UPDATED- LINDA'S Colorful World and FABULOUS SEAFOOD CHOWDER RECIPE , JAMIE'S cow and Other Stuff to Think About...

I have stayed with my friend Linda P. for many years. She is a talented quilter and has the most beautiful applique stitches you have ever seen.

Linda takes a normal pattern and puts her spin on it and it is always fabulous and so fun to see up close because her fabric choices are different and wonderful. I am inspired anytime I go to her home and hang out with her. She is working on a cow and I am so excited. It's theme is "Me for MOO and Moo for Me." I know it is going to be wonderful for sure.

Linda always has quilts hanging in her home in the different spaces and they are different everytime I come. I just walk around and take photos. Linda did a "Dear Jane" quilt once and the background was orange and the other colors were fabulous. It is the prettiest one I have ever seen.

I love how she turns others patterns into her own works for art and can you imagine how happy her home is? Fabulous place!

Above are three different photos of a quilt she did. I think that the green background is great and the orange and purple on top is awesome. Her work always makes me smile and she does too. Linda is quiet and when she says something it is wonderful and wise. I came home feeling so rested and good. 

Look at this ceramic design...isn't it cool? I want this on a quilt one day. Linda will probably beat me to it.

Above is a wonderful piece of art that Linda purchased in the Seattle area where she lives (she lives way North of Seattle actually)

Linda travels quite a bit to lots of great places and when she was in Australia last year she urchased this piece of Aboriginal art. It is so pretty in her home. Bright and happy.

Linda has art work, quilt and happy things like what is above to pull your eyes in and make you smile.

Below is  is the middle of her large home on the ocean Sound and she has chairs to enjoy the beautiful view and a hot tub and a lap pool closest to the bottom. Pretty wonderful place for a pretty wonderful person.

Linda P's Fabulous Seafood Chowder Recipe- 

Mary Lou's favorite SOUP in the world (NO kidding_

1/4 chop green onion

1 small clove garlic, minced

1/8/TBLSP. cayenne powder

1 TBLSP. Butter (or you can use olive oil)

2 cans of cream of potato soup

1 pkg.(6oz) non-fat cream cheese

1 pint non-fat half and half

1 can corn, drained

2 cups shrimp and scallops

1/2 soup can of white wine

In saucepan cook onions with garlic and cayenne in butter or oil until tender. Blend in soup, cream cheese and half and half then wine. Add shrimp, scallops and corn. Bring to a boil stirring occasionally until cream cheese has melted and seafood is cooked.

   Makes about 7 cups.

Linda served this with good bread and a salad (I will share that recipe down the road.

BEV chose beautiful white and black dots and wonderful bright fabrics to make this block! Talent!

. GREAT! Sheesh I wrote down the wrong name earlier and I am embarrased...thank you Bev for being so gracious to me. Anyway, I adore this block!

We had our photo taken by our neighbor two weeks ago and the whole family with kids too. This is just the five of us and it is fun to have that to see too. I love my family.

I think this is a wonderful poster and Phil 4:8 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible and talks about filling your mind with happy, excellent, worthy of praise things. It reminds me to turn off some of the television shows I watch...like the news. :0) They need more quilting and crafting and cooking shows. A fabulous "GOOD Day" show with only happy things and a great joke of the day.

Today is the last in this series of Downton Abbey...hope there are some happy twists and turns and we find out some of the stuff they left us hanging with this season.

Cows have become a big and fun part of my life (by accident). I liked this poster and I love this adorable cow quilt by Jamie Morton. Makes me smile. She does great work!

Hope this day is happy for you and that you have lots to be happy about and that you use great colors or are inspired to by Linda's wonderful work...and Jamie's too.
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Took Mark into the Doctor's for a throat scope today as his esophagus was spasming/ this afternoon we see another Doctor and he gets a two hour chemo i.v. to fight the brain cancer...I need some more portable hand projects while I wait. One day at a time and happy quilts to keep me upbeat.

HAPPY Colorful Glass to INSPIRE and SEWING NEW Colorful Cows in a great shop with Great people

My friend Stephanie picked my up at the airport along with Sharon my other buddy and it was sunny last weekend and we went to see the Dale Chahuli art show. He has always been on my list as artists I most admire and he taught at RISD which is where if I had to do life over, I would have gone to school!

I went to Seattle to go up to Aunt Mary's with Stephanie to teach a COW class. Stephanie has the blog Bubbling Sunshine and that is what she is! She has a delicious laugh and a positive outlook and I had w wonderful weekend with this art to start out!

 Can you believe these beautiful colors??? Saturated and wonderful!.

Imagine what it is like to walk these gardens on a sunny day!

Wouldn't you love these in your backyard? I would!

Look close and you will see the Seattle Space Needle in the Background of these balls

Below was the most amazing one and all of the gold figures at the bottom were sea creatures and shells- it was just amazing...

I am going to show more of my photos later on because I want to get to the cows and my hostess's wonderful home

Here is Stephanie who hired me. Kwiltzbystephanie@blogspot.com
You might want to keep watching her FUN blog because she does good giveaways I hear...AND She does cool quilts that I always love. She brought tiaras for all of us to wear and after the class was over I asked Linda who I stayed with to stop at a convenience store on the reservation so I could buy a lotto ticket (no luck). As I was talking to the cashier, Linda, tapped me on the shoulder and suggested I take off my tiara...the cashiers laughed and me too

4 hours ago

For the Cow class, I sell this book with the COW pattern and then I also offer a 1/2 size and a 3/4 size. Everyone picks their choice and they all begin the same but by the end, the cows are ALL original and wonderful! Here is the beginnings of some COWs that will be amazing when done!

The beginning of MOOnet by Christine! - isn't it wonderful???

On the right is Linda my hostess who I have know many years. She is doing "Tea for MOO and Moo for Tea"-this was just the first day. Linda does awesome quilts and hosts me when I am over on the coast-she is excellent and gives you space and waits on you hand and foot- wonderful. She says I am an "old shoe" and I love that because I feel that way around her...very relaxed and happy.

This cow was a colorful one that Loretta from Canada was making- she is adding Flowers from the Flower Power book and LOTS of rick rack too

This is Marian's PRETTY cow....it's tail is a big question mark...great! She likes the name AMOOnymous. Me too!

Sharon's cow will have flying geese on black and words on black for the border..I think the theme is COWnt of Monte Cristo. This is a place in Western Washington. I am not a very good photographer -the sock river will be at the bottom (with socks)- it is not spelled this way but you get the picture right?

Here is the cow called "MOOsical" -isn't this super???

This is Consuelo and she is doing a cow "MiVaca Loco"that  is so darn cute and in person even better! She is from Columbia and has personality PLUS

Here is MOOnster Mash but I also thought it could be called FranCOWnstein- see the bolts in her neck??? Patty is adding embroidery stitches in black on all of the seams she is pointing too...Love this!

This tongue was a happy accident by Kathleen, I suggested she turn it the other way but love this look...LOVE the colors don't you? Kathleen has great fabric as she worked for Clothworks for years...I envy her stash!

Speaking of colors and tongues and creativity, look at this cow by Sharon- wonderful to see what a strata can do and a purple tongues too! This is called "Join the Vegan MOOvement!"

There weren't enough design walls and so this cow got held up and isn't it beautiful? Can you see the pieced udder and the beautiful Kaffe colors? LOVE this one.

Creative piecing was part of this workshop and some people got flying geese borders and cool modern pieced log cabins done....they were the "process people" and that is what I am, I am a "process" teacher...I want to have people learn how to do things they would not normally know how to do...great fun for me!

I am ending this with a little stash I had to work on a quilt...it didn't happen but isn't the stash pretty? I was very influenced by my hostess Linda Pederson who is better at color than anyone else I know....stay tuned for her recipes on my next blog and some photos of her work and her house..-----------------
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We are feeling hopeful about what the Doctors can do-
Please pray for my husband and me. He just found out today that his original tumor (the size of a grapefruit is back.). He will have radiation again and three more pills to be added to the 20+ he already takes. Just mentioning this because I would love prayer for Mark who people will tell you is the nicest man in the world...and he is. Thank you friends...

Here are the COLORS you will wear and have in your home even if you don't like them now-Quilter's this is the fabric colors you will buy

Jus

YUP, the color council has spoken. Sigh. No cheddar and no black but I will mix cheddar and black and stronger turquoise with these colors. Think you don't like pink? This Spring it is going to be everywhere! Think you don't like it??? Just watch you change your mind later on as you purchase it. This is the control they have over us. :0)
The goal? To make us unhappy with what we have.
I can't wait to buy these and they aren't even out there much yet. Pavlov's dog.
Bark bark....
 I have to say, I was really amused with the comments you girls made, haha. I love the girls who come here because they have minds of their OWN! Good for you. I will always have reds and limes and yellows in my house...don't care what the color council says but it is fun to see the colors....for a quick quilt, I like them better than the last couple of years but hey, my comment lady was right when she said "NO YELLOWS or HAPPY colors"....she is right!

A MUST GET book! Magazine article, hearts, cows and Mary Lou's Meatball Sub recipe! It's Delish!

 I got the coolect book and you should get it too if you like FUN and whimsy like I do and you like to support NICE girls like I do too. The book is colorful and features pincushions for you or for gifts for your friends or  Thank you's for teachers, neighbors, sewing friends etc. I LOVE what they did here!

Here is what the book looks like- isn't the color wonderful and happy? And the projects are colorful and happy too and who would not love one of these???

http://justanotherbuttoncompany.com/ to buy the book!

I have known Cecile for about 20 years I think as I adore her buttons for "Just Another Button Company." In my opinion they are the most creative buttons and they give any project a huge lift in spirit. I have used many many of these. I got the cutest and most creative Christmas hat two years ago from Rachel and I showed here how all of the women and girls (even little girls) tried on the hat for fun. It was so much fun as everyone looked great and we still talk about how much fun something clever can make a holiday. I think the Downton Abbey girls would LOVE some of Rachel's work.

Order this book and you won't be sorry. I have promised myself I am making some of these and I want that mushroom one for myself.

http://justanotherbuttoncompany.com/ to buy the book!

Hey what a NICE surprise to see this in the AQS magazine where we have shown our cows. And we love the people who have written and ordered our book and loved the whimsy and the FUN with these! They did not mention Mel and I in the article though they showed our quilts. So I guess that is OK. But a little plug for the book "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks would have been swell. We are still taking cows and still booking new shows into next year! AQS has really been quite wonderful and showed our cows in both Iowa and Arizona. Love their support and the people we work with, they are awesome (and I mean really on task and professional)

Here is one of the pages with my cow town and my two Spokane Buddies Eilene and Connie my neighbor. Really quite wonderful for us all.

So, can you guess what this is on my sewing machine??? It is a hoochy pattern that does quickly with my method and it is alot of fun. I am getting some cute Flower Power samples quilted now and cannot wait to have them for spring and my retreat to inspire my girlfriends.

Here is my first of 20 finished hearts. I do them hoochy style like my book shows. By the way if you do not have the Hoochy Mama piecing book, I found six I haven't sold and they are $20. each. If you didn't get yours, write and I will tell you how to order it.

Anyway this is a cute swap and I plan a nice heart quilt with "I Love You" for one of my Grandkids.

Mary Lou's Meatball Subs -these are delicious!
heat oven 425 degrees
Two packages of sub sandwich buns
3 onions (yellow) -slice for saute'ing
1 red pepper, julienned, 1 yellow pepper julienned and one green pepper julienned.
Saute the onions and peppers in olive oil on stove with salt and pepper -set aside

Cook 2 pounds of lean hamburger with  1 pound sausage
Once it is cooked through add onions and peppers plus some Italian seasoning

Now add three jars of Prego sauce (I use the garlic and onion chunky) _ I keep one non chunky jar in case I need more sloppy in the sauce.

Now I bake frozen meatballs from Costco and I bake about 24 or so that each sandwich gets three meatballs of sauce.
Once they are baked, I add them to the sauce and heat it up.
 I open the subs and put butter on one side (top) bun and meatballs sauce to the bottom bun. I then add either provalone and some chopped basil on top or my daughter asks for fresh mozzerella. I like both.
   Now put the pan in the oven with both tops and bottoms and the top will be crsty and good. I watch and usually it takes a little more than five minutes but keep an eye on it because it depends on your oven.
   We like this with a crisp salad and the adults like an offering of beer or a nice wine.
We are usually stuffed after this meal but later on I serve small ice cream cones to everyone with their choice of ice cream. It is fun and it is a memory.
Hope you try these, you won't be sorry and for leftover sauce you can have spaghetti the next day or a nice macaroni casserole.
     It's fun!