halloween

make quilts while the sunshines

trying to get my UFO's caught up so i can go full-tilt into my Christmas projects

finally got this one quilted last night. was sure a challenge. i wanted to do a chain through the sashing and the border and i could not get any marking pens to mark on the fabric *grumble grumble*. so i went ahead and meandered it. i'm just so bored of meandering *sigh*

wordless wednesday

tempting tuesday!!

comment on THIS post and enter to win your choice of any of the cards i posted in the month of october. good luck!

and the winner is
jwilco said...
Does someone in your family like yellow cars? Cute card.
October 30, 2007 7:22 PM

please email me your snail mail and which card you would like. thanx everyone!

quilt monday

soggy day at the pumpkin patch

the weather man had the weather today wrong! we headed off to a local apple farm to find some pumpkins anyway-it was pretty muddy but we got some good pumpkins

it is amazing

at how much you can get done in a short period of time. i had 30minutes to kill friday evening so i pulled out some stamps and created 8 cards! i did the one on the right first and i was trimming the red background on the card on the left when i thought, why not leave it. i really like how it turned out. this cute hockey player stamp is a Bella stamp i totally forgot i had it lol!

snack saturday

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
1 egg
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 squares Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions
1 PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Mix flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until well blended after each addition. Stir in chocolate.
2 DROP heaping tablespoonfuls of dough, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.
3 BAKE 10 to 12 min. or until lightly browned. Cool 1 min.; remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.

Substitute
Substitute 1 cup Baker's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips for the chopped chocolate squares.

and the winners are

CAKVD wins the stamping goodies and Swooze wins the quilting goodies. if you both can email me your mailing information i will get your prizes mailed off to you.

thank you again to all my readers for making the past year so much fun! and don't forget, that this coming tuesday is Tempting Tuesday your chance to win your choice of a card i've posted that month!

blogversary!

my 1 year of blogging was Friday and want to say thank you to all my readers by having a giveaway.

so reply to this and i'll draw TWO winners on Friday! first goodie package is Karen McTavishs' book The Secrets of Elemental Quilting(comes with a CD as well) the This and That pattern and a fabric panel with a rooster and sunflower

second package will be stamping related, just have to decide what exactly it will be! here's a sneak preview



*post will remain sticky until Friday. scroll down for new posts*

card friday

winter white

picked up this quilting pattern by Dave Hudson while at Innovations last month. got the chance to use it on this customer quilt. love the pattern

wordless wednesday

fun mail

received a surprise in the mail today, this lovely card and a CD from my friend Cindy. thanx Cindy!

quilt monday

quilt show

mom and i spent the day at the Chilliwack Quilt Guilds quilt show today. was very neat to see quilts i have quilted on display.




now to find my sewing table under this mess and get some of my own quilting done tonight

snack saturday

i made this earlier this week and it was fabulous!

chocolate covered oreo cookie cake


1 pkg. (2-layer size) devil's food chocolate cake mix

4 squares Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, cut up

1 pkg. (8 oz.)Cream Cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups thawed Whipped Topping

12 OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, coarsely crushed

PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare and bake cake mix in two (9-inch) round cake pans as directed on package. Cool in pans 5 min. Invert onto wire racks; remove pans. Cool layers completely.

PLACE chocolate and butter in small microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Cool 5 min.

BEAT cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add the whipped topping and cookie crumbs; mix lightly. Place 1 of the cake layers, top-side down, on serving plate; spread with the cream cheese mixture. Cover with the remaining cake layer, top-side up. Spoon glaze over top of cake. Let stand until set. Store in refrigerator.

card friday

joined the local quilt guild last night

and of course the first meeting i go to is the one to discuss the coming years budget lol!
i haven't been working as much this week. Jim got back home from a successful hunting trip on Monday and has had the rest of the week off. tomorrow the boys all have no school and i'm looking forward to spending today and tomorrow attached to my sewing machine!
and because i don't like posting without a picture, here's one of my scarecrow

wordless wednesday

got some stamping time

in on the weekend. this is my favorite of the cards i made

boring blogger

my apologies for the horrible lack of posts this past week. Jim left Thanksgiving for his annual hunting trip(he's on his way back home today) i ended up working on one quilt the entire week. with only me doing all the kids stuff, i didn't get any good long stretches for quilting.

this is the quilt. its being entered in the Chilliwack Quilting Guilds quilt show this saturday(if you are in the area, come on out. mom and i will have a both there selling threads and patterns)

we ended up putting an extra piece of batting in the quilt as the floral points were really pointing(had the hopping foot get caught once or twice-ack) she also used a sateen sheet for the backing;i ended up going through FIVE needles-good thing i know a great place where i can get more ;) lol

she picked up the quilt today and literally freaked. her reaction was the best, she was thrilled. i have a feeling i might be getting more quilts from her again!

quilting pattern-drifting leaves by Darlene Epp and a wonderful new thread called Cucirini Tre Stelle

quilt monday

snack saturday

Fudgy Brownies

INGREDIENTS

* 4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
* 1 cup butter (no substitutes), cubed
* 4 eggs
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* confectioners' sugar


DIRECTIONS

1. In a microwave, melt unsweetened chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for 1-2 minutes or until light and lemon-colored. Beat in the chocolate mixture. Add flour; beat just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans if desired.
2. Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

card friday

what i'm working on

in my little spurts of spare time. mom and i have been deluged with quilting, i have 7 things due by November 1st(insert hysterical laughter here) i'm copying a quilt that Busy Quilt Mom shared a few weeks ago that was perfect for the packages of charm squares i had laying around

win this lovely bag

run over to Crazy Mom Quilts and enter to win this lovely quilted bag. please let her know that i sent you!

wordless wednesday

quilt monday

Happy Thanksgiving!

snack saturday

Crumble-Topped Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients:

* 1 2/3 cups (11-oz. pkg.) Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Morsels, divided
* 1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 large eggs
* 1 cup water
* 2 bars (2.1 oz. each) BUTTERFINGER Candy Bar, coarsely chopped

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 325° F. Grease 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

MICROWAVE 1 cup peanut butter and milk chocolate morsels and semi-sweet morsels in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) power for 1 minute; STIR. The morsels may retain some of their original shape. If necessary, microwave at additional 10- to 15-second intervals, stirring just until melted.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in melted morsels. Gradually beat in flour mixture alternately with water until smooth. Spread into prepared pan.

BAKE for 40 to 45 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately sprinkle remaining peanut butter and milk chocolate morsels. Let stand 5 minutes or until morsels are shiny; spread evenly. Sprinkle with BUTTERFINGER® pieces. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

ingenious

on our longarm quilting machines, we have clamps, 2 on each side, that attach to the edge of the quilt to keep it taught while quilting. i hate hate hate them. they don't give even tension to the quilt sandwich and too many times to count have i ran into them while quilting

when we were at Innovations, we hoped to find some of the new flat, featherweight clamps that have been chatted about on various quilting boards and in quilting magazines. we found nothing.

than i had a moment of brilliance (stop laughing)what about pant hangers?? so i spent $2(plus tax lol) and got a pair. and guess what? FANTASTIC! so much easier than the ugly clamps, these are flat, easier to open-love them!

more great mail

this has been the best mail week!

received this lovely Bella card yesterday from my friend Janet. if you are a Bella fan, there is no shipping on orders over $20 this weekend.

than this lovely early birthday card from Cindy. thank you both!

card friday

surprise blog candy

over at Grateful Heart

Happy Thursday!

busy busy busy

this week has been nuts. you know where you feel like you are just running in circles and not getting anything done? that's my week so far.

i did get a chance today to start working on a Christmas present(it is just around the corner!) i had planned to make it last year but ran out of time. as i've posted before, M LOVES ducks. we are going onto year 4 of duck love lol so this is a perfect gift for him


i can't get over how many pieces there are too this-look at all the legs and beaks!

wordless wednesday

cold and wet

ugh, what a gross day out! it seems too early in the fall to have weather this yucky already!
got a little carried away with the bling on this card but i think it still works. i've used this SU stamp allot lately-it's one of my favorites

surprise in the mail box today

found this lovely card from my friend Barb. Barb and i met roughly 6yrs ago on a parenting site we both frequented. her boys are the same ages as my younger 2 and we have been great friends since. thanx so much Barb!

quilt monday