My First Chili Recipe

Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
3 cans of Bush's Best Chili Beans in mild sauce
2 (28 ounces) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 large onion
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chili powder
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs dried oregano
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp brown sugar
Optional: Shredded cheese & crackers

Brown the beef in a skillet. Drain grease. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Heat until boiling. Lower heat to simmer. Simmer 2 hours to allow flavors to mix.

This can be made in a crock pot. Cook until ground beef is browned, 4 to 6 hours.

Burp Cloth Project

I made some burp cloths using some fun fabrics with fairies.

 I didn't cut them apart for any quilt block design because I liked the fabrics so much just as they were. 

This is a pink fabric with fairies. Both will be used in a future quilt.

I sewed the fabric, right side against the cotton diaper, on all sides leaving a 4 inch gap to invert the burp cloth so the right side was then out. I clipped the corners to reduce a little of the bulk. 

After turning the fabric right side out, I used a zipper foot and sewed along the "bump" that the two fabrics created with the extra layers along the outer edge. 

Finally, I hand sewed the opening closed.


I had two different sets. I made three of each. 

Pressing pad idea.

 I have a different desk now and needed a different ironing set up. Here is a sleeve that I made to place over a wooden cutting board. There is a layer if Insul-Bright between two layers of fabric. Then I sewed that into a sleeve. 

 The wooden cutting board is a little difficult to see on the wooden desk, but the sleeve slips easily on and off for washing. 

You can see the handle of the cutting board on the left. The cutting board is the best that I have found so far to prevent heat from getting to the desk. It is also thick enough that steam doesn't damage the desk. This is small enough to be portable and works well for my quilt blocks and other smaller projects.