right on time . . .

You would not think that I'd have much to share, seeing as I just posted four days ago ... but, surprise! I have another photo-laden post, with a variety of content! 

Thursday evening was our guild's last meeting of the guild year ... our birthday party, so to speak. It was decorated beautifully!

There's always a shot of the outgoing board.  You'll notice me at the very top, right. I won't be on the 2023-24 board; my plate is rather full right now.

The quilt behind us is our 2024 Fanfare Quilt Show opportunity (raffle) quilt.  Isn't it beautiful??!  Created by one of our members (with help from other members). It's so beautiful it deserves a solo photo . . .

Chance tickets are $1 a piece.  I've already sold twenty.  Ha! I haven't even bought my own, yet!

Friday, Todd and I got up super early and were on the water again at sunrise.

It was a beautiful day! < insert beautiful lake photo here >

The temps couldn't have been more agreeable, with a lovely breeze out of the west.  We didn't stay out terribly long, but we enjoyed the time we had.

Saturday I picked up Ellie and we headed to L'Etoile Patisserie!  

It's a sweet little French bakery in town, owned by a dear couple (the wife is in my book club).

After much deliberation, Ellie chose a pain au chocolat with a mug of tea.  She looks very sophisticated, non?! From the bakery, we visited an LQS - Patches & Stitches - because I needed a skein of floss.  Ellie informed me she needed a new beading needle, so we picked up a pack of those, too.  That's what Neesey's are for, right?! Then we headed to the grocery store, then back to the camp. I helped Ellie make a cheesecake . . .

She did a great job with it! And then we tooled around the camp for a bit. 

This is inside the new outdoor chapel.  It's nearly finished ... they just have to run the electricity to the building. I can't wait to see it clear of scaffolding!

Here's a shot from the outside.  It's so beautiful.  Our Campers on Mission volunteers got the building up in May.  A small group of volunteers have continued to work on it and the landscaping. It's almost there!

Ellie and I watched movies and worked on our respective hand work projects. 

She's almost finished with hers, and I'm just getting started! After dark, we headed over to the Firefly Cabin to spend the night. 

We push the bunks together and pull the mattress down from the top for a little extra padding! It was a true Camp MACOBA adventure!  Ellie even spotted this beautiful cicada:

Not that she'd get anywhere close to it.  LOL!!  Sunday morning while we waited for it to be time to go to church, Ellie finished her pumpkin stitchery . . . 

This is another stitchery that she came up with the concept, and I drew it out for her approval and traced it on fabric for her.

Isn't it wonderful?!  She does such lovely work.  I promised her that when she finished it, I'd stitch it up into a pillow sham for her, so I guess the ball is now in my court!

We ended our sleepover weekend by dropping her home, and celebrating her dad's birthday (which is why we made cheesecake)!

His birthday was earlier in August, but schedules have been crazy, so here we are!  And anyway, month-long birthday celebrations are a thing, right?  Well, they are for me, anyway.  ;)

Sunday evening a made some progress on *my* stitchery:

Another sweet cross stitched piece from Pinker 'n Punkin Quilting.  I love her little freebie designs and I was just itching to do something with pumpkins!

So this is me, on a Monday, all caught up; have a fabulous week!

Cioa! 

:)

we . . . love . . . cheese . . . cake!

Todd and I both enjoy desserts -- just a little something sweet to cap off a nice dinner! Trouble is, Todd is very, very conscious of his sugar intake. It's really tough to make a tempting dessert without sugar, so I've been looking for new recipes to tempt his palette! This is one I found a couple of months ago which he's really enjoyed . . .

Easy Cheese Cake - No Sugar Added!

Take a softened, 8-ounce block of light cream cheese (neufchâtel)
and add 1/4 cup of granular Splenda and a generous
2 teaspoons or so of vanilla. (Or, for a bit different taste,
trade out the vanilla for almond extract! Amaretto cheesecake!)

Beat well.

Add 1/2 cup of skim milk and beat until smooth.
Scrape sides of bowl and beat again.

Add 1 cup of skim milk (yes, more milk) and beat until well mixed.

Add 1 4-serving box of Jell-O brand instant pudding
(sugar free, fat free), cheesecake flavor, and mix until
well blended. Mixture will quickly begin to thicken.

Pour about a third of the mix into
pre-prepared graham cracker pie shell.

Add 3/4 cup of your favorite sugar-free jam --
I used Smucker's Cherry Preserves.

Top with remaining 2/3 of the pudding/cream cheese mix.
Smooth top.

Cover and chill for at least four hours.
Serve with sugar-free whipped topping!

YUM!

ps. They released me from the hospital yesterday. Four days and three nights!!! I was so super-shocked at the whole week. I came home yesterday and crawled into bed and slept all afternoon -- I was so exhausted from my stay. LOL! I went to work today, just like the last four days never happened. Crazy. All over a stinkin' spider bite!

For tomorrow? REDWORK!!!

:)