A Mini For Holly

This post is a week later than I'd planned. It was already revealed here and here, but I'll go ahead and share it again for those of you who didn't already see it. I told you back here that the fabulous Holly had put together my beautiful blog design for me. In exchange, I made a mini quilt for her sewing room, and last week it was delivered to her. I call it a Type of Improv Mini for Holly. Really, the name doesn't matter. I've never been good at naming anything but my children. ;)



I'm thrilled to know she loves it and I really did enjoy putting it together for her. As much as I adore certain fabric lines together (Far Far Away I, Mendocino, Flea Market Fancy, AMH Good Folks, Innocent Crush, the list goes on), it sure is fun to find my own combinations. Holly put together a mosaic so I could get some direction for what she likes. It is a mishmosh of many things, but most of it is right up my alley and I enjoyed fitting in as many aspects as I could without going overboard (hmmm...well, maybe I did go overboard by some people's standards, but Holly & I like it so I'll go with that, lol).



The back I tried to keep fairly simple since it will be against a wall, but I do like how it highlights the quilting, all done in straight (and slightly curvy, hehe) quilting with a walking foot, except for on the typewriter itself, for which I did some free motion quilting to highlight it and the heart. I did include a label for her, something I've only done once before, which was a perfect excuse to use this fun lined paper fabric by Cosmo Cricket.



I have seen Holly here and there on Flickr for the past couple of years, but it was on Instagram sometime in the past several months that we became contacts and where she offered to help me with my blog design. Such a fun and unexpected blessing! I love that various social and online media venues connect people who wouldn't otherwise ever come into contact. I've had the opportunity to meet several online friends in real life, friends that get me and my passion for sewing and quilting, and one day I hope to meet many more of them at fun events like the Sewing Summit andQuiltCon, but for now I am thankful for the day to day connections I get with so many talented individuals, just like Holly. :)

Easy Chile Verde in the Crockpot

This morning I started to make an easy crockpot meal, and thanks to my Instagram loving self, it occurred to me that others might be interested in this easy and delicious recipe. I have to start by saying that this recipe was acquired from my husband’s former co-worker. I sometimes experiment within a recipe to make it to my liking, but otherwise I am not talented to make my own unique combinations. So, thank you, Martha! Here we go!

Start with 1 pound of tomatillos (I always grab about 12; if you have a large crockpot and want to go big, add more!), 1 small onion, and some cloves of garlic (I like garlic, so I used 6 large ones today).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel everything, rinse and halve the tomatillos, and chop the onion into big chunks. Grab a casserole dish (I use a glass one) and cover the entire bottom with a thin layer of olive oil. Place all ingredients into the dish and roast for 30 minutes.



When that is ready, pour the roasted ingredients into your blender and blend away. Next, add a rinsed bunch of cilantro (I cut off just the very end of the stalks) and a 4 oz. can of diced chiles (I use mild; we have baby tongues here) and blend with the rest of the sauce.



Take some pork chops, amount dependent upon how many mouths you have to feed (I usually buy about 1 or 1.5 pounds for my family of 4), and place in greased crockpot. Add salt & pepper to them according to your liking. Take blender and pour sauce into the crockpot, covering the pork chops. Cover and cook about 8 hours on low. And that's it!



Be sure to discard the fat when you shred your finished meat. We like ours served in tortillas with some cheese and sour cream, burrito style. Yum!! Be sure to let me know if you try it out and let me know what you think or if you customized it at all. Enjoy!!