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I used this tutorial by the Idaho Quilter.

For the two larger ones, I changed my starting square to 8 1/2" and adjusted the lengths of the strips of course to fit that. The smaller ones I did not adjust the pattern at all.  I felt they would fit perfectly.

A tip on making this pattern... before you start sewing, draw a line down the length of the batting so that you can match up the tips of your strips with the line to keep your points on target.  Ask me how I know lol.  I also used a walking foot for the entire process except on the one I had to rip out almost completely on one side since I wasn't using the walking foot - what was I thinking??  It was even the 3rd one I did but I just had a brain lapse and said 1/4" seams, 1/4" foot.. yeah.. no, that didn't work.  The points were being dragged in one direction and my runner was making a right hand turn all by itself.  But with the walking foot, it didn't stray.  After that, I drew the lines just to keep my sanity and ya know what?  With the walking foot on, it stayed almost perfectly on target.
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The two larger ones are roughly 94x20" and the smaller ones are 51 x 16". 

I wanted them to hang over the sides and cover the top of the dressers completely.

I wish I could have gotten a picture that actually showed the colors better.  Yes, I know I could go and photo shop them but hey, life is too short and I have other things that need to be done...
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Here's hubby's side table runner on.  I love the way it came out!

My friend Stacy wants to make these for her bedroom however we will have to do a bit more math than I had to do since her dresser has a hutch on top and the side tables are not as deep as mine are.  I'm going to help her along with that next time we sew together.


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Tired of tacos, nachos or enchiladas in your house?  I know I was last night.  I just really didn't feel like the same old same old.  I had leftover slow cooked roast and a desire for something new.  After doing a quick google for recipes I figured out that I would have to go out on a limb and make something on the fly.  Chimichangas to the rescue!

I have created a recipe that is going to be made a lot in my house!  Yay for something that the whole family agrees on!

The recipe can be found here on my Favorite Main Dishes Recipes page That's right - new page here on the site.   I felt that as much as I like my desserts I really needed to separate the main dish recipes from the others - not to mention the ones I have posted there are my own concoctions....

Anyhooo... I do hope that you guys like my baked chimichangas recipe as much as we did here.  It was a huge hi
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I have made a few new things this past week.. and some have had good results and others not so good.

We all know that I love a good dessert - however the one pictured here isn't one of those.. It is the Ultimate Turtle Cookie Bar.  It just didn't do it for me.  I thought the cookie part was kind of dry and far too sweet.  It was packed with pecans and the pecans I think pushed it over the edge for me.  I will say that had it been made in a 9x13 pan instead of a 8x8 pan as directed it probably would have been loads better.  I think the cookie part was just too thick.  It wasn't bad but I think it could have been better.  It got rave reviews on the Betty Crocker Website but I'd only give it 3 out of 5 stars - maybe 4 if it were made a bit differently.

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Next up in the oven?  The Cake Mix Doctor's Sweet Potato cake.  I can't find the recipe online sorry guys.  It is out of the first book. 

I have mixed feelings on this cake as well.  I will start off by saying that I decided to use a can of fluffy white icing which I love instead of the cream cheese frosting that I thought would be too rich.  I don't think that affected the outcome at all - if anything it probably toned it down a bit...  The first couple of bites I thought it reminded me of pumpkin pie which is a good thing.  The next couple of bites were pretty good, even enjoyable... but after eating it I felt like I had an aftertaste from it.  I'll have to give it another chance this afternoon and see if I like it any  better...

Next up... a success!!
Oh yummmm!!  We all know that I love my crock pot and I have been using it a lot lately ever since buying a new one from Target when it was on sale last week... It's the Crock Pot brand Oval 4 Qt.  Let's see how long that link lasts.. but it's a great crock pot.  I love it and give it a good two thumbs up.

I came upon recipes for making a whole chicken in the crock pot so figured I needed to give it a go.  Yesterday I made the Garlic Roasted Chicken recipe from southernfood.about.com.  I have to say yuuummm!!!  I normally do not like to cook things on a bone often but I do believe that I will be making more full chickens in the crock pot.  We have enough left over for two more meals.. part of that would have been taken up by home made chicken soup had the crock pot been plugged in last night.  I was going to cook the bones overnight so that I could make the soup this morning.. but noooOOOoooooo I woke up and the crock pot was off.  I really thought I had plugged it in last night.  Hubby swears up and down that he didn't unplug it but well, I am doubtful.  I think he was trying to help by unplugging it and didn't realize that I was actually using it.  It is what it is.  I'll freeze the tiny tidbits or turn it in to open faced chicken and gravy sandwiches - my favorite in the turkey version so I'm sure it will be good for chicken too...
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Wednesday night I tried two new recipes for the crock pot...
Baked Corn and Noodle Casserole which I got out of one of my cookbooks - the link is the exact recipe btw... I have to say that it was bland, tasteless and well, kind of icky.  We won't be making it again...

I also tried a boneless chicken recipe from one of my cookbooks  - the Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes .  It came out okay... not terrific.  Just okay.  What it amounts to is you cut up and onion.  Put the slices on the bottom of the crock pot.  Put chicken breasts on top then season it.  It said to season with garlic, pepper and salt.  I chose to go with a Monterey steak seasoning instead.  It was still pretty bland though. 

What's up next for the crock pot?  Lots of stuff!  I have marked a slew of things to try out in it.  I will be going to Sam's today to pick up steak, roast & pork loin/boneless chops to continue our culinary conquest.

Tonight's dinner is going to be Spicy Tex Mex Crock Pot Chicken although I'm using 3 chicken breasts not 6... and I didn't brown the chicken first.  Hopefully that won't be a deal breaker.  It is what it is now.  I realized that I was suppose to brown it first after putting the rotel in ... can't turn back after the goopy stuff goes in.
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Yes, I know. I'm late again.  I really need to write on a set day every week.  I'll work on it I promise!!

I have been working again towards my goal of trying new recipes.  I have no idea what number I'm on.  I will say that I just bought a new crock pot - sized just right - I have a small one and a really big one now I have one that is just right at 4 quarts.  I looked through a few cookbooks and came up with some things I want to try next so we're going to get crocking again!

My most recent experiments in cooking were Hungarian Gulash and Strawberry Nut Bread out of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook.  It wasn't very strawberryish but it had a decent flavor.  I'm glad I made it. It made a great weekend breakfast having said that, I doubt I'll be making that one again.  There are too many others out there that are tastier...  Hubby was happy that I made regular banana bread as well.  I would search the net and find the exact recipe I used to link to it but seriously it wasn't all that and a bag of chips so don't go there...


The next thing I made was Hungarian Gulash in the crock pot.  My oldest son is a VERY picky eater.  He will not even eat ketchup and after the last McDonald's burger fight where his had ketchup on it I am not going to push it again.  Too bad it happened.  It would have been his very first burger - and he's 10....  No pictures though.  It just didn't photograph well at all.  I guess you can say that it had looks that only a 10 year old would love...

Anyhooo... He won't eat anything that has the word sauce or gravy in it pretty much - although he loves pizza.  I served him this Hungarian Gulash and he loved it.  He pushed his fork about in the gravy and told me that the flavoring was really good.  I told him it was gravy.  He went pale for a moment and then said that it was really tasty.  He finished his plate. We will definitely be making it again...

What's up next?  Today we're going to try a new dessert I saw using a Betty Crocker chocolate cookie mix - to make turtle bars.  I'll work on those around lunch time as well as dinner... I'm going to try a cheesy corn noodle crockpot concoction that is in one of the Fix it and Forget It cookbooks and make some sort of chicken thing... What's for lunch you ask?  Frozen lasagna.  My oldest son's request.
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My newest crochet pattern, Courting Frogs, was released yesterday.  Who knew that a frog would look fabulous in pink?  Hey, why not!  Frogs come in all sorts of colors.  I personally think that everyone should make stuffed dolls in unusual colors.  It is just fun.
What's next on my crochet hook??
I am going to be holding a teen crochet class at the public library on July 7 - that isn't too far away from now so I need to get cracking on designing a project.  I decided to make Beastie Balls.  I can not say any more than that... I have a picture in my  head.  I know what I want to make.  It will be quick, easy and adorable... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

The Beastie Balls will be made available on the website in July.
I also have some bugs that I have been working on.  I have 4 done so far but must... make... more.... bugs....!! 


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Next up in my ongoing challenge to try new recipes is the Cake Mix Doctor's Almond Cream Cheese Pound Cake...

Let me start off  by saying that it smelled absolutely amazing in the oven... and it made for an absolutely beautiful cake...

It was the first time I got to use my new to me tube spring form pan that I scored at a second hand store for $1.91.  Yeah.  Weird price but that's how they do it there for some silly reason.  The pan looked nearly new and for $2, how could you go wrong??

I just snagged a piece for an afternoon snack and let me tell you what - it isn't a heavy cake like I expected.  I expect pound cakes to be very dense.  This was pretty light for a pound cake.  It has a great flavor - although it is REALLY sweet.  The sweetness seems to build up the more you eat it - kind of like when you are eating a really hot chili and it seems to get hotter and hotter the more spoonfuls you consume?  Well, this was like that but sweet....

Sooooo... Bottom line... smells amazing.  Has good flavor - but just don't take too big of a piece - and maybe cut down the sweetness with a bit of cool whip next time... cool whip can fix anything....
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I was asked about my pan - and I really should have posted pictures of it.  It's really cool in my opinion. 

Here's my second hand, $1.91 beauty.  Isn't she cute?

I don't know who made the one I found.  I'm happy I found one with the straight center piece as opposed to the slanted one.  I like this much better..
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You just unlatch the side and viola!  Her sides just release like magic. 

I tell you what... whoever designed the spring form pan was a genious.  This thing is wicked cool - and not just for cheesecake!  I saw one online in a square.  If I thought I'd use it more, I'd be all over it.  It's just too cool if you ask me.   Why be round when you can be square?  Well.  It's not on my short list of things to buy but it was pretty nifty  :)
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Awhile back I saw somewhere - don't ask me where right now - a quilt that used a dresden ruler and it was so fresh and new and I just fell in love with it.  It had a white background and the petals of the dresden were white on both sides with a colored strip down the center... I searched high and low and I still don't know where that tutorial is.  It was cool if you ask me.  Maybe I'm just on crack, I don't know but I could swear that I saw that tutorial somewhere online!  If you know what I'm talking about, please put me out of my misery and send me a link!!

Joann's usually stocks the EZ Dresden Ruler but the past few times quilting notions were on sale 50% off, it was out of stock.  Yesterday I popped in there after going to see Hop at the theaters (yawn, yawn.  I'm glad that is over!) but they had the ruler in stock!  Yay for me!  It makes up for that hour and a half of Hopping boredom.  Even Logan didn't like that movie.  Collin did but he's still easier to amuse than Logan... That will change as he grows up...

So I thought of doing a new tutorial links page - no surprise there, right?   So without further ado... the Dresden Tutorial Link page!
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I am working on a set of runners to go on the dressers in my bedroom.  I have started and restarted this project several times and have not been happy with the designs and color combos I came up with.  They all seemed too drab. 

A friend of mine wanted to make a runner for her bedroom dresser and I searched online and found a few runners that I thought she might like - and of course went overboard and made a new topic for my tutorial links pages..  But anyhooo... I saw this one and I figured quilt as you go?  Sure!  I'll do it!

I had to do some math as the table runner would have been too small for the dressers - perfect in depth for the night stands although I'll probably have to adjust the length of the runner for them...
I picked out my colors.  It called for 6 total and I decided to do the butterfly print + 2 blues, purples and greens.  I hemmed and hawed about doing the blues as the butterfly print didn't have a true blue in it.  It had purples, greens and browns plus a periwinkle color but adding the brown to the green and purple just looked like pucky so I opted to brighten it up a bit and do the blues.  I'm glad I did.  I personally think it looks stunning.

I started with a 8 1/2" square in the center which brought me to 20" finished at the end of the day.  It is about 94" long which sounds ludicrous but I wanted the ends to fold over and hang off the edge.  Id didn't want him to be able to put anything on the top of the dresser unless there was fabric under it :D  Oh and the only time I pinned was when I sewed on that inner border.  I'm glad I did. It was a life saver

The colors are REALLY off in the picture I'm embarrassed to say.  I will get better pictures when I'm done with them all. 

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So David's runner would be the longest of the 4 I need to make. 

My friend, Stacy, came over about 7am I sewed until 5pm - she had to leave for a baseball game about 1 but came back all bummed that they lost about 3ish.

I had to rip - A LOT.  I don't know anyone who enjoys ripping.  It just isn't fun.  I sewed the wrong color orders, the wrong piece lengths then in the end  I ripped out a butterfly piece in the very end of it all since it would have been ridiculously long on the dresser. 

It just needs to be bound now which isn't that big of a deal.  I do think I might wait and bind them all one right after the other.  I'm excited to get the piecing done while David is home with the kids this weekend...

So yup.  I'll be back in the craft room today.. and will hopefully have more of the set ready for binding.

Here is a link to the tutorial I used... It is relatively quick and easy.  I do suggest laying out your colors in the order you need to sew them - and only doing one side at at time so you have less fiddling with it under the machine's throat.  I was doing both sides at the same time for a bit and then opted to just work on it one side at time - wise move.

The tutorial is well written although I don't know why I printed out all the pictures especially since the colors that were used in the tutorial were gradient and didn't really show up in my cheap choice of printing in b&w... a bit of overkill for me but others might need the extra photos.  It's all good though in the end. 

Okay.  I best get to quilting.  Sun is up.  The dog wants to be fed and the kids are itching to start playing video games...
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I had seen this Lazy and Lovin' It Book by Joan Hawley demonstrated online a few months back and had to have it...

I can't seem to locate the link for the video.  It was a Kaye Woods show segment but here is a link to the general gist of the idea for the book... You have A and B pieces and pretty much everything you make is comprised of those pieces except for companion blocks which are pinwheels and whatnot. 

I just now finally - FINALLY! - got to try it out... I have to tell you a few things.  The book is pretty darn cool.  I was mesmerized by the whole idea behind it. 

I have to tell you this...  you can NOT be lazy to make these blocks.  You work hard for them.  I thought that matching them up to sew was a pain.  About half of the ones I did I had to redo because they didn't match up and both blocks I made ended up with blocks that where a hair off and I don't know why.  I'll have to reread the section on making 3 part blocks again to see what I messed up on.
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Here are the two blocks that I made... They came out pretty cool.  I did miss a few points, went back, couldn't fix them, got frustrated and then figured I better just walk away and pick a different battle.  These blocks were being made for a NEA Modern Quilt Guild block swap and I'm frustrated that I messed up on them.  I might go back and give them another tweak tomorrow after a good night's sleep. We'll see.... They're pretty close, just not perfect and I do like perfect....

So I can honestly say that it took me about 2 1/2 hours to make 2 blocks.  I am not sure if that is good or not... but if I were making an entire quilt out of these things I would have pulled out my hair and been shopping for a wig.  Life is too short to mess around so much.

Next project?  One of my nieces just graduated college and moved out to Wisconsin to live with her boyfriend.  She likes trees... I'm going to make her a set of placemats maybe and a wall hanging to decorate her new room.  She had to leave most of her stuff behind so maybe something special will cheer her up.  I'll be starting on that later on this week...

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