Letters to Paris Quilt

Last year, I donated two quilts to Kaitlyn's Promise to help raise money for the Kaitlyn Vallery Memorial Scholarship. I was able to donate Charmed Star of Avignon and Twinkling Tesselations.

I finally finished one of the quilts that I will be donating this year. I did the majority of the quilt-top at our Idyllwild Quilt Retreat.

I decided to name the quilt "Letters to Paris," because I used a Moda fabric line called "Pom Pom de Paris" and the cream-colored fabric has tiny letters of the alphabet embedded in it.





(That's my cutie-pie husband holding the quilt for me. See his cycling socks! Thanks, my sweet.)

This is the first quilt that I have made that is set en point. Surprisingly, it wasn't difficult in the least.





The fabrics in this line are so pretty and feminine. They really went together nicely. I included a closer picture, albeit poor quality, in the hopes that you could see the colors better.





I am hoping to get one more quilt finished to donate, if our somewhat chaotic lives cooperates. *fingers crossed*
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Summer Yum!

If I haven't mentioned it previously, it should be stated that this blog is in no way, shape, or form a recipe blog. I do, however, enjoy cooking and love to share recipes that work for my family.

Like most families, we eat lots of salads during the summer months. I am pretty lucky that my kids enjoy most vegetables and will try almost anything that I put before them.

I happened upon this Lemony Orzo recipe the crew really loved.

It is unbelievably simple, tasty, and versatile. We have eaten it as a stand-alone pasta salad on a warm day, a side for chicken and steak, and even as a salad garnish (my favorite.)

Ready to whip some up for your family? Here's how!

You'll need:
3/4 cup uncooked orzo
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced English cucumber
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper (I've also used yellow and orange.)
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (My family doesn't dig dill, so I used thyme.)

Preparation
1. Dice English cucumbers and bell peppers and set aside.



(Obviously, I used yellow and orange bell peppers, this time.)


2. Cook orzo according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse with cold water; drain and place in a large bowl.
3. While orzo cooks, combine lemon rind and next 6 ingredients (through black pepper), stirring well with a whisk.



4. Drizzle juice mixture over orzo and veggies; toss to coat.



It should also be noted that the original recipe called for 1/2 cup of goat cheese, but my family isn't the biggest fan of cheese, so I omitted it.

Hope you enjoy as much as we do!


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You down with OPP? Yeah, you know me.

I apologize for the lame 90s reference, but it is relevant here. Only the OPP isn't for Other People's Property (or other choice nouns), it is for Other People's Pantries.

I am extremely honored that my pantry was featured this week on The Perfect Pantry's weekly feature "Other People's Pantries."

Our family is fortunate in that we have a pretty large, walk-in pantry that houses the massive quantities of food that this family seemingly requires.

Here is my kitchen:









(These are the only pics that I can grab from the interwebs, but I have made some changes since these were taken. I added a chalkboard to the pantry door and I took the doors off above the stove.)
The pantry is through the door just to the right of the fridge.



Keeping it organized makes it easy for me to take stock of what we need each week.

You can find more pictures at The Perfect Pantry.

Enjoy and thanks so much to Lydia for including me in her weekly feature. :)



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Mami's Day

After spending a fun-filled, busy day with my family, I can go to sleep counting my blessings.
Here are four of them:



(L to R) Cristina, Gabriela, Daniel, Jake (I can't believe how little they all were. I swear there are times that I can still feel them asleep in my arms.)

These little babies made my life absolutely complete, and continue to fill my days with happiness. *Love*
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(Spring) Cabin Fever Quilters Retreat

This past weekend, I was able to get away to Idyllwild with some of my favorite ladies-my Cabin Fever Quilters Friendship Group.

Donna (the Dynamo) and Mare (the Amazing) planned and organized an outstanding weekend for us all. It was fantastic and can't wait until we do it again.

We spread out over most of the living room/dining room. I'll admit that it did look a bit like a sweatshop. :) (That is my machine and table in the left foreground.)





We stayed up late each night and were up early each morning. (I swear that Donna and Mare didn't sleep, at all.)
I wasn't able to finish all of the projects that I prepped, but I did finish four quilt tops. Hopefully, I will find some time in the coming weeks actually quilt them.
Here are the things that I finished:





Our little group got sooooo much stuff finished!
These belong to Mare and Marie.





This picture shows Marie and Andrina's work.





Next, you can see Andrina and Donna's completed projects.





Here are Sue's completed projects (with mine.)





Finally, these are Linda's Civil War reproduction blocks (and Linda holding them.) She completed 25 of these beautiful blocks!





As much fun as we all had, it was nice to run along our merry way home--





--and spend Sunday with our families.



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