Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

OH.MY.GOODNESS.

This lady is at it again. Another fabulous giveaway. Last year's Halloween costumes were amazing and this years..... Oh My!!! Of course I have to enter! Just look at these!




Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Spicy Black Bean Chili

Love this time of year. The summer heat is finally over and the cool brisk weather outside makes you want to have a nice warm bowl of soup. That is what I did yesterday for dinner. I got out my MIL's famous recipe ....




Here is what you'll need.

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (10oz) can Ro-Tel Diced tomatoes with chilies
2 large yellow crookneck squash, diced or sliced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 can corn (or frozen)
1 large bell pepper, chopped
4 large cloved garlic, minced
1 lbs ground turkey, beef or ham (whatever you prefer)
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs chili powder
1 (10 oz) can of water
1 can black beans

How to Prepare:

In a skillet saute lightly, onion and bell pepper in a small amount of olive oil. Add your meat and minced garlic and cook until meat is no longer pink.

Add all the remaining ingredients and water and simmer uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours.

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream and tortilia chips.

Quilt Festival - Raggedy Ann & Andy Quilt

Amy over at Park City Girl is holding the annual Bloggers Quilt Festival over at her blog. So I decided to showcase my latest quilt. My latest meaning I just finished binding it today! Whoopee!

This quilt is for my sister who had mailed me a huge box of fabric 2 weeks ago that she had bought and cut up into squares and wanted to make..... wait for it....10 years ago! Yes, these cute little cut up Raggedy Ann squares were already to be sewn together but no one had the time to do it until now! I just learned how to quilt a couple of years ago and have 3 finished quilts under my belt and so I was happy to take these squares and make them into a cute little baby quilt.



Since my sister had this fabric all cut already into squares I chose to do a nine patch quilt (she said I can chose any pattern I think would look best), which a handy tutorial is on the right side of this blog.



I zig-zag stitched it together. This method reminded of "zig-zag stitching" the dolls together, which to me had a vintage feel to it.



I chose a red binding to bring the colors together from this darling fabric.




My daughter just couldn't resist snuggling up to the quilt as I was finishing up binding.



Hope you like how it came out sis!

My First Blog Award!

I am super excited to find out today that my blog received my first ever Blog Award! Woohoo!! Thank you Teresa/MarieSews from Sewing Trials for awarding this blog with the Blog De Oro award (Blog of Gold). You can see who gave her this award by visiting her blog. By so doing, I actually found some new favorite blogs to add to my list along the way!

I now have to choose 10, out of all the wonderful blogs that I follow, to pass the award on to. I hope you take the time to browse through these as I have chosen those that have truly inspired me to create and learn new things. So here is a BIG THANK YOU from me to you!

In no specific order:

1. Made
2. V and Co.
3. Opal petit clothier
4. creative little daisy
5. tall grass prairie studio
6. Camille Roskelley
7. Joys Of Home
8. 4 Little Men
9. All things nice
10. connecting the dots

Nothing that a little heart won't fix

My daughter's new favorite thing to say is "Oh-Oh". When she has an accident its "Oh-Oh", or when she drops something or even throws something we hear "Oh-Oh". Well it is now getting cool around here that we need to get out our pants and sweaters and one of her pants has a whole in them from the last time she wore them... "Oh-Oh".



Well its nothing that a little heart won't fix. Just cut out a heart shaped fabric and match its size to the size of the whole on the pants and stitch them together.



And viola. The pants were ready to be worn again and she was all ready to go outside and play.

Plaid skirt and white top

A couple of weekends ago I pulled out my M5696 pattern and some left over fabric and made a skirt for my daughter. I also made a simple white peasant shirt to go with it. I have a huge stash of white lace trim I wanted to use so I added it on the skirt and collar of the shirt.




Here is a look from the back



And here is a simple belt to match.



Okay..... So after a while of looking at this skirt, that white trim in the bottom of the skirt was bothering me. It seemed distracting and I decided to take it out completely and add a black and white polka dot trim instead.



I think it looks so much better. Also as you can see from the back, instead of adding a zipper to it as the pattern says to do I instead sewed on elastic so that way she can where the skirt as she grows.



I made a gray version of it here.





My apologies for the blurry photos. I have a digital camera that is slowing dieing and a daughter that never stops. Add these together and these are the photos you get.

I WON!

I really can't believe I won! My first ever win! Yeah! I won a Studio Tantrum sewing pattern from The Dizzy Daizy. She offered 3 very generous giveaways as part of her grand opening of her new website, which is stock full of cute fabric, patterns, ribbons, and trim. So go check it out for yourself.

I can not wait to start on this pattern. It looks so challenging with all those ruffles but I am going to try and as soon as I finish I'll post it here. I still can't believe I won! Thank you Dizzy Daisy!