Riley Blake's Willow Line

As a gift for our new baby my mom gave me a jelly roll of Riley Blake's line Willow. It is so cute! I am in love with the colors and the patterns. If you are not familiar with Riley Blake, you can check out her website here. Beware you might fall madly in love with everything and want to buy everything that she has! I know I want to sometimes.

Anyways the jelly roll that my mom gave me was included in a kit for a split rail fence quilt. It sounds complicated, I was a little intimidated at first by the quilt instructions, but I am here to tell you that it is really simple.

I will keep you updated with my progress with the quilt through out the week. Check back on Later as I complete more of the quilt! Enjoy

Soba Noodle Salad

Ingredients

• 4 ounces uncooked soba (buckwheat noodles)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup (2-inch-long) julienne-cut red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup julienne-cut snow peas
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions 

Directions

1. Cook soba according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain and rinse with cold water. Drain well.
2. Combine soy sauce, dark sesame oil, brown sugar, lemon juice, and crushed red pepper in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add noodles, red bell pepper, snow peas, and green onions; toss well.

 Serve with Roasted Salmon with Soy-Marmalade Glaze. Source: Cooking Light

This side dish was really delicious with the Roasted Salmon. I added about twice as many bell peppers and snow peas as it calls for. Our family is big on veggies. Make sure to not over cook the soba noodles. It took about 10 minutes to put it together.

Roasted Salmon with Soy-marmalde Glaze

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup orange marmalade
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 (6-ounce) skin-on salmon fillets 
• Cooking spray
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions 
• 4 lemon wedges 

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 450°.
2. Combine marmalade, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and garlic in a small bowl. Arrange salmon fillets, skin sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush fish fillets evenly with half of marmalade mixture. Bake fish fillets at 450° for 4 minutes.
3. Heat broiler to high (do not remove fish from oven); broil fish 6 minutes. Spoon remaining marmalade mixture onto center of fillets. Broil fish an additional 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle fish evenly with green onions; serve with lemon wedges.

Serve with Soba Noodle Salad. Source: Cooking Light

We loved this recipe! We are salmon lovers but even if you are not I would recommend trying this one. It is so easy to make. It took only about 20 minutes start to finish. It has a nice sweet taste that balances out the fish but doesn't over power it.

Can I just say something about cooking light for a minute. I love it! It is a great magazine for anyone looking for healthier options to feed their families or just themselves. A big plus for me is that they don't taste like "health food." All of their recipes have tons of flavors and nothing weird that you have to purchase at a specialty store. I can't say enough good things about them.

Linked to:
http://whipperberry.com/

Half Square Triangle Quilt

I have had a collection of bright fabrics sitting in my fabric stash for almost a year. I had planned to use them for another quilt but didn't really like it. I had cut the fabric into 8 inch squares and was wondering what to do with them.

I had recently watched a quilting class on Craftsy by Camille Roskelley. The class is called Pre-cut piecing made simple. I would recommend watching it if you are new to quilting, as I am, or just need a refresher course. She explains how to cut your fabric correctly, use charm packs, layer cakes and jelly rolls in several different quilt patterns, machine quilt and many other useful tips. I learned about half square triangles from watching this video and the hundreds of patterns you can make from them.

That got my creative juices flowing. I decided to see if pairing those colorful 8 inch squares with one of my vintage sheets, I have been collecting, would turn out cute. And guess what it did!

Any suggestions for a border or what to do for the back? I would love your suggestions.

Linked to:
Trendy treehouse 
http://whipperberry.com/

Charm Pack Quilt

I had bought a very cute charm pack almost two years again in Sisters, Oregon. Sorry I can't remember the line of fabric it was from. It was sitting in my fabric stash begging to be used. I decided to make a floor quilt. I sewed each block into strips of 8 blocks and then sewed the five strips together.

I used a high loft batting for some extra cushion and one of my many vintage sheets for the backing. 

I decided I was going to be adventurous and try free motion quilting on my machine. It didn't turn out so well. After about 30 minutes of getting frustrated with my tread breaking and getting my quilt sandwich stuck, I decided that I needed a different plan. I decided to use my walking foot and stitch in the ditch.

I still need to bind it. Any Ideas? I have no idea what to bind it in. Any suggestions would be wonderful.

Linked to:
Craft-o-Maniac
Keeping it simple