Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween ya'll!

My pumpkin.  Richard's lame and didn't carve his this year.
Best costume I've seen tonight:  Publisher's Clearing House Girls.  One came with the giant check, the other had the balloons.  Awesome.
 
Hope your evening was spooktackular ;)


Monday, October 29, 2012

In other news...

I finally have a husband again!  Richard took his last preliminary actuarial exam on Thursday and he passed!  Oh, I can't tell you how happy I am!  This last exam he took was super difficult and actually not applicable to his job- it was basically just knowing a ridiculous amount of math for knowledge sake.  It usually takes people upwards of three times taking it to pass.  Which is ridiculous.  This was Richard's second attempt and he made it!  I was super nervous that he had spent literally every hour he was home studying for it to not pass.  Now though?  I have no idea what to do with him.
 
I'm so used to cleaning and spending time alone in our house so when he's around now I am just confounded.  Saturday morning I was unloading the dishwasher and he was standing there staring at me because he didn't know what to do with himself either.  So I told him to put away the utensils, haha!  He did it wrong (which impressed me since he takes silverware out of the tray thing every day...), but at least I didn't have to do it.  And yesterday?  He vacuumed.  And cleaned his office.  And took out the garbage!  I KNOW!
 
Since he has passed though, life suddenly got super busy.  We had dinner together Thursday to celebrate, went out with his co-workers Friday night, lunch with his parents Saturday, Halloween party Saturday night, then oil change/transmission flush/new tire shopping for my car (see ya $600), stop at Kohls and BBB, grocery shopping, speed made freezer meals for Richard's mom {who's having surgery when we are going on vacation next month}, throw in some craft time here and there, then sickness.  Ugh. I felt it coming on for a few days but last night was the worst.  I stayed home from work today and haven't really left the bed.  It's just me, Annie, and the vaporizer hanging out.  In theory, DH and I are gutting pumpkins tonight and carving tomorrow since we just didn't have the time for it this weekend.  If we don't have them done by Halloween, I think it will be the first time in my whole life I didn't have a pumpkin!
 
Wish me luck :)
 
Stacey

Sunday, October 28, 2012

FNSI

I was super excited for Friday Night Sew in this month, first because I remembered it and second because I had lots to do!

I didn't actually sew much, but I basted my MSU quilt, failed horribly at quilting it, and made a couple projects that I have been wanted to make.  See?

cute pincushion with storage

kleenex travel case
My MSU quilt is too big for my machine and I am horribly disappointed that I can't do it myself.  I'm also pretty sure I will have to rip out the stitches I did do before I send it off.  I feel so much more accomplished when I complete a quilt start to finish on my own, but since it is so large I don't think it can be helped otherwise!  I'm going to start the label on it soon too, probably next weekend.

I also drew out another project to start working on and I'm hoping that it will come together quickly so I can show you what it is!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

MSU Quilt Top

            YAY!  I got my MSU quilt top all sewed up this weekend.  It went relatively quickly because all I had to worry about were the seams.  It was nice that NOTHING else had to match.  It doesn't really look much different from what I had showed you before, but here it is! 



I am going to have DH help me take a better picture of it, but his exam is on Thursday so I rarely see him even though he's home.  Only 4 more days and I'll have him back for a while :)
 
I need to sew together the backing next.  I bought some spartan flannel- I'm hoping there's enough so I don't have to design anything on the back, but I'm planning for the worst.  I still have a few things I need to get done before Christmas, though I'm hoping they don't take as long.  I need to make a couple tissue covers {the little ones}, finish sliced apples and donate that, make a phone case, and get a sewing machine cover done.  I'd like to make a cover for my kitchenaid mixer too, but I just don't know if I'll have time.  Fall field work is going to be ramping up soon and will last until just before Christmas so I'll have my hands full again shortly!  Any new projects you're starting? 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Help!

OK, so... I can't decide what I like better.  The first has a diamond in the center and it just radiates.  The second has LOTS of diamonds.  It's kind of busy, but I think it makes it interesting.  If you were getting this as a gift, which would you pick??
 




Monday, October 8, 2012

Oh My, MSU!

Ok you guys!  I never thought I'd ever get to this point with my MSU quilt!  I've been busting my hump this weekend and I got over 70 green blocks done for this thing!


I had to use a spare bedroom to lay it out and it just barely fit!  I haven't made the final layout yet, but I was just super excited to get it to this!  I need my weekend to be 2 days longer! 

In other news I tried out a couple different recipes this weekend that were pretty spectacular.  The first one was a taquito recipe.  The ingredients sounded yummy but I had no idea why they were called "little tacos" until DH told be you buy these out of the frozen food section.  Huh.  I don't know why anyone would since they are ridiculously easy to make (and to freeze for later!).  So anyways, if you like those things you should totally make these because DH says they are WAY better than the kind you buy.  I made one batch as a meal and then made another and put them in the freezer for later. (Also, I only used .5 t chili powder and no lime juice- I didn't have any).

I also tried out a vegetable chowder.  The flavor was good but mine didn't really thicken like it was suppose to.  Next time I'm going to try with cornstarch since I always have more luck with it.

Right now I'm making apple chips and I just canned some applesauce.  I tell you what, I've never made it before and it takes a ton of apples for not much in return!  I'm rethinking this for next year.  I still have some left from our 1/2 bushel and I don't know if I should make apple butter or apple jam again.  We'll see what DH has to say about it! 

Happy Columbus Day!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Yummy fabric buys!

This week I've gotten lots of packages!  Fabric, bedding, and clothing!
 
I'm participating in a swap for Tula Pink fabrics and I got 2 packages in the mail.  I attempted to buy yardage from fabric.com but they cancelled 3/4 of my order 5 days after I placed it because their website wasn't up to date.  *Sad face*  So, I ordered from someone I've never bought from before:  Pink Chalk Fabrics.  They have a super cute website and their prices for what I purchased were good.  Plus the package came looking like it was wrapped in love.  When I opened my order from fabric.com and my order from pink chalk I was amazed at the difference- even down to the care they took to fold the fabric!  And pink chalk wrote "Thank you Stacy" on my order form.  That was nice- I'll even overlook that they forgot the e!
 
So anyway, this is what I got from Pink Chalk Fabrics:
 
Little Bits (bottom) is what I'm swapping
 
This is the additional I got from fabric.com:
 
 
I like The Birds & The Bees line from Tula Pink and was nervous that we wouldn't get much in the swap.  Sadly, I was right so I'm glad I bought some extra.  I will probably have to supplement, but I'll wait a while yet.  This will probably be the last swap I do for a while too.  I'm finding that I like entire lines of things and not necessarily random fabrics.  My stash just isn't big enough yet to have anything to supplement with!
 
I also went to viking sewing in Ann Arbor this week because I was scared I was running low on greens for my MSU quilt.  The fabric shops by me either went out of business or have a very small selection, so I have to venture far and wide to get what I need. 
 
 
I have lots I want to do on this gloomy day!  We went to a cidermill (last week maybe?) and bought a half bushel of apples so I need to can some applesauce and some applebutter.  I also want to work on that MSU quilt today.  I think I might squeeze some in this morning before my doctors appointment!  I've cleaned the bathroom and kitchen so far and I'd like to run this afternoon.  OH! And I'm going to try out a new recipe for dinner tonight!  Baked Taquitos!  I'll post the recipe if it is yummy! 
 
Have a lovely day!