Nubees Block Swap.....

I'm proud to announce I have another month of Nubees Block Swap under my belt.  This was a fun one as well.  The swap started off a bit later than usual so it overlapped March and April so feeling quite confident I signed up not only for the March/April swap but the "true" April swap as well.  It wasn't until I realized I had never made 10 quilt blocks in a month before that I started freaking out a bit.  So, off to find the pattern I wanted to make for my March/April swap.

I have pinned so many amazing blocks with tutorials to my "Quilt Blocks I Want To Create" board that I was not lacking for choices.  I decided to go with the November block from the Sew Mama Sew Modern BOM Sew Along.  I had loved this block from the moment I saw the pictures and tutorial posted on their site.  I knew this was going to turn out to be an amazing block on everyone's colors, and I was right!

Don't you just love how the colors pop in these blocks!
Truly excited to drop them in the mail.

I'm so excited to have these blocks completed and am so pleased with how they all turned out.  They'll be dropped in the mail on Monday, then it's off to finish the Nubees blocks for the "true" April swap.  Luckily, I have 3 of those done with two to go....I'll post pics of the finished group soon.

Have fun and Happy Sewing

Pancakes. . . For Lunch!!!

Yes, you read correctly, we had pancakes for lunch today (per the request of a special little 3 year old).  Let me explain.

It was a little over a month ago and my hubby and I were set for a trip to Naples, Florida for a banquet with his employer.  (Naples was a beautiful place to visit and we had a glorious time but as most moms know, leaving the kids behind ALWAYS comes at a price)  So, we are off enjoying our weekend getaway and my parents were gracious enough to come and stay and watch our two precious little angels while we were gone.  Thank you Mom and Dad!

Well, little did we know that my dad would become the king of the pancake while we were gone.  Apparently, my little munchkins twisted his arm just right so that I think he may have made pancakes for them every single day while we were gone.  Now, I don't know about all of you but I rarely have the time on a weekday morning to make pancakes.....and these weren't just ANY pancakes, they were made from scratch (no mixes, no boxes, no Bisquick).

Now, my kids (especially the little 3 year old princess) are totally hooked on these pancakes (which of course "Papa" made into little mini sizes).  Thus the reason for the lunchtime pancakes.  I try oh so very hard to limit the amount of pancake eating that goes on but sometimes I just give in and get out the griddle.  And now, I'm sharing the super delicious, kid-approved, addictive pancakes my dad made for my girls while we were away.  These pancakes should come with a warning:

Do not feed to little children as it will cause unforseen begging, pleading, and whining for more.


I'm just going to call this little recipe how I see it:

Super Stack of Fluffy Deliciousness

Super Fluffy and Supremely Addictive Pancakes


3/4 C. Milk
2 Tbsp White Vinegar
(Mix milk with vinegar and set aside for 5 minutes while you prep the rest)

1 C. All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp White Sugar
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Butter (melted)
1 Egg

1. In a small bowl, measure and mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and milk.  When well combined whisk in the milk and vinegar mixture and combine.  Add the dry ingredients and blend until smooth.

3.  Heat griddle on medium heat and begin pouring pancake batter onto the griddle in desired sizes.  (My kids love the little silver dollar pancakes and a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon is perfect for that size)

You know you want to
make these

Enjoy with your favorite pancake toppings.  Mine happen to be fresh strawberries with whipped cream.  Yummy....oh, did I mention I'm addicted to these little things myself!!








Happy Cooking

P.S.  Come back next week, I'm having my very first super fantastic fabric giveaway - you won't want to miss this.....it's going to be a lot of fun!!

Newbie Blog Hop.....

Are you looking to find new bloggers just like you?  Have you been yearning to see what other bloggers are chatting about on their sites?  Do you want to be an online blogging expert?  Or, perhaps you just want to find some great tips, recipes and craft ideas.  If you answered "yes" to any of these questions then be sure to check out the Newbie Blog Hop going on RIGHT NOW!!

This is the place to be in the "know" when it comes to what's new and trendy in the blogging world.  Don't you just love that blogging can be trendy!!  Haha.  Well, join the H-O-P and get yourself noticed.

Have fun, hop, hop, hopping along......

It Must be Bunco Night......

Yes, it's true, this Friday the 13th is Bunco night!!  Not sure what Bunco is, just check out more about it here at the World Bunco Association website.  What, there's a World Bunco Association???  Who knew.  Well, I literally just played in my first Bunco Night last month with some good friends and other moms in my area and we had such a fun night of laughing, dice rolling and stealing prizes!

It was time for me to figure out my prize for this month's Bunco Night.  These prizes can not exceed $5 and can be anything from a gift card, to a handmade item to something you bought at the store.  I decided this month it was going to be a handmade gift (with a surprise inside) and I had found the perfect idea in this great little book from my library called Pretty Little Cozy's.  This book along with many of the other Pretty Little series contain a number of fun, simple, and useful projects for the sewing enthusiast!

The "cozy" I chose to make is a Keychain/Card Cozy that you can use when you run those quick errands to the store or head out to the gym.  You don't want a big bulky purse so this little "cozy" is perfect.  I love how it turned out and since this one is a gift, I'm now going to have to make another one for myself.  I hope you enjoy taking a look at some of my project photos and perhaps you'll want to make a cute little "cozy" of your own.

Getting Started - Fabric Selection, Cutting, Pressing

Finished Pretty Little Card Cozy

It's Keeping My Cards soooooo Cozy

Add Keys and Your All Set

Now, I'll go pick up the "surprise" that's going inside my little "cozy"......this gift is certain to be a hit at tomorrow night's Bunco game!

On another note, if you love great giveaways (and who in their right mind doesn't?).  Bianca, over at just posted a teaser today about an awesome giveaway on her blog.  More details to come tomorrow but be sure to check out the amazing pile of prizes that are a part of this giveaway.

Liebster Award.......

My little blog has been chosen for the Liebster Award!  I couldn't be happier today.  It was a wonderful surprise to find in my inbox this morning.  I was chosen for the Liebster Award by one of my blog followers, Marian, who is a blogger herself over at Lady Face.

Of course this e-mail took me by surprise and I said to myself "What is the Liebster Award?"  Well, I did a little research of my own and found out that there is some fun history to this award.

Well, I looked up the origin of the word Liebster and the translation into English of this German word is "favorite".  So what does that mean?  My interpretation after some research is that I was chosen as a favorite blog and given this tremendous award!  Thank you so much to Marian for finding my blog posts interesting enough to present me with this award.  More specifically this award is given to your favorite small, up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.  

Now that I have had the honor of receiving this award, I get to pass it along to 3-5 of my favorite bloggers following these rules:

1.  Thank the person who gave me the award and link back to their blog. 

2.  Choose 3-5 blogs with less than 200 followers and pass this award onto them.

3.  Display the Liebster Award somewhere on my blog site!

4.  Let them know you awarded them by sending an e-mail or posting a comment on their blog.

5.  Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

Here goes, I have carefully contemplated my choices and my favorite bloggers from the array of bloggers I currently follow and my choices are the following:

Bijoux Baby - I absolutely have to choose this blogger for my first award recipient.  After all, for those of you who follow my blog know, she is the dear friend who got me into sewing in the first place.  She is a great friend and incredible quilter.  Just take a look at some of the amazing pieces she has created and shared on her blog.  She has helped me learn this craft and therefore is my top choice for this award.

Eclectically Delicious - Jennie's blog is a new one I began following and immediately became intrigued by the similarities in our taste for fabric selection and design.  She is having a great giveaway on her blog right now and has some great posts with fun craft and sewing ideas. 

Sweet Diesel Design - This is a great blogger full of fun swaps, quilt alongs and informative, funny posts.  I have had fun watching Bianca's projects come full circle.  I was lucky enough to get in on her "over the rainbow" charm swap and I've been hooked on her blog ever since.

Modern Pink Designs - Sara is the blogger over on this site and she has a lot to say!  She shares her project ideas, her fabric selections and some fun tutorials.  I have picked up some fun ideas from her posts and her project photography is amazing.  

Hopscotch....along!

Well, my decision has been made. After weeks and weeks of debate over which pattern I should use for my daughter's bed quilt, I have finally become so obsessed with one pattern in particular that it HAS to be the one I make for her.

This will be my first bed sized quilt ever and I am so excited to get the ball rolling on this one. I honestly found out about the pattern from my good friend over at Bijoux Baby who was showing me her next quilt design idea. After putting the finishing touches on the quilt top of the Swoon A Long group she joined here she decided to continue quilting along with this group. The group creator offered two choices of quilt patterns for the next quilt along.....The choices were patterns both created by the incredibly talented Camille Roskelley. She was deciding between On A Whim or Hopscotch.

Oh My Gosh, the minute I saw the Hopscotch quilt I was totally obsessed about that design. I love everything about this quilt....the equilateral triangle flip-flopped in rows and finally coming together to create a 6 pointed star in the middle of each "block".

But could I actually sew this quilt? Do I have the skills? Being fairly new to sewing and quilting, I had my doubts but nonetheless I jumped in and purchased my pattern and fabric and began planning.

I actually put my first triangle together a couple of days ago and am quite pleased with the end result.  I used some scrap fabric I had lying around so I would not damage my "good" fabric with my first block.  It did take some heavy starching of the fabric and a few ripped out seams to get the hang of sewing this thing together but I know once I get rolling with this pattern it will come together nicely.

I'm loving how this triangle turned out and I can't wait to see more of this come together over the next several weeks.

Stay tuned, more reports to come....and if you're so inspired to try your own Hopscotch quilt you can find the pattern here.

Have fun, be bold and Happy Sewing!

Mini Quilt Challenge.....My Mug Rug Entry

Yay!!  I finished my mug rug and now I'm posting my entry up to the Mini Quilt Challenge.



As you may have read in my previous post, this is my first attempt at a Mug Rug and my first time ever for Free Motion Quilting.  I decided to practice and practice to really make this Mug Rug something special.

One think I know for sure is I love when the idea in my mind translates perfectly to the design in my finished piece.  I'm including a few photos of progress along the way.

I had so much fun making this mini quilt and now I know I definitely need to try my hand at another mug rug.  This has been such a fun way to experiment and try my hand at something totally new.

I hope you enjoy my piece......

The beginning stages, paper-pieced branch
with hand appliqued blossoms

Sewing on the binding....I decided to go with the brighter
pink print I used for the larger blossoms.  I just loved the contrast!

My finished piece....ready for a cup of coffee and a snack!

A closeup on the quilting.  I added this little cherry to my
FMQ design.  I just love how this added to the overall
look of the finished piece!

Happy Sewing!!