Baby Quilts for Hope Center

During the 2010 Quilting retreat, 22 baby quilts were knotted by 3 women. MaryAnne, MaryBeth and Marty worked all day knotting the quilts. When 2 of the women had to leave Marty continued knotting the baby quilts for another day and half until all 22 were completed. Although her fingers are crooked and she has some pain in them, she knotted for 3 days. I thank each one of these ladies for all their hard work.

I will continue making more baby quilts, but at a slower pace than I have in the past few months, so that later in the year more quilts can be donated. At the residential home where I volunteer and am helping the young ladies learn some sewing/quilting skills, some of the ladies have expressed an interest in them making some baby quilts for the Hope Center. I believe this will be very rewarding for these ladies who struggle with problems of their own to give of themselves and their time to help others.

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Chicken Casserole

Chicken Casserole

4 C. cooked chicken
2 C. chopped celery
1/2 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. almonds
4 oz. mushrooms
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 C. CoJack Cheese, shredded
2 C. dry noodles, cooked
1 cream of chicken soup
2 T. lemon juice
1 C. sour cream
1 C. mayo
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Crushed up Potatoe chips

Mix all together except the potato chips; put into a 9X13 pan. Sprinkle chips on top and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

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3 Cheese Spinach Artichoke Hot Dip

1 package frozen spinach
1 can artichoke hearts, cut up
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 8oz cream cheese, soft
1 C. mayo
1 C. mozarella cheese
1/2 C. parmasean cheese
splash of worchesterire sauce
salt & pepper

Rinse spinach and squeeze out excess water. Chop up. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Put into casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Serve warm with crackers, bread or chips.

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Packed for the Retreat

After 5 days of fighting a sinus infection, I'm feeling better and am ready and packed for the quilting retreat. The food is made....we take turns making a meal for the group so we only have to cook 1 time in 5 days. We also take snacks along to share with the group. My snacks are homemade salsa & chips and 3 cheese spinach artichoke dip that I will bake in the next few days. I'm making breakfast casseroles for our breakfast and the homemade carmel sticky buns are ready to go! They look delicious! I have a friend who is bringing smokies, fruit and juice for our breakfast.

I've been putting aside sewing for the past week so I have things to work on while at the retreat. I can't wait to dive into some new fabrics for a couple of quilts, for some new baby quilts and to make more pillowcases. I will be teaching some classes for 2 different quilts and a large bag. The quilts are made with 2 1/2" strips of fabric, sewn into simple blocks. Then we cut the blocks in half and sew them back together with different halves. The large bag is made with 5" squares of fabric that you can buy as a set of 40 to 44 squares. My friend Sharon is teaching a braided table runner and 2 pillows made from strips. The ladies that come can pick and choose which project they want to do.

We will also be knotting baby quilts that we are giving to Hope Center in Ft Wayne. We have 19 baby quilts ready to go with more fabric being brought along to make more. I also have fabric to make another 6 pillowcases. I plan on having the ladies hold up some of the pillowcases and we'll take pictures. I'll also take pictures of the baby quilts and of the retreat and post them next week.

I'll see you next week and share pictures and stories of all the fun we had!!

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Roast Beef in the Crock Pot

Roast Beef

1 (5-6 lb) roast (chuck, arm, rolled)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. soy sauce
2 c. beef broth
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke

Heat up the broth, soy sauce, salt and liquid smoke. Pour over roast in a crock pot. Cook at high for 5-6 hours. Cut meat or shredd and soak in broth before serving.


Thanks to my sister in law Dixie for sharing this recipe with me!

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Teaching others to Sew

Once a week I volunteer at a local residency for young woman who need help from depression, Eating disorders, abuse, neglect, etc. Right now we are working with teaching the woman how to sew and make a lap quilt. Most of them are really excited about the quilts and are doing well with each process.

I've taught them how to use a rotary cutter and ruler to cut their fabric. We're making a simple 9 patch square. It's easy enough to make because all the squares are the same size and yet they can incoorporate more colors into their quilt if they like. The young woman are in the sewing stage now. They are eager to learn simple tricks to help their sewing go faster and be more productive. For many of them this is their first experience using a sewing machine and working with fabric.

Some of the quilts will have sashing strips between the blocks while others will not. Once the quilt tops are together we will show them how to knot and finish the quilts. We're hoping that by late spring all the quilts will be done.

The fabric that the young women have used was all donated. We are now looking for people to donate some battings so that we can finish up the quilts this spring.

Another project we are thinking about doing with the young ladies, is making pillowcases. It would be a smaller project and they could make them as gifts or to be donated to a local charity.

It's exciting to see their progress and to see their excitement grow as they get more and more blocks done. Hopefully we are sparking a new interest in them and some new quilters may be born!

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Pillowcases for the hurting and needy

America Patchworks is collecting 1,000,000 through local quilting stores to give to needy and hurting children & adults. The store in Bluffton IN is one of the stores you can take pillowcases in to, and they will get them to the organizations. I took in 3 the other week that I had laying around my sewing area.

Today I was looking through my fabric stash, and I came across another 3 pillowcases, one of them being my most favorite one I ever made. It's a "Cat in the Hat" fabric with coordinating fabrics. It's just too cute! So I dug around some more and found fabric to make 1/2 dozen more. One is a snowflake theme, 2 are zoo animals, 1 is hearts themed, 1 is bright blue/yellow flowers print and the last one is bright dinosaurs. It's an opportunity to give to people/children who are hurting, needy and need someone to care about them. And as I sew them together I pray for the person that will receive this pillowcase.

When I get more made I will post a picture of them so you can see them.

As I was looking for fabric to go with the main fabrics in each pillowcase I came across 9 quilt blocks all sewn together in blues/oranges. Another baby quilt!!! So I'm working on putting another one together for the Hope Center.

There are so many ways we can help others if we look around where we live. And sometimes we find ways of helping that is just so much fun!! I encourage you to see if there are ways you can help out hurting needy people in a way that is not work to you, but just fun!!

Off to sew some more!

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