Georgia State Quilt

This wasn't an easy quilt to make, it was easy designing it, and piecing it, but the hard part was cutting it into its georgia form!

I wished I had taken process shots, but I wasn't focusing on the process, I was trying to make sure that the vision I had of this quilt in my mind would turn out right. After the piecing was finished and the "Apple" was coming into focus, I then had to figure out how I was going to get the georgia shape... 

Lots of Love still left in these old Pews!

Church pews are beautiful and are full of history both happy and sad. These benches have seen new life, couples recite their vows, friends, families and reletives paying respect to the dearly departed.... They have been loved by many church families over several decades. These beauties have seen better days it's true, but.....

Just because something has seen better days doesn't mean it's life is over..... Sometimes that sad dilapidated and old piece of furniture needs a simple face lift!! 

In the beginning these benches had no padding or fabric covers, they were bare.... Some other soul saw their need for revitalization and gave them new life with new padding and padding covers, but soon decades passed and those pews needed updating again.

So they were given away to some lucky soul who saw past their flaws to the possibilities that could be....... so they were cut in half....

New ends were traced out, glued together, cut out....

Sanded and stacked into a pile for later match ups...

Then they were sanded between each coat of paint.

Some were painted in serene colors...

Others were customized with hand painted details.

Some needed custom stencils made to replicate business logos...

Taken from business cards....

Painted in custom colors of light purple and green....

Designed into a stencil. Then painstakingly applied and painted. This pew is now a bench at a local daycare čenter, not only is it comfortable but it doubles as advertising for the daycare center logo!!!

Now this Pew is pretty with Custom Made Pillow Case Covers by Harts Custom Sewn Creations!

Or painted in Collegiate colors for those die hard fans!

Now there's more history left to be had on the seat of this old seen better days Church Pew! Let the front porch sharing, football watching, sweet tea drinking, old couple of love birds add to this old pews story!!

My first really Big Commissioned project!!

I've been sewing on and off for about 17 years, 8 years ago we bought this house and my project area grew, I now have a room dedicated just for sewing!! Yes, it has a futon and a TV in the room, the futon is so my hubby can sit and watch tv, while I sew. I enjoy having my hubby share my space while I'm creating! 

This new customer is a local daycare center to a worldwide supplemental insurance company here in town. The daycare center needs 137 curtains!! Thàts just a little overwhelming, but I can do it!! 

This is just a few of the spools of thread to help complete this project!! Love those colors!! 

MODA batiks are my must haves!!

I have a new quilter friend in Italy, she sent me this beautiful pattern that she created and told me to have fun with it.... 

I instantly knew I had a MODA charm pack in batiks hiding in my stash that I was going to use in this but I needed more... 

So I looked on eBay and found a beautiful MODA jelly roll and purchased it without a second thought! This quilt I'm calling "Basket Case" is truly stunning, I can't wait to get to the fun part of free motion quilting on this beauty!! Look for the progress on "Basket Case" here!!!

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread crumbs

Homemade bread crumbs are both healthy and great tasting! I make my own bread crumbs because I can't find them in the grocery store, not that I'll ever buy pre-packaged bread crumbs again. I know that with homemade I control the salt and excessive ingredients. Plus have I told you how good these bread crumbs are?? They're great!! 

Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs

12 slices WW bread (I used natures best 100% whole wheat) toasted in a toaster or in the oven, set the oven to broil and watch closely, don't walk away.... I know!!

2 tbsp Italian seasoning

2 tbsp dried Parsley

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt, I used light salt, it's 50% less sodium than table salt.

1 package Goya Sazon-  you can find this in the Ethnic aisle at the grocery store or WM.... 

Take the toast and pulse it in the food processor until it's course, I don't want fine bread crumbs, if you prefer them to be fine, pulse them for longer until the consistency is what you want.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended, I pulsed the ingredients in with my crumbs.

The end result smells amazing and are great to use in place of regular store bought breadcrumbs.

Zucchini Fries

I used 5 medium sized fresh zucchini, washed and the ends cut off, then quartered. 

Fresh homemade breadcrumbs made with 12 slices whole wheat bread toasted and run through the food processor into course bread crumbs, you can mix the bread longer if you want fine bread crumbs. 2tbs Italian seasoning, 1tbsp garlic powder, 1/2tsp salt, 1tsp pepper, 1 package Goya Sazon found in the Mexican food isle at the grocery store or WM. Mix all ingredients in the blender well. 

Coat zucchini in 5 scrambled eggs, then coat well in breadcrumb mixture. Shake off excess.

Spray a sheet pan with canola oil spray, lay the wedges out so that they're not touching. Pre-heat oven to 350, cook zucchini for 45 to 55 minutes. 

The zucchini will come out golden brown and crunchy, but the center is a creamy goodness you can't imagine!! 

Try it the next time your having burgers,you and your family won't be disappointed!!

Easy and Delicious microwave Corn on the Cobb!!

Fresh from the grocery store corn on the cobb, uncut. No soaking is needed, this is a great last minute, no mess veggie fix.

Trim up your fresh corn on the cobb by using kitchen shears to cut some of the stalk and some of the excess leaves away.

Like you see in this photo above, don't remove too much, you still want the corn to be encased in the husk.

Microwave on high for 4 minutes, the corn will steam in its husk.

Cut the end of the corn and stalk away, don't cut the silk end.  You want to feel for the end of the cobb and make sure you cut straight so the husk comes off, if you don't cut enough of the end off, squeezing the corn out isn't as easy. 

Use a clean dish towell to hold the cobb and slowly squeeze the corn on the cobb out of the husk, the corn is very hot so handle with care. Ask me how I know this!! 

As you can see the husk just slips off without the silk strands and the mess is contained!! No mess all over the kitchen!! !  I wanted to try this way of cooking corn and today it was a lifesaver because I'd forgotten to boil the water!!! Who forgets to boil the water?? This girl!! 

As you can see the silk is no were to be seen, what your left with is clean, fresh, piping hot and juicy corn on the cobb!!  I'd say this Pinterest post was a PASS!!