Seriously??!!

Are you kidding me? This is what happens when you turn a man loose with an iron. SQM was trying to do something really special and this is the result. Two words...low heat! One would think that he should never be trusted in the kitchen. But then this is the lovely meal he made to make up for the assault on the iron.....

I think I'll keep him.


Recipe for one of our favorite meals as follows:

Spaghetti Pie

Cook a 1 lb. box of spaghetti according to the directions on the box. Drain and place in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Beat one egg with 1/2 cup of milk. Pour this mixture over the pasta. Prepare your favorite spaghetti sauce with meat (our family prefers ground turkey) and spread over the pasta. Generously cover with shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with pepperoni slices and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Quick, delicious and very satisfying.

Rhonda :)

Winter Bliss

We don't get much snow in this neck of the woods anymore. When I was a child, it snowed all the time, or at least it seemed that way. I can remember when we would miss what seemed like most of the month of January. Well, maybe I am exaggerating a little. But even still, Pumpkin and Tink only get to enjoy the occasional flurry or snow shower. Here is a picture of them doing just that. We have to always encourage them to get right out there when it is actually snowing because it is gone in the blink of an eye. We still keep hoping for more than a flurry! Be careful, what you wish for...

Some exciting news from The Back Porch Quilters! Russ always said that he would know that he had "made it" if he was published in McCall's. Well, guess what? We have arrived. Russ is in the March/April 2009 issue of McCall's Quick Quilts. Page 46, specifically,for those of you who care to know. We have several other publications coming out in the near future. We are so grateful to Susan at SuzGuz Designs for this wonderful opportunity. We are truly blessed.

Rhonda :)

Let Me Tell You About My Girls

I told you that I would introduce the rest of my family at a later date, so here goes. We have two daughters, ages 12 and 8. Let's refer to the oldest as Pumpkin, since she was almost a Halloween baby. She was born two days before Halloween. She was my little goblin. Pumpkin is a quiet gentle soul that is always considerate of everyone else's feelings. She is the person I aspire to be. She never questions why or why not, she just quietly accepts what is handed to her and is just happy to be. This photo was taken by our friend, Dana of the Old Red Barn Co.. Isn't she a great photographer? Pumpkin is becoming quite the quilter. She has made quilts for all her friends and they are so loving her. For her birthday this year, we got her a reconditioned Singer featherweight sewing machine. Maybe she will take over the family business...someday. I chaperoned her middle school dance last night and it is so interesting to watch how mature she is becoming, but at the same time so much still a little girl. To see how they keep a watchful and safe distance from the boys, but just close enough to let them know that they (the girls) are in control. So cute!




Now, I was never fortunate enough to have a sister, just two older and very protective brothers. I would have never thought that I could be instrumental in bringing two such opposite people into this world. They are polar opposites. My 8 year old, which we will refer to as "Tink" is as vastly different from Pumpkin as she can be. First, let me explain the name Tink. Tinkerbell has always been her favorite Disney character and since she was born in August and has red hair, green has always been her color.


Pumpkin and Tink have similar interests, same kind of movies, same grades in school, both love to dance and so on. But their personalities are so different. Tink is a deep thinker and what ever emotion she is feeling at the moment, she feels it to her very core. I guess a short fuse goes with being a red head--so she is kind of a hot head, at times. She is very sensitive and can't bear the thought of an animal being hurt. So, we don't watch many animal movies. Let's just say that Bambi would put her over the edge! Tink is hysterically funny at times and makes us laugh all the time. Can't you just see the mischief in those eyes? I just know that she is going to make a great impact on the world someday.



So there you have it. My Pumpkin and my Tink. I love them so.



Rhonda :)

It's "virtually" delightful

We received a small package in the mail today. Not that we aren't used to getting packages in the mail. We get those all the time. The boxes are usually filled with someone's carefully pieced treasure just waiting for Russ ("SQM") to transform it into something even more beautiful. So, it's usually a considerably larger package than we received today. Today's package, was a small unassuming little thing.
Would you like to know what was in it?

It's the first block for our virtual bee. For those of you who don't know how this works, it goes like this. In the month that has been designated "yours", you send enough fabric to everyone in the bee to make a block for you. In this case, there are 12 people in our bee, so at the end, we will get 12 different blocks, including the one that we make for ourselves. An exciting opportunity to get fresh ideas from fellow quilters. I can't wait to see what the others come up with when we send our fabric. Hmm, I can't wait to see what we come up with for this block!

Rhonda :)

My First Entry

Time to start a new year and a new chapter in our lives. It has been a whirlwind two year adventure for us since we started this business. We are "The Backporch Quilters", which was "born" for two reasons. #1--Out of necessity for a new career and #2(and certainly not second because it was less important)because of our love for quilting. We are a family of four trying to make our mark on the big wide world. Dad (which we will refer to as "SQM", which stands for Super Quilting Man, which was a name affectionately given to him by one of our dearest friends at the local quilt shop in our town.) More about the quilt shop later. Mom, part-time worker, full-time taxi and dancer mom, (four days a week, thank you very much) and two lovely, lovely and did I mention lovely daughters, age 12 and 8.(To be given an "on line" name at a later date.)

Most of SQM's days are spent in the quilting room working on the projects that our customers have carefully and lovingly pieced together to become heirloom treasures. My day is kind of all over the place, between work and taxiing the girls to dance class, (did I mention four days a week??) and did I mention that I like to on occasion remind my family just how hard I work for them?

Our intention for this blog is not to just wile away the hours telling your about our days and nights, but to keep you well informed about what is going on in our corner of the quilting world and possibly to occasionally pass on a great recipe that I have stumbled upon. I do like to cook! However, in order to get the free recipes--you will have to endure viewing the occasional picture or video of our girls at dance. Just kidding. Not really--seriously, you will have to see the photos!