Hi, everyone!  I haven't been able to post lately due to lack of time.  It's sure good to be back to blogging!

As I promised in my last post, here's a scrumptious apple recipe, a unique use for apples and a favorite Fall staple, pumpkin (yummmm!):

BAKED STUFFED PUMPKIN:

4 oz. sweet Italian sausage, casing removed
1 cup chopped onion
1 small (about 1 1/2 pound) pumpkin - peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4" pieces
1 cup chopped Granny Smith apples
1 cup cooked couscous
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp. fresh thyme (dried will do - just use a little more)
1 tsp. fresh oregano (or dried - just use a little more)
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 small (about 1 pound) hollowed out pumpkins

MAKE STUFFING:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Crumble sausage and fry about 8 minutes.  Set aside. Fry onion and 2 cups pumpkin in pan 5-7 minutes.  Add apple and sausage, cook 3 minutes.  Combine ingredients.  Fill pumpkins and place in shallow baking dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.  Remove foil, bake for 10 more minutes and serve.

This should go over well at your holiday dinners.  Enjoy!

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My most recent listing is for a worthy cause, and since October is almost over it's too bad I didn't come across the fabric before the first of the month.  Buuuuut...any time is a good time to order a small dogs' coat made of the fabric, since I'll donate 10% of all proceeds from sale of the coat to breast cancer research.  Here's the coat (remember, I gladly do custom for little dogs):

Is your dog male or you're a male breast cancer survivor?  No problem.  You'll be able to choose a coat with a sky blue Peter Pan-style collar sewn onto it.

I've also added a second color choice to my hooded raincoat.  Here's a pic of it:

I almost forgot to mention the sale I made last week, a custom order for a Big Tex-style costume for...noooo, not a dog this time...it was my first feline order, for a beautiful gray tabby cat!  I was so excited when I found out it was for a cat!  I've changed a few keywords in my Shop to reflect my willingness to sew for pussycats.  Why not???  They're built the same as most small dogs.

Gotta close for now.  My stomach is screaming for dinner (typing the recipe made me really hungry).  Be back later.  (((Hugs))) to you and your pets if you have any.

               So Glad to Be on Blogspot!

Hi, everyone!  About five months ago I started a blog on Wordpress, where posting of photos and text was trouble-free for the first two months.  All of a sudden, things started going haywire, with more difficulty posting than Carter has pills.  Their tech support staff advised me to start resizing my pics and using a different browser.  Despite those measures the problems continued.  A Gulf Coast Crafters teammate gave Blogspot her highest recommendation, so here I am!  For a while after she recommended this site I was so "down" on blog sites I didn't feel like posting anywhere, but I've decided today is the day to resume.  If you'd like to see my Wordpress posts, please feel free to go to bloomingtailsdogduds.wordpress.com.

To sum up the main reason I'm here, on December 25, 2011 I opened my Etsy dog apparel shop, Bloomingtails Dog Duds.  Even though it hasn't reached that magical one-year point when sales are theoretically supposed to start happening, I've already made six sales!  I specialize in custom orders for stylish feminine and masculine small dogs' clothes, and I now offer dog dresses, shirts, coats, pajamas, hoodies, pawty clothes and raincoats.

Since people like to have choices, I let buyers choose between Velcro closure at the neck or a neck front sewn closed, and I also offer optional D-rings sewn on the back of garments for leash attachment.

Enough about my Shop for now.  My best friend and I have some exciting travel plans.  We're going on a Bahamas  cruise November 12-17.  We';ve booked two shore excursions, one to take place on a semi-submersible sub which goes five feet underwater and has glass walls which will give passengers an excellent view of the fishies, and the other to take place in and around Nassau as well as the beach.  I love collecting sea shells and I hope to find some nice ones to bring home.  Sorry, no stowaways allowed (our suitcases will be full).  I promise to post some pics here.

Something for the apple lovers among you to look forward to: in my next posting I'll include at least one recipe for a dish containing apples (yummm!).  Found some on my Intenret home page yesterday.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Addendum: I just tried to upload a photo of my most recent listing, a fleece hoodie.  No such luck, it might need resizing.  TTime for me to find out why it was so contrary.