No More Excuses

Yesterday, after 11 years with the old treadmill, we updated to a newer, more QUIETER model. Oh happy day! Dear Honey wakes up at 5 a.m. and runs on the treadmill for an hour. The old one was so noisy that the tv would have to be up full blast just so you could hear what was being said. I like my sleep but was always awake when Honey was awake. This a.m. I woke up but not to noise.....I think it was more from habit. I had to listen very closely to even hear the treadmill. Yes! When it was my turn to excercise, I was ecstatic that I didn't have to turn the volume up on the tv to 99% and worry that I was going to blast out the speakers. In fact I had to turn the volume down to normal. This is going to be great having a new machine. (Can you see my lil' muscle man on the wall? That lil' one is now a big 3. He sure use to be a roly-poly. So cute!)

 

Thought I would also show my quilts in our gym. I love this red and white quilt. I bought it years ago on ebay for very little money. It is all hand pieced, hand quilted and very old. It is one of my favorite quilts! The other one I made years ago. I use to have a "red" room in our old house and it hung near my red checkered couch. I changed our colors in this home but decided I needed to have a happy, bright workout room (to make me want to go in there) and I think the yellow paint with the red quilts do just that.

 

Success!

And I don't even have any pictures to show for the fun night I had last night! I was so busy trying to talk over the girls chatter that I didn't even think of pulling out the camera to take pictures of the yummy muffins they made. I do want to post the Master Mix recipe and the recipes we made last night though.

The girls were so fun. They loved their aprons I made them. Two girls weren't there and I guess I didn't count correctly since I only have one apron left so I will be making one more so I can give them both an apron on Sunday.

Here is the Master Mix recipe I used:
A-B-C Muffin Master Mix
18 cups all-purpose flour
5 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups nonfat dry milk
6 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons baking soda
2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground nutmeg

Store in a large airtight container labeled with the date and contents in a cool, dry place.
Shelf life: 6 to 8 months. Makes enough for about 5 batches of 24 muffins each.
If desired, sugar can be omitted then stir in 1 cup honey for every 24 muffins as you make them.

To make 24 regular size muffins:
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Coat muffin tins with an oil/lecithin mixture, grease with shortening or butter, or spray with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat:
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups water
1 cup vegetable oil
Stir in 5 1/2 cups muffin mix and any additional ingredients just until moistened. The batter should be lumpy.
Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown.

Then I divided the girls into 3 different groups so each group could make a different version of muffins from this basic recipe.

First group made a sinful, chocolaty muffin. It was almost like a cake and OH SO GOOD!
Kisses and Hugs Muffins:
1 1/2 cups cocoa
1/2 cup granulated sugar
After filling muffin tins 3/4 full, drop one Hershey's kiss into the center of each muffin, pushing down slightly until kiss is covered. Ice cooled muffins with confectioners' sugar and water glaze.

Next group made a healthy muffin. I was worried that the girls would turn their noses up at this recipe but they dug right in on grating those zucchinis and carrots!
Garden Fresh Muffins:
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Last group made the basic muffin with a filling. Again it was delicious!
Streusel Topping for 24 Muffins:
Mix together:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Cut in 1/2 cup cold butter until mixture is crumbly.

We ate each muffin and tried to critique each recipe but that was hard for the girls to do. Each muffin seemed to taste better than the first. Finally by a show of hands (and since the noise level in the kitchen was getting crazy), the Garden Fresh Muffins were claimed to be the winner out of the 3. I was quite surprised. Nice to see the girls like to eat healthy!

You can go to this site and print out the rest of the different versions of muffins you can make from the basic mix if you want. It's a great one to have on hand for the family!

Easy Fat Quarter Aprons

Each week in our Church, I have the opportunity of teaching the Young Women (ages 12-18). I teach a Sunday lesson (along with 2 other women) and then on Wednesday nights, we also get together and do various activities. I am in charge of the activities for January. This upcoming Wednesday we are having a "Food Network Challenge". I decided that if the girls were going to cook that they needed aprons to wear so I have been busy sewing very simple aprons for them. I found a pattern here but decided that I didn't need to gather the top so I deleted that step. While sewing I have been watching/listening to Food Network on the tv. I have been sooooooo hungry for the past few days! Why do they have to make the food look so easy and yummy?!

Front

Back

Front

Back

Front

Back

Another Year of BOM's

Saturday was the beginning of the LQS' BOM for the year. I was excited to see all the choices that we had. In fact, there are too many choices. You only get one "free" quilt but you can pay for the other BOM's if you want to make them. When you consider how much a kit can cost, the price is still reasonable so I might decide to make both applique quilts this year. How can you not love a Western quilt when you live in Wyoming?! Middle child obviously doesn't love it since she is going to make the pieced blocks again. She chose the purple/green colorway. I couldn't pass on the apron blocks. I have a pattern that I bought years ago that is made up of different aprons and never made it. This year I will finally have one when December comes around again!

Here are several of the apron blocks. Our first block to make is the one in the upper right corner.
The Western block is on the left and the pieced blocks on the right.

The yellow/blue colorway of the pieced patterns. There will also be another kit to make the blocks larger like the purple blocks.

Happy Birthday to my youngest!

20 years ago today my youngest daughter was born! She asked for a Halloween quilt for Christmas but I decided to surprise her and kept it until her birthday today. It was fun to make since all the time I sewed or cut I was thinking of her and all she means in my life. Happy Birthday sweetie, I love you!

 

I decided that just in case she got tired of seeing Halloween all year long, even though it is her favorite holiday, I would use some "groovy" minkee on the back. I can't believe all the fun minkee fabric that is available nowadays!

 

Happy Birthday........love you much, mom

Christmas and Block of the Month

Here is one of my Christmas presents this year! I wasn't too sure about it when I opened the box since I didn't think I needed it but I put it up today (just like a tent--so very easy) and middle child and I have been playing with it today while we sewed. It's so much easier seeing your blocks on a wall than on the floor! I am going to love this, I think. (We'll see when I have to take it apart) These are middle child's BOM that we made through our LQS.

 

Here are some of the versions of the pieced BOM finished by some of the ladies that work at Valley Fabric. We were able to choose either the "peach" or the "chocolate" fabric to make our blocks. I choose chocolate and middle child chose the peach.

 

 

 

And here is the appliqued BOM. One of my daughter-in-law's is making this one.

 

In January, Valley Fabric will begin another year of BOM's. We had fun this past year going each month. Now to sew my last block and then get my quilt blocks put together.

Merry Christmas 2009

All the presents are wrapped and I am getting ready to head to Utah to pick up youngest child so she can come home for a few days. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!