Bee Addicted 2 February

February is Teaginny's month in our quilting bee. She sent out a variety of brown and tan fabrics. The above block is the favorite of the two that I have made so far. I love the colors and patterns together. Teaginny asked to have blocks made in sizes of 12.5 x 12.5, 12.5 x 6.5, or 6.5 x 6.5 inch blocks. I am still working on a 6.5 x 6.5 block, but you will have to wait to see that one! :)

Reusuable Snack Bags

My mom started a bad habit of giving her grandkids pretzels when they are leaving for the ride home (all of 15 minutes). With all the plastic bags that accumulated in my sister's car, she decided to buys some reusuable snack bags on etsy. She bought some really cute printed fabric bags that were lined with a semi waterproof fabric and close with velcro along the top. I looked at the bags and knew I could make some for my kids.
I bought some ripstop (check out here and here) in blue and red and some velcro. When I got home, I realized I didn't really have many fabrics that looked good with the colors of ripstop I bought! I should have thought about what fabric I wanted to use before buying the ripstop, but I am a little too impulsive for that. I pulled out this hand print fabric I found at Goodwill over a year ago, and it was a great fit! I fussy cut the had prints and sewed them together. Then I sewed the ripstop and sewed the handprint fabric and the ripstop together. Finally I added the velcro. That is it, I now have three reusuable snack bags for my kids to carry their snacks in the car.

More Face Blankies

A friend at church had a little girl recently. As a small gift, I made two face blankies. I really love the combination of pink and brown. It doesn't look too girlie or baby.

Cooking Once Again

At the end of December, I gathered all my groceries for cooking again. Based on the last post about my cooking, it had been just about a month and a half since I last cooked a bunch of meals. I still had quite a few in my freezer, but I wanted to boost my stock, so I did some research and made my lists. Shopping without kids, I was able to go to Aldi, Costco, and have a quick stop at Kroger in less than two hours! I went to Walmart the following day and start cooking Friday.

My list this time is similar to last time.
Twelve Boy Curry
Cranberry Chicken
Autumn Stew
Bacon Colby Lasagna
Tailgater Chili
Spaghetti
Pulled Pork Tacos
Tropical Black Bean Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Split Pea Soup
Tomato Soup
Mini Meatloaves
Chicken Veggie Fajitas
Tamale Casserole
White Chicken Chili
Garlicky Pork Ribs
Slow Cooker Fall Pork Roast
Kalua Pig
Slow Cooker Casserole
Slow Cooker Meatloaf
Sausage with Sauce
Lentils and Sausage
Cilantro Beef

You will notice that a good number of the meals are Crock Pot meals. I am trying several new recipes. I love using my Crock Pot as it frees me up even more than the once a month cooking and it usually only dirties one pot!

Using some of these meals, the new ones have been very good. We have really enjoyed the Kalua Pig and have even made a second one! All of the meals seem to have frozen and thawed well. And I am freed up to do more cleaning, organizing, and sewing!

Vintage Sheet Bee Anyone?!

I told you a couple of days ago about the vintage sheet fat quarter swap I got involved in. Jennifer, who is hosting the swap, has suggested starting a quilting bee using vintage sheets! I have signed up! If you are interested, check it out here.

Table Runner

When I got a little tired of all the "big" projects I have been working on, I decided to make a table runner for the top of my dresser in my bedroom. My hope is having something pretty on the dresser will help clutter not build up as I wouldn't want to cover up the pretty table runner. I have been holding on to my small stash of Katie Jump Rope fabric for something fun, and thought this was the perfect opportunity to use them. I just cut the fabric into strips of 1.5in, 2in, and 2.5in, then sewed them together randomly until the runner was long enough. It took more fabric than I thought it would because I am a bad judge of such things. The process of putting this together was almost therapeutic as my husband was sick and I was playing nurse.


For the back, I improvisationally pieced solid colors. The back took much longer than I expected! Improv isn't as easy as you would think! I started with big chunks of color, but when Adrian saw it, he said they looked like signal flags sewn together. So I started cutting them up and adding more colors in, but that took more thinking than I had wanted to put into it. Oh well, in the end, I think it turned well. Not quite what I want for my bedroom, but still nice.

Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Swap

Jennifer over at Rosey Little Things is hosting a vintage fat quarter swap. Sign up ended on February 1, and fat quarters needed to be sent by the 10th. I only found out about this on the 11th of February. I emailed Jennifer and begged to be allowed in. She was so nice to let me participate. I sent this selection of fat quarters her way. I am excited to be a part of this swap as I am currently working on wonky stars made from vintage sheets!

Pre-Valentine's Day

I hope you enjoy this beautiful cold (here in Atlanta) day!

Bee Addicted Quilt Top

I joined a quilting bee back in September. My month was November. When I asked my partners to make strip pieced blocks in various sizes, I had no idea how I would use them. (That is probably not a good idea when asking others to sew something for you!) Over the past few days, I sat down and drew out some ways of using the blocks to make an attractive quilt. As the blocks were very busy (per my request), I decided to tone the quilt down (just a little bit) by adding solid and print blocks to the pieced blocks. I am excited about what I have come up with!


I have received all but two of my blocks back, and those two should be on the way now or soon, so as soon as I get them, I will sew this top together! I am excited to see it come together.

Top Left:

Top Right:


Bottom Left:


Bottom Right:

December Bee Addicted 2

For December, we were asked to make houses that filled the block. It needed to be 12.5 inches tall, but could be any width. I wasn't really inpressed with what I made. This was the first time I made a house, but I had envisioned something more. I was really happy with my little trees! I decided that this block fit the model of a typical metro Atlanta house. Big house with a tiny yard and two small trees in the front yard! I am not sure if I will attempt any more of these anytime soon.

Tree Skirt Finished!

When I started making my Christmas tree skirt, I didn't realize I would have so many other things going on that I would not be able to finish it for Christmas. I actually finished the tree skirt on January 7th! Just in time to pack up all the Christmas stuff for next year. I was not really satisfied with the back, but the front is really nice.

This is the front before I quilted it.


Here is the back before quilting.


The finished product!