Second Finish ...

After a long hiatus from the sewing room, I finished my second quilt for the year today.  It's another baby quilt (of course), this time for a friend of my YD.  She told me her colors were mint, coral, and grey -- and for some reason I thought she was having a boy -- so I ordered fabrics in those colors and went to work.  I blogged about the quilt on July 5 asking for advice on which border to use.  I ended up using a grey polka dot.

 

However, after finishing the top, my YD and I went to the fabric store to pick out the backing fabric.  While doing this I learned that her friend was having a girl, not a boy.  So my effort to make the quit more boy-ish, though effective, gave me a quilt that I couldn't give her.

So we got more fabric.  

I decided to do a four patch (I think that's what it's called).  I sewed four 3.5 inch strips together and then cut them in 3.5 inch horizontal strips and then began to sew them together -- but first I put them on my design wall to see how they would look.

Pretty but .. looks a little too much like candy canes, so I pulled them down and went with these four fabrics instead:  

I included two small blocks from my original "mint" fabric.

It went together really fast.  So here is what it looked like yesterday after I basted it ...

and finally, the finished project.

Favorite Things Friday

My favorite this week is podcasts.  My commute, since taking the job I now have, is about an hour each way.  To fill the time, I listen to podcasts.

I have about five favorites ..

1) Radio Free Skaro
2) Doctor Who: Verity
3) Embedded
4) Serial
5) Presidential
6) Invisibilia
7) Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
8) Ask Me Another
9) Grammar Girl
10) Lazy Doctor Who
11) TED Radio Hour
12) The Nerdist

Oops, I guess there are 12 of them.  I started with The Nerdist and now see where I am.  I try to get through them each week, but I keep falling behind.

If you have any podcasts that you'd like to share .. please leave a comment.

Cocktail Wednesday - Vodka Collins

This week's drink was the vodka collins.  recipe from here.

Ingredients:

vodka
sweet & sour mix
soda water
orange (garnish)
marschino cherry (garnish)
ice


So according to the recipe, we mixed 1.5 oz of vodka, 3 oz of sweet & sour with ice in the shaker; then poured it over ice, topped with the seltzer water.  Then garnished with the orange and cherry.

 

A very nice, light summer drink.  I think if I were to make it again, I would not use the shaker, I would just mix it in the glass.  It wasn't strong enough.  My YD said it tasted like a flat Sprite.

Probably should try a Tom Collins at some point.

Cheers!!

Favorite Things Friday

Another food favorite, this week it's Pho.  My YD introduced me several years ago and it is the best thing ever.  If we aren't headed to Panda (see my last week's post), we head for Pho.  The closest restaurant to the office is Pho Vinh.

Was just there on Tuesday.  I always get the Chicken Pho, called Phở Gà.  

I've actually been to at least four different restaurants and get the same thing at each one.  It's really good, basically chicken noodle soup. 

I can't seem to get my husband to try it even though he is a big soup lover.  Maybe there's just not enough in it for him. 

 

Cocktail Wednesday - Guava Margarita

This week's drink is the Guava Margarita.  This was Nevada and my YD's pick.  Nevada said margarita and YD said she'd had a guava one, so we decided to go with that combo.

The ingredients are:

• Guava
• Tequila
• Lime juice
• Salt 
• Simple Syrup
• Triple Sec
• Salt (calls for margarita salt)
• Lime Wedges

Recipe from here.

 I actually did some prep work this time and juiced the limes and made the simple syrup.

Then I took all the ingredients and threw them in the blender and here's the drink. 

It was pretty good.  The second margarita that I've had that I enjoyed.

and my SIL's parents also joined us but with mango instead of guava (because guava was not available in Missouri).

---------------------------------

I forgot to post about last week's drink.  Last week we had the Mint Julep. Recipe from here.  It's a very easy drink, just mint, Kentucky bourbon, sugar, ice, and seltzer water.

  

You take the mint leaves, muddle them with the sugar, add the ice, bourbon, and seltzer water and that's it.  My photographer wasn't there to take pretty pictures, but this is what it looked like.  Not one of my favorites, but it was okay.  I'd try it again.  I think we were supposed to have crushed ice which might have made a difference.

Nevada was sick and couldn't make it and my YD worked late so she didn't make it either, but I didn't want to put it off any longer ...

There's another picture I want to share but can't figure out how to get it off instagram :(.

First Finish - 2016

So, it is almost the end of July and I just finished my first quilt for the year.  I have been a total slacker in the quilting area for quite a while now.  I finished piecing the top on March 31 (as evidenced by this picture).

 

 but it took me until this week to finish.

It is the same pattern as the last quilt I finished (in November of 2015) -- with a color variation (purple instead of blue).

So here is the quilt from last year.

and here is the new one. 

The quilting was similar on both quilts, but on the 2016 version, I quilted around the entire border the width of the presser foot.  I think it looks really nice.

When quilting, I constantly remind myself that I'm never unhappy with too much quilting -- just too little ...

Favorite Things Friday

My favorite this week is Panda Express.

We frequently head over to Panda for lunch.  It's about a 5 minute drive and the food is so yummy.  I love their orange chicken and green bean chicken.  

It's super high in calories (at least the orange chicken) so I try not to go too often.

I have a friend who is of Chinese descent and her daughter says that Panda is her favorite Chinese restaurant.  I suggested to my friend that Panda can be her favorite restaurant, but as we know, the food is not really Chinese.  It's American pretending to be Chinese. 

Tomatoes, Basil and Sunflowers

One thing I have wanted to do for a long time is to plant a garden (and it's #31 on the List).  The last time I tried having a garden, grub worms ate everything and it just didn't seem worth the effort so I gave up, for like 25 years.

This year, I bought four tomato plants,  one plant each of basil, mint, rosemary, and catnip.  I planted the tomatoes, basil rosemary and catnip in the backyard.  The catnip disappeared the first week.  I'm guessing that either Spooky or one of the neighborhood cats enjoyed it.

Looks like there will be lots of tomatoes, hopefully.  I don't know how long it will be before they ripen, but I'm excited.

I am waiting for the basil to go crazy before I start using it ..

 the rosemary as well.

In the front flower beds, I planted the mint on one side.  I'm hoping it will take over everything and be a nice ground cover too.  We'll see.  In the meantime, my OD and I planted some seeds she got in England - sunflowers, poppies, and ... the only ones I'm sure are growing are these sunflowers.

The rest may be weeds, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Robin & Stephen's Wedding - 61116

On June 11, 2016, my YD got married.  She was married in Kirkwood, California.  It's a ski resort about 3.5 hours from our house, a beautiful venue.

We got to Kirkwood on Wednesday and the party began.  We met her husband's family and had dinner and drinks and generally a good time.

 Here are some of my pics from the wedding ..

 

One of my DIL's doing a reading.

the Mr & Mrs 

Waiting for pictures ...

Playing games at the reception

 

The guest "book"

 

Waiting for the food ...

Let the party begin..

 

All my children together ..