To start off with, I've finished the bluebonnets for Texas Mom's quilt. Aren't they pretty? I haven't figured out how I want to quilt them yet but I still have a little time before that's an issue. I feel almost a little guilty because I've been invited to guest post on the Slow Poke Quilters blog but I feel not quite so slow this week. Oh well!
Now for my crazy side. I did something today that I haven't done in months: I threw away perfectly good food. It wasn't moldy and hadn't yet spoiled. But I dreaded eating it like the plague. It started its life innocently enough. Tuna casserole from scratch doesn't sound evil in the least. But I tried doing it without a recipe and that's where the casserole turned evil. I didn't make enough of the creamy sauce, or maybe I just used too much tuna or added too many vegetables. Whatever the reason, this casserole went the way of Darth Vader: it turned on its old teacher. But unlike Obi-Wan Kenobi, I was able to take its evil out with only a bit of a guilty conscience. The frugal side is throwing an all out hissy fit over the whole thing, but even she can't look a can of tuna in the eyes right now.
And so now that you probably think I've totally gone off the deep end, I'm going to sign off with the promise that the pan that once held the tuna casserole will, by the end of the weekend, hold something much yummier - my mother in law's cranberry date bars. I promise to use a recipe to make them too.
I've been making slow but steady progress with MT quilts this week. I've started piecing Texas Mom's quilt. It's the 4 seasons quilt. I've started with spring - bluebonnets. If you've ever been to Texas in the spring you've seen field upon field of those beautiful flowers, purple blue as far as the eye can see. I'm not sure if mine look quite right but my husband thinks they're fine. What do you think?
Beyond that, I'm over halfway done with hand sewing the binding down on Pop-Pop's quilt. I love the vibrant turquoise blue against the brown and green - it makes it look so bright! You will have pictures of it as soon as it's done.
One other thing - my husband will be home from his business trip next week! I've missed him so much. Do any of you have suggestions as to what sort of foods I should make to celebrate his homecoming? I'm running a bit low on food ideas.
Hello! I thought I'd give ya'll a little update on my weekend. It's been quite wonderful so far...too bad it won't last longer. I went out to dinner on Friday night with a friend, her kids, and a few other ladies with their kids. It was one of the most stressful dinners I've ever been to. We had 7 children there all told, with the youngest being a baby and the oldest being about 6 or so. Four boys, three girls. Needless to say, it was a bit of a headache. We were in a back corner of the restaurant, but those kids would not listen for anything. Nobody got dessert that night. I think the restaurant, and everybody there, was glad to see us go.
Saturday, I went to a Pampered Chef party. I was only allowed to spend the cash I already had in my wallet, which was a whopping $15. I got two spice rubs...that mandoline slicer was calling my name, though. SO awesome. I always cut myself when I try to use my grater's mandoline side. Last time, I got my knuckle and it took almost a month to finish healing. Something to save up for, I guess!
I spent all of the rest of my day grocery shopping and sewing. I made this Potato soup for dinner, and it was amazing. I altered the recipe a bit, though. I used more of the celery, onion, and potato - I used the whole onion, I think either 3 or 4 stalks of celery, and 3 potatoes. Then, before I added the cream at the end, I added some baby spinach leaves and let them get all wilted. It was awesome! My bacon was a little chewy, though, because I tried using too small of a pot. If you have a large saucepan (a few inches high but with a very large bottom), use that for this soup. That recipe was enough for me to have one bowl plus seconds for two meals.
Sunday morning, I got up and made two batches of my favorite cookies. We were having a potluck lunch after church. Once those were made and baking, I put together some beef stew in the crock pot. I wasn't planning on eating it tonight, since I wanted to finish the soup, but I wanted to have it done for tomorrow night. I kind of ad libbed on the recipe, so I'll have to let you know how it tastes! I also made bread, and this time, the loaves didn't stick to the pan. Picture perfect! I'm thinking about trying to make whole wheat bread, but am kind of reluctant to change. I love this recipe for its simplicity, so does anyone have any advice?
On the sewing front, I ordered the backing for my mom's and my mother in law's quilt. They're actually the same backing, a batik that was on sale at Hancock's of Paducah. I felt really bad for buying it though, because I had to get a ton (pieced back) and even on sale it was expensive. 10 yards of a fabric that's priced at almost $10 a yard...yeah. I had my husband's permission, though, so I bought it. This is the backing:
I swoon over batiks, so this was right up my alley. Hooray! I'm now about 2/3 done with the quilting on Pop-Pop's quilt. I'm so excited because this means that it'll be done with plenty of time to enter it in the Project Modern Challenge!
In other news, I got to see Pop-Pop today. I was Skyping with my mom, and my dad was picking him up from the Assisted Living Center for Sunday lunch at my parents' house. We stayed on long enough so I could see him and he's looking great. He's looking much better than the last time I saw him. The Assisted Living Center is definitely taking good care of him. If nothing else, the food has made a big difference. He hated cooking for himself, so having food prepared for him is a huge thing. My dad got him to talk a little bit about when he was in WWII, which I always love hearing about. I can't wait to have this quilt for him. He hates the cold, and it's about to be winter so it'll be just in time. He seriously is a bigger baby about cold than my husband (I love you, honey!), who's from Texas. He was wearing his jacket, zipped all of the way up, at my parent's house today.
My husband today was saying that I'm perfect. Why am I perfect? Because I can make yummy food (like beef stew and homemade bread and cookies and potato soup) and I can sew and make quilts for people AND...I'm a nerd. I'm a nerd because when he sends me links like this one I start thinking of what else I would have to put with it to have the right outfit (my black leggings and my Rocket Dogs shoes). And when I can't figure out what movie to watch, I watch our Special Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings movies. And then laugh at them. Because quotes like "Are all these children yours? Gracious, you've been productive" just make me laugh. Besides, when Agent Smith from the "Matrix" movies comes out with long hair and elf ears and says "Welcome to Rivendell" you just can't help but mentally a "Mister Anderson" to the end of it. And then, because you really can't talk about Lord of the Rings without showing this, here's one of my favorite little songs made from bits of the LOTR movies:
Now whenever you see the movies, you'll remember these little bits of the movies and will laugh at them. I love this video...seriously!
I'm supposed to get the first snow of the year this week. I don't know if I'll see it, since my office is in the basement, but I hope I do. There's something magical about the first time it snows. But if it snows daily until spring, I might start having problems. We'll see!
Anyways, just out of curiosity - what did you get done this weekend, sewing or otherwise? I'd love to see some comments about it!
I had an impromptu long weekend this weekend. The rest of the office was going to a "golf tournament" (weather forecast for Friday was no higher than the 50s and rainy/overcast all day). Their plan was to drink a lot and pretend like they enjoyed golf. The best part about it - because I would have been the only one there, my boss gave me the day off.
I sewed all day Friday. I mean LITERALLY all day. I took a few breaks, mostly just my mealtimes, and I sewed until midnight. By that point, I was delirious and nothing was working right so I stopped, and I finished the last of the leaves Saturday morning. But...I forgot to take pictures. I then started sewing leaves and the rest of the quilt top together...but I forgot to take pictures. Are you sensing a theme?
I know I'm insane...because of how I designed the leaves to fit together with the rest of the quilt. There are multiple places where the only way I will get the pieces to fit together are inset seams. Places where I can't attach piece A to piece B without piece C too...but I can't attach piece C without also attaching piece D to piece E...and so on. Places where the only way to fit them together without piecing the whole quilt simultaneously is to sew a 2.5" block individually to one of my leaf blocks - which will require, in the future, doing a 90 degree Y seam - something I abhor. I hate Y seams, mostly because they always make the centers off. I'm pretty much insane.
I mentioned this to my husband when we were talking, and he laughed. His reaction was "well, you don't do anything halfway or easy...and I love you for that." I think he's ridiculous...but he loves me, and I love him so I guess I can tolerate it. :)
My other insanity...I babysat a 2 year old today in a non-childproofed house and I still want to have kids someday. My feet hurt from running after him all afternoon (well, for about 3 hours of it), taking him upstairs to look out of the window, and letting him go out on the terrace to ride his tricycle and come within inches of my toes...but he's awesome. He's an adorable little kid, even if he is 2. We watched a grand total of 3 VeggieTales movies, but I think we officially only saw a total of 1.5 movies - half of each one. His attention span isn't that long. Despite his being 2 and my house not being childproofed, I managed to cook dinner and feed his mom when she came to pick him up (his older brother wasn't feeling well). Chinese food is my favorite thing to cook, even if you do have to spend an hour or more on prep time before you cook. I made Orange Beef, Chinese Green Beans, and rice. For dessert, we had bread (my bread stuck to the bottom of the pan and tore, so we ate the chunk that stuck) with local honey. It was fantastic. And I did it while also having to chase a 2 year old. I rock.
Sorry for no pictures, but I'm tired and want to go to bed. I hope you all have a great night, and I'll check back with you this week!
Seriously, these are the best cookies in the world.
Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.25 tsp salt
0.75 cup (1. 5 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
0.5 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
2 bags chocolate chips (white and semi-sweet are a dynamite combo)
Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs until light and creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in chips (my stand mixer does it well on the stir speed).
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets 1-2 inches apart. Bake approximately 15 minutes or until edges look done but center is still gooey. Allow to set on cookie sheets before removing (5 minutes).
Enjoy the fruits of your labor!
In quilty news, I have cut all of the green squares for Pop-Pop's quilt. Pictures will come soon along with the process stuff!
