one shabby chick

Snapshots

No sewing happening around these parts.

{little succulent garden in our kitchen window}

Maybe tomorrow? But probably not.

{velvet pumkins I made last year}

Lots of goodie-making though.

Candied orange peels

Dipped in dark chocolate

Caramels

Vanilla fudge

with pecans from my Grandpa's yard (sad to think we will eventually use the last of them and never get more...)

most delicious cookies ever (well, the dough is so far....it's chilling in the fridge now - seriously...SO good!)

Got some gorgeous fabric in the mail - new Velveteen from Anna Maria Horner:

Dying to make something out of it for the trip...passbort book? messenger bag? something!

No nephew yet but it's any day now - forcing myself not to start a new quilt until I finish his.

Most of all I wanted to drop in and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend filled with family and friends, laughter and cheer!

Patchy

That may be how my blogging is this summer.

Too many wonderful beach days are calling to us.

We spent the day here - got a little burnt too (I have a bit of a soccer shorts tan so my thighs don't see sunlight often).

(this pic is recycled from last summer)

We are headed to this beach tomorrow for a birthday party.

I have been doing a bit of sewing.

Working on a custom queen quilt that keeps needing a bit of tweaking.

I'm thinking smaller patchwork squares may be the solution but we'll see.

Started on a sweet baby quilt - love this line!

Made a patchwork quilt out of {mostly} Loulouthi.

I cut the squares using the big scraps from this quilt. {Which I guess I haven't shown on my blog - only on Flickr.}

I used this tutorial.

I now have about 7 tops that need to be quilted.

These little nine patches are destined to be placemats for the Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap.

And I've been doing some cooking too. Made these last night for dinner and this is in the oven right now. But I'm too lazy to make mashed potatoes so we are having rice instead....

Carrot cake cookies and a quilt

Finished up the binding this morning while watching Life with the kiddos (I have to say - I like Planet Earth so much more but there are some cool things in the Life series).

 

We are supposed to bring our favorite dessert to the baby shower so why not try out a recipe I have never made before - right?! I made these cookies.

They are really yummy...the kids love them - except for the oldest since they contain carrots {gasp} and raisins {double gasp}.

I tried out some stippling on this quilt - somehow it's much harder for me than these little swirlies...I definitely need more practice but it came out ok.

Hope she (the mom-to-be) likes it...she's having her 4th boy.

And I need to ask everyone (and I'm so sorry but...) does anyone remember sending me these pinwheel blocks?

The kids tore into the mail yesterday and I didn't get to see who sent them...just let me know so I can put your name down on the giveaway list and make sure you get proper credit for them.....

You guys rock

All those crochet links are amazing - thank you SO much. I spent some time yesterday in front of the computer practicing...I just need more practice time.

Hubby is working a little further away now (so he gets home later) which means I'm in charge of soccer practice for the first hour or so - I love that we get out and run around at the park but I'll be happy when soccer is over and I can spend my afternoons sewing instead.

Baby Girl has a birthday to go to next weekend (totally thought it was this Sat. and would have shown up too - luckily Bela read the invite and informed me it's next week) so I was trying out a different type of skirt for her little friend. And Baby Girl gets the prototype..

  

Not sure I'm really loving it - the tulle is fun but I might like it better plain (it's super soft though, not the scratchy kind you get at Walmart)....

I also made her friend a little Black Apple doll - I'll take a picture later.

Made this for dinner last night - only I just used breaded chicken tenders and baked them in the oven and then threw them in the sauce after - had to be quick since it was after we got home from soccer - everyone loved it. Her recipes are so yummy!

Finally got my thread order from Joann's - now to finish this quilt!

Fun couple of days

The weekend was fun - busy, but fun.

The wedding was beautiful and my brother and sister-in-law got a full dose of life with kids (they had to pull over on the side of the road for a potty break - ha ha!).

Monday night we went bowling with our cheesy Christmas sweaters......

and then Tuesday I met some friends at the ice skating rink (I had an eye appointment and took Baby Girl with me - my friends took the other three earlier). Baby Girl has this movie and has asked me forever for ice skates so I think she thought she'd be a natural - twirling around like nothing. So when she got the ice skates on and got out on the ice, she was a little disappointed to find out she couldn't skate at all..It was pretty funny.. She managed ok with the little walkers and even went around the big rink once holding my hand (I had to make sure I didn't fall over either - I hadn't been ice skating in a looong time!)

 

Did some baking yesterday -

marshmallows...

 

(overcooked the sugar on the first batch - guess we have to keep them all!)

This yummy candy - which tastes just like a skor bar..I used Wheat Thins so I guess any cracker works..

 

yummy cookies (which I saw on this blog)....

and chocolate-chip pumpkin spice bars (which I am eating right now for breakfast)...

(this is pre-baking and frosting - very yummy!)

In a bit we are off to help set-up for our church's annual Christmas Eve service - We have a huge white tent outside at church and set it up to look like "Bethlehem Village" - there's a bakery, craft shops, candle maker, all kinds of different shops that might have been around 2,000 years ago. We all dress up in costumes and at the end of the evening we have a short service. It's perfect for the kids!

We are the pirates who don't do anything

If you have never seen this movie - then you probably don't know what I'm talking about - but apparently I'm liking the vegetable movies lately...

Whenever I think of pirates, I think of those little guys - sitting in their boat - singing about "piratey" things.

My little guy has been asking me to make him a eye patch for a while now...it was always at a time when I wasn't sewing or I just forgot (which is horrible - I know) so finally yesterday I was determined to make it for him.

I guess he's been watching this movie and loved the eye patch. It had to be green - he picked out the fabric. I had a little mishap and the first one got thrown away - my brain just wasn't functioning and I had made it so it was impossible to turn inside out...but the next one got a seal of approval from the little pirate - and of course Baby Girl needed one too after seeing her brother's...

I'm making these today for our annual Cookie Exchange party. We usually have it at my house but it's pretty crowded cozy so my friend offered her beautiful, spacious home so we are having it there instead. I'll try and remember to take my camera and snap some pictures. It's basically a girls' night out - with cookies. And I always have a few prizes (an apron and tote bag) for the tastiest and prettiest cookie.

Have any of you gotten the new voile by Anna Maria Horner? It's amazing...I'm trying to figure out a dress I can make for the girls for Christmas - it will drape so beautifully - for some reason I was thinking it was going to be like Heather's Far, Far Away but it's nothing like it at all - almost has a silk feel to it..

And I also got some Hope Valley in the mail - have already cut into it for a Christmas gift....

Oh and I almost forgot - made these for Christmas gifts for a few friends...inside is a gift card to Starbucks - I used this tutorial - really great and fast to sew up!

400

The mail just keeps coming - this time it was a purchase from Kerri's cute Etsy shop.

And I picked up a cookbook yesterday - made a blueberry dessert last night - so good! Hubby said it tasted good but he wasn't sure about the texture. I am wanting to incorporate it more into the family meals but not sure how that will go over.

Baby Girl has been eating everything I've made "raw" but the older two are pretty picky (especially the oldest). The seven year old eats pretty much everything too. Why is that? We fed them all the same foods when they were babies - somewhere along the line we let it slide and the eldest ended up so picky. We are trying to remedy that but it's a constant battle.

But mom's on a health kick now so everyone is in danger :-)

Anyway - on to the 400th post giveaway...how does some munki sound?

I was thinking 40 5" squares of different munki prints.....and there will be some really good ones!

I may need to make you work for it though...how about a link to your favorite healthy recipe? It doesn't have to be "raw" but just something healthy and (maybe but not necessarily) kid-friendly?!

I'll start - this blog has super yummy recipes - and my friend is one of the contributors! She emailed me a couple of delicious recipes this past week - thanks Boni! She's also the one that linked me to this wonderful website!

ok - how about yours? I'll leave the giveaway open until Sunday night....

**edited to add: Comments are now closed!

Red Letter Quilt

I had planned on getting this up sooner (sorry Cynthia) but we (just me - the kids ride their bikes) have been walking to swim lessons and then today when we got home, my 7 year old was needing some one-on-one time so we played Stratego - he beat me and was so excited too!

Anyway - here's the Red Letter Quilt all done:

I washed and dried it last night and the raw edge applique is totally fine.

Here are my two reluctant helpers (my son and his friend).

I think I want to try a smaller version of this as a baby quilt - smaller circles too.

The raw eating is going good - lost a few pounds already.

I made this the other day for lunch and used a raspberry vinagrette  as the dipping sauce.

Raspberry Vinagrette:

1/2 c. canola oil (I used olive oil)

2 T Honey (you can use raw honey)

1 T mustard (you can use whole grain)

3 T Balsamic Vinegar

1 t lemon or lime juice

salt and pepper

1/2 c. fresh or frozen raspberries

Blend in blender until desired consistency. You could always add a bit of water to thin it out if it's too thick.

Going raw (among other things)

I've started eating raw - not forever - just for a few weeks or so. I need to lose about 20lbs. and thought this would be a great way to jump start that...and get me eating right too.

So far I feel great - way more energy!

Got some great swap mail today:

And have been working on a couple baby girl quilts...

Hubby has the cold flu so he's been in bed all weekend - poor guy - he missed out on the fireworks on the 4th (we went bowling too - it's so fun...we do it every year!).

Hope to finish up the Red Letter quilt tonight and I'll share pics of it tomorrow!

 

Sunday

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Father's Day!

Hubby is off playing some soccer with his friends - and we watched a game today after church - can't believe the US made it through! The kids are outside playing a mini game right now too.

We are having the family over for dinner and making fajitas (this marinade is so yummy!) and my sister made Banana Cream pie since it's my dad's favorite.

I made Hubby some Rice Crispy Treats but used Frosted Flakes instead - he was talking about them the other day and how they ate them when he was little.

I've started sewing up the Red Letter Day quilt....

I'm thinking diagonal lines for the quilting but we'll see.

We have swimming lessons tomorrow and my tote class at night (which I need to make up some samples for) so a busy day - plus the house needs to be cleaned!!