Quilting Update and some random musings

I'm supposed to be blogging about our Quilting Week Four, but friends, I'm not ready.
I'm still sewing my hearts onto my muslin squares. I've got 20 left. Will you forgive me? I promise I will be up to speed next week and ready to move on.

So I decided on a very random post today. I'm all caught up in the first week of school happenings, deadlines for the new book, and stillllllllllll working on the house. (Door trim and doors are back up, now they need to be painted.)

How about a picture of some of my arts and crafts books? It's lovely isn't it? Sigh...
I heart books.

Sara is one of my daily reads and she showcased Meg today (awesome blog!), and that is where I found this really fun meme. (Just to add to the randomness of this post today)

What is your current obsession?

Quilting and thinking about all the hand-made gifts I'd like to make for Christmas this year

What is your weirdest obsession?

Whole wheat tortillas with hummus, cucumbers, and mandarin oranges for lunch.

What are you wearing today?
New York City ballet t-shirt and jean shorts

What's for dinner?
Grilled Cheese, Tomato Soup, and cut-up veggies with ranch dressing

What would you eat for your last meal?
Yellow curry with tofu from our local thai place

What's the last thing you bought?
Some quilting fabric from Joanne's

What are you listening to right now?
The playlist from Farmgirl Paints

What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
Chocolate vanilla twist from TCBY (it's actually frozen yogurt)

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Definitely on the beach

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
The biggest Goodwill in the country

Which language do you want to learn?

I took French in high school and I don't remember anything.

It would be nice to know Spanish...

What's your favorite quote (for now)?
"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say "I used everything you gave me."
-Erma Bombeck

What is your favorite colour?
red and turquoise

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
Good fitting jeans

What is your dream job?
I have my dream job! Artist, author, mommy, and wife...all rolled into one!:)

What's your favourite magazine?
Where Women Create, Cloth Paper Scissors, Somerset Studios

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
some new (to me) books

Do you admire any one's style?
I stumbled across Vanessa Christenson's blog a few weeks ago and fell in love with her style!

Describe your personal style?
Colorful, casual, clean

What are you going to do after this?
Play "store" with 2 of the kids and then get dinner made

What's your favourite fruit?
I love all fruit, really.

What inspires you?
Right now, people. What you other bloggers do never ceases to amaze me.
Going to church too. Our music is amazing and our Pastor leaves me feeling refreshed, renewed, recharged.

Your favorite book?
The Bible.
Redeeming Love.
The Color Purple.
The Simple Living Guide.
This list could go on forever...

Do you collect something ?
Hearts with wings

Happy Wednesday friends. I'm off to play "store".
xo
Chrissie

Everything Crusted Chicken rolls

Believe me when I say this is delicious!
Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 pound cream cheese, softened
• 2 pounds chicken breast cutlets
• 1 1/2 bread crumbs
• 2 tsp granulated garlic
• 2 tbls poppy seeds
• 3 tbls dehydrated onion flakes
• 3 tbls sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs beaten with a splash of water

Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat.
Spread the chicken cutlets with cream cheese and roll into small, tight bundles. Wash up. Season the bundles liberally with salt and pepper.

Mix the bread crumbs with the garlic, poppy seeds, onion flakes, and sesame seeds in a shallow dish. coat the bundles in flour, dip them in the eggs, and then roll in the flavored bread crumbs. Fry until evenly golden all over and serve.

This week I'm particpating in Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my tummy Tuesday, and Tuesdays at the Table.

I need some new recipes for the school year!

Happy Tuesday!

xo

Chrissie

What I do with broken dishes...

What do you do when you break a dish?

Somehow I lost pictures of the metal pear in it's before state, and the picture of me gluing the crockery on the pear. If you mosaic on metal, use tile mastic.

Does anyone else make mosaics out of their broken dishes?

Go to Kimm's at Reinvented for other Trash to Treasures...:)

The winner of the frame give-away is...

You guys all wanted this black and white set.
I had a hard time with the random generator today so I wrote every single entry down and mixed them up in a bowl. (very scientific, I know...but it does yield a random result).
The winner is Emily.
Emily, send me an email with your address and the frame set you've decided on and I'll send your info to the generous people from All Children's Furniture.
Congrats!;)

Family (Before and After)

I found this picture at a garage sale for $2. It was pretty cute before, but not my style. I have a certain look I'm slowly trying to achieve throughout my house. Lots of white, like a clean slate, with LOTS of punches of color.

Here's what I did with it:

I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I used some fabric scraps (I hold on to every last piece!)
I got the tutorial from the wonderful blog, Happy Together.

And because I know y'all are nosy, like me, I hung it here in one of the hallways, above some family collages.

Here's a couple more pic's of the hallway.

(I need/want to make something to go above the mirror.)I love red and turquoise together. I made this a long time ago, but still love it a lot.

Now that your here, DON'T forget about the frame give-away. It ends at 12 tonite.

Also, I'm doing a give-away over at Joy's Hope, which I am so honored to do. Love her! I'm giving away 3 prints and a coloring book, so go over there to sign up.

For more garage sale/thrift store make-overs, check out all the crafty people at Rhoda's later today.

Happy Sunday friends!

Do you color inside (or outside) of the lines?

This is a project that I'm so proud to share with you.
I've envisioned making a coloring book for a long time and I've finally got one printed up.
Introducing...
"Oodles of Doodles"

You can use it to color in...
Paint in...

Enlarge and copy bigger and then frame it...

Use it as a mosaic template...

It's for kids and adults of all ages...

I think it would be cool to use as an embroidery template too...

I love dreaming up things and then seeing them come to fruition. Makes me so giddy...I know, I'm a total dork.

I have them listed in my Etsy shop now.

If you make anything, please send me a picture. I would love it:)

Does anyone else have a 3 year old who gave themselves a haircut?

Who am I kidding? I know I'm not the only one. And it could have been worse.A lot worse.

So we went to Great Clips with our $6.99 coupon and had them take over 7 inches off to make it look better.

And then we went to the park to take pictures of my big girl.

Why is it that haircuts always make your babies look older?
sniff, sniff...

She insisted on her moo-cow rain boots.

Who am I to argue with such a simple request?

I don't know what I would do without this little girl.

She certainly keeps me on my toes.

:)

Make sure you come visit me on Friday. I have a couple of really cool things to share.

xo

Chrissie