Beach Bumming

We had a fun sewing day at Cocoa Beach Saturday. My guild buddy has a gorgeous place on the beach. It's paradise. I wish I could win the lottery. A beach house would be high on the shopping list. Being at the beach is so relaxing. I love everything about it. Maybe I should actually play the lottery.

We sewed in the rec room. Break time was a stroll on the nearly deserted beach. The water was a little too cool for a dip, but the weather was exquisite. We finally had a perfect spring day. April has been a steamy scorcher. It was like we went straight to summer. This weekend was cooler.

Alejandrina made a huge spread of gourmet goodies. She has the largest collection of cookbooks I've ever seen. I could spend weeks browsing through her cookbooks. I love how they're all on a wall in her kitchen. Lunch was falafel with tahini sauce, meatballs with tzatziki, chicken salad, roasted vegetables with vinaigrette and a spinach and cheese strata. Oh my word! Everything was so good.

I chose an easier project as we get talking and anything complicated gets messed up quickly. I've made this jelly roll quilt before and I remember it being fun and easy. And I loved the results. I think it's the only pattern I've ever duplicated. It was a last minute decision as I threw my stuff into the bag before leaving.

The fabric line is "Ashton Road" by Valori Wells. Jelly rolls are fun sometimes. Not a lot of thinking since it all kinds of goes together. I made 20 of these strip sets.

Then sub cut them today into 3.5" sections. Here they are all stacked up and ready to be paired into blocks. That will have to wait until my next sewing session. This laundry ain't doing itself.

Someone was no help. Note fabric scraps on carpet. How did those get way over there? I can't disturb Mr. Bones with the vacuum cleaner, so they stay. Well that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Have a great week.

Mono Block Printing

The second class I took at QuiltCon was Mono Block Printing with Lizzy House. I took a stamp making class with Lizzy at the last QuiltCon. She's so talented and inspiring. Here are some examples of her block prints on paper.

We did our block printing on fabric. Lizzy is so cute and enthusiastic. If you can ever catch one of her classes, I highly recommend it.

The process was messy, but fun. It's definitely a technique I would try again. The red ink on the acrylic was my printing pad. You lay down pieces of cut newsprint to make designs. You can do this over and over with multiple shapes and colors.

Here are some of the fabrics I printed. It was hard to get the inks as vibrant as I wanted, but I think different inks might produce darker results.

Doxie love!

Let's eat, grandpa

So many recipes to try. My Pinterest boards are crying uncle. Catching up on magazine reading by the pool last weekend, I tore out five new recipes to try. These refried beans are vegetarian and couldn't be easier. I threw some chili powder in them for zing. They cook all day in the crock pot and then you mush them.

I was trying to make refried beans without the lard and preservatives I see in the canned versions, but look at these refrieds from Trader Joe's. Doh! I should have just opened a can and saved myself the trouble.

Bones was helping Inspector Gadget feed the carp grass clippings. Our new neighbors think the carp are gators. Bones hopes they are not.

I fit in a few more spider web blocks last weekend. Hoping to get a few more sewn this weekend. I love playing in the scraps.

Even the trash is colorful.

I won the block lotto at our monthly guild meeting! Woo hoo! Only four blocks this month, but I will have fun making more. I think these Wagon Wheel blocks are so cute. A big thanks to Rene' for bringing my block to the meeting and sending me my winning loot. I love them!

Happy weekend! I'm rushing through my chores and office work and plan to play my weekend away. There will be cooking involved!

Happy Sunday!

We loved these Turkey Sriracha Meatballs. Just a few ingredients and then pop them into the oven to bake. The sauce is the bomb! I made brown rice to serve them on and broccoli slaw with peanut dressing. Yummy! The photo doesn't show fresh ginger. I keep my ginger roots in the freezer to store them longer. Always hated finding those dried out ginger roots in the crisper.

Bones turned 14 April 12. I had to get his "birth certificate" out to double check the date. Loved reading his relatives' names. His dad was Snoopy and his grandfather was Festus. Grandma was Sprinkles. Great Grandma was LuLu! That's what I call my Hollywood! Funny! Bones is pictured with some bearded gentlemen who used to be my little boy.

We didn't have a party for Mr. Bones, but he did get a container of Mighty Dog for dinner. He loved it! He normally only eats dry food. Don't feel sorry for him, the dry stuff is usually topped with meat and broth from our meals. He may be spoiled.

Last Saturday was Sew Day for our guild. I had Friday off, so it was a perfect weekend to get the chores done early and goof off the entire weekend. Greek layer dip was my potluck dish. It's easy and quick.

There's hummus on the bottom, feta cheese, scallions, olives, cucumber, tomato, and parsley. Serve with pita chips. The dip can be made ahead of time or served immediately. I love this stuff so much.

I finished the CatVent quilt Sew Day. Yay! I like how it turned out. The blocks were fun to make.

The back is a mess, but I was determined to get rid of that mottled gray fabric from my stash. I have no idea where it came from. There were just a bunch of wide strips.

I hope your weekend is wonderful. What's everyone up to?

Well Hello 2014!

New year, new planner. I've always loved paper products. I tried putting all my appointments online last year, and it just didn't work out for me. I think I need a pretty calendar and the act of writing something down to remember anything. There are some great printable calendars available online. I've been printing them off and hanging them everywhere.

Do you ever buy yourself Christmas presents? This cast iron pot was such a bargain, I had to add it to my cart while online Christmas shopping. It's bitter cold here (72 degrees!), so I'm making bean soup for lunch.

I started the day with a spinach, feta and tomato omelet. I threw fresh oregano into the baby spinach while it sauteed. The Greek flavors are great together. The Inspector had a ham, Swiss, red onion and tomato omelet. I have to sneak in the veggies for some people around here.

We can definitely stand some fruit and vegetables after a few dinners like this. Meat, cheese, and crackers. I did have a bowl of grapes, but we barely ate any. I went a little overboard buying cheese this holiday season. It's all my mom asked for for Christmas, so I bought extra for us. I like buying cheese about as much as I like buying fabric.

Look where silly Bones has taken up residence. Poor little thing has a fluffy pillow bed and a cozy blanket, but he'd rather snooze under my desk among the dust, computer cords, and unfinished quilt projects. I only know he's under there because I can hear him snoring. Goofy.

Off to finish my soup and sew for the rest of today. I hope you're having some fun.

It's Almost Halloween

It's almost Halloween. Candy, check. Trick or treat bag, check. Hollywood is bringing her little charge to our neighborhood to trick or treat, so I made him a fancy bag. Hollywood has fond memories of trick or treating, we have a fun neighborhood. My mom usually made chili for Halloween, but we're attending a chili cook-off Saturday, so I think I'll pass on that tradition.

This is what Bones thinks about the approaching holiday. "Oh no....doorbells and laughing children. I hate both." I'll get the old man cozy in his crate so he doesn't bark all evening. He loves his crate. Or, I might dress him up in a costume. Ya hear that Bones? Behave.

Look at the size of these dried chili peppers. I have no idea how to use them, but I'm going to find out. Mexican night again. Everyone will be happy. Adios!

I Love the Weekend

I thought this little wallet organizer was cute. It whipped up quickly. I didn't have the proper size notepad, but I can remedy that easy enough. Because goodness knows I need another notepad. My paper collection rivals my fabric collection.

It took great constraint, but I picked the remainder of the birthday crabs and didn't eat as I picked. It's harder than it sounds. Well, at least for me. I picked about a pound of crab meat and made a bunch of crab cakes for dinner one night.

This is College Boy's favorite salad. It's a complicated recipe. Ha! I like to use Kirby cucumbers and Vidalia onions. Toss with white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and dill weed. The longer they sit in the fridge, the better they get. The College kid can eat this entire bowl in one sitting. He might have had three large crab cakes and a huge mound of macaroni and cheese too.

Baked some chocolate donuts for the big kids. This morning, I saw Inspector Gadget eat the dud in the back with no icing with his bacon. Dunkin Donuts doesn't have anything on him. Did you hear about their new breakfast sandwich? At least his was turkey bacon. I finally figured out how to cook that stuff. A griddle gets it brown and crispy. Not bad. Not bacon, but not bad. We call it facon and people make faces when I make it.

I had two similar charm packs I've been stealing from for various projects. I decided to use the remaining squares to construct a little quilt. I'm going to find some matching border fabrics in solids.

Maybe it needs a dachshund on it. Oh, Bones.

Dog Eat Dog World

Another cute little orphan block I chose to make a charity dog quilt. This is a tomato character from Veggie Tales.

It grew to about 20" square. It's washed and ready to turn in at our next guild meeting. I have two more orphan blocks to transform. I think I'll use both in the same quilt.

Bones thought it was comfy. He doesn't like cold tile. Poor little thing. Such a tough life.

I roasted a turkey Sunday instead of my usual chicken. I debated having a turkey dinner with all the fixings, but decided to just carve it up for soup and sandwiches. Bones was my sous chef and wouldn't leave my side.

The turkey bones and veggies were made into turkey stock. Since I made the turkey earlier in the day, I was able to carve the bird, clean that huge mess, and then get the stock started.

Pasta salad for the Inspector. He's the only one who likes cold pasta. I tried to healthy it up with veggie noodles, celery, bell peppers and a tangy vinaigrette mixed with a tad of plain yogurt.

Pesto and olive hummus for Hollywood. I cook dried beans all the time, but this was the first time I cooked chick peas for hummus. It turned out okay, but was not quite as creamy as I like it. Plus, one bag of dried beans made enough for 500 people.

Off to bake some chicken wings. Never a dull moment around here.