Happy Birthday Matt!

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Today was my DS’s 22nd birthday.

Tradition in our house allows for the birthday boy or girl to choose the menu for the evening. Matthew chose cannelloni with garlic bread and Caesar salad. For desert, an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.

Matthew insisted on lighting all 22 candles himself.

He did have to put up with the rest of us singing, Happy Birthday before he could blow out the candles, though!

We gave Matt a membership to BCAA. We know if his older model truck breaks down or he runs out of gas, he is just a phone call away from help…..peace of mind for us as the parents! We also gave him the cash to buy new roller blades. Matt plays in a roller hockey league for fun. The exercise provides balance to his chosen employment in the computer field.


Happy Birthday, Matt!

Tulips in the Valley

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One of the sure signs that Spring has arrived is seeing this field of tulips in full bloom.

This year, the tulips are blooming at least 3 weeks behind when they bloomed last year.


Spring has definitely taken its timing arriving in this neck of the woods!




And sadly, this spectacular field of colour is over too soon and we see this:

Happy Birthday Dana!

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This is my DD, Dana. Today was her 20th birthday!

The tradition in our house has always been that you decide the supper menu on your birthday.

Dana picked Christmas Morning Wife Saver for her birthday dinner. This dish is a tradition in our house for Christmas morning and we rarely think about making it at other times of the year. If you are interested, this is the recipe:

Ingredients:

16 slices white bread, crusts removed

16 slices Canadian back bacon

16 slices processed cheese

6 eggs

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 cup minced onion

3 cups milk

1/2 cup butter

crushed Corn Flakes

Instructions:

Set 8 pieces of bread into a 9″ x 13″ buttered, glass baking dish. Cover bread with slices of back bacon. Lay slices of cheese on top of bacon and then cover with remaining slices of bread to make it like a sandwich.

In a bowl, beat eggs and pepper. To the egg mixture add dry mustard, onion, and milk. Pour over the sandwiches, cover and let stand in fridge overnight.

In the morning, melt butter, pour over top. Cover with crushed Corn Flakes. Bake, uncovered, 1 hour at 350 deg.F. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. Serve with fresh fruit and cinnamon rolls.

Both of my kids do not like cake. So for desert, Dana picked a desert from the New Joys of Jell-O cookbook called, Berried Delight.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Oreo cookie crumbs
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted margarine
1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
2 2/3 cups cold milk
3 1/2 cups Cool Whip Whipped topping, thawed
2 pints frozen sliced strawberries
1 package (6 serving size) Jell-O Instant Pudding and Pie Filling, Vanilla flavor

Combine: Crumbs and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Mix in margarine. Press mixture evenly onto bottom of 13 x 9 inch pan. (If desired bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool on rack.)

Beat: Cream cheese with remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of the milk until smooth. Fold in 1/2 of the whipped topping. Spread over crust. Arrange strawberries in even layer on cream cheese mixture.

Pour: The remaining milk into medium bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk until well blended, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour over strawberries. Chill 4 hours or overnight.

Spread: Remaining whipped topping over pudding just before serving.



Because the casserole Dana picked for supper is the type that you make ahead and store in the refrigerator, we were able to spend the entire day shopping without worrying about meal prep. Dana’s present from us (Mom and Dad) was a day of clothes shopping. We picked up Grandma in the morning and the three girls–Grandma, Dana, and myself spent the day shopping for clothes in Langley. This is Dana with all her loot!

Let the Sun Shine In!

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Today’s temperatures were the same freezing temperatures we have had for the last couple of days. However, the sun was shining! It was too cold to be outside, but it was warm and cozy inside my studio. I have a large window in front of my long arm and this morning, I opened the blind and let the sun shine in!

It was so sunny, you could see the reflection of the quilt that I was working on in the window.

This is the quilt that I worked on today–not my quilt, it belongs to a customer. The last time I stopped to buy thread from my supplier, she showed me a new product from Superior Threads called Lava. I bought a spool to try and this quilt was the perfect quilt to try it on. This thread colour is Soft Breeze.
I leave you with two parting shots of my handsome, faithful companion, Joey.

How Long Does it Take to Make a Quilt Anyway?

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This is a picture of a quilt that I started a long, long time ago. I started this quilt before I bought my long arm and before I started keeping a detailed tracking sheet of the quilts that I make.

I got the inspiration to make this quilt from a magazine article. I needed to hunt down the article to determine exactly how long this quilt has been in the making. Luckily, I remembered that the quilt pattern was in an American Patchwork and Quilting magazine and so my search for the article was narrowed.

This quilt is made from 16 1/2″ finished blocks that are quilted first and then joined together to make the quilt. Once the blocks are joined together and the binding is applied, there is no further quilting required.

This is a close up of one of the blocks. I did not use Marti Michell’s technique as mentioned in the article to join my blocks together. I preferred the technique that is in Sharon Pederson’s book, “Reversible Quilts: Two at a Time”. Have a look at Sharon’s website for further inspiration and details about her book. http://www.sharonquilts.com/


These two pictures are scans of the magazine article: American Patchwork and Quilting , February 2003–the original inspiration for this quilt.


I am often asked how long it takes me to make a quilt. I find the question hard to answer. The answer is not necessarily based on how difficult the quilt pattern is, which is one of the things that could be a factor in total time to make a quilt. Sometimes, it is necessary to first understand what motivated me to start the quilt in the first place. In the case of this quilt, I was looking for a way to make larger quilts with my DSM. The idea of quilting a quilt in small blocks and then joining the blocks together to make the final quilt appealed to me. I was anxious to try the technique. Once I made a few blocks, the quilt sat–the technique was tried and the inspiration that motivated me to start the quilt waned. This quilt sat for a long time as a UFO. I had no original purpose for making this quilt other than to try out a new technique. Because there was no purpose for the finished quilt, there was no incentive to finish the UFO.

Fast forward to March 2008. We received an invitation to my husband’s Uncle’s 85th birthday party. An 85th birthday is definitely a milestone and very special. I thought this birthday required a quilt to commemorate it. I assessed my UFO’s and dug out the quilt-as-you-go UFO. Now with inspiration to finish because there was an intended recipient of the quilt, I finished the quilt in time for Uncle Aaron’s 85th birthday on March 29, 2008.

This is Uncle Aaron with his cake.

This is a picture of Uncle Aaron’s immediate family–at least those that were able to be present for the celebration.

This is a picture of one of Uncle Aaron’s daughters admiring the quilt.


How long does it take to make a quilt anyway? Sometimes it takes 5 years to make a quilt! *LOL*