Yay...One Project Finished!

Baby steps...literally and figuratively around here. In an earlier post, I mentioned that a friend who I attended school in London with just had a baby (and by just, I mean early January). Well, the goal was to get back in the swing of knitting and throw together a baby blanket. However, the best laid plans always seem to get side tracked.

My friend sent pics of her little guy, who is absolutely adorable. In every photo he's decked out in tons of jungle animal print accessories. It seems to me that mom and dad went with a jungle theme for the little kiddo, so who am I to fight that?

When I was at the Shop Hop last month - right after getting the photos, I found the cutest panel, which just had to be swapped in place of the knitted blanket (that currently is gathering dust next to an end table in my living room). After a bit of frustration and some mis-steps with my sewing machine, I was able to "successfully" machine quilt my first baby quilt.

I think it's really cute. And as I said...with this being my first attempt at machine quilting I was fairly "successful". Luckily, some cute applique letters covered up the bunching!

And so, now it's ready to be dropped in the mail and heading out to Colorado!

In the meantime, I'm getting my game face on. I've got two days off from work now, and I'm planning a fun-filled weekend. Tomorrow is a trip up to Mary Jo's, and then to meet the bf for some Cheesecake Factory. On Saturday - it's off to the brand new IKEA! Yay vacation!

Domestic Bliss in the Kitchen

I love to cook. After having attended culinary school, I always get asked if I can make "fancy" things. It usually involves a conversation something like this:

Watching the food network....

Boyfriend: Oooh, rack of lamb...can you make that?

Me: Yes.

BF: Did you make it in school?

Me: Yes.

BF: Will you ever make it again?

Me: Probably not.

Despite my "training", I really prefer comfort food - and now that I have my own kitchen, the food my mom always made. My prize recipes are the ones I grew up with...and a few more that have been added in over the years. It's relaxing and rewarding to whip up something that I know is going to taste really good and make my soul happy.

I usually don't care if it's fancy or even looks pretty, but this past Sunday, as I was playing around in the kitchen all morning, I couldn't help but be proud of how pretty my quiche came out...

Not to brag...but doesn't that just look like it's supposed to? During this cooking session, I also put together a pot of Italian Turkey Meatball Egg Drop Soup. Neither mom or I can take credit for that recipe - it came from Rachel Ray via someone else's blog. (I can't remember who, but I really should figure that out and thank the person). This soup is soooooo good. It is a highly requested meal from my self-proclaimed non-soup eating boyfriend.

All this was topped off by my very favorite "Fast Fixin' Chocolate Cake." This was the cake I always had my mom make me for my birthday and now making it myself, feel like perhaps she was always happy I did - it involves 5 ingredients plus water, one spoon and a 9x13 cake pan - that's it - no bowls, no beaters, nothin else. But, oh the chocolatey goodness.

On that note...I'm going to go eat some. So much for all the good work I did today at the gym!

What a Difference a Week Makes

I've been away from the world of blogging for about a week thanks to the joys of just feeling plain ol' icky. When I last wrote, my choice of footwear was this...

These are my very pretty pink boots that I acquired while living in Boston. They were necessary for traversing the Boston Common everyday as I shuttled between my multiple work sites. I absolutely loved them, and actually are a large part of a story that involves me being picked up for armed bank robbery - which perhaps one day I'll share here.

But, back to my main theme - the difference of a week. Well, last Monday was the "snow day" of a couple inches of the white stuff (that consequently was really good packing snow and resulted in a rather fun snowball fight with the bf). And now on to this week, and my choice of footwear for this past Monday (as in yesterday)...

Yup...flip flops! Those accompanied a nice dress for work, as it was 80 degrees and the AC hadn't yet really kicked in at work. I'm loving the warm weather (it was 70 something today, and is supposed to be back in the 80's tomorrow). But I know it's not going to last - I think we're dropping back to the 40s and 50s on Thursday and Friday - ugh.

Well, the weather isn't the only thing that a week changed. A week ago (and even more so this past weekend), these were my "accessories" of choice...

Yay for the cold that seemed to hit everyone - and is still going around. I spent most of the end fo this past week and the weekend, when I wasn't working, curled up on the couch watching cheesy TV and movies and sniffling. This of course was after alternating between having no voice and a constantly cracking voice that made me sound like a boy going through puberty.

Well, I'm up and running now...figuratively, and literally, as demonstrated by my new accessory of choice...

Yay for getting back to the gym. Between the warm weather and finally kicking this cold, I was thrilled to go work out this afternoon after work. Yay for health!

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report on the crafting side, but I'm hoping two hours on the couch watching American Idol tonight will change that, and I'll have a finished project to share!

Snow Days are Productive

Well, we had a snowy 24 hours here in SC. Starting around 6 pm on Sunday through Monday morning we got several inches here. The northerner in me doesn't really make much of that, but it's a huge deal down here. Schools and work were closed here, so I had a nice day off! I went for a walk Sunday night and snapped some photos of the snow...

I took advantage of the quiet day to nurse a cold I'm still fighting, get a little bit of work done, take a quick nap and read a book. But perhaps my greatest accomplishment was getting this bag done!

I bought a jelly roll at the Shop Hop two weeks ago, along with Bunny Hill Design's pattern for the jelly roll bag. I think it came out pretty cute and I'm looking forward to using it as a work bag this spring. Yay for finally completing a project!

Cold and Blustery = :)

It's a pretty cold and blustery day here. For the past day or so we've had the worst weather here - cold and rainy. Of all of the weather in the world, that's the type I hate the most. Why? Well, because it just chills you to the bone, and that's the worst feeling for me. I hate being cold, hence the reason I now live in the South and not Boston. So, I've been staying inside all day and taking advantage of the icky weather as an excuse to craft :) I guess cold weather isn't all bad.

Despite having a ton of WIPs that I really should be working on, my tryip to the Shop Hop got me started on a bunch of new projects. Below is a glimpse of what I'm working on.

A little elephant (who also has some other friends), just peeking out to say hello!

And just the start of what I consider a very ambitious project, which I'm not sure I'm quite ready for. But I'm going to give it a shot and if it doesn't work out, at least I tried!

I'm going to try to finish up at least one project tonight before dinner time. I've got plans to go out this evening, but looking at some heavy wet snow coming down, I'm not sure if those will come to fruition, or I'll just stay snuggled up at home listening to showtunes, sewing, with the heater running.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Swapping

I just joined my first swap online! I'm very excited about it. I received Amy Karol's "Bend the Rules Sewing" book for Christmas over a year ago and used it to make some baby bibs. I've had some fabric set aside to make the Charming Handbag out of the book, but hadn't gotten around to it. So, I was thrilled to find a "Bend the Rules Sewing" Swap blog. They just happen to be swapping the Charming Handbag, so I figure this is a great way for me to try out the world of swapping. I just sent my e-mail in today and the deadline to sign up is tomorrow.

We'll see how this goes. Wish me luck!

I Love Mail :)

When I was younger, I always had a pen pal. I used to love writing messages to a girl about my age in some "exotic" place like Indiana (hey, when you're 8 and live in NY, Indiana is pretty exotic). Perhaps more exciting was always getting a letter from her. It didn't matter so much what she wrote about - it was probably our mutual love for some teen movie star of those days - but more that someone had taken the time to put something together for me and pop it in the mail. Then it travelled all the way to NY just waiting to be opened.

Now, I've outgrown the idea of a penpal - I have plenty of friends from my travels in college, grad school and my time living in Boston whom I communicate with via e-mail, Facebook, etc. But, the idea of getting mail is still fun. My current living situation is such that I don't get mail delivered directly to my home, but rather have to pick it up at a postal box. Oftentimes, my mailbox is full of flyers, magazines and of course, bills, but other times, it's such a joy to open up my little box in the world to find a card, or better yet a pink slip!

Now, a pink slip doesn't usually elicit a response of joy, but in my case - it means only one thing...a package! So this morning, after waiting the requisite amount of time from handing over my credit card number, I found a pink slip waiting there just for me.

I had ordered a bunch of fabric from The Quilter's Paradise last week and it arrived today (well, technically it arrived on Saturday, but I have to wait until Monday to pick up mail). So, to add to my already large stash that I picked up at the Shop Hop, I added these four beautiful holiday prints...

The tan one has holly sprigs on it and will hopefully serve as a good background for some pillows my mother has requested for next Christmas. Given my success/completion rate with last Christmas' gifts/projects - I figured I should get a jump start on it now.

I also found the panel below - which made me very excited. I purchased two of Nancy Halvorsen's "Art to Heart" books earlier this year and was super thrilled to find a panel that went along with some of the projects. I'm hoping I can whip these up for my quilt guilds bi-annual Holiday Silent Auction/sale.

And with that, I should probably head to bed for the evening. I've got a bright and early day ahead of me in the office.