Two New Quilts

 This is my baby quilt made with Denyse Schmidt's Hadley jelly roll. I used the Kate Spain Lost City Pattern. I'm still new to machine quilting, so I have been keeping it simple with waves. 

This quilt is for my mother in law for Christmas. I used the Reflections pattern from Kate Henderson's Strip Savvy book. The fabric is a cream background with a Denyse Schmidt Shelburne Falls jelly roll.

Quilt Updates!

Hi! I know its been a while. I have still been crafty, just not bloggy. Thanks to some new inspiration, I've finished 4 small quilts since the summer. The horizontal strip ones are from jelly rolls using the lasagna quilt method. The chevron baby quilt was from three jelly roll packs purchased from Joann. The string quilt is my personal favorite. I love using scraps and I free motion quilted for the first time! It was slightly stressful, but I got the hang of it. 

Hi!

It's been a while. Here's some crafty business. I made these for a friend's art installation. They are sweat, blood, tears, and pee!

Jillian Michael's Chicken Salad

Can you tell I'm on a health kick? I'm still crafting away, don't worry. My job, life and exercise have been taking priority over blogging. I'm okay with it! I made Jillian's chicken salad last night and it was a total success. Here's the recipe:

Makes 4 cups total. Her serving size is 1/2 cup or less if you're putting it on a sandwich. We each had a cup last night by itself with sides and it was plenty.

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast (poached and cooled)
1 cup halved red seedless grapes
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup non or low fat plain greek yogurt
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup chopped celery (I used cucumber because we didn't have celery)
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
fresh herbs (optional) I added chives, parsley, and tarragon from my garden.

Use your fingers to shred the chicken into a large bowl. Add the grapes and pecans and toss gently to mix the ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, celery, honey, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the chicken and toss to coat. Store the salad in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

To poach chicken, place in a shallow pan with a lid. Fill the pan with water to cover the chicken by about 1 1/2 inches. If you have it, add lemon zest and a bay leaf. Cook over medium heat and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat so the water barely bubbles, partially cover, and cook until the meat is firm and releases clear juices when pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.
Remove the chicken and transfer to a towel lined plate to drain. 

Calories per half cup: 118
Fat: 5.1g
Protein: 12.9g
Carbs: 5.6g
Sodium: 93.8mg

Jillian Michael's Banana Blueberry Muffins

I am currently doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. I have become obsessed and recently purchased her cookbook. I love bread and I am so glad that Jillian approves (as long as it's whole wheat, the real whole wheat). I made her muffins and they were pretty good! Not great, cause they are super healthy, but good! I had one right out of the oven and it was decent. The next morning I warmed one up in the microwave and spread almond butter on it. Then it became amazing! I highly recommend it. This is my first time baking with whole wheat flour. They're not pretty, they're healthy. Ha!

Here's the recipe:

Olive oil spray for the tin (I used muffin liners)
3/4 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2)
3/4 cup non fat plain yogurt (I used Greek)
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder (I used regular)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 generous cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
optional 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I left these out)

Place an oven rack in the center the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Lightly spray a 12 cup muffin tin with olive oil or line with paper liners.

In a large bowl, place the bananas, yogurt, honey, olive oil, and vanilla. Stir together until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in the blueberries and the nuts, if using.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Place the tin in the oven and reduce the heat to 400 degrees. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (I ended up baking mine about 33) or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in the tin for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Serve warm. For longer storage, let cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Each muffin is 218 calories without the walnuts.
Fat 6.8 g
Protein 4.5 g
Carbs 37.1 g
Sodium 234.5 mg

Swoon Quilt Top

 My Swoon top is finished! I had a really fun time making this top. I had no idea how big the squares were until I actually assembled one. I think I started this last summer. I'm happy to have it finished. I still need to find a backing fabric. 

Baby Shower

I hosted my first baby shower on Sunday. It was really fun! I made the mom to be some burp cloths and lemon cupcakes. I used my sweet new bike stamps that Katy put in my stocking. Sometimes I like packaging a handmade gift as much as I like sewing it. I put little flags made of washi tape and tooth pics on the cupcakes. 

Quilt and Run

A gorgeous view of White Rock Lake

 Square 7 of 9

 Square 8 of 9

I tried to cram as much stuff in my last week of vacation as I could. I have one more quilt square to go on Swoon and I went running at the lake twice. I was so bad about exercising over the break. I just ate sugar cookies instead. Oops! I hope to get the last square done tonight or tomorrow and get the top completed. 

Ohio

Happy New Year! I am finally enjoying my entire week off at home! We spent the first half of winter break in Columbus visiting family. We got there just in time for several inches of snow. It was nice to be somewhere that knew how to handle a winter storm. We toured campus and caught a glimpse of the Annie Liebovitz exhibit at their fine arts center. I am glad to be home. I have 4 swoon quilt squares to finish. I hope I can do it! I'll keep you posted. 

Updates

Hi! I've been busy makin' and sellin'. I have two more markets this season and I am so excited! I am all set on clippies. Thanks to Hank for making me a cool chicken wire frame. I don't have much to report, just craging away and having fun! Happy Thanksgiving!

Eating Local

I went to the Farmer's Market on Friday and hit the jackpot. Markets can be tricky. You have to make sure that the vendor actually grew the food or you can end up buying the same thing you can get at the grocery store.  Here's what I made. Everything was local except the cheese, broth, and spices. Try it!

Stuffed 8 Ball Zucchinis

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 8 ball zucchinis (hollowed out like a pumpkin)
1/2 lb ground beef (mine was grass fed from Northstar Farms in Krum, TX)
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 small yellow onion (diced)
1/2 red bell pepper (diced)
1 jalapeno (seeded and diced)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1 sprinkle of fennel seed (sprinkle means I didn't measure, just sprinkled over the skillet)
1 sprinkle of oregano
1 sprinkle of white pepper 
salt to taste
1 cup homemade bread crumbs (stale bread, salt, pepper, little olive oil chopped in food processor)
1/3 cup shredded smoked Gouda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cook onion, jalapeno, bell pepper in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Set aside in mixing bowl.
Brown off meat, and add spices towards the end. Add garlic during last minute. Add to mixing bowl
Add bread crumbs, broth, and cheese to bowl. Stir to combine. 
Stuff zucchinis and bake in a small baking dish for 25-30 minutes until zucchini is tender.

Guess What??

I got engaged! On Saturday, Hank and I picked up my new bike. During our ride we pulled over to take some pictures of it. He pulled out a ring! I was wearing my helmet!!! It was awesome and I was SO surprised. We celebrated with champagne and pizza with our families. Sunday morning we toasted at brunch. YAY!!!!!!!!

For Cathy Jo

Guess what! I have been so busy! This is the longest blogging break I've ever taken. I have a confession, I haven't been reading blogs either. I checked my Bloglovin after two weeks and had 300 unread posts. I got so overwhelmed that I marked them all as read. Sorry guys! Well, Hank moved to Dallas and school started. I became co-chair of my department so my work load and late hours doubled from last year. Hopefully my five readers are still around. In other news, I have been bitten by the cycling bug. I got a hybrid bike in March and have since upgraded to this roadie right here. It has been really awesome to have Hank here to ride with. We have discovered some new trails and we think we might be able to ride a trail or not so busy road all the way to Plano. That's about 20 miles one way! I pick up my new bike this weekend from the shop. I cannot wait. My first big ride will probably be with Cathy Jo in Austin this weekend. It's just us girls, so I am looking forward to hearing her expertise. She has been riding for four years. She is my inspiration! 

After finishing my first queen size quilt this summer I took a little crafting break. I have a market coming up, so I need to get busy. Though I think after the markets, I might focus on making more quilts instead of making small stuff for extra cash. Here are a couple quilts that have inspired me lately. 

(Noodlehead)

(Ginger Monkey)

I feel a knitting season coming, too. Thanks for reading and checking back every day for over a month to see if there's anything new (Cathy Jo).

My Very Own Quilt

Finally! This quilt has been at least three years in the making. I started making Ohio Stars (or Texas Stars depending on what book you look at) and finally finished the squares two years ago when we had all those snow days. I hand quilted it and would go through phases and then put it down for 6 months. I powered through this summer and finally finished! It's a queen size, all scraps (except for the solid back and the plain squares. I estimate this quilt took me over 100 hours to complete. I can't wait to wrap up in it this winter. Yay!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I'm 33 today! Having a summer birthday is great. I always have the day off. I made this Wiksten tank the other day and am going to wear it today. It came together very easily. I didn't want to waste fabric making matching binding, so I just used some I already had. This week I also finished my quilt that I'd been hand quilting for almost two years now. Pictures soon!

Swoon and Stuff

I've reached summer boredom. This is a good thing (no complaints here). This is where I do all the things I've put off all year. 

 I made Bitsy two skirts. The butterfly fabric in the back is almost three years old with the plan of making her a top.

 I've had this IKEA fabric and pillow form for two years now, took care of that...

 I have had the Swoon pattern for over a year now and have been too intimidated to start it. Also, I had no idea what kind of fabric I wanted to use, so I just used what I had and went scrappy. Lots of pieces to cut! 

 I made this one last night in about three hours. I only seam ripped once! 

 Here's my second one. I shaved about thirty minutes off the time. This one was way easier to do than the first one. I knew they were big squares, but I am still amazed at how big. It only takes 9 to make a huge quilt. 

You can find the pattern here.