Saturday, October 30, 2010

Finished .. a good day

Friday turned out to be a very good day.  I got the results from the CLM examination and I passed! I was stunned.  I truly thought that I had not done well at all.

I also finished the rocket ship quilt! I really love the binding and the way it all came together.


Thursday, October 28, 2010

Projects

So yesterday when I came home, there was a package sitting on my bookshelf where the husband (aka Paul) puts my mail.  And this is what was in it.



When we were in Michigan this past summer Mary and Neil had come to visit us and Mary had this really cute bag, which I commented on.  (Now that I'm sewing I notice those kinds of things a little more.)  Anyway, I asked her for the pattern and here it is!!

So I now have another project.  I haven't made any bags before.  I have started a wristlet but haven't finished it yet -- I have lots of excuses why not, but now I need to get on it because I have so many other things to do..

So much to do, so little time.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Happy Birthday Michael!!

It's Michaels 24th birthday today.  On the night he was born, we watched the Redskins on Monday night football and I think the World Series as well (and I was in labor).  At least Paul was entertained!  I don't remember who or what won .. something to look up.


Here's a young picture of Michael.

Recipes

According to Katie, I am supposed to post the recipes when something works out.  Here are the links for the Butternut Squash and Chicken Tortilla soups.  AllRecipes.com is one of my favorite websites for recipes.

And this is the square I sent off to Katie this week ...

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Soup

So I felt like cooking this weekend (an amazing thing all by itself) and I made soup on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday was butternut squash soup which was delicious.



I also baked bread - Olney Ale House bread.  I may have made this once before but it's been at least 20 years ... so I'm counting this as completing #35 on my list.  It turned out okay, not great.  (Note to self: need another bread recipe.)

Then on Sunday I made chicken tortilla soup which turned out okay -- I tried a different recipe than the one I had before and I'll keep this one at least until I find a better one.  Maybe I can just add to it and make it better (is that allowed???).

My cousin Stephen was over - he works for Apple (headquarters in Cupertino) and is out here doing some software testing. 


Here he is at dinner with Mark.  After dinner we went to Paul's to watch some football.

I also did some quilting for which I'll post pictures later when Katie says I can.

and Happy Birthday Paul! he turned 30 today.  He was born on a Sunday .. we watched Saturday Night Live at Aunt Bunny's house (without any heat) waiting for the contractions to be close enough to go to the hospital....

... tomorrow is Michael's 24th birthday .. I'll wish him a happy b-day tomorrow.

If I were on top of things, I'd post the picture of Paul's 6th birthday party .. actually it's a picture of Paul and our friend Dale Brubaker doing the dishes which always makes me smile!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday ...

I was going to write about soups but then something happened last night that I thought should take precedence .. I was getting ready to fold clothes, about 10:30 ish, when we heard this loud sound.  Paul thought it was Mark coming home, I thought it was more than that, but that it reminded me of thunder.  We went and looked out the front door and didn't see anything.  Went around the house, still didn't see anything.  Decided just to move on, when the doorbell rang.  It was our neighbor.  Apparently someone had run into the lightpost in front of our house, swiped Grandpa's car, driven across our yard, our neighbors' yard, run into another car and was down by the stoplight at the next street. 

here are some pics.


I'm glad I took these last night because they removed the pole in the middle of the night and you wouldn't have been able to see it otherwise.






Amazing there wasn't more damage.

Later.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Goals revisited

So for my earlier post, I have completed one of my "mini"goals and am working on another. 

The first completed it the CLM exam, taken on September 30.  I am, however, planning on re-taking it because I am not confident I passed.  Also, until I receive notice I think I should continue to focus.  I'm not sure I shouldn't continue anyway because there is a lot of stuff that I have learned in the study sessions.

The second, is not really a completion, but rather a forced achievement.  We have had four TVs go up, break, stop working, in our house over the last month, so we have a forced moratorium on TV.  That's a good thing.  Now I just need to break away from the mindless computer games .. at least show some restraint. :)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Rocket ships and sewing machines

 I finished the quilt top tonight.  I'm attaching a picture of the whole top as well as a corner so you can see the rocket ships on the borders.



And the final picture is of the cute sewing machine I got from my mom's house.  I don't know if I used it as a kid or if one of my sisters did.  Maybe they remember...


I just love it!  Also, in the jar are some old spools of thread.  I hope I can find some more to fill the jar... another thing to collect!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Carpets and quilting

I was asked to post some carpet pictures .. so here you go.



I'm trying to decide which pattern to use for my next quilt.  Any preferences?  The first was what I had initially thought of.  The striped one just happened.  The third -- I love pinwheels.



Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Hard wood floors???

So, every time our friends rip up the old carpet in their houses, they lift the carpet and lo and behold there is this wonderful hardwood flooring underneath ... what happens when we lift our carpet? hardwood? nah, just some beautiful linoleum from the 70s ...


beautiful, huh!!

Ah, well, we already knew it because we had ripped up the carpet before.  Maybe our next house will have hardwood floors.

Remembering ...

So, I was driving to my grandchildren's school for a grandparent's day brunch and was wondering why the flags were all flying at hal...