New Year's Resolutions

I prefer to call them Goals for the year rather than resolutions, since resolutions are easier to forget. Regardless of how I label them, this is a short list of things I wish to accomplish in 2011:

1. Donate art quilts to AAQI. At least 2 since I made this plural!

2. Create more original patterns AND market them. (Funny, as I'm sitting here, I just came up with another quilt idea... yay!)

3.Get the rest of the boxes unpacked. There's only a few, but they're the ones that I look at and can't seem to figure out what to do with the stuff..... (garage sale?)

4. Make my family proud. :)

5. Heal my ankle/heel. I'm tired of this pain, so this coming year, I pledge to obey Dr's orders the WHOLE time and get it healed so I can run a marathon before I turn 31. :) As I am now, though, I get to start the new year with an MRI on Monday... oh joy. Telling this ADHD girl to lie still for an hour? Bad idea. It wouldn't be so bad if I were allowed something to occupy my hands!

Honestly, that's not too hard of a list, is it? Except the whole listen-to-the-Dr. thing....

I hope your Christmas was as Merry as mine, and here's to a great New Year!

PS- if anyone is randomly wondering, chipotle peppers are rather spicy.... the kind that seems nice and mild, but as you eat it creeps up on you until your sinuses are definitely clear!! But, man-o-man, this chili I just made is TASTY!

I have batting again!

HOORAY! I was able to go get 4 yards of batting- I had been OUT since finishing Christmas presents- the casserole carrier had used up the last odd piece. It was on sale at JoAnn's thank goodness, so I got 4 yards.... which should last for about 6 projects since I've been working on smaller things. Which means, it should last until February, unless I go on a finishing binge... :)
And, I might have found a couple clearance fabrics that needed to come home with me.... no worries, though, because three of them are destined to be part of my next purse.

The thing I'm most excited about is that I got three new quilting magazines- I love looking through them for inspiration! They are the three I would love a subscription to (Hey, Husband, still want a Valentine's gift idea?) since I buy these three every month.

And the last things I got from JoAnn are three plastic bins to start sorting scraps even more. Let's hope this helps!

All of this was packed into a single bag that USED to be big enough. Not anymore... so hopefully, having the scraps semi-sorted like this will make it easier to make scrappy blocks. Call me out on it if you don't see some scrappy goodness within a few weeks... please? Thanks!

Tonight's cooking adventure: I separated and de-tipped raw chicken wings. I'm one step closer to being less squeamish, and on the way to sticky chicken wings for dinner!

Oh yeah- we had an earthquake this morning.... about 20 miles from where we live. Scared the bejeebers out of me until I figured out what it was. I wish I could blame it for the mess in my sewing room.... but that's been there for days now, and Tim has seen it at its worst.... haha. I did conclude I could never live in Cali- I could never get used to the earth shaking like that!

American Onion Soup- That's what's for dinner, kids!

I made French onion soup with a bottle of Sam Adams Winter Lager to deglaze the pan rather than wine since I'm severely allergic to sulfites. It can't be "French" made like that, but it still tasted soooooo good. The "kids" (our 2 dogs) played with a slice of raw onion for a while, each one licking it, pawing at it, shaking their heads, etc before finally leaving it in a gooey blob on the kitchen floor. Crazy dogs.

As for that lunchbox that has been defeating me, it's still only halfway made- but Tim's ok if it turns into a patched up Frankenlunchbox. He actually sounded like he would prefer that. It's nice being married to someone who doesn't require perfection (but, he is still quick to honestly answer when I ask if a quilt flaw is noticeable).

I got a set of blocks made for the lotto this month. It was at the bottom of the list as long as the Christmas deadline was looming, but now that things settled down, I got around to it. It took two attempts, but the second pair fit the requirements. Honestly, I'm not too sad about having to keep the first pair.... I already know what I want to make from them rather than lump them in with the other orphans.

I leave you tonight with a picture of the casserole carrier I whipped up while the casserole was cooking last week. I think I did a good job making up my pattern and getting it done in just an hour! It fits even my largest Pyrex pan. :)

The joys of being an "independent"

Anyone else out there have the *pleasure* of filling out a fafsa? Oh, joy, I just finished one.... I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that our income was low enough last year to have had people tell me to fill this thing out!  So now what? It's been submitted, so I'm guessing this means I get to have *fun* with the bursar and finaid to find out if that hour lost will be worth anything, or if I have to take a semester off and save so we can pay for summer classes.... which, honestly, wouldn't be too bad given I wouldn't be driving all winter. And, let's face it, I could probably find a few projects to work on.... :D

This morning we had a nice visit with some friends... Tim's buddy lost a good friend to cancer yesterday, to which I responded by baking an apple pie. We took it down to them today, and had a fun visit playing with their oldest girl (she's four and full of energy) and had an all around fun morning.

I think it is time to go back to my sewing room. The Hubs has left for work, the dogs are quiet, and my chore for the day is done. Yes, sewing time. Something fun... like maybe winter placemats, or some such nonsense necessary decoration.

Hurrumph

I'm trying to make Tim's stupid lunchbox, and it's being a pain. This is what I get for trying to "figure it out" without any pattern since he wanted a box like the ones you can buy, but please, Kasey, make it for me even though you've never ever made an insulated lunchbox before....
Big ol' sigh. It will work out in the end, but I'm going to have to add a piece on one side to make everything match up. This is turning out to be a PITA project. But I love him, and he'll love it, even if (especially if) it comes out looking like a Franken-lunchbox. I think the Wii is calling my name... I need a break.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve, and I just got back from dinner with Tim and the guys working on base tonight- I couldn't let them be left out on Christmas Eve, so I made ham, bambini (mini calzones), and cheesy potato casserole, and fudge and frosted sugar cookies for dessert. I have never seen 8 guys looking so happy and grateful! It was well worth working most of the afternoon. I love holidays, especially the meals. This way, I got to have dinner with Tim again.

While I was making dinner, I made a casserole carrier-- basically in between steps I ran back to my sewing room, finishing the carrier about 10 minutes before the potatoes were done- now that's what I call perfect timing!

This makes the second festive dinner I've made in a row! Last night, I hosted fondue night (which is usually Christmas Eve, but this year is a little wonky). Mom came down on her way to my brother's, and her brother, my uncle John came. We had a blast. I'm proud of myself for having been able to pull off not one but two festive meals.

Tim and I exchanged the rest of our gifts on Wednesday evening- he had gotten my presents that morning, and is worse than I am about waiting to give a gift. I didn't mind- it means I got to wear my new sparkly jewelry a couple days early! He loved his fleece blanket, and Dexter season 4, and his 3 PS3 games. I still have to make a lunchbox for him, but that can wait.

I think I've earned an evening of rest. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Crochet wreath tutorial

Ok, so this isn't quilted, but I'm all-around crafty! I haven't made one of these in years, but they're so easy and quick that when I found my yarn I had to make one (I also needed a good excuse to open up the gallon of apple cider in the fridge)

My grandmother taught me to make these a looooong time ago during one of my many sick days in elementary school. They are easy enough a sick first grader can make them!

You will need:

plastic ring from a jug of milk or cider
Crochet hook size G
green worsted weight yarn
about 12" red ribbon
scissors
basic crochet skills.

 Start by making your first loop, then single crochet through the plastic ring. See the picture? The ring functions like a chain of stitches would if you were going to crochet in the round. I hold the tail of my yarn against the ring so it gets covered up and hidden as I go around the loop...

 Like this! Make sure you squish the stitches together a bit so they're a little crowded. Slip stitch to join the first and last stitches.

 Chain 2 and then single crochet around again...

 Ending up with this! Slip stitch again, and then finish it off and tuck in the yarn end.

 Now, take the ribbon, fold it in half, and tie a knot about 1" from the loop, then push the ends through from back to front through two slots next to each other like this. Tie these ends into a pretty little bow, trim even if necessary, and ta-da!

A cute wreath! Hang it as an ornament, or use less ribbon and omit the bow and you can attach the wreath to a pin back or a magnet.  Wasn't that easy?

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Merry Christmas!