I’m in inspiration overload this week. It’s almost as bad as being stuck in the land of Quilter’s Block. It’s frustrating to have too many ideas and not enough time to execute them. Perhaps writing a pattern book is the way to get all those ideas out of my head and into the world.

My head is full of, not only my own ideas, but also the desire the make some of the really cool modern quilts I’m seeing all over the internet. The latest thing to grab my fancy, and try to add itself to my to-do list without my consent is You Can Dance by Elizabeth Hartman. Gosh I love her style, and this quilt is no exception. Would it be as pretty in fabrics other than the dots she used? I dunno, but I’d love to find out.

What has inspired you lately? please feel free to share some blog links with me. I’d love to know which blogs you read, so I can add them to my feedly

Happy Blogging!

Today I am working on my blocks for a little exchange Katie and I whipped up.. Well, ok, Katie did all the work, and I am going to play along and reap the benefits. We’re having a little block exchange via Flickr. The blocks are.. ahem.. Eff-bomb blocks. Yeah. Quilt blocks with the mother of all dirty words, featured prominently on each block. Why, you ask.. because I effing can

I have no pics to share yet, because I’m still in the design stage. When I do have pics, I will warn you before posting them directly here, to spare any sensitive eyes.. If you think it’s as funny as I do, please join us for the exchange!Send an email or tweet to me, or Katie from Katie’s Quilting Corner (@quiltedmagnolia on twitter) and we will invite you to the effing group!

This is the inspiration for the exchange. The Inspiration

Happy Effing Quilting!

I’m so excited that my twitter friend Carolyn has started her own podcast. I’ve already listened to it, and let me just tell you, this woman has a voice made for this. It’s so warm and lovely. Oh yeah, and she’s a Brit, so the accent is simply to die for! I could listen to her talk all day. In fact, I ran through her first episode twice already, because I love her voice so much. You can find her here. BBQ- Bashful British Quilter

Give her a listen and some encouragement to keep going. I look forward to hearing all about her quilting adventures in the episodes to come.

happy quilting!

So, here is another Monday without a new podcast. I had planned to post one today, but a few days ago I woke up and my voice was completely gone.. Not hoarse and raspy, but ZERO sound coming out. It’s strange because I don’t even feel that sick.  I am usually a motormouth.. In fact, when my dad had a CB radio in his car when I was a kid, that was my handle. “Motormouth.” He was “Curly Top.” As you can imagine, not being able to run my mouth is driving me a little crazy. I’ve never been this quiet in my life!

I will spend some time sewing this afternoon.. after this long without a new episode I should have plenty to talk about next time I get to record!

Here’s a recipe to fill your crockpot and your tummy.

Ratatouille! It’s super simple, and can be a quick meal, served over couscous. Ratatouille has 40-50 calories per serving, and Couscous is about 100. You can enjoy a big bowl of this yummy stuff without busting your diet!

You’ll need: Eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash (not pictured), Roma tomatoes, onion, fresh garlic, bell peppers of your choice in colour. Spices: salt, pepper, thyme, sage, and parsley.

Chop it all up!

You can start cooking it on the stove and then add to the crockpot to simmer, or you can throw it all in the slowcooker.. which ever you prefer. It can be cooked all on the stove too, if you’re in a hurry.

Toss in about a teaspoon of sage, a half teaspoon of thyme, and a whole palmful of dried parsely flakes. Salt and pepper to your tastes, and simmer until it looks and smells good. About a half hour on the stove, or however long you need it to wait for you, in the crockpot. It can sit in the slowcooker on low all day if you like.

Serve over couscous. Couscous is yummy and cooks in just 5 minutes.

Keep Treadling!

Sorry for the lack of podcasts.. I had planned to do one this week, but I’ve completely lost my voice. I was supposed to sing at church tomorrow and I’m so upset that I won’t be able to. I guess God had different plans for me this week.

I have been getting a lot of sewing done though. I made a ton of scrappy batik half square triangles.. about 345 actually. I still need to trim them up to 2.5″ and I have no idea what I’ll use them for yet, but I enjoyed making them from the baggies of scraps my quilting friends give me. You know I love my scraps! It’s the best way to get such a wide variety of colours and prints. Some of the bits are the smalls pieces that a lot of people would normally toss out as unusable. I find them more fun than a bag of candy. No calories and they don’t hurt my teeth.

Darla over at the Scientific Quilter blog and podcast is hosting her second annual “March Along” in which we all try to do at least 15 minutes of quilty activity everyday for the month of March. What Fun!! Most days I get in way more than my 15 minutes, so on the rare day that I don’t sew at all, I think it makes up for it.

So here’s what I’ve done..A whole mess of batik HSTs

Then I finally put all of my Easy Street blocks together, and when I got to the setting triangles I realized I was out of Kona Snow, so I will finish this up after I get some more of that.

I’m also working on a gift for someone who collects frogs. She was sweet enough to come and take pictures at my brother’s wedding.. and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t read my blog, so here’s that progress so far..

Feelin’ Froggy – these will be rearranged into a different setting. I’m just slapping them up onto the wall as I finish them.

Happy Treadling!