Friday, October 29, 2010

Quilt Festival


 A friend of mine blogged about the Quilting Festival, and I thought it looked like fun.

This is definitely not a new quilt.  It was started about 3 years ago.  It is special to me though, because it was the first quilt I ever attempted.  The first time I ever pieced anything.  The first time I had to figure everything out.  I didn't have great "gear" for the project either, but overall it went well.  It took over one level of our house for quite some time as it was slowly quilted.  I had quilted before, but never had taken on a whole quilt by myself.  And the kicker - it wasn't just any quilt, it was going to be a wedding present for my little brother and his wonderful wife to be. 

So, the picture of Ohlen has nothing to do with the quilt, but look how little he was! :)  He was the ring bearer at the wedding. And a picture of Nathan and Aubyn at their beautiful wedding, the inspiration for the whole thing.  Did I mention they are expecting their first baby - in January - I'm going to be an aunt!

I loved the whole process.  I love making quilts.  I just need to find those extra hours to do it.  And the extra money to buy all the fabrics.  :) 

If you like quilts - head on over to the Quilt Festival and check out all the quilts - and add your own to the mix too. :)


Amy's Creative Side - Blogger's Quilt Festival

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Fall

It has been beautiful lately.  Even yesterday, when it was raining, it was glorious.  I love fall with a passion.  I think it might just be my favorite season.  With winter and spring tying for a close second. And summer in the way back.  I like summer for a whole slew of reasons, but Hate it for it's climate.  Bluh. Give me the crisp bright blue skies of fall, with the crisp cool air.  That's perfection to me.




Things around here have been....  pretty much business as usual.  I've been meaning to post, I've even sat down to do it, but I just never get it accomplished.  So, I just figure that's how it is meant to be with me and this blog.  Not much of a purpose except to give myself a little outlet, and a peek into my life for everyone else.  So exciting I know. :)

So a few updates:

The running - ugh.  I have to admit, it has really gone downhill.  I started running inside because of the lack of light, and I don't really like running on the treadmil.  I don't care if I'm watching the most interesting show on the planet, it just isn't like running outside.  On top of that I've been fighting a cold for over the past week. It seems to be almost gone, except for the coughing and hacking.  That mostly happens at night.  The past two nights I haven't slept well at all, so I haven't stepped foot on the treadmil for about 5 days now.  Maybe tomorrow.... if I actually get more than 4 hours of sleep.  (Seriously, the one night was worse than when I had newborns.)

The weight loss - See above.  I haven't gained any, but I'm definitely not moving down.  I'll have to step it up later.

Christmas pictures - in my last blog I shared some outtakes.  Well I attempted 2 or 3 more picture taking "events".  None went well.  It was almost like torture.  Noah would be looking and smiling - and Ohlen would be making the most cheesy fake smile on the planet.  One would look, the other wouldn't.  But as I went back over the ones I had taken before, I realized that I had one really good one. So I cropped it down a little, and it is going to be the picture.  Too bad it was the VERY FIRST PICTURE I TOOK, during THE VERY FIRST PHOTO SHOOT I attempted.... And too bad I didn't realize that before I gave myself multiple headaches.... :)   A few more outtakes...

Life has been consisting of babysitting and cleaning and cooking and internet browsing and television.  A whole lot more of the first 3 than the last 2.  With a splattering of project working in there.  I have two big projects I'm working on.  One is a set of comforters for the boys for Christmas.  I actually started them last year, but never finished.  And the other is a super top secret project that I can't discuss here, but I will definitely show when I can.

Only about a month and a half until Christmas!  (What?!?!?!?!?)

Friday, October 15, 2010

Outtakes

I tried to take some pictures of the boys earlier this week for in our Christmas cards.  The leaves are so pretty right now.

Unfortunately, Noah was sick and NOT in the mood to be smiley.  I may have gotten one that might work...  So another shoot will have to happen. But I thought you all might enjoy some of the outtakes. :)

I actually really like this one.

This was our attempt at getting  a laugh out of Noah.

Wasn't incredibly thrilled with being on the truck.

Really not happy.

Ohlen's trying.

Not sure

A little over kill

That's my Noah.  :)  I wish they were both looking at me here.

Too much love?

I resorted to giving them rocks.

The rocks just created chaos.

Rocks!

Throw Them!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Bread Weekend

This past weekend I had two get togethers to make bread for.  So I doubled up and did all the baking at once. (Well, almost, I did throw in another batch of Corn Bread Muffins the following morning, but that was pretty quick and easy, so no problems there.)

I was making soup to go along with the first gathering, and the second gathering was also a gathering with soup, so it worked out well. 

I made Corn Muffins, Pumpkin Bread, and Rosemary Herb Bread (and dip to go along).  The Corn Muffins were made in my favorite silicon muffin cups, the pumpkin bread in loaf pans, and the rosemary bread in the bread machine - so really it was the perfect combination.  In fact, I was able to do the first of corn muffins in our toaster oven while the pumpkin bread baked in the oven.

On to the recipes.


To make my life a bit easier, I'll just post the links to the recipes.  I found them all on allrecipes.com.

Basic Corn Muffins

For these I had some corn meal on hand, so I thought I would try it.  I had never made Corn Muffins with out a packet of mix.  It was so easy! I'll never go back to the premixed stuff. :)  They were just the right amount of sweet.  I didn't think they were overly dry either.  Just a great basic recipe.

Pumpkin Bread

I wanted to make pumpkin bread because I had left over pumpkin puree that I needed to use.  This was the perfect recipe for it.  I did have to substitute pumpkin pie spice for the nutmeg because I was out - but I think it turned out great.  I undercooked by a little, so one of them had a bit of a cave in, but really it was still delicious.  Also, with the talk of pumpkin puree shortages, I would definitely recommend roasting and pureeing your own pumpkin.  It was pretty close in cost (I think maybe even cheaper)  I got about the equivalent of 2 small cans out of one pie pumpkin.  I'll definitely be doing that again.

Rosemary Herb Bread

This one turned out well too.  I was a little disappointed because it turned out a little darker than I wanted it to, so next time I'll set it to a lower setting.  Also, I didn't have the fresh herbs, and couldn't find them at my local grocer, so I just used dried, I thought it turned out just fine.  I also made a spinach dip to go along.  Just a bought mix added to some cream cheese and sour cream.  I think the two together went well. 


Thank you Thank you Thank you Blogger for changing the photo uploading manager!  So much nicer.  :)