Rain, rain, a little more rain, and recipes

Well, I've been saving a few pictures for a rainy day and here it is!

And not just one rainy day, many of them.

It's been raining and raining and raining.

I think we must be up to at least 10 inches or more by now. Way too much water.

So, I do have some quilting projects to show you, but since the weather is not cooperating with photography today and probably won't be tomorrow either, we'll look at some pictures I've been saving to show you instead.

As soon as spring got stared this year I had my eye on these hot pink geraniums.

If you haven't noticed, I'm really drawn to bright cheery colors this year, especially hot pink.

Is there a particular color you're interested in this season?   

In your quilting or gardening, or both?

My amaryllis came up early his year!

Every fall I mean to buy a few more, but I end up forgetting all about them when I get distracted by all the beautiful fall mums and pumpkins.

It's hard to think about spring then!  

And for my last picture...oh my gosh its raining really hard again.......

It's Copper!  You haven't seen him in awhile, although he always does his best to get in the quilt pictures!

So, since there is a serious lack of quilt pictures in this rainy day post I thought he could have a picture of his own. 

And if you are still with me after all that I've got a few recipe suggestions to share with you.

Awhile ago, I mentioned I've been reading the blog Kevin and Amanda and she's got some wonderful recipes there!  

We've tried a few and have loved them! Since I'm always open to new recipes I thought you might be too.  

These are easy weeknight meals. My favorite!   

Spicy Sausage Pasta - this is the one we've had more than once in a week!

Cheesy Sausage Tortellini

Cheeseburger Macaroni - good and easy!

Next we're going to try

Cheese Ravioli with Five Ingredient Homemade Brown Butter Tomato Sauce.  It looks yummy!

 I've got one more to share that has become popular at my house lately.  

Bacon Cheese Pull Aparts was a hit over the holidays and we just had it last week on a breakfast for dinner night!

To make it more of a casserole I use up to seven, yes I said seven, eggs.  If you'd like it to be a bit more like a bread, just use the one egg that they suggest.

Oh, I add some ground sausage to it too!

Thanks for sticking with me during this rainy day!  I thought it would be a good time to share some pictures and recipes while I wait for the sun to come back.  

That may be a few days...... now I hear thunder!

     

Changed up Hat Trick

It's time again for the Schnibbles parade!

The first of the May will be first Vintage Schnibbles parade of the year!  WooHoo!

Sherri and Sinta have once again graciously agreed to host the parade of small quilts on their blogs at the beginning of each month.

Be sure to stop by and visit!

It's so fun to see the wonderful variety of quilts, all made with Schnibbles patterns designed by the amazing Carrie Nelson.

I hope you can join us by creating your own quilt too!

  

Speaking of variety, that's certainly the category that my Hat Trick quilt falls into this month!

Mine didn't turn out quite like I planned!

Simply Color and Cuzco were the bright, fun charm packs I mixed up to make it. 

I was going to follow the original pattern Carrie created, but I made the mistake of choosing side corner squares and background fabrics that were a bit too busy for the pattern, at least that's what it looked like to me once I got it all laid out.

  My attempt at low volume ended up being a bit too high volume for me!

  

No worries!  I'm not showing any pictures of that phase of the quilt. It wasn't pretty!  Thank goodness I don't even have any!

It just looked too blended together.

 So, it was back to the drawing board!  

I decided I could salvage the quilt and make it even better than I had originally pictured, by leaving out the nine patch blocks from the center of the X's and substituting some quieter blocks all around the quilt.

I switched from charm squares to Kona Snow for the background fabric, which helped tremendously!  

Now I love it!

I still intend to make a quilt just like the original Hat Trick pattern someday. I'm kind of disappointed that it didn't work out for me this time.  

I'd also like to make a quilt using low volume fabrics too!  This just wasn't meant to be the one.  I need to collect some true low volume fabrics to make it work.

I discovered that this is not a pattern that I could jam so many busy fabrics in and expect it to be fine.  I knew it was a bit risky to try, but it all worked out in the end.

At least I think so!

I guess there is no harm in changing plans as you go along.  I need to keep that in mind and take some quilting risks more often.  

Not knowing exactly what you might end up with adds to the fun!!

How does your garden grow?

Peppers, tomatoes, and herbs are what we're growing this year and we're off to a great start!

We're trying out the City Picker boxes this time.  Self-watering and they're on wheels too.

I'll let you know how the growing goes.     

Cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and datil peppers will be on the menu this summer at our house.

In case you're not familiar with them, datil peppers are a sweet, spicy pepper mostly grown in St. Augustine, Florida. We were lucky to find a few plants at our local nursery this year.

My sons love them! 

   

What are you growing or planning to grow? 

As far as quilting goes, I'm working on my Hat Trick Schnibble. 

I'm making a few changes to the pattern because my original plan for the background fabrics just didn't work out.

It turns out that when my blocks formed the X's, they all mushed together and I felt like they need to be separated to look nice.

In hindsight, I should have used quieter fabrics for the side squares, but I do like how it's turning out now.

Hopefully I'll be able to show it soon!

  

This afternoon

This afternoon I found some time to work on these.

Just a few blocks for my Hat Trick Schnibble.

A nice way to spend a Friday!

It's supposed to be rainy here for the next few days, so I should get lots more of these blocks done over the weekend.

That's a good thing because the Schnibbles parade will be here before you know it!

My new basil needed to be planted before the rain, so this afternoon was a good time for that too.

We're looking forward to plenty of pesto and lots of Caprese Salad this summer!

I can't wait!

  I'm going to make this short, since movie night, complete with a movie snack, is about to start!

Enjoy your weekend!

Zig Zag

Today I did some quilting.

I'm trying out that zig-zag stitch on the table runner I'm working on and I really like it!

I figured I'd use it for the first time on something small that I'm not too invested in.  

The stitch length I'm using on my Bernina is 2.5 and the stitch width is 4.9.

 For the spacing I put the outer edge of my walking foot on the highest point, or farthest point I guess, of the previous row.

I'm also using the pattern reverse button every other row.  I don't think I've ever used that button before!  I'm not sure it's really necessary to do this, but it does offset the design a bit.

When it's finished I'll be sure to show you the results!

   

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

I just had a helper choose the winner of the ByAnnie's Soft and Stable giveaway!

Drumroll please! 

I know you can't hear it, but there really is a junior high band member doing a drumroll in the background.

Doesn't it add to the suspense?

And the winner is Fiesta from the blog Quilting Fiesta!

If you'll email me your information Fiesta, I'll pass it along to Annie so she can send you some Soft and Stable!  

Congratulations!   

Isn't this mug just amazing?  My friend Robin gave it to me for my birthday last month.

It's from Anthropologie.

It seemed like a good place to put the names for the Soft and Stable giveaway drawing.

I've been wanting to use it, but it seems to pretty to use for drinks!

Right now it's just on display.  Robin said I should use it for anything, but I can't seem to do it!

Kind of like not wanting to use that beautiful piece of fabric in a project, I guess!

Do you have trouble using your favorite things or is it just me?

Something easy

I took a little break from some other projects I've been working on to whip up a few pillowcases. 

One of my boys is crazy about soccer and the other loves the Florida Gators, so these fabrics were an instant hit!

There are a few different sets of instructions that I have for these pillowcases and they are all basically the same.  Some of my sewing friends know them as "The Amazing Pillowcase Instructions".

The French seam is my favorite part.  It's nice not to have those ravelly edges on the inside!

  The pillowcases I made before my LQS gave me these wonderful instructions are all gooped up with ravelly fabric at the seam allowances from being washed so many times over the years.

The accent strip by the cuff is a fun feature too.  It's actually a flap, so it adds an extra bit of dimension.

Edge stitching isn't mentioned in any of the instructions that I have to make pillowcases,  but I usually edge stitch the accent piece, the cuff, and also where the cuff and accent piece meet.

  This gives it a finished look and helps keep the folds in place.

Have you made something fun and easy lately?

By the way, it's not too late to leave a comment on my last post if you're interested in the ByAnnie's Soft and Stable giveaway.  Comments close at 10:00 pm Wednesday night. 

It's an especially good opportunity if you have a new summer bag on your to do list!

Have a great week!