Booties

My boy H and I have matching socks now.

His are made from the leftover yarn and a super quick, easy pattern (okay, actually there were some short rows that threw me for a loop) that is knitted straight with only small seams.

 I am still struggling with gauge, so they came out kind of small, but apparently they are good for tiny newborn ankles.

Socks

Picked up my knitting needles for the first time in, I don't know... Forever... And found one of these socks still on 'em, half done. So I whipped it out while watching a movie so I could have my double pointed needles back and now I have a pair of crazy new socks. The one I completed today is weirdly shaped compared to the other one and oddly not the same size quite- the reason being I am a sloppy knitter and have very little attention for patterns.
Also when I first picked it up, there was a terrifying 2.5 minutes when I couldn't remember how to knit in the round. Thankfully I remembered but if my brain had not cooperated, I would have gone to knitting help.com which is where I get all my knitting questions answered, and is where I would send you if you want to learn to knit.

Research and Learning

Oh boy, my brains are fried.

Pictures of nature reduce stress

I have been researching a new computer, as my current laptop is being quite pokey and whiny about uploading photos and running programs like photoshop.

I have done my research, done all the math, and now, I just have to convince the husband that it's not too much to spend.... in other words, the hardest part is yet to come. But I've been to known to be very convincing, even without my feminine powers ;)

Even if they are not really relevant to the topic :)

I have just done a first run through of Erin Cobb's Clean Color Editing process workshop. I still have a lot of practice and mental processing to do before I really "get" it, but I am pretty optimistic that I can figure this out!

This workshop was optional, but marks the end of the Photographer's Workshop that I took with Karen Russell at www.snapshotsofagoodlife.com. This class was a great beginner class that taught me how to use my new camera and left me with so much more confidence to go out and take pictures! If you want to feel like a big girl and use the manual setting on your camera, you should consider this class!

Both were a little pricey, but I think it is a small price to pay when I look back at all the really poor photos I took before and consider how much more I know now. I was a little frustrated because I don't have any kids or even family nearby to take pictures of, but I am glad I did it now and have the chance to get good at this stuff BEFORE I have kids and the pictures really count! Not that they don't count now, I really do have a great life to document even without kids.

I also joined Clickin' Moms as a resource to help me continue to learn new things, and to learn from a variety of styles or photographers. But that just happened today so I can't really say how that is going yet, more later :)

Finished pinwheel quilt top

The top of the pinwheel quilt is finished! I started to think this day would never come, and here we are :)

So here it is, sorry for the lousy photograph. I think it will be a good sized twin, although it could potentially be put on a full, just without much overhang. 

I am working on a baby quilt from the scraps, which will probably be done done before this one, since I will quilt it myself, and I still need to find a quilter to do this one. I really have no desire to do any machine quilting on anything larger than a throw right now. 

The struggle I am having here is that when I went to the quilt store to ask for recommendations, all the people they suggested do free-motion longarm quilting (I guess that is the best way to describe it?). In the past I have used a service that did it using a computerized system called a statler stitcher. The women at the shop looked at my like I was crazy when I told them that was more what I was looking for. Sorry... I just don't like the idea of someone else's talent on my quilt. I don't mind sending it to someone who runs a computer system, even though I expect that takes some skills as well. I know it's silly, but that's how I feel about it!

Blueberry Scones

I searched my recipe book for my Dad's cranberry orange scone recipe, but it could not be found. So I adapted a recipe from Molly Wizenburg's "A Homemade Life" for Scottish Scones with Lemon and Ginger.

Here's the recipe:

Blueberry Lemon Scones

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt (or use regular, whatever)

1 cup frozen blueberries

4 Tbsp FROZEN unsalted butter

3 Tbsp sugar

1 lemon - zest and juice

1/2 cup of buttermilk

1 large egg

1/3 powered sugar

Preheat the oven to 425F

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. 

Using a cheese grater, grate frozen butter into flour mixture. Use your hands to squeeze and incorporate any butter clumps. 

Add sugar and lemon zest and blueberries and mix until coated with flour.  

In a measuring cup or small bowl, beat egg with buttermilk. Add to flour/butter mixture, mixing until just incorporated. 

Turn out dough and remaining flour onto a floured surface and knead until all flour is incorporated and dough can be formed into a ball. It will be really messy! Squish ball of dough into a flat round disk and then cut into 8 wedges. 

Place wedges on parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Sometimes the frozen berries make them cooking process take longer, so just check to make sure they are not jiggly or gooey inside. 

While baking, mix powdered sugar and 1Tbsp lemon juice to make a glaze.

Remove scones and cool for as long as you can stand to not eat them. Spoon glaze over scones and serve warm. 

Note:

The grated butter trick is awesome. Anytime you need to work in butter like in a pastry dough try this method. It will change your life. Okay maybe not. Only if you hated working with butter before, like I did.

New Habits and Pintrest Success!

So let's start with success...

This may be a no-brainer for some, but it's more of an idea than a recipe. Take one container of yogurt (I like mine Greek, not unlike my man :)....), mix well, use plastic bag piping to make dots of yogurt on a sheet pan or anything that will fit in your freezer (I covered with parchment paper too). Freeze. 

Try not to eat them all in one sitting like I did.

Or go ahead... it's just a cup of yogurt. 

Thanks, Pintrest!

The other day when I was mixing up some Greek Yogurt I thought to myself that it might make a nice frosting. Kind of on the same lines as cream cheese frosting, but greek yogurt. I will have to see if such a recipe exists. Or make my own. 

Okay, so good habits. 

I have in the past hated grocery shopping and meal planning. I used to complain that I spent every day off at the grocery store. Now that all my days are days off, I have finally developed a plan to destroy my food planning/shopping loathing and have been quite pleased with the success. 

First I plan once a week. This planning has been moved from Sunday night to Friday night so that I can hit up the farmer's market on Saturday morning. The rest of the shopping happens on Monday or Tuesday by me or Dan. I have a very specific list and he knows to stick to it. 

I have established what we need for a week - salad ingredients, snacks, fruit, etc., and I only buy what I need. Sometimes we run out by the end of the week, and some times we have too much, but I don't have to throw stuff away and that makes me happy. 

Then I plan 5 meals (we eat out one night a week, then do take out or leftovers another) and add the ingredients to the list. Voila! I have been really impressed by the fact that this is working for me. 

Another two things that I do. I cut up all the veggies for snacks ahead of time, cause I know Dan won't do that in the mornings if I don't. Then they all go in a container with some water to keep them fresh - this totally works, they are super crunchy for almost two weeks!

I also have a routine for meals. I try to do one chicken, one seafood, one meatless, one pasta or pizza, etc. This keeps it interesting, and also makes the task less daunting. I can sit down to plan and instead of feeling like I have to find five recipes, I feel like I just have to find one for each category and then move on. But I am super flexible with myself... I still make what I want - it just prevents mental blocks when planning. 

I think the fact that this method is working for me says something about how much I like rules and structure. Ah... I do love structure.....

So that's all. If you are still reading - stay tuned for my massive magazine-recipe-compilation project coming soon!

Work in Progress Wednesday

You may remember this quilt that I started FOR-ever ago. Then Christmas happened. And then getting ready to move. I felt that I had to finish up things that I had started.

I just love these blocks, don't know why. 

So I have completed about 12 of them, and the last 8 are all trimmed and waiting to be sewn up!

Now I just need to put on some Downton Abbey (season 1, take 3) and get a move on!

When this is done I am going to take back my sewing room (haha! the TV/spare room has already been renamed) for some other projects that are in progress. Then on to Swoon! 

Vacation is over

Well, we've moved from California to Oklahoma City, and I have spent the last month and a half just working on the crazy process of moving, then getting settled in a new apartment. We aren't totally there yet, there are still pictures to be hung and a garage to be cleaned out, but we are getting closer.

My plan here is to go to grad school, and I am mid-application process. I don't like to talk about things until it is final, but let's just say it has been stressful. My temptation when life feels stressful is to stay in my pajamas all day and watch episodes of Parks and Rec on Hulu Plus, but that starts an endless cycle of depression that is just BAD. So last Thursday I declared (to an empty apartment) that "Vacation is over on Monday!" then made another cup of tea and pulled a quilt over my pajama-ed self.

What does this mean, Vacation is over? It means that although I don't have a job, and I am not really actively looking for one, I have to keep busy. I need a routine, a schedule, and a list of things to accomplish or I will go bonkers and be impossible to live with. I am currently excited at the prospect of what jobless me can accomplish in a day, and all the things that I have wanted to do but never been sure how to work them into my crazy schedule before now. I might actually blog on a regular basis! And sew through my stash! And bake bread on a weekly basis!

I may be suffering from a pre-diet-esque sense of excitement (you know what I am talking about) but I do know from experience that keeping myself busy and being productive makes me happy, and even if an hour or two of TV creeps it's way into my life, as long as I have some new curtains and a quilt to show for it, I think that's okay.

Life is good!

New Name

So in case you didn't notice or though you were on a different blog than before, I changed my blog name. Mostly just because I never really liked the first name, but also because I am thinking about going in a new direction with this blog. I had originally planned to keep it strictly sewing related, but I really just have too much that I want to include here, and instead of having five blogs, I have decided this is no longer just a sewing blog. Because I want to post photos that I am proud of as I learn to use my camera in my photography class, like this one:

LA and L at the park

Or photos of food I've made, which I feel is a facebook faux pas, so I need another place to do that...

Veggie Quinoa Chili which was yummy but I added too much spicy and couldn't eat it :(

So basically I will still write about sewing but be prepared for a whole lot of other stuff you don't care about, although I will do my best to keep it interesting :)

Thanks... 

Also I just moved across the country, so get ready for some of that too!

Christmas quilts

I am way behind, but her are the quilts I made for Christmas gifts.

This one was for my sister's birthday but I finished it right before Christmas and brought it with me then. 

 I quilted it myself and hated every moment of it. But it looked okay in the end. I am just hoping it gets as much use as the one I made last year which made another appearance at Christmas -

The second one was a gift for my mother. So that makes all the women in my family who have a quilt I've made now. My mother's was made using a quilt as you go method. Then I added a second layer of batting and quilted it. It came out a little wonky, but you can't tell from the photo, and it is a nice and heavy generous lap size quilt.

Here's my parents enjoying it by the wood stove!