This is a fun rag quilt that I made for my son, Trenton, for Christmas.  Actually he got the fabric for Christmas and I just finished it last week.  I was talking to him a few months ago and he was reminiscing about when he was little and we would buy a pizza and put a quilt on the family room floor and put the kids and the pizza on the quilt and watch a movie.  So I found this pizza fabric on ebay, cut up a lot of old jeans and now my son has a fun picnic quilt and maybe someday he will give me grandkids and they will eat pizza on this quilt and watch movies.

Check back again and I will try to post more pictures soon.  I have a halloween quilt at the quilters being quilted.  I made another halloween quilt for a young lady in my ward who got engaged on halloween last year and her wedding is in 2 days.  And I just finished a baby quilt, my step-daughter wanted frogs on the quilt and I searched and searched and couldn't find a frog pattern I liked so I made one up.

Sorry it has been a long time since I've posted anything.  At Christmas time my son Trenton came home from college (in California), and said to me "you're not going to go downstairs and sew while I'm here are you?"  So for a week and a half I didn't sew, which is very unusual for me.  And the day after he left I got sick with some bug, turned into broncitis, and I just couldn't bear to go downstairs to my unfinished basement and sew.  But, I'm back now.  This snowman quilt was a round robin at Cherry Tree Cottage where I worked a few years ago.  I've had the blocks for probably 5 years, I sewed them together in December and took it to my quilter, Brandy Mascher, she got it quilted in January.  It's been hanging in my living room since then, I just love to look at it.  Thank you to all my friends that made a block for me.

LAZY APRICOT PRESERVES

Sorry I havn't posted in some time.  Here is the Lazy Apricot Preserves that I promised in my last posting.

Lazy Apricot Preserves

1 (2.25 lb.) pkg. Dried Apricots
4 cups Sugar
8 cups Water

In a food processor, process the apricots until very finely chopped.  Transfer to a slow cooker.  Stir in sugar and water.  Cover and cook on the high heat setting 2 1/2 hours, stirring twice, if possible.  Uncover and cook on high, stirring occasionally, 2 hours or longer, or until the jam has thickened.   Ladle the jam into clean, 1 cup freezer containers.  Let cool and store in the freezer.  (Or put in canning jars and process for 10 to 15 minutes).  Makes about 10 cups

I bought my dried apricots at Sams Club for about $8.00 and it makes enough Apricot Jam to fill 10 freezer containers.  I tried to buy apricot jam at the grocery store and it was about $4.00 for a small jar.

I don't make the Apricot Jam to eat on toast, I make the jam so I can make the following recipe:

Orange Chicken for Dummies

1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup catalina salad dressing
8 chicken breasts
(I've also made with a pork roast instead of chicken)

Combine onion soup mix, apricot preserves, and catalina dressing. Put the chicken or pork roast into the crockpot, cover with mixture of onion soup mix, preserves and catalina salad dressing, cook on high 4-6 hours, until done).  Serve with rice.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Here it is!!!  All finished!!!

 Brandy quilted it and I got it bound on Monday and hung it on my wall 2 days before Halloween.

I love it, I had so much fun making this quilt.

I used tiny yellow buttons for all the bats eyes, all the backgrounds for the bats and the house blocks are all different fabrics.  I used a bell charm for my school bell.  I fussy cut an owl from fabric for the window of the barn.  I fussy cut pumpkins for the pumpkins next to the school.  I fussy cut ghosts for the windows of the door at the school.  I had black fabric that I used for the fence at the school, I think it looks like chain link.  I changed all the green to light green.  I fussy cut pumpkins for the pumpkins hanging from the tree and the black bird.  I used brick fabric for the chimney, pavement fabric for the sidewalks, fabric that looks like dirt in front of the barn, and I love the fabric on the side of the barn, it has spiders on it.  

The sashing fabric has spider webs on it.  

AND I sewed door handles on the school doors that are eyes from old fashioned hooks and eyes.

Check out www.quiltcompany.com to see how the designer made her quilt

 or to order the pattern and/or accessory fabric packet.

I made Apricot Jam in my crockpot today from dried apricots, 

check back for the recipe, I will post that next.

As promised here is my "Sew Spooky" quilt (not finished yet) so far.

If you are not familiar with this quilt check out www.quiltcompany.com to see the designers finished quilt, purchase the pattern and/or the Accessory Fabric Packet.

I still have 3 borders to do; pieced candy corn, candy corn fabric and applique bats.

When I started working on this quilt, I didn't like the darker green that the designer had used and I decided to change my quilt to a lighter green, I found some orange in my stash with cobwebs and decided to use that for the sashing, I knew I had brick and stone fabric for the paths and chimney.  When I was working on the barn the pattern said to use a owl button for the window, I found fabric in my stash with owls and fussy cut the window with the owl in it.  My brown fence fabric looks like wood.  And when I got to the school I found fabric in my stash that looked like a mesh fence and fussy cut the pumpkins from fabric and the windows in the door with ghosts and one of the cutest things in this quilt is the handles on the school door are from old fashioned hooks and eyes..  The quilt on the first block, door of barn, windows of school and witches house, "Ghoul School", "Haunted Barn" signs and the witches feet path are all from the Fabric Accessory Packet.

I'm not trying to sell this designers pattern, I just like to do scrappy quilts, and I like to share what I am working on with my friends.  I've had more fun working on this quilt.

 Please check back later to see the finished quilt. 

Happy Halloween Quilting!!!

WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!!!

The winner from my blog tour is Jeanenne Nielsen.  Please email me with your address so I can send you out your new book "Springtime in the Rockies"

My friend Jen Atkinson gave me some peaches the other day, so I made some Spicy Peach Honey.  My family loves this stuff, so I thought I would share this recipe.  I found this recipe in a very old cookbook over 30 years ago.  For you young people, before pectin was on the market, you would have to cook jam for about 20 minutes, it would be very hard for me to make this jam without scorching the pan. So I finally adapted this recipe to the slow cooker.  Now it cooks in the slow cooker all day, my house smells wonderful, and it never scorches. Here's the recipe:

Spicy Peach Honey

6 pounds Peaches
9 cups Sugar
1 Tblsp. Lemon Juice
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Cloves
(or if I have it I use 3 tsp. Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus)

Cook peaches in hot water for 1 minute, place in cold water and remove skins and pits, place in food processor and process until smooth.  Measure peaches (should be about 9 cups) place peaches and equal amount of sugar in large crockpot, add lemon juice and spices, stir well.  Cook on medium for 6 to 8 hours.  (Or boil in stockpot on stove for 20 minutes).  Pour hot mixture into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace, seal.  Process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.  (I've even put the lids and rings on and turned upside down on the counter, on a towel, and they seal because its so hot, you could even try putting in freezer containers and putting in the freezer, I haven't tried that)  Makes 6 to 7 pints.

Here is the quilt I've been working on for a few weeks, on and off.    I found this pattern in the magazine "Quilt Sampler" Fall/Winter 2011.  The picture of the quilt is on the very last page, they call it Extra, Extra and the pattern is inside on Pattern Sheet 2.  I made this totally from scraps that I had, I love to make my quilts as scrappy as I can.  I used 23 different orange fabrics and 23 different black fabrics for the half square triangles. My quilter is on vacation this week, and I'm not sure how long it will take to get it quilted, so I've just posted the quilt unquilted.

My current project is the Halloween quilt called "Sew Spooky" from The Quilt Company. Just about every magazine on the market is advertising this quilt as a block of the month from different quilt stores.  I am making it very scrappy, I will post pictures as I get each block done, so check back to see how it is coming along.

Thank you to the two people who pointed out that I had the wrong quilt shop listed in my last blog.  I apologize to Quilters Haven. The picture of the quilt was taken at Quilters Haven not Elaines.

And Jeanenne Nielsen is the winner from my blog hop if she could please email me her address so I can send her the free book, Springtime in the Rockies.  Thanks for all your comments.  Still working on my orange and black quilt.  Hope to have it finished Monday.