Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

More please!

 We are in desperate need of moisture around here. Any and all rain or snow is welcomed and appreciated. This morning we woke up to a couple of inches...we'll take it!

I love snow! And I love finished projects, and I have one to share today!

This is an old UFO - my first finished project for the new year! I bought a layer cake of this old line (I think it was called Snow Much Fun) a couple years ago on clearance. Wish they had had another because the only thing wrong with this quilt is that it is not big enough. LOL. It is 60 x 60".

I backed it with minky and Jackie quilted this darling snowflake pattern across it:

The combination of flannel, warm and natural batting, and minky, make for a very cozy quilt. I think this fella was asking, "Where's mine?"

And yes, I trudged outside at 7 am... in the snow... when it was 10°... carrying an over sized snowman cutout... a quilt,...and a camera... just for you. :)

Gig 'em Aggie's! Whoop!

Around here we bleed Maroon . Texas Aggies to the core! DH is class of '85 and I am class of '86. With the Aggies playing in the Cotton Bowl on Friday, I wanted to share this video. It makes me bawl every time, but I have to listen to it on a regular basis and it even runs through my head when I don't.

Love Granger Smith, but then again you can't go wrong with Texas Country!

The kids used to say that they grew up thinking that there were only 2 colleges in the entire world. The 'good college', TAMU, and the 'bad' college, UT. LOL We've got dear friends who are die-hard UT fans though and we love them too so please don't send me ugly comments. It's all in good fun.

It's the whole Aggie experience that is difficult to explain. I don't care where I go, people stop and ask me when I graduated and what I majored in and we strike up conversations when they notice my ring. I was even on an airplane, flying to Europe and had several people ask. Once I had  flat and a couple stopped to help. Said they stopped because of the Aggie sticker on the back of the truck. :) 

Here in NM, New Mexico State is known as the Aggies. I tell people all the time that that is just wrong. There is only one Aggie. Our girl was heavily recruited to attend there...full ride scholarship and then some, but I guess she has some of that Texas Aggie maroon blood in her too. Wonder how that got there! :)

We  don't even watch football around here...unless it's the Aggies. We used to...back in the day...WAY back in the day. Think Tom Landry, Dallas Cowboy Era. LOL. And of course we were huge fans in high school and college.

Went to a financial adviser's office once and had to laugh. He had a doormat that was half A&M and half UT. He had one child attending UT and one at A&M. :)

I've been hoarding A&M fabric for a while. An Aggie quilt is in my future!

I never even applied to any other school. I told my parents that if I couldn't go there, I wasn't going anywhere! When I got back from the Fish Camp orientation, my Daddy said that I had been brainwashed. He may have been right.

Happy New Year!

I don't believe in luck, but I do believe in black-eyed peas on New Year's Day!

I shared this about 3 years ago, but I couldn't take the chance that y'all didn't see it. :)

Around here we call this stuff Texas Caviar and it is amazing. So all you black-eyed peas haters (I used to be one of you) make this... and be converted.

TEXAS CAVIAR

2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyes peas, drained

1 (15-ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (10-ounce) can Rotel

1/4 c chopped red bell pepper

1/4 c chopped green bell pepper

1/4 c chopped onion

1 chopped jalapeno

Dressing:

1/2 c red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp sugar

pinch dried oregano

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 c vegetable oil

Just combine the first 7 ingredients. I combine the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake to blend. Then just pour it over the pea mixture and stir. Let the mixture set in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight and then serve with Scoops tortilla chips.

Oh, and if you're really short on time and in a pinch...just substitute Italian dressing.

Wishing all of y'all a blessed and Happy New Year!

Quilt Labels and Snowflakes

I hope all of y'all had a blessed Christmas! I know we did although this is the first year our Marine was not home. :( I guess kids grow up and that is what they are supposed to do, but this Mama sure does miss them when they do.

He actually worked on Christmas Day. Another Marine was slated to work, but he had a family and our boy took his shift so that he could be with his family. Made me cry that he made a choice like that. So proud of you, Son.

Our girl was home for a week, which is never long enough. She worked hard this semester and I'm telling you, we are 'pop our buttons' proud of how she is living her life. She has earned this break, although she is working full time while school is out.

 We had a houseful again. My BIL and his 3 kids drove through and stayed for dinner. Leftovers were on the menu. After all, it was the day after Christmas and we had enough leftovers to last us until Easter. The marshmallow shooters were a big hit.

There hasn't been  much sewing going on around here, but I did manage to make some snowflakes this weekend to send to Connecticut:

 Good gravy these take a lot of thread, and they take a long time to stitch out, but look how pretty they are!

I also made some simple thank you notes:

Making snowflakes may be the only snow we'll get around here. DH came in and laughed when he saw me working on both of these projects simultaneously. He asked me if I was trying to make it snow. Yes, please.

And here are a couple of quilt labels I made using the Digitizer Jr. program I received as an early Christmas gift:

This is the first one I made - it's for our boy's quilt:

Then I made this one for our girl's Dirt Road Gypsy Quilt:

I wish I had thought to add a Scripture to the label on our boy's quilt, but the idea came to me after I had sent his off to him.

Then my machine stitched this one for a dear friend's grandchild's quilt:

This embroidering is going to take some time to figure out. 83 minutes and 53 colors?!

I ended up stitching it twice because for some reason it stitched the little monkey three times and it was too thick, causing my thread to break numerous times. Lots of time and thread wasted, but once I figured out to start the stitching 2/3 of the way through, it worked beautifully.

Now I see that I forgot to add my name to it. Sigh.

Another sweet friend had her first grandchild on Christmas Eve so a  baby quilt will be the first order of business this next weekend and I'm already planning out the label. :)