Nostalgic Cafe

Time Well Spent

2012-02-01T16:52:00.001-05:00

I found a cute new blog to ~~stalk~~ enjoy. Nicole at Mama Love Quilts has the neatest fabrics, creates the cutest quilts, sells adorable stuff and is generous with her tips and tricks. And she just started blogging in January, the little overachiever! ;) Oh, and did I mention she has cute babies? You know what a sucker I am for babies. Go say hi and welcome her to the land of blogging.

Check out the Sew Out Loud quiltalong too. As a text fabric lover, it will be fun to see what these talented quilters come up with. Oh boy, more new blogs to love. Isn't life grand?

The AAQI February art quilt auction started today. These little quilts make great gifts for friends and family. Our guild collected 15 quilts to donate today. It was so much fun seeing everyone's creations. What a talented group. Yumi and I are still making quilts to send too. I never tire of making those little quilts.

Still in Baby Mode

2012-01-31T09:57:00.000-05:00

Eek, just look at this adorable onesie with the vintage cateye glasses. That baby is pretty darn cute too. Get the how-to for the onesie right here. I didn't have the stuff, but maybe I'll have to search out the materials. I thought about painting it, but this housework ain't doing itself.

I did have a leftover onesie and a cute iron-on, so baby Mia will have to do with what I had on hand. Her trousseau is already quite impressive and the baby shower hasn't even happened yet. Who doesn't enjoy buying baby girl garb? I have been averting my eyes in the baby section of every store. I was trying to make these burp cloths, but cannot seem to locate 3-ply cloth diapers. I've only been to two stores, but I give up. Obviously the cloth diaper movement did not make the huge comeback as I'd imagined. :P

Ellison Lane Quilts is hosting a Modern Mini Challenge with lots of fabulous prizes. This five week series kicks off February 6 with inspirational ideas from a crew of very talented quilters. There will be mini quilts and mug rugs with modern twists. I have a feeling we'll get ideas and inspiration galore, even if you don't create a piece to submit to the challenge. And seeing the Blog Hop list, I can tell I'm going to be adding a few new blogs to my reading list.

Ahh choo!

2012-01-30T11:33:00.000-05:00

I'm still sneezing from making homemade ranch dip/dressing mix this morning. Inspector Gadget loves those little green packets, but you have to make a gob of dip or split the package. Plus, the sodium content is a bit high. MSG must pack a sodium punch. My feet swell if I just look at a pickle. You should see what happens when I eat one. My mom tells me this water retention thing goes away eventually. Yay!

In the past if I was out of little green packets, I would add my own spices to sour cream, but now I have enough ranch mix to last a while. I bet it's cheaper than those packets too. I'm going to start making my own laundry detergent next. Really.

We had wings last night, and I didn't have any green packets. I just added some dried dill, oregano, garlic powder, pepper, lime juice and fresh cilantro to sour cream. Wouldn't blue cheese crumbles be good too? I bet it's no surprise, but I have blue cheese haters in the house.

The wing of the night was this Fire Roasted Chili Lime recipe. You made a dry rub and kind of par grilled them on indirect heat on a grill. Since I grilled in the dark, I had to use my iPhone flashlight app to see.

Then you tossed the wings with the sauce mixture and put them back on the grill over direct heat. The flare-ups provided good light.

The butter in the sauce creates good char marks, but you really had to watch these babies on the grill. They were pretty good, but I think I prefer our grilled, Frank's Hot Sauce version, no butter. I always do a dry rub too. It's nice to switch up the wings as we eat them pretty often. These Spicy Thai wings are definitely getting in the mix.

Since I'm the grill master and busy out by the grill, I usually serve a simple crudite platter I can assemble ahead of time and call it a day. There was a Tator Tot request last night, so I threw those into the oven during the last grill pass. After a busy weekend, an easy Sunday night dinner (and easy clean-up!) is a really good thing.

Baby Making

2012-01-28T15:45:00.000-05:00

I was inspired by the talented mmmcrafts adorable plush taggie. The pattern is by the also talented, Chez Beeper Bebe. You gotta love the inspiration out in blogland. It's a virtual land of fun. We're getting a new baby girl (Mia) in the family next month and I'm a tad excited! Now I want to make burp pads. I need to get some padded cloth diapers.

I'm giving Mia this little quilt I made with Anna Maria Horner's Chocolate Lollipop collection. I think it will make the perfect picnic pad, beach or down by the lake quilt. The dark backing should hold up pretty well to our outdoor lifestyles. I need to make a label and give it a wash.

Look what my swap partner sent me. Isn't it adorable? I don't know why Bones wouldn't look at me. Probably embarrassed to be in a photo shoot in the front yard. He has a rep in this hood as being the meanest thing on four little, squatty legs. The miniature quilt is by the talented Rochelle. She blogs at Three Turns to Home. I've used talented three times in the first two paragraphs. Somebody buy me a thesaurus.

I watched two movies today. "50/50" is the drama with Seth Rogan and the kid from "3rd Rock from the Sun." It was sad. Made me cry. If you Red Box, use the code BREAKROOM to score a free movie this week.

The second movie was "Idiocracy." Funny, I had to look up the title as I'm watching, sewing, and computing at the same time. I have laundry going too. ;) This movie is really odd. Definitely defines idiocracy.

Here's the Wiki definition:
Idiocracy is a 2006 American film, a satirical science fiction comedy, directed by Mike Judge and starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews.
The film tells the story of two ordinary people taken into a top-secret military hibernation experiment to awaken in a dystopia wherein advertising, commercialism, and cultural anti-intellectualism run rampant and dysgenic pressure has resulted in a uniformly stupid human society devoid of intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, and coherent notions of justice and human rights.
Despite its lack of a major theatrical release, the film has achieved a cult following.

Gotta run, the dryer buzzer just went off. Isn't it odd that after 14 years, I still startle and/or jump when that dang thing buzzes? Maybe I like to forget I'm doing laundry. Let's hope I didn't just jinx my 14-year-old dryer.

Every Day I'm Shuffling

2012-01-27T10:06:00.002-05:00

Warning, the You Tube video below may play an irritating political ad before an awesome video. Tis the season, you know. Skip it if you're already sick of political ads. And phone calls. Hurry up, election. My politeness factor with telephone solicitors is waning.

And yes, I actually consulted this video to learn how to shuffle. It's fun, try it. You can eat more and entertain those around you.

I've been shuffling papers, quilting projects, fabric piles, book piles, to-do lists, tax crud, junk mail, etc. I think I see a light at the end of a few tunnels or at least the elimination of many piles.

From the Craft Fail site.

I found this funny site called Craft Fail, where crafters post their Pinterest projects gone wrong. Hilarious. I love the cooking fails especially. Food photography has come a long way and photographers and cooks make everything look so beautiful. Me, not so much. I can totally relate with the divinity mishap. Been there, done that.

This painted heart bag seemed like a fun and quick project. It was. It would be a great craft project for kids. Or make it a color blind test and hide a secret message. These quilt blocks have had me laughing all week. Don't click if you are offended by four-letter words.

The buttermilk roast chicken was a big hit. I may have let mine go a bit long in the oven, but I'm leery of undercooked dark meat or non-crispy skin. The meat was still very juicy and tangy. I used cheap leg quarters and cut them apart before marinating. I'd bake them on a rack next time. I had to pour off grease before they were finished. Trimming more of the fat before marinating might have helped too.

A green salad with vinaigrette, great Northern beans and sweet potato made for an easy dinner. Bake the taters while you bake your chicken. Can you tell I like a lot of freshly ground pepper on my sweet potato? No sugar or cinnamon for me. And if you get a marshmallow anywhere near my sweet potato, I'm not eating it. Gaack, I may have to turn in my Southern card. At least I eat sweet potatoes. I have to make regular potatoes for everyone else. Dang Yankees.

Happy Friday! I'm off to play.

Date Night

2012-01-26T08:15:00.000-05:00

I have to admit, Inspector Gadget and I didn't do too many date nights when our kids were younger. We had College Boy at the dirty mall and Olive Garden two days after he was born. What did we know? Then we drug the kiddos pretty much everywhere we went. Besides, we were paranoid parents and would only let our parents watch our kids. Unfortunately, our parents live out of town. But now that the kids are older they ~~hopefully~~ better behave themselves on their own, we've been hanging out at our local watering hole almost every week.

Fish on Fire is our local watering hole. Ironically, it burnt to the ground a few years ago, but they rebuilt and changed the menu for the better. Every Wednesday they offer $4 seared ahi tuna salads and homemade soups. Their 15-bean soup is $1 and all the proceeds go to charity. At 8 pm, they have trivia. And not that I condone midweek drinking, but the Bud Lights are only a buck. That's cheaper than iced tea. I haven't had much else on their menu, but everyone raves about their food. I can't stop ordering the salad. Unless it's oyster night, then I must have oysters.

It's a fun time to chat with Inspector Gadget and other watering hole patrons. We run into the parents of our children's classmates from way back, older siblings of our kid's friends, old neighbors, new neighbors, our friends, tourists, traveling businessmen and all kinds of friendly people. It's kind of like our own little Cheers. And one time, at band camp, we won a round of trivia. Oh yes we did.

Tonight's dinner is going to be this buttermilk roasted chicken. My chicken has been marinating since yesterday. Going to be good! Not sure what I'll serve with it, but I'll think of something.

I did sneak in a little sewing time yesterday and used these two-inch batik squares. My guild buddy Kathryn gifted us with some of her stash she wasn't going to use. I can never say no to batiks.

I also did some glue painting on fabric. I might have time to add some paint to this today. The washable glue acts as a resist and then you wash it out. We'll see where this goes.

Check out my new tool. Shredder scissors. I'm going to use them for fresh herbs. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs, Pots and Pins. College Boy played with them yesterday while I tailored one of his shirts. The kid is so tall and skinny and likes fitted shirts. I've taken in two for him after we researched how to do it. There are tutorials for all kinds of stuff on the web. I might even learn how to sew a button on something.

450!

2012-01-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe it's my 450th post. What a yacky doodle.

I used this wonderful needlebook tutorial by Nana Company to make a simplified version. And yep, I put the hair elastic thingy on the wrong side. I can't tell you how many times I've done that. No biggie, I actually liked the patchwork side better. That cartoon chick was starting to bug me.

I had leftover cabbage from making potstickers, so for dinner I thought I'd whip up a simple cabbage soup to go along with grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup was killer! It's not your Weight Watchers cabbage soup diet soup, but I bet it's still pretty good for you. Let's see if I can remember what I put in it.

Cabbage Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup diced jowl bacon or 2 slices bacon, chopped
1 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large glove garlic, minced
2 carrots, sliced (I didn't have any carrots, but I would have added them)
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz)
1 quart low sodium chicken broth
3 beef bouillon cubes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups water
3 cups sliced green cabbage
romano cheese, for garnish

In your soup pot, saute bacon in hot olive oil until bacon is rendered. Add onion, celery, garlic and saute until onions soften a bit. Add carrots, peppers and stir to combine. Add tomatoes, chicken broth, beef boullion cubes, tomato paste and water. Let mixture simmer up to an hour, checking for seasoning. Add green cabbage the last 20 minutes of cooking adding salt and pepper to taste. Grate or shave romano cheese on top before serving.

Recipe notes: If you haven't tried jowl bacon, get some. Not the kind with teeth, that's just icky. Pigs don't brush their teeth! I made that mistake once and not much grosses me out, but pig teeth in my food is just icky. Vegetarians, leave the bacon out.

I leave the cabbage until last, because most people don't like the texture of slimy cabbage. Your cabbage will still have a bite to it if you add it toward the end. This soup has tons of flavor, but do taste the broth while it's cooking to adjust seasonings. The addition of cabbage will make the broth blander, but remember you're adding salty romano cheese.

Most soups are better the next day and this soup is no exception. I just ate a bowl for breakfast. Wonder when those pounds are going to start melting off?

Finally got a copy of this book. Oh wow, the quilts are amazing! I'm off to dig out my solids.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2012-01-23T20:12:00.001-05:00

I needed a case for my new sunglasses. This ruffled glasses case looked cute. Sewing those seams on the opening was a bit challenging, but I think it turned out cute.

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the dragon. We're celebrating by having pot stickers and egg drop soup for dinner. Miso soup for the picky child. Pot stickers are a labor-intensive endeavor, but they are a family favorite around here. I have a little press that makes them into pretty shapes, but there's leftover dough that is wasted. You can simply fold the won ton wrappers in half and pinch the edges or gather them into little purses too. No fancy gadget needed. And no waste.

I usually use ground pork and green cabbage as the main filling. You could also use shrimp. Or Napa cabbage. Other ingredients I like to add include red pepper, garlic, scallions, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, water chestnuts, etc. Tailor these to what your family will eat. You can get away with a lot because everything is chopped finely. Use your food processor to get everything to a mince if you're starved for time.

The dipping sauce is usually pretty simple: soy sauce, sesame oil, black or rice vinegar, ginger and garlic if you're feeling garlic-y. Or, just serve some lite soy sauce on the side. They would also be good with hot mustard, pickled ginger or wasabi. Whatever floats your boat.

I had a bit of the filling mixture leftover, so I made teeny meatballs and froze them. I froze them individually at first and then transferred them to a zip lock bag. They'll be good simmered in some chicken broth. You could also throw in the trimmings from the pot stickers and have yourself a nice noodle and meatball soup. I've done it before and it was delicious. Any leftover filling mixture would also make a good fried rice ingredient. It seems like there's always leftover mixture.

Since today was National Pie Day as well, I made this peach blueberry crumble pie. I was out of brown sugar, so I used half white sugar and half demerara sugar. There are oats in the crumb topping, so I'm sure this dessert is really healthy. I crack myself up.

Sunday Stash #42

2012-01-22T16:03:00.001-05:00

Oh, Fabric.com quit taunting me with awesome sales and free shipping.

Our needle turn applique class was lots of fun. Mary Sorensen is a fantastic (and funny!) teacher and makes it all seem really easy. Her instruction is very detailed and includes all types of tips and tricks. If you ever have a chance to take a class, I highly recommend it. She also has a video out. The top picture shows what I learned in class. I worked a little more on it today. I want to practice while the techniques are still fresh in my head.

I have "pinned" so many recipes on Pinterest. At least pinning is calorie free. I did make this layered shrimp dip. It was okay. I love trying new recipes even if they all aren't keepers.

For the Birds

2012-01-20T12:57:00.001-05:00

Yep, that's a vulture on my neighbor's roof. Look at the pretty blue sky! Buzzards are so gross. Come to think of it, I haven't seen that neighbor in a while...luckily Inspector Gadget spotted him recently.

Actually, there were five vultures on his roof. They wouldn't all pose together, so I couldn't get a clear shot of all five. But I did take some shots at them with the BB gun. Ahh, life in the suburbs. Anyone know how to unjam a BB gun? Annie Oakley I'm not.

I'm taking a needle turn applique workshop tomorrow with Mary Sorensen tomorrow. I finally decided to gather my supplies today. My hand sewing techniques are lacking and it's always rough on my fingers. Can you tell by my thimble collection? Unfortunately, I'm like a cat wearing shoes when I sew with a thimble. Hopefully, I can find something that works tomorrow if my fingers start hurting. Or at least figure out what finger you put one of the things on! How does that thread cutter thimble in the bottom of the photo work?

My fabrics and threads. Hopefully these will work. I have until tomorrow morning to change my mind. Maybe I should bring more selection.

My hummus dinner last night. I made Buffalo chicken dip (Hollywood's favorite food) and pita bread pizzas too, but I stuck with the hummus and veggies. I love that stuff.

Scrappy Love

2012-01-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

I sure am enjoying all the scrappy quilt projects in blogland. Scrappy quilts will always be my favorite. Never have been a matchy-matchy girl. I dug into my pre-cut scraps and gave this Scrap Jar Stars block by Gigi's Thimble a whirl. I might have to try a couple more of these.

It's 10:30 am, and I just put my lunch in to heat up. Inspector Gadget caved and ordered a new microwave. It's on back order. I think it's been fun teaching the kids how we reheated (and heated) stuff in the olden days. I never thought I'd say this, but that toaster oven has come in quite handy. Those hooligans moved that monstrosity into my kitchen when I was out of town a few years ago. I might have to buy a typewriter and make those youngins type their college papers on it. An electric typewriter of course, I'm not that ornery.

Enchiladas Two Ways

2012-01-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

Jeez, I'm still into food. I cancelled my gym membership too. Anyone else smell trouble? Last night, I tried this enchilada sauce recipe. I usually make my own concoction, and it's good; but this stuff was much easier and quite tasty. And not from a can. It looks really dark in the picture after baking, but it was really good.

After getting the sauce going, I threw all caution to the wind and fried up three Angus bacon cheddar burger patties rescued from the deep freeze. Okay, they were salvaged, versus rescued. You were supposed to use them by October something, 2011. No one died, people. And a zesty enchilada sauce masks freezer flavor quite nicely. Plus, I fried the crap out of them. They had color after I was done with them. I also had some leftover red beans and chicken so enchiladas two ways were in order.

The burgers were crumbled and mixed with sauce, cheese and black olives. For the second version, I smashed some red beans, added in sauce, shredded chicken and cheese. No olives in some of them. One was all beans, no chicken. My family has issues. The garnish was avocado, tomato, lime juice and sour cream. The garnishes have to go on the side, because like I said, my family has issues. A little green salad and yellow rice finished off dinner.

I used the leftover avocado and tomato on my egg sandwich this morning. Okay, I'm off to put my running shoes on. Unfortunately, I have no issues with food. I like to eat everything.

Happy MLK Day!

2012-01-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

I bake my bacon because everyone knows fried foods are bad for you. Ha!

Bacon, feta, cheddar quiche. My friend showed a picture of one she made on Faceplace [sic] and you know how easily I'm influenced.

This roasted broccoli is amazing. I really wanted to make broccoli gratin, but my arteries were already ticked at me for the quiche. My butt's not even talking to me. This roasting method would be great for all types of veggies. The garlic pieces were my favorite and a little parmesan cheese never hurt anything.

And what's Sunday night without a good ole roasted chicken? This recipe always makes the best pan sauce and all it takes is lemon, onion, garlic, herbs and olive oil. I usually deglaze the pan with white wine instead of chicken broth. Look how dark brown the drippings make the sauce. You have to strain and skim the fat, but it makes a rich and tangy sauce.

And I can't forget my beloved French lentils. Lots of garlic in these babies too. Inspector Gadget puts hot sauce on his. Julia Child (and my grandmother) would have a fit!

Hoping to find some crafting and/or sewing time today. Busy weekends away from my studio have me itching to create.

Risotto Love

2012-01-15T08:09:00.000-05:00

Sun-dried tomato risotto and mixed greens with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. My kind of dinner.

Christmas Tree is Down...Boo Ya!

2012-01-14T13:35:00.001-05:00

Remind me next year that it's not really that hard to put all the Christmas crap away. I'm a little leary, as it all fit back in the containers loosely. I hope I didn't miss something, but I did do some culling of decorations again this year. My house is back to normal. Yay! But the microwave blew up yesterday. Boo. I guess you have to have the yin with your yang.

Saw this adorable paper pieced apple on Pinterest yesterday. I couldn't resist making one. The apple part is 3"! You can find the free pattern right here. The stem was tricky. I think I unsewed it at least five times. Ahem. I didn't cuss though. Now that's progress.

Hollywood's new net book sleeve with pockets. It's kind of flimsy, but she likes it. Wish I would have added a layer of batting. The pattern was nice and easy though. Oh snap, I should have used a coordinating pony tail holder instead of that white elastic. Next time. I just moved my hair elastics to my elastic collection. I have too much crap. I'm off to move some more of this crap outta here. Happy Saturday!

Had to Work Today

2012-01-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

Oh the humanity. Just kidding. I like to work. Beats housework or paperwork. My project wasn't very exciting and it isn't complete, but it will put food on the table. It also involved temporary boob tattoos, so there's that. You think we graphic designers never have fun?!

Speaking of food, it's just Inspector Gadget and I for dinner tonight. He buzzed home for lunch and I asked him what he felt like for dinner. He's usually one of those "just make me something to eat" kind of guys. I gave him protein choices and he came up with pork chops simmered in cream of mushroom soup served over white rice. His mom made him this and it was one of his favorites. So we're taking a trip back to the 1970s tonight. Wish me luck. Luckily I have a fresh batch of mixed greens for salad and goat cheese. I could eat that for dinner. I still haven't made it to the grocery store or produce market. I'm out of parsley, onions, bleach and a bunch of Dr. Oz's supplements to help you curb your weight. The kids used to tease me about Oprah-isms, now they say, "did Dr. Oz say that?" So much for afternoon TV, I really shouldn't bother. Maybe those shows are new-age, snake-oil treatments.

Lemon Logs, 13.5" x 8.75"


Backing and Label

I did make this little mini this morning. I had the yellow log cabin blocks and just added sashing and borders. Practiced my free motion quilting too! My partner loves yellow and white and her swap name is lemon cupcakes. I got a peek at the quilt my partner is sending me. It's so stinkin' cute! I'll show you when it arrives. I wish I had a better handwriting style. I write like a kindergarten teacher. My daughter inherited the gene.

P.S. I watched Money Ball while I was sewing today. I have no idea what it was about, but Brad Pitt was so lovely. Oooh, shiny, muscular and a good father. Swoon! Water for Elephants was disturbing to me. I can't handle any type of visual animal abuse or pain. The animals had good lives eventually and it was interesting to see how circus animals are treated back in the day. Let's hope time has cured that. As a child, my parents made me go to bed because Lassie was always involved in some sort of trauma and I couldn't handle it. Those war/cowboy movies where horses fall down, forgettaboutit. RedBox is making millions off me this week. Okay, maybe only $2.56, but still.

Rainy Day

2012-01-11T09:16:00.000-05:00

Boring Photo of Leftover Marinara Sauce

I gave this slow cooker marinara sauce a try. I halved the recipe because I probably have a vat of spaghetti sauce in the depths of my freezer. I didn't have crushed tomatoes, so I used diced. Crushed would be better. And I left out the brown sugar. I always leave sugar out of my tomato sauces. The balsamic vinegar was a neat addition. I've never thought to add that before. I added a splash of white wine too because the mixture looked kind of thick. It was an easy recipe and the sauce is pretty rich for having no meat. I love finding new blogs and Budget Bytes is a really good one.

The Florida quilt is finished. I hope to get it in the mail this week way ahead of deadline. I hope my partner likes it.

I had some fun with the label. That's Mickey Mouse in case you can't tell by my graphic rendition.

A spool block for our guild's monthly block lotto. I might have enough gray to make another. The block was engineered by the talented Krista (I have one of her quilts!) and is featured in the Modern Blocks book. It's a small quilting world, isn't it?

Futility. I'm doing it right.

2012-01-10T09:04:00.000-05:00

fu·til·i·ty (fy-tl-t)

n. pl. fu·til·i·ties

1. The quality of having no useful result; uselessness.

2. Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.

3. A futile act.

So Puddin' Face needed a case for her new-to-her net book. College Boy received the thing free to give his geeky opinion and Inspector Gadget has been using it too. Puddin' finally wound up with it to use for college. It's much easier to lug than her laptop. Apparently they use computers in college now. How innovative. I used a typewriter, but never lugged it to class. And it was an electric typewriter. I'm not that old, despite what my children think.

So using this envelope idea as a starting point, I drafted a complicated pattern on my trusty graph paper. Then I cut muslin in the shape of my complicated pattern. Turns out I stink at drafting patterns. What you really need to make this is a stinkin' simple square! So I cut a piece of cardboard the size of the net book and cut my fabrics and batting. I just layered everything together and sewed all around the edges. Then I chopped off one of the corners and turned the whole thing right side out. Easy!

The hard part was hand sewing the closures and velcro. I only stabbed myself once. No blood. Progress. Puddin' head decided she didn't want a faux button. We were texting/photoing back and forth while she was making smoothies at work. She loved it! I was a proud mama.

When the kidlet got home from work, we tested out the fit. Too small! Noooooooo. I didn't take into account the depth of the net book. I thought about it, but really wanted a snug fit. Not this snug though.

But look, I have a handy case for my piece of cardboard. Back to the drawing board. And a huge, big thanks for all those step-by-step tutorials on the internet. Clearly, I'm not to be trusted on my own.

Ha! Maybe I am that old...

...because I even remember these!

Monday, and yes my Christmas tree is still up.

2012-01-09T10:36:00.000-05:00

Oh chicken piccata, how I love thee. I always forget how easy this dish is. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are usually kind of tasteless, but add some lemon juice, chicken stock, butter and capers to sauce it up, and they turn delicious! There are many variations of this recipe, some bread the chicken cutlets more, but I like the simplicity of the flour dredge. It makes an amazing sauce to drizzle on egg noodles, rice, pasta or bread. Fresh parsley adds a bunch to this dish, but I was smack out of it. I kind of panic when I run out of fresh parsley. I will remedy my lack of parsley tomorrow.

Look at these Meyer lemons my mom gave me. She grows them. They are huge and so juicy.

A little salad and bread (before I toasted it) isn't going to hurt either. I also made some egg noodles and green peas. Not a bad quickie dinner. And tons of leftovers. I really should have had 10 kids. I know, bite my tongue, but I always cook for 12. My mom was/is the same way. I was an only child and my mom cooked like we had a whole crew of kiddos. It is kind of nice that anyone can stop by and share a meal. The kid's friends know they can always get fed here. Inspector Gadget and I eat leftovers for breakfast and lunch every day, so not much goes to waste.

Hills Creek Quilter has finished her Dear Jane top. It's absolutely gorgeous. Go see! If you would like to learn more about the history and fascination with the Dear Jane quilt, go here.

Another fun compilation of crafty goodness is Skip to My Lou's Made by you Monday. I like to leave the tab up all day long and flit over when I need a break from work. There are always great recipes, crafts, DIY projects and more. Just keep refreshing throughout the day and you'll find plenty of great projects and inspiration. I bombard my Pinterest boards on Mondays. Blogland is filled with craftiness! So now you know why my Christmas tree is still standing.

Sunday Stash #41

2012-01-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

Uh oh, the monthly guild meeting at The Sewing Studio was this week.

This fabric was on the clearance rack at JoAnn. You can still find some quality fabric at JoAnn, but you have to feel it. Some of their stuff is like thin sandpaper.

We went to Bonefish Grill last night for dinner. I had the Spinach Bacon Gorgonzola Salmon, which was divine. Their portions are so huge that I have enough for lunch today. Or breakfast. Not sure I can wait until lunch!

Soup for Breakfast

2012-01-07T14:21:00.000-05:00

Found a fun tutorial for grocery bags. The Fat Sack by Terry Atkinson of Atkinson Designs. Lookie, I even used the serge stitch on my machine. A first! I've had this vintage heavier weight cotton fabric for ages. There wasn't enough for the handles, so I had to shop my stash.

Terry's Cheese and Crackers quilt was one of the first quilts I ever made. It's still a flimsy four years later. I really need to gather a bunch of tops and take them to be quilted. Yawn.

I made the Barefoot Contessa's roasted tomato basil soup last night. Parmesan goldfish work way better than oyster crackers! Shaved romano cheese won't hurt either. The soup is pretty good. Very basil-y. I halved the recipe since I'll probably be the only one eating it. I think it will make the perfect breakfast fare.

Made in Cherry Quilt Along

2012-01-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon a neat quilt along by Pins & Bobbins. It's called the Made in Cherry Quilt Along and features a lovely pattern by the talented Sarah Fielke. I've done a few mystery quilts with Bonnie Hunter and joined in several quilt alongs. It's fun to sew with people.

Not my eye. Photo blatantly lifted from the squinternet.

Had my eye exam today and I'm still all dilated. Blech. Puts me out of sorts. I don't know why it takes my eyes so long to "come down" even when my doc uses the quarter strength of the usual drops. Looking at a computer screen for fun isn't too taxing, so I think I'll go check out what everyone's been up to on Pinterest. A little eye candy for my big fat eyeballs.

Tooling Around

2012-01-05T17:00:00.000-05:00

College Boy thought mama had bought him an expensive new lens for our camera we share. Elf on a shelf is sitting there wondering when I'm going to put away the Christmas crap. I was trying to find little elves to help me with that task, but it looks like I'm on my own. Maybe I'll leave all the red ornaments on the tree and call it the "Valentine's Day" tree. Glad it's a fake tree or it would have caught fire by now.

See, it's just a coffee cup. Bad mama to tease like that.

I had to have these $2 tweezers I saw at the fabric shop yesterday. That girl needs a cheeseburger!

Told you I was going to have make the mouse pincushion. I wish I had done the eyes differently. Maybe closer together. He looks a little wide eyed. It was still a simple and fun pattern.

Finally started my Florida quilt for the doll quilt swap I host. January has an optional theme of "Show Us Where You Live." I think flamingos, fruits, flip flops, space ships, oranges, tropical fish and frogs describe our state very nicely. Oh, and of course the ever present road signs as our roads are always under construction. Note I left out snakes. Even though I'm a snake magnet, I do not have any snake fabric.

For my 2010 Florida quilt, "Tacky Tourist." I had a bit of fun with applique. Note socks with sandals. It's a common site here. I just noticed the tourist has a tattoo on his arm! I forgot all about that. Wonder if it says "Mum." We get lots of British tourists.

The 2011 "I Spy Florida" quilt with more novelty fabrics. I have a never-ending supply of that dang green frond fabric.

My partner sent me a California surfing quilt. Love that pink poodle surfer chick. This was her first doll quilt swap and she said she had fun making the little quilt. Her sewing group is making doll quilts too, so she's looking forward to making more. They are quite addictive.

Brrrr!

2012-01-04T07:35:00.000-05:00

Get your craft on! The Long Thread has gathered her Top 100 Tutorials of 2011. There are sewing projects, quilting and paper crafts and other crafty goodness to keep you from laundry. ;) She had me at the first mouse pincushion tutorial. Gotta make that later today.

Before I put my cotton candy and apricot scraps away, I made one more AAQI quilt for our guild challenge. Stripy bindings always make me smile. I can't wait to see what everyone else came up with. The Orlando Modern Quilt Guild is going to have a good showing for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

It froze here last night. Rare for central Florida, but it happens. I chopped all my basil off the plant so it wouldn't be ruined. Now I have to figure out what to do with it. Salad caprese for sure, but I saw something about drying it in the nuclear wave. I have a lot of basil. That half-dead basil plant Inspector Gadget rescued from the the trash was quite prolific once it was planted.

Twenty Years Ago

2012-01-03T11:39:00.000-05:00

Twenty years ago today, Inspector Gadget and I were heading home from the hospital with a little baby born just the day before. I can remember thinking, "they're really going to let us take him home?!" "By ourselves?!" This picture is proof that we didn't break College Boy, but I did make him feverish by having the heat too high in his room that first day home. Or how about his first tepid bath where he screamed the entire time? I certainly wasn't going to burn him up again with scalding bath water! Ha! Parenting has been fun. All in all, I think he turned out pretty cute.

Those silly Mayans. I'm still not cleaning behind the refrigerator just in case.

This morning's little project was a heart bookmark by the talented Karen at Sew Many Ways. Might be cute to tuck into a Valentine's Day card.

Everyone is back to work and school today. I guess the holidays are over. Someone tell that to my Christmas decorations.