Tired Day

I'm tired tonight because we had to do a class at work from 6-9 this evening, and I think I must have been tired already because despite a good supper before 6, I am really dragging. But I wanted to make some sort of little gift to send my good mother-in-law for Valentine's Day. I'd been inspired by some really cute items in crafters' blogs. So I kindof filched the idea, but made up my own drawing. I think the drawing was a bit cuter than the finished product, but I hope she likes it. I'll send it in tomorrow's mail along with a card.

One thing I missed was working on the binding of the almost-finished quilt (see below). And sad to say, in the process of cutting out and sewing this little 4 inch guy, the sewing room turned into a real disorganized pit. ??? How does that happen?

Quilting Lessons

I worked on machine quilting the past couple of weekends. Hmmm... I think I am actually improving. I had some success with the spiral free-hand pattern I had in mind for the big dotty blocks, but found the ones closer to the center to be harder. But from a distance they look pretty cool. Then I did the border. All went well until about the last foot of the last side. ICKY blobs of fabric appeared and then there was nowhere else for them to go except into a big pleated lump near the corner. I was quite disappointed, but drh says it's not a big deal. I'm glad he thinks so, since it's his quilt.

Anyway, I have been hand stitching the binding and got that almost half done in one evening. I like it and since I unwittingly started near the lumpy corner, it is already past and I guess I can now ignore it. But I feel I learned a lot and for the most part enjoyed the whole thing. I did talk to a helpful fabric and quilt shop owner who gave me tips and seemingly measuring the borders before stitching them on will help avoid the bubbles at the ends. I will certainly try it next time.


She also gave me hope that I can do what I want with my current sewing machine, instead of upgrading by several hundred dollars.
I'm happty to say that something that turned out well so far is the mitering on the corners on the binding. All in all, it is a successful project and I'm eager to continue on the next one.

Changes in the Air

Hmmm. I've been dipping my toes into the great, wide, unknown ocean of blogs! A world unexplored and I'm afraid I'll fall in... HA. It is very interesting and one thing has been very obvious to me - some blogs have beautiful pictures and it has inspired me to add more here. I doubt I can take such beauties as I've seen, but I do have a nice new camera and am willing to try. YAY.

Cold is Back

After a good week of milder (even hinted of spring) weather, the cold is back. It was -1 when we got up this morning, and only 9 now at 2 p.m. Needless to say, I was not happy. Since it was 38 deg. on Thursday, I had blindly assumed today would be good for running early in the morning, which would've been great since we have a basketball game at 4 p.m. But I did not go out. I will probably regret it.

Instead, I took the valances to the church and hung them in the classrooms. After finishing them last night after supper, I was eager to get them into their proper place. They look very nice. I'm glad I lined them, as well as the ones I made last spring for the other two classrooms. Tomorrow I will return the leftover fabric to the lady who bought it. Then the project is done. Yay!

I decided on an outer border for drh's quilt, and cut and sewed it last night and this morning. Now I'm ready to piece the backing and layer the layers. It's a simple single Irish chain pattern. Most appealing to me right now are the patterns with nine-patch design, and especially ones in which the diagonal is somehow accentuated to lead your eye across the entire quilt. Also, I just discovered the disappearing, or tossed, nine-patch variation, and am intrigued and inspired to see how that really works. I'll post more photos of this Irish chain, and other forays into quilt blockdom, as I progress.

This is the center of the quilt with the first border. Each block is 9", and the border is 2". Below are the two options (just laid out to test) I had for the second border. I decided to use the second one as a 5" border, which provides a bigger contrast with the alternate (dotty) blocks, and because I am also using the dotty fabric for the backing. It's already sewed on, but my camera battery is charging. Then I will use the darker marble print again for the binding.

New Projects

I feel very organized and somehow serene about the beginning of 2009. Christmas and New Year's holiday time was very nice this year - relaxed and with plenty of time to visit with our kids, drh's parents and other friends. Then we took a trip out of state to my sister's for her wedding, which I had greatly looked forward to - and we are all very happy for her and her new husband, as well as all their kids. They are good for each other and both deserve lots of happiness.

I had time to organize and clean up paperwork and balance the checking account, which had been sadly neglected during the fall. I cleaned up and put away all the Christmas decorations (admittedly I had fewer things out this year), did a fantastic job of re-storing all the wrapping supplies and boxes, returned some items that were not used as gifts, exchanged a couple of gifts and sent thank you notes. I still have to learn more about using the gifts I received from drh- a new camera, a digital picture frame and an MP3 player (also for pictures - for when I have grandbaby photos to show off).

I've worked on a single-size quilt I'm making for drh, starting with some blocks that were leftover when my younger sister and I made a quilt for the newly married sister. It has been a long time since I made a quilt, and never one for him. Something struck me a few days ago while I was looking at internet pictures of quilts and I'm now inspired by a picture, took the time to lay out the design on the computer and even calculated how much of what fabrics I need. Saturday I had to work in the morning, but after that I visited two fabric stores and had a good time looking at the options. I was disappointed that the old standby store, a chain but always had lots of choices, seems to be paring back their selection of quilting cottons severely! That's too bad, but it's probably the economy.

Sunday we went to the basketball game and enjoyed watching our team get another win. Before we left, I put ingredients for jambalaya together in the crockpot, and invited friends to come over for supper after the game. The meal was great! I also made apple/raisin/walnut salad, and homemade cornbread with butter and honey. MMM.

Here is the jambalaya "recipe." I used a 3.5 qt. crock pot; 5-6 hour cooking window.

1 pkg. Zatarain's red beans and rice mix (make sure the spice part is crushed up and not all in one hard chunk)
1 c. Minute Rice
a few slices of ham (not deli-shaved, but a thicker lunch meat is okay), cut into bite sized pieces
4 precooked Andouille sausages (Johnsonville makes them), sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
about 2 c. sliced or chopped red and yellow bell peppers (or orange, or green if you like them)
1/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 can of red beans, incl. liquid
fill the can with water and add to crock pot
garlic powder - 1/8 t. or so
oregano - 1/4 t. or so
thyme - 1/4 t. or so
hot sauce (Tobasco or any other) - a few drops

Stir all together in crock pot. Cook on low 4 hours. Stir thoroughly so all rice is completely mixed in and turned over and add some water (about a cup or less) if it seems dry. Cook 1-2 more hours on low. Make sure it doesn't dry out or burn to the sides and bottom. Serves 8.

You could add chopped celery, too. You could substitute or add cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces during cooking time, or add cooked, hot shrimp when it's done, if you wish.

I am looking forward to having some more of it tonight. Then I will do crosswords and watch tv. I had today off, so I sewed curtains for the church Sunday school rooms, did laundry and ironed, and went on a 4-mile run! It was beautiful out - unlike most days lately like last week when it was -20 degrees. This afternoon it was 17 degrees, NW wind of only 10 mph, and bright and sunny. Perfect!

I Emerged Alive

I have not written for weeks mostly due to a huge drain on my time called WORK. Beginning in August and gaining intensity through September, October and into November, work commanded much of my time, attention and energy. The rest was devoted to eating, sleeping, running and the necessary support activities such as grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, and keeping on top of the bills and mail, etc.

The work involved mountains of data entry and records updating, ballot layout and proofing, equipment programming and testing, some preparation of supplies, working many extra hours and most Saturdays. The eating and shopping involved lots of quick-recipe, big-batch meals, lots of leftovers, and many stops at the store on the way home - my checkbook register says nothing but Kroger for about a month! The laundry involved making sure we had clean underwear and running clothes. The running involved less running than I wished for - I really need to work at getting more days added back in to the schedule. And I pretty much gave up going to the gym for about 6 weeks.

But that is now in the past and I am determined to quickly regain a normal routine and revive some other interesting pursuits.

The first set of activities centered around getting DRH to and from a minor surgery procedure. He is getting back to normal, but the first few days were quite a pain for him.

Of course, holiday demands do take some priority. I have dabbled in shopping for gifts, picked out Christmas cards, made some good lists, put some things on the calendar. But there is still a lot to accomplish before the lists are checked off!

Thanksgiving weekend has been nice. Thursday we spent with family and had a very good dinner. We also found out our first grandchild will be a girl. Of course, we're excited about that and for her mommy and daddy-to-be, also.

Friday I did some chores and laundry around the house, went into town for a little shopping, and went to the basketball game. Saturday I cleaned the bathroom and bedroom thoroughly including vacuuming under the bed and rearranging all my shoes. I enjoyed the outdoors, too, by going for a 5-mile run, and spending time cleaning up the dead flowers in the pots on the deck and porch, and sweeping the deck and porch. That turned out to be a good decision, because we woke up today to about 5 inches of snow covering everything! It was a heavy, wet snow - hopefully it won't stick around too long. Saturday night we had another basketball game and enjoyed the company of friends and a pizza afterwards.

Today we had church, Sunday school class for the Advent season on hymns and carols of the season, church potluck (thank goodness for canned "homemade style" baked beans and microwaves, AND that everyone doesn't make the same thing - HA), and then went to more basketball games!

No more exciting news that I can think of... but that's okay - I am glad to be back in the routine, as I said above.