Happy Easter and Resurrection Rolls...

I hope everyone had a very happy Easter weekend. We had a great one! Egg hunts at church, dyeing eggs and the Easter bunny here at the house, Easter lunch at Nana's and more egg hunts with the cousins!

These are some of my favorite pics of the kiddos:

We also started a new Easter tradition of baking Resurrection Rolls on Easter morning. They turned out perfect and quite tasty as well!

Resurreciton Rolls Recipe:

2 packages of Pillsbury Crescent rolls
3/4 stick of melted butter
8 large marshmallows
2 Tbl ground cinnamon
2 Tbl granulated sugar

(mix the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate crescent rolls into individual triangles. The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Using 1 marshmallow, representing Jesus and His purity, dip into melted butter. This represents the oils of embalming.

Dip the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.This represents the spices used to annoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll(not like a typical crescent roll up, but bring the sides up and seal the marshmallow inside). Then wrap with a second roll in the opposite direction making sure to seal all the seams. This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Dip the roll with marshmallow inside into melted butter and then roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes.The oven represents the tomb (pretend like it was 3 days and nights!)

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, HE IS RISEN! The marshmallow melts and the crescent roll is puffed up,but like the tomb - IT IS EMPTY!

Mod Quilt-Along Binding Almost Complete...

Well I have almost completed my first quilt! I have about half way to go on hand sewing the binding around to the back of the quilt. I probably would have been finished by now but I had oral surgery this week and it put me down for a few days. I am feeling better now and once I have caught up on necessary work around the house and for my business I will finish up this binding!

Top of the quilt with partial binding:

Back of the quilt with partial binding:

I have to say that I was most pleased that my corners turned out nice and mitered! Elizabeth had a great tutorial on the binding and I praise her greatly for helping me in having my first quilt turn out so nicely!

I can't wait to finish the quilt and wash it up so it gets a crinkly, comfy look and Drew and I can curl up with it and watch cartoons!

Mod Quilt-Along Quilt is Quilted...

Here is a picture of the top of the quilt all quilted! I still have to bind it and so you see the white batting showing around all edges. I am binding it with a navy blue fabric that has little gold stars on it.And here is the back quilted, again, you can see the white batting on the side as it is without binding:

I went ahead and had the quilt quilted by a professional as I just love it too much to use it for trying out my hand and machine quilting for the first time. I took the quilt in for a quote on Tuesday and to my surprise the woman at the shop said she would get right on it that day! She said a 'first time quilt' deserved to be done right away! So, I picked it up all quilted on Wednesday!!! I am so happy with it. I imagined as I was working on this quilt that if I was an experienced quilter that I would quilt it using a dog bone pattern for some whimsy and visual interest. I walked in the quilters shop ready to get the quote and tell her to just use a stippling quilting pattern since that is what the Quilt-Along is using but she said to me, "Oh, I have something that I think would go perfect with this quilt." Can you imagine my surprise when she showed me quilting of DOGGIE BONES along with profiles of dogs that look like labs!!! Wow, was that meant to be or what!?!

Can you see the profile of the doggie below. He is on the left side of the picture and his nose is up in the air some facing to the left. His ear is in the center of the bottom left brown square:

Here is a better shot perhaps. The doggie is in the brown and this time he is facing towards the right. His nose is in the air and he is looking up at a dog bone:

So now I just have to follow along in the Quilt-Along to bind the quilt. Then it will be finished and ready to give to my son!

There are lots of great finished quilt pictures rolling in at the Mod Sampler Quilt-Along group on Flickr site so go take a look!

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric!!!

You know what I have a perhaps unhealthy obsession with at the moment - FABRIC! There are just so many wonder fabrics out there to create with. I could spend hours browsing fabric shops and imagining all the wonderful projects I could create...I say I COULD because the fact is that I have small children and a job and household to run. However, I do find time to browse some great shops online and especially on Etsy.

Recently, I came across another great blog called A La Mode where I can also see some beautiful fabrics and great creativity. Even better, Heather over at A La Mode is having a fabric giveaway this week and next as well!!! If you get a chance, head on over and take a look at the site...and if you love fabric as much as I do, sign up for the give-away!

Day out With Thomas...

Yesterday we took the kids to see Thomas the Train! He was in town for a short time pulling train cars at the Vintage Railroad near us. For those of you that don't know, meeting Thomas is like way up there on the list for 3-year-old little boys...not so much for 8-year-old sisters but she had a great time as well!My son could not believe he was standing in front of THOMAS THE TRAIN!

Here we are as a family riding in one of the train cars. All the while on the ride songs from the Thomas series were playing and the kids were singing along!

Here they got to meet Sir Topam Hat. They are looking at the person there you pay to take your picture and not at me, but still a cute pic. The Little Prince had said all morning that he was going to shake Topam Hat's hand! He just beamed when he met him.

They had lots of Thomas and Friends models for the kids to play with.

Then there were some very elaborate models to look at but not touch.

It was a crisp sunny morning and a great time! There were bounce house, carnival food, music and stories for the kids and a great way to spend a weekend morning. The Prince has yet to stop talking about meeting Thomas!

Mod Quilt-Along Back Complete!!!

I DID IT!!!!

I completed the back of the quilt for the Quilt-Along today! I LOVE it. Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson was such a help and good guide through the project! I am quite pleased since this was my first time to attempt anything like this. You can see the other finished pieces at the Flickr site.

My little boy, for whom the quilt is for, was helping me this morning as I finished the back. He found a great new use for my sewing rulers! Roads! He was making roads and driving his little cars over them...it was precious!

Mod Quilt-Along Quilt Top COMPLETE!!!

Obviously I went with the blue sashing and am happy that I did! I think the quilt will be perfect for my little boy and a quilt that will grow with him since it it not too 'cartoon-ish'. Tomorrow I will take care of the back of the quilt. Hopefully that will not take me as long since it is not as involved as the top. This has been a great learning experience and I am quite happy with my first quilt so far.
Now off to enjoy an ice cold Diet Coke as my kiddos play outside some. We had some rain here yesterday and today so everything looks squeaky clean and greening up. Spring is here!!!