Charm Quilt

This is a lap-size quilt that I made using fabric by Moda. I don't recall the name of the line now, but I used a charm pack (a collection of 5" squares) to make the center of the quilt. This quilt went to gether fairly quickly and was lots of fun to make. It's machine pieced and quilted, using a combinaton of straight-line quilting and meandering. And here's a peek at the back: I'm excited to be attending a 3-day quilting seminar this week, a nice change of pace after a busy few weeks!

Thanks Julia!

A while back I posted about using up leftover ingredients that were lurking in the refrigerator and asked if anyone would be willing to share their tried and true "clean out the fridge" recipes. Julia shared a link to a recipe called African Peanut Soup that her family enjoys on days when they need to throw something together quickly. I thought it sounded interesting so we had it for dinner last night.

With the exception of green onion and garlic, all of the ingredients for this soup can be kept on hand in the pantry. It was super easy and quick to prepare and it tasted fantastic. This soup is very delicious hot off the stove, but I will say that it's even better when it has cooled down quite a bit. I know that because I ate two full bowls. It was that good. Hubby loved it too, but did admit that he was skeptical when he first saw the recipe. So if you are't convinced to try it after taking a peek at the recipe, live on the edge a little and give it a whirl. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

A Gift From My Mom

My mom gave me that vintage pitcher yesterday. She's thoughtful like that. I wonder how she knew I love vintage pitchers? It's so springy looking, isn't it? I picked up some cilantro and parsley over the weekend. This year I decided to do a little test and compare those started from transplants versus those started from seed. I haven't had much luck with cilantro transplants in years past so it will be interesting to see how the seeds do. My neighbor, Stephanie, inspired me to write about herbs. Since I'm definitely just a trial and error type of gardener, I did a little bit of research on cilantro. Here's some great planting and harvesting tips. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to put the transplants in the ground since it's going to be in the nineties again today.

And for you Dawn, those colorful flowers are a perennial called phlox. They are springtime bloomers - so nice to see when not much else is blooming.

Oh, and one more thing. See that tablecloth? My mom gave that to me too - years ago. I've collected a few since then, but this one will always be my favorite.

Salad

:: Strawberry Salad With Cinnamon Vinaigrette ::

This is another delicious recipe found on RecipeZaar. We had it for dinner Thursday evening and Hubby and I agreed that it's a keeper. It's so beautifully colorful, and the dressing has a very unique yet tasty flavor with a hint of cinnamon and a little zip from cayenne. I substituted agave nectar for the sugar (using about half of the measure) but followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Yum!!

Everybody's Busy

:: The birds are busy collecting and stashing nesting material under our deck ::

:: The kitties are busy keeping tabs on the birds who are nesting beneath the deck ::

:: And I'm busy moving my grandmother to a new "nest" ::

See you in a few days

Garment Trial and Error

Sewing garments. Ugghhh. Definitely outside of my comfort zone but so very appealing to me. I haven't sewn clothing for myself since I was in Fashion Merchandising class in twelfth grade (with the exception of pregnancy jumpers). Mrs. Galindo taught the class :: a tall beautiful woman with a gentle and kind spirit. She took us on a field trip to New York where we toured the fashion district and then had some shopping time along Fifth Avenue. My friends and I tried on gowns in one of the department stores. Great fun!

This top was my first re-introduction to garment sewing. The fabric is part of Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy Line that's been out for quite some time. Isn't it fun and cheerful? I'm still trying to figure out the whole pattern sizing thing. This top is a size 12, which should fit according to the measurements on the back of the pattern. It's a little bit snug in the bust :: enough that it's just a tad uncomfortable. Maybe it's something that a few more shed pounds will fix - I'm working on that :)

Here's a view of the back:

I might try making this one again. It's Simplicity 4176.

Color on a Rainy Day

It's rainy and foggy here for the second day in a row and the inside of my home feels gloomy and gray. So, here's a few snapshots of corners of my home that are cheerful and full of color. It's definitely all in how you frame it.

Birthday Cake

My friend celebrated her birthday on Saturday. She had a get-together with lots of good friends and lots of good food. I was in charge of the cake, and her request was chocolate with chocolate frosting. I remembered seeing this post a while back and thought I'd give the Hershey's Deep Dark Chocolate Cake recipe a try. For this cake I used Hershey's One Bowl Buttercream Frosting which was very good. The cake was dense, moist, and chocolately. It's definitely a recipe that I will make again. And when I do, I think I'll try Alicia's Cloudburst Frosting. The almond flavoring sounds divine.

Out In The Yard

:: Flowers Are Blooming ::

:: Grass Is Growing ::

:: Strawberries Need Planting ::

:: So We'll Be Out In The Yard ::

:: Happy Sunday ::

Thrift Love

It's been a while since I've been thrifting. A last minute decision yesterday morning to hop in the car and head out to the shops turned out to be great fun! The brown and white polka dot sheet will turn into another pair of pajama pants, and the floral pillowcase will be added to my growing stash. But the best part.......................................

Aprons!! Lots of aprons!! Each one is special in it's own way.

This purple one had a large pocket on the front trimmed in a very wide lace. I removed the pocket and like it so much better now. It just needed a little sprucing up, that's all.

Everything about this apron is perfect. The colors are still very crisp and the workmanship is beautiful.

I adore the style of this one, with the scalloped waistband and bottom. There are no gathers around the waist (which is perfect for those of us who might just happen to be in our forties) and the body is constructed with three separate panels.

This smock apron was definitely made from a sheet. It's reversible and has rick rack around all of the edges. A little on the mod side, but I love it!

And last but certainly not least:

A gorgeous child's smock. It even still has the little safety pin that was used to secure the neck. So sweet.

Which one is your favorite?

It's fifty-four degrees here this morning and the sun is shining brightly. It's going to be a gorgeous day. Wishing you a beautiful Friday too.

Dinner

I'm a rigid recipe follower. I've never been one to "throw things together" when it comes to meal prep. Oh but I do so love to try new recipes. No problem, right? Well, until the leftover ingredients from those recipes lose their "shelf life" and end up in the trash. Wasteful. I'm really trying to improve in this area. So, for tonight's dinner I looked through the fridge and decided that this recipe would be a great base for some of the leftover ingredients that were lurking around. I've made it before and the nice thing is that milk and eggs are the only requirement. The rest is up to you. Tonight's version of Vegetable Quiche includes red pepper and jalapeno from last week's Mexican Salad, sauteed onion, and monterey jack cheese.

The strawberries pictured above are from our local organic market and they are fantastic!

Do you have any tried and true "clean out the fridge" type recipes that you'd be willing to share?

Project Number Three

My Favorite Yet!

This project was inspired by the Patchwork-Trimmed Baby Blanket in Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing. The body is two pieces of thrifted wool that were felted by washing in hot water and drying on high several times. My blanket is a lap size :: about 45" x 58". The binding is constructed a little differently than I've done in the past so it was a great way to learn something new.

I found that by basting the binding before doing the final topstitching, the look was much nicer and the stitching on the back was sure to be covered. It was an extra step or two to baste and then remove the basting, but well worth the effort.

Instead of leaving the zig-zagged seam exposed (where the two pieces of wool come together) I decided to sew a patchwork piece on top. It allowed me to really feature the fabrics that were used in the binding.

This was a super fun project and a great way to use up scraps. Ideas are definitely swirling for more versions of this one!