Remember This?

So, remember when I got all crazy and cut up a bunch of fabric for a Christmas Sparkle Punch quilt? Then I reigned it in a little and started a pillow? Well, that pillow has bone done for a few weeks but I'm just getting around to showing you...

                                          

I used a variety of red and green prints with one yellow star thrown in just for fun. A little hand quilting in red perle on the Essex linen and the front was done.

                                         

I finished the pillow with a simple envelope closure since I didn't have any zippers long enough. For the back of the pillow I just used up some of the scraps from the front. 

                                         

I actually just intended to have the patchwork strips and plain linen strips, but I got a bit distracted cutting the linen and had to add the red/green blocks to get them back to the right size. I blame it on my kids eating red popsicles around my sewing area...

So now I have a tiny start on my Christmas decorations for the year. I have an idea for an autumn-inspired pillow that I really want to make, so hopefully I'll find some time for that before fall is over!

**Linking up with the fabulous ladies at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday**

Radiant Ring Quilt

May was my first month as quilter for the Imagine Circle of do.Good Stitches. After much debate, I decided to have the members use Elizabeth's Radiant Ring tutorial and make blocks using orange, yellow, apple green, aqua, and white.  

I decided that the blocks needed some sashing to break up the busyness of all the colors and to enlarge the quilt a bit, so I added a 2" strip of Kona Azure between the blocks and also used that as the binding. 

For the back of the quilt I used a vintage sheet that had a fun aqua floral print. And now for the confession...I totally cheated on this quilt. Since I was quite pregnant by the time I received all the blocks and got the top put together, I sent it to mom and got her to quilt it on her longarm. I knew there was no way I was going to get this baby basted and quilted in a timely manner so it was Mary to the rescue! She even hand-delivered it when she came to help when Jill was born. My mom is the best. 

And now the quilt has been sent to Threading Hope, an organization that delivers quilts to children in need in various poverty-stricken and war-torn countries around the world. 

August Blocks

I finished all my August bee block obligations the day before Jill was born. I knew I probably wouldn't get around to making them after she arrived, so I'm glad I was able to finish them. I didn't get them into the mail until just a few days ago though! I took these lovely pictures with my now-defunct iPhone since my memory card has yet to appear...(My first Apple product lasted less than 30 days. Highly annoying.)

For the Modern Blocks Bee, Marci asked for the Stargazer block by Angela Pingel, using the aqua print for stars and a pretty floral for the background. This block was high on my list of possibilities for my month in the bee, too. I think Marci will have a really fun quilt when she gets all the blocks together. 

For the Imagine Circle of dGS, Jessica had us use her Technicolor Twist tutorial to make a 20" block in orange, yellow, bright pink, and purple along with white and light grey. This was a fun block to put together and I can't wait to see the quilt when Jessica is done!

I haven't spent much time on curved seams, so when Stephanie requested that the members of Always Bee Learning make the pods from Quilting Modern, I thought it would be fun and a bit challenging. She sent a selection of her scraps in various oranges and other warm tones along with greys, asking that we use one of each per pod. 

These actually went together very easily, thanks to the fabulous directions in the book. The only one that I made that didn't turn out well was one that was pretty small and I had a hard time holding onto it as I sewed. I'm interested to see how this quilt turns out. I haven't seen a picture yet of the quilts in the book that use this type of block, though it seems that everything Jacquie and Katie make is awesome so I'm sure they're great. I will say that the entire time I was making these, all I could think of was my impending childbirth and how these looked like something entirely different than "pods". Much like what Kristie talked about today...

She's Here!

Ok, so she's been here for nearly a week now, but I've had a lot of snuggling to do that took priority over computer time. Can you blame me?

Allow me to introduce Jillian Grace...

The memory card for my camera has gone missing, so all I have are a few pictures from my phone. I decided that if I kept waiting until I could use my camera she might be walking before you got to see her!

Jill is a very sweet baby, and our smallest one yet weighing just 6 lb 11 oz at birth. She seems so tiny and now Max seems enormous!

My mom is still here helping, so most of my time has been spent in my comfy chair holding Jill trying to keep Max and the older boys from completely smothering her. 

This is the view from where I am now, typing one handed...

And now I must go and try to steal a quick nap before everyone wakes up. I'm sure you'll understand if I'm a little slow answering emails and leaving comments for the next little while! 

Some Recent Hits

So, my original title for this post was going to be Recipe Dump, but that really doesn't sound too appealing, does it? 

I have had the best of intentions about sharing some of these recipes in real posts of their own, you know, with pictures and everything, linking up to Tuesdays at the Table, but that hasn't happened, has it? I'm sure the 5 commas in that last sentence is some kind of grammatical nightmare but I don't care. So in simplified form, here are some recipes we've enjoyed lately, with minimal commentary...

 Crockpot Beef and Broccoli over Brown Rice: I actually used minute steak instead of the boneless chuck roast the recipe calls for, mostly because we seem to have a lot of it in the freezer and I'm always looking for ways to use it. I'm pleased to say it turned out great. And you can't beat Alton Brown's technique for brown rice. Perfect every time!

Easiest Homemade Caramel Sauce: I was making Debbie's Toffee Crunch Poke Cake for a cookout when I realized I didn't have nearly as much caramel sauce as I thought, so Google to the rescue! This recipe is dangerously easy!

Creamy Lime Cilantro Ranch Dressing: I use this recipe instead of the ranch dressing packet, and the first time I made the dressing I forgot to add the green salsa and really couldn't tell a huge difference. Everyone loved it! 

Blueberry Cobbler: Do you ever read recipe reviews where someone says, "I followed the recipe exactly, except..." and lists off about 15 changes? I hate that, especially when they give it a negative review. So I'm here to tell you that I really didn't follow this recipe, but I'm sure it's a good one. I used a mixture of blueberries and cherries, left out the lemon since I didn't have any, and used oil and soy milk to make it dairy-free so Max could eat it. 

Chinese Coleslaw: Another great recipe from Brown-Eyed Baker. I can eat way too much of this salad!

Noodle Head's Chipper Bars: Anna is a sewing genius and apparently she knows her way around the kitchen, too. She posted this recipe a few years ago and I've used it many times. Most often when my husband tells me at 2:00 that he needs a dessert to take to work at 5:00. Very easy and delicious! 

So there you go. I actually had a few more to add, but it looks like my blogging time is over for the day. I finished my Christmas Sparkle pillow, so hopefully I'll have some pictures for you tomorrow! 

My Day So Far

My husband's odd work schedule completely screws up my perception of what day it is. He just had two days off, so I woke up today quite confident that I was going to have a great Monday morning, full of patience for my children and getting all kinds of stuff checked off my to-do list. In fact, I was so enthusiastic about it that I actually got up around 5:00 when Rog was getting ready for work and started some hand quilting on a pillow...

While I was stitching away, enjoying the quiet that only comes when kids are sleeping, I started reading a few blogs and after about the third WIP Wednesday post did it sink in that today was in fact not Monday. I'm not going to lie, my enthusiasm waned just a little. If it was already Wednesday I really didn't need to start my week off with a bang. And yes, that is a Sparkle Punch pillow you see. I decided to scale back my efforts a bit in light of the rapidly approaching birth of child #4...and a lack of enthusiasm for making this into a full-blown quilt. 

I did spend some time in the kitchen getting a few things made to stock the freezer. 

Carson has been requesting pumpkin muffins lately, so I made a double batch of those. Actually, they are more like half pumpkin and half butternut squash, but he didn't care. As long as he gets to stir and sample the goods he's happy. 

Then I decided that since the oven was already hot I might as well go ahead and make some bread, so I tried a new recipe for English Muffin Bread and may have underestimated how warm it was in my kitchen. That dough got crazy, y'all! 

I don't think I left it to rise for much more than 30 minutes, while the kids and I folded and put away laundry, but I got quite the little surprise when I returned! Nevertheless, I have 3 loaves for the freezer and one for us to eat today.

And have you noticed the Instagram photos? I joined the high-tech age a few days ago and am trying to figure out the whole Instagram game. I don't really get it yet, but my plans for the afternoon involve a couch, a glass of something cold to drink, and some QT with my new phone.

How many of you are on Instagram? I need to start finding my friends so I can get into it a little more. I'm hoosiertoni on there, so look me up!

What Was I Thinking??

So the other day, the kids' nap time rolled around and I was trying to decide what to do. I mean, I have a huge list of things that need to be done, but none of those sounded fun so I sat down for a minute to browse around on Pinterest, looking for something to sew. I'm not even sure what I saw, but I decided that I needed to start a Christmas quilt. Right now.  Maybe it's all these Christmas in July things going around lately, or the fact that when December rolls around I always regret my lack of holiday decor. Whatever it was, I somehow could not let another day go by without starting a Christmas quilt. You know, because I have nothing else going on in my life right now...

And just what pattern did I choose? Elizabeth Hartman's Sparkle Punch. I love that pattern, but couldn't I have gone with a simple patchwork? Of large squares? Seriously, there are like 800 something 3.5" squares to cut. And did I mention cutting is my least favorite aspect of this fine art? I was all gung-ho about this thing yesterday but today I'm not so sure. I've cut about 75% of the prints for the stars and still have all the background to cut. 

Should I keep going? I had pretty much talked myself out of continuing, but then I looked back at the original Sparkle Punch quilt and I like it so much that I hate giving up on it. It would be an excellent Christmas quilt. But having another unfinished project laying around is not what I need right now, either. I think I'm going to go browse around a little and see if I can come up with another less time-consuming pattern to make. Any suggestions?