Your Fourth of July Stories and a trip to Wisconsin

Well......I had the best time reading all of your comments and stories about your favorite July 4th celebrations!  If you haven't read the comments from my last post, please take a moment to do so.  They are Independence Day snapshots of how we celebrate all over the US....just wonderful!!  Thank you for taking the time to share your memories!!  Now....for the contest winner......

Congratulations to Doniene!!! Here's what you won.......

It's summertime, of course, and time for Lightning bugs to fill the night air.  Do you remember being a kid and running around at night catching Lightning bugs? This jar is filled with a little string of Lghtning bugs that glow and flicker from a battery nestled in the lid.  All the effects of this summer ritual, none of the running around to catch them!  Perfect for your picnic table, kitchen counter, or anywhere you'd like to add a dash of summer!  I thought it was so cute!!  Hope you like it Doniene!

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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting with the wonderful ladies of the Lodi Valley Quilt Guild in Lodi, Wisconsin.  On my way, I made a few stops.  The first was to my favorite local quilt
shop, The Quilt Merchant, where I teach and feed my stash regularly.  I had a new and surreal experience there....seeing my new fabric line, Heart of the Prairie, on the shop shelves!  What a thrill!!  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay too long as the power was knocked out for the whole town as they had a terrible storm the night before, which explains the darkness in the shop.  Bummer.....good thing I'll be back there in a few weeks!

Next stop.....J.J. Stitches in Sun Prairie, WI.  If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know how much I love this shop....and shop owner, my dear friend, Julie Hendricksen!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves.  See anything you like.....click on the shop link above.

Naturally, I found a few items I absolutely needed! Then....on to Lodi for a guild presentation that evening. I spent the next day with this delightful group of women who were so fun to be with!! 

Thanks to everyone at the Lodi Valley Quilt Guild for inviting me!

In my next post, I'll be hosting the Show-N-Tell from my

first Pocket Patchwork Sew-Along quilt called Busy Work!

I'll also annouce the winner of a Fat Eighth pack of my

Heart of the Prairie fabric!

I know most of you are suffering with this God awful heat, so hoping you're

somehow staying cool and enjoying the summer.  We're due to have a cool front

come thru tonight, bringing us from a high today of 100 to a cooler 79.

Bring it on!!!!!

Pam

Journey 2 is finished & a New Contest !

Howdy everyone!

Hope you had a nice weekend.  It's very cold here - Bbrrrrrrrr - and about to become colder still.  Great cozy quilt weather!  Good thing I've got lots of quilts to cuddle under.  I'm also feeling a lot better every day.  I still have about 10 days to go until I can drive myself around town, and boy, will I ever love that!  My family has been great about taking me hither and yon, but I'd still like to get around on my own.  I also finished listening to The Help, and loved it.  I have a new Nicholas Sparks book to listen to next, called Safe Haven.  Hoping to get to that later this week.  On to more important stuff......

How about a new contest?

Guess what?  Journey 2 of the Prairie Women's Sewing Circle is finally finished!!!!  YEAY!!  I celebrated all weekend.  The covers have been printed and I'm about to take the patterns to the printer.  (Have to wait for a ride there.....ugh!)  Anyway, I want to celebrate with a contest.

The Quilting Gathering - Prairie Women's Sewing Circle
Journey 2

This quilt, called The Quilting Gathering, is one of the new projects in Journey 2.  The story is about how quilter's in the nineteenth century made and quilted their quilts.  This quilt has a paper piecing template which makes this block turn out picture perfect!  Leave me a comment on how you learned to quilt...who taught you, how long have you been quilting, and anything else you'd like to share.  What will you win?  Well...how about a kit to make this quilt from the same fabrics I used, and the complete pattern set for Journey 2!  Comment before midnight Friday ~ January 21st, and I will do the random number thingy to choose a winner.  Can't wait to read your quilting stories!

Deck The Halls Contest

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the coming days find us all focusing on decorating the house for Christmas and buying gifts for the special people in our lives.  Needless to say, the month of December is always a busy one!  Not a lot of time for sewing, but good things are happening none the less!

Traditionally, the week following Thanksgiving is when my family begins decorating our house.  This year, because of the mess we're still living with in various areas of our house due to painting and what not, we're not going to do Christmas as usual.  We're just going to deck the halls of the kitchen and family room, the rooms we live in the most, and see how it goes from there.  No doubt, you're doing the same!

When Lynne Hagmeier and I were at the Country Living Fair a few months ago, I picked up another little goodie too cute to pass up.  I bought an extra one!  So....let's have a contest! 





Please leave a comment by midnight, Wednesday, December the 1st, about anything Christmas, to enter the drawing.  That way, you'll have a little something more to deck your hall with!









Now, knowing how busy we all are, we still have to eat!  Time for another easy meal idea!  Here are two very easy recipes for one of my family's favorite meals.  One is for a Crock Pot and the other is made in the oven.  (Just wanted you to know I do cook other things besides slow cooker dishes!)

  

Good Enough For Company

Beef & Mushrooms

3 lbs stew meat, cubed

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 large can mushrooms, drained

1 small can mushrooms, drained

½ cup red wine

1 envelope Good Seasons salad dressing mix

1 8 oz tub onion & chives cream cheese

Directions:

Soften cream cheese in the microwave (1 minute increments on half power) until smooth and creamy.  Combine all other ingredients in slow cooker.  Cover.  Cook 10 hours on low OR 5-6 hours on high.

Serve over noodles, rice, or pasta – optional.

Serve with Beefy Rice!  Yum

 What's Beefy Rice you say?

Well, it's about the easiest side dish in the world to make!  It tastes oh so good and needs only 4 ingredients.

Serve this with any beef dish.  It's a real crowd pleaser!  Whenever I take this anywhere, folks always ask for the recipe.

Beefy Rice

1 stick of butter

1 can Beefy Mushroom soup

1 can French Onion soup

1 cup Uncle Ben’s Converted rice, uncooked

Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Put the butter in a 2 qt shallow Pyrex dish and melt in the oven.

Once melted, remove from the oven and add the soup; mix well.  Then, add the rice; mix well.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

Let me know what you think!  Enjoy decorating.....Pam

Progress

I want to thank everyone who posted a comment about their favorite season and how they like to decorate.  It was great fun to read your stories!  Now that it's Sunday morning, it's time to ask the Random Number Generator to choose a winner for the corn husk pumpkin. 

Congratulations to #17 ~ lynnquiltsalot!  Please email me at pam@heartspunquilts.com with your address info, and I'll get the pumpkin in the mail to you right in time for fall decorating!

Progress on the kitchen renovation is coming along.  Here's a shot of the kitchen floor which isn't done just yet.  Hoping that the floor will be finished on Monday.  The new appliances will be delivered then, and clean up can begin.  I understand from many of you that clean up will last a very long time.  Thanks for the warning!

Later this week, I'll be traveling to visit the wonderful ladies of the Quilter's Guild of East Texas in Tyler, Texas.  I'll be giving two lectures on Thursday, and a workshop on Friday.  If you're in the area, please stop in!  You can visit their website at www.qgetx.org for more information. 

Enjoy your week, and I'll be thinking of all of you!

Fall Contest & Holiday Decorating

Fall is in the air here and I am enjoying every day of my favorite season!  As the tree leaves begin to put on thier colorful show, I am in the mood for roasts, mashed potatoes, and pie.

While I was shopping for goodies at the Country Living Fair last weekend, I was also shopping for you!  Lynne and I spotted these adorable little pumpkins at a booth crammed along with a million other shoppers!   You could hardly get near the place.  Lynne stood in line 30 minutes to pay for these little guys while I watched guard over our other purchases.  The prize for the winning comment is the pumpkin in the foreground of the picture.  It is made of dried corn husks...too cool!  Don't you love the texture is has?  I think its quite nice in this vignette.

Speaking of vignettes.....years ago when my kids were much younger (a-hem....and me, too!) I used to deck the house out in grand style for every holiday.  No nook or cranny was left empty.  I still love to decorate for the holidays, just not quite so grand.  I don't have the time nor energy to do all of it, so I leave a few crannys bare, and go for a wonderful vignette in each room instead.  It still gives the holiday feel I love with a lot less work!  In future posts, I'll share some of my holiday decorating ideas, not that I'm a Martha, ya know...but a little something here or there might inspire an idea for you!  I know that's how it is for me!

So, to enter the Fall Contest for the cute pumpkin, please comment on how you feel about decorating.  What's your favorite time of year?  Has your decorating style changed over the years like mine has?  Comment before the clock strikes midnight on Saturday, October 9th.  Happy Fall to everyone!