Sauce, Samplers, & Schnibbles

"Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint"
                                                                            ~author unknown

I hope you all had a great Labor Day weekend.  We had a fun and relaxing time.  Our daughter and SIL and Samson (their dog) were here Saturday and Sunday.  We played lots of Wii and had our heads handed to us by our daughter in Mario Kart.  Yesterday morning was spent catching up on blog land.  There were a lot of people who didn't take the weekend off!  Plus I managed to get the wash done, organize some fabric, and get some movie time in with my hubby.  So all in all, it was a great weekend.

Here is my picture for the day:

Lantana camara in my backyard

Lantana is a genus of about 150 of perennial flowering plants in the verbena family.  Lantana's aromatic flower clusters are a mix of red, orange, yellow, or blue and white florets.  A common name for Lantana camara is "Ham and Eggs" due to the pink and yellow little flowers.  Lantana is somewhat poisonous to most animals.  As a positive aspect, lantanas are useful as honey plants attracting butterflies and hummingbirds.  Lantana is extremely easy to grow requiring little attention and is seldom bothered by pests or disease.

Saturday I received my charm samples from Connecting Threads.  I also received my Paganini pattern.  I am joining in the Le Petite, A Year Of Small Projects, and this is the first pattern.  You can find out more information on this by going to Pink Pincushion.  There are four different versions included in the pattern - have I decided on which one to use - NO!  I still have to select my fabric but hope to get to that today.

Here is the pattern Paganini from the Schnibbles line by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

Opening all of the charm packages was like opening a very large Christmas gift.  What a way to see a great selection of fabric from an online store without making a major purchase!  As I looked them over, I saw several designs that I would just love to have.  My main reason for purchasing these was to help decide on a background fabric for my flower garden quilt.  But more on that tomorrow as I have a question for you all.  Here are the samplers I received:

                            

Tone on Tone Charms - 24 charms included

Sugar Coated Charms - 24 charms included

Mirage Muted Charms - 24 charms included

Light Charms - 24 charms included

Light Solid Charms - 24 charms included

See what I mean about Christmas?  Going through each and every charm pack was lots of fun, seeing exactly what each fabric look and felt like.  This is only a small sampling of what is available from Connecting Threads but I was only looking for a light background fabric.  I think I will use this method of sample shopping in the future.  It sure is better than trying to guess if your computer is showing the actual colors and the prints show up better in real life too (of course). 

Today I would also like to share a great barbecue sauce recipe that my husband has made a couple of times.  He says it is not quite what he is looking for but I think it is great.  If you like a vinegar based sauce, you might want to give this a try.

Big Al's K.C. Bar-B-Q Sauce

INGREDIENTS

2 cups ketchup

2 cups tomato sauce

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar

1/2 cup dark molasses

4 teaspoons hickory-flavored liquid smoke

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

                        

Here are the ingredients - sorry for the open tomato sauce can but I forgot to take the picture before the DH got busy

DIRECTIONS

1.  In a large saucepan over medium heat, mix together the ketchup, tomato sauce, brown sugar, wine vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke, and butter.  Season with garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika, celery seed, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper.

2.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer for up to 20 minutes.  For thicker sauce, simmer longer, and for thinner, less time is needed.  Sauce can also be thinned using a bit of water if necessary.  Brush sauce onto any kind of meat during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

                         

All cooked up to a medium thickness - sooooooooo good!!!!

PERSONAL NOTE

Also makes a great dipping sauce for meat - especially tri-tip and steaks!

GIVEAWAYS

A great giveaway over at Cranberry Samplings.  She is giving away a pair of Gingher embroidery scissors!

And for those of you who might have missed my blog yesterday, here are a couple more:

Jump on over to Leona's Quilting Adventure. Leona is giving away a whole bunch of stuff including fabric, a ruler, template, needles and more! This winner will be announced Sept. 21!

And last, but certainly not least, is a great giveaway over at The Quilted Fish. They are giving away two fantastic kits, two fat quarter bundles, and four packages of cute buttons. I think this one ends Saturday.


Final Thoughts

I will be hosting a new giveaway tomorrow to celebrate having more than 50 followers so make sure to check in tomorrow.  I will also be showing off my latest flower for One Flower Wednesday tomorrow and will be asking for your help in selecting my background fabric. 

I hope you all have a great week planned.  I know my day today will be busy cutting fabric, sandwiching my blue and brown quilt, and selecting fabric for the Paganini quilt.  So for now..... ta ta for Tuesday!