I've finished the binding on my Blooming 9-Patch. Steve decided my 9-patches didn't just bloom, they were flaming. I tend to agree. The colors are so bright and lively.
While I was in Utah for Christmas, we made some great treats.
We also made Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake with Cranberry-Raspberry Compote. It was delicious! As you can see we baked it in a heart shaped spring-form for some extra love. The flavor is perfect for the holiday season.
Happy St Steve's Day everyone!
I decided everyone needed a pillowcase. My sister Martha decided everyone needed a warm hat for Christmas. Caroline made everyone aprons. Mine is the coolest. Check out how well the hats, aprons and pillowcases turned out. I'm looking styling in my apron.
It is Scrap Tamers tomorrow at Glad Creations. If you have been following my blog you will know that I've been making lots of progress.
I'm also very excited about my new project. I've started a One-Block Wonder quilt using a Native Arts 2 fabric.
If Steve and I try a new recipe and it is tasty, he says, "It's a keeper." We just made Lamb and Winter Vegetable Stew. Let me tell you it was delicious. It has a great savory flavor.
My friend, Georgia, is now bedridden while her ankle heals. I made this pillowcase to brighten her days (and nights) in bed.
I took a little time this week to make Farkle bags. Here is a link on instructions on how to play Farkle. I think the bags turned out cute and would work well as a gift bag. I took pictures as I made them, so I could give you all instructions.
I cut a 7" x14 1/2" piece of the focus fabric and a 7" X 18" piece of the accent fabric.
I sewed the the 7" edges of the focus fabric to the accent fabric. I pressed the seam toward the focus fabric. I matched up and pinned the seams and pressed to then ends. I stitched the ends leaving a two inch opening near the end of the accent fabric to turn the bag inside out. I also left a half inch opening on both sides at the seam between the two fabrics going into the accent fabric for the drawstring. I pressed the side seams open.
I turned the bag right side out and ironed it. I stitched to two inch opening closed.
I tucked the accent fabric inside of the focus fabric, matching the corners together. I pressed the top. I top stitched along the seam and half inch down at the bottom of the opening for the drawstring. I threaded the drawstring through the channel created by the top stitching, creating two complete loops that started at opposite sides of the bag.
This is the skirt Steve's tree used to wear at Christmas.
Well, I finally finished my sixth and final binding from my previous posting. I love this quilt. I actually made it 6 or 7 years ago, at the beginning of my quilting career.
Well it is official, I had a totally terrific time visiting my brother and his family in San Antonio. You know me, I can't help but spread the joy of tote making everywhere I go.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So they aren't my mother's beans, they are my brothers. I'm visiting my brother in San Antonio, TX. We just had a very delicious meal, which included his secret recipe for green beans, that will soon not be so secret.
So I took the pattern for the Jamestown quilt and made it my own. The original quilt used the fabric from Jo Morton's Jamestown line, which I wanted to recreate in batiks. I picked out fabrics in the red, blue and green color familys, trying the mirror the colors from the original quilt. I also wanted lots of variation texture and color, so I used around 50 different fabrics, almost all of which have some pattern. I think the quilt turned out beautifully.
Well, I guess the recipes actually aren't that light, but they sure are tasty. The first picture is of a meal I made that included Potato and Squash Mash and hamburger patties topped with melted blue cheese. Both Steve and I really loved the mash, had seconds and maybe even thirds. We will definitely be making it again. I highly recommend the blue cheese burgers too.
The second picture is Spaghetti Squash with Sausage Filling, a recipe that Steve and I made. It was so good that we ended up eating a half of the squash each. No leftovers. Nummy Num Nums!
Tomorrow is Scrap Tamers at Glad Creations and it's been almost a month since I posted my list of projects, so I decided I should post an update. As you can see I completed five projects and made progress on a couple of others.
The last mystery weekend session ended yesterday, so now I can post pictures of my mystery quilt. My sister and I were in the first mystery weekend session. The first picture of the two of us having fun sewing. We had so much fun, we are already planning for next year.
I made a little progress on all the steps of the quilt, but focus on and finished the first step. This was to make friendship star out of a medium and a dark fabric. These blocks end up in the border.
The next week I spent on the next couple of clues, which was to make triple Irish chain blocks. Each block uses a dark fabric on the outside and a medium fabric on the inside of the chain.
The next week I spend on the next clue, which was friendship stars on background fabric. I ended up pairing a dark and medium fabric in each star. Each star is border with background fabric and the accent fabric in the corners.
It took another week to get all the blocks together into a quilt. You may have noticed by now that I was a little obsessed with getting this quilt done. I think it turned out amazing. The pattern name is "Forever Friends". When I finished the cutting for the quilt, I told you that I cut 1004 pieces. Now that I've finished I can give you the total number of pieces in the quilt. 2,407. Quite a few, but totally worth it.
So yes it is my quilt technically. I did buy the fabric and the notions and did all the sewing and cutting. But I feel like this quilt has many creators and is so much better because of everyone that gave me input.
Any good sew-in is all about the food. Thanks Georgia for hosting. Everyone brought such good eats. I brought Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.
It is that time of year, to carve up your pumpkins and select your candidate of choice. Who knew you could do both at the same time?!
Since everyone couldn't attend the first session of the Mystery Weekend, you may not have seen the Show and Tell that I brought to share. So here you go!
to use very natural colors. When the quilt was put together, I noticed that I had used a lot animal prints and that was why I ended up with the animal print on the back of my quilt. Well that, and it was in the half price fabric section.
For part of my Caroline's visit, we took at trip to Stillwater, MN to do some antique shopping and make a stop at Aamodt's Apple Farm. Any trip is not complete without a trip to a quilt shop and if the trip is to Stillwater, then that would be Charlotte's Quilting Web. It is a great little shop and has a discount on end of bolt fabric. I took advantage of this to get a couple of backs.
Mystery weekend is over and Caroline is headed home. I'll miss her. We both got a good start on the mystery quilt. It is a winner. Anyone doing the mystery quilt will love it. Unfortunately, it is a mystery so I can't post pictures of the progress I'm making until after the last mystery session. So instead I'm posting a picture of the fabric I found for the back of my quilt. It was in the discount fabric upstairs at Glad Creations. It is from the Ragtime collection put out by Moda. 
So my sister Caroline is visiting me for a week this week. The plan is to do the Mystery Weekend at Glad Creations on Oct 11 and 12. We spent the last two days cutting out our fabric for the quilt. So we needed a post to celebrate the accomplishment of finishing the cutting for the quilt. I'm a statistician, so here are the stats for this quilt. The quilts finished size will be 90"x110". It requires 16 7/8 yards of fabrics. There are dark fabrics, medium fabrics, one accent fabric and one background fabric. The dark fabrics get cut up into 331 pieces. The medium fabrics get 
cut up into 213 pieces. The accent fabric gets cut into 44 fabrics. The background fabrics gets cut up into 416 pieces. Do the math, that adds up to a grand total of 1004 pieces. Wish us luck!
Steve and I planted a few plants this year. You can see two of the many butternut squash. Steve found a great recipe to use up one of the squash. We made Curried Squash Soup. The recipe is yummy. Very delicious! You'll have to try it.
The recipe came from allrecipes.com. It is a cool website. You can post pictures of the recipe after you make it. You can also comment on what you thought about the recipe.
I just have to say that I love my sister-in-law, Julie. 
I am really buried in bindings. At the beginning of the week I had six quilts that needed bindings and all the ingredients for borscht.
and sewing as well. The first picture is of the first three quilts with the binding attached. The second picture is of the three quilts waiting for bindings.Like I said I had ingredients for borscht, the infamous Russian beet soup. Let me be the first to tell you it is delicious.
Here is my attempt at writing out a recipe for something I just make from memory.
Ingredients:
1 package of stew meat (about 1 pound)
2 Bay leaves
2 large potatoes, cubed
1 medium head of cabbage, shredded
2 medium beets, grated
2 large carrots, grated
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
fresh parsley and dill
Directions:
Brown the stew meat in olive oil in a large pot. Once the meat is browned, add 6-8 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Salt the broth to taste, maybe even a little salty. Add the bay leaves. Boil for 15 min. Add the potatoes. Cook for an additional 10 min, until the potatoes are almost tender. Add the cabbage and return to a boil.
While the meat and potatoes are cooking, in a frying pan saute the beets, carrots, onions and garlic. You may find it worth your while to find a sucker to grate the beets for you, to save you from red hands for the day. (Thanks, Steve!) Cook until onions are clear. Add tomato sauce and simmer until cabbage has been added and the water has returned to a boil. Add the tomatoes and vegetables to the pot. Also add fresh the fresh chopped herbs, about a tablespoon of each. Simmer for 5 min. Remove from heat. Borscht is better the next day, so better to prepare ahead of time. It is served warm. Garnish with additional fresh herbs and a dollop of sour cream. Enjoy!
