#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AND ROMANCE AUTHOR VICKI BATMAN ON CRAFTING PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS

Funny, sweet, and quirky, Vicki Batman’s books and short stories are full of humor and romance and sometimes mystery. In addition, she’s an avid Jazzerciser, handbag lover, Mahjong player, yoga practitioner, movie fan, book devourer, and cat fancier. She also claims Best Mom Ever status and adores Handsome Hubby. Learn more about Vicki and her books at her website.  

Is Crafting in My DNA?

I come from aunts, a grandmother, and a mom who could do almost anything crafty—crochet, knit, sew, quilt, tat. I distinctly remember at age nine sitting on the porch with my grandmother, who taught me to embroider. She had stamped on a pillowcase an image of a cat stepping on a fork. Of course, my first piece was clumsy (I used four threads instead of three), but I soldiered on. When my #1son was small, I showed it to him, and he insisted THAT pillowcase be HIS pillowcase. 

 

Over the years, I embroidered a lot of pillowcases and most of them were edged with Grandmother’s tatting. 

 

When I was expecting #1son, my mom had found at a five and dime a stamped baby blanket, and that became the special treasure she made for his birth. I had not seen those projects in stores and was interested instantly. When lots of friends my age were having babies, I made quilts for their kids. They saved those quilts and are passing them down to their grandkids.

 

A very good friend’s son recently married. I had started stitching a needlepoint project when the thought hit me--he might be having a little one someday. I searched my favorite websites to look for a baby blanket. The photo above is the almost completed blanket.

 

I have to add that I don’t drive myself crazy with the changing of thread colors for shading, and honestly, no one notices. I did use three strands and a superfine embroidery needle. My mom had a method of pulling the threaded needle through the top layer, setting a lock stitch where she wanted to start, and then embroider as she always did. Thus, no knots in the back. For a nice finish, I like to sew large rickrack around the edges. Instead of the baby’s name in the center, I’m stitching “Sweet Dreams,” “Good night,” or “Sleep Tight.” Does anyone have any thoughts?

For this past Christmas, I embroidered nine sets of pillowcases for family and friends. I added Grandmother’s crochet or tatted lace from my collection:

 

Most evenings, Handsome and I unwind while watching TV. I open up my latest project (a needlepoint Christmas stocking) and stitch. It’s a great way for me to relax and accomplish something productive!

 

Temporarily Out of Luck

A Hattie Cooks Mystery, Book 3

 

Great job. What man? And murder.

 

Newly employed at Wedding Wonderland, Hattie Cooks is learning the industry from a woman she greatly admires. When her former brother-in-law is found dead in his luxury SUV, all fingers point to Hattie’s sister, who is planning her own I Dos.

 

Detective Allan Wellborn is caught between a rock and a hard place—Hattie’s family and investigating the murder of a well-connected Sommerville resident, the same loser who was once married to Hattie’s sister. Determining who’s the bad guy—or gal—isn’t going to be easy and sure to piss off someone.

 

Can Hattie beat the clock to find out who murdered Tracey’s ex before she is charged with the crime and her wedding is ruined?

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR VICKI BATMAN AND NECKTIE QUILTS

Award-winning and bestselling author Vicki Batman recently stopped by to share her grandmother's recipe for fruitcake made with tomato soup. Today she’s here to talk about the quilts made from her husband’s tie collection.

Vicki has written numerous romantic comedies and two humorous romantic mysteries. She describes herself as an avid Jazzerciser, handbag lover, Mahjong player, Yoga practitioner, movie fan, book devourer, chocaholic, and Best Mom ever. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking, "What if?" Learn more about her and her stories at her website/blog. 

A lot of you know I call my husband Handsome. When we first married, he gave me a card signed with Handsome Husband. I shortened it. (And Handsome is a pretty nice looking guy.)

I grew up when working men wore suits to their job and to church, to shows, etc. I like the look. Handsome’s career began at a large accounting firm and he wore the “uniform”, too. He especially liked ties and for a long time, never threw any away.

An employee at his company makes quilts. After a chat, he decided to have some of his ties made into a quilt. (featured above)

He had her put on the back his philosophy about ties: 

 

The good news is he culled through his ties again and had a second quilt made,

 and a third. 

Creativity abounds in the holiday anthology, the Whispers of Winter, featuring my romantic comedy short story, “The Great Fruitcake Bake-off”. 

The Great Fruitcake Bake-off

When five-time champion Samantha Greene teams up with her new neighbor, Dixon Roberts, for The Great Fruitcake Bake-off, they discover baking a prize-winning entry is complicated, bad guys are plotting to take the crown, and first prize isn't just about a ribbon.

Other authors in the Whispers of Winter anthology are: Nicole Morgan, Stephanie Morris, Caitlyn Lynch, Maya Bailey, Krista Ames, Sharon Coady, Donna R. Mercer, Jan Springer, Carma Haley Shoemaker, Livia Quinn, Amber Skyze, Rebecca Fairfax, Jane Blythe, Suzanne Jenkins, Stacy Eaton, Rene Webb, Marie Mason, Joann Baker & Patricia Mason, Karen Cino

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR VICKI BATMAN BAKES UP TOMATO SOUP FRUITCAKE

Photo credit

Award-winning, bestselling author Vicki Batman has written numerous romantic comedies and two humorous romantic mysteries. She describes herself as an avid Jazzerciser, handbag lover, Mahjong player, Yoga practitioner, movie fan, book devourer, chocaholic, and Best Mom ever. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking, "What if?" Learn more about her and her stories at her website/blog. 

Vicki's Grandmother

I Confess: My Love for Fruitcake

When I grew up, our family baked and crafted special things at Christmas time. Mom and her best friend spent hours and hours making oodles of divinity, and yes, it was divine. My sisters and I wrapped gifts for Wrap-a-thon. My grandmother baked her special holiday dessert: Tomato Cake.

The interesting ingredient in the cake is tomato soup. Sounds…strange, but you know what? If you didn't know soup was an ingredient, you'd love it too. I’m serious. You can’t taste tomato anything.

Tomato cake’s texture is dense, like regular fruitcake, and could be labeled a “fruitcake” when fruit is included. If you research online, you will see a bundt cake version. Grandmother mixed in raisins, walnuts, and chopped dates. And once, she got all radical and threw in chopped canned pears. She always baked hers in a loaf pan, yet, she didn’t frost it. Today’s version is topped with a decadent pineapple cream cheese frosting.

Our family believed Tomato Cake to be a wartime recipe. (Link to the original)

Before you get all weirdly freaked out about tomato soup in a cake, know this: I was a finicky eater; however, I loved this dessert. In fact, I adore fruitcake. There are many varieties of fruitcakes; some aren’t made with the candied fruit or alcohol we've come to associate with the treat.

Care to be daring and try a variation on Grandmother's holiday cake?

Tomato Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan.

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, allspice, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl.  Add the soup, shortening, eggs and water.  Beat with an electric mixer on low speed just until blended. Increase the speed to high and beat for 4 minutes. 

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. 

Frost with:

Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting:

½ C crushed pineapple with juice

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Beat the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. 

Beat in the confectioners' sugar. 

Add the pineapple and juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is the desired consistency. 

So why all this chatter about fruitcake? I wrote a hilarious short story entitled "The Great Fruitcake Bake-off” which is included in the Whispers of Winter holiday anthology:

The Great Fruitcake Bake-off

When five-time champion Samantha Greene teams up with her new neighbor, Dixon Roberts, for The Great Fruitcake Bake-off, they discover baking a prize-winning entry is complicated, bad guys are plotting to take the crown, and first prize isn't just about a ribbon.

Other authors in the Whispers of Winter anthology are: Nicole Morgan, Stephanie Morris, Caitlyn Lynch, Maya Bailey, Krista Ames, Sharon Coady, Donna R. Mercer, Jan Springer, Carma Haley Shoemaker, Livia Quinn, Amber Skyze, Rebecca Fairfax, Jane Blythe, Suzanne Jenkins, Stacy Eaton, Rene Webb, Marie Mason, Joann Baker & Patricia Mason, Karen Cino

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CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--GUEST AUTHOR AND NEEDLEPOINTER VICKI BATMAN

Like some of her characters, award-winning author Vicki Batman has worked a wide variety of jobs—everything from a lifeguard to a ride attendant at an amusement part to store clerk to administrative assistant in an international real estate firm to general “do anything gal” at a financial services firm. These jobs have given her plenty of material for her writing. Most days begin with her hands set to the keyboard and thinking “What if?” Learn more about Vicki and her writing at her blog.

I Can do That!

Several years ago, my mom and I were perusing the clearance rack at Hobby Lobby and found needlepoint Stitch and Zip eyeglass cases. Despite having never stitched needlepoint in my life, I bought two with the thought, I can do that!

I did those cases in the basic stitch and when my girlfriend wanted to try advanced classes, I learned fancy stitching. However, I’ve stuck with painted canvases in the basic stitch, sorta like a paint by numbers thingy.

For my new daughter-in-law, I needlepointed this stocking:

For myself, I made the handbag shown at the top of this blog post.

Like most writers, some real life creeps into my writing. My heroine from Temporarily Employed, Hattie Cooks, carries handbags, and I love handbags. She drives a Wrangler, and I’ve owned many a Jeep. When Hattie checks out Allan Wellborn’s apartment, what does she find? Here’s a sneak peek:

A. Wellborn’s apartment appeared to be the same as other guys' with great emphasis on the television. His had evolved into a huge, 3D flat screen. His media equipment had been stored on a store-bought shelving unit, instead of crammed onto a cinder block and plank shelf or tottering precariously on a microwave rolling cart.

I assessed the other areas and noticed a dark chocolate leather couch, end tables which matched a coffee table, ceramic lamps, remotes, et cetera. Most likely, his mom had assisted in picking the furniture as his stuff looked too coordinated. And my suspicions were confirmed when I found the needlepoint pillows she’d crafted laying about.

No visible stains or smells were anywhere. No underwear tossed about. The kitchen looked clean with wooden barstools pushed to the peninsula. His computer desk, placed in the dining area, looked well organized. Books and papers were piled in neat stacks. Gratefully, I didn’t see his gun lying around, which led me to the relieving conclusion he had no plans to shoot me tonight.

Yep, there’s needlepoint. LOL. Surely, there’s something you like to make—cooking, sewing, papier maché. So are you crafty?

Temporarily Employed

New Job. New Love. And Murder.

Hattie Cook's dream job is down the toilet and her new SUV violated. Desperate for cash to cover the basic necessities of rent and food, she takes a temporary job at Buy Rite Insurance Company where she uncovers an embezzling scam tied to the death of a former employee--the very one she replaced. The last thing she wants is to clash with By-the-Book Detective Wellborn, no matter how much he makes her heart pound.


Detective Allan Charles Wellborn has secretly adored Hattie all his life. When the police determine there's more to the death of a former Buy Rite employee, he steps in to lead the investigation. Overly dedicated, always perfect, he puts his job first, even if doing so ultimately hurts the one he loves. Can the killer be found before Hattie's time is up?

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