This and That

While I was in Elk Rapids, MI for the Beaver Island Quilt Retreat, I purchased some flannel fabric to make PJ's for my daughter, and my twin nieces. Actually, I just made the pj pants and purchased the tops. I have been using this same pattern since my daughter was very young and she will soon be 20! I just get the measurements of each girl and alter the pattern to fit. I have used this pattern so often that I can make them with my eyes shut! Well...almost!  My nieces just turned 12 and we celebrated their birthday this past weekend with dinner at their house. I also made them pillowcases for their birthday.

I think everyone in the family has a pillowcase now!  They proved to be popular birthday gifts this year!

The Elgin Piecemakers Guild charity project--quilts for adult chemo patients at our local hospital--continues full steam ahead. This block is my contribution towards the black white and green quilt. This block is due at our early January meeting--I am trying to get ahead a bit as I have some Christmas gifts to work on over the next few weeks.  This block is called "Get The Point" and is #291 in volume 3 of Quiltmaker's 100 blocks magazine.

We had our meeting last week and everyone brought in their blue and yellow blocks:

Two of our members will get together soon to add sashing and borders to make this quilt.

Last Spring, I challenged everyone to make a "Filmstrip" block for a charity quilt. I gave everyone the centre square fabric. The sashing looks great and this quilt top is now at the quilter's house in line to be quilted. The backing is in the lower left corner of the picture.

I made this raspberry apple kuchen for dessert one night last week. I picked the raspberries from our garden. It was delicious...there were no leftovers!  The recipe is a variation of Pineapple Nut Kuchen from the Company's Coming Diabetic cookbook. The key to this recipe is to serve it warm.

A couple of weeks ago, I entered a give-away on the Selvage Blog for this book "The Town That Drowned" by Riel Nason. My name was picked out of the hat and today, the book and some orange fabric scraps arrived in the mail from Riel!  Check out Riel's blog to see the wonderful quilts she makes for Halloween!  I especially love her Selvage Mummy quilt!  Thanks, Riel for the book and the fabrics!  It was perfect that this parcel arrived on October 31st!

Last week, we had our first hard frost. I had a few minutes to spare before leaving for work so I raced out to the yard with my camera to get some pictures.

I spent much of tonight working on putting more HST units into strips of 5 for my Roll Roll Cotton Boll quilt. Christine and I are getting together tomorrow night to work on this quilt.

Good Night, everyone!

Wild Geese

This block took a little longer to put together this morning as I had to unsew a few seams when I put it together wrong--Oh well... I fixed it and here it is! Block 14 of 25 for the Grateful Heart sampler I am working on. I hope to do a few more blocks this weekend. I made some spaghetti sauce this morning and the house smells wonderful as it bubbles away in my slow cooker. This is the same sauce my mother made almost every Saturday when I was growing up. Here is the recipe:

Mom's Spaghetti Sauce (I think the original recipe came from the side of a Catelli Spaghetti box--I have adjusted it slightly to suit my preferences!)

1 lb lean ground beef, browned with the fat drained off.
1 tsp fresh garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely (My family does not like onions so I don't add them)
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 lb fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 large can diced or ground tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
2 cups water
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp rosemary

Mix everything together in a big pot and bring to a boil. Turn back to low and let it simmer with the lid on for 4-5 hours. (or you can let it cook all day in your slow cooker on low). This sauce is great with any kind of pasta with parmesean cheese sprinkled on top. I usually make a double batch and freeze it for fast suppers on weeknights when we all get home late and want to eat quickly.

Enjoy!