Embroidered Christmas Ornaments

 I know it is February and no one wants to think about Christmas. I made quite a few Christmas ornaments from October through December last year. Here are a few pictures. Some are personalized for customers.

Badge Reels and A Memory Quilt

A friend of mine who's a nurse suggested that I start making badge reels and selling them. There is Velcro glued on the back of the design so that they can be changed according to the season. Back in October I made about twelve badge reels and she took them to work. She sold all but one badge reel that evening. Well that definitely got the ball rolling. I have been stitching badge reels like crazy since then. I know I have over 50 different designs in my Etsy shop. 

I made one Memory quilt last year. A sweet lady asked me to make this quilt for her daughter for Christmas. It is out of her younger sister's clothes. She had passed away a few years ago.

Here is a cute picture of Tim and I right before Christmas. We were doing last minute shopping and stopped at the park to look at Christmas trees that local businesses had decorated. Right when we were about to finish it started raining. 

What have you been up to?

DIY Easy Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

I am on a journey in life to eat less sugar and processed food. I found a spaghetti sauce recipe and tweaked it to make it my own. It is very easy. Let me know if you try it and what you thought.

Ingredients:

1/2 of a Large Yellow Onion, chopped
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 tbsp of Garlic, minced
2 28 oz cans of Crushed Tomatoes
2 tsp of dried Basil
1 lb of mild Italian Sausage
salt and pepper to taste 

Cook the mild Italian sausage in a skillet on medium high heat. Brown it until there is no pink meat. Drain off the fat. Set off to the side. Heat up the extra virgin olive oil in a stock pot on medium heat. Saute the onions, garlic and basil for about 5 minutes or longer depending on how cooked you want them. Add the crushed tomatoes and stir well. Finally add the Italian sausage to the sauce. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

You can omit the meat if you want a meatless sauce. You could also cook other vegetables with the onion and garlic. We ate this over spaghetti squash. It would be great over zucchini noodles as well.

16 Inch Quilt Block With Half Square Triangles

Half square triangles are a bugger. I found a tutorial through Pinterest that helps make the HST's come out more square. (As long as you sew on the line.) I want 2 1/2 inch blocks. So I started with a 5 3/4 inch block of each fabric. On the light color I draw an X diagonally from corner to corner. The a quarter of an inch on each side of that line I draw a line. These are the lines that you sew on. The vertical and horizontal lines drawn on the back are cut lines. Once you have sewn all the lines and cut it up you have eight 2 1/2 inch squares.

 

The third picture has the first row of blocks for my 16 inch quilt block that I am working on.

Inspirational Vinyl Shirt

I made this shirt for myself not too long ago. It is red and I definitely stand out when I where it. The gold heat transfer vinyl really pops off of the red shirt. I have gotten a lot of compliments about this top. Love yourself. You are beautiful and exactly the way God made you.

Ali Express Infant Gown Fail

I bought this gown from Ali Express. When I received it it already had white vinyl letters on it. Who would want a gown with someones initials on it? Weird. If you look real close at the second picture you can see the white letters under the fabric. I didn't want to waist the outfit. I bought this fabric at Hobby Lobby. I thought it would look good on the gown. I cut out the monogram that I wanted in brown heat press vinyl. All I have to do now is stitch around the outer edge of the rectangle to make sure it doesn't come off in the wash.

Thank Heaven For Little Blessings SVG in Pink Siser Vinyl

I am on a roll making onesies. They make great baby shower gifts. I created this design in Inkscape. I cut the svg file out with my Cricut and then used my Siser heat press to adhere it.

Printed Vinyl Fail

Here is a shirt I made for one of my brother's girls. Didn't turn out quite like I expected. The fon't doesn't stand out enough. I guess the print is too busy for the lavender t-shirt.

Alabama Quilt

I spent a great many of Monday nights helping a very good friend make this Alabama themed quilt for her daughter’s birthday present. I had to keep it a secret. I was not allowed to share any pictures. This was very hard for me to do. I love to share pictures of the quilts that I make.

There are twenty-four 12 inch crimson squares with white appliqued A’s on them. The squares in the sashing around the blocks are houndstooth fabric as well as the border. I quilted the Alabama themed quilt with my Juki TL98 using a meander free motion quilting pattern. The Alabama quilt is queen sized.

Daily Free Embroidery Design

Did you know that the website Daily Embroidery gives away one FREE embroidery design every day? Awesome right? Go get yours now.

Alabama Quilt Sneak Peak

I have been meeting with my friend Brenda from church almost every Monday evening after work to help her make an Alabama themed quilt. The are some machine appliqued blocks in the quilt. 24 to be exact. We have spent many hours on them. I told her last night that if anyone asked how much it cost to make them one to tell them $500. 😁 We started sewing the sashing to the quilt blocks last night. This is a sneak peak.

Pinterest Recipe Success

Ham and Cheese Party Roll Ups

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/hot-ham-cheese-party-rolls/


I was searching my Pinterest board of recipes for something easy to make. With a house full of boys it is hard to find something everyone will like. I'd give this a 3 out of 5 star rating because 3 of us loved it and 2 didn't. I loved it and think most of my friends would as well. It is definitely a ladies brunch or church gathering dish.

The recipe called for Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard. I had neither. I used yellow mustard and 1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar instead. It turned out great. They could of cooked for 2 to three minutes longer.

Enjoy!

Frozen Feltie Hair Bows

Minion Funnies

5 Minute Video Explaining the Syrian War

Thank you Ezra Klein for this brief yet informative video.