Make-A-List Monday

Make-A-List Monday

What a difference a week makes?!  It is absolutely gorgeous outside.  This great weather sure puts a "spring" in my step.

The Week of April 23, 2012

(in review)

1.  Finish binding and labeling a quilt I made for my friend Megan's new baby.  The quilt is complete.  Both quilts I made for her were delivered at her shower yesterday.  I will post pictures tomorrow for Show & Tell Tuesday.

2.  Attend at least a few of the Pirate baseball games this week.  I made it to one game...a win over Lawrence.  There are 4 games this week.  I LOVE baseball season.

3.  Quilt and bind three John Deere quilts for Quilts for Kids. 

I think they turned out really well.  I will deliver them tomorrow.

4. Complete two Saturday Sampler blocks for Pennington Quilt Works.

 5.  Complete two blocks for the Quilt Square Quilt Along at Jo's Country Junction. 

Wow, a very productive week!   I was actually able to complete one thing that was not on my list this week.  I was able to finish piecing the Baby Boy Hutchinson quilt entitled, Summer School.
 With the leftover fabric I was able to piece another that is a little smaller.
If you are interested in this quilt you can get a kit from Calico Corner in Carlisle, PA.

We were finally able to celebrate both of my son's birthdays.  I made no-sew tied fleece NY Mets blankets for them to cuddle under when they watch games. Let's Go Mets!!

Now to make plans for this coming week.....

The Week of April 30, 2012

1.  Work on the April and May blocks of the month for Craftsy.  I'm doing this BOM with florals.  I am a little behind so I had better get busy!

2.  Make a present for my DMIL for Mother's Day.  I can't say what it is just in case she reads this blog but when it is done I will post pictures.

3.   Attend Quilts for Kids at Pennington Quilt Works.

4.  Prepare my chosen NJ Shop Hop quilt as a leader/ender project.  I have chosen to make the shop hop quilt from Mouse Creek Quilts.  

  I love this quilt but I am considering changing the pieced border.  I'll update my progress on this quilt as I go.  

5.  Complete a few Dear Jane blocks.  I haven't worked on my Dear Jane quilt in a while.  I need to get busy!

That's it for today.  Tomorrow I will share four quilts for Show & Tell Tuesday.

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching!!!

Sharyn

Sunday Soup-athon

Beef ‘n’ Black Bean Soup

·         1 lb               ground beef

·         36 oz             chicken broth

·         14 ½  oz        diced tomatoes, undrained

·         8                   green onions, thinly sliced

·         3                   medium carrots, thinly sliced

·         2                   celery ribs, thinly sliced

·         2                   garlic cloves, minced

·         1 T                sugar

·         1 ½ t             dried basil

·         ½ t                salt

·         ½ t                dried  oregano

·         ½ t                ground cumin

·         ½ t                chili powder

·         2 cans            (15 oz each)  black beans

                        rinsed and drained

·         1 ½ C             cooked rice

1.        In a skillet over medium heat, cook beef until no longer pink; drain.

     Transfer to a slow cooker.

2.        Add the next 12 ingredients.  Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.

3.        Reduce heat to low; cook for 4-5 hours or until vegetables are tender.

4.         Add the beans and rice; cook 1 hour longer or until heated through. 

Foodie Friday

Crab Dip

                                                      

• 2 pkg           (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 pkg           (8 oz) Louis Kemp Crab Delights or fresh crab
• 2 T               finely chopped onion
• 1 T               horseradish
• 1 t               Worcestershire sauce
• 4-6 drops      hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 C            finely chopped walnuts
•                     paprika

Blend all ingredients except walnuts and paprika.  Spread mixture in shallow dish such as a quiche dish.  Top with walnuts and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.  Serve with crackers.

Wordless Wednesday

Kyle and Heather's Baby Shower

Show & Tell Tuesday

Show & Tell Tuesday

The sun is shining in New Jersey and it is a beautiful day!

Today I will share pictures of the baby quilts that I gifted this weekend.  The first quilt was requested by my son and daughter-in-law.  They saw a texture quilt in Babies 'R Us in shades of brown.  They asked  me if  I could make one like it but in blue and white.  This is what I came up with:

Heather and her Texture Quilt

I pre-washed all the fabric for two reasons.  I was afraid the blue might run, and run it did.  I think I had to wash it 3 or 4 times with Color Catchers before the bleeding stopped.  Since I was using all different types of fabric I was also afraid they would shrink at different rates so pre-washing was the way to go.  With all the pre-shrinking I did not want to use cotton batting.  I used a double thickness of poly batting and I quilted in the ditch.  They seemed pleased with the quilt.

Next I made two little boy quilts for my daughter-in-laws' cousins' babies.

I used the same patterns for both quilts but I used different borders and different pieced backings.

  I quilted them with the same pantograph.  The top quilt was given to Max and the bottom quilt was given to Hunter.  The pattern is called "Baby Cakes."  It calls for using a Layer Cake but I used fat quarters.

After the baby boy quilts it was time to make some "girlie" quilts.  

I used the "Crazy Eight" pattern to make this pretty quilt for Matt and Annie's little girl, Kelsey.

This pretty quilt was presented to my Daughter-in-laws' cousins' little girl, Layla. 
It was made with two charm packs and a half hexagon template.

I LOVE the way it turned out!!

The next quilt was one that I designed using a "square in a square in a square" block.

 The center squares were cut from a panel and then I added the next two squares.  This quilt was presented to our friends Ally and Jeff for their new (1 week old!) baby, Mackensie.  When Mackensie is a little older she will be able to play a matching game with the center squares.

The final two quilts that I presented this weekend were LONG overdue.  My dear friend Linda came to the baby shower on Saturday and I was able to give her these two sweet I spy quilts that I designed for her grandchildren Will and Emma.  Oh, BTW, I almost forgot...I also gave an I Spy quilt to Max's older sister, Hollis, at the shower.  She LOVED her quilt and wanted to be wrapped up in it right away!

The final thing I want to share on Show & Tell Tuesday is not a quilt, but a sweater I knitted for my soon-to-be-born grandson.

My son and daughter-in-law both went to the same high school.  The mascot is a pirate so I couldn't resist knitting this cute little sweater.  My husband is a football, basketball and baseball coach at this same high school.  I can't wait to take Baby Boy Hutchinson to some of the games wearing his new hand knit pirate sweater.

Well that is a lot to share for one day.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at these things I have made.  It is so much fun creating these quilts and even more fun giving them to others.  

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching

Sharyn

Make-A-List Monday

Make-A-List Monday

The Week of April 16, 2012

(in review)

1.  Finish preparing the Square-in-a-Square blocks for the memory quilt for baby shower this weekend.  I prepared 66 squares.  This was definitely more than we needed but I wanted a few extra in case anyone needed/wanted to do two.

2.  Finish tacking down binding and label all baby gift quilts.  Take pictures.  I finished all the quilts that I needed for the shower on Saturday.  A lot of the people receiving these quilts were in attendance so it was great to get them done and present them in person.  I will show my pictures tomorrow for Show & Tell Tuesday.

3.  Attend the 11th Annual New Jersey Shop Hop.  I "hopped" on a bus and visited all 11 shops on the Shop Hop.

 I met some new friends and discovered a few new shops.  I hope to win one of the grand prizes (ie. an embroidery machine)  The winners should be chosen later this week.  Wish me luck!

Here is a picture of my purchases.

4.  Attend Pirate Baseball games.

The Pirates won one game and lost one game last week.  They are scheduled for four games this week but today's game has already been postponed because of rain.  Hopefully the rest will be played as scheduled.

5.  Attend a few family functions.  The baby shower was a great success.  

Kyle and Heather Hutchinson

We postponed our son's birthday dinner because of the severe rain we received last night.  Since both of my sons have to drive quite a long way it seemed best to wait until next weekend.

The Week of April 23, 2012

1.  Finish binding and labeling a quilt I made for my friend Megan's new baby.  The shower is Sunday.  I'll post pictures next week.

2.  Attend at least a few of the Pirate baseball games this week.

3.  Quilt and bind three John Deere Quilts for Kids.  These will be delivered next week at Pennington Quilt Works.

4.  Complete two Saturday Sampler blocks for Pennington Quilt Works.  I'll try again to get this done.

5.  Complete two blocks for the Quilt Square Quilt Along at  Jo's Country Junction.  When the blocks are done I will send pictures of them to Jo Kramer.

That's it for the April 23rd issue of Make-A-List Monday.  If the weather continues to be as dark and dreary as it is now, I will probably not get to all of these things.  I just can't seem to get motivated when the weather is like this.  I hope all who read this have a happy, healthy and productive week.

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching!!!

Sharyn