Valentines day hint

The outlines of the kiddos (d on the left, bean on the right) are the
starting point for an AWESOME V-day decoration (I hope). So excited to
start it tomorrow.
The "boy" quilt (top and back) is totally done. I stitched the binding
on while watching the Grammys. (Taylor Swift is so friggin' adorable!
So glad she won as many as she did!). I looooove the back. It might be
time to play with more solids. I really like the definition of the
quilting on the solid. Hmmmm... It might be time to try my hand at a
"modern" quilt, they tend to hve lots of blank spaces....
I think this quilt is getting donated to a fundraising auction for our
church.... I just don't know why to suggest as the opening bid....
Poor C came in to watch the graphics on the Grammys and passed out, so
he became my model.

we just had the YUMMIEST dinner!

Ramona’s So-Easy-So-Fast Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

2 packages ground turkey from Costco (they come in sets of 4)

2 eggs (big ones, from my chickens, so probably 3 medium?)

1 yellow onion, minced

3 big cloves of garlic, minced

3 big pieces of bread (I used sourdough, from Costco), crumbed in food processor

¼ cup minced parsley

Salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

Heat up 1tbsp olive oil in a small skillet, put in onions, cook over medium heat till onions are soft (5-10 minutes), add minced garlic, cook for another minute or two. Allow it to cool to warm/room temp, (not hot)

In a large bowl, mix breadcrumbs and eggs, then add turkey, spices, and onion mixture, stirring/mixing/combining with your hand(s).

Shape into 1” meatballs and place on a baking sheet, cook for 25-35 minutes (until no longer pink inside) (my oven took a full 35 minutes, but they were still nice and juicy..)

Cool and refrigerate or freeze, then pop them into a pan with sauce and heat till all warm…. Serve over pasta (or on toothpicks as toddler finger food)

I combined recipes from Williams Sonoma, Alton Brown, and several recipes on various cooking websites to get this one, and I will most definitely be making them again!)

aprons for my aunts...

sisters, one lives in the country, both decorate with/eat oodles of peppers, so:

oops!

I just found a bunch of photos of gifts I never posted...
I made two of these ridiculously easy baby dresses for the daughters of friends...



I don't remember where I got the tute, but search bandana dress tutorial....

The boy version...

I just finished the top and backing. I copied the center square, and
then used "boy" colors for the borders and the back. I'm gonna quilt
it like the "girl" version. Not sure which I love more.
Sooo pleased.

Layout choices...

I just whipped out these 2 valentine-y messenger bags. I can't decide
what decorations to put on the flaps. Can't cut fabrics till I decide,
since these hearts are different sizes... Suggestions?

You know that you're addicted to sewing when...

Rather than use wrapping paper (shudder), you whip up a gift bag from
scraps.

baby quilts!

I finished it!
here's the front...

and the back...

I decided to grade the saturation on the back (like we did for the 1/2 square triangles on the front), rather that just use white.
i LOVE it.
I quilted it with double diagonal lines, by drawing lines through the points, then lining up my quilting/1/4" foot on the line, and sewing on either side... so the lines wind up being 1/2" apart...
again, i LOVE it.

just to be pretty, I put my other baby quilts on the fence too....
D has been insisting on having "wankets" on him all the time, so they're both out, getting used constantly... which is good, that's why I made them, after all....
the blue and yellow one is from a book, and the other two I just made up as I went along...

here they are again, with my grapes below and the gorgeous blue sky above...
LOVE winter in Southern California....

Heart-skippy happy

I think I got that phrase from Lucy, over at Attic24...

anyway, everytime I look at the blooming going on in the front yard, that's the phrase that comes to mind...

our little lemon tree is EXPLODING with little tiny lemons! there are over 20 golf-ball or larger ones on a tree that's not even as tall as D!

also, we have millions of poppies popping up all over the lawn. I can't wait to see the bright orange blooms!

rosemary and lavender

currants

night blooming jasmine

hydrangea

Bedtime!

nightly update!

Here's my crocheted blanket so far.... 3 down, 7 in progress, 134 to go!

but hey, I'm ahead of my goal of 1/week! And I'm loving the colors/pattern. I can't wait to use up what I've dyed so far so I can dye more!

And I bordered the baby quilt...

It's a solid red, then a print, white with teeny orange petals, and red, green, brown dots, then a slightly wider orange border...

I'm in LOVE with this quilt....

here's a close up of the print/border...

I'll take better pics tomorrow, but it's 11pm right now, and I need to sleep...

I'm thinking of piecing the back, which I've actually never done before...

I was originally planning on just a plain white background, but now am considering doing a diagonal piecing of pink solids.... from palest to darkest, cause I have 4 from this.... might be cool, not sure if I have enough to go diagonally though... might just do horizontal or white...

input, anyone?

Success!!!

I have one of the 1/2 square triangle baby quilts pieced, just need to
plan the borders... Hopefully I'll choose/sew them tonight, and can
make my quilt sandwich tomorrow (tonight if I'm lucky!).
Also, while my ukulele lessons aren't going so well (it hurts!!!), my
bread baking skills are definitely improving... Thanks in large part
to America's Test Kitchen, (their "Baking Illustrated" book, in
particular), I can now officially make successful biscuits!
I have made 2 awesome batches of "cream biscuits," and a batch of
shortcake biscuits.
Yay!

my pretty dyed yarns...

member these pretty little skeins?
well, they were not wound and put away quickly enough!
I thought it was bad enough that the Bean took them to be necklaces, but then...

I discovered D, using them to "catch" aliens!

and then I looked back, and the Bean had MORE!

she's so pleased with herself!

I have rescued and wound them all up now, so no more toy skeins for babies... but I had to share...

better pictures...

Here's my stack of finished 1/2 square triangles...

I made 18 pairs of solids/prints, 4 of each block, for 2 different (but the same) baby quilts...

(I started with 4.5" squares, but am not bothering to measure beyond that...

here're the blues-greens-yellows...

the pinks-purples-reds-oranges-yellows...

I made my husband help me choose the block order... we both loved the layout of diagonal light to dark, as judged in terms of saturation of the solids...

so here they are, ready to go....

and here's another shot of the yarns I dyed last night, because they make me so happy.