Quilts for Kids

Photo from Quilts for Kids.

Have you heard of this great organization?  Quilts for Kids wants and needs your help! 

From their website:

"Quilts for Kids, Inc. transforms discontinued, unwanted and other fabrics into quilts that comfort children fighting a life battle with a serious illness such as cancer, AIDS, as well as children of abuse. Our goal is to link design centers and other fabric sources nationwide to their communities, so that children in need in those regions may be served."

I have a kit that I have been working on for WAY too long, so I am bumping it to the top of my to do list.  I want to get mine in the mail this month, so that hopefully it will make it to its recipient by Christmas.  The kit I received is for a four-patch quilt like the one pictured.

You have the option of requesting a quilt kit (where they send you fabric and a pattern), downloading a pattern and using your own fabric, or designing the whole thing yourself.  It seems the greatest need right now is for quilts for teenage boys, which should be approximately 38" x 45".  I am sure any size would be appreciated though.

Chicken Corn Chowder

I feel the need to share one more recipe, and then I promise to try and post a little about quilting.  I made this soup last night, for probably the 10th time, and it is still one of my favorites.  I got the original recipe from and online friend, and made just a couple of tweaks to it.  Here's the final version.

Chicken Corn Chowder
1 lb. diced chicken breast
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, to taste
1 large onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
16 oz. chicken broth
2 cans cream of potato soup
14 oz can whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup milk
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated

Drizzle chicken with olive oil, and then season liberally with Creole seasoning. Toss to coat. In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Brown chicken in butter in stockpot. Once brown on all sides, add onion and celery and sauté about 5 minutes. Add chicken broth (just enough to cover chicken and veggies) and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Let me know if you decide to try it out!

What I've been making...

...and it's not quilts!

Monday night I made the most delicious chocolate sheet cake from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I'm sure most fellow bloggers out there know about Ree Drummond and her accidental country life. I've made the sheet cake from her cookbook once before, and it was good. I used a different icing recipe the first time though. It was a buttercream recipe from her website. I've actually tried many buttercream recipes over the years, and I'm just not a very good buttercream maker. I can't get the salt/sugar ratio quite right. This time, I went ahead and made the chocolate frosting that the cookbook says to use, and it is D-I-V-I-N-E. I can feel the pounds adding up, and they are worth every one.

Photo by Ree Drummond.

Try it today, and you'll thank me, and then probably curse me.

I'm trying out a new slow cooker beef stew recipe tonight, and I'll share it later if it turns out well.

I have a cow and I sew. Now how's that for hard to relate to.

Is it too early to start talking about Christmas?? I'm ready to break out the music!

I blame TV for my early festive spirit this year. Yesterday I caught about 20 minutes of what I would call a new holiday classic, The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Jack Black. I just love this movie, and was sad when I had to leave to take my son to a Halloween party (while watching a Christmas movie, see my dilemma!).

Now, if you're like me, you're just now starting on the ol' Christmas list, and if there is anythingon there that needs to be handmade/sewn, like there is on mine, then it's definitely time to start thinking Christmas-y thoughts. Actually, let's admit it. I'm already behind, and I haven't even started! November is awfully late in the year to be starting gifts. But I'll just put some of my favorite Christmas movies in the DVD player, and get to work.

Home Alone is next on my list! "I can't make ornaments out of the old fish hooks, with dry worm guts stuck on them!"

It's a new month!

Well...it will be a new month tomorrow! I'm going to start blogging a lot more, hopefully, but it might not all be quilting related. I want to blog about other things, cooking, family, etc., but don't want to maintain a bunch of seperate blogs, so I'm throwing it all on here.

I also have big plans to get much better with my photos. I know this is the Midnight Quilt Mom blog, but these dark, dreary pics just aren't cutting it for me. I've got to start taking photos in the light of day!

Here's one taken this morning (on my phone, mind you), of my sweet baby boy ready for some candy!

Started

And hopefully finished this weekend. Inspired by this.

Inspired

I was reading Jennifer's blog yesterday {That Girl...That Quilt} and was really inspired by how she finds the time to quilt. It occurred to me that you have to make the time, it won't just magically appear. She said that her goal is one quilt per month. I like that. It sounds possible!

So that's going to be my 2011 goal. Even though I'm already one month behind! Although I did finish two tops last month that still need to be quilted. I want to free-motion at least one of them, but I need to practice more before I try and actual quilt. :)

So last night I made a little scrap quilt sandwich and did some free-motion learning. It wasn't bad, but still needs work. I think I'll do one of these little scraps every time I sit down to sew, and hopefully I'll get better!

Then I got started on my February project. Since I was inspired by Jennifer, I thought her Quilt Along sounded like the perfect quilt to start with. I bought the fabrics months ago, when she was actually doing the quilt along, but never even got started.

Please forgive my horrible cell phone picture, but it was the best I could get at midnight last night. ;)

I'm using a Fandango charm pack, with some Kona solids. I like to make some sample blocks before I cut all the fabrics, just in case I see something I want to change. I'm very happy with how my samples came out last night, and I can't wait to work on this one some more!