Eggless Pumpkin Carrot Cake

Recipe: Egg-free Pumpkin Carrot Cake

2 c. white flour
1 c. raw or organic cane sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 3/8 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/16th teaspoon ground cloves

1 c. canned, unsweetened pumpkin
3 c. carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 c. sunflower oil
4 T. yoghurt

Optional: 1 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 c. raisins


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl.

2. Mix together the wet ingredients in a bowl.

3. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir thoroughly. Ad nuts & raisins if desired.

4. Bake at 350 degrees until the top springs back when touched.

If no nuts or raisins are added, it will make about 16 cupcakes or one 9" cake. This cake doesn't rise much so you can fill the cupcake papers 3/4 full with batter. I haven't made it with nuts and raisins yet (no one in the family likes cooked raisins), and so I cannot tell you how many cupcakes you will get when adding them. I think you might need 2 cake pans, though.

I use King Arthur white flour, "Sugar in the Raw" Maui raw cane sugar, and a store-label brand of lowfat organic yoghurt.

These cupcakes turn out so moist that it is like eating a cloud (the nut-free version, that is).

Halloween Treat Bag

This is the Halloween treat bag that I stitched for Edgar in the HOE Halloween exchange. It is "By The Light of The Moon," a freebie from The Primitive Needle. It is done with a combination of DMC and Carrie's Creations threads on a hand-dyed linen(don't know the count). The handles are black grosgrain ribbon.

I found some great Halloween fabric and created the bag. I added a cross-stitched commemorative label on the inside. Adding initials (or names) and dates makes needlework more valuable for the future. Plus, we get to remember our stitching buddies every time we look at their creations.

I just love this design and want to stitch a bag for myself.

I thought my daughter mailed this Priority mail and was worried because it hadn't arrived. She just told me it was sent Parcel Post.

I Can See

I just got progressive lenses and it is a pleasure to be able to keep the same glasses on all day. I used to have to wear magnifying lenses over my old glasses in order to cross stitch and sew. Then I had to take them off to read. The old prescription was not correct, either. I can see everything now!

Halloween Exchange from Michelle

Michelle B. sent me a wonderful box of pumpkin-themed goodies for the HOE Halloween Exchange.

First, there is a beautifully stitched "Happy Jack" on fine linen that she attached to a great canister that is decorated with jack-o-lanterns. Inside the canister is a bag of candy pumpkins. She added a cute copper-colored jack-o-lantern pin and a set of cute Halloween stickers.

The piece de resistance is the pumpkin greeting card with a small pumpkin that morphs into a huge, frightful, menacing "Jack."

Free "Maple Leaf Biscornu" Chart

I designed this biscornu because I wanted to stitch one with maple leaves only and I could not find one in any of my cross stitch books. I hope you can download the pattern OK.

I stitched mine on 28ct. linen with variegated thread.

Back to Blogging

I haven't blogged in ages due to some carpal tunnel developing in my hands/arm. It's from using the mouse, not from typing. I've stayed off of the blog and the internet.

I need to email but I have to do it quickly. I cannot spend time looking at everyone's beautiful stitching or crafty blogs or searching Etsy. Not much, anyway. Just a little, quickly, here and there.

I've been online since about 2000, and I was doing Ebay with a dial-up computer back then. I spent a lot of time scanning in photos and cropping them because I didn't have a digital camera back then.

I am trying to figure out if a laptop would be better for me. I looked into getting a pen/tablet, but it does not replace a mouse entirely.