My recent quilting activity

On top of the Christmas gifts I am making, visiting grandparents, working 40 hours a week and preparing to led a trip to Africa in 4 days... I managed to make 2 lovely quilts!

 This quilt was for a little girls nursery. Thanks Mom for holding it for me :)

  I adore this quilt! I made it for a friend who picked out all fabric. I think I got most frustrated with this quilt but in the end I absolutely loved it! I am glad I pushed through because I am very happy with how it turned out!

Enjoy your Thursday!

DIY Hooded Towel

My amazing coworker asked me to make some hooded towels for her son she is adopting from Ethiopia! I said "OF COURSE!"

Supplies: 

-1 towel

-1 hand towel (NOT a wash cloth)

-Ribbon

-Cutting supplies and sewing machine

 1. Cut your hand towel to . This will be the hood.

 2. Fold in half towel in half and place ribbon about 1 inch from the fold.

 3. Pin ribbon to the top layer and open the fold.
4. Sew ribbon. *Make sure you are only sewing it through one layer of fabric.

 5. Fold hand towel in half the opposite way as earlier. (Like picture above)

 6. This part is tricky and little hard to explain, but you will take the left corner and fold it into the towel. Best way is to experiment until you get your hood to look like the picture above.

 7. Sew the hood to the middle length of the towel. Cut off excess ribbon.

8. You can personalize it with ears if you want to create an animal!

For those that need someone else to explain :), here is a blog that has great instructions!

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Michael and I enjoyed having turkey for a week after Thanksgiving. We made:

1. Handmade buttermilk biscuits with Turkey and a yummy sauce Michael made. 

2. Fried turkey with green beans and some leftover pomegranate molasses glaze.

3. Turkey onion cabbage wraps with a honey soy sauce. I also took the left over mashed potatoes and fried them into crispy medallions.

4. Barbecue turkey with oven roasted red potatoes and green beans and a cream sauce.

5. Pulled turkey and sweet potato gnocchi with a sage and butter sauce. We made a lot of gnocchi dough and have made it throughout the last two weeks with a different sauce to change the flavor. Delicious!

We had so many ideas but of course there is only so much turkey to use. Next year we will have to come up with a whole new set of ideas. What did you do with your leftover turkey?

Round Two: A Durham Thanksgiving

Being married means double the holidays!

We hosted our very first Thanksgiving at our house for the Durham side of the family.

 Michael's first turkey! Thanks Autumn for the perfect turkey gift!

 We started with a delicious tomato soup that Becky made. 

Michael created a pomegranate, molasses glaze for the turkey (probably the best thing I have ever tasted) and we made a sweet potato gnocchi... which was perfection! Top it off with some roasted vegetables and we had a lovely non-traditional Thanksgiving meal. We will be creating that sweet potato gnocchi many more times! I will post the recipe soon!

Family really is the best!

A Goodwin Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at my parent's house is very traditional. 

We always sit at the same place at the table.

The menu is always the same, 

including a family recipe "Aunt Tilly's Mashed Potatoes"

And the following day always includes decorating for Christmas. 

The jumping jack tree!

I love family!

Homebody

home·bod·y  (hmbd)

n. pl. home·bod·ies

One whose interests center on the home.

That's what I am. I like to be at home. 

I like to read in bed when it is light outside.

I like to watch movies with my husband.

I like picnics.
I love cooking. And creating. And even cleaning and organizing.
I was made to be domestic.
And I can't wait to have a family. 

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted some DIYs! All my crafting lately is for Christmas presents and I don't want to share those just yet! :) 

downsizing

This blog really changed the way I view my stuff. 

I spent one afternoon reading about how it can be so easy to put so much worth in the material things around you. The blogger continues the topic by talking about American excess. I was convicted reading this blog realizing how many times I felt like I needed something that really wasn't that important. I wanted to downsize and get rid of the junk around me. 

Well I got home that afternoon and my house had been robbed. Both of our computers were stolen. My first reaction was "oh well, it is just a computer". Then I was sad that my pictures from the last 4 years were all gone (I am very sentimental). Then I felt icky and violated. But overall I was very surprised in how, once I got through the initial emotions, I was still ok. 

It is so much more freeing to live relying on God's provision. And to not feel consumed by 'consumerism'. 

My first step in downsizing:

I took all my clothes and put them in piles of: Keep, Not Sure, Don't Need.

I got rid of bags of clothes. 

There was so many shirts that I love but never wear or they have holes in them so I decided to make a quilt!

I was really surprised how fast it was to make!

Now I have an organized and cleaned out closet and dresser.

Next time I will tackle my craft closet and bathroom closet!!

"And my God will supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Jesus" -Philippians 4:19

Heating pad DIY

I was cold and my back hurt. 

I really wanted one of those microwaveable heating pads.

So I decided to make one.

All you need is some soft, durable fabric

and some beans, lentils, rice, etc. 

1. Cut the fabric into two rectangles measuring: 6in x 18in

2. Pin the fabric right sides facing each other and sew the rectangles together, leaving a small opening to fill with beans.

3. Flip inside out so the good side is showing. 

4. Fill with beans. I used a 2 lb bag. 

5. I wanted it to have a good smell so I took some lavender from a candle I had and added it to the bag. (Just 2 pinches) 

You could also add cloves, rosemary, rose petals, etc. 

6. Sew the opening closed.

7. You could stop here but then the beans would shift from one side to another. 

8. So I sectioned the beans into four equal parts and sewed a divider.  

9. I then added straps so I could tie it to my leg, neck, back or anything to keep it in place. 

10. Microwave for 3 minutes and you will have a nice heating pad that will last about 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!