Cold in the U.S.A.

Hello peoples! How're things? Everyone freezing out there? You know, it occured to me that it might appear that I'm complaining about the snow/cold. Sometimes the snow does bother me...like when I have to go somewhere or I'm worried about my husband driving, etc...but overall I love it. Hey, if I didn't, would I live in the snowiest city in the U.S.? I think not! :-) And I LOVE the cold. Mostly because it's the opposite of HEAT. Being hot makes me crabby and icky. I love feeling refreshed and invigorated by going outside on frosty days. And what can beat curling up in a quilt in a nice warm house? Not much! So anyway, I was thinking about this because there are people who have a genuine right to complain about the arctic blast the U.S. is getting...like those in the deep South. There, the municipalities are not equipped to deal with snow and ice on roads...and houses might not be as warm as those up North. For all of you, hang in there! It'll be over soon...maybe...hopefully...

I think I mentioned that I'm in a coffee/tea quilt-along BOM, right? Everyone's choosing their own patterns, and posting a picture of a block each month on our Flickr group. I knew exactly what pattern I was going to choose as soon as I saw it...pamkittymorning's "Come Around for Coffee." I'm adapting the table square pattern into quilt blocks. Here's a pic of January's block:

I'm going to change the cups each month to go with a color that fits in...like, pink for February and green for March. I'd love it to be all Fig Tree, we'll see how that goes though. I don't know if there are 12 different colorways! LOL

OK I better scoot...the kiddos will be home soon...take care and stay warm!!

♥ Jen

Mother Nature sure is funny...

We have been getting snow nonstop for five days. This after no snow in November and a very light December. Now we have above normal snowfall for this time of year! Check out my patio...

Right?! Insane. Kitty looks a bit confused.

There are a ton of deer tracks in the backyard today, you can see some in the first picture. I hope they were able to find some food. Not my plants though! The good thing about all this snow, according to the kids, is the monster pile of snow at the end of the driveway from the plow guy. They have such fun on that, they even sled down it.

I went food shopping this morning, I'm doing laundry again, and I've got an apple butter pork roast in the slow-cooker. It's such a yummy, cozy meal. These are all the ingredients...simple.

Really, even if you're not nuts about pork, you'll like this. I've made it in the oven before, as the recipe says, but it tastes just as good if you throw it all in the slow-cooker. I just decrease the apple juice from 2 cups to one.

I'm going to get back to work on my quilt today. I laid out the blocks with the sashing and I must say it looks cute so far. I hope it stays that way! Take care everyone, be back soon!

♥ Jen

Workin' on my quilt

Hello my friends! How are you on this fine day? There's a light snow (for real this time!) falling, laundry's going, and I'm quilting! My package from Desperate Quilters arrived today...I love that I got it so quickly! My fabric was packaged so nicely, and they even sent me a yummy looking teabag! If you've never ordered from them, give them a look-see...great selection and prices. So here's what I got...

A teensy bit closer...

I just love this color combination...lemon yellow, reddish-pink and muted green. I couldn't resist the Love U charm pack...oh those fabrics are cute! That of course is for my charm pack hoard a later project. Here's that bottom fabric by itself...

I'm thinking of using this for the outer border...but I'm not sure, I won't know until I get the rest of the top pieced together. It should take on a whole new look with the sashing and inner border so I'll know better then. If not, it's such a pretty fabric, I will find another use for it somewhere!

I pressed and cut the fabrics...later onto the sewing! Ready for a confession? I've never done sashing in a quilt before. This isn't too surprising when you figure I've only been sewing for less than two years, I guess. But still, I hope it all comes together okay! I'll let you know how it goes!

Are you on the Gooseberry Patch email list? Did you see they're not going to be mailing catalogs anymore? Not only that, but they're discontinuing all their cute little country gifts and kitchen things. They're only going to focus on cookbooks, calendars and planners. I am so sad about that! I loved getting their catalogs and re-reading them a million times. Where am I going to get things like this now? *sniff*

Now I'm off to fold the laundry...I'll leave you on a happy note with these cute little guys! Take care friends!

♥ Jen

Some happy projects

December was the last month of Anne Sutton's A Tisket, A Tasket, 12 Months of Baskets Block-of-the-Month. Being a relatively new quilter, I had never done anything like this before...a BOM, an applique quilt, or been part of an online quilt group. And you know what? I loved everything about it. I met a great group of ladies, and it has been so nice to get feedback on my blocks. I also really appreciated getting to see everyone else's creations on the Bunny Hill Flickr group. Seeing how different people interpreted Anne's designs was really inspiring. And some of us are starting a new BOM this year, so the fun can continue!

Participating in a block-of-the-month quilt was great. Each month's pattern was published on the 5th. I really looked forward to logging on and seeing what cutie Anne had come up with. All the fabric I used was from my stash so it was fun to head to my fabric cabinet and do some coordinating. Here's the December block I made...

Last night I ordered some fabrics from Desperate Quilters for the sashing, borders, etc. I had used lots of different kinds of fabrics in the blocks...Lakehouse, 30s, Lecien, Fig Tree, brights, and even some primitives thrown in for good measure. What to use to tie them all together?  In the end I think I did good. Well, we'll see when the fabric gets here and it gets put together. But I'll show you when I get the top done.

I had embroidered a set of seven dish towels for my sister Kathleen for Christmas. I got the pattern from Aunt Martha's, and the flour sack towels from Target. Another awesomely fun project, that I worked on on-and-off for the past year. I love having time with my sewing machine, but there's also something to be said for sitting on the couch with your family, watching tv or whatever while stitching. It's nice to have handwork to do at all times. Anyway in my present-wrapping frenzy last month, I neglected to take pictures of the towels before I wrapped them. Kathleen graciously took pictures on her phone and sent them to me...voila!

As you can see, I trimmed the bottoms of the towels with rick-rack. Totally fun project!!

We're expecting even more snow tonight and tomorrow so I'm going to take advantage of the indoors-time and put away Christmas stuff. I hate taking the tree down but it's got to be done. Luckily I have three run-the-other-way eager helpers!

♥ Jen

Happy 2010!

Well hello there! Long time no post, huh? I hope everyone had a happy, peaceful Christmas. Did Santa come? We got one of these at my house...

Bowling seems to be the family favorite. I got "Wii arm" the first day! It really is a fun family activity. Just look at my house on Christmas...the pictures came out super-blurry, so sorry about that! Aack!

My dad bowling

Yes, the family room is a mess, but it is Christmas morning! You'll have to excuse me this time! LOL We had a great visit with Pops...he flew in on Christmas Eve and left super early on the 27th. We relaxed, ate, talked, all that good stuff. Plus a trip to Wegman's, of course. You can't visit Syracuse without a trip to Wegman's!

So now that Christmas is over, I can show you some of the things that I made for Christmas gifts! My dad is a big fan of Charles Dickens. When I saw this on Karen's website I knew I had to make it for him. ★

I had such fun stitching this wall hanging. It's about 16" x 20". The kit was put together so nicely, all I had to provide was the floss. I didn't order it until shortly before Thanksgiving so I was a little worried it wouldn't be done in time, but it all worked out. Anyway my dad liked it a lot! I have to ship it to him since it was so big...but I do have a perfect place on a wall in my dining room for it...just kidding Dad!

What did everyone do for New Year's Eve? The family and I played Monopoly (I did terribly, as usual), ate the rest of the leftover Christmas cookies, and tried to stay up til midnight. The kids fell asleep, as did Dave and I but the two of us woke up before midnight and were able to watch the ball drop. I think I was in bed by 12:05. The champagne is still in the fridge, unopened. Hmm, maybe some mimosas later. Oh, yeah!

We've been getting lots of snow lately...I guess to make up for the mild winter we've had up until Christmas. I'm going to try to run out to Joann's today...lots of sales this weekend, my friends!

Before I go, I have to tell you what I got for Christmas from my awesome husband!

The Keurig platinum! Oh I was so happy to get this...I've been wanting one for a long time. It is so cool. It took us a bit to find a great coffee....apparently I like it stronger than I thought..but now that we've found some we love it. In fact I'm drinking a perfectly brewed single cup right now! Mmmmmm

Ok, better go play some Wii with Mason...have a wonderful day!

♥ Jen

"Light" snow?!

The forecast this morning was for "light" snow...does this look light to you?

It is nice and fluffy, maybe that's what they meant! Oh well, at least we'll have a white Christmas! :-) I did have some errands to do today, like I mentioned yesterday...so I did venture out. I tell you, I just love having snow tires. Driving was a breeze. ☃

I read Valerie's blog for the first time yesterday, Pumpkin Patch Quilter. Take a gander, it's really great! Anyway Valerie had mentioned some darling Martha Stewart sewing-themed ornaments she had gotten at Kmart. AND, since Kmart is right next to Honey-Baked Ham, I had to run in. Lookie lookie!

They were 50% off, bonus! Thanks so much Valerie!

So I got the ham and I couldn't resist getting a side of cinnamon apples too....mmmm! They were giving out free samples of that, plus turkey, baked beans, cheesy potatoes, and cheesecake. I love that place!

All righty folks, time to get going. Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

♥ Jen

Countdown to Christmas

Hello everyone! How are we doing? Very busy, are we? Oh I am sure! Me too! I hope everyone is feeling...

I went and picked up our Christmas morning kielbasa today. Growing up partially-Polish, we always had fresh and smoked kielbasa as part of our Christmas breakfast. In recent years, when it's just been the four of us, I've bought kielbasa at Wegman's and it's good. But THIS year, 1/2-Polish Pops is coming so I thought I'd go on the hunt for authentic kielbasa.

Luckily nearby, there's a store called "European Specialties" that advertises kielbasy (love the spelling!), peirogy, etc. I bought a 1/2 lb. of smoked from them last week, and a 1/2 lb. from the deli at Wegman's and we had a blind taste test this weekend. They were both yummy but I think the authentic one was better. So today I got a big link of smoked and one of fresh. I can't wait! We'll be tasting them all day! :-)

Another Polish tradition we have is poppy-seed cake. I love making it...the dough is so fun to knead! Here it is fresh from the oven...

Mmmm! I still have to make a glaze, I'll do that later when it's all cool. I baked a bunch of cookies too...chocolate chip, sugar cookie, gingerbread...and I made the prerequisite Chex mix as well. Dave is the real cookie baker of our family....he made orange-almond biscotti, strawberry shortbread, and chocolate crinkles. Yum.

Oh and I also make these for a certain special little guy's Christmas party at school today...

Oops! Woke someone up!

Such a cute kitty. She got up and followed me into the kitchen and is now sitting in my lap.

I finished my wool project...which I will show next week...for now I'm thinking of what to make with cozy flannels like this one...

Tomorrow I'm picking up the ham, wine, and last-minute doo-dads. Just a few days to go, I can't believe it!! This is looking good right about now...

Have a wonderful, peaceful Christmas all. All the best from my family and me...

♥ Jen