Tuesday Tips

Tip 1:  Stay inside and quilt today.  We are having freezing rain here.  Our deck is coated with ice and the dogs just came in wet with misty rain on their coats.  I even notice that one quilter posted on Facebook that she called in sick today because of the icy roads and will be having a quilting day.  I declare today a "Quilty Day"!

Tip 2:  Cook something yummy.  I love my new kitchen and have found an outlet for all my baking.  I have been taking my baked goods to church for the social hour.  Its fun because I get to bake what I want, when I want and they love it all.  My family doesn't eat out much since the new kitchen because I cook more.  My roast recipe is on my recipe page.

I use my grandma's old enamel roaster to cook roasts in the oven.  I also use my crockpot a lot.  I love the crockpot liners so there is no mess to clean up. 

 

This morning I tried this recipe for Texas Sheet Cake Cookies.

Bake for 7 minutes.

Cool....

Frost with warm frosting....

 

Enjoy with a cup of Chai tea or your favorite beverage.

 

I wish the little gremlins would come out and do the clean  up!

 

Tip 3:  I wanted to share two of my favorite tools for quilting.  Famore 738 scissors

These work by pinching them so they are easy on the hands.  The tips are the important part.  I use the tips to pick out stitches as well as clipping threads.  These are my "go-to tool" for quilting and sewing.  They have slightly curved-up blades so they are handy for embroidery also.  The Chicago International Quilt Show is coming up on March 26-28th and these are on my shopping list for a second pair.  Famore guarantees sharpness for life and will sharpen them for free.

The Pin Place & Scissor Spot is a magnetic suction cup.  I keep it on my longarm for easy access of pins and the above scissors.  I took the scissors off for the picture.  This item holds a lot of goodies while you are quilting.

 

Stay safe if you have to go out today.  Today I will be linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Mother Nature's Design Wall

Grab a cup of tea, coffee or your favorite drink.  This will be a long post this morning.

So are you having a snow day and sitting in front of the computer looking at what is going on the internet?  We have 15.3 inches of snow on the ground. 

Here is a view outside my backdoor today.   Everything is coated with ice and snow but beautifully sunny.

 

This was the view yesterday morning out the front door. Dreary, windy, snowing,...

 

So let's back up a little and talk about the weekend.  Saturday, I got to slow down a little bit from the busy week.  My friend's son passed away and we spent the week supporting her and the family in whatever their needs were.  Saturday, my husband took care of me since I was so tired.  We bought groceries.  I prepared food for a Super Bowl party knowing that the weather might prevent people from coming to our house.  My husband and son cleaned.

 

Here's our menu:

Vegetable tray along with Grandma Esther's chip dip and chips

Little Smokies in BBQ Sauce

Overnight Chicken Casserole

Fluffy Jello Salad

Party Corn

Hot Rolls

Coconut Cream Pie

 

Good news, one couple made it to our Super Bowl gathering.  The food was yummy!

 

Saturday night we snuggled in with a batch of Vegetable Soup.

We started to watch a movie but it was ugly, violent and intolerable.  So we shut the TV off and went to bed early knowing that it was going to take a lot of energy to dig ourselves out Sunday morning.

I am thankful for a very strong husband and son who are physically fit and able to dig us out.

 

Sunday morning, my husband and I went to the fairgrounds to feed our horse.  We had to park at the gas station nearby and walk into the fairgrounds.  I did the chores cleaning the stall, feeding and watering the horse while he got out the tractor and plowed.  I was able to go back out and drive into pick him up.  We also could drive in later to do the late afternoon feeding.  This morning was a different story.

The barn door is drifted in.



 

My partner, Indy, walked in with me. 

 

As I walked and took this picture, I realized how quiet it was.  Even though I was in town, it was peaceful, no traffic noise, no wind, a majestic blue sky and sparkling snow. 

 

When I arrived home, my husband called to let me know he arrived safely at work.  Its going to be a great day!  Time to get to work.  I have a roll of batting out and time to cut pieces to fit the quilts awaiting quilting.

 

Today I will be linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times. 

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

Tuesday Tip-Cooking for Sew Day

When we have sewing days, we divide up the chores and cooking.

 

The past couple of days, each person signed up to cook a meal.  I cooked Saturday's lunch.  The menu was as follows:

Chili with crackers and cheese.

Fluffy jello salad

Baked custard with Toffee Crackers

 

The chili recipe I prefer is the McCormick spice packet for Chili that you purchase in the grocery store.  I use tomato juice as the liquid for a rich chili.  Just follow the instructions on the packet. For dinner that night we had a baked potato bar and used the chili as one of the toppings.

 

Baked Potatoes in the Slow Cooker

Wash and wrap potatoes in foil.  Prick potatoes and put in Crock Pot with 1/4 c water.  Cook for 8 hours on low.

 

Fluffy Jello Salad

 

1 pkg of jello

1 cup boiling water

1 cup marshmellows

1 med. can of mandarin oranges, drained well

Mix jello with boiling water until dissolved.  Put one cup of ice cubes in jello until dissolved.  Let jello partial set up and then fold in 8 oz of Cool Whip.  Fold in oranges and marshmallows and chill.

 

Baked Custard recipe in the Better Homes and Garden Cook Book. Tripled the recipe.

 

Toffee Crackers

 

Line a jellyroll cookie sheet with foil and spray with Pam cooking spray.  Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.  Fill jelly roll pan with Club crackers laying them edge to edge to cover the pan.

 

In a small sauce pan melt 1/2 c. margarine and 1/2 c. white sugar.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add 1/2 tsp vanilla.  Pour hot mixture over crackers. Sprinkle with 1/2 c. pecan chips

 

Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack or parchment paper.  Made two batches.

 

Today I am linking up with Connie at Freemotion by the River.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry



Vintage Thursday & Cooking It Up

Today my blog is in vintage memory of my mother and a long time family friend, Willamae.  This week is the anniversary of my mother's death 17 years ago at the age of 59.  She was a fabulous wife and mother along with being a great friend to many.  She was healthy until the last two months of her life when she was diagnosed with a gleoblastoma, brain tumor.  She is the reason I love to quilt, sew and craft.  Also, she was the caregiver in our family and I have taken over that roll.  Believe me those have not been easy shoes to fill.  Love and miss you, Mom.

 

Willamae just passed away on Jan. 5th.  She has been our family friend as long as I can remember.  My first memory was of her was working with my mother as a radiologist.  She also was my Grandma Ruth's best friend.  The adventures those two had together would fill a book or two.  I hope my mom, Willamae and Grandma Ruth are having a great reunion in heaven!

 

Yesterday was another whirlwind day.  I went to the basement to get a black and white quilt started.  I immediately was interrupted by a phone call from Matt, who wanted to come look at my furnace and see if he could add a couple of vents in the basement.  After checking out the situation and a short trip to Holt Supply, I now have two vents in my sewing area.  Yippee, another item checked off my To Do List.

 

While on Facebook I found some yummy looking recipes and decided to try them.  I grabbed a bag of my shredded chicken.  See post HERE about making pre-cooking chicken.  First, I found the recipe for Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole.

 

I had so much chicken in the freezer bag, I decided to make this recipe of Chicken Fried Rice.  It is better than take out.

 

This morning I made Toffee Crackers for our Sew Days this weekend.  I have already made and froze chili for Saturday lunch.  Later today I will finish the second part of my dessert which will be homemade custard to pair with the Toffee Crackers. 

 

Can you tell, I just love cooking in my new kitchen?  Now to head to the basement to finish the black and white quilt for my Friday Finish post.  Also, the quilt will get delivered to its owner this weekend.

 The quilting pattern is Drop of Paisley.

 

Its sunny and bright outside and the temperature is suppose to reach 32 degrees.  We are having a heat wave and I am very thankful.

 

Today I have linked up with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

 

24 Hour Salad

My husband's favorite salad for Christmas or any holiday dinner is 24 Hour Salad.  My mom or grandmother would make it in years past, but now that they are both deceased I have learned to make it.  It is not hard just takes a little time.

24 Hour Salad

2 eggs
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. vinegar
2 T. Butter or margarine
1 can (1lb.) Royal Ann Cherries,
pitted and drained (optional, I mostly use just grapes)
1 can (6 1/8 oz.) mandarin oranges, drained
1 can (14 oz.) pineapple chunks or tidbits
1 c. seedless grapes, green or red, cut in half
if large
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans (I don't add these)
2 c. miniature white marshmallows
1 c. (1/2 pt.) whipped cream (or 1 - 8 oz. container of Cool Whip)  I use really cream whipped.

Beat eggs, add sugar and vinegar, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thick.  Remove from heat, stir in butter, cool and place in large bowl.  Add fruit which has been well drained, nuts (optional) and marshmallows.  Whip cream and fold into fruit mixture.  Place in a 9 x 13 pan, or suitable serving dish, and refrigerate overnight.  Garnish with a few orange and pineapple pieces or whole pecans.  Yields:  9 cups

Cheesy Potato Soup

Cheesy Potato Soup

6 c. cubed potatoes
2 c. water
1 c. sliced celery
1 c. sliced carrots
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 tsp. parsley flakes
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 c. milk
1/4 c. all purpose flour
12 oz  Cheddar cheese, shredded

Combine potato cubes, water, celery, carrots, onion, parsley, bouillon cubes, salt and pepper in 2 quart saucepan.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, covered, for 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Mix 1/4 cup milk with flour in small bowl, stirring to form paste.  Stir into soup.  Add remaining milk and cheese.  Simmer of medium heat until thickened, stirring frequently.   About 9 servings.  I like additional cheese on top when I serve it. :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family and friends.

We are enjoying the day visiting with neighbors and chatting with family by phone.

 

I took Grape Salad to share at the neighbor's feast.

 

GRAPE SALAD RECIPE

3 to 4 pounds of red or green seedless grapes

1/2 c.  white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz.  low fat cream cheese

8 oz. low fat or lite sour cream

chopped pecan pieces

brown sugar

 

Wash and dry grapes after pulling them off their stems.

Combine with mixer the white sugar, vanilla, cream cheese and sour cream.

Fold the grapes into the cream cheese mixture with a spatula.  Top with a sprinkling of brown sugar and chopped pecan pieces.  Keep chilled until served.

 

Hope you gobbled up all the turkey and fixin's.

 

Yours in quilting,

Terry

 

Sunday Praise

Today I finally slept in a little.  Being at the hospital or driving wears you out.  I went to church, bought a few groceries, and started cooking for the week.  I am still on call to go back to Des Moines to be with my dad in the hospital or help with Rod's mom.  After putting the groceries away, I mixed up a pot of chili (on the right) to simmer and set out frozen loaves of bread to rise this afternoon.

 

Next I mixed up a batch of Pumpkin Dip for a snack.  The recipe suggested using vanilla wafers or apple slices to dip in it.  I opted for the vanilla wafers as they are easy to have ready.  The recipe is from Hillbilly  Recipes on Facebook.

 

Also, I felt I needed chocolate to keep up my energy this week.  So I baked a pan of double chocolate brownies!  Yes, there are a few missing.  My hubbie and I had to taste test them.  Mmmmm....chewy, gooey good. :)

 

Next the loaves of bread had raised and appeared to be ready for baking.  Oh, the house smelt so good.

 

Ta Dah!  Golden loaf on the cutting board waiting for dinner.  My hubbie and son were impressed.
I was impressed that it tasted so good!  Next time I hope to try the recipe posted on Patchwork Times blog to make it from scratch.

I spent the rest of my day preparing eight quilts for the Gems of the Prairie Quilt Show this weekend in Peoria, IL.  I made sure they were clean, had sleeves, labels, and de-haired from pet hair.  I will drop them off to a friend in Peoria tomorrow.  She will turn them in for me and I will go down to work at the show on Sunday.  The show is being held at the Avanti Dome in Pekin, IL, Saturday and Sunday.

After dinner I received a call that my dad was much improved today.  Thank you for everyone's prayers and good wishes.  He is now in a regular room and making little strides each day.  God is good but it sure is hard to be patient while prayers are answered.

Stop back tomorrow to see what is on my design wall.  Have a great week!

Yours in quilting,
Terry

 

 

 

Confetti Cole Slaw

1 bag of pre-shredded cole slaw cabbage
1 bottle Kraft Poppyseed Dressing
1 lg can mandarin oranges, drained.  Save a few slices to decorate the top of salad.
1 lg red delicious apple, cut up in bite size pcs
1/4 c raisins
1 c green or red seedless grapes
1 1/2 tsp sugar

Stir all ingredients together and chill.  Feel free to add your favorite fruits.