What's cooking?? Sunday!

Sunday is one day that I try and make a nice dinner, sometimes it is a traditional Irish Sunday dinner or a new recipe I want to try. Today I made neither of these but made some spaghetti and meatballs, it turned out really yummy so here is how I made it.

Leona's Spaghetti and Meatballs

What you need:

Sauce

28 oz can of diced tomatoes

8 oz can of tomato sauce

Cup each of finely chopped carrots, onion and celery

Garlic

Chopped Fresh Parsley and Basil

Red pepper flakes

2 cups of chicken stock

Olive oil

Meatballs

3/4 lb of ground beef

3/4 lb of ground turkey

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

2 sticks of mozzarella cheese

More fresh parsley and Basil

1. Heat olive oil and then add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook until the onions are translucent
2. Pour in the can of diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce and add some of the chopped parsley and basil, one cup of chicken stock and the red pepper flakes. Combine well and bring to a boil.
3. Simmer immediately and continue to cook for at least 30 mins ( longer if you have time)
4. Stir occasionally and add some chicken stock if needed
5. When cooked, use an immersion blender to combine the ingredients into a smother sauce.
6. While the sauce is simmering, combine the meat, parsley, basil and parmesan in a bowl, mixing well.
7. Chop the mozzarella cheese into about 1/4 inch pieces
8. Take some of the meat meat mixture ( enough to make about a 1 - 1 1/2 inch ball) in your hand and smash it flat, add a piece of mozzarella and roll into a ball. Make about 25 meat balls, try and keep the size consistent so they will cook at the same rate.
9. Add the meatballs to the sauce and very gently stir so the meatballs are coated with sauce, simmer for about 45 mins. Stir gently occasional as the sauce and meatball combine beautifully together.

Serve with spaghetti and sprinkle the top with grated parmesan, basil and parsley.

It turned out really tasty and the good news is there is enough leftovers for tomorrow's dinner.

Adding the meatballs to the sauce

Meatballs and sauce simmer and combing wonderful flavors

The finished product - yummy yummy!

A new year.......

Wow I have been a very bad blogger it is nearly a year since I posted, I made a promise to myself today that I will update this more regularly to share the creative things I do in the sewing room, kitchen and with my camera.

I took a Photography class yesterday and have began the journey of being able to use my camera (Nikon D40) out of auto mode and now using manual mode. The class was fun and I spent some time today going over the handbook we got, making sure I understand the new concepts I have learn - aperture, shutter speed and depth of field etc. Thanks to Nicole and Tom for a very informative day. Also found this website, Digital Photography School and spent time reading through the photo tips and forum, it made for great reading.

Today it was time to take down the Christmas tree to put it outside to be picked up for recycling and put away the decorations for another year. I wandered the Menlo Park Farmers Market and it really was very chill at 44 degrees, bought leeks and a wonderful looking cauliflower. Grocery shopping was done and I am still amazed how one bag of groceries at Trader Joe's cost me $51.

Busy in the sewing room as I have three projects going in parallel, one is a secret project that I cannot share as I am helping to test a pattern that is going to be published later this year. A group of us are testing the pattern and I am looking forward to seeing how each one turns out.

Another project I am working on is a teal and purple batik ( of course) log cabin with 24 blocks completed and currently chain piecing the remaining 12. I really like how it is progressing as I love batiks, especially teal and purple and I love the layout I picked. Should have some pictures soon.

The next project is also a fun one as you strip piece wonderful 1 1/2 inch strips of Jinny Beyer fabric. Oh the shades of colors in her fabric just makes my heart sing. The quilt kit I am using is called Night and Day and the technique used results in 2 quilts - Night is made from triangles cut from the strip sets and put together with a dark background and the Day is made with the remaining triangles with a lighter fabric.

Some yummy smells are coming up from the kitchen so need to go check on dinner.

This month I also finished this for Aislinn for her 5th Birthday

It is a Winged Whimsey Wallhanging with a Lady bird, butterfly and dragon fly. It was my first time working with appliqué and really had fun making it.

And the quilting on the back with label..........

Love the hanger that it can hang from with a heart in the middle

And the very cute label

A new little baby arrived on April 24th

And I am happy to say that the baby quilt is ready to be given with the exception of the label and that will be done as soon the name is decided. By all accounts the experience was much shorter than when his Big brother arrived nearly 3 years ago.

Well as soon as the email goes out I can let you know who the baby is but for now I can show you the quilt I made for the new arrival and the new arrivals Big Brother.

Here are the pictures of the baby quilt:

And the big brother quilt is ready with the exception of the binding and label which shouldn't take long to finish. Here it is:

I cannot wait to see the new baby and see how Big Brother likes his John Deere tractors.

Eddies Customer Quilt Show March 2010

As I mentioned in the topic below, my quilt has been in a Customer Quilt Show at Eddie's Quilting Bee for the month of March. We were at Eddie't tonight and I got Lar to shoot this video with his iPhone to show as many of the quilts as he could - Thanks Lar!

I wonder which ones will win the three prizes, which would you vote for?

I titled this one "Circle of Life"

I found this amazing pattern when I was at PQIF last October, A Journey Remembered and was so captivated by the quilt I had to buy the pattern. I started it just after Christmas and am so excited by the finished product. I decided to go with a purple and teal version and threw in some gold to give it sparkle!

What I really liked about the process of making this quilt is that it a number of traditional sewing techniques - applique ( my first attempt), log cabin piecing and watercolor blending but it all works together to make this contemporary and modern design.

When mine was finished I decided to call it "Circle of Life". Here are a number of pictures of it:

I loved the quilting design on this one it is called "Circuit Path" by Kristin Hoftyzer, the combination of the square geometric lines with the circles was just perfect for the quilt.

If you would like to see this quilt in person it is currently displayed at Eddies Quilting Bee in Sunnyvale, CA as part of the Customer contest for the month of March. If you like my quilt you can even vote for it - add # 11 to the voting slip :).

It is also part of a virtual gallery show which is being put on on Second Life .

Enjoy and Happy Quilting Day.

Ronald McDonald Quilt for 2010

As most of you know from the post below , I volunteered last year to be part of the Roland McDonald Crayola Quilt Challenge on the HGTV Quilting message board, this year was no exception as soon as Theresa posted about it I added my name to the list. A few weeks later I got my crayon in the mail and it was Brick Red. hmmmmm one color that I don't have any of in my stash but I did come across an Asian red and black quilt kit that I had bought at PIQF two years ago that would work perfectly. So I got sew..........

Here is what I sent for the challenge this year:

This year I actually quilted it also myself so it is a very special contribution. I loved the fan design of the quilting and think it added to the Asian fabric fantastically.

So if you would like to win this quilt or 30 plus more - just let me know and I can arrange it for you. The great thing about the draw is that if you win one, you are still eligible to win one of the others as long as your name is in the draw.

First day of Advent 2009

It is really hard to believe that Advent starts today, where has this year gone - it has just flown by! We are now in the waiting and preparation time for the arrival of Baby Jesus and the celebration of Christmas. As we begin the Advent journey lets us pray the words of Mother Therese:

Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with Your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us, and be so in us that every soul we come in contact withmay feel Your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as You shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.

Took my Embroidery Machine to Japan ...........

Well not literally to Japan but did work on some great Japanese Sashiko design that turned out awesome! Here are some pictures for you to judge for yourself:

Next steps is to bring these squares with me to my Open Sew at Eddies on Wednesday and decide how to put them together to make a quilt.

New quilt project - Nickel Bricks

Last week there as a post on the HGTV quilting message board wondering what the following pattern was:

My good buddy Trish, responded with posting the pattern from the book Loose Change and the pattern was called Nickel Bricks.

I then read the post and started to chuckle as I had cut out this pattern a while back and started working on it but then got distracted with my Scraps to Treasures challenge quilt and had totally forgotten about it. I resurrected the fabric to see where I had left off and began working on it. At the end of the first day I had all the single blocks completed:

And one test of what a four block will look like:





The next day my friend Cynthia was coming by for a sewing day and all the single blocks became twos and then fours. This is what is currently on my design wall:



I really like how it is shaping up as I love batik and black together. As tomorrow is a Football Sunday I think this is the project I will work on and hopefully will get all the rows put together. Stay tuned for an updated photo!

One question I am mulling over in my mind is which way to finish the quilt. As you can see in the first two pictures each of them have a different boarder. The top one has a plain black border and the one in the book had a piano key style border. I have the batik fabric cut out but still need to cut the black if I go with the piano key option. Decision, decisions!