Friday, October 29, 2010

Eighteen!

Eighteen years ago today, my son Steve was born & changed my world forever. Each of my children has had a special place in our family. From day one, Steve's job has been to make us all laugh. He has big blue eyes that just sparkle when he tells a funny story.... which is just about every day!

Don't you just love this fabulous picture? My friend, Stephanie, took Steve's senior pictures a couple months ago & they reflect his personality so well! If you are a local friend, I highly recommend her as a photographer. Here's her website, so you can check out more of her wonderful work.

Happy Birthday to my awesome son. I'm so proud of everything you have accomplished already! And I can't wait to hear your next funny story!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

in my mailbox...

Yesterday, when I went to the mailbox I found a wonderful package from Australia, filled with Christmas goodies! My blogging buddy, Maria, and I had decided to do a Christmas swap. We just mailed our packages, less than two weeks ago... and guess what? They arrived at their destinations on the same day! You can read about Maria's package here.
Inside my package were wonderful goodies! A handmade card from Maria with a lovely note. A beautiful 2011 calendar with Australia Wildflowers on each page. Some chocolate bars with sweet little Aussie animals on the wrappers. A gorgeous machine embroidery bookmark and a postcard from her guild's hanging.

And this sweet angel who will hang in my sewing room all year long & remind me of Maria.....

 Isn't she pretty? I love the redwork embroidery! Oh, & last but certainly not least, this table runner which is too pretty to even describe! What beautiful work you do Maria!
It was all wrapped up in darling Santa fabric that I will use for something special... not sure what yet!
Isn't it fun when Christmas comes early! Thank you Maria! I will treasure all of my goodies for a long time (ok, not the chocolate! it will NOT last forever!)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

announcement...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled craft blogging to bring you this important message.



The Texas Rangers have won the American League Championship and are going to the World Series!
This particular craft blogger is a huge baseball fan.
Sorry if I have disrupted your day, but I really thought this was important!
GO RANGERS!

Monday, October 18, 2010

A new bag

I've been working on a new bag pattern! What do you think?   
 
It takes a charm pack (not even a whole one! In fact, one charm pack would yield enough squares for at least 2 bags), a fat quarter and 3/4 yard for the lining. The straps are long to hang on your shoulder.
 I am hoping to have the pattern ready to send to my testers by November 1 so I can have the pattern ready for all of you before Christmas! Yay! Stay tuned!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Fall Bounty

This morning, hubby & I got up early & headed downtown to the Dallas Farmers Market! We had never been before. It was a beautiful morning, a little chilly, perfect with a sweatshirt, plenty of sunshine! I wanted to take pictures down at the Market but hubby was embarassed. He didn't want to look like tourists (honestly, I didn't care! But I honored his wishes).

So I took a picture of my loot on the kitchen table after we got home!
 Look at those colors! The whole farmers market was like that, gorgeous colored fruits & veggies beautifully displayed. I can't wait to cook up some of these goodies!
 And the fall oranges & golds & greens! We had to get a pumpkin (for the kids. or at least that's the story we tell. Hubby LOVES to carve pumpkins!) and some beautiful small pumpkins & gourds for fall decorating.
There was a craft barn, huge disappointment! Most of the booths were empty or closed. And we were amazed at how few people were there shopping! I had always heard that to get the best produce, you needed to be there when the market opens. Well. There was hardly anybody there shopping! When we were leaving about an hour after we arrived, there were more cars in the lot & a few more people wandering in but not a crowd. I am wondering if it is because today is the last day of the Texas fair? Maybe.

Now that I know how to get there (not too hard) I look forward to going often!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Mailed today

This little quilt went into a box today along with the little hats I showed you earlier and some other little treasures. It was all mailed off to Colorado for a baby shower later this month. The quilt is made to fit into baby's bassinet. I hope she likes it!
Also in the mail today is a little holiday swap for a fellow blogger, which I cannot show you here... because she will see it! Have you ever visited Maria's blog Life on the Block? You really must! Especially today, as she is sharing pictures from her guild's recent quilt hanging. I wish I had been there! Looks like so much fun. Anyways, when I know she has gotten her swap box I will share some pictures with you!

Next up, another prototype for my next pattern! I think you'll like it.... I'm having fun developing it.


Saturday, October 9, 2010

Homecoming dance

Ally went to her first homecoming dance tonight!
 The freshmen have their own dance & they kept telling all of them that it was "casual". When we dropped her off, we noticed that most of the boys did indeed do the casual thing.... jeans, tshirts. But the girls? Not so much! Ally fit right in in her beautiful new dress (thanks Aunt Aimee!). She had a wonderful time.

Steve took a friend to the High School dance (which was NOT casual!). He & his friends came to our house before they headed out to dinner so we could do a photo shoot. Great kids!
He has not arrived home just yet but I am sure they had a wonderful time.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Homecoming Mum

It's homecoming week here in Allen, Texas! And that means that Ally got to make her first High School mum! Freshmen at Allen wear Red White & Blue mums....
Here she is this morning, all ready for the Freshman pep rally today! Great job Ally!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Gluten free feast!

I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this cookbook! Last week I found it at Barnes & Noble.
You may remember that I have a great love for Shauna James Ahern's blog. Her writing style is so great. & she gets me. Just sayin. If you want to know more about my personal gluten free journey, you can read this post here. I'm not going to go on & on about that again. But the cookbook..... wow. It reads like a good love story! And the food! Yummmm

Earlier in the week I headed to Sprouts to get the ingredients for a couple of recipes. Hubby & I had decided we would make the potato puree & the pan-seared beef tenderloin with port sauce & balsamic onions. I also got the ingredients to try the bread recipe, but have not tackled that one yet.

I tried to follow the ingredient lists to a tea, but had to make a few adjustments. First off, the beef! Sprouts had some lovely beef tenderloin medallions, but to get 8 of them, which is what the recipe called for for 4 people (and we would have eaten!) would have been nearly $50! Not in the food budget. So I bought some lovely sirloins instead. Also, I bought chicken stock instead of veal.

I am not a huge fan of onions, but let me tell you, these balsamic onions were so sweet & delicious!

 Another switch. We decided to grill the steaks instead of pan searing them. They tasted as good as they look here!
 Check out these potatoes! The best mashed potatoes I have ever had in my life. Let me tell you, always before making mashed potatoes meant buying some basic Idaho potatoes, boiling them up, dumping in some (cold) mild & mashing. Never again. The Yukon Gold potatoes are so much more flavourful. Warming the milk (whole milk) and cream made all the difference & using real butter (instead of the fake stuff in the plastic tub!), and fresh chives on top. HOLY COW! I could have just eaten mashed potatoes all night.....
 Let's just say the teens in the house were happy with this dinner too. Here's my plate all served up.....
and yes, I did have a second serving of the potatoes. This cookbook is not going to help my waistline or my pocketbook but man was this food GOOD!

This next week I promise to make a loaf of bread to share with you.... and find another yummy recipe to try on my family!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

the Witch Switch

Do you remember my witch blocks? Here's a refresher! My 9 blocks, all done! I hand blanket stitched them all & it took FOREVER! But I was really happy with the end result. 

Today we took our blocks to the quilt store to swap with the other participants. I think there were about 14 total sets of blocks that got swapped. It looked like mine were the only ones hand sewn, the others were machine appliqued, some with straight stitch, some with zigzag. All of them were so cute! & one of the ladies brought this adorable witch to be our mascot.....

After the swap I came home with these adorable blocks which I will eventually make into a Halloween quilt.

Check out these funky shoes!
What a fun swap! The next swap is star blocks, 30 of them. I really don't have time to do it but I do think I was talked into it this morning! I'll let you know!