Craft Update

The new year is bringing some new projects to the house that I'm excited about.  I had a few things over my head in the fall that I had to finish before I could focus on anything else.  The two quilts I made for my niece and nephew are finally done but not without some major issues.  Remember me writing about the sewing machine breaking down in November  -  well, I was trying to finish the second one up that week.  Both of those were months in the making and should have been a snap, but they weren't.  Part of it was the technique, which was not what it was cracked up to be, and the other was my machine.  Anyway those are done and I was ready to move on.  I was feeling pretty guilty about not having something homemade for the grandkids so I made them pillow cases.  Those turned out really nice due in part to the rolling technique I found to encase the cuff.  I also made some infinity scarves for myself that solves a couple problems for me  -  one is how to cover my scar and the other is adding some pizazz.  This was a very easy project and one I think I'll get a lot of use out of.  So when Christmas was over, I signed up for a Mystery Block of the Month class at my LQS!  This is very exciting for me despite the fact that it will take over 10 months to complete.  I'm looking forward to learning all the ins and outs of quilt making, at least in regard to this paper pieced project.  Of course, that still leaves me with some time to explore other projects and I've already begun.  Years ago my sil gave me some wallpaper and upholstery books from Padden's that they were giving away.  The wallpaper went really fast, what with preschool and girl scouts, and I managed to use some of the material on canning jar lids, etc.  But I still had all this nice floral material that I didn't even know if I could wash.  I had it cut out of the books a long time ago but it wasn't until last fall when I actually washed and dried it.  It came out really well so my mission was to find a quilt to use them in.  I found 2 that would work with the florals and I'm in the process of combining the best techniques of both to make one I like.  I'll keep you posted on that one and my experience in the class.

No Passing on the Right

How many times have you been driving on the interstate and due to someone in the left lane, saw another driver, or possibly yourself, passing in the right lane?  This is one of the first lessons I learned in my driver's ed training but it seems no one follows it anymore.  I, myself, have been in the situation where I'm passing a car and have every intention of getting over in the right lane as soon as I clear the passed car, when someone passes me in the right lane.  So far no accident but these people are surely in a big hurry.  Now, on the other hand, I have been passed, by truckers for the most part but not always, who misjudge the road and find that they cannot get ahead of me.  I know this seems unlikely, given my observance of the speed limit (yes, I am a rule-follower), but this leaves me in a quandary as to what to do.  Do I slow down and let him pass or just keep going the same speed and end up passing him on the right?  I have also, as another option here, been in a situation where a vehicle continues to stay in the left lane despite numerous chances to get over, leaving other cars no alternative but to pass on the right.  Why am I writing about this now?  When we were returning from the cabin on Sunday, we saw a truck with the following message on the respective back tire flaps  -  (left) passing, (right) suicide.  As I said before, I see more truckers causing problems like this than cars.  Of course, there's never a cop around when this happens!

New Year, New Me

I guess we always say those kind of things at the beginning of a new year, that's nothing new.  I have no real resolutions, per se, this year because I know how all that goes.  Last year I talked about using adjectives to put into resolutions and then my surgery came up.  If I had known about all that I could have made one that said just to be alive.  I'm being melodramatic, of course, but last year was one of recuperation.  I still don't feel fully recovered but that's mainly my fault.  I still get out of breath when I walk up the stairs and that is what bothers me the most.  Also my weight has fluctuated so much this year.  It amazes me that my weight was low when I was feeling the worst and as soon as I was feeling better, it went up and up.  They told me to weigh myself every day when I left the hospital so I wasn't experiencing sudden gain from water retention.  Now I don't even want to look at that scale.  My dil mentioned in her blog about non-scale successes and I'm going to focus on those this year, such as zippering my pants and not being out of breath going up the stairs.  As usual I'm collecting recipes and I have a few I'd like to try to soothe my sweet tooth but in a healthier way.  Of course I still have these containers of fudge, candy and cookies that I was not able to pawn off on anyone over Christmas.  I considered not making anything over the holidays but that is just not an option for me and if you had seen how well it all went over, you'd understand.  So here I am planning my year  -  signed up for a quilting class that will take me to Oct., deciding what classes to take at the 2 upcoming quilt shows in Cleveland, helping my daughter with her wedding plans, having the grandkids here for another week this summer, and who knows what after that, maybe a trip.  Today I have a list that's a mile long of things that need done so I better get to it.  Happy New Year to all!

Handmade Swag

  I think my sway turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  What's even more exciting is the fact that I just moved this picture from my facebook page.  Wow!  Anyway, back to the swag.  During that week my hubby was hunting at the cabin and I was here decorating, I put a wreath on the front door that my dil made for me years ago.  I remember being in awe of it and thinking how did she do that.  I had never done wreaths or anything else like that before.  I got to thinking about making something for the sitting room door and asked my hubby to bring back some pine branches during one of his walks.  I was willing to work with whatever he gave me, knowing he'd come through for me.  He brought back 2 different kinds of pine branches, some with small pinecones on them, plus some club moss.  He said people used to cover wreaths with the club moss for decorations.  Anyway, I started with the swag.  I knew what I wanted to do based on something I saw and it seemed so simple.  I grabbed the branches and wired them together end to end, tied a bow in the center, added pinecones to the ribbon and then as an after-thought, glued some holly around the bow.  We were both kind of impressed by it and the great thing is I don't have to store it until next year!  Then on to the club moss, which, out of respect for my hubby, I needed to do something with that.  I had an old grapevine wreath that was never used so I began the process of covering that with the club moss.  It started looking pretty nice  -  very light and airy.  I finished it off also with some holly for color and put that in a basket by the front door.  I might decide later to put it up on the wall, somewhere, but I haven't decided yet.  This will be the extent of my Christmas decorations this year, even though I have so many more that could go up.  I'm totally enjoying what I have now!

Bear Proof

I'm not saying the cabin is bear-proof but here's the proof of a bear.  This was taken when my hubby was at the cabin hunting.  He takes down a bunch of apples for himself and the deer and leaves them on the deck.  When he got up one morning he found all the apples gone and all that was left behind were a couple bear paws in the snow.  That goodness for the snow or there would have been no sign of him.  A couple nights later he was woken up early in the morning by a loud sound coming from the deck.  What had happened was the bear came back up on the deck for more apples, ran into an unexpected gate propped up and got scared by the loud crash it made as it fell.  Sometimes that's all it takes with these bears.  They don't seem to have much of a backbone unless they are with a cub, then watch out.  We've known that there were bears around and have both seen them from time to time, but never were quick enough to get a picture.  We've seen droppings all around and a battered up wooden bird box , too.  We'll keep trying for that elusive picture that I can add to my collection of the "Animals at the Cabin" cd but until then the pawprint will have to do.  By the way, my hubby also found droppings down over the hill.  Apples will get you every time.

New Phone

First a little background.  Last year we made the move to Straighttalk in order to save some money on our wireless bill.  The only downside was that we had to buy our phones outright.  I got a slightly more expensive phone with a camera but realized within a couple months that my reception was very poor and the Internet that we were supposed to have was basically non-existent.  So here I am with this phone that is practically useless but at least there was no contract.  I refused to pay for the pricey data plan in addition to an expensive smartphone.  Then came Cyber Monday or Sunday, since they seemed to start early.  I found a straighttalk smartphone for $79 that seemed perfect for what I wanted.  I would keep my plan which provided unlimited minutes, text and data.  I have been tracking this thing all week, waiting in anticipation and getting sucked into believing this would change my life.  Anyway, it came yesterday and I was waiting in the sitting room for the FedEx guy with a bag of candy to show my appreciation.  Then the fun was supposed to begin  -  not!  Like all technology and me, it's a love - hate relationship.  It can be so frustrating to figure things out like this.  I was under no assumption that this was like the pricier IPhone or Android but what I wanted was a phone I could talk on and get e-mail.  I put in all my contacts which was my tutorial for learning how to use a touchpad.  My voicemail was somehow already on the phone but don't ask me how.  I finally mastered the texting part after a couple mishaps, I could talk from the sitting room with my hubby on the phone and the e-mail finally magically appeared later in the evening.  I was able to sleep peacefully last night knowing that I got what I wanted.  Of course, that was after all day on the phone, setting other work aside that I wanted to do, grabbing what I could to eat to get back to that phone and a nasty headache from looking at the little screen too long.  It wasn't a life changer  -  just one less thing to worry about.
P.S.  I love it when my screen is filled with yellow highlights (spellcheck) and nothing is misspelled.  I feel like I'm speaking a different language.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I made this yesterday for dinner and it also turned out good.  I was surprised at how low in calories both of those soups were without using the thickeners.  For this soup, I held the red peppers over the burner of the stove until they were charred.  Then I put them in a bowl and put a plate over top to let them steam.  The only thing about both of these soups was that I would have liked them thicker.  To the garlic soup I added more potatoes and to this soup I probably would add another pepper or less broth.  Anyway, that's what I've been working on here.