Lilla Dahn Vasek

It has been over 3 months ago but I am an aunt again! My niece/goddaughter was born premature and had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks but now she is doing amazing!

I was able to be in Texas back in September to meet her for the first time and to be part of her baptism.

(Lily and I hanging out)

One of the things I wanted to do for Lily was to make her a quilt with my new skills. With the help of a lady from church I was able to create a quilt that matches the bedding my mom made for the cradle.

Here is the final result of the quilt...


Can't wait to see this baby girl and her family in a few weeks for Thanksgiving!

Pinterest...so many ideas so little time.

If you are on pinterest you know what I mean by so many ideas so little time. Ideas from crafts to recipes to even ideas for fashion and decorating.

Awhile ago I pinned a "Chicken Pot Pie Muffins" recipe. I have been wanting to try these, because it use biscuits instead of pie crust for chicken pot pie. (if you know me pie crust isn't my favorite) I followed the recipe to the t and ended up with over following Pot Pie Muffins. I think next time I make them I will just not add the water to the soup and use regular size biscuits not the grands size. Over all these were pretty easy to make and tasted good. I also really like how I can freeze the leftovers, then pull them out individually to reheat.

(This picture came from the recipe website, but mine did look like this)

To make this recipe healthier, I used reduced fat soup and biscuits. I don't think it lost any of it's flavor either.

Despite the overflowing of the muffins this recipe is a keeper for fall/winter time.

I finally finished it...

My Christmas present for my older sister and brother-in-law was going to be a quilt. Well I started out great, I got a lot done and then things with work got busy and I just didn't have time to work on it. Christmas came and went and the quilt did not get finished.

I decided I was going to go to Texas to visit my family in June; after a week long Mission trip that was followed by a week of Vacation Bible School. My new goal was to finish the quilt before I left because the goal of Christmas was long gone. Well I didn't hit the mark completely I had to finish hand sewing the binding while in Texas but I finished it and the quilt has been given away. This isn't the best picture of the quilt because my parents were in the middle of remodeling their kitchen and they had stuff everywhere but it gives you an idea of what it looked like. This was the 2nd quilt I have made, the first one was a whole lot less pieces/steps but I did enjoy the challenge this quilt gave me.

Christmas is Over

It is 1-11-11, 17 days after Christmas and I am finally getting back to a regular routine.

The Christmas season was a busy one for me. My middle school youth group went shopping for some less fortunate families in our community. Let me tell you taking middle school students (and a 3 year old because her parents were moving) to Wal-Mart the Saturday before Christmas is always fun. It was fun to see my kids really try and find what was needed/wanted for the best price. They did a very good job of shopping and I know they made some Christmas' brighter this year.

My High School Youth group was busy also. We went caroling to some members and some of their teachers houses. I also planned a lock-in during their Christmas break. I am asked almost twice a month when are we going to have a lock-in. I have told them that we will have one once a year, I like my sleep way to much.

Christmas Eve was the kid's program. It wasn't prefect but the message of the birth of our Savior was spread to everybody in attendance. The kid's did a really good job with there speaking parts, even though we had to change a couple of parts around last minute because of a sick kid; they also sang the songs really well. It is hard to believe but I will start looking for next years Christmas program in the next 7 months or so.

The week after Christmas my parents and younger sister came up to visit. It seems like every time my family comes up to visit they decorate my house in some way or another. This time we put up curtains in my kitchen ( I will have to post a picture once I take one). This was part of my Christmas present from my younger sister and I do have to say they look really nice.

Speaking of Christmas presents. I had started two different quilts, one for each of my sisters as their Christmas presents. I worked pretty much every chance I got on them but with being busy around Christmas they did not get done. One of them is really close to being done, the other has a little bit of a way. I will be heading back to Texas at the end of February to see the musical Wicked, my goal is to have them done by then.

A few days after my family came to visit I left the cold state of Kansas to head to Orlando, Florida. I went to Orlando for the inaugural conference for the National Association of Directors of Christian Education. The conference was well worth the trip and it was really nice to reconnect with friends from all around the country. The warm weather in Orlando was really nice too.

The night I came back into Kansas I was welcomed with snow and lots of it. I think they were say in the end we got between 5 and 6 inches. Even though I didn't go to the gym yesterday I still got a workout in; you don't realize how long my drive way is until you have to shovel it.

Well there is an update on my crazy life the past few weeks. Now I get to start looking towards this summer!

Pickles...YUMMY

If you know anything about me you know I love pickles! This lady from the church I grew up in made the best homemade pickles. Every time I came home from college she would give me a couple of jars of her pickles, just for me:). Well I was looking through the church's cookbook (I have decided if you need a really good recipe look in a church cookbook those recipes always turn out well) and I found the recipe for her pickles.

From my garden this past year I had a lot of cucumbers! I tried out the recipe I found and they turned out great. I was also given a lot of okra from a church member this summer; since I couldn't eat it all in one sitting and my freezer was already pretty full I decided to pickle it. I used the same recipe that I used for the pickles and they turned out great as well.

This recipe is pretty easy if you can find dill; but they are oh so good.

Dill Pickles

Enough medium cucumbers to fill 2 (1 qt) jars (or enough okra to fill jars)
Fresh Dill
1 clove of garlic
4 cups of water
1 cup of vinegar
2 Tablespoons of canning salt
Boiling water to fill jars

Was cucumbers and pack into jars; add garlic and a sprig of dill. Cover with boiling water; let stand 10 minutes. Mix the last 3 ingredients; bring to a boil to make a brine. Pour off the water from the jars and pour the brine over the cucumbers. Seal in a hot water bath.

These are my favorite pickles...so yummy!

Crafts Projects for Sell

I have decided that I need to figure out a way to fund my craft addiction I have created. The answer make different things to sell; the best of both worlds crafting and making money. I am going to try and sell different things, to start out with kid sized reversible aprons and some tote bags. If you would like to buy either of these please leave a comment.

These aprons have a cooking theme to the fabric on one side and strips on the other. Each side of the apron has two pockets the opposite fabric. The neck straps is attached with D-rings so once you set it for your child you don't have to keep retying it. There are also two straps that tie around the waste; the straps are plenty long to fit whatever size your kid is. This apron will be able to be used as your child grows.

1st Quilt Done!

I have finished my first quilt! I after about 2 months of having lessons on and off I have finally finished it. I made a 9-patch and rails quilt out of different pinks and blues. I have really enjoyed learning how to quilt and it is something I will be doing for a while. Now to work on quilts for some Christmas presents. In the top picture you can see the front and the back of the quilt. In the bottom picture it is the full quilt. One of my friends mentioned I put a fish in the design...that was not planned but I like how it turned out.