A morsel

Here it is!  

The first pincushion I've ever made!

Now I see why everyone seems to like making them so much.

From picking out the scraps, to sewing on the trim and the buttons, and even filling it up with walnut shells, making this pincushion was such a fun project.

Great for some quilting instant gratification!

I used some Sew Mama Sew scraps from my Dimestore quilt with some random grey fabric from my stash.

I have no idea why I have that grey fabric.  It looks like I bought enough to have a plan for it, but what that plan was I just don't know. 

I do love how it works in this pincushion!

The red fabric on the back is a Moda grunge.  A scrap from a recently completed border. 

When I saw how the grey in the grunge went with the front of the pincushion, I had to use it!   

This all came about because Morsel is the pattern of the month for the Another Year Of Schnibbles parade coming up soon on Sherri's blog and Sinta's too.

A very special thank you to Sherri, Sinta, and of course Carrie too for such a fun year filled with wonderful projects and friendships! 

  

The last minute

It's not to late to make this tasty treat!  Sweet and salty?  You can't go wrong!  

We often have them as movie snacks or a quick sweet treat to take to a party.

They're a guaranteed winner!

You'll need waffle shaped pretzels....regular shaped pretzels will work too, Hershey Kisses or Hugs, and some m&m's.

Heat your oven to 170 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

  Put the pretzels down and place your Kisses and/or Hugs on top.  

Bake for about 3-4 minutes, it depends on your oven, until the candy is soft.  

Then take them out and quickly press the m&m's on top.

 Let them cool for a few minutes then put them in the refrigerator to set.  Fifteen minutes worked for me.  

I let them come back to room temperature, then I put them in some cute Christmas bags to give to friends and neighbors along with some homemade cookies.

These sweet salty treats would make a great New Year's party food too.

I got this recipe years ago from Family Fun magazine.  They have so many great ideas!

Merry Christmas friends!

Enjoy celebrating the season!

It's new to me

Things have been crazy busy around here. 

I'm hoping to find some time to finish this little project up before Christmas.

It gives the fabric line Countdown to Christmas more meaning to me, because that's certainly what I'm doing!  Counting the days going by quickly!

My Christmas decorations are up and ready!  They have been for a few weeks, but I've found something new!  Or at least it's new to me.

Have you seen these flameless candles?

I had thought about getting one, then I decided they sounded sort of cheesy.  I mean a fake candle?  Sounds ridiculous, right?

Wrong!  One happened to jump in my cart at Target the other day..........Which day I really couldn't tell you. I seem to end up there almost every day lately............So I had no choice, but to give this flameless candle a try.

It is really neat!  It has a timer and everything! It's made with scented wax and it even flickers like a real candle too.  I love that I can put it anywhere.  No worries about that pesky flame!

Way better than I would have expected! Not that I won't get a real candle again, but flameless candles certainly belong in my house!

So am I the only one who hadn't tried these candles until recently?  I'm glad I did.  They're a fun little treat!

Or maybe even a last minute gift idea. Is it time to say last minute yet? 

I couldn't resist

I just found these amazing Kate Spain plates at Michael's.  They'll be great to use when I'm giving cookies and treats away this season.

Love them!

Just thought I'd pass it along! You may be able to find some too! 

Drop

It's the last day of the month and my Another Year Of Schnibbles project is finished and ready for the parade!

I used Fig Tree Tapestry mini-charms with a fabric from an older Fig Tree line, Cornicopia, for the border.

This Little Bites pattern by Carrie is called Drop and there were so many different versions included in the pattern it was hard to choose just one! 

I may have to go back and make a few more!

Sherri and Sinta are so kind to be the hostesses for the parade each month, so be sure to stop by their blogs in the next few days and take a look at lots of beautiful of Drops!

I've got a little work to do and a quilt to show too.

Even though this month's Schnibbles project was a quick one, I'm still working on it!

I'm hoping to get these little blocks finished and put together by tomorrow.  I should be able to get it done. 

The potato soup for dinner is in the crock pot and the only thing on the schedule for tonight is the junior high soccer game........Wow, was it cold at last night's game!  That warm potato soup should hit the spot after the game tonight!

I'm entering my favorite Christmas quilt in the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show.  It's one I made a few years back by combining a few Schnibbles quilt patterns and adding my own twist.

I went a little crazy with the quilting and I made some candy canes in the border, swirls of snow all around, and I added some mugs of hot chocolate too.

This quilt is one of my favorites ever so it was hard for me to pick out a just few pictures.  As you can see I just decided to post more than a few!

Grab a mug of hot chocolate for yourself, or a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.....that's what I'm drinking way too much of right now......and look at some wonderful quilts in the 2012 Christmas Quilt Show. 

It might not be too late to add one of yours!

And thanks so much for the helpful comments about blogger storage issues! I knew I could count on you for help!  

See you tomorrow!

      

Thanksgiving and a quick blogging question too.....

A Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow to all of my American blog friends!

Enjoy the time with friends and family and all that yummy food too!

That was going to be the end of this post, but as I was getting these pictures onto Blogger I got a message saying my PicasaWeb album was full. Grrr.    

I was able to delete a few pictures to fit these in, but I'm wondering what to do now.

Has anyone else run into this?  What did you do?

If you've got a few minutes between peeling potatoes and running to the grocery store one more time, I'd appreciate your help.  Thanks!

And can you believe we had to go to the store to get peppercorns today?  After getting all that food and checking and double checking, pepper is what we didn't have?  Good grief!

 Did you forget anything and have to go back?  

And the winner is..........

The winners of my second blogiversary giveaway have been chosen! Yes, there are two winners!  I decided that one just wasn't enough!

To make the "drawing" as random as possible I stole borrowed an idea that I saw on Pat's blog.

  She had her cat choose the winner of a giveaway.  I don't have a cat, but Copper was willing to help out.....anything to get a treat!  And he likes to get his picture on my blog.  He must, since he tries to get in all the quilt photos. 

I printed out all the comments that were left on the giveaway post, cut them apart, and spread them out on the floor.

With just a smidge of tape on the bottom of his paw, Copper picked the winning comments!........He wasn't very happy about the tape being on his paw. He claims it wasn't a smidge.  He'd like me to define smidge.

I was hoping to get better pictures of the drawing, but it didn't go quilt as smoothly as I had planned. Copper was pretty excited about the whole thing. This may have gone better with a cat.......don't tell Copper.  

I have no idea why this picture won't stay in the center even though I keep clicking on "center"! Okay, now after I wrote this caption it's centered.  That's not even funny. I guess I'm keeping the caption to keep it centered.  Grrr.  

Mary On Lake Pulaski was the first winner!  She is from Minnesota and she does some amazing sewing! Mary left the first comment on that post.....See the first comment sometimes wins!

Mary said:

Congratulations on the second anniversary of your blog. Favorite of all time...difficult. Love Neptune, but not neccessarily with the coral included - just the greens and blues. Love Wee Play for baby quilts. Love Rouenarries for elegant.

Izzy from Dizzy Quilts was chosen next! Izzy is from Canada and she was one of my first blog friends! She's a Schnibbles fan too. 

Izzy said:

Congrats on the blog anniversary! Your blog was one of the very first blogs I discovered and started following and I've enjoyed every minute of it! :-). I would say two of my favourite lines would be Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille and Hometown (I forget who the designer was now though).

I'll be sending Mary and Izzy emails asking for their mailing addresses, and  hopefully sending out their prizes next week!

Thank you all for the kind comments you all left on my second blogiversary post!  I enjoyed reading about your favorite fabrics and meeting some new bloggers.

Have a great weekend!!

Dropping in with a tasty treat

Last week I made this tasty Peanut Butter Cake and I was lucky enough to snap this picture before someone ate the last piece!

I have some big peanut butter fans over here who loved it.  Since this recipe went over so well I thought I'd share the link with you.  

It's nice and moist and the frosting is delicious!  Kind of like a cross between cake and fudge. If you love peanut butter, be sure to check out the recipe here.

I made mine in a 9x13 pan instead of a jelly roll pan and baked it for about 23 minutes.

It's definitely a keeper at this house!

I'm planning to start on Drop soon and I'm thinking about using these Tapestry mini-charms that I was lucky enough to win in a Schnibbles parade from Sherri and Quilt Essentials a few months ago.  

But which version of Drop should I make?  I can't decide!  Have you started on it yet?

And if you missed my last post, I'm having a blogiversary giveaway and it's not too late to enter. I'll be back to announce the winner later in the week! 

A blogiversary and a giveaway too!

Yes, last week was my two year Blogiversary!

Notice the new look? I had a little help, well okay actually more than a little, from my DH on that.  I really appreciated it!  Even got it all together once and then the new header we created disappeared when the photo program we were using decided to quit. Not good. Sometimes the computer is not my friend.  It's worked out now though!        

I can't believe it!  Just two years ago I got the nerve to start my own blog and I began meeting so many new, amazing quilting friends!

Blogging is such a wonderful journey for me.

There are so many amazing, creative, and different quilts and projects of all kinds that you all make and share.

  No matter what type fabric, or what kind of quilt or project, I love seeing it all!  

Chatting and exchanging ideas with so many different quilters from around the world is just awesome!   

I truly appreciate all of my blog friends.  I enjoy visiting your wonderful blogs and finding new ones too.  Learning about your lives and hearing about your ups and downs for the past two years has been a great experience for me.

I appreciate that you leave me kind comments on my posts and look my projects and pictures.  You even read and leave supportive comment on the posts that may not be my best work!  LOL!  Thank you! 

So to celebrate I'm having a giveaway!

There are two Marmalade Moda Candies, perfect to use for this month's Schnibble project if you choose, and some of those amazing Wonder Clips!   I just love those and trust me you can't have too many!  I'm also including a fun little notepad and a notebook that reminded me so much of a quilt that I just couldn't pass it up!

Just be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment about your favorite fabric line of all time!  I'm wondering what you like the best. Just for fun. You can name more than one......I don't want to make this too difficult on you! 

I'll pick a winner after this weekend!

Have a good one!

Hubble Highlights

Using Soul Blossoms fabric and some Zen Grey for the background, my Hubble is complete!

I think I'm going without borders again.  I just like that look right now.

The big prints were a change of pace for me.

The parade with Sinta and Sherri will be a blast since there were different patterns to choose from this month. Be sure to go over and check it out in the next few days!

 It's time for me to make the Hot Dog Mummies and the Pumpkin Cheese Ball for tonight, so I've got to make this quick!

Have a fun and frightful evening!

The Halloween Post

Happy Halloween tomorrow!

I just finished this cute pumpkin wall hanging kit and I thought I'd share it. 

It's called Pumpkin Grins.

I did some swirl quilting with spiderwebs in the corners.  

I spent lots of time on those spiderwebs that you really can't see.  I considered quilting them with grey thread then I chickened out.

I was happy with the swirls.

This is the first time I used Aurifil thread and I really liked the look of it.

Copper decided to photobomb this shot.

And no Halloween post would be complete without a few carved pumpkins.

A  custom made roller coaster and a Minion from Despicable Me.

 Halloween night we'll be giving out Halloween jelly beans along with some of our neighbors......

Oops! ha! ha!  We aren't giving out neighbors! Sitting in the driveway with the neighbors I mean!

What will you be doing for Halloween fun?

Butterflies!

Last week the monarch butterflies appeared!

Before I left the house to run a few errands, I noticed the chrysalises looked like this. 

Not much time left!   

When I returned a few hours later, this is what I found!    

After awhile it was time to warm up the wings.

My youngest son got home from school before the last butterfly flew away.

He's the one who picked out the milkweed and chose where to plant them.

While he was looking at the last butterfly, it flew over and landed on him for a minute, right before it flew away as if to say, "Thank you!" before it began it's journey.

Hubble, Halloween, and an update

Here's my Hubble in progress.

I'm using Soul Blossoms like Carrie did, but I'm changing it up with a grey background.

I had a Soul Blossoms layer cake that I cut up.  I was thinking that I use so much white.  I wanted to use something different than my usual background. 

I may be regretting that when I go to do the quilting.  You're going to be able to see every stitch on this solid fabric.

  

I threw this picture in there so you could get a look at my new carpet.

I'm just loving it!

Okay, more new carpet and more Hubble progress.

I've got the whole thing on the floor now.

Is anyone else putting it all together before sewing any of the star points into sections?

I'm not sure if this was a good idea, but I wanted to make sure that like fabrics wouldn't be near each other.

I'll let you know how that works out for me....... 

It suddenly dawned on me that there are only a few weeks left until Halloween, so if I wanted to get this orange and black project finished up in time, I'd better get started on it.

So I set Hubble aside, or I should say I stepped over Hubble, and got to work.

More on that later.........

I have some caterpillar progress to show too!

I was able to get a picture of the guy above as he made his "J" and later when he formed this chrysalis. 

We started out by seeing five caterpillars, two have wondered off somewhere else....... at least I hope so.........to become butterflies.

Now we have three soon-to-be butterflies!

Hopefully I can get a picture of them as they come out, but I know that happens fast, so we'll see if I can catch it! 

 Here's the milkweed plant they were eating in the back, and the iris they decided to form their chrysalises on in the front.

In years past we would leave the milkweed in pots and bring them in once we saw eggs or caterpillars.  But wow those caterpillars are messy!

So, since we were planning a long vacation and cleaning up after the caterpillars is something I could pass on for a year or so, we planted the milkweed in the ground this spring.

Soon after, we cut it way back to remove any leaves that could have had pesticides on them.  Fresh clean stems and leaves quickly grew back. 

Pesticides do nothing for encouraging butterflies to lay eggs on your milkweed plants.

That's how we got to this point and I'll be sure to let you know how things go from here!