Summer Vacation and Giveaway Winners

I had fully intended to write a few blog posts while Pat and I enjoyed our two-week vacation. Somehow, though, that just didn't happen.

Instead, I spent many hours in and around the pool.

I crafted with my nieces.

One niece was seriously stuck on making slime. So, we made several versions. This was version #2 as she was mixing the ingredients (school glue and laundry detergent) together.

The other niece that stayed with us just wanted to make art. We each grabbed a canvas board and set to work. This was how mine turned out. She went in another direction altogether with acrylic paint, abstract bubbles, and splatters. I won't share without her permission, which I haven't asked for yet.

Pat and I spent lots of time outside doing yard work, working on the garden, and picking the wild grapes growing on the property.

I'm still giddy that those annoying grape vines are actually producing grapes.

Pat bought an old golf cart and got it working. He'll use any excuse to drive around the property on it. Boys!

The majority of the last week of our vacation was spent on one project in particular: QUILTING! I discovered the #BrooklynKnitFolkQAL video playlist when Lorelei Eurto showed off her completed quilt on Facebook. I was smitten! The videos are done by Jaclyn who goes through the steps simply and thoroughly. She made it look so easy! Learning to quilt has been on my bucket list for ages, and I've got loads of fabrics saved for when I learn to quilt. So, I took the break from most everything else to learn and do this. You can watch the videos for all the steps and supplies, but here are a few shots of some of the steps as I went through them.

Drying my fabrics after washing them. I used about three packs of fat quarters for the quilt top.

Cutting the fabric into 6x6 inch squares. This step was by far the longest and most tedious.

Sew the rows. I just loved this glimpse of all my rows stacked one on top of the other.

Pressing (ironing) the backs and attaching the rows to each other.

There were a few more steps in there before the final quilt came together. It's smaller than it looks here and is really just a lap quilt. But, it gave me a good idea of the process, materials, time, and cost it takes to make a quilt. It's much more than I had imagined.

And, while I had the sewing machine out, I made replacement bean bags (rice bags really) for our cornhole game.

Of course, I'm pretty sure I did other things than craft, swim, and garden...but I can't recall any of them at the moment. HA!

I also forgot to do the giveaway for Earrings 81-100. Oops! Before I get to that, I never heard back from the winner of the Earrings 61-80 giveaway. So, I've drawn again and the winner for that one is Kathy L!!! Kathy, I'll be contacting you about getting your prize to you shortly. Congratulations!!

Now for the 81-100 giveaway.
The names were collected

And a random number generated.

The winner is phinner!! Congratulations!! I'll also be emailing you about getting your prize to you.

Thanks to everyone who played along with these giveaways and offered up so much support during The 100 Day Project. I enjoyed stretching my creative muscles, and your encouragement really helped to make it fun as well. Thank You!

Now, here's hoping I can get back into a routine! How's your summer going? Do anything fun on your vacation?

Arugula, Tomato, and Cucumber Pasta Salad Recipe

Last week Pat and I hosted a Fourth of July party. We wanted it to be as casual as possible: bring something for the grill, maybe a side too; come swim and play yard games; we'll do fireworks when it gets dark. Easy peasy. I think it went well.

Since we were hosting, I made three sides: my 'famous' corn casserole, a super basic potato salad (it was really just potatoes, mayo, mustard, relish, and seasonings), and this amazing pasta salad.

I hardly ever make or eat pasta salad because Pat's not a fan of cold pasta. When he goes out of town, I tend to make a batch of this and eat it for DAYS as a meal or a side! Since we were having a summer party, I figured a cold salad would be perfect.

Here's how I made it. Complete instructions are at the bottom. Boil your pasta of choice until al dente. Make sure not to overcook it. You don't want mushy pasta in your salad. Drain and rinse it with cold water when it's done. While that's going, slice grape tomatoes in half and quarter chunky cucumber slices. I would normally peel the cucumbers first, but I knew that there would be some non-cucumber eaters at the party so these needed to stand out from the rest of the salad.

Toss in your feta and Parmesan cheeses, pine nuts, and red onion. You could just use feta, but I have a real love affair with cheese so I can't help but add all the cheese. Also, you're welcome to toast the pine nuts. I wasn't feeling like fussing with the oven myself.

Mix up the dressing

Dump the pasta in with the veggies, and pour the dressing over it all. Stir the whole thing together, cover it, and chill it in the fridge.

Now, I have another confession to make. I have a thing for arugula. When I made this pasta salad for the first time (as a pot luck dish back in the fall), it was the arugula that drove me to do it. Wash and rinse some arugula (in a salad spinner thing). Put it aside until you are ready to serve the salad. If you put it in too early, it could possibly wilt. I just stick it in a zip-top baggie until I'm ready for it.

As I made the salad, I knew there were guests coming that wouldn't eat certain ingredients. One was allergic to pine nuts, some don't like cucumber, onion is an issue for another. I figured if they didn't like the ingredients; they didn't have to eat it. I could have it ALL TO MYSELF! Whahahahaha! (that was my evil laugh). Anyway, the salad did get eaten, some was even taken to other homes. I did have a little left over just for me though. Yay!

Before I give you my recipe for it, I need to tell you that the whole dish was inspired by this Arugula Pasta Salad with Tomatoes recipe from Little Spice Jar.

Arugula, Tomato, and Cucumber Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

1 box of Bowtie Pasta

1 container of grape tomatoes (sliced in half)

1 large cucumber (sliced and quartered)

1/2 red onion (finely diced)

1/4 C pine nuts

6oz feta cheese

1/4 C shaved Parmesan

2 C arugula 

For the dressing:

1/2 C olive oil

4 T red wine vinegar

2 T white balsamic vinegar

3 T agave

1 t granulated garlic powder

1 t Italian seasoning

1/2 t pepper

salt to taste

Directions: 

1. Boil pasta until al dente. Drain and rinse with cool water.

2. Chop and combine in a large bowl the grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, pine nuts, feta, and Parmesan. 

3. Mix together dressing ingredients.

4. Add pasta and dressing to bowl. Toss to combine.

5. Chill bowl in fridge. 

6. Wash and rinse arugula. Place in baggie in fridge until ready to serve.

7. Toss arugula into bowl and enjoy!

Feel free to add any ingredients you think this needs and more or less of anything. I'm happy with it as is but did consider adding broccoli (had it not gone bad). I could also see grilled chicken or shrimp in with it. And, while I think it's a perfect dish for summer, I can eat it all year long!

Do you have a favorite 'summer' recipe?

I'm linking up this recipe at the Link Party Palooza 150 on Lil' Luna.

Summertime Begins

So how was everyone's Memorial Day?
Pat and I spent every day of the long weekend on the water.

Styx River in LA (lower Alabama)

We never quite made it to the Gulf, but I'm sure we'll be headed down there in the next few days for sure.  Since summer break has officially started for the nieces and their day camp doesn't start until Monday, I offered to let them stay with us for most of the week. The oldest had other plans to stay with a friend (at 13, this has already started. . .GAH!) But the youngest was more than happy to spend her week with me. As such, my blogging and creating has suffered, but we're having a blast nonetheless.

We spent Tuesday afternoon on Styx River (see picture at top of page) with my MIL and BIL. Yesterday, we started off with some Geocaching. Little-bit thought she would go in disguise, but that didn't last long.

This fake mustache would have MELTED off her face had she worn it much longer

It was HOT as all get-out yesterday so by lunchtime we were D.O.N.E. with the outside...well, except to walk around downtown to Mr Gene's Beans for a cool treat.

I just love all the colors as the melty mini M&Ms.

After spending some time in the air conditioned theater watching Epic (it was awesome!), we ended the day with a few rounds of Rummikub. It was little-bit's first time playing and I had to re-learn it myself (it's been so long since I played.)

We each won a round. I think that's fair.

All in all, we're having a great time. I'm not sure exactly what today will hold (maybe some car-washing, maybe time at the bookstore, maybe some arts & crafts, maybe a trip to the Gulf), but I do know we'll have some more fun.

What activities do you have planned this summer? Here's hoping it's starting off with a bang too!!

The Heat is ON

When I got into my car yesterday afternoon to head to the craft store, the temperature gauge on my dash read 103 degrees. Let me repeat that in case you are hard of reading. It was ONE HUNDRED AND THREE DEGREES yesterday. It was only the first of June. The first day of summer is not for a few more weeks. . .OH DEAR!!!!

My grass looks like this

And, we've already had the air conditioning company out to check on the A/C

sigh. . .It's going to be a LONG, HOT summer.

At least I have some new craft supplies to keep me company as I hide away in the craft room.

New "Facets" from Tim Holtz at Michael's

Bezels

Colorful Shell Beads

Perhaps I can kick out some more new jewelry pieces.
Until then, here's another re-listed item.

Copper Calla Lily Earrings

If you can believe it, I'm off to make some steaming hot potato SOUP. Yup soup, I think the heat has already gotten to me.