Monochromatic challenge - yellow

I was going to do the number 4 for this block but decided 5 stars deserved the yellow color.  As a reminder, this is the monthly monochromatic challenge held by Judy at Patchwork Times. Many are doing quilts and since I'm trying to complete UFOs instead of add to them, I determined 1 block each month for a small toddler quilt.

That said, I am not a fan of my work on this block but it's not horrible. I know my errors and will fix them next time. For instance, if you are working with Steam-a-Seam, be sure to reverse the pattern on the fabric or you waste the fabric. Instead, I added 2 layers of satin (the "5") and spray basted it down to sew.  There's another lesson. Spray baste + Satin (okay, fake satin) = FAILURE.  Yep, had to pin the sucker instead and then pray I wouldn't have pin holes.  Luckily, no pin holes.

Finally, this would have looked a lot better if I used a darker yellow as the background and the lighter fabrics for the applique.  I will do this right for the rest of the blocks.I can say that I do like using the minkee fabric (hard to see it's minkee) as the large star. I like different textures for toddler quilts.  I may or may not re-do this one at the end but for now, this is the first finished block.

Eleven more months of blocks to go plus 4 "filler" blocks for my design and the quilt will be done.  Maybe it will make for a nice donation to a children's hospital.  Here's hoping.

Happy Monday Everyone!
Beck

Mug Rug Swap

I have finished my mug rugs (first ones ever made) for my partner in the swap over at Quilting Bloggers.  This first one is my practice one and I'm glad I did the practice.

On this one I had the binding seam connecting on the short side and it didn't leave me much room to work. Learned lesson one, put the bidning seam on the long side.  Learned lesson two, I still suck at quilting on my domestic machine. I cannot get speed right. I'm too impatient to go slow but break needles when I try to move fast. I think I find a happy medium but then I can't move in a consistent manner and my stitch sizes are different. I'll take my mid-arm for quilting any day.  Finally, lesson learned number three, I cannot machine bind, no matter my pinning or care, and have the sew lines match up on both sides. If you click on an image, you will lines just inside the binding on some sides. That's just the way it is. I hope my partner doesn't mind. The one that is really noticeable I left because I thought it actually looked kind of neat in the overall quilting.  

Anyway, DD says she likes this one so its hers.

The next two are for my swap partner and are front and back shots. Not perfect but I like them. My swap partner said she liked bright colors and not dusty mauve or blue. Not the calico hues, basically.  So, I went with playfully bright and hopefully 4 different schemes (being 2-sided) that would give her an option no matter her mood.

Cheers! Beck

Online Guilds - Favorite Things Friday

My favorite thing does not come with photos or fun jokes today. I'm keeping it super simple and super real.

I call all my online quilting activities and interactions with others (blogging, Facebook, Yahoo Groups) my "guild". My life has not presented the opportunity to break away and go to guild meetings in person but through the internet, I've been able to connect with other quilters, learn a ton of new techniques, get and offer advice, share successes and big failures and participate in quilt alongs, swaps (my first is in process now), mystery quilts, etc.

I'm extremely thankful I not only happened upon a quilting group first through Yahoo and then through the blogging community. I've made friends and I'm truly, truly blessed and more knowledgeable and skillful because of it all... because of YOU participants in it all.

So, my favorite thing is this online guild. I know you will always be here, even if your physical life distracts you or mine distracts me for a bit. 

Thank you, my friends.
Beck

ps- link over to other favorite things with the button on my side bar. It is a "feel good about life" injection everyone needs once a week. :)

Finally, SNOW!

I've been saying all I wanted was snow in this country location I'm renting so I can enjoy the pretty white views.  I've finally got it but before I get to pictures, I have to let you know how the afternoon went.

At about 4pm, my work internet cut out. My little AT&T air card could not get signal. Yikes! I transfered to my home aircard, Sprint, and was able to finish up work for the day then work offline for the rest of the day. It's a good thing there is a Sprint cell tower in my neighbor's yard or I fear that wouldn't have been possible either.

So, DD and I are having a rare, nice evening (she's 14, I'm grumpy by nature, it's rare) and the hubs is at a conference in NC. We are chatting and watching TV When, 7:30pm, the DirecTV signal goes out. Ahh, bummer. So I put her to work. I sent her into the other room with a stack of strips cut for my postage stamp quilt along with the instructions to toss them all on the bed and then just pile them back up. Like 52 card pick-up. Exactly 1 hour later, power flickers a couple times and goes out.

I admit, I had a teeny-weeny self-pity moment wondering what to do. Yep, about 3 seconds there I thought maybe I should cry and have a tantrum but then the real me returned and I went down, moved stored boxes, had a picture drop on my foot slicing a chunk of skin off with the corner of the frame  and checked the breaker just to be sure it was weather and not my house.

Went back upstairs, realized it truly is pitch black in the country at night when even the moon is covered by clouds. Gave DD extra blankets, told her to dress warm, gave her one of the dogs, and instructions not to flush the toilet unless she pooped.  Handed her a flashlight, said she could read for a bit and then nighty-night.  I took the other two dogs, dressed warm, read until about 9pm and nighty-night. 

In the midst of this, I was also about to have a dead cell phone. I was just about to go to the car and charge it for a bit when I remembered the hubs got something that I was never sure was necessary. It was a remote charger thing for our phones. GO HUBS! You ROCK, I'll admit it. YOU WERE RIGHT. (and see, I even said it to the world.) Phone now charging, I was able to call our electric company and report the outage (after 4 tries of circuits being busy).

At 4am, the power came back on. Woo-hoo NOVEC. I was concerned about where I'd have to go to work today but all looks good for productivity. lol  There are no "snow" days for home workers, I don't think. DD just woke up, enjoying another day off of school and the dogs loved being out of their crates for the night and in the beds but hopefully, tonight and tomorrow will bring normalcy back. 

At last, here is the snow scenery I am finally enjoying.

 

Foodies, can you help with bread? Also, a stew recipe.

I can't make bread products. I've tried. I used to be good at it but when I started being a better cook and baker (of sweets), for some reason, my bread making skills suffered. I can't even make a decent bread machine bread (although I'm convinced it's because the machine went on the fritz and wasn't all me)!

Today I was making dinner and decided to bite the bullet and try again. I figured 1 year was long enough to hide and I'd better step out of the shadows and face up to whatever it is I'm doing to screw this all up.  I tried Judy's recipe for Baking Soda Biscuits.  It's a decent biscuit, light on the flavor but that's perfect for what I wanted which was a bread to sop up the gravy of the stew I made.

Her's look like this. (This picture is linked from Judy's posted recipe in the blog link above.)

Mine look like this. Just a tad taller than the 1/2" I was told to roll the dough out to.

Taste was fine, rise was not. What did I do? The dough was not too wet, did I over handle it because I rolled it out as her recipe suggested? should I have just patted it out to 1/2" thickness and left it? Really, I need help here, my bread or biscuits NEVER rise. I am thinking they used to be too wet but now I'm thinking it's because I'm handling the dough too much.  Can it be? Anyone who can make a successful bread, please speak up and I thank you (as does the hubs, the kids, the dogs, my waist line -wait, the waist line might not thank you) in advance.

Onto dinner. Today was a clean out the fridge meal.  My DD loves these meals, they almost always "work" and then I need to post them here so I can remember to come back to them when we want to replicate it.

See how good this looks? 

All the following are leftover ingredients.
- Elk roast, about 1.5 lbs., cut into small cubes (Beef is interchangeable here.)
- Roasted potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, celery and liquid from the elk roast (be sure veggies get chopped into bite size pieces for this one)
- 1/2 can Busch's Bourbon and Brown Sugar baked beans
- 1/2 cup cooked greenbeans (chopped into bite size pieces)
- 1/8 cup marinara (spaghetti) sauce
- 1/8 cup alfredo sauce
- 1/4 cup brown gravy
- 1/4 robust and fruity red wine
- Seasonings, to taste = black pepper, sea salt, paprika, italian seasoning (I used dried seasoning, not fresh)

Dump all ingredients into a large stock pot and stir to combine. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally for 1 to 1.5 hours.  Serve with bread or rolls you did not screw up. Or, serve with the screwed up rolls and tell people not to complain because they didn't have to cook. Whatever works in your household.

Oh, hey and try a glass of that red wine with your meal while you are at it. Yum.

Have a nice evening!
Beck