I know....I KNOW!

I've been MIA....but I can explain...sorta.

First off I got a job about A month ago and if you know me you know that is a very big deal! I had to provide my own computer and it is only a contract job but still...I am working and that is a very good thing! I love the job, nuff said!

I have 4 quilts for others here in the house and I haven't been quilting at all. BAD GIRL! I am changing that this week for sure. I have so much I want to get done in the next month, it is crazy.
I have been sick for a week. Kind of a bronchitis type thing. How sick you ask? Sich enough that I missed 3 days of work and cancelled my trip to Quilting with Machines that I was totally looking forward to and had already paid for all my classes. Hopefully some of my classes sold so I can get back a little of my money. At any rate, I've spent 5 days in the spare room on the pull out sofa and it isn't comfortable. Slept in my own bed last night and it felt great! I am definately better now and will be going to work tomorrow. I spent the day yesterday, changing sheets and doing laundry and cleaning up the house. I just bought all new pillows, sheets and towels at Kohl's a few weeks ago. Everything 50% off! I love Kohl's! So I am washing my old pillows today and Mark will bring a couple up to the motor home next time he goes. They washed up a lot better than I thought they would (feather and down).
So I had big quilting plans for today and I WILL quilt some later. Right now I am cleaning out my closet and making a big bag for Purple Heart pick-up. I am tired of having so many clothes stuffed in my closet and still have nothing to wear.
My list of things to do today is:

• press and cut strips for strip exchange
• finish washing pillows
• clean and mop kitchen
• make cole slaw for dinnner
• finish cleaning out closet
• quilt at least 2 hrs

TA DA!

These are so stinkin' cute! They will be a house warming gift for a friend. They are having a party today. Can't wait to see their new place!

Making pot holders

I am making a few pot holders this morning. We have a house warming party to go to today and Mark is making a creamy pasta salad for our dish to pass and I am making a gift of pot holders. I am using Vicki's directions. They are easy and look great when finished. I made us about 7 of them for our kitchen and I really like them. I'll never BUY another pot holder!

Spicy Salsa

Ah, we love salsa in this house. We eat a LOT of salsa. We like a thick, chunky, spicy variety. We buy Frog Ranch Hot usually but it is around $3 a jar and we can go through 2 or 3 jars a month sometimes. Add it up, that is a lot of $$ for salsa.


My garden doesn't usually produce that well and this year was no differant. My neighbor has been most genorous with his abundant garden this year. Not only with us but several neighbors. He gave us 3 large bags of tomatoes. We tried a new recipe for salsa last week and it only made 3 quarts (= 6 pints). We liked the taste so we made a large batch this time. This has a lot of basil and cilantro and garlic and onions and peppers. It is FULL of flavor and this will last us for around 8 months. I will prolly make one more large batch before the season is through to take us through the year and also Mark loves to give it away to family and friends. We cut up the tomatoes yesterday and let them drain over night in the fridge. Today we added all the other ingrediants and here is the pot simmering. It is full to the top!




Here is the finished product. I tried it and it is delicious!

There is 2.5 hours of my time I won't get back!

My neighbor gave us a TON of tomatoes and we are making our second batch of salsa. The first came out sooooo good and only made 3 qts when it cooked down. This is at least 3 times that much. This is just the tomatoes. They need to drain for a few hours so we do it in two stages. You might not be able to tell but this is an extra deep sink and a huge colander. This will make a lot of salsa! Yummy!

Who needs the Farmer's Market....

....when you have neighbors like ours!

My neighbor Chuck brought over two bags of fresh picked veggies from thier garden. I have lots and lots of tomatoes, some peppers, both hot and mild, some cucumbers, the best green beans ever and a big zucchini. I wasn't planning on it, but Mark has already requested I make salsa tomorrow. I always make salsa first from whatever tomatoes we get because we use so much of it and it is expensive to buy....

So I cleaned the kitchen up and bleached the sink and I'm ready for a cooking day tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a dessert too.

GO cutter play date....and a shout out to LINDA!

Today was a fun day. I went to a meeting of the "minis". We are a small group of long armers. We made our own group (and we are keeping it small on purpose) and we take turns hosting. It is all about fun and no rules...no blocks to bring, no strips to bring, no food to bring (but we always DO anyway), no kitty...you get the picture.

We always try to come up with something fun to do. We all have long arms so sometimes we just have a muslin on and play around but for the most part we try to come up with a "theme" per se. Today was GO cutter day! There were 7 of us there, three with GO cutters and only three with projects to cut. Boy it was fun. I cut lots and lots of 1.5" strips for a new string quilt I have been wanting to make. Here are my strings. You can't tell in the picture but there are a LOT of strips on there. That would have taken me a LONG TIME to cut them by hand.



Also I had help with pressing and prepping so we got a lot done. Linda cut out oodles of squares for a quilt she is doing. Here she is cutting...




and here is her stack of blocks....IMPRESSIVE HUH?




Here the girls are just hanging out and trying Gails's long arm. You have L to R, Lea, Lou and Nancy H. Lea and Lou don't have long arms...YET.





It is a long drive out to Gail's (2.5 hrs total driving for me (I met Nancy at her house and she drove to Gail's) and almost an hour for nancy to drive there and back. A lot of driving because we are all spread out. It's worth it tho.



Oh and this is a special hello to my friend Linda...HI THERE!