Red, and White, and Black Oh MY!

 This very blurry picture is the fabric I told you about a few weeks ago that Ryan and I just fell in love with!  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it; something simple, and classic.  Something that would let that fabric be the center of attention.  Pun intended.

The picture does not do it justice, and I am sorry.  After several pictures which were no better I decided I wasn't going to get anywhere with it so you ended up with this. It's an adorable deep red fabric with black silhouettes of children playing in the trees, or by a creek.  Wherever the children are the fabric brightens a bit to spotlight the silhouettes.

 Here is the finished piece in the floor, turned the wrong direction.

 This is the back.  I simply echo quilted on either side of the seams of each piece of fabric.  Widths away from the seam get larger toward the outside for visual interest.  This is about 48" square.  I used a very soft cotton sheet(a little more stretch than I like) for the backing, and surprisingly for the FIRST TIME EVER had ZERO puckers or bunches where I accidentally caught fabric under the line of quilting.  I don't know how this happened, but I was SO thrilled when I turned it over and realized it was practically perfect!  I even jumped up and down a bit, then ran to my husband to show him what a good job I had done (Imagine a toddler who's just gone poopy in the potty by themselves the first time, and that's the excitement level I had).

And just so I don' leave you with that thought;

Here is the beauty in it's rightful place above our bed.

Nursery Update 5

 A close up of the bird.

I'm hoping to make a few more for a mobile. We'll see if my energy level allows for such a task.

Close up of the elephant.

It is really lovely in person.  I saw it and couldn't walk away from it.  That doesn't happen very often, but it spoke to me...and I like holding it too because the wood is so smooth and cool.

As requested

This is me at 23 weeks.

CheepTalk Wall Hanging

 Remember this bad picture?

 Well, this is what it turned into;

 I used all one line for the front and that's a first.  It measures about 46" Square. 

 Here is a close up of some of the quilting...sorry for the bad photo. I did a meandering pattern in the borders and a wavy chevron through the yellow squares into the center.

This is a slightly better photo of the quilting...click for a larger view.

 This is the psychedelic back...the picture isn't blurry, it's the crazy fabric. 

A close up of the back fabric and you can see the quilting a bit too.  It's not so hard on the eyes close up, but from far away it's a bit of a headache.  That's why it's good for this back.

And here is the top again, just to give your eyes a rest. :)  Isn't it wonderful!?

Happy Anniversary

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. 

This was a wedding gift 3 years ago.  

It's a cork board kit to be filled with used wine corks. 

It's 16" square.  Do you realize how big that is?

~

In three years, this is how far we've come.  

I think we'll need at least several more years to fill it up...But it's progress.

I know you can buy used corks online in bulk, but we liked the idea of using corks from wines we'd shared together.  

Sappy? Yes.  Fun? Yes.  

Never ending? That's what we agreed to! :)  

Happy Anniversary, Love!

Nursery Update 4

Just a few cuties up on the wall.

The shelf was $7.99 at Ross.  The monkey was a gift from my mom at Christmas because I said I'd never had a sock monkey.  The elephant sculpture is solid wood and has beautiful scrollwork down the side; $9.99 from Ross.  Yay for cheap finds.  The little bird you can barely see is handmade from my sewing room.

Quesadilla Salad

This is one of our favorites, and it is so easy and healthy.  It's based off the Quesadilla Chicken Salad at Chile's.  We went out to eat this last weekend because we had family visiting, and couldn't remember the last time we'd actually been to a restaurant.  After thinking quite a while we realized it had been 11 months since we had been out to eat at a sit down restaurant!  That's almost an entire year!!  It has been a good thing though.  Part of the reason we haven't been out is because I try to make recipes at home similar to things we might order when we are out...and it works.  Plus, it's cheaper.  So enough chatter, here is my version of Chile's Quesadilla Salad;

Ingredients:
1 head of romaine lettuce roughly chopped (or 1 bag of Hearts of Romaine)
1 can black beans drained and heated through
1c. sweet corn(preferably frozen)
2-3 handfuls pre cooked chicken fajita meat (comes frozen in a bag, can also make from scratch)
1/4c. shredded cheese
peppercorn ranch dressing
honey mustard dressing
balsamic vinaigrette

To Make:

• If using the convenient pre-cooked meat(which is REALY good), heat your meat in a skillet on low medium for about 10 minutes or until warm through.  If you want to make your meat, use tenders and season with just a touch of salt, pepper, cumin or taco seasoning, and maybe a tiny splash of worcestershire sauce. And cook through.
• While meat is cooking, in separate sauce pans heat drained black beans and corn.  Do this in separate pans or the corn takes on some of the bean juice and turns a wierd grayish tint.  It still tastes fine, but isn't as appetizing to see on the plate.
• Set up your plates;  Place a bed of lettuce, sprinkle corn and beans over it.  Then lightly sprinkle with cheese.  Next add your meat.  Now drizzle lightly a little of each dressing.  I use a butter knife dipped into the dressing to get a nice thin drizzle.  This is not a drenched in dressing type of salad. 
• My also make cheese quesadillas to serve on the side.  This is how it comes @ the restaurant, but I don't do it at home because it's not necessary.  May also put tortilla strips on top if desired for extra flavor and crunch.
• Serve and Enjoy! I always make the entire plate for each person, because you really need each component to get the best flavor, and if you let them choose they won't use all 3 dressings. There is no rule that says you can only use one. :)

Serves 2-5 (just add a little more chicken and lettuce for 3-5 people.  One bag of frozen chicken fajita meat is 5 servings, one bag of pre cut lettuce will make 3 salads.)

Bathtime Beauties

 Remember when I showed you my beautiful bath?  Well, this is what I get to look at when I'm soaking, or when I'm leaving the bathroom.  Isn't it fantastic?

 My dad's mother painted it many years ago.  She died several years before I was born, so it has to be more than 30 years old.  It's not finished, and I often wonder where she was headed with certain parts of it, but I never get tired of studying it and getting lost in it.

~

This is on the opposite wall so I see it when I walk into the bathroom.

I painted this one several years ago on request for an event.  My husband says I can never get rid of it.  I borrowed it for my office once and he complained, so I brought it back.

Huggable

These are my favorite towels.  I want to buy more, but can't find them anymore.

They are Chris Madden from JC Penny.  They were a wedding gift.  We have 4 white and 2 brown.  They are big plush waffle towels.  They are soft and wonderful...and pretty. 

Giveaway over and a Winner!!!

Okay, the giveaway is over!  We had 4 comments...but it looks like the directions weren't as clear as they should have been and several of you put both entries in 1 comment.  So this time I will count those and try to be clearer next time(if there is a next time)  which means we had SEVEN entries! :)  Since there are only 2 or 3 people who read this regularly I would say that is positive.



And the winner is; # 2 Betty who said "I would really like to have this program to scrapbook my grandkids pictures. It would save me alot of time and money."
(I tried to put in the True Random Number Generator to show you that it was a fair drawing, but I'm not smart enough to get it on here.) 

Congratulations Betty.  Please email me at amckeefamily@gmail.com to get your code for the free program.


And for everyone else, you don't go home empty handed!  MyMemories.com has also given me a coupon code for the rest of you that provides a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store - $20 value!  Just go to http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software and enter coupon code STMMMS80441.  Just copy and paste so you know it's entered correctly. :)  Enjoy your shopping and thanks for entering!!!