May Farms and some Mongolia-related things

We took the kiddos to Byers to the May Farms Pumpkin Patch on Saturday. It was SO nice to do something as a family, since Casey has been so busy this semester. The girls had a blast, but Kelby was not thrilled about the wind :) We picked out a little pumpkin and while Layla was holding it on the way home, she took a nice bite out of the stem and was just chewin' away. They decorated our pumpkin with markers and stickers the next day (the easy way to do pumpkins, when you don't want to clean up the carving mess ;)



On another note, I think I've mentioned here before that my parents live in Mongolia. Yes, that's Mongolia. Anyway, my mom has a wonderful post on her blog about a Mongolian woman who runs a ministry there teaching other Mongolian women how to quilt! It's amazing and they really do beautiful work. Go visit and be inspired. I'm sure they would appreciate some of your scraps, hint, hint! :)
THEN, I was at the Angry Chicken today and she posted about these felted wool slippers from, guess where, Mongolia! Mom brings her grand kids these slippers all the time, so it was super cool seeing them on some one else's blog. All this to say, crafting is universal!

A Monkey and a Recipe

We have a little friend who's turning one this month and I wanted to make him something special. My friend Jen had let me borrow her Melly and Me pattern for Magoo the monkey so that's what I decided to make. I hope he loves it. Layla sure seams to :)

There has been some making going on here, but my sewing projects are for gifts and I can't ruin any surprises and yesterday the making was of the kitchen variety. Casey's Mom and Grandma were here and we made sixteen jars of plum jelly and strawberry jam. They all turned out beautifully and we're good to go for Christmas jellies. Around lunch time, I opened up my crock pot book and found this recipe that sounded good to all of us gals so I threw it in and we had it for dinner. Even Natalie loved it and let's face it, she doesn't like much. So, here it is:

Egg and Broccoli Casserole
serves 6

24 oz. carton small-curd cottage cheese
10 oz. package frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter
3 Tbs finely chopped onion (I didn't include the onion)
1/2 tsp salt
extra shredded cheese

1. Combine first 8 ingredients. Pour into greased slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on High 1 hour. Stir. Reduce heat to Low. Cover and cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours, or until eggs are set.
3. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Casey's grandma has Celiac, so instead of using flower, she suggested I substitute a few tablespoons of corn starch for thickening and it turned out great. And, I also only had half a carton of cottage cheese. And, we forgot to stir it when we turned it to low. SO, obviously, this is not a picky recipe :)

I'm Such a Thief

Both the things I'm sharing here today are ideas I totally stole from other blogs. That's why we all do this, though, right? I hope? Anyway, my friend Jen and I have been wanting to make a quilt together. We met in Georgia, shortly before both our husbands left for Iraq and I am convinced it was a Providential friendship, right from the beginning. We now live in different states and since we so miss creating together, we try to find ways to have a long-distance-creativity relationship :) SO, without either of us mentioning it to the other, we both happened upon this post on Crazy Mom Quilts and both knew this would be the perfect quilt for us to make. It's called a Spider Web and you can see a pic of a finished one here and find the pattern here.
THEN, yesterday, I made the girls a felt board, since I had seen this post on Let's Explore and thought it was a total stroke of genius. It's kinda like a home made flannel graph. And, since I'm certainly not lacking for felt, when they get board with these pieces, I can simply make different ones! I'm thinking an alphabet next.

Look How Chubby my Boy is Getting :)

My Free-Motion Needs Work

I made this quilted pillow for my rocking chair. Partly because I could use some lumbar support while rocking Kelby, partly because I love these fabrics so much, that they just had to make their way into my living room somehow and partly because I needed to practice free motion on something small. I did get better as I went along, but I have a hard time keeping the stitches even. Not too bad, though and I do really like it a lot.
We had such a good day yesterday. Wednesdays are long, since Casey doesn't come home at all between school and work and he has the car, so some days everyone melts down by the afternoon. But, yesterday was a gift. I made the girls a "picnic snack" in the living room mid-morning, while they watched Tarzan (I love that movie!) and they thought it was super cool. (Quick tip--kids think anything in a muffin tin is cool.) After naptime, the girls played in the back with the leaves until dinner and even after dinner until bedtime. All while Kelby slept the day away and I made a pillow :) and cleaned the house and sorted and changed out the seasons of all the kids' clothes. I tell ya, if I don't stay on top of the clothes, they can easily take over the house. Hope your day was just as great!

Done!

I finished my color wheel quilt!!! Finally. This is the smallest quilt I've made, but it managed to take the longest. I wish I knew how to take better pictures of finished quilts, because they always look so much better in person. Well, it's beautiful and I love it. It's going on my wall, even though it's way huger than I thought it would be. (I do know that "huger" is not actually a word.)

I'm going to give my blog a make over today. New banner and everything, it will be fun. Oh, and the soda-quitting is going great. It's been a week and I really don't miss it as much as I thought I would. The bag of sugar visual really helps. And guess who's quitting with me??? CASEY! Anyone who knows him understands why this is a big deal, since he's been a Pepsi-holic ever since I've known him. It's a little harder for him, since he doesn't like coffee and because he's out all the time and has lots of opportunities to get Pepsi, whereas I'm home and it's less tempting here to put all the kids in the car just for a Dr. Pepper!

Welcome, Fall!

Ah, I'm so happy it's Fall. Fall is my absolute favorite. And I'm happy it came on time this year, since it seemed so short the last couple of years. We live in a very campy-looking neighborhood with a ton of old trees so it looks amazing here in the Fall when all the leaves are all yellow and everywhere. Love it. I made this little pin cushion today. Actually it's not little, it's pretty huge for a pin cushion, but I'm in love with it. I got the pattern from the Spring issue of Quilts & More magazine. It's an Anna Maria Horner pattern and I used Sandi Henderson Fabrics, which I ordered online from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics. (VERY fast delivery, a sister in Christ and a fellow Coloradan! I'm happy to support her business when I can.) Whew, was that enough links for you? OK, gotta go change a diaper...or two :)

Ima Dorable

For some reason, I can't manage to take a decent picture today, but OH WELL. This is a dress I made for Natalie a few weeks ago when the weather started to get cooler, but after that it really warmed up again, so she hasn't worn it to church yet. When she does, I'll try to get a better picture of her actually in it. This pic just doesn't do it justice because it's made out of the sweetest, softest brown corduroy with little pink roses. It had a big bow on the front, but when she put it on, it really weighed the whole front down and looked silly, so I had to take it off. My mom also made her some adorable corduroy skirts for Fall so maybe we'll have to stage a little fashion show and post pictures of her wearing them all. She would love that, I'm sure :)
Here's a picture of Kelby in his sling, which I can't seem to say enough good things about. I took him to church in it last Sunday and he was great the whole time. He really hates his car seat, which all my kids have, but he seems to have an even bigger aversion to it than the girls did. Another reason I love the sling!
Finally, this picture may seem a weird thing to post, but it's a really cool visual. This is seventeen teaspoons of sugar--the amount of pure sugar in a 20 oz. soda!!!!!!!! I have had success quitting soda in the past, but it's always been temporary and I would like to give it another shot. I'm drinking some coffee every day, though, because having a newborn, this is not a good time to give up the caffeine altogether, if ya know what I mean! Anyone want to join me?