One Small...One Big

I completed two projects yesterday. One small... and one big.

This is the small project. It is an embroidered kitchen towel. I found the free pattern at
http://turkeyfeathers.typepad.com/turkey_feathers/embroidery/

This is my big project. I've been hand piecing this quilt for over two years. I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed doing it. (I flipped the corner over so you can see the hand piecing, but you really can't see it very well)

Now I need to get it ready to hand quilt. It may be another two years but I don't mind. I will enjoy spending more time with this fabric and I haven't had a hand quilting project for a long time.

I'll be keeping this quilt when it's finally done.

Butternut Squash Bisque

Here is a great recipe for Butternut squash bisque. The squash came out of my garden so it tastes even yummier.

I double this recipe, but here is the original. I got it from my friend Mary Alice.

2 T. Butter

1 red onion

2 cloves of garlic chopped

4 cups. peeled, seeded, and cubed butternut squash

5 cups. chicken stock

1 1/2 cups. cubed potatoes

1 t. paprika

1/2 cup half and half

salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large stock pot and add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 min.

Add everything but the half and half. Simmer for about 30 min. or everything is soft. Transfer in small betches to a blender and process untill smooth. Be careful of the hot liquids. Add the half and half. Reheat slowly. Can add a few chopped chives just before serving. Garnish each serving with a few drops of cream.

Enjoy!

Looks can be decieving

Don't you think this bag looks sweet?

Kinda cute and innocent?

I thought so too when I saw the pattern at PIQF.... but as I told my husband last night after working on it off and on for 3 days...."It's a bag from Hell!"

It's not the pattern's fault. I just kept making mistakes. The girls at http://www.mellyandme.typepad.com/ make wonderful patterns and I plan on trying this one again.

Just give me some time to recover.

Grrrrrr

Grrrrrr.... I got the blue and white checked border on my beehive quilt and it was all nice and square. Then I spent all morning sewing the thin red ric rac around the seam. It was going to look so great. Then when I laid it out.... it was all puckered. I redid it....and you guessed it. It was still puckered. That took most of the day.

So I'm going to rip it out again and then I don't know what to do because I love the look of red ric rac. Any suggestions?

I needed to make something cute and fast to cheer me up, so I made this cute drawstring bag I found on this blog http://www.audreyandmaude.blogspot.com/

I think Ollie needs a boy bag to keep his boy toys in. His sisters have bags and purses to tote things around in and now he will too.

Hi Ollie!

Annie's retreat

Annie Smith of http://www.simplearts.com/ arranged a wonderful retreat at Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria. I made new friends and reconnected with some past retreaters.

The cabins were ...... well .... basic and campy. Bunk beds and cement floors, but really kinda fun and adventurous. Besides we just slept and showered there and spent all the rest of the time sewing at our own lodge with great views and plenty of room.

We ate at the big lodge that overlooked the ocean. The food was really good. Best part was we didn't have to cook.....or clean up.

Annie taught her class on Exploring Fabric Choices. What a gifted teacher she is. I had chosen to work on my own projects, but I got to listen and I learned alot about color and values.

I worked on my bug quilt and got the body of the quilt sewed together. I picked out the border fabric at the Quilters Cupboard and I am going to sew that on today.

I button holed stitched my stems on my apple blocks. I am now ready to assemble that quilt.

I made these little stuffed toys from a free pattern from http://www.weewonderfuls.typepad.com/ .

It was great. I made new friends. I got to sew as much as I wanted. We visited 5 inspiring quilt shops. The weather was perfect.

Annie's next retreat is in March. Sign me up!

Buddy's Motto

No day is so bad.....it can't be fixed with a nap.

Tag......you're it!

Babies love to play with tags. So now we're all making "taggies". It's a piece of cloth with ribbons of all kinds hang out so that little fingers can grab and explore. They also love to suck on the tags because babies love to explore with their mouths too.

This time I thought it would be cute to used some left over quilt squares to make the taggie more quilt like. These half square triangle pieces were left over from Parker's "monkey quilt".

I put 16 of these squares together to make a 12 inch block. I sewed it together with a piece of flannel with the ribbons inside... right sides together. I then turned it right side out and machine quilted it.

A new little baby girl named Addisyn will be getting this taggie.

I hope she will like it. I think she will.

Eat your vegetables

I thought I'd show some of my veggies that I have grown this season. Here is a picture of my garden before things really got going.

Looking down from the upstairs office

This is a sampling of what I picked for dinner tonight. Butternut squash, heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, string beans, yellow squash and lettuce.

Everything looks cute in a white and red enamel pot.

Ms. Crow has been a fixture in my garden for years. She started out as a halloween prop, but with a dress and hat from the goodwill, and a basket, she really is a spring garden crow.

I had to end this blog with this beautiful rainbow we enjoyed earlier this summer.

Now.......go and eat your vegetables!

Family Reunion

Dave and I had all of our children and our grandchildren over last week for our first official family reunion. We had so much fun. To keep the cost down....we all stayed at our house and we did things that didn't cost a lot of money. So I hope you like looking at pictures....because I have lots.

Brooklyn, Abby, Lori, Parker and Macy love playing in the backyard. Notice their skirts that I had made them.

Guess how old Lori is.......

I got the girls little tutu's at Target. We went to the front yard and put on dancing music and they tutu'd all over the place. Mr. UPS even stopped and applauded.

Brooklyn giving a ballet lesson

Jamie holding his daughter Grace and nephew Oliver.

We had a great day at the beach. The weather was cool, but we stayed all day. Josh covered all the girls in sand. We saw a dolphin and an otter. The pelican's were flying in perfect formation. It was a perfect day.

The next day we went to Roaring camp and Big trees. We took the train ride and then went over to the river and played. Another great day.

The next day we stayed home and had professional pictures taken of the family. We enjoyed a great puppet show by Robin and Josh.

Nana and Papa enjoying the puppet show.

Craig played the piano for us.

Each evening after the kids went to sleep we played games.

We have great kids and grand kids. We're proud of the people they are and the choices they are making. Our kids are all over the map. Jamie and Anita will be moving soon to Tennessee. Robin and Josh moved this week to New York. Scott and Kiana live in Arizona. Craig goes to school in Idaho. It's getting lonely here in Salinas...... So in two years we are planning our next big reunion. It will be a new family tradition.