Sew Unique Creations

I fell in love with Sharon’s basket quilt that was on display at the Salt Creek Quilt Guild show this past weekend.  This is “The” basket quilt that everyone seems to be working on from the book “When the Cold Wind Blows” by Blackbird Designs. Sharon is one of the sweet ladies that I stitched with in a small group last year while working on my own baskets.  (Which by the way - I still am not even 1/2 way finished with my own baskets!  I believe at last count I was up to 94 done!  LOL)

Anyhow - I love her finished quilt.  It is absolutely beautiful and the quilting done on the quilt by Monica Troy is wonderful!  I know who I’m sending my quilt to if I ever get it finished!  Enjoy the pictures! (you can click on the photos to make them larger also - you will really see the detail then!)

Here’s a slide show of the quilts on display at the Salt Creek Quilt Guild show that took place in Hinsdale, Illinois this past weekend.  Some of the pictures are not the best in the world, but I did the best I could.  The quilt displays were quite close and some of the quilt pictures were taken at an angle.  Enjoy the pictures!

Salt Creek Quilt Guild Show March 2010

And here is the link directly to my webshots album if you prefer to view the photos this way:

Salt Creek Quilt Guild Show

Here’s a slide show of the Hands All Around Quilt Guild Show that I visited this past Saturday.  This show was held in Bloomington, Illinois.  We really enjoyed the quilts at this show - lot’s of hand quilting I was surprised!  Their were also good vendors and I really enjoyed visiting with them.  Enjoy the pictures!

Hands All Around Quilt Guild Show March 2010

If you prefer to go directly to my webshots album and view the photos individually, here’s the link:

Hands All Around Quilt Guild Show on Webshots

On Sunday I visited the Salt Creek Quilters Guild show in Hinsdale, Illinois.  I took lots of pictures and I’m busy uploading those to my webshots album and I’ll share that with you as soon as it’s ready.

I met a wonderful lady at this show who had a really great quilt on display.  I was busy taking pictures of it and not paying too much attention to anyone around me when a woman walks up to me and says ever so quietly - Do you like it?  I look up and said - Oh yes!  I love it - is it yours?  Well, to make a long story short - it was her quilt and the story behind it has had my mind going ever since this moment.  Here’s a picture of the quilt before I go on: (all the pictures for this post are going to be thumbnails because they are larger files - just click on the pictures and you will see the little details!)

This quilt was so wonderful!   Marilyn (the maker of this quilt) went on to tell me about different objects she placed in the quilt.  On the lower left corner is a bird, bird’s nest and 3 little eggs - those eggs represent her children.

This fabric that I took a close up of is from a wrap around skirt she had made in the ’70s.

Here are some other close ups of the quilt!  There were many more little treasures sewn onto the quilt - it was just a feast for your eyes!  Each and every detail has a story with it of memories from when her children where growing up.  Enjoy and Marilyn thank you for the wonderful quilt and the great stories I hope it continues to bring a smile to your face each time you see it and helps your children remember their great times growing up!

If you could have seen Marilyn’s smile while talking about her quilt, you would have known how special this one is!

P.S. - I’m still uploading pictures of both guild shows from this past weekend - it’s gonna take awhile!

I was tickled to death on Friday when I received this nice surprise in the mail!  Are these fabrics not the best!  I drooled over them,  I have to make something with them soon!  Thank you Kathie!

This weekend I have the opportunity to go and visit two quilt shows.  One is in Bloomington, Illinois put on by The Hands All Around Quilt Guild.  I’ll probably go here tomorrow:

Then on Sunday I’ll probably head up to see The Salt Creek Quilters Guild Show in Hinsdale, Illinois.

I’ve never been to either show before so this will be a new adventure!  I’ll have to try and remember to charge the camera batteries!

In other news, some of you know I like to cook.  I test recipes all the time and end up tweaking stuff and changing it to suit the likes of my family.  Well, I finally after a few years of trying have tweaked my spaghetti sauce recipe to near perfection.  Not one person complained at all.  In fact the two “boys” in the house who love spaghetti ate way to much and kept commenting how good it was.

So, here is a little recipe for you to try - quick, easy and simple - in a crock pot of course!

Spaghetti Sauce in a Crock Pot

1 pound ground pork (we used Bob Evans Brand - mild)

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1/4 pound bacon (we used maple flavored)

1 cup chopped onions

3 garlic cloves minced

1 - 29 ounce can tomato sauce

1 - 29 ounce can crushed tomato’s

2 small can’s mushroom pieces

2 - 6 ounce cans tomato paste

1  tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 tablespoon sugar

dash of salt

1. Cook bacon until crisp in a skillet.  Remove and let cool.  Reserve grease. Crumble bacon into tiny bits and set aside.

2. In the grease from the bacon, add the sausage, ground beef, onion and garlic.  Crumble and cook until brown.

3. Pour crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste into large crock pot and stir a bit.

4. Add crumbled bacon and the meat and onion mixture from the skillet.  When I cooked our sausage and ground beef, there was not much grease remaining in the skillet - maybe a tablespoon or two, so I did not drain the fat off - just added it to the crockpot!

5. Add all the remaining ingredients.

6. Cover. Set heat on crockpot to low and cook overnight. Mine cooked from 10 pm at night until 5 am the next morning when I woke up.  I turned the crockpot off in the morning and then about an hour before dear husband got home from working midnights - I turned the crock pot back on to warm it up for him.  So - 6-7 hours of cooking time set to low in the crock pot was perfect.

This sauce is thick and chunky and sticks to the spaghetti noodles perfectly.  Also - my family prefers a sweeter spaghetti sauce - if you don’t - skip adding that tablespoon and a half of sugar.

I think what made this sauce and helped me to finally perfect the recipe was adding the bacon.  Don’t ask how I came up with the idea - I have no clue, but it worked.  2 guys in one household finally agree that it was an awesome dinner. No complaints from either one of them - they were both to busy eating.  Oh and the smell in the house was fabulous while this was cooking.  Dear daughter and I do not care much for spaghetti.  I taste tested the sauce and it had a great flavor - dear daughter stuck to eating garlic, butter noodles for dinner and me - a salad - I’m trying to be good! LOL

We had plenty of sauce left over for meals again today.  I’m wondering if I could can this sauce????  Any ideas???  Canning season is coming up quickly and normally when I’ve canned spaghetti sauce it hasn’t had meat in it……. hmmmm…..  I bet this sauce would freeze well too!  If we have any leftovers after today, I’ll test it in the freezer and see if the consistency holds up well!

Oh - did I ever get the neatest surprise in yesterday’s mail!  Look at this!

Is this not the cutest wrapped package ever????   Now - here’s what was inside—-

Yummy vintage red fabrics.  Geez, I feel so lucky!

And that pretty yellow handkerchief was promptly ironed, folded and put in the cedar chest for safe storage - years down the road when I have enough pretty hankies - I will be making a handkerchief quilt!  At least I hope to……

A couple weekends ago I got the “urge” to go on a self induced quilt shop hop.  To much work and no play time makes me very crabby!  I decided to head south of where I live this time and visit some of those shops that I’ve never been too.

My first stop was here:

Now let me tell you a little about this quilt shop named The Treadle in Bloomington, Illinois. Go prepared.  If it is winter and you have a bulky coat on - don’t plan on making it down the aisles without knocking bolts of fabric over or knocking boxes of fat quarters on the floor and goodness sakes, don’t bend over.  I made a mess a couple of times by “attempting” to bend over and dig through the 2 and 3 deep rows of bolts of fabric.  Also - if you can, do not bring your purse in - it just gets in the way and it’s annoying.  Throw a check, cash or credit card in your pocket - make life easy.  This shop had so much stuff crammed into a very, very small space - kind of made it hard to shop, but at the same time - I enjoy the adventure of digging.  I found pieces of fabric so old in the clearance bins it dates back to the early ’80’s.  I also spotted the older Chocolate line by Moda fabrics.  They have a little of everything and if you love reproduction prints - you will like going here.  Many, many shirting’s also.  But like I said - be prepared to dig and search.  In fact - take a friend to help you hold up the fabric bolts so they don’t topple over on your head while you try to dig behind - oh yeah - and the friend can be watching your “behind” also so that the bolts that your “behind” are smashed against don’t fall over on your backside.  Hmmmm - now ask me how I came about that little tidbit of advice…..

And also, The Treadle offers 20% off your total purchase if you are paying with cash.  —– But, with that said, it’s only on regular priced merchandise.  There is a coupon in the Quilter’s Travel Companion book also - BUT - even though this is not printed in the book, nor does it state anywhere in the store - the coupon is only good on regular priced merchandise.  Enough said.

All in all, I would go back - I had fun there.  I would bring a friend and go without my purse and coat though. Parking is close enough you can do that.  And never, never take your children in this shop - I didn’t this time, but anytime in the future that I am down that way again, I will not be able to stop and shop if the kiddos are with me.  There is just no way….   But - there are a few pieces of fabric there that I really wish I would have bought and I’m kicking myself over it!

Next stop…..

The Quilt Corner in Morton, Illinois.  Talk about a kit wonderland!  And reproduction fabrics galore.  Good prices too.  Oh and the pattern selection they had - unbeatable.  I bought lots of fat eighths and quarters of reproduction prints that I do not have in my collection here.  A new leather thimble to - that fits like a charm! Oh and don’t forget to check out the hand dyed wool selection - I made a dent there too!  LOL

Next stop….

The Peddler’s Way Quilt Company in Washington, Illinois.  Fell in the parking lot here - the lot was so iced over and I went down hard and bruised the rear end that fabric bolts had previously fallen on.  Not fun…..

The quilt shop was fun though. Lot’s of goodies to see and models also.  But the upstairs is where I found my own piece of heaven.  Reproduction prints galore.  I found 3 pieces here that I cannot seem to locate more of and it’s driving me nuts.  They only had fat eighths and I want more!  Anyone out there know the maker of these fabrics or the fabric lines that they are from?

I left the above photo as a thumbnail - click on it and it will enlarge really well for you to see.  The top fabric I want the most. It’s a deep navy blue.  The middle fabric is also a navy blue and the bottom red fabric is such a great red color.  Of course these pieces do not have the selvedge edge on them!  Ughh!

My next stop was here….

I forgot to take a picture of this shop (probably because I was in a hurry and talking to my aunt on the phone!).  This one was called Cozy Corner Quilts in Metamora, Illinois.  They appear to have 3 shops listed on their website, but I only visited the one this day because I was running out of time and had one more shop that I had to hit.  They also have a retreat center that I am wanting to see about going to.  This shop was fun, they had just gotten the new Little Quilts shirting fabrics in - so I got to drool all over those for awhile.  Lots of brighter fabrics here and the lady working that day was just a treasure to chat with.  I didn’t stay long here because I had to get to the next shop before they closed and I missed the sale - I didn’t use my time to wisely earlier in the day and nearly missed it!

Next stop was….

This shop is fun, I’ve been here before.  They have mostly older prints - which is just what I was looking for.  Remember -I have a stash enhancement to build for a Great Aunt in West Viriginia that is sewing her socks off!  Anyhow - I found the treasured piece of brighter yellow calico that I remember seeing here once before. I should have bought it then, but I got lucky this time and they still had it.  This shop is a lot of fun if you are looking for older prints.  I also snagged some older Judie Rothermel prints here.   They have a couple more pieces that I’m thinking about going back for - some good old fashioned wide stripes from Judie’s earlier fabric designs - they are so yummy!

Here’s the yellow… this photo is clickable too!….

It’s a bright yellow isn’t it!  I just love it - every time I look at it I think about my Grandma.

So that ended my day and I got back home around 6:30 pm.  I left around 8 in the morning.  A great trip and well worth a whole day of driving and shopping - bruises and all.

I’m getting the urge to visit Amish country again though now.  Hmmm, should I go to Arthur, Illinois or Shipshewana, Indiana? Those sweet people just keep drawing me back, time and time again.  I love the simplicity of both these areas and really wish I lived closer to Holmes County, Ohio and Lancaster, Pennsylvania so I could go there more often - those two places are heaven on earth!

Oh  - and more exciting news - I’ve located someone that is trying to sell his mother’s stash of fabrics.  He claims the collection is 20, 30 and 40 year old fabrics!  He also has a bunch of scrap bags - grocery size bags - full of scraps.  Plus he has lots of old quilt magazines.  I’m sitting by my email today on pins and needles waiting to hear back from this man.  I want to go check this out so badly - he’s about an hour and a half from me.  The kids are out of school today and might want to go on a little adventure with good old mom - I’ll probably have to bribe them with lunch out today!  LOL

I better run, I have zippers to sew on the quilt top I will be quilting tomorrow and one more set of instructions to finish up on a very detailed pattern that I really need to focus on!  Have a great day!