Picture Quilt!

Whew! It's done, finally it's finished and given to my mommy!! Several months ago I decided to make my mom a picture quilt of her three kids for her 50th birthday. Her birthday was in August, but I told her a while ago that she wouldn't get it until Thanksgiving when all three of her kids were there to give it to her. Not that my brother or sister could really help with it. I just wanted everyone together to give it to her. So I asked her to send me a bunch of her favorite pictures of the three of us growing up and I chose them from there. It took me probably a week or longer just to select the pictures I wanted. They are all good! And as usual I work best under pressure! It was down to the day before we left for our Thanksgiving trip and I was only halfway done with quilting it, and still had the binding to do. I knocked it out though, and it was done and ready to go in time! And I really like how it turned out. I took a chance with some fabric choices I wouldn't necessarily use, but they had a more vintage look and since the pictures were all older, it turned out really well. Unfortunately my mommy is smart and kind of figured out I'd be making something like this. She just didn't know what it would include or look like exactly lol. So my element of surprise wasn't really there. Oh well, she still loves it and that's all that matters. :-) So here are some pics of the progression of the quilt, and of course some with my mom! Enjoy!

The first couple of rows and name embroidery.

 

Lane is scared of the heat vent. So he was hiding behind the quilt while it was on the chair. He's such a chicken, but I love my little dork.

 

 

The finished product! My hubby was my ghost model...you can tell it's really long because he's holding it up and you can't see any of him!

 

 

 

Now for pics with my mommy! Her opening it at my brother's house, and showing her mom (my Nana) the next day.

 

 

This took a while to make, but I procrastinate so it probably only took about 4-6 weeks of actually working on it. But it took several months to get done altogether. Maybe one day I won't procrastinate on big projects, but that's unlikely. :-p

 

 

Pinterest Recipe Success! - Chicken Fried Rice

I know, I know....I haven't written in forever again. I've been busy! Lots of work on a big craft project which will be posted after Thanksgiving some time, lots of cooking for another blog I'm part of. BTW if you haven't checked us out and follow us, go do it! www.armywivesdoitinthekitchen.com

So I've tried a few recipes I've found on pinterest, but I don't usually blog about them unless they were really good. So tonight I decided to try out a recipe for chicken fried rice I found online here. I mostly followed her recipe, but I cut it in half and changed a couple thing. So below is how I made it tonight. It turned out REALLY good! I did use her recipe for the slow cooker teriyaki chicken to use for it, and that turned out amazing as well individually, and in the dish. I don't think the fried rice would have been as good using plain chicken. The recipe for the chicken is here. I doubled this recipe because a single batch didn't completely cover my chicken (since I used a large crock pot). I also pounded the chicken a little bit first to make sure a double batch completely covered it. Even though it will shred easily, I recommend trying to cut it up after cooking so it's more bit sized for the fried rice. For the amount of fried rice I made, I only used one large chicken breast.

So here it is! Make the chicken according to the recipe on her blog. For the fried rice:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups prepared brown rice
• 1 large chicken breast, cooked according to directions found here 
• 2/3 cups frozen peas & carrots
• 1/2 small white onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1/8 cup soy sauce

Directions:

1. Prepare rice according to package directions to yield 2 cups prepared.
2. Heat sesame oil in a large skillet. Add peas, carrots, onion and garlic. Saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
3. Crack eggs into pan and scramble, mixing throughout vegetables.
4. Add rice, chicken, and soy sauce to pan. Mix throughout and remove from heat.
5. Serve hot with additional soy sauce if desired.

We made this with a recipe called "Perfect Potstickers." It's on a recipe card, and I'll admit I'm feeling lazy tonight and don't really want to write that one out because it's a bit more involved. Another night perhaps. :-) So here is a picture of the final product with the potstickers we had tonight. YUM-MY!!