What's Going On?

No I am not going to give you a rundown on Nicholas David's version of this on The Voice-(which I loved by the way). I am jotting down a few of the happenings around here. My 2 college kids were home for Thanksgiving break and we had so much fun. Shot guns, rode the VW rail buggy, went to the movies,decorated our brown paper tablecloth for Thanksgiving, ate tons of food, played music, bought new phones, and of course the not so fun things like laundry, dishes and homework too. My youngest daughter celebrated her 15th birthday on Thanksgiving day. I bought her tickets to the Alex Goot concert in Indianapolis and we returned from there today. She had a total BLAST! Met with our builder today and equipment starts arriving tomorrow-yippee-progress! Have been working on Beth's quilt blocks and only have 6 more to go. Will get some pics of those up here soon. Have bags to stamp tomorrow, but wanted to post some pics tonight.

Latest Project-30 personalized stone trivets

Been working on 30 of these for a few days. I really like this font that I used on them. Listed these as a neat bridal party gift. These were done as an order for a church. Another good idea. What are you all up to this weekend?

Sneak Peek at house plans

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous! I helped hubby move several motors from our old barn to his new barn. Lots of tidying up in the new barn too. Yesterday after church, our sweet friend Nancy came out and she and I went walking around the farm collecting a little of God's handiwork. It is amazing how pretty some of the "weeds" are. My husband calls anything grass like that comes in the house for decorating-weeds. I enjoyed spending time with you Nancy! We were looking at our house plans while she was here and I thought it might be nice to post a couple of pics of what the finished product will resemble. The anticipation is great, but our guest pastor hit home yesterday with "being content" with where God has you. I am focusing on that today. Knowing that God has grand plans and He is definitely in control and is fully aware of our contract and our time. When the house is done, I will want to say that it was all in God's Good and Perfect timing! Help me be patient and content today Lord and rest in You.

This is not exact because the bottom photo shows 3 windows on the basement side and 2 of those will be removed and become our garage. The back porch will all be covered by the roof, not just that small portion. We also have a double front door, but you can at least get an idea. I think it is funny to look at it with no grass or ground around the basement. Still plan on taking pics along the way. Hope you all have a very productive and "contented" day.

Old Chair- New Chair?

No pics to upload as of right now, but my fingers and palm are sore from removing all the staples from the old rocker we bought. Taking shots of where the cording is placed in hopes of a good end result. Not sure about this reupholstering job. Called for quotes today and let them know that I had already taken the chair apart and removed all fabric and have new fabric to replace it with and it was still going to be $100. I think I will try my hand at it first and if it turns out badly then I will remove the evidence and take it to the upholstery shop. What are you doing this weekend????

monogram tags

I couldn't help myself....these were just to tempting. I played around with the size of the monogram and got it to fit the size of my tag punch. I then used a distressing pigment ink in brown on the tan paper and Voila! Aren't they cute? These would make a nice inexpensive gift for a friend as well. My printer does 9 to a page. A cute little box with 27 of these little tags with a pretty ribbon strung through a hole and ready for use on gifts they give throughout the year would be lovely. So pretty and personalized.

DIY Monogram Wrapping Paper or Tags

I found this cool site the other day when I was looking for monograms to download for embroidery. While these are for paper, not embroidery, they would be beautiful for making your own custom wrapping paper or tags for Christmas gifts. I love the vintage circle with flowers and just one initial. Thinking about getting a head start on some tags of my own before the house building gets the better of me and my time.

Pasta Fagoli Soup-Olive Garden copycat

This was posted from Jennfier Walker's blog-Smelling Coffee.

Pasta Fagoli Crockpot Soup
(Adapted from Olive Garden’s Copy-Cat recipe here)

• 1 lb ground beef, cooked & drained
  1/2 or 1 med onion, chopped & cooked with the ground beef
  2-3 carrots, sliced
  2 cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
  1 can of res kidney beans, drained
  1 can of white kidney beans, drained
  1 box of beef broth or stock
  3 tsp oregano
  3 tsp pepper
  5 tsp parsley
  1 jar of spaghetti sauce
• I box of pasta. (We used penne.)

Place all ingredients except pasta into the crockpot and mix well. Cook on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 7-8 hours. Add the UNCOOKED past the last 45 minutes. (That’s my favorite step… Don’t even need to boil the pasta & dirty up another pan!) I used a whole box this last time & it was on the verge of being too much. But since we like pasta, it was fine. Next time, I plan to cut back a bit.

That’s it! How easy! And even easier if you keep 1lb packages of cooked ground beef in your freezer. I always try to cook up a few extra pounds to freeze. If you don’t have the onions cooked with the meat, they will be just fine added straight into the crockpot. Y.U.M!

Serve with a salad & garlic bread & you’ll have a new family hit. 

Andrea's Notes:This would be an easy gift. Include all the canned items, stock, seasonings in a ziplock, the jar of spaghetti sauce and a box of noodles. You could also take a loaf of bread or rolls. Then all they have to do is add the meat, carrots and onions (which most cooks have on hand). Great Christmas or holiday gift for neighbors or friends who already have everything and you don't know what to get them. Food always works!!!

Monogram It Merge on my Brother LB6800PRW

I am really having a lot of fun figuring this program out. I downloaded an anchor for a friend from Stitch in Thyme Designs and wanted to put monogram initials over the top. I first brought the anchor into Monogram It and centered the design. Then just used the monogram it button on the bar and was able to choose my initials and font. Then I centered that on top of the anchor. I was still able to choose colors for each element. Then I transferred the saved .PES file to my machine and it automatically separates it into 2 designs. I did the anchor first and then the monogram. I changed the fill type in the Monogram It program to smooth instead of satin. It did a better job for coverage. I had monogrammed a circle monogram the night before and used satin stitch. It looked good but I think I like the smooth fill better. This program is pretty easy to use. I have briefly read through the instructions but the tool bar makes navigating through it seem fairly simple. I am sure I will discover more as I play with it, but did want to post this because I found very little on it when I was researching before buying. I will try to answer any questions you might have, but again I am a TRUE novice! This novice is happy with the results though.