February Already!!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I usually find the month of January to be a very long and dragged out month. I suppose after the months leading up to Christmas and making gifts and prepping for the holidays, once the season is over, things just seem to come to a halt or standstill......... HA!!!!!!!! not this time! January was a blur!! But for all good reasons!

I also find it takes me a month or so to kick start my butt in gear to get back to sewing after the holidays. Again... not this time! I started as soon as the tree and decorations were down and stored away and I had my sewing room back in order again!

I'm soooooo glad I got involved with the Rainbow Stash Challenge over at So Scrappy's blog! She has really got my gears thinking of using up my scraps and I managed to make something each Scrap Saturday in January! And from what I read this morning, February's colour is RED!! wooo hooo! I will be making another lap quilt for the Iris Kirby House again this month. I think I already got a design in mind I want to do.

BTW, I got the binding on the blue scrap quilt last night.



I will hand bind the other side in the next few days. I also managed to machine bind a few other smaller UFOs I had lying around that only needed to bind.

While binding, I put another coffee design on the embroidery machine. I want to make another coffee mug mat!!



Thanks so much to everyone who sent best wishes to Mum on her surgery. Everything went very well. It only took the doctors about 1 -1 1/2 hours to fix the problem. She has to keep her foot elevated and walk only on her heel for at least the next 4 weeks. She spent most of yesterday home in bed on pain meds. When I checked in on her this morning she said she is doing well and the pain is tolerable. She plans to just rest and relax as much as possible today and possible do a bit of hand sewing or knitting. :)

Since yesterday was a insanely busy and off routine day for everyone, I decided to take out the ole faithful slow cooker and try out a new quick and easy recipe. I made a yummy Chili Pasta Bake!



I made alot so we could freeze a few portions for future meals. I also took some to puree for William's supper. He LOVED it!!!!!!!!!



I love now how I can take what Trevor and I are eating and mash it up for William to have too! I will take a portion of the left over pasta and grind it up and freeze for William's meals too.

In the meantime I would love to share with you the recipe. I found it in one of my Company's Coming Slow Cooker recipe books. Here it is!

Chili Pasta Bake



1 1/2 lbs Lean Ground Beef
1 1/4 cup uncooked elbow macaroni (oops.. thanks Anita for letting me know I forgot to add the pasta to the recipe!! silly me)!!!!
1 cup chopped onion
2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes and their juice
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 cup tomato sauce (I had none in my cupboards, so used chili sauce instead)
pepper to taste
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Scramble-fry ground beef in non-stick frying pan until browned. Drain well. Transfer to 3 1/2 quart slow cooker.

Add next 7 ingredients. Stir. Cover and cook on Low for 5-7 hours or on High for 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours.

Sprinkle cheese over top. Cook on High for 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted. Makes 7 cups.

Enjoy!!!

We are expecting a big nasty storm tomorrow and Thursday to hit most of the island. The weather channel says we could get anywhere from 30-40 cm of the white stuff and then lots of freezing rain after that !!!!!!!!!!! YUK!!!!!!!! They are also saying there could be power outages too. Sigh.... well I have lots of hand stitching and binding to keep me entertained and many other things to putter around the house. This afternoon, William and I will head to the grocery store to get a few essentials such as milk, cheese, ooh and cod tongues!!! YEP!!! you read right!! They are a delicacy here in Newfoundland!! I haven't had a good feed of tongues now in ages. So I'll go to Bidgoods Grocery Store over in the Goulds (about a 10 minute drive from where I live) to get those. This store specializes in traditional Newfoundland food. I'll fry them up tonight with some boiled potatoes and mustard pickles. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!! I can almost taste them now!

I also thinking of using up a few bananas that are turning brown and make some banana chocolate chip muffins. If the power does go out we still have muffins for breakfast!!! LOL ooh along with some yummy fruit and yogurt!

Well I must be going. William is still in his morning nap and I need to take advantage of this time and clean up his bottles and grab a quick shower. Trevor is out shovelling our driveway and Mum's driveway after the mini blizzard (which we never heard was coming) we had last night! Then we are out to run some errands!!!

Tonight in the sewing room I think I might pull out some red scraps to have ready for the first February RED Scrap Saturday. I have a birthday party to attend on Saturday, but I'll have the night time to play!!!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea