Saturday Humor

This was in an email I received this week.  As a mother and dog owner I found great humor with it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Go cast your vote

I entered my Terrain Quilt in this weeks 'Springtime Renewal Quilts' contest over at the Quilting Gallery.   It is titled 'All Tied Up'.  I'm asking for votes.  You can vote for your 3 favorites and voting closes Sunday at 11:59pm EST.   Just click on the picture below and go make your votes.  You are allowed 1 vote per IP address.

   

Thanks in advance for your votes.  Have a great weekend everyone.

I've got a finish

My Terrain quilt is finished!  I'm happy to have it done.  The bright colors just remind me of spring and I think it will get a lot of use.

I used one Terrain Charm pack parts of 3 fat quarters and some scraps of white and a whole lot of Kona snow to complete the top and back.  The binding was a fat quarter and some scraps of the Kona snow that I had laying around.

For the quilting I did a meandering free motion design and use some Aurifil thread.  It was amazing in my machine. I had no tension issues and there are no stitches on the back that are 'pulling' like I get when I use thread that I pick up at Jo-anns.

I did not quilt through the 'butterflies', and after washing it, I'm glad I did not.  I absolutely love how it looks.

I have lots of laundry to put away today, but if I get time I plan on starting on some summer dresses for my daughter and I need to whip up another baby quilt.  The little guy was born over the weekend so I need to get myself in gear.  Have a great day.

Debbe

WIP Wednesday.

I'm still working on hand stitching the binding down on my Terrain quilt.   I went with a 'scrappy' pink and white binding on it and I absolutely love how it looks.

I got some fabric mail on Monday from Julie at the Intrepid Thread.  I bought these 2 'power pop' prints to make dresses for my daughter.  I just love the yellow one with the big flowers on it.  I thing it will look great this summer.

I made a pillowcase for my daughters friend that she plays with while at the bus stop every morning for her birthday yesterday and can you believe that I totally forgot to take a picture of it.  I'm kind of mad at myself for that, but oh well... What matters most is that my daughter was excited to give it to her friend and her friend love it because it had cats on it.  She wouldn't put it down while she was playing because she didn't want to lose it.

I'm liking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  If you haven't checked it out, you should!  You can find a lot of inspiration over there.

Test Kitchen Tuesday #5

I have to apologize because I don't have any pictures to share with you this week.

This week I am sharing my mom's applesauce cookie recipe with you.


Mom's Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg beaten
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 c. raisins (optional)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. applesauce

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and applesauce. Mix in dry ingredients, raisins and walnuts. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet (I love to use parchment paper). Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

These are a very soft cookie, put a layer of wax paper between layers of cookies when you store them.  They freeze well, if they last that long...

Have a great day everyone.  I have a dentist appointment for a crown this morning so I probably won't get much of anything done today.

Stormy Friday and a giveaway

Welcome to a new week.  I'm certainly hoping this week goes a little bit better .  I'm sure most parents would agree, that they don't want a call from their child's school that their kid is in the principals office for doing something they know they shouldn't have done in the first place.

Friday night was a little exciting at our house.  We had a storm blow up right over our house that had some 'rotation' in the clouds, and well you all know what that means, the tornado sirens go off, hail falls, kids get worked up, and well for me I saw my first funnel cloud with my own eyes.  Thankfully it broke apart and never touched down but I did get some not so great pictures of it, but I do have a good picture of the 'wall cloud' 

through the trees a funnel cloud (yes there is a leafless tree in front of it)

awesome wall cloud

funnels trying to form

more funnels trying to form

hail

hail

Ice for your drink anyone?

rainbow through the trees

sun after the storm

I did get the quilting done on my Terrain quilt, the binding just needs to be sewn down to finish it off. I might get to that later today, but first I have some cleaning to get done and spots to clean on the carpet.

I did mention a giveaway, well there are 2 that you can sign up for. The first one is by my friend Melissa over at Sew BitterSweet Designs and the second one is by Kira, over at It's Sew Kiki.  They are both having a Fat Quarter Shop sponsored giveaway.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I hope you come back tomorrow for 'Test Kitchen Tuesday' where I will share a tried and true recipe with you.

Debbe

TGIF

I have really been slacking in the blogging department lately.  I think it has a lot to do with the nice spring weather we have been having lately.


The girl and I have walked, this is the uphill walk home. No matter where we go walk it is always up hill to get home.

 The girl got her teeth cleaned this week as well.

 I completed the backing for my Terrain quilt, here it is 'wrong side up' on the drive way so I can make my sandwich.

All sandwiched together and ready for a rough trim of the batting.

I started the quilting here before...

...taking over the dining room table where I had more support for the quilt as I worked on it.

Today I plan on finishing up the quilting, and then I have to go through and see what scraps I have to make the binding. I'm out of white and don't want to go buy any more fabric right now, since I just ordered some from Julie over at the Intrepid Thread.

I hope everyone has had a great week.  I hope to have a finish of the Terrain quilt for you next week.

Debbe  

Test Kitchen Tuesday, week 4

Welcome to my 'test kitchen'.  I really enjoy cooking and trying new recipes.  Before I get to today's recipe I want to thank everyone who voted for my quilt over the weekend.  I didn't win, not even close, but that is ok, there was some tough competition.

Now, on to the food :o)!

Today, I'm sharing a recipe that I pulled from the internet in 2009. The site I got it from was recipezaar.com, I believe they have changed the name to food.com now but it is the same site. Laurie, had submitted a recipe for Kit Kat Bars (#54267 this is the recipe# from the site).

Image from google/ifood.tv

Note, I apologize now to anyone who has nut or chocolate allergies, or might be on a low fat diet.

Kit kat bars

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup butter or margarine

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

waverly crackers (I like to use the club 'butter' crackers)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2cup butterscotch chips

2/3 cup peanut butter

Directions


1. Mix crumbs, margarine, sugars and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 min, stirring constantly.

2. Place 1 layer of crackers in 9x13" pan.

3. Pour 1/2 of the boiled mixture over the crackers.

4. Top with another layer of crackers.

5. Pour the remaining mixture over the crackers.

6. Cover with final layer of crackers.

7. Melt chips with peanut butter in small sauce pan over low heat or in a double boiler.

8. Spread chocolate mixture over the top of crackers.

9. Cool and cut into bars and enjoy. Warning these are very addicting...



Have a great day everyone!

I need your vote!

I entered one of my quilts into a baby quilt contest over at Quilting Gallery. There is a one vote per IP address limit.  Voting ends Sunday at 11:59 p.m. so take a second and hop over and cast your vote, you can vote for up to 7 quilts if you desire.

Here is my entry..

Click here to go vote!

Spring is springing

I'm not sure who got the extension of the 6 more weeks of winter when the groundhog saw his shadow a few weeks ago, but we are having the earliest spring that I can remember.

These daffodils have been in bloom for a little over a week now,  I first noticed them in the dark and just got this picture on Sunday. Flowers blooming the first week of March is just unheard of.

Hubby and I spent Tuesday afternoon at McCormick's Creek State Park, we walked across this tree a couple of times to get some pictures.

 Same tree different angle, no hubby, don't worry he didn't fall in.

 Flowers popping through on the forest floor.

Does any other town have a round about on it's walking trail?  These signs always make me giggle.

 Yesterday was a beautiful brisk morning for a walk/jog. If you look close there is a Cardinal on the wood fence on the left hand side of the picture.

Saturday when I was finishing up the baby quilt, I had a little mishap and learned that you can sew through a safety pin.

The mother to be loved her quilt.

My oldest is on spring break this week so there isn't a lot of sewing going on, especially when we are having record breaking warm temps.  Yesterday was almost 80, we usually don't see that until the middle of  June.  I hope everyone has a great week.  I am going to try and get a backing made for my Terrain quilt and get it basted so I can work on that next week.  

Test Kitchen Tuesday Week 3

This week I have chose to share with you my recipe for homemade pizza.

 

Pre-heat your oven to 425 F.

Crust:

1 Pkg active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons if you buy yeast in bulk like I do)
1 cup warm water (think baby bottle warm or about 100 degrees F.)
2 teaspoons sugar
2 TBSP olive oil (vegetable oil works fine too)
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2-3 1/2 cups flour (the amount will vary depending on the amount of humidity for the day) (all purpose flower works fine, I like bread flour though.)

Combine yeast and water in a med/large mixing bowl. Let sit until yeast dissolves, about 2-3 min.  Add sugar and oil, stir until sugar is dissolved.

Let sit for 2 more min and let the yeast 'proof' or grow then add the salt to 'stop' the growing process.  Add flour 1 cup at time mixing well after each addition.

after 1 cup flour

 After about 2 1/2 cups your dough should be hard to stir and very sticky to the touch.

after 2-2 1/2 cups

Sprinkle some flour on the counter top and turn your dough out on the floured surface and knead dough, adding flour as needed until...

my crappy white counter tops makes it hard to see the flour, but this is the best picture I could get.

 Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and knead for 5-10 min adding a sprinkle of flour as needed until the dough is soft and elastic, but not sticky.  It will form a nice ball.

 Now you can return the dough to your bowl the cover the bowl with saran wrap or a towel and let rest for at least 10 minutes.  

To make your pizza, if you want really thick crust use the whole amount of dough and make nice round pizza with all your favorite toppings.  If you like thinner 'hand tossed' crust divide your dough ball in half and use the other half for bread sticks.

I do suggest putting a little flour or corn meal on the surface while you are rolling out the dough, I'm not talented enough to 'toss' the dough.

I also put some flour or corn meal on my pizza stone or baking sheet to keep the pizza from sticking.

Add your favorite toppings, my hubby and kids prefer sausage and pepperoni. I use about 1/3 pound browned sausage, the pepperoni amount depends on the day I'm having, and then about 2 cups of Mozzarella cheese.

BAKE:

425F for 10-15 min. depending on your oven and the thickness of your crust


You can freeze your dough for up to one month.  To thaw just put in the refrigerator overnight, then bring to room temperature before rolling out.

If you have tried any of my recipes, I would love to hear what you liked or disliked about them.

W.I. F.F. What I finished Friday

I finally finished up my Dresden plate quilt this week.  I can't believe that it was a WIP for over a year, well maybe I can believe it I've had a love hate relationship with it for a while.  The weather here hasn't been cooperative so here are the best pictures that I have.


Some stippling around the plates.

My first time drawing a patter on and attempting to stitch on the line, not too bad for a first time.

I love how the back looks.

 Sideways full shot, but you can't really see the quilting. The outside boarders I ended up doing a random free motion. and I did nothing to the dark purple boarders.

And because I had 1 Dresden plate that was quite a bit smaller than the rest, I made it into a small pillow cover.

Other randome things I have made this week include...

A baby bow tie.

A little muslin under skirt.

Last but not least, I still need to quilt this but I have the top and back done.

And on that note I think I will spend the weekend relaxing or conjuring up my next project.