I'm still working on quilting my Dresden Plate quilt. I finished the solid white areas but really haven't had a whole lot of time to work on it this past week.    I am going to attempt my first 'baby bow tie', ok my first bow tie ever sometime this afternoon.  I need to fix the little diva and myself some lunch first though.




Once I finish the bow tie I might work on the quilt some more if we don't end up outside playing.  It is a beautiful day here after we had some storms this morning, it cleared off and is a great last day of February we have unseasonably warm (upper 60's) temps this week.

Tomorrow starts the Indiana Heritage quilt show, it will be my first time going to it so I'm excited.  The best part of it though is it is only 10 min from where I live. I'm hoping to get some fun new quilting tools.

Welcome to the second week of 'Test Kitchen Tuesday'  I hope everyone had a great Monday, mine was productive in the end but I had a really slow start.

I tried out a recipe for Moroccan Chicken last week on my family and that is what I will be sharing with you this week.  I changed the amounts of some of the ingredients as I made it.  I have put in ( ) what I used with the result.  I will be making this recipe for my family, the kids actually gobbled it down and wanted more.


Morrocan Chicken

In a small bowl or ziploc bag combine:

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp salt (I omitted completely)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I will use less next time because it was very strong and over powered some of the other flavors.)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 clove minced garlic
2 tsp olive oil (I used 1 Tbsp. because it seemed pretty dry with just 2 tsp)

Once your spices and oil are mixed add:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 small or 2 large cut in half)

Bake at 375 for 20 min or until chicken is cooked through.  If your chicken breasts are more than 1/2" thick you will need more time.  I lined my baking dish with foil for easy clean-up.

Serve with Couscous or rice and a favorite vegetable or salad.



You can add the marinade to the chicken and freeze for a fast flavorful meal another day.

Nutritional facts:
 for 1 5.5 g serving of the chicken
75 mg Cholesterol, 574.2 mg Sodium,  1.3 g Carbohydrates, .5g fiber, 25.3 g protein.

Happy Monday everyone!  My weekend was way too short. What about yours?  We left on Friday as soon as hubby got home from work and from there it was go! go! go! On Saturday, we went to a Tweet-up event in Indianapolis where we met up with other Indy Car fans.  We toured the new Dallara factory, took a short ride in a street legal 2-seated Indy Car (That was a blast!).

2-seater driven by Logan Gomez former Indy Lights Driver.

From there we went to an indoor go-karting facility and raced. For the final race we were joined by Indy car driver James Hinchcliffe and he raced with the top 6 drivers of the day. My hubby was one of the lucky ones who got to do that. James is a great person, he spent time signing autographs and just visiting with everyone who was there.

L-R My hubby, James Hinchcliffe, me

But that wasn't the end to our day. Saturday night we all met up for dinner/drinks and prizes to be given away where we were joined by Indy car driver Pippa Mann, she went around to everyone's table twice just chatting and taking pictures.

Magoo-The Stig, Morgan, and Pippa Mann

When we got picked up the weekend mail on Sunday afternoon there was a large package in my mail box and I was a bit confused because I had received everything I had ordered recently. Here is what the package contained.


Isn't the table runner just stunning? There was also a CurlyWurly (chocolate covered chew caramel) and some bits of fabric. The card was beautiful as well.  My package came from Cindy over at Fluffly Sheep Quilting. A few months ago she posted about Pay It Forward, and I was lucky enough to sign up.  I have sent of one of my 3 PIF's.  Unfortunatley I never heard back from the recipient to know if she got it or even liked it.  I was a bit disappointed, but I have plans for the next 2.

I hope everyone has a great day today and come back tomorrow for week 2 of  'Test Kitchen Tuesday' where I will be sharing with you another amazing recipe with you.

My sewing room was my main work this week.  I seemed to have fabric everywhere and the fact that it had no 'home' other than a pile here or a pile there was really getting to me.  For me a messy space really sucks the sewing spirit out of me.

I was commissioned to make another child's necktie. I think it turned out spectacular.  I'm going to have to make some for my son.


I have no 'before' pictures, and my after pictures are pretty poor quality due to the fact it is really gloomy out today.

I found over half my cutting table...


My stash, not just what is on top, but the 3 tubs and some bags below... The blue/green tub is mostly polyester batting scraps that I can't seem to part with, but will probably never use.


 Today I hope to work on at least layering up my Dresden plate crib sized quilt.  I'm open to suggestions of how to quilt it, that part has me baffled.


 Close up of one of the 'plates'



I received this cross-stitched piece as a wedding shower gift and have finally gave it a home in my 'sewing room'.  The very bottom says 'Blessed are the Piecemakers'.

Welcome to the first round of Test Kitchen Tuesday.


Today I have chose to share a recipe for Creamy Broccoli and Potato soup.  This is a very 'hearty' soup.

To make 4 servings (one bowl and I was stuffed) you will need:




Enjoy!

Note, I felt there was enough salt in the broth that adding more was not necessary.

I finished the baby quilt on Friday, and got it shipped off to its new home.  It turned out so soft and cozy.

I'm linking up with Lee over at Freshly Pieced today.

I have  had this baby quilt pieced for a couple of weeks now, and now that Valentine's day is over with, I'm able to finally finish it up.   I normally spray baste, but I'm out so I grabbed my trusty pins and pinned this one, 6 times to the dang carpet.  I'm glad it's small or that could have been a whole lot worse.




I really hope to finish it up today, but if not, there is always tomorrow.

Also, don't for get the 'After Party' for the Valentine's day showcase over at sew bitter sweet designs. There are lots of prizes to be won.  click the image below to find out more!

Yesterday, I did some experimenting in the kitchen for dinner.   In our house we are creatures of habit and eat the same few recipes over and over.   

Thank you everyone for your kind words on my Kissing Hearts Tutorial yesterday.  If you missed it you can find it here.



I want to remind everyone that there is a linky party with prizes that is going to follow the Valentine's Day Showcase over at Sew Bitter Sweet Designs.  So get your projects stitched up and link up.  They can be your own creations or one of the awesome tutorials that have been posted during the showcase.

When Melissa @ Sew Bittersweet Designs asked me to be a part of her Valentine's Showcase, I got a little excited.  Obviously I agreed to be a part of the fun.  Then a few days later the regret hit, I had no clue what I was going to make.  I kept thinking of applique projects, paper piecing projects, yummy sweet treats, needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed and every time I thought I had something to do, I would see the same thing posted around blog land.  I finally came up with the 'Kissing Hearts'  This is my own design, I spent a lot of time with my trusty seam ripper (which I think needs a name, Jack maybe?) as I learned what worked and didn't work during the sewing process.  This is a 'fat quarter friendly' or 'scrap friendly' project that can be made in no time at all.




For an approximate 17" block, you will need to cut the following pieces:

2- 6.25" squares  (use 2 different fabrics)
8- 3"x4.25" rectangles (4 each of 2 different fabrics, same as your squares)

(For the next 3 cuts of fabric I used the same white on off white fabric)

4- 3" squares

1 1.5"x24" strip of fabric (or 2 1.5"x12" strips)

2- 2.5" x WOF (width of fabric)
(or 2- 2.5" x 13"  and 2- 2.5" by 18")

Take the 2  6.25" squares and cut in half on the diagonal.


From then 1.5"x24" strip of fabric (or 2 1.5"x12" strips) cut 16 1.5" squares.

Take your 16 1.5" squares and draw a line on the diagonal from corner to corner. (This is going to be your sewing line)



.

Now that you have everything cut and marked, it's time to sew! All seams are 1/4" unless otherwise specified.






Take your 8 3"x4.25" rectangles and your 16 1.5" squares.  Line you squares up on the corners of your rectangles like in the picture below and sew on the line you drew.




Next, line your ruler up on your stitching line and trim off the excess leaving a 1/4" seam.


You should have something that looks a little like this.


Press your 'flaps' open.  Make sure to press 1 seam allowance to the light and one dark You only need to do this on 4 of the pieces, so when you sew them together they line-up nice and pretty.



You should have 8 pieces that look like this.

 Press your seam toward the dark of each peace.


Now line up the seams locking them together.  If you run your finger down the seam you can feel if they are locked together or not.  You may want to place a pin or two so it doesn't move on you.  I tend to live on the edge most of the time and don't use pins.

Take the 2 heart tops that you did not sew the squares onto and sew them to the large center square and press open.  Then sew the other 2 heart tops that have the squares sewn to them to the other two sided of the center block.

Your piece should now look like this.


It is now time to sew on the outside borders. Pick 2 of your border strips and sew them to opposite sides of your block. Then repeat on the other two sides.


Action shot, sorry for the poor lighting.

Thank you Melissa, for hosting and giving me the opportunity to create something for your Valentine's Showcase. Through the blood, (yes, there was blood involved), and almost tears from banging my head against the wall, I enjoyed creating something new and would love to do something again. 

Was it me or did the weekend just happen to fly by?   I'm sure staying up late and watching the superbowl didn't help with that any either.   It was a great game to watch if you didn't happen to see it.  I haven't seen all of the commercials yet, but of the ones I have seen I love the Volkswagon one where the St. Bernard goes on a diet to chase the new Beetle and the Honda commercial that is playing off the movie Ferris Bueller's  day off.



On the sewing front, I spent several hours picking out some free motion quilting I did just because I didn't like how it looked when I was done.   I'm still not done picking it out, but might possibly get that done today.

Don't forget the Valentine's Day Showcase going on over at Sew Bitter Sweet Designs. Kris has made up a sweet little owl, so go check it out and send Kris some bloggy love.

I made some progress on the baby quilt yesterday.  I got the top done before I had to go pick up my sick little man from school.  He is home with me today since he still has a fever.  I'll be calling the doctor in a bit so we can make sure he doesn't have Strep Throat....again

Today is the kick-off for the Valentine's Day Showcase, so head over to Sew BitterSweet Designs and check out Sharon's tutorial for a sweet Valentine's Day table runner.