Pinterest!
Where have you been all my life? I joined Pinterest probably over a year ago and thought it was kind of neat. It's great to see what other people are making by hand and what new ideas are churning out there. But, about a month ago a gigantic light bulb came on and I realized this where I can keep ALL my inspiration. I have bookmarks, blog rolls, Evernotes, and Print Friendly PDFs all over Virtual creation. If something sparks my memory and I think, I want to make that and I think I have it saved in one of gazillion places. Let's go FIND it! It takes me forever and by that time I am too tired to make it. :)

Thank you Pinterest for helping me clean up my act! And the cool thing about it is, I don't just Pin and Forget. I actually go back and look up my pins and try them out from time to time. For example:

T-Shirts folded and then stacked vertically in a drawer instead of laying one on top of another. This is GENIUS! Mine don't look quite as neat as these, but I am a bigger person and wear big t-shirts so I have to squish them a little to get the drawer to close. But, now I can see all my t-shirts at once.

Custom Pressing board. I have been meaning to make one of these for a long time. Thanks to some inspiration from Pinterest and my lovely husband informing me that Lowe's sells precut plywood, I got busy Labor Day and made this one. It is 2' x 2' and as you can see fits nicely on top of Baron's kennel. He's my quilting and sewing buddy, so his kennel has to stay there and I work around it. Here is one of many I saw on Pinterest as inspiration: Riley Blake's Pressing Board.

I have also tried a few recipes:

General Taos Crock Pot Chicken : This had a great flavor but does not call for enough liquid. I skipped the veggies and that might have helped but I think I would still add some chicken broth or water.

Crockpot Spaghetti: This turned out really well, even without the alfredo sauce, which I didn't have on hand. I added seasoned ground beef and some leftover meatballs. It cooked about two hours while we were in church and it was perfectly cooked when we got home. Great Sunday Meal.

Egg McMuffin Knock-Offs: This recipe was awesome! I baked the eggs in ramekins but will be buying a muffin top pan soon because I don't have enough of the right size ramekins to make six at at a time. Much better than McDonalds and can easily be modified - scramble the eggs, different cheeses, different meat or no meat. The possibilities are endless. Oh, and they freeze perfectly wrapped in wax or parchment paper. Pop them in the microwave for about a minute and ENJOY!

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone's week was great. I started a new job and it is  a totally new world and quite the opposite of teaching. I am learning a lot about real estate but the best part is that I can leave it at the office. So, when I get home, I am all about the grad school homework and sewing with no  worries of grading papers or prepping for the next day.  YAY!

Speaking of sewing, I started a new block for Valentine's Day. I have no idea what I am going to do with it once it's finished. A pillow? Frame it? Maybe all of you can give me some ideas.


The picture here is just the first step but I thought I would give you a sneak peek. FYI: If you ever decide to sew long strips together, remember to sew from top to bottom then bottom to top. This will prevent waves and uneven strips like I got. I will add a white background and it will take on a heart shape.

When I do finish it...hopefully before V-Day <grin> I  will post the completed block along with the link to the blog I got it from. 

Stay tuned and I would love to know what you are making for February 14!

I attempted my first quilt a little over a year ago. I attended a beginner's class at my local quilt store and once I learned about all the latest handy tools out there that makes it less of a daunting task, I was hooked. The ladies who conducted the class were awesome teachers and we have been friends ever since. Although I have only completed one other quilt since then, I still plug away at it, usually with a couple in the works at the same time. I am just SLOW! I stop and start. I stop to work on other sewing projects and other crafts. I will get them done, it just may be at the end of this year, who knows! :)

Anyway, back to my first quilt. I made a disappearing nine patch for my granddaughter. Yes, I have a grandaughter by marriage. I'll explain that in another post sometime. I actually finished her quilt in a month because I started in October and gave it to her for her birthday at the end of November of 2011.  I really enjoyed the process and learning all the ins and outs of picking out the fabric, sewing and cutting it apart, sewing it together again, pressing  seams, auditioning the blocks, sewing rows together and then quilting it.
 
When looking back, I can't believe I actually machine quilted it myself. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I quilted half of it without a walking foot....what was I thinking?? The walking foot is a must for quilting on your own machine.  Believe me, it's worth the money and a lot less heartache. I used Moda's Amelia
Charm Squares (5" precuts of fabric) to make the disappearing nine patch block. 

My granddaughter absolutely loved it ... primarily because her favorite color is Purple.