"Tote"ally Terrific

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.

Julie wanted me to show her how to make tote bags, so we got fabric and canvas to make three totes. So pictured is Julie, my sister-in-law, with her tote and Hope and Vanessa with their totes. I think Julie and I did a great job sewing them.

Julie has already started making two other totes. You'll have to check out Julie's blog for pictures of them. They were looking pretty fantastic before I left!

Not Your Mother's Beans

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.

1 pound green beans (preferable fresh)

1/2 cup sauteed bacon

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped red onions

1 medium ripe tomato

Saute bacon mushrooms and red onions together uncovered until soft. Add diced tomatoes and green beans and saute for an additional 10 minutes or until desired softness. Salt and pepper to taste.

Fun With Bugs

Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that the only bugs I like are either no where around me or cute bugs on fabric. That is why this quilt is go great. This is my Four-Patch Fun. It is made out of the Flutter-By line from Moda.

I put a wool batt in it, so it turned out soft, fluffy and warm. You can see some of the quilting in the picture, which I think really makes the quilt. And guess what, it has binding on it. That makes another finished project!

Nate's Trip to Jamestown and Back

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.

This quilt will be part of the New Year's quilt show at Glad Creations. If you go to the show, keep an eye out for Annemarie's matching quilt made out of 30's reproduction fabric.

Squash Delights!

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!

Try the recipes you will love them.

The Taming of the Quilts

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.

I started off the list with a completed project, the Halloween tote. I have completed three bindings, my Twice As Nice, my Dove In The Window and what I called my 30's Scappy Star Quilt. I'm snuggling under the last two in the picture.

I completed The Aspen quilt. I also finished the Mystery Weekend #42 quilt top, Forever Friends. I also got my Four-Patch Fun quilt back from the quilter.

I have to say that making a list has helped me stay focused and to really accomplish a lot. I'm hoping to have three more projects completed by next month. I want to finish The Gather 'Round the Tree Christmas tree skirt, and put bindings on my Batik Jamestown and Four-Patch Fun.

Star Struck!!!

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.

I'm debating between two names for my quilt. Since I used Kaffe Fassett fabric and the friendship starts, one is "My Friend Kaffe", and the other is "The Fassetts of Kaffe". Which do you like? Other ideas?

Not My Quilt

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.

Cheri made this same quilt for the employee show at the end of the year at Glad Creations. She talked me into making it and helped me pick out batik fabrics and the background fabric for my quilt.

Then when I was ready to put it together, she gave me the Wonder-Under to fuse it. Everyone at the sew-in last weekend was very encouraging with the oos and aws.

I went in to the shop on Monday, and Cheri and Shelly pick out my border fabric. So with all the help, I think it turned out great and I have one more project done.

Do you know the muffin man?

Any good sew-in is all about the food. Thanks Georgia for hosting. Everyone brought such good eats. I brought Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Steve and I have made this recipe a few time and we have changed it a bit. We use 1 cup of pumpkin puree, substitue applesauce for the oil and double the amount of spices.

My muffins certainly were not the best thing to eat, but I'm am the only one posting my recipe on my totally awsome blog, so I get the last laugh.