Recipe, and goals

I’ve been making homemade pasta sauce lately, and it is so yummy. I wanted to share the recipe with you guys because even my kids eat it like it’s going out of style!

Ingredients:
6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, halved and sliced
3 cans (28 oz) diced tomatoes
1-1/2 tsp salt
¾ tsp pepper
Basil, oregano to taste (fresh is good to use, but you don’t have to)

Cook oil and garlic in large pot over med/low heat until garlic softens 5-6 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, cook over low heat 30 minutes. Add basil, oregano, cook additional 30 minutes.

This makes a lot, and freezes well.

Note: I like to use 1 can diced tomatoes, and 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, then it isn’t too chunky. My kids are so picky!

March Review
Make the March Schnibble Quilt *yes*
Piece backing for Spring Star Quilt *no*
Quilt and Bind Shangri-La Quilt *yes*
Work on Plant the Seeds *no*
Start cutting and piecing Catherine’s Quilt *yes*


What a busy month for me, it wore me out :) I also started a new baby quilt. Made the orange/aqua baby quilt.


April Goals
Piece backing and baste Spring Stars Quilt
Complete Summer Porch Quilt Top
Make the April Schnibble Quilt
Work on Plant the Seeds

My kids' birthdays are next week, and my in-laws are coming to visit! I am so happy they can come. It will be a busy few weeks for me. Wish us luck!

Finished quilt, Shangri La...

On Friday night I had a sewing party, seeing as my sister was here, I had a good reason to get everybody together! We all worked on different projects, and leave it to me to not take one picture :( You can believe me though, we had a great time!

While talking away, I finished my Shangri-la quilt. It feels good to have this done. I stipple quilted it as usual :) The pattern is from Oct. 2008 American Patchwork and Quilting magazine.

Do you see Lilyanne helping hold the quilt??

We tie-died some shirts for the kids, they loved it! I haven't ever done that before, now we'll have to do it more often. Look at these cute kids.

Schnibbles Roundabout

Hey everybody, happy Thursday. It feels like Saturday to me. I took the day off to play. We went to the OMSI today, it's the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in downtown Portland. They have so much to see and play with, if you are ever in the area, you have to go! Their new exhibit is Space, and it was excellent.

So, I finished the Schnibbles quilt for March last night. The pattern is called Roundabout. It went together pretty easily. I used the charm packs called Happy Campers by American Jane. I love them! I had the red polkadots in my stash, they matched perfect. Be sure to visit Sinta and Sherri's blogs on April 1st for the parade of quilts.

Nikki is in town, and we've been having fun with the kids. Her baby Lilyanne is 10 months old now. She is adorable, it's so good to see them again.

Have a nice day everybody!

Using flannel backing on your quilts

I received a comment about flannel backing, and shrinkage. I am not a “pro” at this, but I do pre wash my flannel. I have heard from friends and blogs I’ve read that flannel shrinks quite a bit. So, I pre wash mine now. I like to pre wash it in warm water, and dry it hot, that way it gets the shrinking done before I put it on my quilt. Using flannel on the back of my quilts makes them so much warmer and cozier. I am a big fan of the flannel. I don’t pre-wash my cotton fabric, I have not had problems with bleeding, or shrinkage, so I don’t think it’s necessary (personal preference of course!)

Since I’ve been quilting my quilts using my domestic sewing machine for the past year, my quilts are now “thin”. I use the thin cotton batting. I buy mine pre-packaged from JoAnn’s, I’ve seen it on a big roll too, and you can buy it by the yard. I can’t store something like that, so the pre-packaged batting works best for me. You can’t use a thicker batting and machine quilt your quilts, it’s too bulky. So, flannel is a good option for backing to make your “thin” quilt warm. My kids tell me “I don’t like that quilt, it’s cold, it doesn’t have the fuzzy back” so even they know :)

I hope this answers any questions some of you have!

My sister is visiting for the next week and a half. We have been out and about a little bit. I will be taking her on our habitual trip to Hollyhill Quilt Shoppe out in West Linn this week. This shop I like to tell everybody about, it’s a huge dose of inspiration. They have a blog now Boughs of Holly, so be sure and check it out.

Quilt class at church is this Thursday, and there are some beginners. It has been fun getting to know so many other people and teaching them to make a quilt. I am not a very good teacher, but I am learning haha! My sister will be able to come to it too, which will be great. On Friday night I am having a sewing party. It has been too long since we’ve been able to get all of the girls together, it will be a fun night, I know it.

One more thing, a giveaway is going on for a Happy Campers Jelly Roll. Go visit Green Fairy Quilts, you will be glad you did!

Fabric love, Shangri-La

It's all about Shangri-la fabric today. Shangri-la is a fabric line from Moda that came out a few years ago. It is designed by the 3 Sisters. Pretty much everything they design is just gorgeous. This fabric has been my favorite line of theirs. I pulled out the quilt top I finished back in October. Tonight I am going to baste it, so I can get this off of my WIP list. Here is the backing, isn't it neat?? It's a big map.

And I started another quilt using more of the Shangri-la fabric... I had a fat quarter pack of it, so I had lots :) The quilt pattern is called Summer Porch, and it's by Eleanor Burns. I have to say, I am so impressed with this book. It's spiral bound for one thing, and has lots of very thorough pictures and instructions. It's been so easy to make. There will be white sashing in between the rows and a white border. So summery!

Off to get some dinner, and then basting... my back is going to be sore tonight haha :) Have a good evening!

Orange & Aqua Baby Quilt

So, I tend to hold onto certain fabrics that I love, until the right project comes along that I think is worthy of using the fabric in. This fabric has little gold fish in bags, and they have cute names written underneath them. The fabric is by Heather Ross, who I have grown to love. Her fabric designs are adorable. There is about a yard and a half left still, it will take something else to get me to use more :) This fabric was my base to go off of. I have slowly gathered orange and aqua fabrics for the past year, that matched the goldfish. It finally all came together. This quilt is for a friend who is having a boy in June. I had some left over aqua flannel that I used for the backing. It’s about 48” x 52”. So, it’ll be good to use for several years. I quilted it with white thread and did loop-de-loops quilting on it. This pattern was so simple. I used a pattern from the Spring 2010 Quilts & More magazine. I made it smaller, and changed the width of the sashing so it’d show the fabrics better. There will be more of these baby quilts in my future, all of my friends and cousins are having babies. Love it!

I am getting ready for my sister and her baby Lilyanne to visit us next week. They are staying for two weeks, and I can’t hardly wait. She’ll be here for spring break :)

Gotta Get Away

We had a getaway weekend. We went to see our friend up in Anacortes, Washington. It’s always fun to go see them, they live in such a beautiful town. It’s about an hour and a half north of Seattle. Here is our trip in pictures.

We drove by Seattle, look at that sunshine! Waking up at 5:00 a.m. isn’t easy, but when you have a fun day planned, you manage :) We hopped on the ferry to Port Townsend. The kids entertained themselves on the drive to find the surf. Our destination was the Cape Peninsula, where we all got out and boggled at the sunshine. I hear this area gets the most cloud cover and rain in the United States… (ever read Twilight?) haha! The men went surfing. The waves weren’t big… at all… but they had fun. Us momma’s took the 5 kids down to the beach to play. We had hermit crab races. We found seashells, and enjoyed that sunshine. I didn’t have to take a Vitamin D pill that day! On our way home the sunset was beautiful. Sunday morning we headed back to Portland, but had to stop to see the Space Needle. We’ve been to Seattle several times, but haven’t been to see the Needle up close and personal. We went on up to check it out, it was an awesome view. As you can see, the clouds came back. It was cold! Thanks Seattle for showing us a good time.

Now, back home to reality. The clothes are piling up.

Heather in Real Life

This week I have:

Made a yummy dinner, thanks to Pioneer Woman: Chicken Parmigiania. Go and try it, you’ll love it. The next night we had Macaroni and Cheese, Kraft that is.

Watched a cute movie called New in Town. It made me laugh out loud, several times. Even Mark liked it. But don’t tell anyone.

Drove into a gas station, and was told I pulled in on the wrong side, so I started to backup to go to the other side, and backed right into someone who pulled in behind me, it scared me more than anything… just have to keep it real here. Don’t worry we were all laughing, it was pretty funny.

Started quilting the adorable baby quilt, and the bobbin thread kept on sticking, so I pulled the plate off of the machine and realized how incredibly full of lint it was, holy cow!!! I am surprised my machine was even working. That showed me I need to take better care of my baby. I am IN LOVE with this baby quilt.

Went to Curren's Cub Scout pack meeting and cheered him on as he received his Bobcat patch. Go Curren!

I bought some pretty jewelry on Etsy…. *drools* Found some fat quarters of Heather Bailey’s new fabric Nicey Jane. It sings spring to me, how about you?
Organized some of my quilt patterns in this cute box I found at Target.
I haven’t gone to the gym once this week, and I am ashamed… I couldn’t stop quilting haha!

Listened to Carrie of Miss Rosie’s Quilt Company on Pat Sloan’s radio show. I downloaded the rest of her shows, and LOVED them so much. Thanks Pat for doing the show. If you want to hear some really great people talk about quilting and crafts, listen in, you’ll enjoy it.

Failed at being the tooth fairy for Jessie, but was redeemed the next day with a $5 bill. (I felt bad okay?)

Busy week so far huh? The weekend will be great, a post to follow of course. What is going on in your real life? :D