Wonky Log Cabin

I had mentioned that I wanted to find another sewing project - well I did find one.  I was looking on a blog that is written by a former fellow classmate that I "met" while working on my degree.  She is a young stay-at-home mom who home schools her 3 young children, was taking classes until recently, and somehow still finds time to sew all her kids, and herself, clothes, and she spends time quilting!  Her husband is in the military and is gone a lot so she spends a bit of time parenting on her own.  Not to mention the blog she also keeps up with.  I don't know how she does all of this! Her blog is on blogger, the same as me. It's called "fancy that." Here is a link to her blog. http://nikki-fancythat.blogspot.com/  If you get a chance stop by and look at some of her posts.  She's very creative.

At any rate, she, (Nikki) had posted some pictures of the quilt blocks she has been working on.  They are called Wonky Log Cabin blocks.  I have never heard of them before but the pictures she posted of them were so cute and colorful that I knew I had to try them!

The blocks are made from all of your scrap strips of material, and it doesn't matter what size the scraps are.  Color doesn't matter either.  In fact, the more of a variety of color you use, the better the blocks look.

So today I pulled out my boxes of scrap materials and began to search for the strips that I needed. I knew I was saving those strips for some reason!  I was originally thinking that I wanted to make myself a throw quilt for keeping cozy in the evenings while sitting and reading.

Lots of colors to choose from.  I didn't even make a dent in them!

I realized, though, that a birthday is coming up for one of my daughters-in-law, so I decided to work in that direction.  I decided to make a set of Wonky placemats.  Log Cabin blocks are really easy to put together, and these blocks were even easier because I didn't have to worry about cutting to a certain size, or even keeping a perfect 1/4" seam going!  I had eight blocks sewn together in about an hour.

Using two blocks for each placemat, I bordered them with bright yellow and they were then ready to be put together with the backing, and quilted.  Here is how the finished blocks turned out once the borders were sewn on.

Here's the placemat, all quilted.  All it needs now is the binding.

Here's a picture of the back.  It's kinda hard to see the quilting.  I just used unbleached muslin for the back, and quilted enough to keep everything together.  I just stitched in the ditch, but didn't spend the time quilting every seam.

This is the point where I stopped working on all but one of the placemats.  It was getting late and I was ready to quit but I wanted to see a finished product.  So I sewed the binding on one of the placemats, and even finished hand sewing the binding to the back.

So here is the picture of the one I have finished.

Isn't it really cute, and colorful?  You can see the Wonky in the way the strips in the blocks are all different sizes and shapes.  I think this is gonna be one of my all-time favorite blocks to make!

I'll finish up the three other placemats tomorrow and have one birthday present ready to go!

Then I'll get busy and make that cozy throw for me!

Chicken Broth - Or Is It Stock?

I've heard that Costco rotisserie chickens were great for making chicken broth but didn't really know what the process involved.  I just happened to have finished the last bit of a Costco chicken, so thought I would try my hand at making some of that homemade broth.

I got out a large pot and put all of the chicken carcass in, including all the skin that was left.  I threw in a couple of, past their prime, carrots and celery, a leek and a half of an onion.  Then I added some peppercorns, salt, dried parsley and thyme...I think that was about it.  I filled the pot up to about 3/4 of the way with water and put it on a low fire. After just a short time it began to smell really good - even if it didn't look all that great.

I let it simmer on the stove for an hour then took a taste.  It was good and tasted like chicken broth, but I thought it could stand some more flavor so I let it continue to simmer. In the meantime I was busy reading a good mystery... didn't have to spend time in the kitchen standing over the process.  That's always good.

I let the broth simmer for another 45 minutes then tasted it again.  It was really good and I couldn't see that anymore cooking time would improve on it, so I took it off of the stove.

After letting the broth cool for a little bit I scooped out as much of the carcass and vegetables as I could with a slotted spoon, then poured the broth into a bowl using a mesh strainer to catch all the rest of the pieces.

I let the broth sit in the bowl to cool down.

Once the broth had cooled down enough I poured it into two ziploc bags.  Each bag held about 3 cups of broth.  Then I labeled the bags and put them into the freezer.

The finished product

I wouldn't usually consider making my own broth however, as far as I'm concerned, the Costco chicken makes a really great broth.  It has a lot more flavor than some of the canned broths I have used, and I am sure it probably has much less sodium.  I don't have to spend hours making it either, as it pretty much makes itself.

Since I buy Costco's rotisserie chickens fairly regularly I am sure I will be making more of this broth.

Good Good!

The Fish Quilt

I finished the quilt and, as promised, I have pictures to post.

I have made several of these quilts and I always forget that they are more time consuming than others.  The main reason is that there are many small pieces that have to be cut individually, and then sewn in an unusual way.  I can't really explain how they are sewn but will just say that lots of pinning is involved because the material doesn't like to cooperate and become the shape it has to end up.  Does that make sense?

Anyway, I really love this quilt.  It always turns out so cute!  I got the pattern about 15 years ago while taking a quilting class at the community college.  It came from a lady whose name I don't even remember, so I can't even give her credit.

I chose lots of bright colors for this one and it really came out nice.  Here is the finished product.

The picture above isn't as closeup as the first one, but it shows how bright the colors are. Below is a closeup of the fish.

I also decided to make the quilt backing by piecing some panels together.  I thought it turned out okay but decided I will change the design a little bit for next time.  I don't really like the big wide stripe down the middle.

And a picture showing the brighter backing colors.

Even though this quilt takes lots of time to put together I really have fun making it and watching it come together.  It makes a really nice throw to sit under to stay cozy and warm on a cold rainy day.

You'd think I would be tired of sewing for awhile, however, I am in the sewing mode and looking for another project to start on.

Time to search through my patterns!

A Cat Story

No, I haven't abandoned my posting again.  I have been busy working on a quilting project and it has taken longer to finish than I expected.

The good news is that I am almost finished with it, just some hand sewing to finish up the binding.  I should be working on that right now, but I am ready to take a break from sewing since I've been sitting at my machine since I got home from church today.  So I've decided I'm done for the evening.  I'll have some pictures of the quilt to post as soon as it's finished.

Meantime, I thought I would share a little bit of everyday insanity with you.

Earlier, while I was busy working on the quilt, Mr. Nubbs the cat decided to start hollering for me to let him in the back door.  We have a cat door, so I just ignored him. I guess he didn't want to come in through the cat door though, because he just kept hollering at me.

I finally got tired of listening to him, got up, opened the door, and let him in.  Of course I reminded him that he could come in anytime he wanted without my help!

As soon as Mr. Nubbs walked in the door I could see that he had been outside pursuing his favorite activity - rolling in the dirt!  He walked into the kitchen, plopped down on the floor, and began cleaning himself, flipping dirt in every direction as he worked!  I hollered at him and told him he was making a mess everywhere, to which he just gave me a dirty look.  I kept hollering so he finally got up, gave me another dirty look and an indignant meow, then went through the cat door (the one he couldn't figure out earlier) back into the yard and began to roll in the dirt again!

Shortly thereafter he was back at the door hollering for me to let him in again!

The Hazards Of Crock Pot Dinners

We had a quiet Sunday planned for today.  After going to church I stopped in at the store for a few groceries then headed home to put some dinner in the crock pot.  Marion just bought her own crock pot and had been asking me about some recipes to use, and somehow this got me busy thinking about a crock pot meal of my own!

So today after church Marion, Derek, and Lester were coming over to spend some time visiting, and I was going to make some beef stew because it was cold and windy outside, and this sounded like just the right meal for my crock pot dinner.

I got everything together and started the crock pot about the same time Marion and family showed up.

Since I guess today was some sort of special football day, we had the television on watching the game - games?  Well, some were watching it!  Anyway, as the crock pot continued to work towards simmering the meal, we decided to play some card games.

We played a couple of different games and when 4:00 rolled around I realized that the meal in the crock pot still hadn't even begun to simmer.  It was close, but just kept taking its time!  At about 4:15 it still wasn't simmering and I decided I'd better take some action if we wanted to eat sometime before midnight!

Soooo, I took all of the stew out of the crock pot and put it into a large pot and began cooking it on the stove, where it almost immediately began to simmer and smell delicious.

We eventually had dinner at about 6:00.  We had the beef stew and some french bread, and it was really good.  It just wasn't the crock pot meal that I had planned it to be!

So I guess the moral to this story is; if you're going to plan a crock pot dinner it's best if you put it on to cook early (like before church) rather than waiting till later in the day.  After all these years you'd think I would have known that!

Tomorrow night we're having crock pot chili!

Finally A Post!

It has been too long since I have updated so I'll write a little tonight.

Christmas has come and gone - I can't believe it!  But that's what I say every year.  I do have some pictures of the season as proof, though.

Kayla & Marissa decorating our tree

Katie had a birthday three days before Christmas and we gave her a small party.  I don't know where Tara was during picture taking!

Christmas day we had a small Christmas gathering and dinner.  It was fun, though.

Opening the presents!

Then people just got goofy! Well some people!

Yes that's a blue Christmas tree we're all wearing on our heads!

I'm too tired for anything more tonight (as you can plainly see from my choice of pictures!) I'll try to get back before the end of this day and post a bit more.

 Meantime Schultz and I are going to bed!