QUILTING DINOSAURS IN ONE DAY and a TEMPLE TO TEMPLE STEEPLECHASE 2015

TEMPLE 2 TEMPLE RUN
I am not a runner!  I dream of being a runner.  In my mind I am a runner! Actually, my running speed is slightly faster than my brisk walking speed.  Even so, I joined in the fun and did a five mile run/walk from Oquirrh Mountain Temple (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to Jordan River Temple, the Temple to Temple Steeplechase on Labor Day.  Both temples are in the South Jordan, Utah city limits.  This was the seventh year of this family friendly race.  The cost was only $20 per adult and $10 per youth under 18 years old.  If you sign up as a group of six or more participants, you get a 20% discount.  Each participant received a medallion at the end of the race.  The proceeds were contributed to the LDS Church's Temple Patron Fund.

My daughter, Mary and I heard about the Temple 2 Temple race and immediately wanted to participate.  Like I mentioned, my pace is slightly faster than a tortoise, but we started doing some training.  We walked or ran/walked several times a week to get in shape.  Most of the time we walked a three miler from my house to the Jordan River Temple and back.  Once we did a six mile walk/run so we figured that we should be good for five.  My daughter, Jennifer and her family committed to do the run with us. everyone in our group started out way too fast in my opinion.  I do better if I start out slowly, but I was pretty happy with myself because I kept up for the most part. By about one-third of the way, Mary, Jen, Paul, and J. took off.  I tried to keep up the pace, but ten year-old T. was lagging behind and I didn't want her to be alone so we became running partners! The course was set up with inspirational thoughts along the way and also two water stations. I think I could have kept up with the others but I finished the five miles in about one hour seventeen minutes.  I'm definitely planning on doing this again next year.  After a nice soak in the tub and a delicious breakfast, we were all rejuvenated.

Here we are at the finish line!  I am on the far right. The race sponsors provided a drink, and a Popsicle and a medallion!  Proceeds were contributed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple Patron Fund.

DINOSAUR QUILT
While preparing for the Temple 2 Temple Steeplechase, I have been occupying myself with more sewing and quilting projects and trying to keep up with a bumper crop of tomatoes.  Living close to my grandchildren has inspired me to be more diligent in decorating my house for holidays.  I have already put up Fall/Halloween decorations and have either bought or made a few more cute "spooky" things.  I have acquired some pretty cute candy jars and they have been filled and refilled several times already.  Finally, they were replenished with marshmallow candies that I really don't like.  This way the candy lasts longer and I don't gain back all the weight that I lost this summer.  Suddenly, two-year old C's birthday was upon me and I hadn't made the quilt I had planned on for his third birthday.  I almost decided to bag my plans and make it for Christmas, but lying in bed one night and not sleeping, I came up with a plan to make the quilt and do it in a "speedy" fashion.   I already had the fabric, so shopping wasn't something else that I needed to do.

I wanted a twin size quilt with an adorable dinosaur panel centered in the middle so I came up with this plan.  I started with my backing fabric of about 65 inches by 80 inches and placed it on my king size bed right side facing down. (My bed works well to lay out my quilts because of its large size.)The next step in my quilt sandwich is batting the same size as the back.  (The back of my quilt was a large piece of fabric that I had; it doesn't really match, but I figured, that I would be thrifty and use up fabric that I had on hand. Next step, I centered the adorable fabric panel, on top, the right side up.(JUNGLE CLUB: DINOSAUR PANEL MULTI (2/3 YARD) - BENARTEX 2250-99)  
I have plans to make quilts using a fabric panel as a focal point again, and for a child's bed, instead of centering it, I will put the panel higher up because the focal point is a little low.  Make sure everything is very smooth and safety pin the panel securely.  I also pinned the batting to the back.

Here is my quilt sandwich. Backing-batting-panel centered.

Next step, roll in the sides of the backing and batting and machine quilt the panel.  I did free-motion quilting of the outlines of the dinosaurs and some of the trees and plants.  I also outlined the borders. Once the panel is quilted, I started adding the strips.  Right sides together, sew border strips to quilt panel stitching about 1/4 inch seam from edges, keeping all of the layers smooth.  Press out each strip.  This technique adds the border strip and quilts at the same time.  I did it this way because I was short on time.  It is also a great technique!  Sew right and left borders, then sew top and bottom strips, continue on with each border, pressing border open each time.

 I started with a red border that was about 2.5 inches wide, then added a stripe. I had just a small amount of fabric for the stripe so it was about 1.5 wide.  (This is cut width, not finished width.) The next border was wide--15 inches.  Fabric is Urban Zoologie Dinosaurs Bright.  

Attaching the diagonal stripe fabric border.

I finished borders with 3 inches of a colorful diagonal stripe.  Once borders are all attached, I do any other machine/free motion quilting that is needed or wanted.  The large dinosaur border definitely needed more quilting.  If I were doing this again, I would quilt the large fabric area first before attaching the next border.  It was just too large of an area and was harder to keep fabrics smooth.  The narrower borders work great for quilting as you sew.  Trim up edges of quilt so that everything is nice and even and then attach the binding.  Depending on your time and fabric, you can use any size of border strips.  The narrower strips are much easier in the long run because they are easier to keep smooth and don't require more quilting. I finished with another red fabric for the binding.

Here is my little birthday guy with his dinosaur quilt.  This is a twin size quilt.  Finished dimensions are 63 inches by 79 inches.

He was so excited that he put himself to bed that night! Funny how you always learn things when you do something like this.  If I could do it over, I would only center right to left, and bring the panel up higher, maybe even 7 inches higher.  I usually eyeball things, and I should have done it this time, but I just centered instead.  For such a little guy, it would have been nice if the dinosaur panel had been higher up just so he could see it better.  I found this awesome Urban Zoologie Dinosaurs Bright fabric some time ago and made him a pillowcase.  His mom and I both fell in love with this adorable print so I knew how I wanted to make this quilt and grabbed more fabric when I found it. I think most kids love dinosaurs!! BY THE WAY, I made this quilt in one day!  I was clipping off threads on our way out to a birthday dinner.

HIPSTER CAT QUILT and SALSA RECIPES

My daughter recently made this adorable "Hipster Cat Quilt" for a friend's new baby.  It is such a fun quilt to make and the pattern is free or it is available as a made to order item in my Etsy store.  We made a change when making this cute quilt.  We quilted the background first as we did in some of the Quilted Skinnies that I made earlier. Then we added the applique of the cat with Heat n Bond .  After that, we finalized the applique with the blanket stitch using my sewing machine.  My daughter chose to do this quilt in pastels, but wouldn't it be cute using bold primary colors?  Here is this darling quilt, with friend's adorable baby boy!

Along with my passion for sewing and fiber arts, I love gardening and cooking.  We recently moved from the Pacific Northwest after living there for twenty-two years, where we lived on country size acreage. I had tons of room for my gardens there.  We moved in February from Oregon to a city-sized lot near urban Salt Lake City.  Even though my city lot is fairly large, we went from 1.25 acres to .39 acres. Our new home has a very large footprint so I had to think a little outside the box, but have succeeded fairly well in getting my garden going during this first year here.  I have flower beds going around the perimeter of the yard, but the previous owner hadn't planted much of anything so I pretty much had a blank slate for a yard and have incorporated food in with my flowers. We also built some raised beds. I do have a very nice lawn and a sprinkler system, which still needs some upgrades, but I feel very fortunate that we have a secondary water system for watering our yard and garden. Along with this blank slate, there was almost no shade as the previous owner didn't like trees??  I planted fourteen trees this first year so that eventually I will have a shady yard.

Along the garage's south and west sides there are flower beds where I decided would be great places to plant my tomatoes.  I always tend to go a little over-board with tomatoes because they are my favorite crop.  I planted thirty tomato plants in my garden this year.  Everyone thinks that I'm crazy but I tend to find varieties that I want to try. WOW!  I have had a bumper crop.  The brick on the house has absorbed the heat nicely and I am getting tons of tomatoes.

Here are my tomatoes on the south wall in mid July.  You can see a couple of red tomatoes peeking through the vines. Now they are booming. Below are raised beds that we built on the northern side of our backyard and my happy sunflowers behind my asparagus bed. Along the wall, I planted raspberries, blackberries, green beans, zucchini, and winter squash.

I planted twelve cabbages (I always tend to go overboard!). Early in the season, they were showing a few signs of bug activity so I powdered them with food grade Diatomaceous Earth.  I have the most beautiful cabbages this year and no aphids or other insects!

Along with tomatoes, I planted two tomatillo plants.  They grow cute little lantern like fruit which you peel off when they are ripe.  (Most of mine just fell off.)  They are quite sticky. I added some to my salsa this year and also tried out a recipe for Salsa Verde.  I substituted about four cups of tomatillos for some of the tomatoes. Roma type tomatoes work the best for this salsa as they are less juicy and more meaty, but I still drain off some of the liquid before adding the vinegar and spices.  I got this recipe from my cousin, Gay, who grew up on a dairy farm, thus, "till the cows come home." Jalapeno peppers can vary in hotness  from year to year, so you can add as many as you like.  Mine have tended to be on the mild side the past couple of years.  I really like this recipe because it is so flavorful and the house smells wonderful when I'm making it.  It is a big hit with my family! I got 25 pints from this recipe this year!  Yum! Yum!

GAY'S SALSA

8 quarts tomatoes, peeled and chopped (I like Roma the best)

8 cups onions chopped

4 cups green peppers chopped

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 cup salt

2 Tbsp garlic powder

2 tsp black pepper

Jalapeno peppers chopped (15-16 to taste)

Put all ingredients in a very large kettle and "cook it till the cows come home!"

Pour salsa into hot jars and process according to canning guidelines for your state.

Here is another recipe that will fill your home with a great aroma.  This is the first year that I have made this.  I hope it is good.  If the smell is any indicator, it should be delicious.

Tomatillo Green Salsa

• 5 cups chopped tomatillos
• 1-½ cups seeded, chopped long green chiles
• ½ cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeño peppers
• 4 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup bottled lemon or lime juice
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin (optional)
• 3 tablespoons dried oregano leaves (optional)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

I doubled this Tomatillo Green Salsa recipe and got eleven pints. Be sure to check out the link for more information in making this salsa. Be careful to not change vegetable and acid amounts when making salsa.  Follow canning guidelines for your state.  Higher altitudes will need longer canning times.  ENJOY!!

MORE QUILTED SKINNIES!!!

The other day, my daughter-in-law called me and asked if my ten-year-old granddaughter could come over for a sewing day.  "Of course!!"  I love to spend time with my grandchildren!  Plus that, it is really cool to have children or grandchildren love the same things that I love. What fun!!  Anyway, my granddaughter came for a sleep-over and then we got up early and started a sewing/quilting day. Her other grandma is having an auction at an upcoming family reunion to cover reunion costs, (great idea) so "A" wanted to make something that she could sell at the auction.  She recently made one of the Quilted Skinnies in my previous post, and wanted to make another one.  This time she chose to do "Hens and Chick."  This one was a little more complicated than "Ollie Owl" because of more detail and curves, but she did a great job.  I'm sure she will have lots of people bidding on her quilt.  Hopefully her dad will win the bid so they can hang it in their home.  By the way, they also have their own hens and chicks where I gladly buy eggs that come from free range chickens, so this cute wall-hanging needs to be in their home. No pressure!

Here is this cutie pie with her rendition of "Hens and Chick."  She did a great job!  This one was made in the same fashion as others we have made by doing the quilting first and then adding the applique, border, and binding later.

I really enjoy making these Quilted Skinnies and have just finished two more of these cute wall-hangings.  They come together quickly and are fun to make or you can order them from my store.  You may also contact me through Facebook to order these or others.  I also do custom sewing and alterations.

This Quilted Skinny is called "Under the Cornstalk"  I did this one the same way as I did "Ollie Owl" on my previous post.  I prepared the quilt sandwich and then machine quilted before adding the applique and border.  After adding the applique  I quilted the pumpkin, leaves, and cornstalk to add some interest and more dimension.

Here is my latest skinny.  This one is called "Haunted Halloween."  Instead of doing this one with the quilting first, I did it a little differently.  I layered my purple batik fabric and my batting wrong sides together, then ironed on the applique with Heat n Bond.  With only the quilt top and the batting, (I used warm and natural batting), I did machine applique using a "blanket stitch." By doing the applique with the batting, it prevents the fabric from bunching up or pulling in weird ways.  it is also important to use a walking foot.  My sewing machine, Bernina 750QE has a dual feed so that works well too.  Once the applique was finished, I did machine quilting around the house and ghost and then finished with the cute Halloween border fabric and the binding.

QUILTING WITH MY GRANDDAUGHTERS

Recently, my two ten-year-old granddaughters spent some time with me.  They are both learning to sew and wanted to do some projects with me.  They were a little antsy so I decided to get them busy on a fun quilt project.  I had just purchased a cute pattern called Quilted Skinnies for All Seasons from Annie's Quilting.  This pattern is also available on Amazon.  Anyway, it is a collection of small quilts/wall hangings that measure  approximately 14 x 28.  They are cute and fun and I thought one of these would be a good project to work on with the girls.  These skinny quilts are all appliqued and even though, they could be hand appliqued, I am all for anything that can be done on the sewing machine. I have two sewing machines and a serger.  Both machines are Bernina and they each have a blanket stitch on them which I use all of the time. I will talk about my machines on a later post.

While I was finishing up some no bake cookies, I started the girls on tracing the pieces of the applique onto Heat n Bond.  (My daughter, Mary and I learned from experience that you want to make sure to use the light Heat n Bond for fabric that you will be stitching on.  The ultra hold is for a project that you won't be stitching.)  I was also thinking of a ways to make this project a little more simple for these two cuties!

 Because Owls are so popular right now and because "Ollie Owl" is such a cute project, we decided to make an owl wall hanging! I came up with an idea that really made this so much more simple for them.  Instead of doing the applique first and then machine quilting it all together, I made the quilt sandwich with the background only and then quilted it using straight or diagonal lines.  This made it quite a bit more simple for beginning sewers/quilters, and it added a little more dimension to the quilt. I also started the quilt sandwich with the finished size of the quilt.  14 x 28.  Once the quilting was done, I added the borders in a "quilt as you go" style.

Here is my quilt sandwiched together and my quilting lines.  I chose to quilt diagonally and alternated with a decorative stitch and a straight stitch.

Here is my quilted piece and I'm adding borders.  My borders are 2.5 inches wide.  I have lined up the border edge 2 inches from the edge of quilt.  I sew abt 1/4 inch from right edge of border piece, press it over and it comes just about even with the edge of the quilt.  If desired, you can then stitch down the edge to keep everything in place.  Once this is finished, you are ready to do the applique or you can bind it first--either way works fine.

Ollie Owl was a perfect beginner applique quilt.  The pieces were big enough and the curves were gentle enough that the girls did quite well on the sewing.  I admit, I helped a little, but they did a great job and finished projects turned out awesome! The girls did a pretty good number on my sewing room when I allowed them to go downstairs and search through my fabric.  Wow, they did make a mess, but it was all good.  They helped me clean it up later.  They picked out some really cute fabric and color schemes!  Each one is beautiful and unique just like A and T.  Here are their finished quilts:

Here is one that I made later:

My cookie recipe:

ALICE'S FAVORITE NO-BAKE COOKIES

Combine in a saucepan:  

2 Cups Sugar      

1/2 Cup Milk

1/4 Cup Cocoa    

1/4 Cup Butter (1/2 cube, do not use margarine*)

                                        

Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Once mixture is boiling, time for 90 seconds (1 1/2 min).         

Remove from heat & add:  

2 Cups uncooked oats (regular/old fashioned)

1/2 Cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

2 tsp vanilla  (I use real vanilla* not imitation)

Stir until thickened.  Sometimes I add a little extra oats if it isn't setting up, but don't add a lot or it will be dry and not hold together.  Drop by spoonfuls on wax or parchment paper!  Let cool.  Yum! Yum!

*If you are going to make the yummy goodies and you want them to be yummy, don't use margarine or inferior products.  The real thing is so much more healthy and so much more delicious!  

For printer friendly recipe click here

    

Getting Up and Running

The last week or so I've enlisted my daughter to help me get my business up and running. I had a small local clientele in Oregon, but when I moved to Utah I've had to start from scratch!

Together we've been working on getting my Facebook page up to snuff, and just opened up an Etsy shop, Scrap Happy Sewing Arts. I have a small inventory of last years items along with some new items. I will be adding more items to my shop soon so keep your eyes peeled!