Carolina Christmas-Part 1

Bonnie wasn't kidding when she said she would publish part one the day after Thanksgiving. It was up when I checked early in the AM. Last evening I finished this section. I have replaced her yellow with gray. Not sure how this is going to work out..I may be making more later on in gold. We will see.

Also started sewing together the blocks from the bricks and stepping stones exchange. I think it is much better with more subdued four patches. This is it's LAST chance before the rag pile!

Enough with the kitchen!!

I came home on Thursday with a ham bone and a promise to my son-in-law Rob that I would make pea soup. The only problem was I had no idea where to begin. I was saved by my friend Kathy (cook extraordinaire) via email and today set about to make pea soup. The end result is that it tastes better than it looks. I'm not sure if I did it right. But for now... I AM DONE IN THE KITCHEN!!

I went out to Sweet Home to drop off the panties and check out Bad Melisa's latest temptations. I met Becky out there and we both got some stuff. Confession time: I wanted to do something with Aster Manor line. I had the jelly roll, inner border and backing but could not remember what pattern I planned to use. so I am going to use a pattern I did before (a sisters quilt).

I also finished step one of Carolina Christmas this afternoon. It was a good day!

I think now it is time to chill with Henry on the couch.

Martha Stewart need not worry..

the before..no wonder Willie took to the hills in the sewing room. I am not a neat cook!



The end product-Glazed chocolate-pumpkin Bundt cake. I pulled the recipe off delish.com It has a not too sweet-spice cake type taste. Don't know when I will use the bundt pan again. And what do I do with the buttermilk that it needed?

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Sarah and Emma were in charge of the decorations. They did a great job. with placemats, name places and lots of turkeys. The food was yum and I have my leftovers in the refrig. Our tradition at holiday times is that we all bring our containers and get to take home what we want for another meal. I also brought home a ham bone and have to figure out how to make pea soup. The kitchen is getting way too much use!
Short work day today and then I can play. Bonnie Hunter's step one of Carolina Christmas is available. Gotta play!

Head for the hills......

..Mom is in the kitchen..cooking? I am not sure what the occasion is-something called Thanksgiving. So far this day looks just like all the others and my food bowl as well. I am quite interested in the tv today. I watched a little bit of the parade.
I wonder if I will get to taste whatever she is cooking?

Willy

Countdown

It's official...thanksgiving is almost here. I took the day off today for grandparents day at the girl's school. We had breakfast and I got to go to their rooms. In Emma's class, i helped her with a craft..we made a paper turkey. Sarah's class was making a turkey game. She won twice. I will demand a replay on Thanksgiving Day.
Kris made her first solo trip since Alice was born...out to Kroger for supplies. I stayed with little bit. She is staying awake more now and I even got to see her blue eyes. She is still wearing newborn size clothes but her outfit for thurs is 0-3 months. I hope Laur brings her camera..actually I need to tell her to bring her camera so I can get a picture of the three girls together. Alice goes for her check up tomorrow-it will be interesting to see how much weight she has gained.

2 nights ago, I took out the quilt top with the swap fabrics that I finished but HATED and threatened to put it in the rag pile. I now have ripped out the whole thing. While I was out today I stopped at the J store and bought a light tan and a chocolate kona. I will try again....second and last chance!

I had a really great time at Thimbles. I worked on the Glace quilt from a couple of months ago. It turned out to be a bear of a pattern-one that I will not be doing again. I still have the corner pieces to put on and then trim it up. It will have to have stay stitching before it goes to be quilted. The setting triangles end up with all this bias....yuck!

Pat and I discussed the likelihood of the Moda Man's underwear choice..and decided that he is probably a boxer kind of guy...BUT his boxers are all out of the new lines. He has such good taste. It is a good thing he doesn't know about my concerns with him! And Pat this had better not be another "rotten vegetables" kind of deal. Don't remember which quilt designer you told that I had renamed her pattern.

So now Thimbles is once more over again. I HATE THAT!!!!

It could not come soon enough this week..

I am so glad it is Friday. Reflecting, the week did go quickly
Last evening was the family Thanksgiving dinner at "the home". The activity department and the kitchen did a wonderful job lots and lots of food. I manned the buffet line-in charge of sweet potato souffle complete with gloves and black hairnet. I thought the line would never end. It made for quite the long day. I did take a break during the day and went down to Sweet Home-just because it's there. I visited with Bad Melisa-the panty queen and did a little damage. I bought a jelly roll of Aster Manor. (I wonder if the Moda Man is a panty king? Boxers or tidy whiteys...something to contemplate in my spare time).

Yipee tomorrow is Thimbles I am so ready..guess I'll go now and pump some coffee in the system...Later for you

2009-15 Christmas Lights

I finished sewing the binding on Christmas Lights and I still have my vision! I also picked out the color and fabric I intend to use for Bonnie Hunter's next mystery quilt. I am going with red, gray and green with the beige family for the background. The good news is that it will come from my stash!!!!

I also found the wreath pattern on the Moda Bake Shop site and made it using the Figgy Pudding honey bun. I picked that up yesterday when I went out to Sweet Home. I also picked up some fabric to make a pillowcase for Emma for Christmas.

So it is Sunday evening already and work looms ahead tomorrow. I am going to try to stay awake during the evening. The last 2 nights I have fallen asleep on the couch and on Friday nite woke up at 3AM. Last night it was shortly after one. Tonight I am planning on being in the bed before midnight. Hope springs eternal!

Long week over...

I was glad to get to the end of the work week. It seemed to go on forever..
Last evening I hit the kitchen once again...what is wrong with this picture? I wanted to make the dish for the kids. I had made the sauce the night before. I decided to make Pat Wys's spaghetti pie recipe. I had to give her a call because the notes I had were incomplete-no oven temp or time. Thanks, Pat-now we are good to go! I made the recipe and divided it into 3 portions-so they can eat and freeze the rest.

I also stopped on the way home at Hobby Lobby looking for wire wreaths. When I talked to Cindi, she had seen the project I wanted to do with honey buns. She suggested the Moda Bake Shop site and that is where it was. I found a heart shaped wire frame and that is what I am using.

I am hoping to finish sewing the binding on Christmas Lights this weekend. Also have to go get some undies for Sweet Home panty raid coming up soon. Bad Melisa is donating to a shelter-(go to Sweet Home site for the details-such a good cause!)

I am sure the weekend will fly by and it will be Sunday evening before I know it. Maybe Miss Alice will be awake when I deliver the food and will permit a picture. Such the obnoxious grandmother!!

2009-14 GOT MILK

I finished sewing the binding on the Girl Scout quilt that is part of Sarah's Christmas present. I also made a pillowcase out of the material. I love this material. The cookies are so realistic that I had to go to the freezer and get a box out! It is really a fun quilt!

I am slowly sewing the binding on Christmas Lights but that is black binding on a black backing. And the light here is not that great so it is going to be slow going.

I've been thinking about the next mystery quilt and trying to decide what colors I want to use. I don't think I will use the Christmas colors as I just finished this one in reds and greens. I am thinking about brown and pink as I have a lot of that in the stash. I ma determined to use stash this time. But the other thought I have is that I would like to use black as my background...more pondering to do. Glad that Gretchen is on board with this one too!

Bonnie Hunter has posted the new mystery!!!!

Well not actually posted the mystery but.....she has previewed the fabric requirements for Carolina Christmas. The first step will be on her blog the day after Thanksgiving...that is only 2 weeks away. I guess it is time to go looking for the fabrics I will use. I sure would like to do it in stuff I already have...what a concept! So who is up for her latest challenge????

Sunday break

Probably the best time of the year, weather wise, is now..at least for me. Yesterday I met Laurie and Lillie for playtime in the park. Lillie got a little exercise in and I sat in the sun. Then we dropped her back home and went for lunch. We decided we wanted to eat outside, so we went to Cheesecake Factory at Northpointe. It was so delightful to sit outside in November! Lots of other people had the same idea.

I am hand sewing the binding on the girl scout quilt for Sarah's Christmas. And now it is time for coffee and to head off for another week of work!

Need to redeem the weekend

Yesterday was a non sewing Saturday. I just could not get myself motivated. I have the project from Thimbles using the Glace fabric almost done. It is sitting on the coffee table but I don't want to cut the setting triangles until Thimbles. I have another project in mind using jelly roll strips-also on the coffee table-not in the mood.....Maybe I should change the name to the fabric table! I did not even venture into the sewing room. Come to think of it, I am not sure just what I did yesterday afternoon.
Vicki called and delivered the girl scout quilt. I think I should call this one "Got milk?". I did manage to trim it up and I can sew the binding on it today. Both Henry and Willie checked it out as soon as it arrived. They are pleased!

Stella Bella was having fabric issues yesterday too. Hers were different than mine. I think it all has something to do with the Moda Man. His telepathic powers are increasing!!!!I wonder if they have house sized colanders?

Alice Update

I needed to deliver some food for the parents and see the little girl. At least today, she was awake for a little while. Everyone is doing fine.

This week's Sweet Home special

Well once again, I am a loser but I never give up! Melisa has been cleaning out her goodies and this week came up with another good one. Go visit her blog-you can link from mine. I promise you this is another good one!

I have to make some food for Kris and Tyler this weekend. But first I have to locate the kitchen...I know it is here in the house somewhere! I have the makings for chicken casserole-a recipe I used to make when I cooked...oh so long ago!!

Glad it is the weekend-this week seemed like it went on forever!

Melisa and the Sweet Home Friday fav

The Evil Temptress has a great item on her blog for the give away. Yummy Moda Shangra La. I made a quilt using this line and it is yummy! But I sure would like to have some more and then I could combine it with leftover Glace. But there are lots of possibilities
Surw would be nice for the random thingie to pick my number!

Bonnie's cooking up a new mystery

I checked her blog this afternoon and there is a new mystery coming...YIPPEE!! I am ready since Christmas Lights is getting quilted. I don't know if I will go with the Christ ms colors or one of her other suggestions...probably enough in my stash to do any of her suggestions...and black as the neutral...hmmm!

Sue , Rob and the girls finally got to see Alice this afternoon. Sue posted cute pictures on Facebook. Emma wants a baby brother. I think Sue should tell her that a baby would take all of her toys...that is what I told Sue and Laurie...then we had Kris...oops!

Sweet Home....quite the happening place

Cindi and I had planned to go to Mcdonough but with a forecast of ichy weather, we changed our minds. I got up and decided it was time to tackle(finish) the Thimbles project from a couple of months ago. It was to the sew the rows together stage. The next step was the setting triangles. I managed to screw that up-I have enough fabric to make it right but I didn't want to chance another mistake. I called out to Sweet Home about a book. Something to be said about caller ID. Mike answers the phone with: "Girl,you need to get out here." He also knows who it is if I call from work. This is either very good marketing or I spend way too much time and money there! But I obeyed and got in the car and drove to Sweet Home. It was like old home week. I swear half of Thimbles was there or had already gone. Pat was upstairs teaching. Bad Melisa Evil Temptress was disguised as a witch. Hopefully Pat will post her picture. "Renuzit" came in yesterday and was flying out the door. Sarah was hooked on cheddar and had a pile going. Cindi arrived (I should have called her but she was supposed to be sewing) she did some damage as well. I need to take a picture of my purchases. Will do it later.

Then I drove over to Duluth to visit with Alice and her parents. Laurie came with the "good" camera and took lots of pictures. We dressed Alice in her Halloween costume. Mostly she slept through Halloween. I hope Laurie will post some new pix or fix it so I can. Came home and watched TV in the dark as usual on Halloween.