Busy, busy June

I'm really excited about June. Thanks to a wonderful friend (Thanks Jen), I was gifted a spot in the Sketchapalooza class and it's underway. For those of you wondering, it's a scrapping class that provides throughout June 20 total sketches designed by some very talented ladies. Plus you get to see the takes on the sketch by all the other attendees. I've already completed 2 of the three and will work on the third one tomorrow. It's not to late to join if you are interested. Check it out here.

The other project that is going to keep me busy is the June quilt a long. I've gotten the quilting bug and I'm so excited. The project started today over at Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night. I got all my squares, sashings and binding already cut and ready to go. Tomorrow I'm going to lay out all my squares. Next Wednesday we are going to start assembling the quilt top.

I'm so excited about June.

Two new books

I mentioned in a previous post that I was starting City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. It was good but......I think it's really getting time to wrap up the series. Have you ever read a book series where you just know it's going to be the end for better or worse? Only to find it to be continued? That's the way I felt with this book. They are also making the first one into a movie in case you were interested. But I'm not entirely thrilled with the lead casting. Lily Collins just doesn't do anything for me as an actress. She's isn't at all what I picture Clary to be like. And as far as the guy they have playing Jace.....meh.

The second book I've finished is the second in the Nightshade series. Luckily for me I know there are only three books in this series so live or die that's it. I really enjoyed the second book. A lot of questions were answered but of course more were posed. I've already started the third one and I'm dreading it ending. Not because I want it to go but because I'll be out of reads.

Anyone have any good recommendations?

New recipe 22 & 23

Have I ever mentioned how much I love to cook. Granted I have more fun cooking for 10+ than I do for my family of 5 but I do love to cook. I especially love trying new things. But my absolute favorite is baking cakes, pies & cookies. So this post contains a dinner and a dessert so enjoy.

First up is Chicken and Wild Rice casserole. Now the recipe calls for pre done rice but I used a box of regular of Uncle Ben's and cooked it ahead of time. It was very cheesy and I base all good recipes on whether or not the twins eat it happily and they did. Not using the pre made rice does make this recipe a little more time consuming but it's worth it in the end.

Now time for dessert. My favorite part of any meal. For Memorial Day after we had put away lots of burgers and dogs, plus baked beans and potato salad we sampled what could only be described as the diet killer of all desserts. You have a chocolaty brownie with Reese's cups mixed in layered with a rich cheesecake like topping, smothered in more Reese's cups. What's not to love?

That's it for the most recent recipes. I think I'll definitely top out the 38 new recipes for my challenge. Now if only I could do so well on the projects.

New quilt

Now that I've finally finished that quilt I have the quilting bug. So I'll be hanging out at the Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night blog for a zig zag quilt along. I'm really excited. I've got my layer cake ordered and then I'll need to buy the additional stuff to go with it.

I finally finished it

I finally finished the quilt that I started in January. I learned a lot of dos and don'ts while making it. One major thing that I learned is that I would much rather use patterned fabric on the back vs solid. So without further ado here we go.

One thing funny I noticed today as I was finishing. I've had my machine for 12 years, it's nothing fancy but a $40 machine from Wal-mart. I broke my first needle today. Shows you how much it's been used. In fact before December of last year it had only been used once or twice. These past months have made me realize how much I've missed sewing.

A scrappy post

I almost forgot I wanted to share a scrappy layout that I did for the Scrapshare weekly challenge.

And just some randomness

Because random is what this blog is all about. So here are some random pics to amuse you or possibly give you the heebie jeebies.

We seem to have lots of these around. Good bug eaters.

Got candles? Don't worry I have enough for all of us.

And a few last shots for your day.