Clue #4 Done!

I'm so excited that I have been able to keep up with the clues this mystery!  In all of the mysteries that I have done previously I have always been behind by the time we got to clue number four.  Last week with clue number 3 I wasn't so sure that I'd be able to finish in time, but this week I was done by Saturday night.  I was able to pull all of the blue fabrics from my precut strips and squares and some of the browns.  This has helped speed up cutting so much!  As a mater of fact I got the clue shortly before leaving for work on Friday and was able to quickly grab strips out of my drawers and bring them to work to cut at lunch.  Because I have been able to pull so much from my precut drawers I have barely touched the fabrics I pulled for the mystery except for the coral fabrics since that is not a color that I use often.  I can't wait for the next clue to come out! I'm participating in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Monday link-up so make sure to go here to see what other's are doing.

Done in the nick of time.

Wow clue # 3 of Bonnie Hunter's "On Ringo Lake" mystery was a big one!  I got done just in the nick of time to start a new clue tomorrow.  There were some questioning looks from my co-workers as I drew lines during breaks between patients and later in the week cut down blocks in preparation for pressing. The last of the blocks were finished being pressed just in time for bed tonight.

For this year's mystery I have gone a little more wild than usual with my background fabrics, but I think it will look fine in the end.  I have so far managed to pull all of the background fabrics and quite a few other block parts and precut strips from my precut drawers.  Not only is it nice to be able to use up things have been sitting around for awhile, it has saved me a ton of time on cutting the steps.  

I'm posting this in Bonnie Hunters Mystery Monday Link-up for Clue #3.  You can find that post here.  Be sure to go check out all of the other On Ringo Lake quilts that are being made!

Cutting done ready to sew

Cutting off waste triangles

Finally 

Look Angela I blogged!

After several years of not participating I have decided to play along with Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt this year.  It has been exciting to get the new clue each week and so far I have managed to keep up.  Hopefully this will continue as the mystery goes along.  This year I have decided to follow along with Bonnie's color choices and was able to pull most fabrics from my stash.  I have purchased 3 pieces of the rust colored fabric since I needed a bit more variety for the quilt.  I have also been pleasantly surprised that I have been able to pull a lot of strips from my precut drawers for use in this quilt as well.  To see what this mystery is all about be sure to check out Bonnie's blog and the mystery link-up here:  http://bit.ly/2BFe75V 

Thai Chicken Salad

Posting this here so I can remember it later.

In a Quart Jar layer:

2 T edamame

Roast Chicken

Approx 1 cup chopped red and green cabbage

2 T shredded carrots

1/2 T sliced green onions

1-2 T cilantro leaves 

1/4 of a lime

2 T roasted Salted Peanuts

In a small bag on top 2T crispy Chinese noodles

Sauce( enough for 2-3 salads)

2 T pb2

2 T olive oil (original called for sesame oil)

2 T soy sauce 

2 T brown sugar

1T sesame seeds

To serve squeeze over lime juice toss with approx 1 oz peanut sauce

Stuffed Peppers

This is a recipe that can easily be changed to suit your mood.

Basic Recipe

1# ground beef

1 cup instant rice

1 egg

1 can tomato sauce

About 5 green bell peppers for stuffing

Mix first 4 ingredients stuff in peppers, top with an additional can of tomato sauce and bake at 350 for about an hour.

What I usually add:

2 T taco seasoning

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 medium onion minced

The tops of a couple peppers minced

About 1 celery stalk minced

Sometimes I'll go all sneaky chef on my kids and throw in some shreded zucchini.  I've also omitted the taco seasoning and used marinara instead of the tomato sauce.  The possibilities are endless.

If you have a Pampered Chef Deep Dish covered baker you can microwave this for about 25 minutes and then let it sit in the microwave for an additional 15 minutes.

One person's trash is another's treasure

I love getting bags of scraps from other people, there are so many possibilities. This quilt was made entirely out of other people scraps. The broken dishes blocks are from a small sandwich bag full of "waste triangles" and the borders are from random scraps. I love it! This will be going on my wall of small quilts.

My Challenge for 2013

I taught myself to knit back when Alex was a baby because I wanted to use wool soakers with my cloth diapers and wasn't willing to pay $50+ for one. Since that time I have knitted mostly dishcloths and scrubbies. This year I decided it was time to expand my knitting horizons and made a goal to learn to knit socks. I started by buying a knitting class from Craftsy. Next I bought some yarn and some impossibly tiny needles. Finally this weekend my friend Angela and I sat down together and started working on some socks. This is how far I've gotten up until now. I have actually knitted about twice this much but I spent about as much time ripping stitches as I did knitting. The other picture is of Angela trying to get the hang of knitting of 5 needles rather than the usual 2.