overwhelmed

I got my craft room in order today. I wanted to organize my fabrics a bit and when I pulled out the fabrics I have bought for planned projects I was very overwhelmed. It was taking over both dressers in that room.

I set aside projects today into totes. I broke them up into 3 month intervals. Hopefully it will help me feel a little more in control of things.

This quarter has my mom's quilt, the quilt for our room and the red and teal log cabin fabrics I have planned.

I tried to make the quilts appropriate for the season. The April May June tote(pic above) has lots of bright colorful fabrics. The July Aug Sept has a couple colorful fabrics and one Halloween set. So hopefully I will be in the mood ya know.

Thankfully with these fabrics set aside the big dresser is empty now and my stash fits nicely in the other dresser. I feel a bit better. I found some flannel fabrics in with the mess today so I whipped up a blanket for Nathan. Bonus I love small projects that only take 30 minutes!

seeds of excitement

My craft room is still a guest room for another day so this is another non quilting post. But I find several of my housekeeping duties to be hobbies. Usually the old fashioned tasks that I do to save us money or improve the quality of life around here. For instance, I buy inexpensive steak to grind instead of buying ground beef at the store. It may seem silly, but the meat is cheaper this way and very lean and I know its all meat, no bones or guts or eyeballs. The meat tastes fantastic and it saves us money and its better than buying it already ground.

I also enjoy baking bread. It takes time and kneading was tough for me to get the hang of, but I love the way it makes the house smell and that I made it!

I have been thinking about this next adventure for a while now. I am going to plant a small garden this year! I have been asking my folks about a million and a half questions on the topic. I really just want to get a ton of tomatoes to can and cucumbers to pickle. My little monster eats a pickle a day so I am hoping to get a good supply of cukes. I'm also going to plant bell peppers to chop and freeze. Oh the excitement.

I will need to get a pressure cooker, but I have been searching eBay and think I can buy a used one. I am excited to have fresh veggies growing.

Easy Cheesy Chili Chicken

This is my craft blog, which mostly consists of quilting. But since this week my sewing is shut down I have been finding lots of things to fill my time. Including organizing my photo folder on the computer. I came across a photo I took probably to post on multiply for our family members to view. But it didn't happen. This is a super great recipe though and I love it when I make it. It is really simple. I saw George Stella make it a lot of years ago on his show Low Carb and Loving It. I think that was the name of it. I don't know if its still on, we had it occasionally on AFN. So here is his recipe....

1. Preheat oven to 400.


2. In a large bowl combine : * 2Tbls Olive Oil * Cilantro(which I omit because we don't care for it) * 1Tbls Chili Powder * 1Tbls Cumin * 2 teas salt * 1 clove garlic shopped * 1/2 teas pepper * 1/8 teas cayenne ***Mix Well**


3. Add 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts to the bowl **coat them well


4. Line a cookie sheet with foil arrange the breasts


5. Top the chicken breasts with * 1/4 cup julienned green bell peppers * 1/4 cup diced red onion * 1 medium tomato diced


6. bake Chicken 20 minutes or until its done. **remove from oven and sprinkle with shredded cheese. **


7. Let the cheese melt and then SERVE

My new baby Juki

If you know me in real life, you know I can go on and on and on about my Juki. I am just so impressed by it and appreciative of the awesome stuff it does. I mean it. I can talk for hours about how much I love it. And now I have 2 Jukies to love. My new baby Juki arrived this afternoon.

Here they both are with their big tables attached... What a pair eh?

And here is the baby with her cover on! Sleek & Sexy EH??

That cover holds the manual! This made me shriek and jump up and down a bit.... Have you ever lost your manual under the piles of crap in your sewing area and you need to refer to the tension images... its frustrating when you can't find it. This is going to be wonderful!!

This is the baby Juki!! Isn't she so cute?

She came with a bunch of feet that I won't use. But she does have a very spiffy free motion foot!!

That little white button on the right slides to pop the bobbin cover right up! I was impressed. No sliding the cover up and down. Thank goodness!!

See all of the fancy things she will do. I played with a few of them and they are wonderful!
Oh the EXCITEMENT!!
Okay that's the end of my bragging I won't bring it up again....maybe....

My Sewing Room is Shut Down

We had guests last night. They have headed for Arizona for a few days and will be back on Thursday. So my sewing/guest room is currently a guest room. Instead of the bed tucked in the corner piled with fabrics, it is made up and hospitable.

Instead of the dressers stacked with fabrics and lined with a cutting mat and sewing boxes it looks neat and welcoming.

Instead of my table piled with cut fabrics and scraps or with the Juki zipping blocks together, the table offers guest slippers and bottled water and just in case toiletries.

It really does work nice as a guest room. So this week I will have the Juki on the kitchen table and I'll keep working on the 40's filmstrip. I am about 1/2 finished quilting it. Its quite large and I miss the instant gratification of a baby sized quilt.

I was working on my February menu today. My Hubbs is leaving the second week of Feb. so I probably wont plan meals for the rest of the month. But the first week I am planning to try 6 new Crock-Pot meals! All Taste of Home of course :)

• Sunday 1/31(I'm going to roast in the crock pot instead of the oven.
• Monday is our weekly leftover night :)
• Tuesday 2/2
• Wednesday 2/3
• Thursday 2/4
• Friday 2/5 I'm going to cut this one in half
• Saturday 2/6

A New Juki

I have a very exciting sewing room edition on its way! I bought a new Juki to replace my shifty Singer. I love my Juki TL 98Q so much that I decided to go for another Juki to fill in my special stitch needs, plus it will be nice to have a small machine too. I picked the Juki HZL-E80.

I ordered it last night from a dealer on Amazon.com and it was shipped today! I can hardly believe it is already on its way! I will probably check the UPS tracking about 50 times a day until it arrives, but whats new eh? HeHe

The photos above are of our life one year ago! Exactly one year ago we were having our final shipment picked up and living in a hotel room. The monster was just starting to walk!

To help with my Thursday BLAHS

I have been feeling so BLAH today!! Even though I have a ton of fun things going on!

I went to the HOLO today to get party stuff for our Superbowl Party which will be a quick birthday party for the monster during halftime. He is turning 2 on the 8th so having a party on the 7th works out good. I got a cake pan in the shape of a football, and all sorts of stuff.

While I was there I found this fabric and LOVE it! I have been on the watch for something to make another toy/diaper bag for my little guy. So I picked up some solids to go with it. I can't wait! (the gray is for the inside)

On top of all of that excitement I ordered a new dining set today from JCP.com. It was on clearance! My folks are driving through this Sunday on their way to my sister's in AZ , and on their way back they are going to stop in again and stay for 2 days with us. When they leave I am going to send along my old table and chairs! My baby sister is getting her first place, and could use a table and chairs! How perfect eh? The new table will be able to seat more than 4 people!! Actually with the leaf it can grow to 90 inches!! Won't that be nice?! Our little $199 Kmart set has served us well, and I think it will have a nice long life with my sister too.

And most excitingly, today I made reservations for our family to sit on the beach in April! I cannot wait. My hubby will be traveling for work twice before our vacation arrives, so I am sure we will really enjoy some relaxing time together. We reserved a one room villa with a balcony overlooking the water! We need this...

Strings,and Crazy Nine-Patches, Solids, and Circles

Its really starting to come together. All of the blocks are done now! I am going to start sewing them together this week! Between the sampler blocks and this quilt project I feel like I am seriously broadening my horizons. I have learned lots of new things.

getting the string blocks going

Can I tell you that I was shrieking when I finished and trimmed my first block?!!! I have 9 done so far! Maybe during nap time tomorrow I can get the other 12 done. They aren't hard to sew together really, but boy, cutting the strips took a long time! I love love love them!

Round 4 Circles

I spent most of the day hacking up the rest of my "I Believe in Santa" and "12 Days of Christmas" fabrics for the round 4 quilt along. It is a mess in my work area, and I'm not even halfway finished cutting the strips for the string blocks. I'm getting really excited though! The Hubbs has tomorrow off so maybe I can get the cutting finished and perhaps start sewing the strips together. I am anxious. And I am extremely nervous about trying applique again. If you happen to read my first blog I had a picture up of that horrific elephant. Gulp. I'm sure with that steam-a-seam stuff I bought it should be much easier. **Fingers-crossed**

Saturday Sampler Blocks

I've been working on them again. Sixteen done so far!

Here is Swamp Angel

Spools and Bobbins

And the horrible Forrest Path. I will NEVER EVER EVER make one of these ever ever ever again!

I told you

See how organized I am! Birthday gifts for the little nieces and nephews, wrapped, and ready to ship when the time comes. AND I plugged in reminders on my Yahoo! calendar so they will send me an email reminder to mail them out early enough to arrive ON TIME! And no one will be forgotten this year! I always hate when I remember one niece then forget her sister a couple months later. I feel so terrible. NOT THIS YEAR!

Go me!!!

The big present that isn't in a shipping box happens to be for this little guy. He turns 2 in a few weeks!

A Fresh New Year

It feels like things are starting off great. The weather here has been delightful for the past 3 days. Springlike. It makes me feel like everything is fresh and new.

I have been getting birthday cards in order for 2010. Its a big ordeal for me to remember everyone's birthday, and I always forget a few people and feel like a jerk. We have 11 siblings between us, and 9 sibling-in-laws, 6 parents, 4 grandparents, 9 nieces and 4 nephews. All of these people qualify for a birthday card in my book. So last week, I went and got birthday cards for everyone, and a small pack of pretty blank cards to use for the anniversaries.

I bought small gifts for the nieces and nephews and got the shipping supplies together for the gifts. I'm on top of it eh?!

Then today while I was fetching the last of the shipping supplies I picked up new sharpies and pens, which I desperately needed. And while I was there I found a pink file cabinet. AND when I got home my new kitchen rugs had arrived. Its like everything is coming together and making life feel fresh and new.

I have a basket that I keep cards and letters and pictures I receive in the mail throughout the year. I LOVE real mail! I emptied the basket the other day. Everything from last year went into a labeled Ziploc. One day when I'm dead I'm sure someone will go through those bags and say, "What the hell, did she keep every piece of crap that come in this place?!"

Along with all of this new year organizational fun, I've finally got my Juki humming. I've started quilting the Filmstrip Quilt, and I finished 3 blocks of the sampler. The Doves in the window block was a real pain in my rear. And I'm avoiding Forrest Path because it looks just as bad. But I like the way they all look.

Well Received

I think all of my homemade gifts were enjoyed by their recipients.

I'm already starting to think about projects for next Christmas.

It was given to me

While I was in Michigan for the holidays my favorite aunt gave me 3 bags of fabric scraps! And in with the scraps was this top! It was like hitting the jackpot in Vegas!!

I went to Monday night quilting twice while I was there. The Strip Teasers are always so fun, and I learned a few new dirty jokes. I wish I could transplant them to Clovis. I could use that kind of fun every week.

Tomorrow ends this single parent stint. My hubby is due back tomorrow night. Thank God!