Getting Ready for BBQ!

On Sunday we did a practice round of ribs in preparation of the cookoff this weekend - they turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I didn't take any pictures of the practice ribs, but there will be plenty of pics from the cookoff this weekend :) 

In other news, I've been trying to decide what my next quilting project is going to be, and have decided to go ahead and *finally* make myself a king-sized quilt, using a pattern I bought last year and just fell in love with:

My LQS had a display of this pattern on the wall using batiks and I fell instantly in love with it!!!

 

 

 

As I might have mentioned before, I'm a *huge* batik fan and this just screamed "BUY ME"!  So I spent the better part of a year looking for the perfect batiks - I wanted to do mine in "beachy" colors - turquoises, tans, light blues, light greens, etc.  For a king sized bed you need something like 30-32 fat quarters, which doesn't sound bad until you have to start looking for the perfect ones :-/  On top of that, I want to make a matching valance for my bedroom window so I needed extra material for that.

 

It was a long, hard search - because as I'm buying FQ and then start laying them next to each other I was finding that some were too dark, some too light, some not the correct shade, etc.  Oh no......this requires me to go back out and buy more fabric.  Oh darn.  Whatever will I do? 

 

Now that I have the fabrics finally picked out, I can finally start cutting them into the pieces.  I'll post pictures of my progress :)

 

Hope you are having a wonderful day!!

Vanessa

 

 

Florida Breeze Shop Hop

So a couple weeks ago I attended the Florida Breeze Shop Hop (or part of it anyway).  For background information - I'm used to attending the Shop Hops up in Minnesota (Twin Cities).  Its a 2 day Shop Hop; you can sign up to ride on a Greyhound bus and they take you to 6-8 shops each day and lunch is included.  I went with friends and we made a weekend out of it; lots and lots of fun. We received a free 5" square from that years selected fabric line and at the end some free quick patterns that you can use for the squares.  As with other shop hops you got a stamp for visiting that shop and at the end were entered to win various local and state prizes.

This was a bit different - there were only 6 shops included and you had to drive yourself (which was fine).  What I *really* loved about hop is that when you visited each shop you were handed a little baggie with some fabric and a template, and if you got all 6 they could be turned into a wall kit.  The stores also had the backing & binding kit along with the instructions on how to finish the quilt. 

Here is this years wall quilt - isn't it adorable?:

 

 

I absolutely *love* anything beach/tropical/ocean related to this is right up my alley big time! 

 

How has your day been?

Vanessa

 



M.I.A - Missing in Action and BBQ Time!

Hello fellow bloggers!  I'm so sorry I've been MIA lately - I've been neglectful of my blog and I have to apologize profusely! 

Anyway......lots to catch up on!!  One thing that has kept me busy is we've signed up as amateur bbq-ers in a year-long BBQ cookoff.  It will teach us how to eventually compete in a 'professional' level :)  We 'compete' once a  month again other BBQ-wanna-be's and get help from judges and BBQ pros.  Its a great learning experience, let me tell ya!

 

Our first attempt was stressful yet fun at the same time.  The first meat was chicken thighs which we'd never done before, so needless to say Google was our friend LOL  I'm telling ya, if its not on Google it doesn't exist *lol*

 

Here's some pics from the competition, including our smoker and our tent set up:

 

 

 

Our team name is "The Other BBQ Team" - orginal, I know :-/  LOL  Anyway, we had a cooks meeting at 6:30am then it was off to prep and cook the meat!  Only problem was that we *just* picked up the smoker that morning and didn't know how to use it!!!  Luckily the guy we got it from and our very kind smoker neighbor (thanks Leo!!) were kind enough to help us out.  We were *so* busy that - silly me - I didn't think to take pictures of our chicken!  DUH!!!

In all, there were a total of 20 BBQ teams.  The sponsor, Mack Daddy Smokers, held the competition at their store location.  They were raising money for the Walk of Hope Foundation, and the meat we cooked was split between the charity to sell to raise money, for the judging and for People's Choice taste testing. 

So for the People's Choice - the public was able to buy wristbands for $10 before the event ($15 day of) and could taste each vendor's food then vote for their favorite.  Unfortunately we didn't win but we had a lot of great comments; not bad for first-timers!!

At the end of the day, it was results time.  Lo and Behold, we placed 6th!!!!!  WOO HOO!  We later found out it was a VERY close race, so close that we were only 1 point from 1st place!  Talk about stoked!!!  :::happy dance:::

 

Next competition will be held on February 15th - and the meat this time is ribs.  My favorite!!!  YUM!  We practiced last weekend and will be practicing again this weekend.  (Oh darn, not ribs again????.......please note the sarcasm......)  I will definitely take more pictures next time.

 

So....I'm going to reach out to my fellow bloggers and followers and ask for help.  Can any of you suggest a Team Name for us?  We've talked at some point about wanting to do some catering locally so I'm looking for something clever, and right now my creativity is a standstill.  Suggestions would be great appreciated :)

 

I hope you have a wonderful day!!

Vanessa