See Ya September

This is me after last week. Real work was busy with rush jobs and deadlines. My stress level was up there some days. No selfish sewing time for me. I had dreams about work. By Saturday morning I was planted on the couch trying to decompress by watching inappropriate television I'd recorded during heck week.

I did get away to go to the produce market, but that was a necessity. I paid an arm and a leg for these cherry tomatoes, but they looked and smelled the best. Do you smell produce? I get some looks sometimes. The summer tomatoes are fading fast.

I roasted the tomatoes with garlic and basil and tossed them with some ravioli. Everything flat bread and salad made a quickie meal. The flat bread dough was just my artisan dough that keeps in the fridge. I rolled it out and topped it with everything I had in my kitchen.

I did get a chance to sew Saturday. My stitch and flip top is finished. I had to add two more rows to love it. Without the two extra rows, it needed something. I tried solid white borders with a few stitch and flip blocks sewn it, but it looked awful. Unsewing happened. Seam ripping white thread on a white background is challenging for 50-year-old eyes. I'm going to start using contrasting thread on iffy sewing choices.

I had enough extra blocks for one row, so I sewed that on. Then I made more blocks and added one more row and the size looked more cohesive. Yay! It finished at 48" x 55". I found a large hunk of navy blue fabric, so I stitched that together for the backing. I think I will quilt this one myself.

I loved this Thai Butternut Squash soup. I've been eating it for days. Yummy. I went on a butternut squash kick a few years ago. I can't get enough of this squash. Especially as soup. You can probably tell how much I like it by my Pinterest soup board. I want to make every one of those soups this Fall and Winter. Soups are my favorite thing to cook.

Selfish Sewing Week

Not only is September National Sewing Month, this week happens to be Selfish Sewing Week. You're supposed to take time and sew a little for yourself each day. And apparently have a martini. Ha! There are graphics for coffee, beer, and wine too. I do love a challenge I can wrap my head around.

I made myself a hearty breakfast and got to real job early. I am totally obsessed with these Greek omelets. Fresh spinach and oregano with feta cheese. Amazingly, I can grow basil and oregano. I'm rich with those herbs. I burnt the bread, but it was Monday, you have to expect that. I hurried through real work searching for apple-shaped corn hole bags for a Zombie Crawl in Miami. True story. I couldn't make this stuff up. I wasn't able to find any and don't know anyone who sews, so I offered my client another suggestion and moved on.

Waiting on approval for other Zombie-related stuff, and a final logo design, I gathered some fabrics to make a block for our charity quilt. We're making quilts for the bunks in Camp Boggy Creek's cabins. Ten-and-a-half inch blocks with a slice and insert a stick theme.

I'm not sure what these blocks are called, but I'm calling them Pick Up Sticks blocks. Woodstock was happy to appear. He has his camping helmet on. I hope I'm doing these right. Whatever, they're fun.

I thought about vacuuming, but it was starting to rain. What? You vacuum in the rain? Just one more block and I'll go make a Key Lime pie. My cheap limes aren't going to last forever. I've already killed two nectarines this week.

Last block for the day. This one was my favorite. Bugs and marbles. Back to the trenches tomorrow. I really hope it rains again.

Selfish sewing week, day one. Nailed it. Key Lime Pie for dinner.

Sunday Stash #76

The lovely Christina from our quilt guild travels around in her RV throughout the year. She sent me beautiful fabric from Maine to match my crab plates. I'm going to make napkins and be all fancy for my next crab fest.

Look at all these goodies I picked up at Sew Day. Linda, another guild member has been bringing in her neighbor's donated stash. We all had fun picking fabrics to take home.

We had a class at Saturday's Sew Day. Julie from La Todera spent the day with us and we all made her Razzleberry Pincushion. I used a charm pack of Mod Century by Jenn Ski. Julie gave us the fancy pins to match our pincushions. So stylish!

Julie also designs fabrics. Her newest collection features closeups of everyday items. The color palette is so gorgeous. I came home with a fat quarter and a charm pack. Another Razzleberry pincushion may be in the works!

The bow tie quilt is finished. I love the polka dot backing I found.

After a long day of sewing, I made a phone call to get dinner on the table. Spinach, artichoke and ricotta pizza for me. Sausage, pepperoni and mushroom for the Inspector. I made chicken nachos for Hollywood who came in after we ate. She pooh-poohed our pizza topping choices. College Boy has been putting in late hours at one of our theme parks. He gets home at about the time we wake-up. No telling what he's been eating. Probably macaroni and cheese in a sourdough bread bowl from Panera.

Sewing Museum Stuff

The lovely Beth over at Love Laugh Quilt is hosting a Sewing Museum link party. It's fun to see everyone's antique and vintage sewing machines and notions. These old wooden spools have always fascinated me. Did you ever use an empty spool to blow soap bubbles when you were a kid? Dish soap, water and a thread spool makes a fine bubble set. Just make sure you don't bring the bubbly end to your mouth. Memories.

I wrote about finding my old Singer 201-2 in 2012 and I found all kinds of treasures in the cabinet. I named the machine Linda because that was one of the popular girl names in 1948 when she was made. She also has a deep throat and Linda Lovelace starred in that cult classic movie. Maybe we'll just go with the popular name correlation. Ha.

A couple of oldies hanging out on my bookshelves. I should toss that pink marking powder. It would make a total mess if it ever came open. Love the zipper in it's own storage compartment. It's a Coats & Clark's "Trouble-Free" zipper. And guaranteed for life. Not bad for 40 cents.

An old Durkee's mayo jar filled with old buttons. There are some neat ones in there. I've been meaning to go through them and find another container, but I kind of like the old mayo jar.

More old buttons. You can see my reflection in one of the buttons.

See me? Or my hands, camera, and blue shirt.

At least I wasn't this guy! I wonder if his tea kettle ever sold on eBay? I purposely left this photo small. ;) Gee whiz, this post has gone PG-13 real quickly.

Old metal zippers and rick rack are fun notions. You can still buy rick rack, but not for eight cents a pack. Or at Penney's. I wish the department stores did still carry fabric. I can kind of remember Belk Lindsey having a small fabric/craft department.

Speaking of vintage things, the bow tie quilt is all quilted. Most of the fabrics are older vintage prints I've collected over the years. I had a few minutes to sew the binding on today, so it's almost done.

Linking to Love Laugh Quilt and Skip to My Lou. Go visit them and find some fun reads. You didn't need to do laundry anyway.

Sunday Stash #75

I love Kale chips. These Vampire Killer chips from Brad's Raw Foods are so good. I could eat the entire container in one sitting. I bought some of their chips too, but I haven't tried them yet. They look like they need good cheese.

Found a sale on some cute Christmas prints. Santa's Workshop by Riley Black Designs. I want to make a Christmas quilt for the my cousin's little kids. One won't be born until November, so even if I miss this Christmas, they can cuddle with it next Christmas. I'm such a goal setter. Ha.

More sale fabric. I've filled up a few other shopping carts with fabric, but eventually came to my senses. It seems like there are a bunch of sales out there now. I should turn off the internet.

Oh boy, these Crispy Green Beans with Tomato Basil Catsup were tasty. I enlisted a crew to bread them while I goofed off with the barbecue grill. They said they wanted to help. I suggest flouring them before the egg and Panko crumbs. The flour made everything stick better.

I enjoyed this post about a mom collaborating with her 4-year-old daughter. Their collaborative drawings are amazing.

Spending my stormy Sunday afternoon quilting this little bow tie quilt. Gah, I hate the quilting part. I spray basted and pinned, so it should go okay. I found a neat Wonder Bread-esque polka dot vintage fabric for the back. The only thing about older fabrics is that they're only 36" wide. I had just enough to piece a backing.

Imagine a Title Here

Giada was making these Italian Turkey Meatballs, so I thought I'd give them a try. They were really good. The addition of spicy turkey sausage gives them some zing. The tomato sauce is yummy too. The recipe makes a ton, so I froze half for another day.

Alejandrina brought me some lemon grass, so I made chicken stock. It smelled wonderful cooking. Lemon-y chicken, veggies, and herbs. They should make that a candle scent. I divided it into portions to use and freeze.

I remembered to label the containers. Check out those vintage Tupperware labels. I bet they're older than my kids. Usually I just write on blue painter's tape if I remember to label. I found some beef barley soup in the deep freeze. No label. It's really good soup, so I hope it's not too old. It didn't kill me. ;) I'm pretty good about cleaning the freezers out.

We've been eating simple meals. Baked hot wings, veggies, and blue cheese dip. College Boy's favorite meal. One of mine too!

Cubans and black bean soup. Think I added enough garnishes to my soup? Another family favorite although only three of us eat beans. College Boy has been bean free for decades. I blame his buddy in daycare who bad mouthed beans. I'd love to find that kid and see if he consumes beans and peas now. Bet he does.

One night I grilled romaine lettuce hearts and topped them with a warm bacon and red onion dressing and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese.

I had all intention of sewing a bit this week, but got carried away by other things. I did get a gigantic (90" x 90") backing pieced together. I found the drunkard's path blocks somewhere along the way and used some of my big hunks of batik fabrics.

Here's the front which has been patiently waiting since March to get a backing. It's the Easy Street Mystery from Quiltville. Adding borders wasn't working so well, so I left them off. I'll send this off to the quilter soon.