Yo-Yo's

I love handy work, I love the thimble and the needle. I love how they feel in my hands and I love the results after a few hours of just ME time.

Lately I have been crazy for yo-yo's. My dear friend was making Halloween yo-yos a few months back and explained how her sister for Christmas had made her a 100 yo-yo garland out of Christmas fabrics. Be still my beating heart. I had instantly gone yoyo for yo-yo's.

She was working with the standard "orange" yo-yo maker but after further investigation I found that there was a "jumbo version" and I was smitten.

The yo-yos end up being about 3" and a little more and I am in L-O-V-E.

My big idea was to take all my ugly, "what the heck was I thinking" fabric and make yo-yo's out of them for QuiltBLISS. Any fabric looks awesome all cinched and gathered. A yo-yo garland is pretty harmless and I knew if I decided to do something else with them, I could just take the yo-yos apart.

So began my quest to make hundreds of yo-yo's. I made a goal of 300 which would give me 6 strands of 50 yo-yo's. I have about 250 done and have started stringing them together.  All my previous hard work is starting to pay off, they look really cool.

We are Family

A few weeks back I realized almost all of my family would be in Utah. So I decided we needed to have a family photo shoot. I so appreciate my sisters making the effort to be there. These picture we will cherish forever. It was a great time to capture all of us in our different stages of life. My parents hadn't had photos taken together in 25 years! Far too long. They complained that they looked old...I said "Well,  you can't look 55 when your in your 70's" A good reminder to me...to take photos all along the way of life, and don't stop even if you think you look "old".

 Because we were all doing a session at the SLC Temple we had the pictures taken on the temple grounds. Even thought is was the last day of September the flowers were gorgeous, the sky was overcast the pictures turned out perfect. My kids really cooperated and there was little to no screaming and crying.

 

As always my friend Kimberly from Echo Photos outdid herself and waved her magic camera. She really is an outstanding family photographer!

The best homemade biscuits

After I had my last baby, my sweet neighbor brought over a bag of frozen biscuits. All the directions said was THAW and then COOK @ 400 degrees for 12-15 mins. It was already dinner time so in the freezer they went. Fast forward a few weeks and I needed dinner stat. I took out the biscuits and let them thaw. 30 mins later in the over they went. I got the jam and butter out and waited while they cooked. 

Really these biscuits are mouthwatering. I loved them. I asked my neighbor for the recipe and she happily obligued. I love when people will share their good recipes!

I made this recipe 3 times before they turned out. At some point I had switch my baking soda and baking powder GAH!!! and that is a deal breaker with this recipe. 

Here is the recipe for the best homemade biscuits:

1 pkg yeast and 2 tablespoon water ~ allow to proof

In a large bowl combine these dry ingredients:
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
3 tablespoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar

Add: 1 cup shortening and mix like pastry dough, then add 2 cups buttermilk and yeast.
Barely Mix Together.

Pour dough onto a floured surface and shape into a square. Avoid really mixing the dough too much ~ it should be just barley together. see below

Cut into squares and separate onto a cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. OR place in a ziploc freezer bag for later.

* I do alittle of both cook 10-12 and freeze the rest. The smaller the squares the better because it is a yeast dough.

Eat hot with lots of butter and homemade jam!

Summer is Coming to a Close

Summer is coming to a close at our house. The kids start school next Tuesday. It's still boiling hot here and I refuse to buy skinny jeans for my kids to wear on the first day of school when it will be 99 degrees.

My baby turns ONE next Monday. Ahhhh, I just can't believe hims ONE.

I am hoping once school is back in session my life can get back to normal. Normal is a relative word, but I guess I mean a little quieter.

QuiltBLISS is coming along splendidly! There are only 7 spots left, so hurry and sign up. We have so many great things planned you'll be sad you missed it.

Enjoying the Summer

Summer has been quite the whirl wind so far. Calling June busy would be an understatement. From our vacation to CA, a mission farewell, 2 family BBQ's and a wonderful baptism I haven't had a chance to catch my breath...until now. Since July 4th things have slowed down a bit, which enabled me to make a few home cooked meals, do some sewing, get some fresh air in the mountains and catch up on my laundry (blah!) All in all, summer has been very fun. 

My strawberry medallion quilt. First border up!

me and Jeanette up in Alpine!

Tickets for QuiltBLISS are still for sale, but a lot have sold, which makes me so happy! It is going to be an incredible retreat. So don't delay... get your tickets TODAY!

QuiltBLISS Quilt Retreat

Hello All My Quilty Friends!!

I am really excited to share with you about a retreat I am helping to host through the Utah County Modern Quilt Group.  Its called QuiltBLISS and it is going to be next January 30th - February 2nd, 2014 in Heber Utah!! We have an amazing weekend planned with class, swaps, lectures and much more. Tickets for the event go on sale tomorrow: Wednesday, June 12th at 8:00am so hurry and get your ticket. Click here to register at Eventbrite.

For more information about the retreat visit: QuiltBLISS we have the weekend schedule listed, descriptions of all 7 classes and teachers and more about our special lectures with Sarah from Sarah Jane Studios and Sherri from A Quilting Life. 

I hope you all can make it. It is going to be an amazing weekend!!

Last Day of School

Last Thursday, was the last day of school. Ahhhhh!  I can breathe a sigh of relief that there is no more homework, lunches and carpool. After 9 months of school, Mom needs a break too!

We have a fun summer planned. I think the key to staying happy is staying busy. I've been pinning lots of fun kid activities on Pinterest ~ lets see how many we actually get to.

I've also been quilting up a storm. Well, what I would consider a storm... keeping my 2 yo out of trouble is a full time job and my 9 month old is extremely clinging, so quilting up a storm for me is a few hours a week. Ha!

I've been working really hard on my HST quilt form the UCMQG. The group is so inspiring and challenges me to continually quilt out of my comfort zone. I loved working on this HST quilt, I was always afraid of triangles and bias quilts, but with risk comes great reward.

I've spent  40 + hours already on this quilt and I haven't even started hand binding it yet. The bindings on, but I have yet to sit down and finish it. Once I get going, I remember how much I love to just sit with a thimble, needle and stitch. Simplicity!



I got my design idea from Katie of Sewkatiedid while seeing her progress on Instagram. She makes the loveliest quilts, her creativity is through the roof.  It was a real challenge to see a quilt and just go for it with no pattern and no tangible quilt to reference. Although the design is simple, looks were deceiving and this one and took an extreme amount of brain power. Maybe now that school is out...I can sit at the park and finish the binding. Happy Summer Vacation.

At last...its spring!

After a really cold, long winter I feel like the worst of it is over. Yay!!! My garden is showing signs of life and most days I can run to my mailbox barefooted. I have been quilting up a storm and enjoying snuggling at night under the covers.

 

 I have been most excited about learning how to paper piece. My strawberry is from Sew-Ichigo, they have great patterns and I want to make all of them. I was always so intimidated by all the "paper-ness" but it is really amazingly easy. I had a great teacher who walked my step by step through the process and I can't wait to do even more.

Happy Spring Everyone!