RECAPPING 2014

It's hard to imagine that 2014 will end in a couple of days and 2015 will begin.

As I sit here and think about everything that has happened this year,

I'm just amazed as to how well things turned out.

Getting to spend time with my mom is always a blessing for me.

She is such an extraordinary woman.

She was a faithful wife to my father.

She is a great mother-in-law to my husband and my brother-in-law

By the way, those are his words.

She is an awesome grandmother .

Her patience is never ending.

 I've been blessed with two great sons.

Even though they are not living at home anymore,

I treasure the memories I have of them 

and love it it when they get to come home

and spend time with us.

My daughter-in-law has been an answer to our prayers.

She is an amazing wife to my son.

We could not have picked a more perfect lady for David.

My husband of 31 years has been ever so patient with me.

Jorge has been my rock.

With the health scares that I had this year, he was there for me.

I was diagnosed with an aneurysm on the optic nerve of my left eye

and lesions on my kidneys which my doctor told me it looks like cancer.

Jorge held me when I was crying and scared.

Thankfully, the Lord healed me and the aneurysm is gone and so are the lesions!

This year we found out that my mother-in-law was diagnosed

with cancer on her tongue.  We were totally surprised

by the diagnosis because she never smoked.

Jorge and I made many trips to Chicago to help with her care

so that his brother was not left with the brunt of it.

It has been a difficult journey for all of us.

We are not sure what lays ahead for her,

but she is in good spirits and is happy.

Purchasing my very own motorcycle was a highlight for me.

I never thought that I would take that step.

I was always happy being a passenger

but riding my own motorcycle is great!

I am ever so glad I took lessons.

I am looking forward to 2015 to be able to ride more.

One of the most satisfying projects that I had this year

was making quilts for my son's military police unit.

His commander asked me back in June if I could provide

fifty quilts for the soldiers for the Christmas party.

I am ever so indebted to my friends from the two guilds that I belong.

The ladies from Redbud Quilt Guild and Evening Star Quilt Guild

helped me tremendously in getting fifty quilts made for the soldiers.

The quilts were a complete surprise to them.

As I end the year, I see changes coming up with my family.

My husband and I are selling our house and moving closer to his job.

It was a very hard decision to make because it means relocating

and leaving wonderful neighbors, great friends that we've had for 31 years,

our church, our kids from CRU at Ball State University.

The packing has already started and dejunking has begun.

We have an idea of where we want to move but no house yet.

The first thing on our agenda is to sell our house.

May the 2015 bring you many blessings and opportunities.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MY PERSONAL MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to

 go on my own motorcycle adventure.

I did my own quilt shop hop.

The first place I went is in Rome City, Indiana.

The shop is called Caroline's Cottage Cottons.

Her shop is located at

195 Weston Street, Rome City, Indiana 46784

I met the owner last year at a quilt show 

and I fell in love with the items she had.

Her shop is a ranch house that has been

converted to a quilt shop.

Every room was filled with so much 

that I had to use self control because

I knew I did not have the room to

buy everything I wanted on my bike.

 My form of GPS to get to the quilt shop.

 Caroline's Cottage Cottons shop

Fabric everywhere you turn.

I was in heaven 

Caroline and her employee.  

Two lovely ladies.

After I was done shopping, I decided I'm this close to Michigan

why not ride to Michigan.

So off I went to Sturgis, Michigan.

I was pretty proud of myself.

 As I started my way home, I saw a sign

that showed Shipshewana was a few

miles from where I was.

Shipshewana is an Amish town.

What was I supposed to do?

I rode and stopped at one of the quilt shops.

 This is a quilt made of very small squares.

It was absolutely beautiful.

I cannot imagine the many hours it took to make this.

Below is the letter that describes the construction of this quilt.

 I found my friend's quilt book.

American Homestead quilts.

These four patterns I bought at Caroline's Cottage Cottons.

No fabric was bought.

This pattern I bought I Lolly's in Shipshewana.

No fabric was bought.

 At the end of the day, I had ridden over 300 miles.

I "conquered" twisty roads at a decent speed.

I had a wonderful time riding

and was pleased with myself.

NEIGHBORS

We've been living in our neighborhood for 19 years.

We been blessed with wonderful neighbors.

On the street that we live, everyone looks out for each other.

If there is a need, we're all there to help out.

I don't know what I would do had it not been for our neighbors.

Since we do a lot of traveling, they have taken care of our dog.

They take care of our home while we're gone.

For example, for my youngest son's graduation open house,

all or our neighbors helped.

One of them took pictures and helped with the food.

The others helped with the clean up and parking

of all of the vehicles.

We've helped each other during the winter cleaning

the snow out of each other's driveway.

We have checked on the older neighbors to make 

sure that they are alright.

Our neighbors are wonderful.

We love where we live.

I don't think I would want to live any place else.

We love having our neighbors over

and we love their friendship.

CHILDHOOD MEMORY = POUND CAKE

When I was a child, we didn't have desserts after dinner every night.

My mom didn't believe in doing that.

Even though she hated to cook, she provided healthy meals.

But we always looked forward to Sunday's

because that was the only day we would ever get any desserts.

My mom would mostly make pound cakes.

She would make it out of a box, never from scratch.

But we didn't care, we were getting dessert.

So yesterday, I was remembering my Sunday's as a child.

We would have our lunch, have our slice of pound cake.

We would watch Frasier Thomas on television,

since he was the host for Family Classics movies.

And we would finish the evening playing Parchessi.

So yesterday I decided to make a pound cake.

Mine was not out of a box.

But it was fun making it because it brought back

a lot of wonderful memories of me helping

my mom getting the cake ready.

Funny how the little things in life have so

much meaning when we get older.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature.  Grease and flour a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.  Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.  In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter on medium speed  for about 30 seconds.  Gradually add the sugar, beating 6 minutes or till fluffy.  Add vanilla.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 1 minute after each, scrape the bowl frequently.  Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.  Turn the batter into the loaf pan.  Bake in a 325° oven for 55 to 65 minutes or till done.  Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack.  Remove from the pan and cool.  

MY FUN DAY OF QUILTING

With all that has been going on in our family,

I needed something fun to do.

I made this quilt today after watching

yesterday the television show "Sewing with Nancy."

Her guest was Debbie Bowles.

Debbie showed how to do an 18-inch block.

Once I saw how to do the block, I decided I had to make it.

It's a very easy block to do.
These directions will make 12 blocks
and the quilt will measure 54 x 72 inches.

Here are the requirements for the quilt that I made.

• 1 5/8 yard to make the 12 1/2 inch square block
• 1/2 yard to make the 6 1/2 inch square block
• 1 yard to make rectangle block  (I used black fabric)
• 1 yard to make rectangle block  (I used tan fabric)

1. Cut twelve 12 1/2 inch square block.
2. Cut twelve 6 1/2 inch square block
3. Cut twelve 7 x 12 1/2 inch rectangles of one fabric for the rectangle
4. Cut twelve 7 x 12 1/2 inch rectangles of the other fabric.

Take the two different rectangle pieces and line them up right sides up.  Mark the top fabric 2 1/2 inches from one corner and 2 1/2 inches the opposite corner.  Take your ruler and match the points and using your rotary cutter, cut the fabric at an angle.  Sew the angled pieces.  You will have a small tail and that is needed to make it level when you're sewing it.

It's very easy to piece this block.  The finished size is 18 inches.  

There are different ways that you can play with the blocks to set it up.
I added the border which is 3 1/2 inches wide.

CANCER - A WORD EVERYONE DREADS

As many of you have seen, I've not written on my blog for a while.

There is a reason behind this lack of writing.

We found out back in May that

my mother-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer.

The weirdest thing is that she has it on her tongue.

She has never been a smoker!

The cancer has gotten to her left lymph node of her neck.

She had to have several things done to her to prepare

her for her radiation treatments.

Because of the bad condition her teeth,

they all had to be removed

Their condition was not good and the

oncologist told us that when she begins her

radiation treatments, her teeth will fall out

and infection might set in because the

radiation would not allow the healing.

Secondly, they added a feeding tube.

My husband was in Chicago for a week

to help take care of her.

He has a younger brother who lives there also.

I've been going up every other week to take care of her.

Needless to say, these trips do not leave 

much time to do any hobbies or interests.

Please keep us in your prayers as we

are on this journey.

It's not a journey that any of us wanted,

but that's the way it is.

We trust in our Lord.

BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST CASSEROLE

Our two German bikers spent the night at our house.

Their breakfast this morning was bacon, scrambled eggs 

and blueberry french toast casserole.

They loved the breakfast and very little of it was left.

Here's the recipe to make the casserole.

I wish now I had taken a picture of it before they dug in.

INGREDIENTS

1 (24-inch) loaf of French bread

6 large eggs

3 cups whole milk

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups blueberries (frozen or fresh)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS

• Butter a 9 x 13 casserole.  Slice the french bread into 1-inch slices and place standing up in rows, then tilting the bread so they lay stacked at an angle.
• In a large bowl add the eggs, milk, vanilla, nutmeg, and brown sugar.  Whisk together until well blended.
• Pour over the bread slices and cover the casserole with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate overnight and until the custard is completely absorbed.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Sprinkle the blueberries the next morning over and between the bread slices.  Drizzle the melted butter over the break.
• Place the casserole in the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake 45-55 minutes.
• Watch carefully the last 10 minutes for over browning.

Serve with maple syrup and enjoy!

BROCCOLI SALAD

Our adventures from last week on the motorcycle in Tennessee

continues today and tomorrow.

Two "Over The Pond" riders are coming over

and having dinner with us and staying the night.

They are from Germany and so I prepared this salad

as one of the entrees for tonight's meal.

It is a very easy recipe that I'm sharing.

INGREDIENTS

1 head fresh broccoli, chopped into bite-size pieces

1 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar

DIRECTIONS

• Combine the broccoli, sunflower seeds, onion, raisins, and bacon in a large bowl.
• Combine the mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar in a small bowl.  Mix well.
• Pour over the salad and mix well.

MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURE TO JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE - DAY FIVE

On this day, we got together with five other riders

and we headed out to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Boy it was beautiful.

I do have to be honest about something,

Jorge did scare me when he was making the turns

tight, fast, and leaning a lot.

I thought for sure we were going to go down.

Once I got my heart back in place, the ride was just fine.

By the time we got back to the hotel,

I was hot, tired and probably dehydrated.

 The lady riders of Kawasaki.

All of the riders that made it to the rally this year.