Design Wall Monday week 2

I know, it's not Monday, but I've been busy with quilt guild stuff and home and grand babies.  

Here's whats on the table today or Monday as the case was.

This is DH coat, the puppy chewed it and DH split the zipper which had dry rotted.  This is an old military style jacket and a real bear to work with. Here's a picture of the culprit Deedle Dee.

 I also finished up my quilt block for guild and made a bag for our Christmas Party.  We had it this month because of the bad weather a month ago.  We were in the midst of getting 3 foot of snow.  That kinda slows us down here.  A few inches(up to 6 inches) is a common every day occurrence, a few feet not so much.  We are use to some but not in the foot a day every day for 3 days, a 1day break, and repeat for the next 3 days.

Our block exchange this year was illustrate a Christmas song that you picked.  I picked Holly Jolly Christmas.  I could only remember Burl Ives singing it in Rudolf, the Red Nose Reindeer.  So that is what I did and put the holly at the top and some mistletoe above the deer.  The darker colored one has a red nose.  I fused and machine appliqued everything down.
The other thing that I did was to make a bag for our fabric exchange.

3 fat quarters and you have a cute tote bag similar to gift bags that you buy in the store(size wise).  It takes about an hour to cut and sew one bag.  I'm sure that I'll get quicker as I make more.  I plan on making more of these and having a few on hand instead of paper gift bags.  I may add a snap to the center top or Velcro.  The pattern is from thehappyzombie.com.  It is her Poochie bag and may be made in 3 different sizes.  I used the one with the big boxed corners or milk carton corners as she calls them.
Here is a picture of my DD and granddaughter at the Christmas Party.  DD is a member of the guild and I'm slowly teacher her how to quilt when she has time.

Stash Report

I decided to do the stash report after all from Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.  I cut out pajamas for my grandsons.  I have one pair made except for the elastic in the waist as I don't have their waist measurements.  So I'll only count the one pair for this week and add the rest to next weeks total.

Used this Week:               2.5 yards 
Used year to Date:           2.5 yards
Added this Week:            3.0 yards
Added Year to Date:        3.0 yards
Net Used for 2011:           -.5 yards

No Quilting Today

I was too busy to quilt or sew today.  Gwyn, my 5 1/2 month old granddaughter was here.  She is cutting teeth and is very cranky according to my DD.  Well Gwyn wasn't that cranky for Grandma.  She coos and laughs while sitting in her high chair playing with a few toys.  She likes to watch the computer screen if I have the laptop set up.  She loves when the dogs or cats get close enough so she can touch them.  The critters are very tolerant of her and like to give her kisses. 
I did read a magazine while she slept for half an hour before DD arrived and took her home.  DD was upset that  she couldn't stay longer as she wanted some of the jambalaya that I made for dinner.  Her hubby wanted to go out for dinner. 
Maybe tomorrow I will be able to sit and sew.

Busy yesterday

Last night must have been busy, I tried to post for a couple of hours and just couldn't get the screen to come up.  I spent yesterday working on my tote bags for the challenge.  I also cut out a pair of pajamas for one of my grandsons.  One tote is all cut out and the fabric is washed for the second one. 
Today I am working on my quilt guild block.  I have some thread work to do.  I will post a picture as soon as it is done.

Design Wall Monday

I started these totes once already and have lost the pieces, so I'm doing them again.  The black/white/green is for my friend Linda. The other one with the batik and colored fabrics is for my DD.  She asked me to make this tote about a year ago and I had bought the fabric and it has set.  

The yellow is for my monochromatic challenge.  I'm going to try and find some more yellows.  I have the pattern all picked out.  Just got to figure out if I want sashing and borders or just borders.

The search begins

I have been looking for the pattern for the tote bags that I need to do and thought that it was on my computer.  It was except I have a different computer.  So I had to hook up my old hard drive and search thru that.  I finally found the pattern and have all the fabrics washed.  Tomorrow I will start cutting and sewing these totes.  I think that I have finally figured out the zipper that will hold them closed so that will be good.  Now I'm looking for yellow fabrics for the monochromatic challenge.  Let's see what I can find.  I have found one piece but it is about 8" wide and the width of the fabric.  I may end up going to the LQS and see what I can find.  I need to install EQ6 onto this system so I can work on my design.

Recipe and Other Items

Here is a picture of the pork loin right before I put it in the oven.  I love how moist and juicy the loin comes out of the oven or off the grill.  I'm posting the recipe and please let me know what you think of it.  There are 2 versions of this as I use the second version as it isn't as spicy as the original.
Cocoa Chili Rub(original)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar firmly packed
2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon2 tsp Garlic Salt
1 1/2 tsp Chipotle Chili Pepper


Mix all ingredients together to form a dry rub.  This is too spicy for my taste and hubby is not fond of Chipotle Peppers.

So here is how I make this:

1/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 to 1 tsp Cayenne
2 Tbsp Paprika

Mix all ingredients together to form a dry rub.   

I thought that I better take a picture as DD and SIL were over for dinner and I wasn't sure how much would be left over.  Good thing I did as there is only 1 slice left!  Hopefully I'll be able to eat it tomorrow for lunch.  
I checked Judy's site, Patchwork Times, and she picked #6 for January.  I will start these totes and get them done by the end of the month.