-greased cookie sheet. I use silicone baking sheets. Sprinkle with shimmer sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen yummy soft Molasses Cookies.

Enjoy!

Please follow and like us: