I love…just love these placemats…..even better is teaching the class .
These are the beauties that my students finished at a recent class.
Lorna made this wonderful set for Christmas and Susan was making these wonderful country color placemats for her recently reno'd kitchen.
Lelia and Leanne both had Christmas in mind when they picked their fabric…don’t you just love the way Leanne fussy cut her center hexi to applique….awesome!
Finally, finally finished this beauty. What a task…my issues completely, nothing to do with the design of the quilt. I just didn’t pay attention to what I should have. I chain sewed one section of ALL 36 blocks wrong. )&_Q*_)*_Q*_)*Q#(&R_Q*_)*
Ug…..had to pick and pick and pick.
This quilt is from Kim Brackett’s book Scrap Basket Beauties called Poinsettia and it is a class scheduled at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. …just in time for Christmas. This quilt would look lovely as a table topper over the holidays.
The outside border is a phenomenal fabric from Hoffman Fabrics called Merry Birds.
I lucked out and found this gold shimmered fabric for the back in my stash. Don’t you love when that happens. I quilted it in the pattern called Happy Times.
I just love the Pioneer Woman ‘s blog and I really love her new food show on TV and have been taping them religiously. She had a wonderful recipe for Baked Chicken Spaghetti ….which sounded delicious, but I now my kids, specifically my boys, and I know that onions, green peppers, pimentos and mushroom are not in their vocabulary palates.
So I improvised to make the recipe fit for my family. Her original recipe is here if you would like to try hers….
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/
Here is mine…..
Cook your pasta till al dente, then drain. Toss everything in a bowl but the last cup of cheese which you use to top the casserole. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray, dump your mixture in and spread flat, top with your extra cup of grated cheese. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes at 350.
Mmmm, Mmmmm, Mmmm….
It was great, and I know this as my husband had a second helping and most times when I try something new he says “Don’t make that again”…..the boys were complimenting as well, so this ones a winner!
This is Dear Eldest Sister’s 2nd quilt choice. This is how it started….
Are you sure that quilt’s not navy, it looks like navy…
No Joanne, it’s black and it’s damaged so I don’t want to give it to you.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. What’s wrong with it, open it up so I can see
I made the mistake of keeping it folded in the front room in the TV cabinet and the sun damaged a strip that was exposed to the light. There is a little piece where the black fabric has faded. See right here.
Oh I don’t even see that, and besides that part will hang over the edge of the bed and you’ll never notice it. I love it, it will go really well in the spare room.
Ok you can have it.
I had made the quilt probably about 8-9 years ago I think and it was a graduated fabric quilt pattern, where you started with 5 fabrics all in the same sort of color family and the prints and the intensity of color were suppose to progress as you worked your way across the blocks.
It was one of my favourite things back then, but you know, your tastes change and I wasn’t as partial to it now as I was back then….so she took it and loves it and it has gone to a good home and will be cherished and loved…what more can you ask of your quilts.
Dear Eldest Sister visited us a week ago while attending a family wedding and hit me up for another quilt…not just one, I should say…but 2. Every time she visits she leaves with something.
She starts off nonchalantly and says….do you have any quilts in blue? I want to redecorate the spare room and blue would really go nice in there. So we start looking thru my stash and come up with a couple of options that might work.
Every time she visits she ends up taking quilt or two with her. I don’t really mind, I love it that she enjoys them and displays them, plus she’s my sister…you gotta love her.
She ended up choosing this row quilt that I had completed in 2003…I know that date as I had embroidered it into the border.
She was excited to get it and in fact called a few days later to tell me how lovely it looked on the bed and how nicely it matched everything.
I did the math….I figure that with 3 visits a year, 2 quilts a visit I should have no quilts left in about 6 years. LOL
A while back on one of our road trips we had dinner at a restaurant that served this amazing taco salad in a taco bowl, served with toss salad, grilled steak, corn, cheese, carrots, tomatoes and a delicious salsa dressing. I’ve been craving it ever since I had it.
I decided that I might be able to re-create the dish…well close enough anyway.
I started by making my Taco Bowls. Just let your wraps sit in water for about 20 seconds, then dry them off a bit on a paper towel. Place your dampened wraps over emptied cleaned cans and shape them in place. Bake in the oven at 450 for bout 15 minutes, or until nice and crispy. They are done when they are firm and hold their shape when turned over. Now for the fun stuff….fill the bowls with lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheddar cheese, grated carrots, red onion, nibblets corn…really whatever you fancy.
The dressing is the best. Take about a cup of salsa and add to it about 1/2 cup of salad dressing, not mayo but the white salad dressing that looks like mayo. Mix it together and heap it on top of the salad, then add grilled steak pieces and DIG IN…YUM YUM
Dear Hubby was going thru some of his clothes that didn’t quite fit any more. Needless to say he couldn't quite get a shirt buttoned up any longer and it was one of my favourites on him. He was about to put it in the recycle bag when I said…..I love that shirt, I hate to get rid of it. I’m sure that I can make use of it. With a little remake, some elastic and lots of patience I was able to make myself a cute little nightie.
I still get to love Dear Hubby’s shirt, but now on me.
Usually I’m better than this and have these blocks completed before the next one is posted at Fat Cat Patterns. I was a little behind this month, on what seems to be everything, just not my quilting.
Life is getting in the way!
I like the block but his one eye is bothering me….the right eye is just slightly higher than the left….I didn’t notice it before I touched the iron down and sealed the wonder under in place.
Not sure how long I can let it go…part of me wants to redo the whole block but part of me says….are you really that anal much of a perfectionist.
I need to let it go, surely to goodness I’m entitled to have one wonky eyed hooter out of 24. Just means I have to get the next 16 critters perfect.
Stop looking at his eye!
I’ve had the pattern for these burp clothes for quite a while and have never got around to making them. A few of the Sew Sisters met the other night at Kindred Spirits Quilt Co. to have a night of sewing and visiting together. Amy, Michelle and I met up to work on projects and I thought it would be a good night to try these. I had a few larger pieces of flannel scraps that worked out well and they were fairly simple to put together. It’s a Kwik Sew pattern, and typically I wouldn’t have bought a pattern for these as they are so simple, but the pattern included these really cute soother holders which I will have to try as well.
I can tuck them away until there is another little grandbaby born to utilize them.
Dear Hubby says… " hey did you know your tipsy turvey is tits up!”
It’s a Topsy Turvey and it’s dead cause you didn’t water it Dear Hubby.
Oh the stuff he comes out with…if it were early in the season I’d be upset, but it’s September, the kids are back in school, we have the air conditioner off as temperatures are cooler and the potted plants have seen better days. Much better days…it looks like a flame thrower got it! Time to dismantle it till next summer. It was fun while it lasted.
The best thank you, you can ever receive for a quilt that you give is to receive a picture of the quilt being displayed on the recipient’s bed.
I gave this quilt to my niece for her recent marriage and in less than 12 hours I had received this picture of the quilt on her bed, along with many thank you's and comments as to how much she loved it and how wonderful it looked in their room.
Now that is the best thank you ever. Makes giving a quilt as a gift so worth the effort.
The quilt is Three’s Company by Thimbleberries.
And I’ll be ready with this cute little wall hanging if I ever get it finished. I picked up the supplies for this when I visited The Gallery of Fabric Quilt Shop in Mercer Pa. When I visit a shop I do like to support them and buy a little something, even though I have all kinds of little somethings at home already. I thought this set was really sweet for fall and I love the Indian corn fabric. The store even had the lovely pumpkin hanger to match, sooo I had to get it all!
It should look fabulous when I get it finished.
I typically save all the cut offs from 1/2 square triangles that I make. Iprefer to make 1/2 square triangles using no waste methods, however occasionally there are patterns that have you make the cut off edges kind. The pattern Poinsettia (below) that I am working on was such a pattern so I had tons of these little guys.
Now some people would say why bother with all those little itty bitties, but it doesn’t take much to utilize them. When you cut them off your original piece they are already right sides together and still lined up (I just keep them stacked neatly in a little pile) so it’s really easy to just machine chain them then square them up using Quilt in a Day’s 1/2 square triangle ruler.
There are tons of patterns to utilize 1/2 square triangles and I find they make the cutest mini quilts to enjoy. Besides…waste not want not!
When we visit Checkers at their Annual Open House, they always have a wonderful array of guest speakers. I always enjoy this aspect of the visit and this year was very exciting as Marti Michell was there.
She was a delight….informative, enthusiastic and quite comical. She is an absolute wealth of knowledge and expertise.
I fell in love with her “I Spy” quilts made with her hexagon ruler. I’ve been collecting little I spy prints for years and she inspired me to get going on mine. Thoroughly enjoyed her lecture and she’s great at what she does……I bought 6 of her rulers!
A couple of weeks ago my Sew Sisters, Liz and Sylvia and I took a road trip to Checkers in Maumee Ohio. Try and imagine a huge warehouse about the size of a Costco…but it only filled with quilting supplies. OMG ….that’s what I said. It was awesome …down right fabulicious. The quilts they had on display were wonderful.
Isn’t that the cutest quilt with the cell phones…it’s called Text Me, Maybe.
I love this Nest quilt…amazing detail.
The Christmas Tree Quilt is spectacular….I couldn’t imagine appliqueing all those pieces let alone cutting them all out…it’s done as raw edge applique.
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