400

What a yack-a-holic. I can't believe this is my 400th post. I started this blog to enter giveaways and here I am 400 posts later. Thank you to everyone who reads my blabberings and especially those who comment. I love interacting with all of you. And if you just stumbled across my blog, there's a giveaway here.

Yesterday's breakfast. Lemon-flavored sardines, dijon mustard and deli rye Triscuits. Thank goodness I work alone. I think my co-workers would have reported me to management by now.

I made some progress on my little lap quilt. Hoping to finish quilting and binding today.

My kids don't like my meatloaf. I love it, but for some reason they don't like traditional meatloaf, especially the sweet tomato, mustard sauce on top. Yesterday, I combined a couple of different recipes and made a Greek turkey meatloaf and served tzatziki with it. I always forget to take pictures of the finished dish, but turkey turns kind of grayish when you cook it, so you're not missing much. I did cover the top of the loaf with slices of tomato and lemon.

Greek Meatloaf

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup packed fresh spinach leaves, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
oregano, salt and pepper
white wine

Saute onion, garlic and peppers in olive oil until onions soften. Add spinach, parsley, lemon and spices. Deglaze pan with a splash of white wine or water and let everything cool a bit.

1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey
3/4 cup oats
1 egg

Gently mix vegetables with turkey, oats and egg. Loosely pack meat mixture in a greased loaf pan. Top with slices of tomato and lemon if desired. Bake 45 minutes at 350. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with tzatziki.

Simple Tzatziki

small container of plain yogurt
lemon juice
grated cucumber
minced garlic
dill

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate to let all flavors combine.

Yeah, the kids still wouldn't eat it. I think a meatloaf sandwich is in order for today's breakfast.

Challenges

Our guild members are making donation quilts for AAQI. Rene' made it a little more interesting by having us blindly pick crayons from a bag and use the colors to create the quilt. I have to admit I traded a sky blue for the apricot color. The other color is cotton candy. I scoured my scraps for suitable scraps, now I have to figure out what to do with them.

The guild is also making items for local veterans. I have someone's collection of "normal" colors, so I dug them out to make these maple leaf blocks for a wheelchair lap quilt. Three more blocks to go. Yawn. The next quilt is going to be wilder.

My mom gave me this recipe for skillet apple pie. It's kind of decadent with a caramel bottom. I had to laugh when I read "serve with butter pecan ice cream." Mom ate hers with cheddar cheese. Inspector Gadget is the only one who eats apple pie here, so he better get busy!

Chilly and Chili

It turned chilly this weekend. Low 60s. Brrr! Just in time for my friend's annual Chili Cook-off. Inspector Gadget made our entry. He used habaneros from our garden. I felt like I should have put a warning on the stuff.  The picture is leftovers of it on yellow rice. I had to tone it down!

There were 18 different kinds of chili to sample. I thought they were all very good. It was hard to pick a favorite. The winner's chili had Dr. Pepper in it, but I couldn't taste it. There were some white chili's, vegetarian, one with peanut butter and plenty with lots of heat. The party is always fun. Last year's winner bought containers of Wendy's chili and put it in an old-fashioned crock. Wendy's does have good chili!

Photo from AAQI. Shamelessly stolen from Facebook.

Here's the infamous Carol Doak, who taught me how to paper piece. Well okay, her books did. She's standing at the AAQI booth at the International Quilt Festival. Look over her right shoulder. That's my hedgehog and mushroom quilt. I paper pieced the hedgie. And it sold too!

Someone made me selvage potholders! I needed new potholders badly. They're almost too cute to use, but I'm going to be careful with them.

And here's the doll quilt my swap partner made me. Those triangles are 1-1/4" on each side. Wow! She titled the quilt "The 80's Revisited" and used scraps from that era. It's an amazing quilt!

I've always loved the Skip to my Lou blog. She has the cutest content. On Mondays, she hosts Made by You Mondays which features links to all kinds of crafty and cooking goodness. It's how I waste Monday. Now somebody turn off the internet.

Sunday Stash #37

I just loved this little sewing pouch or coin purse by the talented Rashida Coleman-Hale.

We had our monthly guild meeting at the fabric shop. These mean old fabrics twisted my arm and begged to come home with me. I also saw Amy Butler's new collection, "Lark" in person. Oh. my. It's gorgeous. That girl can design fabric.

Don't forget about the giveaway.

Bits and Bobs

Feeling lucky? Karen at Sew Many Ways is such an inspiring and smart cookie. She's hosting a giveaway party and is linking up some awesome giveaways.

I think I'll play along and give some stuff away too. Up for grabs is some Quilt Monkey stationery, Penguin Pals holiday memo notes, and four fat quarters of Michele D'Amore's Al Fresco fabric. Just leave a comment here and I'll put your name in the hat. [Edit 11-11-11; a winner has been chosen. Thanks for playing!]

I whipped up this portobello mushroom and leek soup last night. It was even better for breakfast. Such simple ingredients, but very rich and satisfying.

I haven't had a lot of sewing time this week. Work has been busy now that my graphic files are safely back home. My new Mac is super fast and churning out work like a champ. I did make this needle book to say thank you for a boatload of selvages a kind quilter sent me. It's so much fun to see what types of fabrics everyone plays with. And even more fun to make something out of them!

What can you do with Dollar Store socks? Make fingerless mittens. Now Hollywood can still text while her hands stay warm. It's freezing here today! Going to be a good night for a Chili Cook-off!

Still Swapping

This Pin Pouffe was fun and easy to make.

This potholder was another swap item. We used this tutorial. If you want to make it, cut your binding strips at 2" and you'll be much happier! Lots of layers to wrap.

Color me caught up with my swaps! I'm not signing up for any more until I get some holiday projects accomplished. Now to get to the post office.

Blogging From Your Phone

I have lots of odd photos on my phone. Sometimes I wonder about myself.