Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another mixing bowl combine sugar, shredded zucchini, cooking oil and egg; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts, if desired.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Variations:

Zucchini Carrot Bread: Prepare as above, except use 1/2 cup shredded zucchini and 1/2 cup shredded carrot.

Carrot Pineapple Bread: Prepare as above, except omit zucchini. Drain one 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, reserving 2 tablespoons juice. Stir drained pineapple, reserved pineapple juice and 1/2 cup shredded carrot into the sugar mixture.

Apple Bread: Prepare as above, except substitute 1 cup finely shredded apple for the shredded zucchini.

Wordless Wednesday

2010 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show

Alzheimer's Disease

My mother-in-law suffers from Alzheimer's Disease and with the help of family and friends she has been able to live on her own...until this week. She was beginning to get lost in her own home and we realized that it is no longer safe for her to spend any amount of time alone and unsupervised, so this week we had to make the painful decision to move her to a nursing home.
Alzheimer's is such a cruel disease, not only does it steal precious memories, but it also takes away the ability to accomplish simple every tasks that we all take for granted. Something needs to be done to find a cure, or at the very least an acceptable treatment, for this awful disease!
In the next few weeks I will be turning the silk scraps that you see in the photo into a 9x12 art quilt that will be donated to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. These tiny art quilts are auctioned on the AAQI website and 100% of the profits go to fund Alzheimer's research. Over $400,000 has been raised since AAQI's birth in 2006! Won't you please consider making a 9x12 quilt to donate to AAQI? It doesn't take a great deal of effort from any one person to help and together maybe we can help the researchers and doctors find a cure for this horrible disease.

Specific details and instructions for making a Priority: Alzheimer's Quilt can be found by visiting http://www.alzquilts.org/paq.html

Just What I Needed!

Jackie at Jackie's Stitches held a pattern giveaway not long ago and I was the lucky winner of this great Travel Quilt Roll-Up pattern! With five young grandchildren who are always traveling here and there, this pattern is just what I needed!

A Day Away

Sometimes you need a day away from it all to recharge your batteries and yesterday was just such a day. We got in the jeep early yesterday morning and made our way to Letchworth State Park in Castile, NY. and spent the day enjoying the beautiful waterfalls and magnificent views. It was a great way to spend a hot July day!

Yarn Bombed Tree

If you are anywhere near Corning, New York this weekend be sure to stop by Wooly Minded on West Market Street and take a look at the yarn bombed tree in front of the shop! If you aren't familiar with the new yarn bombing craze it is essentially a form of graffiti that is used to brighten everyday objects while promoting the art of knitting and crocheting. I don't know that I will be knitting sweaters for the trees in my yard anytime soon, but I sure do love the look of this yarn bombed tree!

You can see more examples of yarn bombing at Yarnbombing.com

Curves Ahead

The challenge category for our guild's upcoming exhibit is "Out Of The Box" which translates to any shape quilt other than the traditional square or rectangle. The exhibit is in September, so I thought I better get busy, so this week I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and working on my challenge quilt. Hand dyed fabrics and no pattern...just a few free pieced curves and some imagination. I can't get much further out of the box than that!

Collywobbles

I can honestly say that I had never heard of the stomach flu being called the collywobbles until I found this old Pepto Bismol ad, but it is a more pleasant sounding way of describing what we have been experiencing at our house the past few days. Needless to say, there hasn't been any stitching (or much of anything else) going on here this week. Hopefully next week will be a better and more productive week!

I Gotta Wear Shades!

Oh yes! We have borders and they are just as bright as the rest of the String Diamonds quilt top! This quilt is so bright that I almost feel like I should warn people to shade their eyes before they look at it, but what wonderful therapy it has been to work on such a cheerful quilt with two very special color consultants!

Independence Day

Finally Some Stitching

My two oldest granddaughters and I started this project back in the spring as an after school project, but they really weren't able to work on it more than a few minutes at a time, so our progress has been slow. Earlier this week we were able to spend some quality stitching time together and we finished the last of the blocks and put them all together! Now to make some time to work on the borders...