Ok, so I cut my panels into squares.

Then I took the leftover pieces and stitched them into a baby sized quilt, added some black and white polka dot sashing on the edges, and I’m in love with the crazy-busy end result. I mean seriously in love.

I think it’s the simple mix of black, white, and red, but the busy look of the patterns all mixed together that seem to work in my head. Anyways, the ‘busy’ part is a big step outside of my usual comfort zone, which was even more fun for me.

Here I have it pinned and ready to quilt.

Then I set about trying to configure my quilt squares for my quilt. And once I laid it out I realize I don’t like it.

The layout suggested for the Quilt Along isn’t working with my fabric patterns and colors all together. My squares are coming off looking very, very country. Too country. Not what I had been working for. Not. At. All. So I’m unsure where to go from here.

I tried laying it out this way…what do you think?

How about this direction?

I don’t know, any ideas?

And just to clarify and avoid hurt feelings, there is nothing wrong with “country style” it’s just not what I was aiming for with this quilt.

So, any ideas, suggestions or tips are more than welcome. Fire away.

My Dad is the king of root beer in my family. For years now, most family fuctions feature his delicious homemade dry ice root beer made in his signature metal drink cooler. He recently came up with this new recipe as a way to have the same yummy homemade rootbeer taste without having to hunt down and deal with the dry ice. We all loved it and agree that it tastes exactly like his original recipe, and we have made this numerous times since.

Pappy’s Vanilla Creme Root Beer

2 qts. cold water

3 lbs. sugar

1 (4 oz.) bottle ‘Big H’ root beer extract

2 (2 liter) bottles cream soda, chilled

4 (2 liter) bottles club soda ‘or’ sparkling water, chilled

1 bag of ice

Into a 5 gallon drink cooler, combine the cold 2 quarts of water and the sugar. Add the root beer extract and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1 bottle of club soda, mixing to dissolve all ingredients. Add the remaining bottles of club soda and the cream soda gently, so as to not lose the fizz. Stir gently to mix. Add ice to chill the drink further, and serve. (be careful not to stir the mixture too much or your drink will lose it’s fizz and go flat)  Yield: about 5 gallons.

Baked Chicken Fajitas

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes and green chilies, drained

1 medium onion, cut into thin strips

1 medium green pepper, cut into thin strips

1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into thin strips

2 TBSP. vegetable oil

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp salt

12 (6-inch) flour tortillas, warmed

In a 13×9x2-inch baking dish coated with non-stick cooking spray, combine the chicken, tomatoes, onions and peppers. Combine the oil, chili powder, cumn and salt. Drizzle over chicken mixture and toss to coat. Bake uncovered @ 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and veggies are tender. Spoon onto tortillas and fold in sides. Serve hot/warm. Yield: 6 servings

While I am lagging behind most of the others in the ‘Quilt Along’, I am still excited that I managed to finish sewing my strips into panels, pressed the seams, and now they are ready to be cut into squares. That will be my project for today, getting them cut and sorting them for the quilt top.

Except that instead of my strips being 11.5″ inches wide they are 12.25″. Hmmm, not sure how I managed that. Well, I’m glad I caught it before I began cutting them into the pre-planned 11.5″ inches as called for in the quilt along. I am also toying with the idea of quilting it with my own machine, but maybe not. I will first attempt a practice run by sewing together the leftover pieces from my panels into a small doll sized quilt to try my hand at stippling on my machine and see if I think I can manage that before I attempt something bigger. If it looks like this is something that will only end in tears and possibly a lot of swearing, then I will just pay to have it done by someone with a longarm, because swearing is not an option. I will have no problem with the crying part however, that I can manage. The good news is that there looks to be a ton of info on free motion quilting and stippling on the Quilt Along forum on Flickr, so I will be checking back there a lot before I attempt anything. Any helpful advice is more than welcome!

I tried to let him sleep in for as long as possible, but the kids could hardly contain themselves, and it wasn’t long before they were gleefully sneaking in to jump all over him with their wishes for a happy day. He loved it.

A hot and hearty breakfast was made with many little willing helpers, and served to the man of the day in bed.

The kids are nearly passing out with glee, they can’t wait to give him the gifts they made.

His favorites- pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, freshly baked rolls, Jello w/ whipped cream, brownies topped with ice cream and hot fudge- are currently in the works for our meal tonight.

And as I type this, he is downstairs on the couch, under a pile of goofy kidlets, watching the movie they so excitedly picked out for him to watch on his day…Kung Fu Panda. They are convinced it’s his favorite. He would never tell them otherwise.

We love this man,

He is the best of the best.

He deserves all of this and more.

Happy Fathers Day babe.

For everything that you are, and for all that you do, we love you.

And of course, a very ‘happy fathers day’ to my Dad. Because my Dad totally rocks.

 It’s sewing machine month at ‘Sew Mama Sew!’ where they have a sewing machine questionnaire to help them add to the sewing machine resource information on their blog, and I am happy to throw my two cents in, so here goes…

This little beauty is my insanely adored sewing machine…

What brand and model do you have?

Viking Husqvarna Platinum 770

How long have you had it?

One year.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?

It retails for $1999, but I paid a lot less for mine.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?

Clothes, toys, a few quilts and whatnot. Mostly clothes though. A lot of clothes

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

I guess it varies, sometimes I sew for hours daily, and then suddenly I get really busy with my kiddos and I go for a week without even lifting the presser foot. All together it probably would add up to every other day though if you averaged out my time at my machine. And I haven’t even come close to using 1/10th of the cool stitches available in my stitch menu either.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

I am in total and complete love with my machine. Shameless really. And her name is Agnes.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

I love that it powers through numerous layers of denim without a hiccup, I love that the stitch length goes to 6 where my last machine only went to 4, and I love how easy it is to just sit down and start in sewing, it’s not a temperamental machine at all. I also love the tons of different presser feet available to me to make certain projects and tecniques easier when I sew. And I also love that every Viking owner I have ever talked to has rhapsodized about the longevity of their own machine, so I felt like I was buying a reliable sewing machine and that my money was being spent on something that would last.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?

I am not crazy about my machine’s buttonhole function, my previous cheapie Brother sewing machine had a far better one which I kind of miss sometimes. And the reverse button is very poorly placed and WAY too small to easily push and use comfortably for as much as I like to use it. But that’s it, the rest I love.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!

This machine was originally bought and then sewed with for less than an hour when the person realized they really wanted the Viking embroidery machine that was the next step up after this model, so they returned it and bought the other machine. This machine was returned and marked a factory refurb, where I then ended up buying it for less than a 1/4 of the retail price with shipping and everything, all packaged up and brand new in the box and all. Score!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

Yes, because it can take you from even your smallest sewing projects such as little repairs and stitched hems, all the way to free-hand quilting your own quilts, and then back to stitching up your own clothing and crafts. And it’s backed up by a name you can trust as one with a long history in making sewing machines and a great reputation.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

Will it be able to take what you are going to dish out? Will it grow with you as you branch out in your sewing? Are you really paying for functions you will really use, or are you spending tons of money for fancy bells and whistles that will never be used? Make sure you are buying functions that are necessary to your needs, and not just expensive fluff that sound cool but in reality will never be used no matter how many hours you put on that sewing machine. But most importantly, you need a machine that will eventually be easy enough to use so that you can comfortably sit down and sew and not have to whip out the users manual every 5 minutes just to get through each and every one of your projects. Ease of use counts for a lot.

Do you have a dream machine?

Yes, and I currently own it and I am happily sewing with it, woo hoo!

If you would like to answer the questionnaire on your blog, just go to the ‘Sew MaMa Sew!’ blog here and either leave a comment with the link to your post or email them with the link instead.

I started sewing my strips into panels for my quilt. I finished four of them when I finally admitted to myself that I was nowhere near getting a consistent 1/4-inch seam allowance on any of them, no matter how hard I tried. I knew they make a special presser foot that is specially made and sized for the perfect scant 1/4-inch seam, so I went right to my computer, found one on Ebay and bought it. Thank you ‘buy-it-now’ option with free shipping. It arrived within 3 days. Even better.

(on the right, my regular, all purpose presser foot…on the left, my new nifty neat-o and much narrower quilt piecing foot)

So I immediately attached the new foot and stitched together 6 more strips into another panel to see how my new purchase worked. Like a dream. Yay!

(panel sewn with new nifty neat-o presser foot)

Then it dawns on me that my four other sewn panels may not be quite the right size now compared to my new panel sewn with my new presser foot. I held them up to each other. I was right. Oh poop. So today, instead of sewing the rest of my fabric strips into the remaining panels, I had to unpick all of the panels and remove all of the stray threads from the old seams, then place the strips back into the unsewn piles. Oh double poop.

(the 4 wrongly sewn and freshly seam-ripped panels…argh.)

Oh well, at least I am now ready to tackle the rest of this, and I am so excited to get the panels cut into squares so I can move on to figuring out how where I want each square in my quilt top. I just hope I don’t screw that part up. And after that I have to decided if I want to attempt quilting it myself on my sewing machine with my free motion quilting foot, or take ti to a lady in my neighborhood that has a whole setup in her homw and has offered to quilt it for me for an obscenely low price. Decisions, decisions.

Notice the new little thingy in my sidebar on the right? Yep, it’s for a cute little site that I recently came across called ‘Craft Hope’, and I thought it was well worth sharing about since they are all about crafting for others in need. They just announced project 3 and I happily signed myself up. Nothing like a good cause and a chance to sew something for someone else to make my little heart even happier.

Check it out for yourself right here…

There is a giveaway at ‘Homely Animal’ for a quilt, sewn with lots of tender loving care by the ‘Homely Animal’ author herself. All in an effort to raise awareness for urban chickens. There is a petition you can sign, but you don’t have to sign it to win the quilt. If you want a chance at winning her quilt, make sure and leave a comment on her post. But really, would signing the petition for the benefit of the chickens really hurt you in the long run? I say no. Sign, and let the chickens have their day. And their quilt. Or maybe let me have the quilt and the chickens can just have their day.

(self portrait taken by naughty camera stealing cutie whilst hiding under the desk)

A few weeks ago, due to unfortunate circumstances, Mathes was sent to bed an hour early. Needless to say there was lots of weeping and wailing involved. I only relented long enough for him to eat a  PB&J sandwich for his missed supper and then he was sent straight back to bed, where upon he indignantly came right back out only a minute later…

Me: Mathes, get back into bed.

Mathes: Mom. I can’t. My bed is all wet!

Me: What? Why is it wet?

Mathes: It’s covered in my tears!

A tear soaked bed. What kind of a mother?…