I’m baaaack!!!

Wow I forgot I had a blog - well not true, life has completely gone topsy-turbulent on me. 

Let’s see.....in a nutshell:

• Started a BBQ truck
• Started a dessert truck 
• discovered I had Endometrial Cancer, resulting in a hysterectomy and quarterly check up visits
• Got remarried
• Was just busy with life in general

I’m sure I’ll talk about all of those life events at some point in the future, but I’ve been thinking about restarting up my blog for awhile now.  So here I am, here we are and here we go :-)

Have a fabulous day - let’s catch up more tomorrow!

Vanessa

Quilt Show pictures - Part One

A couple weeks ago I went to the Jacksonville Quilt Show (http://www.quiltfestjax.com) and had a lot of fun. Here are some of my favorite quilts on display:

This is a pattern by McKenna Ryan called "Glacier". You can't tell from the picture but the quilter used beads throughout the quilt:

This one is called "Convex Illusions". I absolutely love illusion pictures so I really love this one:

This one is called "Coxcomb" and is a Judy Niemeyer pattern. I can totally appreciate the work that went into this; I'm just not I have the patience or attention span to do one myself lol:

This quilt is called "Spiral Strips" from the book "Jelly Roll Quilts" by Pam and Nicky Lintott. This one is on my "do to" list:

This one won an award!  This is a Civil War Bride Quilt, which is an interpretation of "The Bird of Paradise" quilt top at the American Folk Art Museum in New York. The original is thought to be an unfinished wedding or marriage quilt. Fabulous!!!

Another award winner and probably one of the cutest and most original ones at the show!  This one is called "Crime Scene Investigation" and has cute little sayings throughout the fence. The quilting on this one is out of this world!!  I just can't say enough about this quilt:

I absolutely am crazy about tropical colors and if I could have, this quilt would have gone home with me!!  The name of this quilt is "Tropical Delight" and this is a Quilt in a Day quilt by Eleanor Burns from "Day & Night":

This quilt is called "Cactus Rose" and is a. Judy Niemeyer pattern. I love the colors and the overall crisp design:

This one is called Caribbean Sky" and is a Judy Niemeyer pattern. It looks way to hard for me but I can absolutely appreciate the amount of work that went into it. Another one I'd bring home if I could :-) :

Another ribbon winner!  This one is called "Summer Solstice" and is a paper pieced pattern by Judy Niemeyer (boy her patterns are popular lol). I love the masculine feel to this one:

Another winner!  This one is called "Glacier Star" and is, yes, another paper piecing quilt pattern by Judy Niemeyer.   Again outside of my ability but a gorgeous quilt nonetheless:

Ok so I'm noticing a trend with the Judy Niemeyer patterns; I swear I didn't notice that until I started posting the pics lol. I was just taking pictures of the ones I liked. 

Anyway I have a ton more quilt pictures to share but unfortunately it's time to get to work :-( 

So....what are your favorite ones so far?  Reply in the comments and share your thoughts :-)

Enjoy your day!

Vanessa

Crazy times in Florida

Boy, its been a crazy past few days!!!  Quilt show this Thursday then Friday/Saturday a BBQ competition, followed by lots of sleep and craziness when I went back to work!!  Where do I even start???

Thursday was the Jacksonville Quilt Show and it was pretty fun.  I was there about 5 hours, looking at quilts and of course, all the products for sale.  I will post pictures of some of my favorite quilts and talk more about the quilt show in the next few posts.

Friday and Saturday was the BBQ cookoff finale - we felt we had our best cook yet.  We ended up coming in 4th overall, and was barely 2 points from 3rd place.  Not bad at all!!!  We are taking a break from BBQ for awhile; besides we are getting a new smoker made so even if we wanted to cook we can't right now. 

So we will be going "pro" and will start entering pro competitions, probably after the holidays.  More to come on that.....

Work.....ah, work.  The ultimate in crazy......either I'm swamped or have nothing going on.  I have just started the "I'm Swamped" cycle which will last for the forseeable future.  Oh well, at least I have a job, for which I am thankful :)

Hope you're week has been good so far!
Vanessa

Migraine Monday

Oh yeah gotta love migraines :(

I've had them most of my entire adult life.  As with most migraine sufferers, caffeine can play a big part in getting them and its really an allergic reaction.  So I'm allergic to caffeine.  Which includes tea (I drink decaf), coffee (don't drink it really unless its decaf, iced and is mostly skim milk with some sugar), most soft drinks (Coke, Pepsi, etc. which I don't drink anymore) and of course, chocolate.  *Gasp* Yes you read that correctly - chocolate.  I rarely eat it anymore since it gives me an instant migraine, but if i get a craving that I can't control I have to take one of my migraine pills first.  Otherwise I'll be down for a good day, which is never good.

Anyway, didn't mean to give you a migraine lesson.  Sometimes you get them from stress or just because.  Last night around 2 am, I woke up to a "just because" migraine.  Right behind my left eye, no less.  And if you've never had one, consider yourself lucky.  Pardon my french, but they are a bitch.  I've been hurting all day and sometimes even my prescription isn't enough to take care of it.  At that point, all I can do is lay in a quiet, dark room and try to sleep it off. 

Luckily today my pills took most of the edge off.  My neck and shoulders are stiff (a lovely side effect) but I'm feeling a little better at least.

Otherwise I entered a fabric giveaway a couple weeks ago and won!  Look at my goodie:

 

 

I've never used hexagons before so I'm going to scour the web for a pattern.  I received this from the A Stitch in Dye blog - so thank you very much!  I've never won fabric before this this was pretty cool! 

 

I'm surprised that it even made it to me - check out the packaging it came in:

 



If I'm feeling better later, I may work on the wrap for the food boxes for our BBQ turn in boxes (aka Casserole Carrier).  Here's the fabric I'm using (appropriate don't ya think?):

I'll post pictures when I'm done.

How was your Monday??
Vanessa

Sewing Sunday

Ah yes the woman is on a mission.  A sewing mission, that is.....

I spent the day working on sewing up items for my craft shows in November.  If I wasn't sewing, I was cutting up fabric. Aren't you amazed at how nice and neat I am?  I amaze even myself sometimes ;-)

I cut up at least 4 packages of Wrap-N-Zap batting and had a bunch of leftovers, so as any good quilter knows, I decided to just zig-zag the leftover pieces together so I can have bigger pieces to cut out.  Thrifty, no?

 

 

I was able to get quite a bit done, actually.  I have quite a few things on my list that I want to make before November, so I'm actually starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere.  I also had some of my inventory that I left in Minnesota sent to me; I received it on Saturday so that'll definitely be helpful. 

 

Besides my sewing bonanza today, I also managed to make my Beef Stroganoff for dinner (sorry I was already digging in when I realized I forgot to take a picture first (oops):

 

 

 

This is a really easy crockpot recipe, perfect comfort food.  I normally make a double batch and have it again the next day.  Here's the recipe:

 

BEEF STROGANOFF



1 pound stew meat

1 can cream of mushroom soup (or golden mushroom soup)

1/2 chopped onion (optional)

1 package fresh mushrooms (I use the bigger size container but I love mushrooms)

1/4 cup red wine (cooking or otherwise)

2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire

1/4 cup of water

1/2 block cream cheese

Pepper to taste

Cooked egg noodles

 

Mix everything except the cream cheese and pepper into a crockpot; cook on low for 4-5 hours or high 2-3 hours.  When the meat falls apart, its done. 

 

Chunk up the cream cheese and stir into stroganoff just before serving, allowing to melt completely.  Add pepper as desired.  Pour over cooked egg noodles.

 

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think!

Vanessa :)

 

 



Time's A-Wastin'

Yes time *is* a-wasting!! 

I'm confirmed for one craft show on November 15th and am applying for a 2-day show for the following weekend.  Nice huh?  Another one that I applied to I never heard back from; I was going to contact them until I realized it was for next weekend (October 4th) and there is NO WAY I'll be ready in time.  So I'm gonna skip that one and look for a different one.

So I've started working on my items and I already feel like I'm way behind.  On top of that, I need to make 3 casserole carriers before next weekend.  I started on one and thought, oh I can just freehand quilt it instead of doing straight lines.  Well my optimism got the best of me, and let's just say I've been ripping out stitches for the past two days :(  I won't even bother to embarass myself with a picture of it; yes its that bad.  Oh well live and learn.  But I promised to post pics of the finished product when I'm done!

Also in the mix of the craft show craziness, we are also practicing for the Grand Finale BBQ Cookoff next weekend (September 26th-27th).  Here is a picture of a whole brisket fresh out of the smoker:

 

And here it is all sliced and ready for dinner LOL And yes, someone has already noticed the lack of vegetables on my plate.  In my defense I was planning on having fresh cut fruit for dessert, but ended up crashing not too long after eating dinner.  Smoking BBQ all day in the hot sun is hard work, folks.  LOL  Mmmm look at that smoke ring!

 

 

And here's the ribs.  We cooked them a little too long so they started pulling off the bones.  We've noticed a definite decrease in size in ribs so we are going to need to plan accordingly.  But they turned out very good so I'm not gonna complain.

Sounds like we are going to practice again this weekend.  I'm thinking that after the Grand Finale we are going to take a little break from BBQ-ing.  I least I sure hope we do, because I think I need a break from BBQ in general.  Which is funny because I really do love BBQ but like anything else, too much of a good thing and all that.....

So tonight will be ripping out more stitches (yay) and just keep plugging away at my craft show inventory.

Hope you're having a great week!
Vanessa

September 11th

Where were you 13 years ago on this day?

I was in Minnesota packing, ready to take a long drive to Pensacola, Florida where my then sister-in-law was going to get married.  I made arrangements with my best friend to watch the kids for the week while we were gone, so I was set there.  I had the TV on Good Morning America, luggage was on the bed as I was in the process of packing our clothes when they broke the news that a plane had struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  There wasn't much news immediately, but then they started showing video of the tower when suddenly, we saw another plane hitting the South Tower as it was happening.

I remember calling out to my ex, and he came in the room as we both watched the horror unfold; reports of a plane hitting the Pentagon, of a plane crashing in Pennsylvania and of course the two towers collapsing.

It was horrible and we watched for hours, trying to decide if we should still go or stay home.  After a flurry of calls we decided to go ahead and make the drive.  We were still packing when the kids got home; my son was terrified and insisted on coming with us.  My daughter - the youngest but the calmer of the two - chose to stay with my best friend. 

We made it safe and sound to the wedding and back to Minnesota without incident, but it was still scary as we didn't know what was going to happen or if another attack was going to occur.

So on this day, I'd like to say a brief prayer to the 2,977 victims of the 9/11 attacks, their families and loved ones.  You will not be forgotten. May God Bless America.