Slow-cooker Beef Bourguignonne

I just made this and it is yummy. Perfect for fall and makes the house smell delicious! As a bonus, it makes enough for our family to save half for later.

3 lb. beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 T dried parsley - or - 4 T chopped fresh parsley
2 t dried thyme
2 t dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
3/4 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 T bacon drippings
12 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and cut into quarters
1 c red wine (burgundy or similar)
1/2 c condensed beef comsommé
2 T tomato paste
1 c water

Combine beef, onion, carrots, parsley, thyme, marjoram, bay leaf, salt, pepper, garlic, bacon, drippings and mushrooms in slow cooker. In separate bowl, whisk wine, consommé, tomato paste, and water. Pour over beef mixture in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8 hours. After cooked, thicken with flour and additional consommé and cook at high 10-15 minutes.

Serve over cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Graphic design time

I've been messing around with my blog look. It is a lot of fun! It's heading in the right direction although I think I may tweak some of the colors a bit. What I've got now might be up for a while, or I might change it up a bit tomorrow night--it just depends on my mood. :)

Perfect day

So far today is just one of those days that is perfectly enjoyable--and I haven't even left the house. My daughter, who is almost two, has a lot to do with it. We pretended we were animals, read books, she watched just enough Sesame Street so I could finish piecing the back for my Halloween quilt, we ate a fun but yummy lunch of waffles topped with blackberry jam and vanilla yogurt, and she just went down easily for a nap. Later, we'll drop off the quilt to the longarmer Deb and make a stop at a park.

Quilt top is ready to go and kitty approved. :)

The Halloween quilt is going to be so cute! I'm not sure how to tackle the ric rac so that it doesn't pucker the fabric though. I followed the pattern directions to just sew down the center but felt it wasn't finished looking. I then sewed down all the edges using my free-motion foot. It went pretty quickly and overall looks better. I hope the quilter can give it a little tension on her frame to straighten it out. I'll use cotton batting to make it all shrink and crinkle. Hopefully that effect will mask the slight pucker it gave the fabric and the ric rac is poly (but feels like cotton) so it won't shrink. On the previous quilt I made with ric rac, it was sewn on after the quilting and was only on a small baby-sized quilt so I didn't sew it all down.

Any tips on quilting with ric rac?

Sharing the love

After seeing this post at Sew, Mama, Sew about Iraqi Bundles of Love, I immediately knew I wanted to participate. I've got supplies ready for two packages to send over. I just need to get to the store and buy two new packages of needles and a pair of scissors to throw in each one. One is geared for baby fabrics with some panels and flannels in blue and yellow. The other is sort of a dark colored mix. I added buttons, elastic and other misc to each. I hope that it brings someone joy and above all that they can put it to good use. It feels good to share my stash, especially since I'm beginning to feel like I've been selfish in buying so darn much fabric.

Links if you want to participate too:
What to send
How to build a bundle and send it
Deadline: must be in the mail by Oct. 1

Moravian beauty

Halloween quilt indecision and decision

I had bought two Moda Chic or Treat layer cakes last year. (Not sure what I was thinking with two but they were a good deal.)

When I saw this quilt from Camille of Thimble Blossoms, I knew I wanted to make a Halloween version. I actually want to make it over and over since it is so simple and cute and I love the ric rac. I skipped the applique circles and will either applique spiders or skip it all together. The colors on this quilt are so loud that I don't think it needs the detail and I'm in a "get it done" mood.

the winning combination

I had some indecision on which way to go with the ric rac color (green or black) and which fabric to use for the top and bottom border (orange dots or purple multi dots). I've decided on the black ric rac and orange dots. It helped to photograph it to confirm what I was leaning towards anyway.

the contrast is all wrong with this combo

cute, but the black ric rac just has more pop

this top border fabric just is too busy and overwhelms the rest

Boy Oh Boy

Maple Star Chain

Another quilt finish! I'm on a roll, 3 quilts finished in less than 30 days. This quilt goes to Czech Republic also, to be given to my nephew. It's really late because he's almost a year and a half but, in my defense, it is hard to get quilts over there as I don't trust the post office and we also had a daughter a few months before they did so was very busy.

I just love the fabric! The pattern is fun too with alternating Maple Star and Star Chain blocks, with no need for sashing. I like the way the two blocks complement each other and create movement in the quilt. I fussy cut the fabric for the center of the Star Chain blocks so there were different dots in each one. It works as an I Spy quilt too.

Maple Star block

Star Chain block

The quilting is simple as I'm still not comfortable with my free motion quilting skills. The binding was double fold bias tape so I just sewed it on with a zig zag. In hind sight, the variegated thread makes the binding look lumpy. Oh well, it's still cute.

The Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy fabric is so cute!

Backing fabric

Size: ~40"x40"

Pattern: Maple Star Chain from Time-Crunch Quilts by Nancy J. Martin (minus the outside border)

Fabric: Lakehouse Boy Oh Boy line, Moda Marbles, Moda Tiddleywinks, green from Andover, and a couple misc. prints. The binding was some bias tape by the yard I had picked up ages ago.  

Thread: King Tut variegated