Sew Day & QuiltCon Swag

Saturday was Sew Day. After a week at QuiltCon and work, I really needed some time behind my machine. I made this cute house hot pad from this tutorial. The "Glamping" fabric was a gift and I've been hoarding it for a while. I was happy to find a cute use for it.

Then I used my huge bag of selvages from the Cotton & Steel line to make a couple of potholders.  They gave the bags out at QuiltCon and I think it was my favorite swag. The tote bag is stuffed with selvages. And they're really cute selvages.

The freebies were numerous at QuiltCon. This was just the stuff in my QuiltCon tote.

These goodies I received on the vendor floor. There were plenty of vendors to visit.

Many of the attendees traded buttons. I had  some made for my blog and collected a bunch. Some of them are hilarious and inappropriate. Those are my favorites!

I bought a few things too.

My cookie jar isn't full, but I did make blueberry muffins. I missed cooking while I was away. More on QuiltCon later. I took the coolest classes.

The Perfect Day

In your pajamas, preferably. I made it until 10 am Saturday in pj's, and then Bones decided he needed to go outside. I was up early and dressed today, but I'm hoping to nap later when the rain starts.

My perfect day also includes cooking. I made this Panzanella salad using an old baguette. I never thought I would like this salad because I thought the bread would get mushy and fall apart, but since you toast it, it holds its shape and texture. Yummo!

Since the baguette went stale, I baked a loaf of bread for dinner. I messed up the yeast amount, but it still turned out okay.

Homemade bread has no preservatives, so you have to use it quickly. Cinnamon toast (the right way) for breakfast and possible grilled cheese for lunch.

New Orleans inspired barbecued shrimp. The sauce was perfect to dunk bread in. It has been a carby weekend! I'm making more bread later today.

Meet Lisa, my new Featherweight. I've been stalking eBay for eons looking for the perfect affordable little Featherweight. I used to see these at estate sales for next to nothing, but of course I didn't want one then. Lisa runs beautifully and is one of the last Featherweights made in the late 60s. She came from a machine repair shop, had a tune up, and runs like a dream. Quiet, too!

I used my spider web blocks to get to know the new machine. I'm piecing rows together and hope to finish the top today. It's high time for a new project.

Happy Sunday! Hope you're having fun.

Chili Overload

Inspector Gadget was in the kitchen early Saturday morning making his entry for the chili cook-off. He used ground chuck, stew meat, and hot Italian sausage. His spices included fresh chili, jalapeno, and habanero peppers, so it was pretty spicy. He also used fresh basil and oregano from the garden. And garlic, lots of garlic. He made enough for an army.

I made Whole Grain Cornbread to take to the chili cook-off. They are the brownish squares to the right. Meh, it was okay. Notice the Red Lobster cheddar biscuits were a big hit.

But we were really there for the chili. Twenty different kinds of chili. I tasted 19. It was a fun evening and we didn't trip any breakers with all our crock pots.

I made a big pan of candy corn bark to take to my chocolate-loving cousin and the cook-off. My auntie gave me this toffee recipe a long time ago, but it had pecans instead of peanuts and candy corn. I suppose you could throw any type of topping on it. No one believes the toffee part is saltines, butter, and brown sugar. After it sets up, you crack it into pieces.

Meet Buck, my newest little cousin. First cousin, once removed that is. How proper. He is a little doll. I can't believe I was holding him two days after he was born. My kids were never that little. I held him over an hour and he stayed awake and stared at me the whole time. Probably wondering who the heck I was.

Big sis Mia is also happy with her little brother. That's the birth pool in the background. My cousin's wife had both babies at home. She highly recommends it.

I brought a big stack of baby quilts over for them to choose something for Buck. They had a hard time deciding, but this little colorful quilt won out. It was one of my favorites too.

Stumbled across an easy tutorial to make the napkins to match my seafood china. Now I need to have appetizers for dinner.