New quilting project

A while ago Mike and I were talking about how I should make each of the boys a quilt. We discussed making a quilt using lots of various shades of red in it. I came across several pieces of fabric that looked fun and several that had a firetruck theme to them, some fire hydrants, fire, firetrucks and firemen hats and suits. Since Jonah and Jackson are so excited whenever firetrucks pass our house I thought it would be fitting to quilt about it but not to make it the main theme of the quilt.

have loved looking at newer contemporary quilts and have imagined being able to come up with something unique that wasn't too difficult. With that being said, I am in the process of designing my own version of a log cabin quilt. It will be pieced together in the traditional style of the log cabin but my added twist is making each strip a different width. I finished cutting out all my pieces and started sewing them together. So far, this is what I've finished:



I have no idea what fabric I'll be using to join all these blocks together, or what fabric I'll be using for the back side. I'm just having fun trying to piece these all together right now.

More improvements!

We (when I say "we" I actually mean Mike) started to put some finishing touches on our main floor bathroom. It's not totally finished as of yet but pretty close I'd say. We picked out some hardwood laminate flooring at IKEA over the weekend and I must say that I really like the way that it looks. What do you think?

For a Friend

I made this the other day for a friend...can't disclose who yet because the recipient hasn't gotten it yet! But I really love the bag. It would be perfect as a music bag, as there are three big pockets in the front. This pattern came from the book Simple Gifts to Stitch by Jocelyn Worrall. Best of all, I made it in an afternoon, kids and all! You might recognize the material from another cute "Charming Handbag" that I made a while back. I love how it looks and would definitely make it again.

Weigh-In

This morning was the first weigh-in and I have to say that I absolutely love the very first week you are counting points on weight watchers because you lose quite a bit. I lost 5.5 pounds! I can't let myself get too excited about it because I know the following weeks won't see as much of a drop but it's a start and I'm excited and totally committed to seeing a change and changing my lifestyle for good.

Oh! I almost forgot!

It's funny that I called this blog "My Patchwork Quilt" seeing as how I've never ever made a quilt in my life. Well, that has all changed. For Christmas my side of the family drew names and I got my older sister and her husband. I decided that I would try to make a lap quilt, so it wouldn't be a huge and difficult project. There was a similar quilt in the Bend the Rules sewing book which I really liked but I decided to put an extra twist in it so it's not identical to the books quilt. I finished it and really liked how it looked. Then I remembered that my grandfather was having a 90th birthday celebration after Christmas and I knew I had to make one for him too. I went about making his quilt and for some reason it just didn't turn out the way I had envisioned. I made it a little bit differently than my sisters and was just flying by the seat of my pants. I whole heartedly own the fact that I have NO IDEA how to make quilts, I was just guessing for most of it! I was a bit embarrassed with how his turned out. I guess it was another learning lesson for me, and that's OK. The above picture is the lap quilt for my sister and her husband and it was taken before I quilted the front and back together - but you get the idea, right? My grandfathers quilt was made out of a lot of the same material and it had a different backing to it - I have no picture of it (which is probably a good thing!)

New projects on the horizon

Since we returned home from SD I just haven't been able to get my groove back. I thought that if I were to take out some of my fabrics and just look at them that I'd be able to get some of the creative juices back that have somehow disappeared with the rest of my brain. Well, looking at the fabrics has gotten me excited about getting back into the craft mode but so far nothing has happened. However, I did take a few pictures of the fabric that I know I'll be using in the near future...so here they are!


These two fabrics I do know what I'll be doing with...Remember that gorgeous pleated beauty bag that I just adored? Well, these two fabrics will make one of those. The outside will be this really cool pink fabric, and the pleats and inside will be made of the blue fabric. I'm a little nervous about making a pink bag but for some reason it just feels like the right thing to do. I plan on keeping this bag just for myself!Hmmm...I'm starting to see a strange pattern...pinks and blues... Actually I've already used these two fabrics for a small zippered pouch but I loved how it turned out and would love to use them again. They are simply dazzling together.
This is a collection of four fabrics that I found at Joanns that were drastically lowered in price. I fell in love with the red cowboy pattern and decided that I needed to make something boy-ish for one of my boys. I still have no clue what it will be. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. (They are fat quarters each.)

Happy New Year!

I realize it has been way too long since I have posted over here on My Patchwork Quilt. I guess the season and traveling can do that to a blogger! We had a great time in SD over Christmas with our families. It's a new year and even though I'm not crazy about resolutions it's time for me to make some. I have been inspired by my sister in law who has lost a considerable amount of weight since March. So I have decided to get back on weight watchers, although I won't be attending any meetings, and I will be exercising (step aerobics and walking) to boost my efforts. The reason I'm writing about all of this is so that I might keep myself accountable. It is a scary thing to admit to the entire world wide web that I have a weight problem, but it needs to be done. Here are my resolutions for this new year.

1. Eat healthier, using the points system
2. Formal exercise 3 times a week
3. Lose a total of 25 pounds (that's my baby step goal. My ultimate goal is to lose between 45-50 pounds).

I would love to be able to lose the twenty five pounds by the end of June but realize that a more reasonable amount would be somewhere between 3-4 pounds lost in a month. We'll see how it goes.

At the very bottom of my blog I have posted a weight ticker...a way for me to track my progress and a way to keep me accountable to you!

I'm not liking this much right now but I know that if I want to be around for a long time I need to change a few poor habits of mine. I officially started yesterday and each Monday I'll have a weigh in day. I have a feeling that this isn't going to be easy for me but I know that when I reach my goal I'll feel really good about myself.

Here's to a new me!

Clutch

Ok, I have to admit that I just LOVED that cute little pleated purse. I had a little bit of material left over and decided to make another artsy clutch to go along with it. I also included the embellishment on the clutch that I put on the bag itself. I love how it looks. I used a bit of red to spice it up a little...some red rick rack for the closure along with the red buttons. Love It!

Happy Birthday Sylvia!

I'm not even sure if she even reads this blog or not...but how cool is it that my sister in law has the same birth date as I do? I'm telling you...November 21st was THE DAY to be born people!!! For Sylvia's birthday I made her a little girly purse. This was before I got my way cool "Bend the Rules - Sewing" book. This little purse was a design that I made myself without the aide of any pattern. After I finished sewing all the sides together I realized that I forgot to add the thicker interfacing to make the bag a bit sturdier. I"m telling you, I'm learning as I go along! I also decided to try using the already made purse handles for a different look. I liked how they looked but didn't like the clasps where they connected to the purse so I made a few fabric yo-yos's to place on top of the clasps. It looks like a very feminine purse and I like how fresh it looks. Hopefully Sylvia will like it too.

Happy Birthday Sylvia! I hope you have a really great day!

A simple tote

Again, I must be pretty bad with measurements. After I made this cute bag and turned it inside out, the handles just seemed to be way too long. For one, the handles are supposed to be different sizes so that the longer handle can loop through the smaller one and act as a closure. But these handles were longer than they were supposed to be so I had to get creative and figure out how to shorten them. (It's all about the process for me. I'm learning so much every single time I make a bag that it helps me make my next things much better.) This bag is truly simple - it has a simple pocket on the inside and no other embellishments. It's also a very small bag. Perfect for holding a lunch or perhaps keys and a wallet on the run.

I've got the sewing bug...

Yep, it's true. There isn't a single day that goes by when I'm not thinking about something that I could be making. I've been busy over the past week or so making something for a dear lady that has volunteered her time to watch the boys every once in a while so Mike and I could go out. She doesn't ever ask for any payment and the boys love her so. I decided that I was going to make her something. I picked out some beautiful blue paisley fabric and after I had started the project I got a little jealous because I really liked how it turned out! I wanted it! But I really wanted to give her something in appreciation...so I'm going to part with this lovely "Pleated Beauty Handbag." There were actually a few surprises to this bag when I started making it. I had a really difficult time getting the pleats to turn out just right. I sat on the floor for several nights holding the fabric and trying to pleat it every which way, and finally on the third day the lightbulb went off and I knew what I had to do. So, the front of this bag has some very unique touches to it. I hand embroidered a flower and some "loops" on the side along with using a new foot on my sewing machine made for free quilting. I had so much fun making this quirky little loopy design that I ended up making an "Artsy Clutch" in the same fabric just so that I could use that new foot again. As I was putting the bag together I thought to myself how much it looked like a cute little cheerleaders skirt...and it made me think of how much I had always wanted to be able to wear one of those...but that's another story for another day! And finally when I was ready to turn the bag inside out, I realized that the bag was extremely large. I think that I must have had my measurements off by a bit. This bag was like a large suitcase! So I trimmed off what seemed like more than half of the bag and got it down to a much more reasonable size. I love this bag. I love it, I love it, I love it! I can only hope that she will love it too.

Happy (early) Birthday to Me and More projects!

First of all, here is my new sewing machine! After looking around a bit I decided upon this one, a Brother CS 6000i. So far, I love it. It has many neat features that I am still learning how to use.

Tea Towel Aprons! Two, to be exact. I found the towels at IKEA and thought they would make nice Christmas aprons.

This is called a "Charming Handbag" and making it wasn't quite so charming. In the book a few measurments were left out so I ended up making up a whole bunch of them! It turned out ok but next time I think I'll make the bag larger, with larger handles. I love the velvet ribbon!

More coasters...why in the world am I making so many is beyond my reasoning, but they are easy and don't take too much time.

Here is another small zippered pouch. I found this cute bee fabric at Joanns and lined it with a yellow-ish fabric with circles. I really like how it turned out.

This is called an "Artsy Clutch". Very simple idea - and here again I used the same bee fabric and yellow circle fabric on the inside.

Here is another "Artsy Clutch" that I made with some fabric I forgot I had, it was kind of funky but I like the end result. I ended up giving this one to a friend for her birthday.

It's a love/hate relationship

Last night my beloved sewing machine started playing tricks on me. Or maybe it was just that I was tired. I have been working on a really cute little purse, complete with a velvet ribbon and am this close to finishing it. I stayed up way past my bedtime in hopes of finishing this wonderful little project. My sewing machine had other plans. I decided that in my state of being I wasn't the best person to try to fix it so I would wait until the morning to see what would need to be done. When morning came I did try to fix it by changing the needle, and the tension, and the thread...but nothing worked. In fact, the machine has started to act up even more than last night. I'm not that happy with my machine right now. In fact, if you asked me I'd probably tell you that I would like to throw it out the window...I know that with this little glitch I will be required to take it in to the repair shop...and wouldn't you know that my warranty from my last repair expired a mere two weeks ago??? Agh! I'm not a happy person. How I had wanted to finish this little purse. I even have plans for more projects...I even have the fabric for those projects. I've already decided that I'm not going to go back to the same place and have it repaired. I just can't afford it. This will be the third or fourth time of my taking it in for a repair. I could probably buy a machine for the amount I've put into fixing it. It makes me sick. I want to finish my projects! I want to finish on this machine! But at some point I have to ask myself is it worth it? It's a love/hate relationship I have with this machine. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel differently about the situation.

Busy Bee

I've been having so much fun going through my new sewing book. Just in the past few days I've finished two handbags, two sets of coasters, and a cute little zippered pouch. I am by no means an expert sewer...in fact if you look close enough you'll be able to find some mistakes. But I don't mind them so much. I love what I've done so far and that's all that matters!

These are the two sets of coasters. I found this cute and playful material of dragonflies at the fabric store but only had enough fabric to make four coasters. I wanted more than that. After rummaging through my fabric stash I came across this zig zag fabric that was super close to the colors in the dragonfly material so I combined them and got eight coasters out of the two! I like how they turned out.

And this is the cute little zippered pouch I made just this afternoon. I really liked the flower fabric and the yellow checkered fabric on the inside makes it so cheery. This was my first time trying to sew a zipper on. Good night, Nancy! This little thing took me nearly (I'm almost embarrassed to say just how long it really took...) three hours!!! I guess I had a few interruptions but still...perhaps if I made a few more I'd get the timing down to a more reasonable number. Anyhoo - I really like the small details on this pouch...I used a little green velvet ribbon and made a bow in front. Pretty, ain't it?

Hooray for Bacon!

Today for lunch was all about bacon. We love the stuff. So in honor of bacon, we cooked it and ate it and enjoyed ever little bit of it. A few years ago I had purchased this neat looking cookbook for Mike geared towards grilling. There were lots of great looking recipes and we even tried a few then. But ever since we tried out the first few recipes, the cookbook has been sitting in my cupboard untouched. Today we pulled it out. We found the recipes we came to love the first time around and decided that it was time to try them out again. We made a delicious Chicken with herb and ricotta stuffing and grilled some asparagus wrapped in bacon. We also enjoyed some grilled onion and some freshly baked bread along with our baked potatoes. Can you say yum? Here are the recipes. Enjoy!

Chicken with Herb and Ricotta Stuffing
4 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, and mint
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
8 chicken drumsticks
8 slices of lean smoked bacon

Combine the first four ingredients. Season well with salt and pepper. Carefully loosen the skin from each drumstick and spoon a little of the herb stuffing underneath, smoothing the skin back over firmly. Wrap a bacon slice tightly around the wide end of each drumstick to hold the skin in place over the stuffing during cooking. Cook on a medium-hot grill for 25-30 minutes, turning occasionally.

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon
1 pound of asparagus
bacon

Take four or five spears of asparagus and wrap in one slice of bacon. Continue until all asparagus spears are wrapped. Season with salt and pepper. These are good grilled and are excellent cooked in the oven when drizzled with a little EVOO.

Introducing my new line!

Ever since I got my new sewing book, I've been itching to make some new things. I finally finished some very cute coasters and decided to move onto something else. Flipping through the book I came across this very cute Woodland Elf Hat. Jonah said he wanted a hat to play in so I went about making this hat. I wasn't sure it would fit him. After I had finished I had him model it for me. Rats! The ties were way to long. He looked like Little Red (and orange) Riding Jonah. So I went about trimming the ties to a more manageable length. The results? A cute little elf hat. I laughed my head off so hard trying to sew this together. It's almost hideous - I can just imagine there being a funny pom-pom on top of the pointy end. But I wouldn't do that to my son. Not me.

Front view - my son is a good sport!

Side of the hat

This is how it looks in the book. Pretty cute on girls, right? For boys you omit the little flower decal on the side. I tried to make it a little more boy-ish by using louder colors. I'm not so sure that it worked.

So...any takers? I'll be taking orders starting tomorrow. Price negotiable.

Favorite Things...

...about Fall (in no particular order!)

1. The cool and crisp air you feel against your face when you walk outside in the morning.
2. Hot Apple Cider
3. Making Applesauce
4. Enjoying a pleasant walk with those I love
5. Settling back into a "schedule" after a busy yet fun summer
6. The trees changing colors
7. Drinking the first Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks when the air does turn cooler.
8. Squash. Pumpkins. Harvest Time!

What are some of your favorite things about the fall?

Sewing

I am so excited. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. I received a new book in the mail over the weekend and since then have been poring over ever little detail in it. The book is Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing. (Amy Karol blogs over at Angry Chicken - don't worry, it has nothing to do with being angry or anything about chickens!) Anyway there are so many neat little projects that look all too enticing. Here are some of the projects listed in the book:

~The Zip Pouch ~ A Simple Tote ~ Heidi Headband ~ The No Cash Wallet ~ Artsy Clutch ~ Charming Handbag ~ Pleated Beauty Handbag ~ A Dog Collar ~ Cat Tuffet in a Basket ~ Clever Coasters ~ Mixy-Matchy Napkins ~ Tea Cozy ~ Table Runner ~ Place Mats ~ Easy Lap Quilt ~ Pillows Three Ways ~ Semi-simple Pillows ~ Painted Pillow Buddies ~ Sugar-sweet Curtains ~ Cafe Curtains ~ Amazing Tea Towel Apron ~ Vintage Apron ~ Apron Pockets ~ Woodland Elf Hat ~ Simple Bib ~ Scalloped Baby Blanket ~ Soft Turtle Buddy ~ Puppet Theater with Matching Case ~ Sweet Wee Jacket ~ Swing Swing Smock ~ plus all the patterns and templates!

I can not wait to get started on some of the simple and easy projects. I'm thinking I'll start with some coasters -that is, after I finish my other two projects!

Something new is coming!

I'm trying to get back in the creative mood...it's not showing itself like it did in the summer. On Monday I went to JoAnn fabrics and came back with a few "fat quarters". What, oh what will I be doing with these? Only time will tell! I'll update again when I get a chance.

Button Cookies

One of my absolute favorite cookies right now is this great little butter cookie with M&M candies. Give them a try!

Button Cookies

3 sticks of softened butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
M&M's
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl cream the softened butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture. Roll dough into balls, the size of a tablespoon. Flatten the balls out. On each piece, place 3 M&M's. Now, put one flattened ball on top of another flattened ball, so you are stacking two pieces together. Each piece should have the M&M's on top. Put the cookies on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 17-18 minutes. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to wire racks.