Halloween Star Quilt

Even though its not done, I thought you'd want to see it, since I did complete most of it in October.

The top was done on Oct. 9 so I've kept it on the large sofa all month to remind myself to keep working on it and so I could enjoy it for the rest of the month.

I saw a quilt similar to this on Pinterest, but it was much larger and had a green six inch border and all the quilting was done on a diagonal, so I give them credit for the original idea of using black background and sawtooth stars. Their black stars had olive green backgrounds, and it was all pretty mellow. I wanted to take that idea and make it say FUN!

So, with fabrics from my stash and only one fat quarter purchased after I recreated the pattern I wanted, I was off. Total size is 56 x 69 inches. Using 10 inch sawtooth stars, I've combined a mixture of solids and patterned fabrics on a black background with three yellow backgrounds for the black stars, just to keep things interesting. Black sashings in between are 1 1/2" finished.

 I hand quilted all the stars. This is one of the first ones I did.

 Then I realized it needed more quilting, so I quilted a diamond inside the stars as well as the 1/4" inside the stars. Notice how there are a variety of orange fabrics. (I told you it was one of my favorite colors.) I think all these colors play nicely together, even though they're not all in the same hue. Color play is SO fun! I wanted lots of oranges to remind us it is really a Halloween quilt, then I added some purple, gray and lime green to keep it fresh and modern.  The yellows just keep it all balanced and contrasted so nicely with the black. I really loved putting all these fabrics together and watch them turn out as fun as I hoped they would.

 This pumpkin fabric is MyGirl's favorite. Now on to quilting the black in the middle and the orange binding, and it will be done. I have loved making this. Sunday night I threw it over my feet as I was listening to a devotional and its really warm too. It shall be a fun way to welcome in every October from now on.

Still here

Sorry to have nothing creative to show.

I need to start scrapbooking again because when I don't, I forget I need to get out my camera and take photos. I've taken none in all of October - horrors for me!

Yet, much creativity has happened:

Several Halloween cards

Several cards for my friends with cancer

Fancy card for the tennis team to sign for their coach

Finished the Sept. Barn quilt block

Working on the Oct. Barn quilt block

Relief Society wood/painting project

Working on hand quilting a Sawtooth Star Halloween quilt - won't be done by Halloween, but its been a fun project when I have a spare moment, and its big and bold - a new direction for me. Fun! Photos to come by Halloween this week, I promise!

MyGirl has started a blog :  AHappyHarvest.blogspot.com - check it out!

Made some pumpkin chocolate chip bar cookies, and they turned out great. Yeah!

Quilt craft fair for our guild

Two merit badges passed off since Sept. 1, so good things are happening!

A party for LittleBuddy last Friday.

Tennis banquet

MyGirl's first day on the new job

MyGirl's diploma came in the mail

MyGirl shopped for a bunch of new clothes and looks so cute in all of them

 . . .why oh why did I forget my camera? 

Some aren't too late to take photos, and some are . . . this is real life.

Mike is crazy busy at work, and that leaves more for me at home and less time to think about my camera,

so this week I'm going to pull it out, put it on my dining room ledge, and be reminded to use it!

Work, Drive, Work

Well, I can finally let the cat out of the bag now . . .                                                                
      Cowgirl has a new job, as manager of the Joann's in the big new Spanish Fork store. She'll start in January, though starts hiring her team this month, but its now officially hers! Since she just started as a manager in March she and we were surprised she would be selected, but her Vernal store (where she's still at)  has done amazing under her leadership and now with this store much larger, it will be a new challenge, but she's up to it!  After paying her dues for six years, she's starting to move up the career ladder quickly and we're very happy for her. She is a natural leader and its fun to see her using her great potential.
      That's not the only big career news, though. MyGirl has her first official job, working as support staff at an elementary school in our district. She'll be monitoring the cafeteria and playground for two hours every school day. Its the furthest school in our district. We refer to it as "The Little School on the Prairie," or "The Country School," so we're spending some time on the road, but its a perfect transition for her into the world of work. Now that she's in the district, which is a really good one, she'll be able to move up to different positions next year and from now on, so its a good career move for her also if she wants it.
     As for me, my work is the same - lots of laundry, shopping, cooking, driving, cleaning, keeping things organized with a little sewing thrown in for some good creative challenges. The quilt top on my Halloween quilt is done. I'll start quilting it tomorrow and hopefully have it done by the end of next week.

Busy Celebrations

Long time, no blogging, I know.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with company and activities and celebrations but I'll keep it simple here.

Month old photo, but MyGirl has finished school! Yahooooo!!!!!

We went out to celebrate her and she loved it!

Tennis is over for the JV team at Lewis Palmer. 

He and his partner had a great time, only losing one match all season. Go Guys !!!

 Now he and three of the friends you see here are taking lessons Friday after school, hoping to improve their skills and make the Varsity team next season.  Way to improve!

 Then Cowgirl drove all the way from Vernal and surprised her dad for his birthday! So we celebrated him and her safe arrival.

 Littlebuddy is working SOOOO hard in school this year, and while its been tough, he's keeping up. AND, he passed off another merit badge last month, and another to be passed off this month. Then only four to go to Eagle! More celebrating to come.

 Cowgirl brought her puppy, Maple, a sweet, energetic little dachsund. Mygirl especially loved taking her on walks and cuddling with her. 

 Now Cowgirl has big news and we went out to celebrate the last day she was here. I'm not at liberty to share it publicly yet, so I'll wait, but Wow! She is awesome and it was so great to have her home to share in the good news. We love celebrations!

Orange

I took these photos on my phone about a week ago coming home from seminary. Can you believe all the gorgeousness at 6:30 a.m?  It just filled the sky and I LOVED it! 

Orange

This just may be my favorite accessory color. I'm working on a quilt now with some orange. I have pops of orange in my living room, bedroom and family room. 

It also is one of my son's high school colors and since we're going to tennis multiple times per week, just looking for the orange shirts makes me happy. It also reminds me of both my boys. When BigBuddy was four he wanted to wear his orange shirt every day. After a week of that, I bought four more orange shirts for cheap and pretty much every photo of him except for on Sundays, that year, he's wearing orange. Now I recently bought some fabric for LittleBuddy's bed quilt and he said, can you add orange to that? Actually I can, and it will look fabulous with all the colors in the layer cake I got on sale. Yeah!

I guess its that time of year. Orange is everywhere, and right now, it just makes me happy.

Halloween Table Topper

I know it would be better to actually see this on a table, but it photographs better against my sofa. . . .

I finished this last week, just in time to give to my quilt guild for their annual craft show.

MyGirl wasn't happy with me. She wanted me to keep it for our own family. Right now I'm working on a Halloween quilt for our family. I guess I'll have to make a table topper for us after that, though the whole rounded corner binding. . . maybe not, though it was another good learning opportunity for me ;-)

 I added a little hand stitching around the pumpkin I appliqued.

 I just made up this design. Nothing fancy, but he's got a little personality, and that's the fun of designing your own pumpkin, right?

The side piecing was actually designed after one of my favorite scrapbook designs I've used many times on cards and on pages for backing one particular photo. Good design easily crosses over from one medium to another. I really liked these fabrics, though, and a couple of them will be used also on my quilt. . . more to come. When my mom asked me how I did it, I said, "Well I cut out a rectangle, and from there, I designed everything around that." And that's pretty much how it went. 

Best Grilled Chicken

After years of grilling chicken I have finally found the way I want to make it for the rest of my life. I searched on the web for the ways others are doing it, then created my own version, and it was delicious!!!

I started by taking six breasts and putting each one between two pieces of parchment paper, then pounding them so that they were all about 2/3 of an inch (I did not measure, but was looking for a uniform size. )Then I put them all into a gallon sized zip top bag.

Next I zested a whole small lemon, minced a garlic clove, and measured 1 tsp of dried oregano, 1 tsp of dried parsley, 1/2 tsp. of  dried thyme,  1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper. I sprinkled all of that into the bag. Then I poured in 1/4 cup of olive oil, closed up the bag, and mushed it all together to where it all looked pretty uniformly covered. I let that sit in the fridge for a little less than two hours. 

Then I came back, added 2 cups of cold water, 1/2 tsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp. of salt and mushed it all back and forth inside the bag and let it sit in the fridge for another 30 minutes.

Then I took out each individual breast, and patted it dry and put it on a large plate. 

Then I had my son grill them all on our gas grill on med-high heat for about 5 minutes on each side. 

They came out so juicy and flavorful!  

The pieces were so big when pounded, that all the women had half sized pieces and there are still two left. These will make the best lunch today with some sliced cob corn, romaine lettuce, and green onion. 

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. 

 My brother and his son were in town this past week and twice we all went to our favorite local park. On this particular day LittleGuy was all about catching bugs so BigBuddy was a good cousin and caught a grasshopper for him. Here they made the exchange.

 Then he excitedly ran over to show the rest of us.

 And, as soon as he opened his hands it jumped away again.

LittleGuy and MyGirl continued to chase it while the rest of us sat on the picnic bench enjoying the beautiful day. Summer this year has been either gorgeous or wet. We try to get out and enjoy the gorgeous as often as we can. Having little ones close by makes that both necessary and special. It was fun to see he and his dad again.