Continuing on with my series on How to make a Pinwheel Table Topper, I want to show you how to square up a half square triangle. I have taken you through the steps to sew your light and dark block together. You have cut your triangles apart and pressed. Now it is time to make your block the most accurate size it can be.

Lay your block down onto a flat cutting surface. Lay your six inch square ruler on top of the block and line the angle line up with the seam of the block. Pull the square to where your marking is showing on the block. In this pattern, I want my block to be 4 1/2 inches so I pull the 4 1/2 mark up and make a cut to the right and top of my block. Spin the block around and match the angle mark to the seam. Put the 4 1/2 inch mark on the bottom of the square. You will again cut the right side and the top. There might only be slivers of fabric to cut but these make the difference in getting points to match when you put your blocks together.

Today, I am tackling a new bag pattern. I made this on Saturday and surprised a friend of mine with it. She is a huge Colts fan. To see what others are tackling, be sure to visit 5minutesformom.com. I can’t wait to see what everyone is tackling.

Friday is here and after a wicked headache yesterday, I am so glad to see it. We are almost ready for a weekend full of scrapbooking. Val over at Fun, Crafts and Recipes has another great set of questions for Four Foods on Friday. Be sure to check out her blog and join in on the fun. I have discovered how much we are alike in the foods we enjoy. Sometimes I am surprised at what my blogging buddies consider good eats. LOL

#1. Melon. What’s your favorite kind?
#2. Orange citrus. What’s your favorite - oranges, nectarines, navel oranges, tangerines, etc.
#3. Oreos. What kind is your favorite? (Don’t eat Oreos? What about olives?)
#4. Pot pie. Share a recipe. (No pot pie recipe? What about a casserole or some other hot meal you bake?)

#1 We have been blessed with yummy sweet tasting watermelon this year.

#2 I love a good navel orange; the kind where the juice runs down your chin when you eat it.

#3 I don’t care for Oreos. It is the one cookie I can keep in the house and not be tempted to eat the bag full. I do like Oreo Blizzards from DQ.

4. I make pot pies using Pillsbury crusts from the freezer department at the grocery. I roll them out thinner because I don’t care for the thickness they are straight out of the box. A thinner crust seems to be flakier, the way I like it!

I boil 3 chicken breasts for 1/2 hour then shred or chop the meat.

I saute 2 tablespoons of chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of butter or margarine. Add 1/3 cup flour and a dash of salt. You can use a little chicken broth to get the consistency of white sauce you like. Cook until hot and bubbly and thickened. Then add a package of thawed peas and carrots.

Dump in the chicken and stir.

Pour into the crust which has been placed into the bottom of a floured 9″ deep dish pie pan. Cover with top crust. Pinch edges of crusts together. Cut slits to allow steam to escape. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. You can put foil over the edges of the crust to keep them from burning.

This very hot when it comes out of the oven so be careful. I like to serve it with some applesauce or a salad.

The next step in making your table topper is to mark the back of the lightest square. Using your 8″ marking ruler, mark on both sides of the ruler and down the center of the ruler in the holes. The side markings will be where you sew, the middle marking will be your cutting line. Note: if you do not have a handy dandy ruler like the one shown in the picture, you can draw a pencil line down the center of your block, from point to point, then draw lines 1/4″ on each side of that center line

Sew on the marked lines, **just inside the drawn line. You will want to press the block to set the stitches.

Then, carefully laying each side back, press each side of the block. Pressing before cutting down the center ensures that the triangle will not be stretched out of shape and size.

Now you can cut down the center of the block. You will end up with two blocks that are the same in colorization.

Next, we will square up the block.

**A bit of information I found at Ask.com:
Rotary cut pieces are usually slightly smaller than their template-cut counterparts due to the absence of marked lines. That old pencil line was a tiny width, but most of us tended to cut on the outside of it, adding a bit of excess. The width was often just enough to compensate for the loft that gets lost in a seam when it’s pressed up and over the thread.

Think of that missing line whenever you measure strips or sew seams. Accuracy takes practice, but it won’t be long until you know exactly where to cut and where to sew to achieve the best results.

Tacklers all over the bloggosphere are tackling on Tuesday. To see what others are tackling, be sure to visit 5minutesformom.com. You might even want to tackle something and tell us all about it!

My tackle for this Tuesday is to get prepared to teach how to make table toppers to the ladies who belong to my quilt guild. They expressed interest in making table toppers! They are easy to make so it will be fun. I want to get my ideas together so I don’t ramble when I explain how to make the project an easy one. I hope you readers don’t mind if I practice on you!

The first step is to pick your fabric. The number of fabrics you need will depend on the style you wish to achieve with your topper. The simplest way is to begin with 5″ squares folded into triangles and play with them. Lay them out to see if you want as little as three different fabrics or if you want to go wild and have every block a different style and pattern of fabric. It is up to you!

I like to start with the pinwheel in the center. Decide what you like and build from there. You can follow the picture shown in my previous post where I used four different fabrics. Or use three fabrics as shown in the table topper I made a few months ago. Again, you can use as many different fabrics as you like.

The holidays will be here before we know it. I chose Christmas fabrics to make this holiday table topper. Check back over the next few weeks as I give tips and hints on making a table topper. It is a fun, quick and easy project that will have you wanting to pick out fabric for every season and holiday to make your next table topper. Note: I haven’t finished this topper. The white around the topper is batting that will be covered when I attach the binding.

I love receiving awards and I especially love receiving awards from my sister! Wowzers! She loves my blog. Thanks Lynne. In case you don’t know, my sister is The Sewing Mom. Yep, she is that great blogger who juggles being a great mom, terrific writer and making beautiful sewing projects. Here is the award she bestowed on me and this blog.

Here is how this award works:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog;
2. Link the person you received your award from;
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs;
4. Put links of those blogs on yours; and
5. Leave a message on the blogs that you’ve nominated.

Seven of my favorite blogs:
1. Daisy the Curly Cat This cat looks at life from a cat’s point of view. Very interesting and fun blog.
2. Michael’s So-Called Life Michael is a great writer who loves politics and has definite opinions about things. I enjoy comparing notes with him.
3. Damien writes from his heart on Postcards from the Funny Farm.
4. Sara has been keeping us up to date with life in New Orleans on News from Nola
5. The Natural State Hawg is where I get my sports updates as well as what the government is messing up on these days. Uncle Hawg has a great view of life.
6. If you want the inside scoop on how a mom copes with raising twins, Mommy Brain Reports is the blog to read.
7. Leigh on Thoughtprints, is passionate about many subjects. Her views on political issues have me pondering both sides of what is happening.

What do you do when all you really want to do is sew but you have work to do? The showroom of our store has samples that need to be put away. How are the customers supposed to pick from things they cannot see? I have been working on my leaf wall hanging quilt. Today I have to get these samples put into the display. To see what others are tackling, be sure to check out 5minutesformom.com.

This week, Val gave the following questions for the Four Foods on Friday meme. This meme is always fun and has introduced me to great bloggers who have some fantastic recipes! You should join us.

#1. Egg salad or deviled eggs. How do you prepare?
My son loves to eat egg salad and sadly, I don’t ever make it. He makes it! I make deviled eggs by boiling the eggs, peeling them and cut them in half. Drop the cooked yokes into a bowl and add miracle whip, a little mustard and some pickle juice. Mix and put back into the egg halves.

#2. French fries. Do you make homemade or frozen?
I have made homemade fries before but I hate the greasy smell in my kitchen. I usually buy the Oreda frozen french fries and bake them.

#3. Gravy. What do you use - homemade, jar, can or from a package? I never make gravy.

#4. Share a recipe for a hot (temperature, not spice) dish.
I have had this recipe in my box for so long the the paper has yellowed. I have yet to make it. Someday, I will make this!

Onion Blossoms
2 large sweet onions, unpeeled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, divided
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup milk
Oil for deep-fat frying

Leaving the root end intact, peel the outer skin of the onion. Cut a small slice off the top. Starting at the top of the onion and on one side, make a cut downward toward the root end, stopping 1/2-inch from the bottom. Make additional cuts 1/8 inch from the first until there are cuts completely across the top of the onion. Turn the onion a quarter turn so the slices are horizontal to you. Repeat the cuts 1/8 inch apart from each other until there is a checker-board pattern across the entire top of onion.

In a small bowl, make dip by combining mayo, sour cream, chili powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning. Mix well and set aside.

In a 1-gallon plastic bag, combine flour and remaining Cajun seasoning. Place milk in a small deep bowl. Coat the cut onion in flour, then dip into milk and back into the flour mixture. Fry in enough oil to cover onion at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or until golden, turning once. Remove from oil; place on serving plate. Discard the very center of the fried onion blossom. Place a few spoonfuls of dip into the center of blossom and serve immediately.

I recently read, with great interest, a post that Cindi over at Moomette’s Magnificents wrote about Cabbage Patch dolls. She told how Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch kids will be hitting store shelves for a limited time only. You can check out her post for the details of the promotion. The reason her post held such an interest for me, was that she talked about how her sister-in-law is a graphic design artist, and worked for Coleco Industries. Coleco Industries was licensed to sell the Original Xavier Roberts dolls also known as Cabbage Patch dolls. As a toddler, Cindi’s daughter, niece and nephews were child models and their photos appeared in many Coleco Cabbage Patch promotional toy publications, brochures and on the boxes the dolls and Coleco toys came in! Isn’t that cool? I think it is very cool. I always loved the Cabbage Patch dolls. My mom made clothes for them. Here is a picture of my 23 year old son, Greg, when he was a baby. He is the one in blue.