The Orange...

send West Virginia Home. Syracuse beat us in overtime. It was a very close game and back and forth with the lead the entire game. But the Orange team won and that's what counts. I still feel good about beating Pitt, the number 2 team in the nation....now I hope Syracuse beats Louisville tonight for the Big East Championship. That will make me feel better about our loss to them.

Last night Don took me to Charleston to see the Blood, Sweat, and Tears. You have to be older than dirt to remember this group when they were in their hay day. And unfortunately I remember.....It was a good concert, not great, but good. We had a good time and listened to the game as we drove home and arrive home in time to see the last 10 minute on ESPN.

Today we went to Summersville to an Estate Auction. Don bought 2 old leaded stain glass windows. They are beautiful. We've not sure what we will do with the windows yet, for starters we will clean them up. I think they would look really neat handing from the ceiling in front of a window. I remember my grandfather buying stain glass windows at an auction when I was a little girl, he actually replaced windows in his home with the old stain glass windows. We probably won't go that far. They would also make a nice table top. We'll have to use our imagination and see what we come up with.

I'll take some pictures of the windows tomorrow. It's rained all day today, and we did not get them out of the truck when we got home. We also bought a lawn mower (like we needed another one) and two prints of ducks. I'll probably hang the duck prints at our Mt Nebo House/Office because they go with the cabin lake theme decor.

I'm hoping go get in some sewing time this evening and tomorrow. Like always the weekend will fly by.....I see the wings flapping faster now.

It's Friday

I'm too glad it's Friday.....this is how I felt all day at work today! Corporate TAXES are due Monday.......We finished them today. Although we've been working on the darn things for several weeks, nothing like finishing at the last minute. Well maybe not the last minute, midnight Monday would be the last minute.

West Virginia Sends Pitt Home

West Virginia beats the number 2 nationally ranked basketball team. The third time was a charm for the Mountaineers in the Backyard Brawl. 74 to 60 was a pretty impressive victory for the Mountaineers. And Syracuse beat U-Conn 127 to 117 in 6 Overtimes. U-Conn is ranked third in the nation. Wow! What a night for the Big East. WV plays Syracuse tonight. Hopefully they are really tired after 6 overtimes last night and it'll be a snap for WV. In honor of the WV victory, I'm posting pictures of the can koozies that I embroidered for our friends at the lake.

Debbie Mum Decorated..

......my front porch. I found these boots, watering can and door mat at Joann's Fabric Store. I thought they would be cute for spring and Easter. I'm looking for the Debbie Mum fabric to match the boots and I'll make pillows for my porch chairs.

Mountaineers Beat Notre Dame

.....74 to 64. Let's Go Mountaineers. Tomorrow night we play Pittsburgh....another backyard brawl. We're only 75 miles from Pitsburgh and we've lost to them in basketball twice this year already. In honor of West Virginia beating the Fighting Irish, I'm posting a picture of my Irish table topper. .

Amish Food Store

....is one of my favorite little shops. I had meetings in Charleston all morning yesterday and after lunch I shopped at TJ Max for flavored Olive Oil. Don I love to dip bread in the olive oil. We have this almost every evening, delicious with a glass of wine. I'm going to make my own when I get the correct recipe. I've been buying the basil flavored for years now and love it. I'm afraid mine won't be quite as good. And I would have to wait on it to age. I do make my own vanilla and it takes 6 months to age.

I bought all kinds of goodies at the Amish Food Store. I did not know they started selling wine....I picked up two bottles. Who would have thought the Amish would make wine. But their label is on the front. We'll try it and see if they can "make" wine. We have so many vineyards around our area, the wine is good, and I usually just go to the different vineyards for our wine stock (stash, like fabric). I also picked up wheat berries for apple salad, toasted large coconut to add to my cereal in the morning, dehydrated mini marshmallows for the homemade hot chocolate, we love this at the lake on cool nights, pecan flour for pie crusts, almond flour for pie crusts, and other stuff that is not even pictured. I love the little gram pretzels we dip them in softened peanut butter or I make chocolate peanut butter for dipping.

I usually make my own pecan and almond flour with my food processor but when I saw it on the shelf, I thought I would save myself a mess to clean up. I also like the pecan flour in banana nut bread. I reduce the regular flour and add the pecan flour. I am addicted to the toasted coconut....I add a hand full to my bowl of cereal, it is especially good on Special-K. Why not add some calories to a healthy food, not to mention that coconut is very high in cholesterol. I haven't started my diet yet. The cherries looked too good to pass up, I have a chicken recipe that calls for black cherries and and red wine.

I fixed Cinnamon Pineapple Pork Tenderloin for dinner. The jalapenos just make this recipe pop.

Ingredients:
1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into 8 crosswise pieces (or substitute 4 boneless pork loin steaks) 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
2 Tablespoons butter, divided
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks in natural juice, undrained
1 Tablespoon peeled, grated fresh ginger root
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh jalapeno pepper
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation:
Pound each pork tenderloin medallion to 1-inch thickness. (If using pork loin steaks, pound to tenderize.) Sprinkle with salt, thyme, and sage. Place large heavy skillet over medium heat and wait until it gets very hot. Add half of the butter and sear each tenderloin until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a platter and keep warm. (If you do not have a large skillet, you may have to do this half at a time.)

In the same skillet over medium heat, melt remaining butter. Quickly cook red bell pepper just until it becomes limp, but not mushy, about 3 minutes. Carefully add wine to the bell peppers. Stir, scraping up any browned bits, until the wine begins to reduce and get syrupy. Add chicken broth, pineapple chunks with juice, ginger, jalapeno and cinnamon. Gently simmer, stirring often, until reduced to about 1/4 cup of sauce. Taste sauce, adding salt and pepper, if necessary.

Return seared pork tenderloins to the pan, turning to coat with the sauce, just until pork is heated through. Serve pork with the sauce on top and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro.

I fixed Baked Cheese Grits and stir fried Asparagus with the pork....delicious.

Quilt Along with Judy L

I just finished the blocks for the Quilt Along with Judy L. This project is lots of fun, but I'm having a hard time keeping up, all of a sudden I'm too busy for a Quilt Along. And the pace picked up with the class. We really had a lot of work to do in one week. I'm going to try and finish with the group. If I can't keep up then I can always purchase the pattern and finish the quilt at a later time. If you want to see some of the other quilts here is a link to Photo Bucket where everyone is posting pictures of their progress. The quilts are going to be beautiful and there are some unique ideas surfacing.....not everyone used a stripe...take a peak if you have time.

I Found a Quilt Shoppe

in my back yard. It was like finding the mother ship, the mother load, whatever it's called when you find the find of all times.

My day did not not necessarily start off too great. I had so much on my plate. The PLAN (oh, those plans) get up early, put dinner in the crock pot, quick trip to the mall, and back home to clean up the front porch and then off to work. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson are coming in tonight. Last night I bought groceries for the weekend, enough to feed an army for several days. Cleaned the house, etc....I'm having company.

I accomplish everything and head for the office and decide to make a quick trip by an old country shoppe in Fayetteville. I'm looking for a new outside spring flag for the house. When I walked in the door, I remembered they sold fabric, not really good quality fabric, but I thought I would take a peek. OMG, they changed everything....they had all the Moda lines and Thimbleberries. Rows and rows and rows of beautiful fabric. Seven miles from my house. Keep in mind this is West Virginia, we do not have fancy shops and stores here. I was going crazy.....

Now the terrible part....this morning I received an e-mail from Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shoppe with Friday's Feature....I bought 8 yards of assorted Moda Patisserie at $9.25 per yard. This little country shoppe in Fayetteville has all their Moda for $6.47/yard. And today they had a sale...1/2 off. I wanted some of everything but walked away with a few yards of Howard Marcus Heritage Collection for a Cause. I kept telling myself you can come back, it's only a few miles away. I want to make a laptop/briefcase with this fabric. While I was shopping for Moda, my cell phone rings, my son is not coming to West Virginia this weekend. Apparently my grandson is sick and they do not want to make a six hour trip with a fussy child. I can't say that I much blame them. So now I'm inviting everyone to eat all weekend at my house, I have meals planned and food to feed an army. Oh those PLANS.

I guess we will go to the campground sometime this weekend, the weather is beautiful. I can smell the campfire burring right now.....I'm going to get back to my glass of Pinot Grigio. It's Friday evening, the house is clean, dinner is cooked and waiting.....what more could a woman want. Don't answer that!

Another Late Night

....... at work....just like last night. I got home at 8:30 last night and 7 PM tonight. When will this schedule end? I fixed steaks on the grill and baked potatoes and salad for dinner. It's doesn't get any easier, other than carry out, and I hate carry out (in). The weather warmed up today and it's suppose to be in the 60s this weekend. My son and daughter-in-law with my darling little grandson may come for a visit this weekend. We won't know for sure until tomorrow. If we don't have company, I'd love to go to the lake and check on the RV, start cleaning up everything, and getting things hooked up in the RV. But we really don't want to drain the antifreeze with the kind of weather we've had this year. I can't clean without water.....hot water, so that means filling the hot water tank, forget it, it's not happening.
I made these little pin cushion jars and filled them with tread, buttons, and other little trinkets.

It's not really that hard to get the thread out of the wide mouths. A little practical decoration, but I'll probably be tired of them shortly and they will go back to their original purpose, canning.

I found these Martha Pullen Sewing Accessory Designs and made the patchwork pin cushion and small patchwork scissor case. I was not pleased with the scissor case. For some reason I always think I'm going to like the in-the-hoop designs, but for the most part I'm usually disappointed with the end result. But I keep on buying more of them, I'll never learn. But I did like the patchwork pin cushion. I just noticed in the picture that I forgot to hand stitch the bottom closed after I stuffed it.

I hope to be home early tomorrow from work. I really need to work on my Quilt Along; Bears in the Farmhouse Quilt so I don't get kicked out of class. I have the next part cut out and all the small blocks stitched but I have to put together the big blocks. I need to finish them before the weekend, they are due on Monday.

Grandma Brag Books

I made these little brag books for my pocket picture albums yesterday. The fabric matches my wallet, tote bag and sun glasses. I bought new Vera Bradley Prescription Sun glasses a few months ago. Then I needed to coordinate (that's a bad word) everything, so I bought the tote bag, wallet, makeup case, and checkbook cover. I really should have made all the little stuff but I wanted it to match the sun glasses. (coordinate, that really is an expen$ive word)I wanted the picture holders to match the rest of the ensemble. So today, I leave for work, all dolled up with my new ensemble....I stop at the store to pick up a few items. I go to dig out my wallet and everything in the bag matches. OMG where was my head when I was coordinating, I could not find my wallet, it matched everything else. How long I will carry this mess? Who knows, it was rather aggravating with everything "coordinating" inside the tote.

I found this fabric and pattern for a beach bag. I'm going to use boat rope for the handles and tie knots through the O rings. I'll use smaller rope for the draw string. We have huge reels of white rope on the boat. I don't think Don will mind if I borrow a little! It won't match my sun glasses, (darn) but I guess everything can't coordinate. Maybe I'll have to get new prescription glasses to match the bag this time. LOL

Crock Pot Chicken Lasagna

I have chicken in the crock pot, Buffalo Chicken Lasagna to be exact. I tried this recipe from Stephanie (Crock Pot Lady) a few weeks ago and Don and I both thought it was delicious. So it's "what's for dinner tonight"! I'm not a big fan of the crock pot, I like my pressure cooker 100% better, but every now and then, I really need to cook dinner while I'm at work.

We had more snow last night and Don is shoveling the driveway right now, so I can get out. I really wish he wasn't so considerate, I'd call the office and tell them I was working from home. That's really a bad idea. I'd love to work from home everyday, but my bond is too close with the Bernies and I know exactly what I would be doing.....bet I don't have to tell you.

Happy Monday! March came in like a lion!

Busy, Busy, Busy

...as a bee and not a quilting bee. I'm so busy right now my head is spinning. I've been taking steroids for a severe reaction to a medication and I'm exhausted from the hyper-activity caused by the steroids. First the biopsies and then all the doctor appointments are bad enough without any side effects from the treatment. Oh well, enough about that stuff, nurses are the worst patients anyway!


Over the past three weeks at work I've been through a Medicaid Audit, standard procedure for Home Health Agencies, but still a pain the butt and they always just show up with only 24 hours notice, not to mention that Corporate taxes are due in 15 days and I have four companies plus personal taxes due on April 15. We have accounts that take care of this stuff but we still have to gather up all the "junk" and make sure it's correct........and so on.


I've actually been sewing a little and finished part of my sewing room. I have one wall in the room finished. Just three more to go. I usually work in little doses when it comes to decorating. I need to finish with one part before I can decide on another.

I've made little things like a pin cushion thread jars, small scissor holders, dress form pin cushion, and some other little trinkets. I'll take some pictures of these little things tomorrow night and post them along with the link to the designs.

Oh, please don't report me to the thread police! I know you're not suppose to expose your thread to dust and light (sunlight). But I have vinyl covering the rack and I keep the blinds shut most of the time, I'm not home during daylight hours anyway. I really like having every thing at arms length when I'm sewing. I don't want to dig in drawers for thread. I do have all my big spool in a large container in my closet. I really hate it when I have to dig in the containers for spools. I can see all the colors at one time with the thread on the wall. Grab what I need and get on with it.

I can't believe it's almost Monday, where do the weekends go? Its snowing here, like everywhere in the eastern US and the campground opened today. It's my understanding that people were lined up at the door at 8 AM to reserve their sites for this summer and the line was over a three hour wait. Apparently the phone lines were all tired up with phone reservations also. Boy, I'm glad I have a seasonal site! And it's ready for camping as soon as the weather breaks. I'm really ready for fresh air, hiking, boating, swimming, sitting by a campfire, all the FUN stuff in life.

Quilt Along with Judy L

Too busy to blog lately but I'm really trying to keep up with the Quilt Along. I cut out the half square triangles and made the 2.5 inch squares last weekend but just now had time to get the pictures up. Just in a nick of time!

The Bottom of the Lake!

Another weekend passes, as usual, too fast. Don I went to Mt. Nebo Saturday to check on the office and our house. We made a quick trip by the campground to check on our RV. Everything is fine at both Mt Nebo and the campground. With the high winds we had this past week I'm surprised everything was okay. The storm door blew off at Don's shop and all the planters blew into the back yard at the house in town. We're lucky and we did not lose power like some neighboring towns. While at Mt Nebo we drove to the Summersville Lake winter boat launch. I love to drive down the launch in the winter when the lake is drained. It is awesome to drive where you know you swim and ride your boat in summer. These pictures are taken on the lake bottom, where we enjoy diving in the summer. Summersville Lake attracts scuba divers because of the rocks, boulders, lake depth, and underwater terrain. This picture was taken from the campground over looking the lake. Beautiful in the summer and interesting in the winter! I've often thought about hiking the lake bottom during the winter with a metal detector. Think of all the different things that might fall over board. The lake is over 300 feet deep in some areas.

I spent some time today at the office in Beckley. I really hate it when I have to work on weekends but sometimes it's unavoidable. It's close to tax time and with three businesses to close out all the books, it's a busy time of year for me.

Did you notice the Bushfire Quilt Project on the right side of my blog? I made two star blocks to send for the project. This is my feel good project for February. I really need to do something every month that helps someone.....(maybe) feel better.

I covered my stools in the kitchen tonight and hopefully I'll get the new chair cushions made this week, if I'm not swamped at work. I'll take some pictures if I get them finished.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Quilt Along with Judy L

I've decided to participate in the Quilt Along with Judy Laquidara. This is the one and maybe only way I will ever finish a quilt. And who knows, I may learn something along the way. So the pressure is on to keep up with the gang. I think I'm up to the challange. We'll see. Here are my fabric choices for the Bears in the Farmhouse Quilt.

Do you Remember Dickeys?

After spending a wonderful weekend with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, I’ve come back down to reality and started my next phase of winter cleaning. I just about threw several turtle necks in the trash when I decided to recycle them. I recycle jeans and buttons so why not turtle necks. Remember the ‘70s, turtle necks were all the rage! High collars, dare we show our chest! But we sure did show the legs! I still like a turtle neck under a sweater or sweatshirt but with the big MP I tend to roast like a chicken. But I like the warmth around my neck when I’m outside. I cut out the turtle “necks” and serged the cut ends and made what we used to call “dickeys”. Are you old enough to remember?

Now I have all these knit scraps, I’ll save them too for embroidery practice stitch-outs. Or maybe I’ll use the sleeve bottoms for something like adding to the bottom of a sweatshirt sleeve, who knows, I’ll just hang on to them until next winter when I clean out my sewing room closet again, find the darn things, and wonder why in the world I kept this junk.
I picked up my framed embroidered pictures from Hobby Lobby on Friday afternoon. They look great. When I went in to claim my “original art work” there was a note on my claim ticket to call this number. Apparently an interior designer in the area saw the pictures while they were being framed and wants to purchase some pictures like these. WOW, that was a shocker, I’ve never been ask that question…..I’ve never thought anything I made was worth anything to anyone except me or maybe my family. (oh I’ll add close friends) But for a price, I’ll have to give this some thought. I did not call the lady….I can’t put a price on my hobby. Once I start selling my hobby, it’s no longer a hobby, it’s a JOB and I already have several of those. So as of today, I still have no interest in selling my hobby. But, remember, I’m a woman and it’s my prerogative to change to my mind.

Hopefully Don will help me hang the pictures this weekend and I’ll take some pictures. (Did that make since?) Now all I need is to rearrange some furniture and find an oversized chair that makes a bed and my sewing room is finished. We’ve been looking for an oversized chair for over a year. They are not hard to find, but finding the right one is our problem. I need a twin bed in my sewing room for my grandson to sleep on when he is older. But I do not want the bed in the way all the time. So, an oversized chair is the solution. I found a leather one at Home Goods, it would work but it just didn’t jump out and say buy me. We thought the price was a little high for a Home Goods chair, and they would not come down on the price when I pointed out a scratch in the leather on the back side. I knew it wouldn’t show and I guess they did too. But I’m not paying asking price for damaged goods.

Valentine Table Topper

I made this little table topper for Valentine's Day. It's very simple to make. I piece all the squares, add the embroidery, use the ruffle attachment and sew on a ruffle, line the back with quilting and backing, sew around the outer edge and flip.

This little package is coming to see me this weekend. In the picture he's eating celery with ranch dressing, watching the super bowl, in his favorite outfit; his diaper. I won't get much sewing done this weekend but it's a good trade off. I'd much rather be spending time with my grandson, son, and daughter-in-law. Family always first. Sometimes I go months without visiting them, and grand kids grow up so fast. But work and distance keep up apart. I should be thankful that we all have jobs and that's what keeps us apart. It could be a lot worse, especially with the economic crisis our country is experiencing.

Relaxing with the Bernina Designer Software

Our friend and Delegate came over this evening to discuss issues with the Elderly and Disabled in West Virginia. The WV Legislators are getting ready to go back to work after their Christmas recess. Tom is a good guy and really cares about WV.

I rushed home from work, cook pork tenderloin in the pressure cooker with a white wine sauce, rice in the rice cooker, stirred fried some fresh veggies and threw together a blackberry cobbler with fresh frozen blackberries. I had dinner ready in 35 minutes from the time I entered the house. Thank goodness for all the modern appliances. I did not know I was having company until after I was already at work today. Good thing I keep a stash of food around the house. I did not have to go to the store on my way home. Our Delegate friend left with his head full of information. I probably talked so fast and rambled so much he was totally confused and relieved when he left the house.

After I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, I decided to relax with my Designer Plus Software. I really don’t spend as much time with the software as I did when it was new. Sometimes it’s fun to just play around with the functions. I’m trying to put together some stitch recipes for borders. I want to create a border for the fabric that I’m using on my pressing board.
Gee Whiz….how may combinations of stitches are there to use with the software? Thousands, maybe Millions? I could play with this for weeks.

I used industrial strength Velcro last year and attached my Bernina accessory boxes to the wall behind my sewing table (they are still hanging on). Every once in awhile I get around to cleaning them out. Tonight I decided to wind some bobbins while I was playing with the software.
That should do me for a few weeks if I don’t get too carried away with sewing. I really need to quilt my table topper but I just don’t have the energy tonight.

Scissor Cases...In-the-Hoop

These In-the-Hoop scissor cases are too much fun to make. I made three for my large scissors today. I found the embroidery design at Embroidery Library . I plan (oh those plans) on making four of the smaller size scissor cases for my smaller scissors. I have this little three hook wall mount to hang the three large scissor cases. I’m waiting until my embroidered pictures are framed and I’ll incorporate the hanger into the picture collage.I'm going to cover my pressing board soon, maybe this week. I've had plans (oh those plans) to cover it for some time now. I'm going to use stitch recipes on the border around the pressing board fabric.

Oh what a Super Bowl game….the Cardinals just pulled ahead! Before I could get my pictures uploaded the Steelers are ahead…..maybe, they are reviewing the play. TD, now the Steelers are ahead. I'm really not into pro football. I like college football, especially if the Mountaineers are playing! Our local high school basketball team is #1 in the state right now. Go RED DEVILS! Maybe we'll win the states this year. It's been years since they have been State Champs!

Once again the weekend went by too fast. Tomorrow is Monday once again. I hope everyone had a good weekend and you're ready for the week ahead.

Criss Cross "Cross" Coasters

I traveled 60 miles one way to my Greenbrier County office today. The sun was shinning and most of the snow melted. It was a peaceful drive with my thoughts to myself. Lots of executive decisions made during the drive. I won't bore you with the Home Health business decisions, but I decided I would finish my table runner this evening, even if it isn't perfect, I'll use it in the RV and with all the kids coming and going I won't worry about cool aid spills, then I'll trash it after it has a few stains.

I rushed home this evening after a quick trip to Joann's, I needed to use my 50% off coupon. I quickly cooked a beef roast in the pressure cooker with mushrooms and onions and added sour cream after cooking for a thickening. We ate and I cleaned up the mess and headed upstairs to tackle my table runner, and I literally tackled and attacked the darn thing. After stretching and pulling, pushing, pinning, and cussing, I got the large blocks to fit together decently. Not perfect by any means. It does not lay perfectly flat but maybe my quilting will help that.

The biggest problem with this pattern is my choice of colors and fabric. I should have limited the number of different charm squares and the strips should be all the same fabric. This has been a learning lesson and I'm please with what I've learned. I am definitely going to make this again with different fabrics. I'm not down and out yet.


I made criss cross coasters with the left over small squares. This is a different take on the Criss Cross, I guess you might say they are criss cross "cross" coasters. These did not turn out too bad. I'm going to make them again using only two colors of fabric one color for the cross and another for the blocks.
If any one attempts this before I get around to it, please let me know and send pictures.

TGIF in about 5 minutes. The weekend will fly by. I have my stitching list ready for the weekend. I may stay up all night Friday night and sew......stitch my flannel PJ's. A twist on the old adage...make it today, wear it tonight. I'll make it tonight and wear it in the morning. I love an all nighter......