Fabric Crush Again

I always say I can visit my local quilt shop in 'a few minutes' but any one who has ever gone with me, or sat in the car while I run in, knows that it's more likely to take forty-five minutes to an hour. Time goes more quickly when you're having fun - so it's easy for me to lose track of time while I'm inside. Less easy for the people waiting on me...

So I was surprised when my husband suggested I stop by while we were out anyway. I hadn't been since August, but I promised I'd try my best to be quick.

Forty-five minutes later, after drooling over nearly everything in the place, I came back out with only two charm packs - but I can tell you, I'm already plotting how to get back and pick up some coordinating yardage.

I am absolutely in love with this collection. The colors are amazing, and I just want to pet them. There isn't any unusual texture, but don't they look like there should be?

It's impossible to choose a favorite color. The dark brown is perfect, not too red or too grey, and I just love the pairing of these louder orange and green colors.

I have a couple ideas of what I'd love to do with them, but everything I want to do - beyond just keep petting the blocks - requires a trip back for yardage. I knew this would be the case when I picked up the charms, but I also knew I needed some time to look at all the colors before I decided which one/s I wanted yardage of. Otherwise, I was very afraid I'd blow my whole paycheck on yardage...

See, my charm pack buying problem is really about saving... and giving me more time to look things over before committing to larger pieces... and... perfectly justifiable. Yep. No problem here. Not at all.

Which clearly means that I need to pick up a couple more while I'm there this week.

Pinterest Challenge: Baked Ravioli

The Inspiration: Baked Ravioli at the old blogspot place of AmyLynnTitus.com. Found, of course, via Pinterest - though I had to do some back tracking to find the actual link to the instructions.

The Results:

Knowing about how much my usual test subjects eat, and having read the comments on the inspiration post, I went ahead and double layered the ravioli, with a little bit of cheese and a little bit of sauce between the two layers, but otherwise followed the instructions as stated. I was slightly surprised that it took nearly an entire can of spaghetti sauce to cover the large portion (approximately 24 ravioli) - when we usually use half that on spaghetti for three. Not being a fan of tomato sauce, I didn't try any from this large portion, but they went over well. All three guys had seconds - and all the sauce and cheese left over in the pan got scooped up with a little extra garlic bread.

I had my own smaller portion made with some leftover cheesy 'Alfredo' sauce. The cheesy sauce and cheese added between and over the layers, and the cheese centers all made for a very rich little dish - but that didn't stop me from eating it. Or from wondering if I have enough to make another batch for tonight.

Waiting forty-five minutes for everything to bake up (though the smaller serving dish could have gone with less time) was difficult, but the results were worth it. I can't tell you the last time we had ravioli in this house... probably before we were married, so it's hard for me to say how it compares to the traditional boiled method. It didn't take long to put together, only about three ingredients - though I do wonder how it would taste with some vegetables added between the layers - and tasted great, so I think it'll be joining the regular rotation around here.

2014 Goals/Dreams/Hopes

It's not much of a start, but this is as far as I've gotten on making a goals for this year list:

The 2014 Goal/Dream List:

1. Sell our old car
2. Another photo challenge or something to help me improve my photography
3. Trip to see Baby C and her family (Spring or Summer)
4. Go visit in-laws 
5. Finish A Song of Ice and Fire series 
6. Read 5+ non-fiction books 
7. Wear nail polish on my fingers one day a month (or more) 
8. Donate or dispose of 100 things from within the house
9. Renaissance Festival trip 
10. Attend Greg's high school reunion
11. Put an extra $50/month toward savings (most/all months)
12. Take a family photo every month season
13. Make 2-3 Birthday packages (nothing too elaborate)
14. Make 1+ small Welcome Baby Package 
15. Have the piano tuned
16. Get a clothes line
17. Replace the coffee table (it's falling apart and not worth the effort to fix)
18. Figure out what to do with our 2010-present photos (redo current book into 2-3 smaller ones?)
19. New rugs for the kitchen
20. Fix or replace the duvet cover - In Progress! 
21. Finish reading "The Outlaws of Sherwood" (Robin McKinley) aloud, and "Scarlet" (Marissa Meyer), and "Steadfast" (Mercedes Lackey) - In Progress! 
22. Do something more social with sewing/quilting: join a swap, or a bee, or a quilt along. It's time to meet some people and make friends. 
23. Take a class in something. Preferably not online. 
24. Update the dvd storage 
25. Zero late fees at the library 
26. Progress on the shoe situation: black pumps, 
27. Try a new restaurant or cuisine at least twice this year
28. Use stash fabric. More of it, anyway. 
29. Small birthday party Sounds like this one is already beyond the realm of possibilities... 
30. Significant progress on the larger house front 
31. 
    

Things to Make in 2013

1. Make the Ditto quilt (I own the pattern and the tool, just haven't used it yet)
2. A 'solids' quilt
3. 2013 cross stitch portrait
4. 2014 cross stitch portrait
5. Vintage Sheet quilt (probably value stars, pixel heart, or something similar)
6. Complete the quilts for our bed
7. 
   

I'm sure I'll come up with more as things go on, but this is a start... I think. 

January Starburst Mini Quilt

Not yet having a mini quilt to hang on my fridge for January - between my December mini and my February mini - I thought I should take a look at snowman quilts, figuring I could expand on the winter/snowman theme started by my January kitchen towels.

The search wasn't going particularly well - but on my way, I found unexpected inspiration when I ran across this incredible Giant Starburst Quilt from Canoe Ridge Creations (found thanks to Pinterest). I fell in love with the pops of saturated colors, as well as the overall design. Finding no snowmen quilts that spoke to me nearly as loudly, I pulled a few large scraps from my piles and got to work cutting squares.

I started with 32 squares at 2.5" (16 grey, and 4 of each color) - then later cut a larger square for the center-most piece. It came together quickly and with hardly any trouble.

I backed it with a scrap of dark purple that coordinated to the grey 'neutral' on the front and got to quilting. While the inspiration piece was quilted in all-over straight lines, I wanted to do something a little less overall. I began with just outlining the internal star shape, then built out from there until it felt like another stitch would be too much.

My mini quilt finished around: 11.5 x 11.5 - a good size for hanging.

The aqua/green with gold swirls fabric in particular looks great - the print works well in the various angles. The blue heart fabric is less than ideal in that respect, something that usually makes me a bit twitchy, but I'm trying to learn to overlook that - and this one is a good start. I wasn't certain the colors were going to work together -  I very nearly used a citron yellow/green instead of the aqua/green. I'm so glad I didn't. I've been drooling over it all day - and I'm looking forward to putting it up in place as soon as possible.

2013 Goals Wrap Up

Well, I knew when I was making this list that I was being a little bit ambitious. I was able to cross off a lot of the little things, but the bigger things really didn't happen. I'm not going to feel bad about the things that got away; I did a lot of things I normally wouldn't have - and I think I've grown a little as a person. That's way more important that having a completely crossed off list.

The 2013 Goal/Dream List:

1. Complete Happily Ever After Quilt - and give it away 
2. See 'Les Miserables'  1/5/13
3. Read 4+ books per month for the entire year 
4. Complete 3 Welcome Baby Packages (at a more reasonable size than the Baby C one from 2012)
1. 3 baby sized quilts 
2. 3 hooded towels? Decided to only make one, and to have my mom make it since I know her kind is preferred by this particular family.
3. 3 bibs? 
5. Get a new-to-me car
6. Sell our two old cars
7. Another photo challenge or something to help me improve my photography
8. Get up the courage to share a link to this blog on my facebook (after March June?)
9. Steps toward more regular and affordable health care
10. Attempt to learn to knit? (I was recently given a book about what to knit while expecting. Since I don't plan to make progress on the 'expecting' part in 2013, maybe I'll try my hand at the 'knitting' part, assuming I can afford another hobby)
11. Trip to see Baby C and her family -The weather and work schedules has put this off for now. It'll probably be spring before we try again. That said, we did get to see them when they came this way (narrowly avoiding bad weather already). 
12. Go visit in-laws 
13. Join a band/orchestra/choir?  - Okay, so it's only for a month and a half, but I joined a Christmas cantata orchestra. 
14. Get serious about menu planning, grocery shopping, and an eating out budget
15. Finish A Song of Ice and Fire series - Argh. Can't believe I'm still slowly working on this series! It's taking me forever. I only made it through book. There are some characters I really want to know what's going to happen to, and some I don't care about at all. I'm not sure which kind of chapter slows me down more: "when are horrible things going to happen, I don't want to turn the page" or "ugh, I'd rather do housework than read about this person." Must focus on this more in 2014. 
16. Finish Hunger Games series - I actually gave up on this one. Although everyone I know is raving about this series, I really didn't enjoy the first one, nor the first few chapters of the second, and there are enough books I want to read that it isn't worth my time forcing myself to read something I'm not interested in or enjoying. 
17. Read 5+ non-fiction books 
18. Wear nail polish on my fingers one day a month (or more) (Except July)
19. Donate or dispose of 100 things from within the house
20. Get the pattern for this little jam jar quilt block or something similar (link goes only to my pin)
21. Renaissance Festival trip 
22. Attend my high school reunion
23. Put aside $250 in a special account 
24. Put an extra $50/month toward savings (most/all months)
25. Photo shoot for work 
26. Take a family photo every month season Time to admit this is not going to happen this year.
27. Make 2-3 Birthday packages (nothing too elaborate) 
28. Have the piano tuned
29. Move some of my quilts into my new-to-me quilt chest (which lives at my parents' since I don't have room for it yet) 
30. Make a memory game for my house
31. Get a clothes line
32. Replace the coffee table (it's falling apart and not worth the effort to fix) - Nope, but I did replace the loveseat with a much better sofa - and now the coffee table is even more desperately in need of changing out!
33. Print our photo album/year books - One made it here, one is going to have to be redone completely thanks to technology failure. 
34. New rugs for the kitchen
35. Fix or replace the duvet cover - In Progress! 
36. Caulk the kitchen window 
37. Finish reading "The Outlaws of Sherwood" (Robin McKinley) aloud, and "Scarlet" (Marissa Meyer), and "Steadfast" (Mercedes Lackey) 
38. Be more genuine 
39. Walk away / avoid drama (on facebook): 
40. Do something more social with sewing/quilting: join a swap, or a bee, or a quilt along. It's time to meet some people and make friends. 
41. Take a class in something. Preferably not online. 
42. Update the dvd storage in the living room - What I want to do is too expensive so far. Boo. 
43. Do a (full) fish tail french braid 1/5/13 
44. Fold and put away laundry after every load (within 24 hours of drying) Hahaha. This did not happen. 
45. Talk to Laura once a week (on the phone or in person)
46. Zero late fees at the library - Well, 8 of 12 without is better than last year... 
47. Progress on the shoe situation: new flip flops, new winter boots2/15/13 and 5/1/13, possibly new black pumps
48. Try a new restaurant or cuisine at least twice this year Thai food 4/24/13, PF Chang's 6/13, (homemade) Korean style stir fry 7/13, (homemade) Korean BBQ 8/13, 
49. Use stash fabric. More of it, anyway. 
50. Surprise my husband at least once (I'm talking a big surprise, not a jump-out-from-the-dark surprise)

Things to Make in 2013

1. Start a sampler style quilt (on my own or from an established quilt) Started 2/13
2. Make the Ditto quilt (I own the pattern and the tool, just haven't used it yet)
3. New kitchen curtains  1/4/13 
4. Cross stitch sampler (small size, more modern style) 
5. Bookshelf mini quilt  (link goes to tutorial) 1/3/13 
6. This kind of stack and whack quilt (link goes to tutorial) 
7. A 'solids' quilt
8. 3 baby quilts (for Welcome Baby packages)
9. 2013 cross stitch portrait
10. Another quilted bag How about two four quilted clutches? 3/13, And two more as of 6/13, and one more as of 09/13, one in 11/13

I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped - but that's okay. Nothing too important slipped through the cracks (though I really need to get rid of that car) and most importantly I was able to maintain a fairly comfortable balance between work and non-work activities. So, I'm pretty happy.

Time to start thinking about the 2014 goals and dreams... Hmm....

January Goals

January Goals: 

Read 5+ books
Finish 2013 cross stitch portrait
Ship 2 packages by January 15

Quilt Goals:
Cut sash for our quilts

Get photos of Happy Go Lucky finished quilt

Do something with the vintage sheet stack

January mini quilt for hanging in the kitchen

Pinterest Challenges
1+ non-food
1+ food
2+ outfits for my fashion challenge

December Wrap Up

December Goals: 

Read 5+ books

• "All the Truth That's In Me" Julie Berry
• "Circle of Magic: Daja's Book" Tamora Pierce
• "Sex & Violence" Carrie Mesrobian
• "The Clockwork Scarab" Colleen Gleason
• "Hyperbole and a Half" Allie Brosh
• "Alanna: The First Adventure" Tamora Pierce 
• "Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern" Joshua Zeitz

Cut sash for our quilts
Wash Semi-Sampler
Deep Clean: Office, Living Room, and Kitchen
Start on 2013 cross stitch portrait

Holiday Stuff: 
Decorate for Christmas
Ship 2 packages ASAP!
Finish stocking shopping by 20th
Orchestra rehearsal (2) and performance (1)

Pinterest Challenges
1+ non-food (new - not counting any from November)

• Tree nail polish  Attempted. Result was so horrible I immediately wiped it off and went with plain red. No proof, other than the polish covered tape in my trash can. 
• Lace Candle Jars 
• Cleaned Washing Machine

1+ food

• Spinach Artichoke Pop Ups

2+ outfits for the fashion challenge

• Bought patterned / textured tights  - I know, this doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you knew how many tights I've pinned, or outfits that I pinned just because of the tights... well, firstly you'd probably be depressed by my simple little life... but then you might understand why this is worth mentioning. 
• Check in #1 
• Two more outfits happened, but I haven't gotten them shared yet - once again I'm out of month before I'm completely caught up!