I-SPY REDUX

Back of Adam's I-SPY quilt.

Front of DL's family I-SPY quilt. It's similar layout to Adam's family and has many of the same squares, same ladybug framing, same 3-D fish panel on back and same flamingo binding. I have several squares left or pieces of stash fabric and a panel of 3-D piece, so will make one to have here for kiddos to play on.

Pockets were sewn to backs to hold laminated list of the squares and and 3-D glasses that came with the material. Hubby bought this at LQS and neither of us realized it was 3-D until our neighbor pointed it out, so he had to go back and get the glasses. Kiddos and their parents loved it on the back! This is Adam's back before pocket and label were sewn on. I quilted it first then added those. Again, these were inspired by http://flourishingpalms.blogspot.com/2011/11/fun-with-dick-and-jane.html

Speaking of I-Spy...this is one of several paper sack lunch bags made for other small presents to go into, and is made from Sweetwater's Hometown fabric. It's such cool fabric and list my hometown of Spokane, a nearby town and lots of places I've either lived or visited. Over 1000 hometowns apparently. It's lined with University of Washington fabric and was my son's. Can't remember where I got the pattern. (somehow this area wants to be underlined!!) The quilts were happily, very happily received.

SANTA'S CHECKING HIS LIST AND HIS HEIGHT!!!

Santa stopped by for a little visit and while checking his list, he also checked his height against our newest creation--a ruler growth chart made with directions from http://517creations.blogspot.com/2011/04/ruler-growth-chart-pottery-barn-knock.html Very easy to follow her directions. Even this old, sometimes shaky lady was able to get pretty straight lines. Hubby bought, sanded and stained the wood for me, and got the paint pen.

Found out apparently there are oil based paint pens and water based--we used Marvy's oil based, so are letting everything dry for a day or two before putting varnish on--probably a spray one. Ours is a 1 x 8 that's 6 feet long and will hang with bottom 6" from floor so our tall sonny can get measured, too!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!

VIRTUAL COOKIE EXCHANGE

Jodi at Pleasant Home is having a Virtual Cookie Exchange with over 60 cookies already linked, so go check it out: http://www.pleasant-home.com/2010/12/pleasant-home-christmas-cookie-exchange.html

Mint Chocolate Brownies. Back in the dark ages while living in the dorms at BYU, the cafeteria often served these. I loved the chewiness and the layer of green mint frosting with chocolate frosting over. Recently found the recipe on BYU's Dining Services site--lots of fantastic recipes there: http://dining.byu.edu/mix/recipes.html including the brownie one (plus another favorite called Cherry Chews). Here's the exact url for brownies: http://dining.byu.edu/mix/classic_byu/mint_brownies.html I didn't put nuts in there since hubby hates them in almost anything.

I didn't use chocolate frosting, but made a glaze out of chocolate chips and crisco in microwave, put it in a baggie then snipped a little bit off corner so could drizzle it over, then sprinkled some red sugar. Also used 3/4 c. whole wheat flour instead of all flour.

Couple years ago, one of my grandsons, handsome Adam the younger (named for my son and my father), stayed with us for a week. During that time we made good ole chocolate chippers. The last cookie we made was this giant one for Boppa, who LOVES chocolate chip cookies that are brimming with chips. This picture doesn't show the chips but they're in there. The recipe is one from Mrs. Fields' when she appeared on TV years and years ago. She stressed using lots of vanilla and oodles of chips. I usually add oatmeal, too and sometimes other goodies, but never nuts since hubby hates them in just about anything. Often add fresh ground whole wheat flour to make more nutritious :) !! You can find copies of her recipe all over the internet.

I-SPY MY NEW I-SPY QUILT

Have been putting off sewing this together for quite some time. Recently saw this quilt: http://www.flourishingpalms.blogspot.com/ at Flourishing Palm. Had seen many versions of an I-Spy from just sewing blocks together with plain binding to having each block separated with sashing (NOT happening here!!!) and all sorts of things in between. When I saw Linda's, it seemed like a perfect design for me--not so fussy and allowing for a lot of blocks. Mine is still a bit different than hers and love how she put lighter blocks in the middle--mine was just grab something from the pile that was a bit different than the one before it!

Originally I gathered about 200 blocks, but not sure at this point how many there are. Can't remember who sponsored it, but someone had a bunch of I-spy block swaps and I got in on one--with the result of some really cool blocks. Plus my dear friend Shirley, gave me a lot of blocks left over from a quilt she'd done awhile ago. Hers were a different size, but serendipitedly it worked out well with 7 of hers equalling the length of 9 of mine!

The back will have some more blocks that didn't make it on front. I also have some really fun material to put on back with those. And I'm making a list of all blocks that will be laminated and put in a pocket on the back so my girlie girls and boyly boys can search for things when they're playing on it. And, of course, it'll be nice and warm to snuggle under.