Lots'O Meat Lasagna

Well, I guess that spending a couple days with JudyL brought out the cook in me. I don’t generally do a lot of cooking around here. Dan loves to cook on the grill/smoker and there is usually something yummy in the works. He also has a few specialty recipes that he makes that don’t get cooked outside. Either Monday or Tuesday we saw a bit of the Paula Dean show on the Food Network and she was making Lots 'O Meat Lasagna that looked really good. I printed off the recipe yesterday and headed for the grocery when I got off work. I bought enough to make 2 pans of it, thinking I would take one to Julie this weekend. It turned out great and is certainly a recipe I will use again.

I did remember to take a few photos as I was assembling.


The recipe calls for Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles and I don’t think I have tried these before, but I remembered that Julie had and wasn’t impressed. I guess they have come a long way because they worked great and tasted good also. I think the secret to these is to make sure they don’t overlap. They certainly do look translucent, don’t they.




Janet stopped by to get a photo of her Redwork Quilt taken so she can enter it in the Columbus, OH quilt show in June. I’d say she had perfect timing because not long after the photos were taken, the lasagna and garlic bread were ready to eat. We enjoyed our dinner and then I showed her all my goodies from Paducah.


Not really wanting to start on something new, I got out my Grandmothers Flower Garden blocks to have something to do during American Idol. I think I started these about 4-5 years ago and mostly only work on them in the car on long trips. I took them to Paducah in case I had extra time, but didn’t work on them until I was at the hospital during Julie’s surgery on Saturday.

Meeting Some Blog Friends

Here we are, bloggers and friends, after enjoying homemade apple pie and ice cream. We had a wonderful time chatting about the show, blogging, and of course, Judy's wonderful culinary skills.

That pie was YUMMY!

Stashbusting Week #17

USED:

April 20-26, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 16 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 93.25 yards

Fabric Used This Week - .75 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 129.125 yards

YEAR TO DATE NET TOTAL: 35.875 yards

Not bad for being at Paducah, I think.

PURCHASES:

2 More UFOs Finished

I finished the binding on these two in the eveinings at Paducah. The first one is from leftover jelly roll strips and I quilted it using the Siberian Iris pantograph by Lorien Quilting. It's the first time I have used this one and I really like it. The thread is Mother Goose PermaCore and the batting is Hobbs 80/20. I don't really have a plan for this one, so for now it's just on the quilt rack.





This one is a Bonnie Hunter pattern called Bricks and Stepping-Stones. I started it last year and put it together at Ross camp a month or so ago. The quilting is Celtic Scroll by Keryn Emmerson, the thread is Mother Goose PermaCore and the batting is Hobbs 80/20. This one is a charity quilt going to Teens in Foster Care and I hope it brings comfort to someone that needs it.

Back From Paducah

I'm home from Paducah and have had a lazy day today. I had a scratchy throat all the while I was gone and today it has turned into a real doozy of a cold.

I've had a great time going through my purchases and almost got the energy to start something new, but not quite. Here's a little peek at the fabric that will show up on my stash report, along with some new books and other treasures.


We spent a day at the convention center and part of a day downtown, where I shared lunch with a group of Dear Janer's. Then it was off to the Rotary Club and then to Eleanor Burns at the fairgrounds for shopping and her show.

It was a great trip and I enjoyed spending time with JudyL, Elaine, Becky, JoNell and Billy. Our cabin worked out perfectly and we sure did have enough food for another dozen people.

I did leave a bit earlier than I expected because my daughter was admitted to the hospital and had gall bladder surgery yesterday. I arrived at the hospital just in time to see her in between a CT Scan and surgery. She spent the night at the hospital and had another CT Scan today before going home this afternoon. I hope she is able to get some rest and that she'll call if she needs anything. Love you Julie!!

Paducah Bound

I'm all packed and ready to head for Paducah.

See you on Sunday!

2 Beautiful Quilts

I finally got photos of these 2 quilts, which are packed up and ready to be delivered to Rosemary while in Paducah. I wanted to take photos outside on the stand, but it has been raining here for 3 days now. I set it up inside and the colors are are not true, but you can still see that they are beautiful quilts.
The first one was quilted using the pantograph Jacobean by Keryn Emmerson, and the last is a Circle Lord Baptist Fan.

Adding More Quilting

Remember this quilt. I thought it might need more quilting and this past weekend, I added some line dancing to the squares. Looks a lot better and Gwen was happy with it.



One more sleep!!

I Think He Likes Them!

Here's Andrew with his birthday gifts from Dan and I.

The quilt and pillowcase:




The picnic table:

Stashbusting Week #16

Well, it was an OK week for me. I didn't purchase anything and used a little.

April 13-19, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 0
Fabric Added Year to Date - 77.25 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 7 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 128.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE NET TOTAL: 52.125 yards

Hopefully next weeks report will be equally good, although I doubt it because there are only 2 more sleeps before I go to Paducah!

Whew, she's all fixed!

Well Mabel is back in business. All she needed was a new single stitch button. Many thanks to Jane's husband, Duane for talking me through the diagnostics stuff. Thank goodness I had some extra buttons here in a little parts kit that came with my machine.

I finished Rosemary's flying geese quilt last night before I started sorting coupons. I'll ge a better photo of it today, but here is a peek. Mother Goose Permacore thread, Hobbs 80/20 batting and Jacobean panto by Keryn Emmerson. Thisphoto is really washed out and doesn't show the beautiful colors at all.



Now, about those coupons....did you know that K-mart is having another double coupon event. I'm going to try to get there early so that the shelves for this weeks sale items are not empty like they were the last time. I really enjoy getting a great deal using coupons at CVS, Walgreens, Target, Meijer, and Kroger, but when I go to buy something the second day of a sale and the shelves are EMPTY, it irritates me. OK, I'm off my soapbox and heading out to shop, then quilt, then the birthday party at Chuck E Cheese!

Oh No....Mabel is Sick!

I'm not sure what happened, but I was stitching along just fine and I got to a stopping point and pushed the stop button and she kept taking very slow stitches, like I was pressing the single stitch button.

Now the stop/start button doesn't work and the single stitch button causes her to stitch and stitch and stitch.

Any Gammill experts out there care to take a guess.

A New Hat!

Tonight I made this cute little summer hat for Elizabeth.



I got a few patterns at Joanns a while back for sunsuits and dresses and decided to make one. It has been a while since I've done any garment sewing and it took a few tries to get back in the swing of backstitching and 5/8" seams. My thread kept breaking and so I removed the throat plate and AKKKK, I can't believe how much lint was in there. Now, I cleaned this out before I went to Shipshe, so it has only been 2 weeks. YOu might remember me talking about Essentials thread from Connecting Threads last fall and I had lots of lint then also. I hadn't been using it until just the last month or so. I'm going to use it all up and just have to remember to clean out the bobbin area once a week, at least.



Anyway, back to the hat....here is the back, complete with a little bow.


The pattern is McCalls 4424 and just takes a half yard of fabric, a 3" piece of elastic, and a couple hours.



Now you might ask, "Why did I make her a red and white polka-dot hat?"


Well, to go with her new bathing suit, of course.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW

WOW, I can't believe that you are two years old already!



What a precious little boy you are....I hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Love, Nana

Andrew's 2nd Birthday Quilt

I got the first side of the binding sewn on last night and will certainly have the hand sewing finished by his party on Sunday. Notice, I said Sunday....for several weeks now I have been thinking his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese was going to be on Saturday. Thank heavens I talked to Julie last night and she confirmed what Jason and Kathy told me about the day of the party.



The panels of this quilt are from a fabric book kit I purchased from Joann's right after Christmas. they were on clearance for $4.97 and it was during one of those special sales where all the clearance is an additional 50% off. I think I bought 5 different ones at that time. I'm not sure I will use all of them this way, but I love how it turned out.



Since it was a book, one of the panels says, "This book belongs to:"
I appliqued a matching piece of fabric over the work book and wrote "Quilt" on it. Not perfect, but at least it doesn't say book anymore.

Julie said last night that he can climb out of his bed now, so it won't be long before he is sleeping in the twin bed in his room.

the pantograph is Square Spiral by Keryn Emmerson, the batting is Hobbs 80/20 and the thread is good old PermaCore White.

I hope he cuddles with it for many years.

Another Really Nice Baptist Fan

This one belongs to Rosemary and I'm sure she will love it. It has such a classic look to it and she always does such a nice job with colors. I used PermaCore Camel thread, Hobbs 80/20 batting and of course, the Circle Lord Fan/Clam template.

Stashbusting Week #15

This is actually for Weeks 14 + 15 because I didn't post last week.

March 30 - April 12, 2009

Fabric Added This Week - 14 yards (Yikes, that sounds like a lot, but I have plans for every bit of it that I didn't use these past 2 weeks)
Fabric Added Year to Date - 77.25 yards

Fabric Used This Week - 11.625 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 121.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE NET TOTAL: 44.125 yards

Blue Photo Quilt

This one was finished, binding and all, on Saturday night.

Just a simple meander, Lava Kona thread, Hobbs 80/20 batting. I'm going to try to get a better photo today.

Chickendale Farms

A few years ago some of our guild members started a business, called Chickendale Farms. They didn't have a storefront, but did booths at quilt shows and had a Monday Sampler Block of the Month. The quilts that I have seen from that are all lovely, including this one of Mary's. I used the Circle Lord Baptist Fan, PermaCore Camel Thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

The quilt really isn't that bright, but the photos were taken outside in the sun.

Ribbons and Roses

This quilt is a surprise for someone, so I can't show you the front, but just look at the back. I love it....the fabric is yummy and the pattern looks really good on it.
I used Permacore Egshell, Hobbl 80/20 batting and the panto is Ribbons and Roses by Jodi Beamish

She's Getting Better!

Sorry for the extra slow blog postings.....I have been so busy, both at work and in the evenings. Dan has been working out of town and my nights just seem to fly by.

Janet came over to quilt on Monday evening and finished her Gypsy Rose quilt. She used the Leafage panto and just whipped right through it.
She was much more comfortable with Mabel this time.

Shipshe

The weekend at Shipshe was great fun. We laughed and sewed and laughed and ate and laughed....well, you get the picture, it was a blast. I didn't do too bad on my stashbusting as you will see in my next post. I got quite a bit accomplished on the quilting front. At times I felt like a slave-driver when we were out shopping or eating, by saying, "let's go, let's go!" I was a bit worried that my little car wouldn't hold everything that was purchased, but alas, it all fit and we made it back home without stopping at one quilt shop.

On the way there, we stopped at Alco in Delphi, where I purchased some Civil War fabric for the setting triangles of my Memories of Marlene quilt.
The Thread Shed in Rochester was to be our next stop, which didn't open till noon, so Shelly just window shopped a bit there.
Then, another Alco, this one in Nappannee, where I bought some more of that Civil War fabric and a piece of wide backing.
Next up was Jeanette's Fabric Boutique in Wakarusa. What a nice shop. Janet and Shelly both bought quite a bit at that one. I tried out the new Baby Lock mid-arm machine. It was pretty smooth and a very nice machiine, although I certainly don't think it's worth MORE than my Gammill.
Calico Point was the last stop before Shipshe and what a great shop that was. They had their fabric on rods hung horizontally, about eight rows high and what a fun way to display fabric. I bought another backing remenant, but that's all for me.

At the farmstead in, we sewed in a room called, Red Barn Up. It overlooks the swimming pool, which is in the barn looking part of the inn.

My projects for the weekend included this quilt for Andrew's second birthday. This was a book kit and I planned to make a book, but changed my mind and I cut apart the pages and added some sashing to look like roads. The red and black were FQs from Lolly's boat.



I put together the blocks for my Memories of Marlene quilt, but still have to do the borders.


I worked on my Storyteller quilt from the FQS and discovered that I was 2 dark blocks short, so I had to buy another FQ from Lolly's.


After working on all those UFOs, I gave in and purchased a little kit from Yoder's. It's only 35x23 and here's how it started out....126 fan blades.


Here it what I got accomplished before we packed up on Saturday night. MIne will have all yellow sunflowers.

Janet's Maypole Quilt

I got these close-up shots of Janet's Maypole quilt before she picked it up last night.





She stayed for quite a while looking through my magazine discard box. I cleaned my magazine shelves on Saturday and have a full paper box of old magazines (2000-2006). I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I thought of saving them for our guild auction, but really don't want to store them for a year. We talked about listing them on Craigslist or Freecycle. If you want to stop by and go through the box yourself, that would be great!

More about the T-shirt quilts

Here is number 2 of the quilts I made for Candy to donate to the Relay for Life. Since there are lots of different colored t-shirts I thought this paint splatter fabric would work well as sashing and backing. This one has a simple meander, Hobbs 80/20 batting and Permacore Yellow thread.


And a close-up:


Speaking of close-ups, here's one of Candy's t-shirt #1: