Canadian Pierogi Elves

Honey Man has a bevy of cousins who snowbird here in beautiful Arizona during the cold Canadian winter.  Earlier this month the Canadians gathered at Queenie’s Hermoso Castillo for Pierogi making, a cherished holiday tradition in Honey Man's clan.

Queenie would venture a guess that almost every nationality has some sort of tasty dough filled morsel of goodness in its repertoire.  Think ravioli and pot stickers and you are on your way.

Noodle type dough is prepared and allowed to rest before the party begins.

Followed by rolling…

And more rolling

Then cutting into shapes

The dough is filled with a wide assortment of fillings both savory and sweet.  (Potato and cheese being Honey Man’s filling of choice)  A dollop of filling is carefully placed in the center of the dough round, the edges run with a finger dipped in water, the adhesive for the joining of edges.  Then there is the pinching…

And pinching…

And even more pinching

The cherished pockets of carbo love are gently placed on tea towels marching in little rows to be boiled.

The wee lovelies are placed in boiling water until they float or a bit longer, drained and slathered in the most important of all… butter and more BUTTER!

A wonderful accompaniment to the pierogi feast is sautéed onions with butter and more BUTTER!

Alas, Queenie was a bit mesmerized by the expert elfin assembly, cooking, and BUTTERing that I failed to photo the delicious final product.  So, please allow me to supplement with two snaps from a year gone by when Queenie and Honey Man whipped up a tasty batch.

The final product with sour cream, butter and more BUTTER!

Suffice it to say they were delicious or as Honey Man says,

“Yum as in EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

A very special thank you to the Canadian Pierogi Elves for sharing their wonderful family food tradition, you’re the best!

Have a great day.

Always, Queenie

Wordless Wednesday

Season’s Greetings

 It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at 

Queenie’s hermoso castillo

 The big tree is up with ornaments

 And a nice big bow

The little tree outside by the front door 

shining light into the new year

Christmas town magically appeared

 Nestled in cozy Arizona snow

And what to my wondering eyes did appear

A Delicious patiently waiting

For someone special

 To appear

May the joy and blessings of the season…

Surround you and your family!!!

Always, Queenie

Christmas Treasure

TREASURE!!!!!!

Lookie what I got!! Lookie what Queenie got!!!

The totally AWESOME and TALLENTED Cindy Adkins of Whimsical Musings gave me the bestest Christmas present ever!!!  My very own blog button for Queenie’s wee blog.

Isn’t it beautiful!!… With a lovely vintage time piece set at just the right time for high tea and an exquisite crown for the royal visage!  Total Excitement!!!

Cindy is an accomplished writer, talented multimedia artist and blogger extraordinaire. She is truly a treasure in blogland!!  Thank you so very much for my wonderful blog button and your encouraging presence here in blogland.

If you have not done so already, I encourage you to pop over to her blog for it is full of beauty, encouragement and possibility.  Click here to go over and say hi.

Have a great day!

Always, Queenie

Wordless Wednesday

Arizona Centennial Art Quilt - II

Queenie has been scurrying around making headway on the Arizona Centennial art quilt and taking a few snaps along the way to share with you.     

As you recall the gold boarder of the star and the Arizona fabric were in place and at the ready. 

Since last we met it has been all about hand appliqué…  Not only did the state of Arizona and gold boarder make their way onto the quilt but the interior of the star and the state’s motto – (ditat dues, God enriches) found their way on there too.

Referring back to Queenie’s original sketch…

I roughed out some saguaro cactus shaped patterns and...

Selected the perfect fabric for these most majestic of cacti.

Queenie carefully laid out the patterns so that the prickly spines would run in just the right direction...

Auditioned placement of each cactus on either side of the state in the blue of the horizon...

And in a flurry of weekend hand-work, one saguaro cactus stands tall and proud awaiting its companion to come.

That is where Queenie is on this Arizona art quilt adventure.  I will keep you abreast of progress as it comes along and Queenie remembers to take photos :o)

To see the previous installment of the Arizona art quilt adventure, click here.

Have a really great day

Always, Queenie Believe

Wordless Wednesday

Arizona Centennial Art Quilt

This past summer the Queenie Mother and Father paid a lovely visit to Queenie, Honey Man and the Delicious.  As is the tradition with the Queenie Mother, we visited several fabric and quilt stores.  At one particular store I was taken with this fabooo Arizona fabric. Little did I know that it was the Arizona Centennial Quilt Challenge fabric… 

The great state of Arizona turns 100 in 2012. Needless to say, I walked out of the store with a yard or two of the fabric intrigued by the idea of creating an art quilt in celebration of Arizona’s birthday… and Queenie and Honey Man’s return to this great state which is a whole other story for another post.

Queenie adventured on a flight of fancy with Arizona research in one hand and fabric in the other, coming up with the following rough sketch centered around the AZ fabric and design elements borrowed from the state’s flag, seal, motto – ditat dues (God enriches), and the major developing industries – copper, cotton and cattle

I then drafted out a full size pattern 40” x 40” working out some basic proportions to please

Queenie selected various fabrics from her stash and purchased several more…

...who would play well with the Arizona fabric and be best friends with the design  

Queenie auditioned several fabrics for the rays of the sunburst

Once the finalists were selected and order of appearance decided the cutting commenced with stacks of strips

Some became squares

Of two sizes in fact

That then transformed into half square triangle strips

The strips became sun beams

And more sun beams

Until there was a sunburst

On to the transfer of birth dates for hand appliqué

Once the sunburst and birth dates were complete the blue of the horizon fell into place

Now the gold boarder of the star and the Arizona fabric are in place for further appliqué

That is where Queenie is on this Arizona art quilt adventure. I will keep you abreast of progress along the way and Queenie remembers to take photos :o)

Have a really great day!

Always, Queenie Believe