Summer Fair: My first quilt!

AnneMarie is hosting Summer Fair: A Quilt and Recipe Show this week. I'm showing you my first quilt, which I finished two years ago. If you haven't been reading my blog since the very beginning, this might be the first time you've seen it.


The story: I won a giveaway for a fat quarter bundle of Good Folks on Anna Maria Horner's blog. I really don't remember why I was reading her blog--I didn't know anything about fabric then, and I'm sure I had no idea what a fat quarter was! I came across this tutorial on Diary of a Quilter and thought I'd try making a quilt. My mom and sister had given me a sewing machine for my bridal shower a few years before (I'm sure they couldn't have guessed how much time I'd spend with the machine), so I got to sewing and was immediately hooked. This giveaway win definitely ended up costing me a bundle!


I didn't give much thought to the design--just sewed the rectangles together. At this point, I was in way over my head, so I had it professionally quilted. I really didn't think I'd be able to quilt on my machine, but it didn't take me long to figure that out. I was obnoxiously proud of my finished product (kinda still am).


My friend Leah helped me pick out the backing and binding fabrics. We picked the blue Cathedral print for the backing.


The quilter used gold thread for the quilting. A good reminder that I should be more adventurous with my thread choice sometimes. (And one of these days I'll get around to fixing that popped seam.) This is the most used quilt in our house, and it remains my very favorite.

And now, on to the recipe part of the Summer Fair! My mom used to make this taco salad recipe for our family reunions, and it just reminds me of summer. I asked her to dig it up for the Fourth of July, so it's fresh on my mind. It's definitely not gourmet, but it's a blue ribbon winner in my book!



Taco Salad


1 can chili beans or red beans, drained
1 cup shredded cheese
1 or 2 cups shredded lettuce
½ lb ground beef, browned
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup corn chips or taco flavored chips, crushed
¼ cup French dressing
¼ cup mayo

Drain beans, mix with cheese, lettuce, ground beef, and onions. Refrigerate until serving time.

Combine French dressing and mayo. Then toss beef mixture with chips and dressing.


Be sure to head over to Gen X Quilters to see the rest of the Fair entries!