Simple Abundance

This year for our quilt group Christmas party we decided to do a block exchange instead of a gift exchange. Can I say it was an absolute blast. We decided on the fabric line of Simple Abundance by Bonnie and Camille. Our block needed to be 10 and 1/2 unfinished and the rest was up to us. Take a look at darling blocks I came home with yesterday.

ELAINE (our wonderful hostess)

HEIDI

MICHELLE


DEBBIE JENSEN

MARAE (my cute mom)

MARENE

BECKY

KIM

ANDIE

VAL

CAROL

DEBBIE BOYER

I am soooooo lucky to be a part of such a wonderful group of talented, nice, darling, funny, creative, domestic women. I LOVE you all. Merry Christmas 2009.

Well Done!

Heather finished her service mission this week. We are so proud of all her hard work and dedication this past year. Children all over the world will benefit from the 100's of school bags she filled...

Families will be so grateful for the thousands of hygiene kits she assembled...

Young and old can keep their heads cozy with the many hats she made...

And people everywhere will stay warm from the quilts she helped trim and get finished.

Thank you Ned and Marene Ellsworth for all the countless hours you spend helping Heather and many others learn to serve.

And thanks Marene for the David Archuleta Christmas CD.

AND IN JUST A FEW SHORT WEEKS ANOTHER HOLLIS MISSIONARY WILL FINISH HIS MISSION!!!!!!!!! WE CAN'T WAIT TO WELCOME HOME ELDER HOLLIS.

We got our GROOVE on tonight BABY!

Tricks & Treats

When family calls don't we all come to their aid? Well, my sister Jenny needed a place to host her students piano recital so I said I would be glad to do it. The kids all dressed up in their costumes and performed a number and then were invited to the kitchen for some spooktacular treats. My mom, Jenny, and a few other moms brought all the treats and I just provided the house but I just had to show how cute some of the goodies were. First, here is Jenny and her daughter Emma.

Here is my island filled with yummy treats. I thought the apples were so cute with crooked sticks from orange trees. The little cupcakes were frosted with black sesame seeds for the eyes.



What a fun night to perform and have fun. Everyone did a great job.
The caramel apples were to die for and made from scratch. None of this unwrapping store bought stuff.
Here is the recipe for the

Carmel Apples
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cube butter
1 cup light Karo syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Bring the sugar, butter and Karo to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and boil 7 minutes. Add the can of sweetened condensed milk and continue to cook on low to the higher end of the soft ball stage. Dip granny smith apples that have been washed and dried into the carmel. Place on a cookie to set-up and cool. Makes about 20 small apples.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

Finally finished this quilt just in time for Show-n-tell at quilt group today. I'm so happy to have used up so much of my thirties stash. Even the back is all 5 inch squares. The only fabric I purchased was the stop border and the 7 1/2 yards of White. I love how it turned out and it just may be the quilt I wrap up in this winter to keep me warm and happy.



It's hard to see the quilting but trust me when I say my mom did an amazing job. Mom, your the BEST!

Week at-a-glance

These are my Bff's that got me through this week. Looking for some new friends for next week.

Mom Cries, Grammy Chuckles

I see Beauty School in her future!

Jenny's Birthday Lunch

So fun to get together for lunch again to celebrate Jenny's birthday and recent engagement!!!! yes... she is getting married to a great guy. We are so excited for her and no one deserves to be happy more than our little sister.
This time we got Lisa in the picture and a bonus.... Kerry was visiting from Utah and came too. We still missed Trevi.
Lisa, Jenny, Michelle, Jamie, Kerry, Marae (mom) and Karen. I love my family!!!!!!

Karens Birthday Lunch

Even if we don't get to lunch on our exact birthdays we always try to celebrate the family Birthdays. This was at Crackers last week for Karen's Birthday. Lisa left early and missed the picture but she was there in spirit. Also, Trevi wasn't able to be there. So happy birthday Karen and I can't wait until Jenny's special day coming up soon.

In This picture is Michelle, Jenny, Karen, Marae and Jamie.

Natures Bounty

I've made freezer jam many times but I decided to try canning some raspberry jam for storage in my pantry. It was so easy and I already got rave reviews this morning at breakfast.
Today I'm going to try some pepper jelly because those cute little jalapeno plants I planted in the spring are full of peppers again. I discovered that right now they are green but if I leave them on much longer they turn a bright red. (my favorite color).

A New City Record

ANDREW'S FIRST YEAR OF SWIM TEAM - 5 years old

I figured out yesterday that I had been going to swim meets for 25 years with my kids. We started out with the city of Mesa Parks and Recreation program that kept us busy summer after summer and then moved on to have all 4 children swim for Mt. View High school. What a perfect sport swimming is. The kids are in GREAT shape, there are very few injuries, and even if you don't win a race the excitement of swimming a race faster than you have ever swam and getting a personal best time is a great accomplishment. I am now officially on my last Mt. View swimmer and yesterday was the City Relay Meet that included 16 High schools from Mesa. All three of my boys swam this meet and it was always in early September. Sweating was a big part of this long day but it was worth every drop to see the kids have fun. This year Andrew got to swim on the 200 yard freestyle relay where his team got a Bronze medal. His team got 5th place in the Breaststroke relay and then the highlight of the day was when the "Build-up" relay got a gold medal and broke the city record by 2 seconds. (in swimming 2 seconds is a lot). The way the relay goes is the first swimmer swims a 25 yard swim, the second swimmer goes 50 yards, third swimmer 75 yards and then anchored by the forth swimmer going 100 yards. Andrew lead the race with the 25 yards in 10.4 seconds to give the team a jump start to the city record. It was so exciting to watch and the thrill of victory was rewarded to 4 boys that have worked hard to get in such great shape. We are so Proud of Andrew and proud of Mt View for winning the entire meet to bring home the 1st place trophy. Go Toro's!!!!!




THE END

Twirly ,Girly Skirt

This cute little skirt...


Is going to look so cute on this little girl!


The fabric is PANACHE and the pattern is by Pink Fig.

Simplify

Yesterday was my turn to host Quilt Group. When it's at your house there usually isn't much time to sew because the hostess is running around trying to fix this wonderful, fabulous lunch. Well, I decided I wanted to sew yesterday so I was going to "SIMPLIFY" my lunch. So, on a "Back to School" theme here are the recipes for the lunch I served.


Chicken Salad

4 chicken breast halves, cooked & cubed
3/4 cup chopped celery
3 sliced green onions
1/2 cup cashews
1/8 teaspoon curry
1 cup red grapes cut in half
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup whipping cream

Mix everything and chill. Serve on a bed of lettuce or a buttery croissant.

Flaky Buttery Croissant

Paradise Bakery

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

Paradise Bakery

Crispy Sun Chips
Grocery store


Make Chicken Salad the day before your party. Assemble everything in about 20 min and serve.


Sit back and enjoy lunch with your friends. Sew the rest of the day because there was no

clean-up either.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!

I'm teaching some quilting classes this fall at church so I needed to get the samples done. So here is the first project, an easy pinwheel quilt. It's hard to tell but the fabrics are soft pinks and blues with a hint of brown. My favorite part is the pink chenille back.

Next is this darling Snowman wall hanging called Brrrrrrr!
It's made from a Crazy Eights charm pack. If you don't know what a charm pack is you need to google it and get sewing.

And last, I just needed another purse. I'm going on a little trip next week and this will be perfect. it does need a cute button to finish it off. Gotta go to Utah for that. (that's an expensive button).