Spring Puttering

The  spring weather has been a bit unpredictable around here lately.  One day it's sunny and 70 and the next day it's 45 degrees.   Those warm days make me yearn to open the windows, turn on my classical music and putter around the house- adding spring touches here and there.  Those cooler ones call for baking and trying some new spring recipes.  Spring weather makes you want to refresh things and try new recipes- it's invigorating!!!  Here are some of my recent  spring puttering inspirations-

 Dried peony flowers fill a large clam shell in the gathering room. Those peonies were beautiful fresh flowers about 4 weeks ago. But I must say that they are just as pretty in their dried state. I simply cut off the heads and dried them on baking racks at room temperature for a couple of weeks.

New pink spatulas from William Sonoma fill a champagne bucket and make me want to make a spring dessert.  Grocery store roses fill a pink iced tea glass and rose lemonade adds a beautiful spring color in the light filled window. 

Plants are watered and vases are filled- ready for a spot in the house. 

A camellia is brought in from the yard.

I love the color of this garden rose in the old French canning jar.

Bunches of Queen Anne's lace fill galvanized buckets. I ordered it online from a company called

Whole Blossoms and it was gorgeous and lasted 2 weeks.

And filled a large glass wine bucket on the dining room table. 

More garden roses for the gathering room coffee table.

Once withered, these roses were still too pretty to be discarded.   So I dried them for potpourri.

Still so beautiful.

It was a warm 75 degree day and it was time to replant the pots by the front door.

Spring flowers are eagerly waited for each new year.

 Back to a chilly day so its a good time to bake.

Two toasted coconut chess pies coming out of the oven- one for a friend and one for us!

Tested out a new recipe from      

https://abeautifulmess.com/2014/07/toasted-coconut-chess-pie.html

Making the pastry to fill with the cream filling 

Strawberry whipped cream filled crème puffs with fresh blackberries- another cooler day project-

                          A yummy spring treat- can't wait for the fresh strawberries in a couple of weeks to try this one again! The filling was simple.  Beat 2 cups of heavy whipping cream with 4 T. of strawberry jello and 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar until it forms soft peaks.     It was so good and held it's shape well.     Here's where I found the recipe-

https://thefirstyearblog.com/strawberry-whipped-cream/print/

Happy Spring puttering!