Sorority Quilt

58 X 75 Birthday Quilt

I used a chocolate brown binding since she was torn between blue and brown for the border fabric.

This quilt has an extra wide border to give her a fuller lap quilt.

Tackle it Tuesday

This is an over-sized Queen quilt made from Tshirts sent to me.

I love all the travel Tshirts what a great way to remember all your special moments

Our Weekend of Relaxing

I was starting to feel the stress of the summer. I don't get a break from the kids at all so I needed a day to just relax. I had originally planned for my husband to take the kids and my daughters friend to a water park that we had tickets to, it turned out they all pretty much demanded I go to. It was a nice day to enjoy the sunshine. The weather was great! I am thankful my husband took the day off.

We were house sitting again so we got to enjoy a pool and bbq on Saturday. The kids had a great time. We had planned to go to the beach but we were all pretty burnt from the previous day so I thought a pool day was a better way to go.

We had invested 2 dollars in some water toys and picked up some food and better sunscreen, then we came back to our house and watched Mission Impossible 3 which we had rented from the library.

Sunday we enjoyed a day of movies, the kids decided even though we could use the pool again they had enough sun. The guys went to see the new Batman movie and us girls went to see Ice Age 3. It was a nice weekend with very little chores and actual work.

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Broken Frog

My broken frog. It had a hidden message that year. My husband and I were separated and I had flown to Texas to get the kids so I could have them for Christmas. He had temporary custody and we were looking at divorce. That Christmas my mom got me a couple of items that had scripture on them. My husband and I were really trying to work things out. I think my mom knew that we just needed healing over his mother's death. It had taken a toll on me to care for her. The frog says All things grow with love. Without it I g-a-i-n nothing! 1 Corinthians 13  I will admit that it brought tears to my eyes and I knew she was telling me to move back home. I did 2 weeks later.Thus the tears tonight over this material thing that might not be able to be fixed since its hollow inside.

Amazing Mexican Rice

1 tsp oil, 1/2 diced white onion, 1 tsp garlic, 1 diced Serrano pepper. Brown 1 minute

Add one cup of rice, brown one minute. I love Jasmine Rice for this recipe, it just makes such a good dish.

Add 2 cups of Chicken Broth and 1 tbsp of tomato sauce simmer, covered with a lid, 20 min or so. I stir every five minutes because I use cast iron and have an electric stove.

About 3 minutes before its done you add a handful of chopped cilantro and let it sit. Very Yummy Mexican Rice, it will go well with Oriental Food or Mexican food or served alongside any meat dish. I often eat it for breakfast because I am prone to upset stomachs.

Memory Quilt from a Fathers Clothing

Finished quilt today

Measures 51 by 70

Love this soft caramel brown fabric

Wordless Wednesday

This is an activity I would like to see more of. I fight him to read constantly. It pleased me greatly to see this yesterday after taking my oldest son driving. The dog was happy to have the attention too.

Summer Fun with Family

Permit Day

July 12, 2012 it was raining so hard here but we still went to get Jakob's permit from a very busy DPS location because one he passed his permit test the night before with high 90's and two I knew where this location was. We had to stand in the rain a little over 30 min, probably closer to 45, but it was well worth it. Three hours later we had his permit.

Following suit of tradition when I was growing up we decided to have breakfast/lunch. We chose Denny's so I could get a cup of hot tea and we could get out of the rain a bit. To our surprise we saw a couple that we know from something called Venturing Crew, which the boys are part of. They were sweet and excited about Jakob's permit. They also paid for our bill. I didn't find out until we are done. What a huge blessing that was and it really spoke to his heart to have someone support him like that.

This was the rain on the way home, it was crazy. I was going to have him drive home that day but decided with the very high water on the road that it wasn't such a good idea.

Its interesting that last summer we had horrible fires and hardly any rain and this year we are flooding and can't seem to go very long without rain. It will give him some experience to drive in some rainy weather though which is good for everyone to know how to do.

 

My New Driver

We have a new driver in our household. This excites me very much. Today his third day of driving we drove to town, its a 30 minute trip to Tomball. He parked in the bank parking lot so that I could make a deposit. I drove to Mc D's where he could use his gift card from driving school for scoring high on his permit test, we parked and ate lunch, then he drove home from a gas station. So all in all an hour drive on major roads with lots of lights and traffic. He did great. I was proud. Only a couple scary times but he is much less anxious with me then his dad. Therefore, I am glad I am the one teaching him. I am thankful we have had a break in the rain so that he could drive so much lately. So far he has driven 2 1/2 hours! Yesterday I made him drive 16 miles in three subdivisions and then to the grocery store, today he drove 40!

A Father's Memory Quilt in Progress

I love Memory Quilts

I am always deeply honored to work on Memory Quilts. These are quilts where a loved one sends me their father's, mothers, grandparents, child's etc clothing and then I create a quilt out of this clothing. This particular quilt is a father's clothing who passed away in November. I found it very fitting that the Lord led me to a devotion yesterday from Revelation 21:4 as I begun this order. I am even more honored that her mother is also interested in a quilt order using some of these same clothing items. I was ever so careful when I cut the shirts to ensure that she could choose from any of them for her own quilt. I even suggested using some backs/fronts so that the opposites could be used in the second quilt. I love that there are two sweatshirts in this quilt, one that is a Dad and one that is a Grandpa saying. I am sure this will be treasured for a very long time. I am waiting for the flannel backing to arrive so I can finish the quilt.

 

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

This is a wonderful recipe if you have a summer or fall garden because its pretty cheap. We grew our own squash this year so the only cost to me was the sauce- because I didn't have time to make any and the jimmy dean sausage. 

This recipe calls for 

1 spaghetti squash

Half of a small package of jimmy dean sausage (i like the hot), 

one small zucchini, 

one small yellow squash,

 4 mushrooms 

 2 banana peppers (because I had them). 

You could also use spinach or other veggies if you have them

 

I bake the spaghetti squash with the smallest amount of butter in a pan covered with foil at 400 degrees, it cooks for 45 min to an hour. Once its done I take tongs and hold one side of the squash and with a fork I scrape out the squash, they come out looking almost like noodles. 

10-15 min prior to the squash being ready I make the topping

Brown the sausage, while its browning I cut up the zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms and banana peppers

After the sausage is browned remove any oil with a paper towel, then add the veggies. I let it cook 5 min or so covered with a lid then I add the spaghetti sauce and simmer an additional five minutes.

Once the squash is done and I have it in a casserole dish I top it with the topping and then add mozzarella cheese to the top and bake @ 350 for 10 min. Remove and let sit for a few minutes and then serve.

My Queen Size Quilt

This is my fabric selection for the queen size quilt I want to make for our bed

I wanted blues, creams, greens, blacks, gray and browns. I looked at lots of quilts online and never found the perfect one.

I had a $50 credit to fabric.com so I can do the whole queen quilt for about $70. I still need to decide on what kind of blocks or pattern I would like to do. I thought about a disappearing nine patch maybe? I am not quite sure

I had this already. Originally I was going to just take this 108 wide fabric and make a coverlet for the bed but I decided I really wanted a quilt that was pretty for the winter, mine has fallen apart. So this will be the backing. I love the rich chocolate brown and the scroll print.

Monday Moments

Monday Moments

I am learning that my favorite part of the day is really the mornings. It is quiet in the house because the kids sleep late. It is cool temperature wise so its refreshing. I can hear the bird, crickets and other living things outside enjoying the day as the sun continues to climb in the sky. 

Mondays can prove very difficult though. Our weekends are usually packed full with things to do. I noticed this morning that since our dinner was late last night dishes did not get finished. There is laundry that needs to be put away, the floors need, the kitchen table needs cleared, the list goes on and on. 

I had made a decision to make sure I bring back my quiet time each morning. Make myself a cup of tea, sit with my devotion then plan my week. Plan our menu, my schedule and how to maintain the house and quilting. How to fit in driving time for Jakob, time to run for Zekaryah and Paul. Its a lot to manage. 

I am thankful for today's lesson as I begin working on a quilt today that is from a father's closet- he passed away in November and a daughter has sought  my services to provide a memory quilt. Having lost my own mother I understand the "need and desire" for this comfort. I can't even imagine loosing my dad yet. I just want to be able to spend so much time with him first. 

The verse today was from Revelation 21:4 It says,

"He will wipe every tear fromt heir eye, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain all these things will be gone forever."

To me I thought FOREVER FREEDOM

Freedom from the "bad in life". The sickness, the worry, the overwhelmed feeling us moms get as we try to do it all. Sometimes that can just really wear us down. For me this lesson today was perfect. I had been working in a devotional that is focused on a relationship with my husband. Some how yesterday I misplaced it. This forced me to seek out something different this morning and wouldn't you know it was on death, grieving, comfort. I need this lesson more today. I am thankful the Lord changed my path. 

I hope that you have a wonderful week. May the Lord bring you many blessings, comfort and peace. 

Oh and make sure you enter my three giveaways there is some great stuff this week.

 

 

 

Menu Planning Monday

We seem to have some busy Summer Days. I think with all the rain it makes us a little cooped up though so when there isn't any rain we are running around with our heads cut off. I have been doing menus to help us but have failed to get them on the Blog.

Monday

Spaghetti Squash (adults) Regular Spaghetti (kids) and Garlic Bread

Tuesday

Fish and Rice

Wednesday

Pancakes

Thursday

Tostadas

Friday

Fajitas

Saturday

Hotdogs and Hamburgers

Sunday

Kabobs with chicken and veggies over rice