Let Us Count The Ways We Love You Quilt

Sometimes people need to be reminded of how much we love them, especially when they are sick.

This "manly" heart quilt will let us count the ways we love our sweet family member...which is a lot!

It's got some Tim Holtz number fabric in it that I've been holding on to for something just like this.

It just needs some quilting and binding and it will be done!

Let Us Count The Ways We Love You

I begged The Monkey Boys to come outside in their pajamas to help me hold this up for a pic. 

Thanks, boys! I love having them come visit!

Have A Heart Quilt

I've finished my quilt, Have A Heart, by adding a scalloped border.

It needs some quilting and binding and then it will be a sweet treat to wrap up in.

Have A Heart

It's was such a fun and happy quilt to make!

I need to make a more "manly" one for a sweet family member who is quite ill.

He's in my family's heart and he needs to know that we love him. Maybe reds and blacks?

Here's a little snippet from my row for the Row-A-Long in September.

It's paper pieced and made with Northcott's fabulous Artisan Spirit fabric.

My row is simple compared to some of the other amazing designers. Their rows will wow you!

Plus, lots and lots of giveaways have been donated by so many sponsors thanks to

 Marian at Seams to be Sew and her hard work at putting this blog hop together. 

My monsters multiplied and began to be stuffed by some nice ladies who even sat through

my class on freezer meals. It was such a fun night with lots of service projects going on.

I found some HUGE zucchinis in my garden...wowzers! Luckily I picked them before the skin got

too tough and they got all seedy. I ended up with 10 bags of shredded zucchini to put in the freezer. 

 They'll be great in muffins, breads, and spaghetti sauce. Yum!

My sister shared some of her overgrown plants and now our yard is looking pretty amazing. 

We weren't sure they'd survive transplanting them in the summer heat, 

but they were tough and made it. Even the rose bush made it. Yay!

Take time to smell the roses and of course, sew!

Hearts, Meatballs, And Other Stuff

A few months ago I spent a birthday coupon and bought some fabric that seemed like 

just the thing I needed/wanted. It was a fat quarter bundle by Moda...Hearts Content.

It's still in process, but it makes me smile when I'm sewing. 

Don't you just love when fabric does that for you!

I've also managed to finish a quilt top for the EQ7 Row-A-Long in September.

So many amazing rows to choose from...I wanted to make all of them!

Next week I'll be teaching a freezer meal class, so I've been busy getting ready.

I've cooked and frozen bags of chicken, beef, and even some rolled cookies ready to cut and bake.

Seriously, over two hundred meatballs rolled, baked, and in the freezer, too? Yep!

Not only will I be teaching the class, but there will be tons of medical dolls and monsters to stuff

for donations to local hospitals. It's crazy how many of them a few women managed to make!

I've made several of these using the idea over at It's Always Autumn as suggested by the

Primary Children's Hospital. They are so fun, easy, and are open to lots of possibilities.

I'll be having the Monkey Boys make some to use as bean bags, too!

All these projects have gotten me a bit behind on the Snapshot Quilt Along...ugh!

Hopefully, I can catch up soon. I really want to be able to say that for once I finished a quilt along!

I'm off to play with the Monkey Boys now. Yay!

I'll Have Another Cinnamon Roll Please

In the "olden days" I made a lot of cinnamon rolls for my family and I rarely had to look at the recipe

 because I made them so often. So why did I feel a panic attack coming on when the 8 year old

Monkey Boy looked at me with those big brown eyes and said he'd rather have "homemade"

cinnamon rolls than the ones I was planning to buy at the bakery. Yikes! Where's my rolling pin?!!!

Of course, I made him some!

They weren't as fantastic as the ones his mom makes, but they were pretty darn good!

These are the quick and easy kind...made in less than an hour!

It makes about two dozen rolls. 

QUICK CINNAMON ROLLS

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups warm water
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cups oil
4 tablespoons quick rising yeast
2 teaspoons salt
7 1/2 cups flour
3 eggs

4-5 tablespoons of cinnamon

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup softened butter

Lightly stir warm water, sugar, oil, and yeast together in a small bowl and let rest for 15 minutes. 

In a large mixing bowl, add yeast mixture to salt, flour, and eggs. Mix all ingredients and knead by 

machine (or you can do it by hand) for 6 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add a little more flour if 

dough is too moist and doesn't pull away from the sides of the bowl. Remove dough from bowl and

place on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll dough into two large rectangles. Spread 

both dough rectangles with softened butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. From the 

long side of the rectangle, start tightly rolling up dough to enclose the cinnamon and brown sugar. 

Pinch long edge closed. With a serrated knife, cut into one inch wide slices and place on lightly 

greased baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake at 375° for 10-15 minutes or until cinnamon roll 

edges are a light golden brown. Frost if desired. *Optional: add raisins or chocolate chips over the 

dough before rolling up.

Creamy glaze: 

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

2 tablespoons softened butter 

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 

1-2 tablespoons hot water 

Mix together and frost rolls while warm.

OR

Cream Cheese frosting:
Beat together:
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add:
4-5 cups powdered sugar
Mix and frost rolls while warm.

Now that the five Monkey Boys and their REALLY BIG BROWN EYES have gone home, 

it's time for me to start sewing, quilting, AND cut back on my sugar...no more cinnamon rolls! 

I think I'll bake some of those yummy muffins by Madame Samm at Muffin to Lose. 

She says they will curb my sugar cravings and help me lose weight. 

Sounds good to me!

The Turquoise Quilt Gets Spiffed Up

I wasn't crazy about this turquoise quilt with the paper pieced star, 

but adding some beautiful quilting spiffed it up a bit. Thanks, Quilted Works!

It started like this.

With some girly flower quilting and binding, it looks like this.

So much better!

I'm hoping that next time the thoughts in my head will produce exactly what I envisioned.

My sister took pity on us and shared some of her overgrown plants to make our backyard look better.

Her beautiful yellow flowers made such a difference...I'm loving all the color in our yard!

With school out, we've been spending some time with the Monkey Boys.

Sewing is kind of on the back burner right now, but these guys are so worth it!

This was an amazing hike with the boys.