Distractions of the adorable kind....

I am supposed to be quilting today........
What does it look like when you are too sick to go to school but too healthy to be in bed?

It looks like this:

Actually, she went to school but I got called to pick her up. She has a nasty ear infection. This is the little one I babysit. (lives across the street). She wasn't too sick to eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich however. Check out the chocolate milk mustache!

Stash Report-Week 13

I went a little crazy over the last few weeks and bought 36 yds of fabric.
I KNOW....I KNOW!

Most I have plans for so it isn't as bad as it seems (yeah RIGHT!)
So without any fanfare my totals are:

Fabric Added this Week: 36 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date: 36 yards

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date: 29.25 yards

Total -6.75 yards busted

Honey Mustard Chicken

Another winner and easy to make.
This is my favorite dinner and I make it a lot. The asparagus was a bit soggy. I usually always steam it fresh but it was super cheap a few weeks ago so I tried blanching and flash freezing and then using the food saver and put them in the freezer. They were soggy. I don't think I will be doing that again.


What is on your design wall? This is on mine.

A little organization and Dinner

Mark got home around 1pm today and he spent a large part of the day picking up the yard and burning sticks and twigs and general clean up. What a difference that made. I officially moved my sewing machine into the quilting room and set it up near my big work table. I had it on the tv table in the dining room and had extension cords all around plugged into the iron, sewing machine and light and well.....I tripped yesterday and almost...I said ALLLLLMOST, sent my Janome 10000 flying! Oh, I don't know what I would have done then. I have hopefully solved that problem by getting rid of all the cords and tripping hazards. That was a close one!

Yep, another dinner to blog about.
Since Mark was such a good man and cleaned up today, I made him one of our favorite dishes. Szechwan Beef:

Yes, we like spicy food in this house. This recipe is very flavorful using lots of spices for the marinade.

Jess approves:

Personal Quiltathon day 2

Ok, so it took me longer than I thought to get everything I wanted to DONE, but DONE it is!
First, the wedding dress quilt. Here it is:


I used the Meandering Magic technique by Suzanne Earley. I am totally giving her credit because I was trying this technique on my own and it just looked "off" and too thready. (I was practicing on a practice piece of course). I finally broke down and read the book and it just totally made sense. I tried it out using her instructions and it looked so much better.

I also got the center of the Carpenter Star put together. I will do the borders later. Mark is on his way home and I need to put it away.

Personal Quiltathon

I have three main goals for today. #1 is to finish this customer quilt. I have been sitting on it for a long time because quite frankly, I was scared of it. It is made from a wedding gown. Yes, a satin and heavily beaded wedding gown.
I finally swallowed hard and loaded it last night. This shows how heavily the beading is on the outsides. It was a pain to pin on and not damage the beading.

This is what it looks like now. I will finish this first today and then move on to other tasks.

This is a Christmas gift for my husband. He is gone and won't be home until early afternoon tomorrow so I want to at least have the center of this all pieced. I can add the borders at a later date:

I need to finish the center of this quilt; This is a pattern by Judy L.
I'll check back with an update in a few hours.

A hearty dinner before his trip

Well Mark and Jess are at work. Mark is going away for a long weekend but leaving right from work so I won't see him until Sunday when he comes home. Who knows if Jess will be here tonight or not. That's ok, I'll just do my own thing.

I plan on sewing and quilting a lot in the next few days.

I made a nice hearty dinner last night. This one I make often. It couldn't be any easier. First, I peel carrots and scrub red potatoes and rough chop them up, I add any other veggies I want like fresh mushrooms, green pepper and onions. This time I added broccoli because I had some. I fill the pan up like so:
Hint<I use tin foil in pan for easy clean up>
Then sprinkle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and parsley, red pepper flakes are optional and just stir it up to kind of coat it, then rough chop up some Italian sausage links and throw those on top like so:

Pop it in the oven for about an hour and 15 minutes, or until carrots and potatoes are done. I usually take it out and stir it once after about 40 minutes.
This is a nice hearty meal and easy to prepare. We love it.
Plated up:

Oh, and then I made a pineapple cake for dessert and to send with Mark on his trip.
I had some for breakfast today: