October 25, 2008 by debi.

Just in time to make one or more for all the special people on your Christmas list. What is better than recieving a wonderful book as a gift? That book wrapped in handmade, reuseable book cover. I have had so much fun making these in all sizes. This is a quick project, made in a couple hours at the most, and easy to embellish or not. I’ll be adding instruction for unique beads and buttons soon!  bookcover.pdf I’d love to see what you do with this pattern, so email me your photos! debi@patchworkvalley.com

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June 25, 2008 by debi.

I’ve listed some great new fat quarters and jelly rolls, in the Dandelion Girls collection by Fig Tree Quilts and Moda. The colors and patterns are beautiful, see the swatches below. I wll include with any purchase my new exclusive fat quarter friendly Book Cover pattern. The pattern tells how to make a cover for any normal size book or journal. Would be a great custom made gift for the book lovers in your life.

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June 20, 2008 by debi.

Great make ahead breakfast, just put in the oven 55 minutes before your meal.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups seasoned croutons
1 pound pork sausage
4 eggs
2 1/4 cup milk
1 (10 3/4 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
fresh spinach leaves (good size handfull)
8 oz. fresh mushrooms chopped to desired size
half medium onion chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions:

Spread croutons in greased 9×13 baking pan. Brown sausage in a medium skillet, remove when browned and reserve a tiny bit of drippings and saute the onions and mushrooms.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and mustard. Stir in the cheeses and the soup. Spread spinach leaves over the croutons, top with the sausage and mushrooms. Pour egg mixture over all. Refridgerate overnight.

In the morning - preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until set and lightly browned. Serve hot.

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April 11, 2008 by debi.

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April 2, 2008 by debi.

As promised in my last post; here are the photos of my organizer project. Here is the link for the recipe or instructions if you prefer.

Empty organizer, notice how sturdy! Easier to load this way

.

Look what I can fit in this thing! I tweeked the pattern to use in my gym bag. It measures 36″ x 8″ - Pocket is 36″x 7′.

Rolled and ready to put in my gym bag.

In the bag! Spread out to the sides and it leaves a nice area in the center for my towel and clean clothes. Throw in a plastic bag for wet stuff.

And GO!!

Can’t wait to finish a smaller one to easily do my quick purse change!!

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April 1, 2008 by debi.

I finally feel like I’ve come out of hibernation even with the cold weather and even the snow we have be getting lately. The days are getting longer and we are having longer and longer “sun breaks” (Pacific Northwest speak).

The true test for me is that I’ve been inspired to finish projects and even to do a little creating. I made one of the super simple and very functional purse organizers.  I found a free pattern at http://thegivingflower.de/?p=920 and of course as per my norm, I tweeked it to suit my needs. Awesome! Any little project that can be finished in less than a day is a great mood booster. Pictures will be coming soon.

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March 29, 2008 by debi.

Is this really the end of March? 3 days of off and on snow…enough already!!!!!

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January 7, 2008 by debi.

This is delicious! Even my diehard traditional (red) chili loving men loved this. My shortcuts are in ( ).

White Chili

2  1/2 to 3 pounds chicken breasts about 3 whole breasts (1 large rotiserrie chicken, cut up or shred)
6 cups chicken broth, homemade, canned  (boxed)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped, about 2 C
8 large garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
3 or 4 red or green 3 inch chilies finely chopped (canned chopped green chilies)
1 T ground cumin
1 T died oregano preferable Mexican
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 pound small white beans, great northern, navy or other, covered and soaked overnight. (minimum of 2 cans any white beans)
Coarse sea salt
Tabasco or other bottled hot sauce
3 to 4 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
Sour cream
Tomato salsa (deli fire roasted salsa)
Lime wedges (lime juice)

In a 5 to 6 quart pot cook the chicken in the broth. remove the chicken from the broth and cube or shred. Reserve broth in another container. Using the same pot, warm the olive oil and saute the onion until almost borown and add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds or so.
Add the chilies, cumin, oregano, cinnamon, beans and reserved broth. If using dried beans, simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours til beans are tender (canned beans? - continue to next step)
Stir in the chicken and simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference with salt and hot sauce.
Just before serving stir in 1 cup of the shredded cheese.
Serve in deep or flat bowls with side dishes of grated cheese, sour cream, salsa, and lime. (We also like white corn tortilla chips with this)

Serves 6 to 8 (3 to 4 of my men)

Before adding the cheese this can be refridgerated for several days (not in my house) or frozen for up to 6 months.

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December 21, 2007 by debi.

One rare day in December

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November 19, 2007 by debi.

4 3/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
2 beaten eggs
2 3/4 c. eggnog
1/2 c. cooking oil
3/4 c. chopped pecans
3/4 c. snipped dried apricots ( or cranberries???)

icing:
2/3 c. sifted powdered sugar
2-3 t. eggnog

Stir together : flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and 1/2 t. salt in a large mixing bowl. Combine eggs, eggnog and oil; add to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Stir in pecans and dried fruit. Pour into two greased 8×4x2 loaf pans.
Bake : 350 oven 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. (Cover with foil after 40 minutes id bread browns too quickly.) Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool on racks. Wrap, store overnight in fridge.

Icing
Stir together the powdered sugar and 2 - 3 teaspoons of eggnog to make an icing of drizzling consistancy. Drizzle over the bread. Makes 2 loaves. 

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