Giveaway Day Winner

I was shocked to receive so many entries for my SewMamaSew Giveaway Day post!  I cannot get the Random Number generator to show up on the blog for me, and I don't know how to get numbers on my comments (if anyone knows, feel free to explain it to me!)  So I used the generator to get my number, then I counted and recounted to determine my winner.  Congratulations to.... (drum roll)..............

SHANA said...

My plans are to go camping as much as possible!!

Congratulations!  All of the comments about camping made me so hungry for s'mores that I bought graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows at the grocery store last night! 

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments and WELCOME to those of you who decided to follow my blog- I look forward to getting to know you!

Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is something that my mom made quite a bit when we were growing up.  It is a great way to use up bread that is not so fresh, or those icky end pieces. You can serve it warm or cold, and it is also perfect for breakfast or a dessert.

Bread Pudding

6 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups milk

8 slices of bread

spreadable margarine or butter

cinnamon

Start with 6 eggs (aren't they so pretty?  They are darker blue and green than it shows in the picture.)

Crack the eggs in a 2 quart casserole dish and beat well.  Add sugar and vanilla...

Mix well and add 2 cups of farm fresh milk.

 Stir together.  Spread margarine or butter on the bread and cut it into quarters.

Push the bread pieces into the egg-milk mixture one at a time.

 Sprinkle the top with cinnamon.  Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour... it will get all puffed up and nearly firm.

Pretty easy, right? Enjoy!

Giveaway Day! YAY!

Hi! Welcome to my little blog!  This is my first time participating in the SewMamaSew Giveaway Day! Well, as a giver.  I have won a few giveaways in the past so I wanted to share this time.

If you are new here, I am so glad that you stopped by and I will be brief because I know you are probably just looking for the giveaway part at the end. My name is Lindsay - you can read a little about me over on the sidebar.  I have trouble focusing sometimes (Oh, look!  It's a squirrel!) so my blog is about a lot of things.

Sometimes I share yummy recipes (I have a really great one I am posting soon!),

sewing or craft tutorials,

little peeks at the things I am making,

or pictures of the simple beauty surrounding us out here in the country.

 If that sounds/looks interesting to you, browse around a little or feel free to become a follower, but I am not requiring it for this giveaway because I wouldn't want to junk up your RSS feed if you don't want me there.

OK, now for the part you are waiting for... I am clearing out my fabric stash little by little, so I am stuffing a small flat-rate box full of fabric (which means I can only ship it in the US.  Sorry, if you are out of the country- I will have a giveaway including you next time!) So here is what I have...

Most of these are 1/4 yard cuts from bolt (not fat quarters),  but some are 1/2 yard and some might be a little less.  A lot of them were for a lovely autumn quilt I was going to make, but I give up! 

To enter- I am keeping this simple- just leave a comment telling me what your plans are for this summer.  I am hoping to do a lot more fun things with my kids to keep them busy and out of trouble!  Make sure that I have some way to contact you.  That's it!  I will draw a winner at random on May 25.

Thank you so much for dropping by!  Now go ahead and click HERE to get to the full list of giveaways going on this week!

Maxi Dress

Well, my over-achieverness is back!  My oldest daughter could use a few more dresses and she has even been coming up with her own designs.  I was in a bit of a funk on Saturday and her fashion enthusiasm perked me up a bit.  So, instead of cleaning like I should have, I started this dress while the girls totally trashed my bedroom played nearby.  I had the fabric on hand since I bought it with her in mind years and years ago and I basically used THIS tutorial - it was pretty easy!  I woke up early this morning so I finished it up quickly. 

We went outside to take pictures, but as soon as we saw the neighbors coming down the road to take their morning walk we ran inside so they don't think we are crazy... OK, crazier!

You might not be able to see, but the buttons are mismatched... one green and one pink, just for fun.

AND, I couldn't just whip up a dress... I made a hair accessory to go along!  I hope to make a shrug and wristlet to match as well, but I need a little more time for that.

This also meant that I had to whip up another felt flower hair clip for her sister so that she doesn't feel left out, but I didn't snap pictures of that one before they left for school.  I wouldn't want to be too much of an over-achiever, now would I?

Grandma's House Block

I am hoping not to reveal too much, but it looks like this will be my only handmade Mother's Day gift this year.  I was a substitute for 3rd grade yesterday (WOW!) and things were only more crazy around here at bedtime, so I am not going to push it today.  Yes, the over-achiever is backing down today!
Anyway, I saw this cute saying on Pinterest and it is just absolutely PERFECT for my mother-in-law.  She has 25 grandchildren and hosts "Sunday dinner" about every other week.  The cousins play together and they really are each other's best friends.

I realize now that I changed the original saying a little.

I grabbed a scrap piece of 2x4 and sanded it (not very well- it dips in the middle, but I call that "rustic").  I painted it this lovely tan color all over, hand-painted the lettering on, rubbed and distressed it with dark brown paint, and sanded the edges.  I am almost totally happy with how it turned out.

Are you making any handmade gifts for Mother's Day?

Teacher Appreciation

I got suckered in volunteered to help with the PTO Teacher Appreciation breakfast at our school.  I didn't take great pictures ahead of time of the stuff I made for this, but I snapped a few before the teachers came in while the other moms probably were whispering about how crazy I am.

I was feeling ambitious and went with a little bit of a candy theme, thanks to all of these great ideas I saw floating around on Pinterest.  The library tables were covered in these fun, candy-colored tablecloths and I made these cute, dum-dum lollipop bouquets for centerpieces that were given to each of the teachers, too.  (Original idea HERE)

It is just a styrofoam ball in a painted terra cotta pot with lollipops shoved in there all over.  I cut the ball in half because those things are expensive, but they were a little top-heavy and a few of them had accidents.  So, if you ever make these, don't cheap out - use the whole ball.

They wanted me to come up with favors and I couldn't decide what to do, so I went with an assortment of candies and let them choose their own favor. 

Each baggie of candy had a cardstock folded over the top with corny cute saying printed on them.  I played it up as craft time and had my kids color them in, too.  It was for teachers and staff, so I couldn't use anything that said specifically "teacher" on it, so here is what I did:

Gummy peach rings- You're a real "Peach!" Thank you for everything you do for our school.
Lifesavers- You are a "Lifesaver!" Thank you... (yadda yadda)
Swedish Fish- You are "O-FISH-ALLY" the best! Thank you... (you get the idea) (Found it HERE)
Gummy bears- Thank you "Beary" much for everything you do for our school.
Starburst- Your STAR service has us BURSTing with thanks!

They were a pretty big hit, and besides the dum dums flipping out of the pots and falling all over the place for a few teachers, things went well!

Color Your World: Green

When I think of green, I think of fields and plants.

Crops are green.  Tractors are red. =)

Green in the Springtime is the color of our hopes for a bountiful harvest.

 I sat in the clover with the baby last week .

I let her feel and explore the cool, soft grass under her little toes.

 Soon, beautiful flowers and color will emerge from these green buds.

When taking these pictures, I learned that if you look closely, there is more....

We had a praying mantis nest hatch in my long lost flowerbed

 (much better than in someone's underwear drawer).

I had been looking all over for one of the baby mantises to photograph.

I took this picture of the nest instead.

It wasn't until I got the pictures off of the camera that I even saw it.

I thought I was only taking a picture of one mantis here...

Do you see the other one?

I am participating in the Color Your World challenge.  I am so glad, too.  In slowing down to enjoy the beautiful colors around me, I got a few surprises!

Phillies Throwback Quilt

I let my brother-in-law choose the colors for my nephew's baby quilt and he really likes the old school Phillies stuff.  To be honest, I had no idea what "throwback" meant, but I googled it.

Using the 1980's Phillies jerseys as my inspiration, I designed this strip quilt- very different than anything I have made before.  The maroon and white stripes remind me of the sleeves of the jerseys and just look plain ol' sporty!  I got the Robert Kauffmann baseball fabric on a little expedition to a fabric store trip last fall and the rest is just any blue fabrics I could find that resembled the old Phillies colors but did not have flowers. 

To try something new, I machine appliqued the baseball bat.  It went OK (I only had to seam-rip and redo half of it), but I would do it differently next time.

I hand appliqued and embroidered the little baseball.  I was going to do more, but I ran out of ambition and thought that one ball made more sense with one bat.  One thing I really like, though, was the quilting on the baseball fabric.  I stitched in the old Phillies logo and on the other strip of baseball fabric, I replicated the lettering to make my nephew's name.

It is not the best quilt I have ever made, but at least it is finally finished (Woohoo!  Check one off for the Finish-a-Long!)  I started it all the way back in November.  I embroidered the back with all of his birth info and a special verse:

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.  James 1:17

So appropriate.  That is my favorite part of this quilt. =)