Inner Squirrel Party! A Blog Takeover by Stormy

I'm as surprised as you to find my blog taken over this morning by Stormy, who I recently discovered is my "Inner Squirrel". So without further ado, meet Stormy!

Meet Stormy!

Hi, I am Linda's Inner Squirrel "Stormy", and welcome to the Inner Squirrel Party, hosted by the imaginative Darlene at Creative Latitude! Darlene has a giveaway on her blog, yummy nut-filled food, and an introduction to other Inner Squirrels of Bloglandia, so be sure to visit these links!

• Terry at On Going Projects
• Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• Carol at Quilt Schmilt
• Darlene at Creative Latitude

If you know Linda, she has always considered herself like "Doug" from the movie "Up", easily distracted by projects other than what she should be working on. But she was wrong. I have been her purposeful Inner Squirrel since she first learned to quilt back in 2010! And "Doug" is not a name I would choose anyway.  Stormy sounds so much better!

When Linda finds herself drawn to projects blogged about by other creative people or photos posted on Instagram, she calls them "Squirrel-spirations" She is partly right in that bloggers and photos do inspire her, but I am the one who urges her to do more than just be inspired. In fact I claim responsibility for all the "squirrel" projects on this blog!

Let me give you an example of how this works. Back in September, when she posted on Instagram a photo representing the First Meteorological Day of Fall, she found herself drawn to the riot of colors in the photo, especially that unexpected purple. I knew that she loves Fall, so I began urging her to "make something with those colors". She resisted until she saw a mention of this blog hop on Wendy's blog Pieceful Thoughts. I persuaded Linda to email Wendy for Darlene's email address to see if it was too late to join the blog hop. Long story short - Darlene said welcome aboard! Then it dawned on Linda that she needed a project and that the blog hop was a mere two days away (wow, my skills of persuasion are strong!) So good Inner Squirrel that I am, I reminded her of that pretty leaves photo, and so she began thinking . . .

Again, I reminded her that a couple weeks ago, she saw some pretty, scrappy leaves on Diann's blog Little Penguin Quilts. Then she read that the pattern was from Carole at My Carolina Home, and it was part of an Autumn Jubilee. Did someone say "Autumn"? Linda was all over that! So armed with the pretty leaves photo and the free leaf pattern from Carole, away she went with a project for this post.

These blocks are the start of a pretty quilt, and it will be because Linda listened to me, her Inner Squirrel. Carole has instructions on her blog to add a scrappy nine-patch star and accent fabric to these blocks, so I will push Linda to get it done!

So you get the idea how this works, right? I am a very persistent Inner Squirrel, and if she wants to call me "Doug" or "Squirrel-spiration", you will know what my name really is! 

As you may have heard, I like nuts, and Linda is kind of nutty in my opinion. She is a weather nut and claims to be a trained storm spotter, yet she has never chased a tornado. She is a math nut and claims to have a degree in math, yet her quilt-math ability is non-existent. And she says she like nuts of all kinds, yet she really only likes nuts in her pecan pie and not in other baked goods. Say what? However, she does like this recipe with chunky peanut butter as an ingredient, and since peanuts are MY favorite nut, and this is HER favorite banana bread recipe, we decided to include it in this post!

 

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Makes one loaf

1-1/4 cup unbleached flour

6 tablespoons white sugar

6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed or whizzed in food-processor

1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter

2 tablespoons plain fat-free yogurt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons canola oil

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips tossed in 1 tablespoon flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray; add a strip of parchment paper to bottom of pan for easy removal.

Combine flour, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. In another bowl mix bananas, peanut butter, yogurt, egg, vanilla, and oil. Fold in flour mixture and stir until no streaks of flour remain, then gently fold in chocolate chips. Scrape batter into loaf pan. Bake 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out with few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes; carefully remove from pan and allow to cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Hi it's Linda again, and I hope you enjoyed learning all about Stormy! Please take a minute or two to visit these links and meet the other lovely Inner Squirrels - Gertie, Winnie, Samantha, and Sally!

• Terry at On Going Projects
• Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
• Carol at Quilt Schmilt
• Darlene at Creative Latitude