Nomad

Meg's quilt is DONE!

I have named this one "Nomad."

Meg is a wanderer at heart, she loves to travel and see the world. I don't see her settling down in one place, ever! But, wherever she goes she will have this quilt and a piece of her momma's heart and love to keep her warm!

She had bought the map fabric a few years ago because she liked it. She never knew what she was going to do with it. She gave it to me to include in a quilt for her. This is the pattern I drew up. I am super happy with how my pattern came out! The flying geese (triangles) represent her flying around the world, and the row of three strips represent the roads she will travel on.

This is the center of the quilt.

back of quilt is a cool hexagon pattern that ties well with the front colors. Meg's nickname is Bear, so I made her label with a bear applique.

I am in love with this quilt....ha, I say that with everyone, huh?!

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

I always make this dip whenever I host a party or we are attending a pot luck. People are always asking me for my recipe, and some friends have even called me up and put in an order for it. :)

I thought I would finally sit down and blog the recipe. So, here it is.

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip

Ingredients:
1 14oz. quartered artichoke hearts, drained
3/4 cup 3 cheese Italian (I use Frigo-parmesan, asiago & romano)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 10oz. package frozen spinach, thawed & squeeze all water out.
1 8oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mozzarella, shredded (& more for top)
salt & pepper

Heat oven to 350° and get a 9x13 pan out or several small ones

In food processor place artichoke hearts, 3 Italian cheeses & garlic. Pulse 5 times. Add spinach, cream cheese, sour cream, & heavy cream - pulse until combined. Add mozzarella & pulse 2-3 times more. Season with salt & pepper.

Spoon mixture into baking dish. Top with additional mozzarella.

Bake for 20-25 minutes and it's hot & bubbly! We eat ours with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Bird Nest Quilt

Both my girls are now out of the house for good (again) and living on their own. I decided to make each of them a quilt for snuggling on the couch. I finished Tori's first.

I took them both shopping for fabric and had them pick out several colors that they wanted in a quilt. I then (tried to) decided on a pattern. I made this one up as I went along. Tori picked out these amazing colors and prints and I think they all flow beautifully together.
Hubby named it Bird's Nest, appropriate name since we call Tori, Bird.

I made twelve 12" disappearing 9 patch blocks and twelve 12" solid blocks with 2 1/2" strip pieces for the sashing and border. I am IN LOVE with how it came out!


Back of quilt with my label on it.

Here is Bird with her Bird's Nest quilt :)

*find me on facebook....TheMadQuilter

Juicing for Health

I juice at least twice a day.

Some juices are just as pretty as they are yummy. This one was beets, red grapes, peach and an apple.

Cabbage & Granny Smith apple = delicious!

Sweet potato, carrots & cantaloupe...Yummers!

Tomato, watermelon, pineapple & oranges! One of my favorites! So refreshing!

And then you have this ugly cuppa juice....cabbage, red grapes, celery & granny smith apple. Not the prettiest, but it was actually quite yummy.

Do you juice? I highly recommend it!!!

Treasures found

Tori moved into her very own apartment last month. The only thing she was lacking was a table. She wanted/needed something small to fit in the space she had. John had been looking on a local website everyday, but everything he found was way to big. While driving into downtown one day I discovered a newly opened flea market. I was super stoked over this discovery. I love thrifting and finding those hidden treasures. So you can only imagine my exhilaration when I came across this table! I immediately text a photo to Tori and she responded with a OMG perfect! That's just the size I wanted! Ah! (those are all quotes)

Here it is sitting pretty in here home. It's for sure vintage, just not sure what decade...maybe 50's? It's very sturdy. Whoever painted it did a fabulous job, and she can always strip it later on down the road and bring it back to it's natural state. Isn't it just darling?!!

I also found this vintage pyrex in the "Forest Fancies Mushroom" pattern for Tori. She had found a baking dish awhile back in this pattern. (both my girls have a love affair with vintage Pyrex...just like their Momma)



John went back to Dolly's flea market with me a week later and I found more vintage Pyrex. O, my goodness, I was in Pyrex heaven.

This pattern is "Town & Country."

I came across the ENTIRE nesting bowl set of "Americana" I about fell over. There are no chips and very few scratches. Woo-Hoo!!!

So, John told me that I have become a hoarder of Pyrex. Whatever! I explained to him the difference between a hoarder and a collector!!! He was really just kidding...I think.

Who's that blogger?

You've probably forgotten all about me by now. It's been over 3 months since I've blogged. :/

Quick update:

I lost my job at the school. I was upset about it at first, worried about my children...wondering if they will make it without a "safe person/room" to go to. I still worry about the kiddos, but i'm not upset anymore. I am LOVING just being a bus driver again!! This is the start of my 21st school year driving a bus. O, and the best part, I was one of the lucky few who received one with air conditioning!!


I spent the summer worried sick about my two daughter's traveling all over Europe. They visited 9 countries in all. Here are a few pictures from their adventures.

Spain

Portugal



Belgium

Barefoot Park in Germany (therapeutic 3 hour walk)

They both agreed that Portugal was the most beautiful place on Earth. I want to visit now.

The girls were home for most of August. They have both moved out again. Tori back to Conway, in her own apartment, for her last year in college. Meg moved to Texas where she is tutoring after school and is thinking about going back to college to get her degree in Bi-lingual Speech Pathology.

So, we are empty-nesters...again!

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

8 more days

That's 8 more days I have to work before summer vacation! Our last day is June 9th. This has been the never ending school year. Thanks to a crazy winter/spring of snow & floods we have an extra 6 days added on to the year.

I started a page on facebook....TheMadQuilter....check it out if you wish and "Like" me. :) Go here and check it out.

Also, check out Jenna's vlog on youtube. You can see sweet baby girl, Scarlett, in action. Love that baby girl. Jenna & David and my sweet baby Scarlett, will be moving to England in the near future. I'm trying to get her to start a blog as well.

Hope to catch up with all of you this weekend!! Happy Memorial Day! Be safe!!!

What I'm currently working on

Another busy weekend for me.


I'm adding the binding to the "Punctuation" quilt and then it's in the
washer & dryer before it goes to it's new home.

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I cut up 180 squares, and then sewed them together to make 90, and then cut them to make 180 triangles, and then I pressed them all open to have a total of 180 squares. (does that makes sense?) That took about 4 hours and my back is now hurting from being bent over the cutting table, sewing machine and standing up to iron/press.

I've decided on 2 different quilts with this material.

The Zig Zag

The Pinwheel

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I'm making a Sock Monkey story book quilt as well. This one is going to be fun to make. Who doesn't love Sock Monkeys?!! My girls would giggle when I sang them this song when they were little.

Mother's Day

Tori took one of her prints and made me a card with it. She put together this cute bundle of fabric...there is a vintage bed sheet, a pillow case, and some other fabrics. I plan on making myself a herringbone quilt. It melted my heart how well she knows me.

I made my mother-in-law this hourglass quilt. The fabric is from the same roll I used to make the quilt I gave her and my father-in-law in March.


I made my Mom this Giddy quilt. I am in love with this fabric line. She put it over her chair in the living room. It matches her colors perfect.

I miss this little girl
so much and she's
only been gone
for 1 day.

Life is Good

David, Jenna, & Scarlett are here visiting us. We are enjoying having them here especially Scarlett, it's so much fun having a baby in the house.

She is a doll!

Jenna & David are AMAZING parents!!


Nona loves this baby girl, and so does Pap. She loves her Auntie Tori too. We are stealing every kiss and hug we can since they are moving to England this summer. Isn't she just precious?!!

bad blogger award goes to ME! (SPAIN)

I've been a bad blogger.

My photos of Spain on my computer some how got messed up. I wasn't able to get them to come up at. all! It was very frustrating. John finally was able to fix the problem last week. We have had some of the CRAZIEST weather you can possibly get here in the Natural State. Tornadoes & torrential downpours that led to floods all over the state. I've been busy making quilts for baby showers and for some people who hired me. So, I haven't had much time to blog or read blogs.

I'm not going to drag out my trip to Spain. I'll just post some pictures and maybe write a caption. Let me just say the trip was a very memorable one! It is a beautiful country!!

My 40th Birthday! We celebrated in Tarifa, Spain. It just happened to be Carnival that weekend...where EVERYONE dresses up crazy & celebrates!

Roman Ruins in Bolonga

The World's Oldest Outdoor Market

Chocolate Cappuccino, the chocolate was thick in the middle. YUM!

HUGE TREES!!Tree Hugging Hippie :)
Swings!

Dehydration :(

Wine & Tapas while Dad recovers at the hotel.
Gorge of El Tajo....Ronda, Spain! This town was beautiful! Ernest Hemingway wrote some of "For whom the bell tolls" here.Spain's oldest bullring dating back to 1785.

The Royal Chapel in Granada, Spain. The chapel contains the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella and their daughter Joanna the Mad and her husband Phillip the Fair.

The lead caskets that hold the actual remains.

The Alhambra at night.

You can see some of the Alhambra behind them.

The architect and detail was fascinating...amazing that this castle was built in the 13th Century. Over looking the city of Granada which means Pomegranate

Cheers to a wonderful trip. Tori leaves on the 22nd of May to backpack across Europe with Meg. I'll be one nervous Momma for 7 weeks.