Handy dandy...

A couple years ago, Sandy gave me the neatest little applique "tool." It is called the Applique Pressing Sheet, by Bear Thread Designs. I LOVE it! What is it and what does it do? Well, it is basicly an opaque sheet of teflon. You lay your applique pieces on it- after they have the iron-on adhesive applied and the paper removed from the back- and press them together directly on the sheet. Allow the sheet to cool and you can peel the entire ironed unit off- ready to be pressed onto your fabric in a very easy way. No more shifting of the pieces when you lay it on your fabric and the applique ending up where you don't want it. Because it is opaque, you can match the pieces up with a drawn pattern- just place the pattern under the sheet! It really helped when I was making all those flowers for my wreath wallhanging- I just ironed all the layers and the flower centers together and then peeled them off. Now it was easy to decide exactly which flowers I wanted where. A 13x17" sheet runs around $16-18 and is a very helpful aid when appliquing. Have a great day!

Cassoulet...casserole...

none of those spellings look right, but I guess I'm too lazy to look them up... This is a good one- the type without quantities because I don't see how you could get it wrong. It is vegetarian, but I don't think anyone will miss the meat. My kids love it.

• Brown some chopped bell pepper and onions in a large oven-proof pot/pan.
• Add red beans, drained and rinsed- I hate that slimy, starchy stuff in the can, don't you? and shoe peg corn(regular would do just fine)also drained, a little bit of tomato sauce(easy does it) and cooked rice.
• Spice up with your favorite Southwest seasing mix- I use one my friend Sandy makes up for me. I have no idea what is in it. It tastes good and chili-ish.
• Make a basic white sauce(You know, a little melted butter, some flour, milk, salt and pepper- I am sure it is online http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/white-sauce/Detail.aspx) and pour over rice mixture, top with shredded mexican cheese.
• Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until hot and bubbly.

It looks more cheesy than it really is because of the white sauce- fools the kids every time! Comfort food, for sure.

The blocks are some of my sampler quilt blocks that I have finally finished. The blocks not the quilt. Made 12 different ones. The reds in the card trick block are from my sweet nephew and sis which they generously gave me for my birthday. They're just sweet that way. The rest are made from scraps. I found some great fabric on sale at Hobby Lobby and I think it might work for settings. But first, I need to adjust to my new meds- feel like if I move my head too quickly, it will roll right off. I have been ripping out an awful lot of seams, lately. Might be a good idea to put any major sewing on the back burner. So I'll just putter along, do some noodling...

Good Clean Fun...

What fun we have been having! The kids and I have had art class, yesterday. We saw this on facebook somewhere- sorry, I couldn't find the link- and loved the look of it. It just sounded like a lot of fun! Fabric dying at it's most basic- and cleanest- level.

You take a large mouth vase- the type you get a dozen roses in- and strecth some cotton fabric over it- hold in place with a rubber band or in our case, a hair band. Then you take some Sharpie markers, yes the permanant kind, and make rings of dots. Then you drip a few drops of rubbing alchohol in the center of the dots with a cotton swab and watch it work. They spread out into a lovely kaliedescope of colors- blending and merging into a ring. How cool is that? And then, of course we had to do something with them- made a dozen fast postcards- just cut then out, the kids glue sticked them onto fabric and I machine appliqued them down. Ta-da! A fast, easy, clean, cheap, fun little project.

More scrappy blocks...

I love this blue block. Yes, I know, I don't usually "do" blue. But this scrappy one I love. Can't say why, just do. I am having fun going through the "Around the Block" by Judy Hopkins... just picking out 12" blocks and trying the pattern- correcting some. (Sorry Judy- but, honestly, the only mistakes I have found after making about 75 different blocks are the quantity of pieces- and if you look at the pictures, you can figure that out.) I think this block would be great set with other blocks just like it in the same colors. I do like a blue and white quilt.

I have two more blocks to go and then I will have enough to sit in the closet(Not me silly, the blocks!)...until I get around to setting them. Need a medalliaon for the middle of the quilt. And I also need setting fabric- plenty, as I plan on setting the blocks on point... after coping strips. I've been using only scraps from the scrap drawer- lots of fun to use up some of the surplus.

Have any big plans for the week? My friend, Kathy, is coming over with a quilt for me to quilt- haven't quilted in nearly a month so this should be fun. Hope I haven't lost whatever I had. Really need to clean the quilting room- it has fallen into a state of confusion while I have been playing. That's life. I think the second apple tree is ready to give up her fruit and apple sauce is ready to be made. And then I plan on visiting my friend Sandy. Can hardly wait. Hope you have a great week!

Something quilty at last...

I know, I know, Joe, you've been waiting with bated breath for me to post a quilt. You just have to be patient with these things.

This is one of the challenges that Sandy got me into. She is such a slave driver. Applique. Blech. But the end result will be worth it. the end result will be worth it. the end result will be worth it. Figure if I say it over and over, I'll believe it. Shew. Now "all" I need to do is the machine applique. The ribbon on the wreath and the wreath is done... now a gajillion flowers. and holly leaves. Lots of holly leaves. Need to purchase some matching thread. Of course the project was supposed to be in more traditional colors and fabrics. I like batik and that's what I had, so... yep that's what I used. Batik in reds are hard to come by so I used a lot of rust and hot pink and I think they blended into a nice reddish hue. Oh OK, there's some orange and purple in there. But they made me smile and that's about all it takes for me to put something in a quilt. (Noble Needle quilting and Sewing, Yultide Ribbon Wreath, Catalog Item NNQ-68.)

There you go, Joe. Something of interest to you. I never seem to make pretty pies anymore, but they are mighty tasty.

Caught them!

They do like to read. Especially Bekah- her lips move when she reads- so cute. Abe is a big fan of Richard Scarry- some of my kids liked him and others...eh, they just didn't get it. Abe definitely gets it. John likes good adventure. And Eva likes something scary. My Mom recently cleaned out her basement- with my sister's help. Yes, she has always been the good daughter. giggle. I do OK. Anyway, Mom sent me several boxes full of books from when I was a kid. A looooooong time ago. Bekah especially is snarfing them up- even reading old textbooks. I don't let her know that, as I figure as long as she is entertained, it's all good. Another thing about them- they are like little puppies all piled together. They like to line the love seat- not the couch- with a minkee and then use the other minkee as a blanket. All squished together. Makes me sweaty just thinking about it, but its how they like it done. And they're quiet and they're still... amazing.

Mummy , it's yummy!

That's Abe's opinion, anyway. How could one mind spending hours in the kitchen with such a happy, helpful crew? We canned 40 quarts of apple pie filling, today. One of them exploded upon removal from the canner- long story. Suffice to say, no one was hurt and we had a very tasty snack with a pie crust rolled out and baked on a cookie sheet. We even had whipped cream. Yes, it was yummy. John and Abe were the main apple pickers- we are so thankful to have our own trees, Bekah washed the jars- she has the smallest hands, and Eva peeled and peeled and peeled. (Yes, Grandfather, she has a bad rash that has migrated to her eye. Poor thing!) The nifty new apple peeler Bill bought is replacing my old one- which I loved, but this one has a swivel head on it and even slices and cores it for you. All I had to do was make the syrup and pack the jars. $15 well spent. And the helpers were all you could ever hope for. So... apple pie? Apple crisp? I think we have that covered for the winter.