Arte y Pico from Quiltwhinny

What a pleasant surprise to be nominated for this award by Quiltwhinny from Quiltwhinny Trails. The nicest thing was getting the chance to discover and enjoy her beautiful blog.

Here's the 5 rules bit for this award:
1. Choose 5 blogs you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community, regardless of the language.
2. Each award should have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented him/her with the award.
4. The award winner and the one who has given the award should show the Arte y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award. Translated, it means "the peak of art."
5. Show these rules - done!

Just a note, the picture that she shows referring to my giveaway was actually the giveaway from Marit who had a giveaway about the same time that I had mine.
I have tried to think of who I would like to nominate, and I love so many blogs that I can't decide. As I have seen on other blogs whose writers have had this dilemma, please if you are reading this consider yourself nominated if you would like to accept the honor.

Burger Queen Mystery Quilt

I have a 'flimsy'. I am going to try to quilt it myself, but first I have to do the Turning Twelve and then hopefully, I'll be a little better at the FMQ. It ended up 54 x 78, so will be a nice size for a couch quilt. I think I have green and purple out of my system now, so next quilt probably pink and brown. I'll bet anyone who reads my blog is getting tired of the pink quilt underneath, I think that I need to change that soon.

Supper in the Crockpot - Meatballs

I got this recipe off of the yahoo crockpot group, and made it and liked the concept, but didn't like the result too much. I now have adapted it until it is in my opinion an A+ meatball recipe. I used to make good meatballs from my MIL's recipe, but because they were browned (fried) first, they always seemed to end up triangular instead of round, which wasn't that visually appealing. This recipe produces nice round meatballs and I don't have to do any frying, so the mess and the fat is lots less. I use a cookie scoop, and so they are uniform in size. I like mine small, so I use the 1" size, but you could make them whatever size you prefer. After I descoop them, I round them up a bit with my hands, and I spray the scoop and my hands with cooking spray first. I didn't bother to take a picture, as now all you can see is spaghetti sauce.

CROCKPOT MEATBALLS

1 1/4 pounds low fat ground beef

1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 Tbsp. minced parsley (fresh or dried)

1-3 cloves minced garlic, or garlic powder

3/4 cup milk

2 or 3 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper, scant

Mix ingredients and form into balls. Any size is ok. Put in crockpot with a couple of jars of sauce, one on the bottom and one on top.

We prefer Bartolli's or Barilla's Basil and Tomatoes Sauce. Cook about 4-6 hours on high or 7-8 hours on low. Can be frozen and reheated from the freezer in the crockpot. Makes about 28 1 inch meatballs.

I hope that if you try it you like it.

Giveaway Drawing and Prize

I waited until this morning for the giveaway drawing, just to allow for all the different time zones. Then I had to wait for DH to get up, as he sometimes sleeps in, and then even before he was showered and dressed we did it, that is why all that is showing is his hand, he was a little uncomfortable about being on the internet in his jammies. He picked number 23 Carol VR, who's from Canada, and whose blog is a new one to me. That was one of the nice things about having the giveaway, discovering new to me bloggers. Her blog is No Reason Needed, if you'd like to have a look.

I didn't make anything, but I hope she likes her gifts. There are several fat quarters and some thread from Connecting Threads, a charm pack in a tin from Hancock's of Padukah from a few years ago, I had bought several. All the things needed to wear scissors around your neck so that they don't get lost, the necklace the retracto reel and the scissors which are also seam rippers. I have some and like them a lot, as they are snips and also ready in case there was a boo-boo (not the ouch kind the rip-it kind). And last but not least, a little wooden birdhouse (I had gotten 4 of them and am down to 1, which I think will be for me), and a tiny bone china bowl from Old Country Roses, which would be great as a little pin dish, or even for holding jewelry that you take off in the evening.
Thank you to everyone who left a comment and also to those who put the link on their blogs. You are all wonderful, and I wish I could give everyone a prize.

And Another Two.......

Isn't this adorable! Go sign up on Applique Today, Joanna is having a 100th post giveaway.

Also, Cheryl at Polka Dots & Rick Rack is having her one year blogiversary and is giving away one of Nicole's Raggedy Old Annies.

I would be beyond happy to win either one.

Another Mystery Giveaway

Inger Lise of Lises Hobbyblogg is having a giveaway, too. She's celebrating her 100th post, and has a wonderful blog. You've got until the end of the week to leave a comment.

100th Post

Wow, I just realized that this is my 100th post. I guess that I had better have a giveaway. Not sure what I'm giving away yet, but if you leave a comment you will be in for one chance, and as per the usual rules, a link to my giveaway will get you another chance. I wish that I had thought ahead and had a pretty picture of the prize to display, but as usual I am not completely with it. Since I have to have time to think, I will have the drawing next Wednesday, August 13th, how's that. I can't promise handmade, but I do promise it will be something quilty and nice.

Giveaway

Marit is having a giveaway on her blog Marits Hobbyblogg for her 100th post. As you can see, it is for a beautiful set of potholders and napkin holder. Her blog is very charming and worth a visit just to look around.

Turning Twelve

I've been working on my Turning Twelve (Twenty), and figured since this is my first attempt at FMQ I'd better take a picture now, as this may be the best it ever looks (lol). The sock monkey is machine embroidery, and seemed to go along with the backing material since he's playing basketball. It's about 48 x 62 inches, and that is hopefully a good size for a 4 year old boy, and won't be outgrown for a couple of years. Now, next step is set up my machine for FMQ and practice, practice, practice. If my meandering is bad, I am thinking of doing circles all over using my quilt halo, and if my back stitching looks bad, I may get out the walking foot, and stitch in the ditch. I have plans A, B, and C depending on how my practice goes.

50th Post Giveaway

If you haven't been to Farmyard Crafts in a day or two it's definitely worth a visit. She's celebrating her 50th post, and had added a new wrinkle to the celebration. She has a winner, a runner up, and a surprise present. Hmmm.