Tomorrow I leave for our annual sewing weekend. A whole weekend spent sewing, talking, watching movies, and eating chocolate. My sister, niece, and I will be meeting one other woman at, "The Cabin," which isn't really a cabin. It's more like a house. A really nice house. It belongs to the family of my sister's college roommate. There, we will spend a long weekend not worrying about much of anything except when we should start fixing dinner, or which project to start on first. Since we'll be quite a long distance from any quilt store, we need to plan ahead and take any and all necessary items. Here's my pile of stuff. See the pink bag? That's my clothes. Most everything else is my sewing stuff. Good thing we're taking Linda's car. It's bigger than mine!
I was going to work on the binding on my Round Robin, but I still can't find the extra fabric, so I'm taking enough to finish a few UFO's, and also the stuff to start a purse. And I tossed in my knitting for good measure. And some magazines and books. They'll be nice for sitting next to the fire first thing in the morning, drinking tea in my jammies and slippers. I don't know what everybody else is bringing. I'll be sure to take pictures and show you after I get back. For now, would you like to see a few from last year? Here's what the back of Linda's car looked like after we got it all loaded.We had things stuffed all over, including under Patricia's feet!
Here's the back of Jerilyn's car. Her back seat was empty! What's up with that??
And this is what it looked like after we got it all in the house. The sewing stuff just sort of sprawls all over the place.
Well, I'd better get back to a few things I started to do around here. I'm leaving in just over 24 hours! I wonder if we'll have enough chocolate? Maybe I should make some brownies. Or fudge. Or both??
I really need to organize my sewing stuff. I know it's getting bad when I can't find things. I showed you my Round Robin quilt. It's been made.......it's been quilted.......and now, all it needs is the binding. I have my cutting mat, rotary cutter, and rulers ready. My machine is set up, I know where the walking foot is, and my sewing space is fairly open. I even have the time to put the binding on. I have the really comfy chair next to the really nice fire, and a new movie from Netflicks. You know what else I have? Shall I tell you? Ok, I have no clue where the binding fabric is! Yeah. Organization...... it's not one of my strong points.
And it's right outside my bedroom window! I think I might be getting Spring Fever.
Here's Sierra. She's a sweetheart. When she was younger, she would chase anything that moved. Shadows, birds, reflections, dragonflies, and little red pointer lights. Sierra has given us almost 16 years of entertainment. For years, I would look out the window and watch her jump in the pasture when the dragonflies were swarming, or run after the shadows the birds made flitting back and forth from one tree to another. She still greets us when we come home, although now much slower to get up, of course. Sierra loved to run out front when somebody drove up. No, not necessarily to the car, although she was excited to see us. You see, on sunny days, the side mirror made a reflection that was just her height on the house. So, she would run up to the house, and wait until the driver opened the car door. She gave herself more than a couple scratches on her muzzle in her excitement to bite the reflection! So now, years later, here she is, much slower, older, and alot grayer, but still our sweetheart!
It's been cold lately. Really cold. So cold, in fact, that I've had to go outside and start my car about 15 minutes before I intend on leaving for work. It's either that or pour cold water over my windshield to get the ice off. It's been so cold, we had the fire going all day long this past weekend.
Uhhh, do I hear laughing from some folks out there? Do I hear people calling me a pansy?? A sissy? Yes? Well, let me just say that we live in California. The very sunny part of California. The part of California that doesn't get much under freezing. We get snow only once every 20 to 30 years here where we live. And we had our inch 15 years ago. Even made a tiny little snowman! Schools closed. Nobody went anywhere. Total craziness. So anyway, when it's cold like this, I tend to want to be warm. Today, I came home expecting to have to build a fire in the wood stove, since, even though David is home from school, he doesn't appreciate being warm like I do. But guess what?? I walked through the door, and the house wasn't freezing! David had started a fire for me, and then kept it going all day. Awww, what a guy! And look! Sassy likes the fire, too! Thanks, David. We both appreciate it.
Every year, my sister, two of her college roommates, and I each meet up at a, "Cabin" on a lake and spend a long weekend sewing, eating chocolate, watching chick flicks, and talking. Oh, the talking! It's a great relaxing, fun girls weekend. We decided about 5 years ago to start a round robin quilt. We each made a middle, and then gave our middle to the next person. There were no rules, except to stay with the basic (very basic) color scheme. We spent the next year working on each others quilts and then revealed the final one when we met for the next year. I'm so glad we did it. This is mine. I really like how it turned out. It's about 60" square, and made with pumpkin flannel fabric. My sister machine embroidered Linus digging for The Great Pumpkin on the top half, and The Great Pumpkin on the bottom half. The front:
And I love putting back art on my quilts! This one is no different.
I still need to finish the binding. A great hand project for sitting next to the wood stove!
We burned today. It was the perfect day for burning...... cold, clear, no wind, and it's been raining like crazy. Time to take advantage of this beautiful weather! We grabbed the torch, the pitchforks, and the long garden hose. Just in case it got away from us. Even though we were walking in mud puddles. Kinda like wearing suspenders and a belt at the same time. Anyway, we burned a few piles of branches, leaves, and old yucky wood. We always end up with the most wonderful coals, and it would be so very sad to just leave them without doing anything with them. Aren't they gorgeous? Just perfect.
I know, we could do the whole smore's thing, but it was too cold. We could go the hot dog route, but I don't really like hot dogs, and besides, I didn't have any. Probably because I don't really like them. Go figure, huh?? My all time favorite thing to do with coals after a day of burning is potatoes. But not just any old potato. I add lots of goodies to them. Want to see how I do it?? They're really easy, and a nice variation.
For each potato you'll need: large square of heavy duty foil, a medium to large potato, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices onion, 4-6 cloves garlic, salt and pepper.
Wash and slice potatoes into quarters. You should end up with 4 slices. Place them on the foil.
Cut each slice of bacon into 3-4 pieces. Put them between each piece of potato, and on the outside edges.
Using 2 slices of onion, put about 1/2 of a slice with each bacon piece.
Chop up the garlic, sprinkle it around, and then add salt and pepper.
Now, I always twist the foil around so that the first way I wrap these brings the pieces all together. Just telling you what works for me, not that the foil police will come inspect these. Here's a little peek of my first one. Oh, it's going to be so yummy!
Then it goes outside and into the fire, with seams facing up. I take my shovel and dig/scoop out a little hole in the coals. I might mention, these coals aren't the orange'ish ones. They're more black/gray, but still the intense heat that will warm you up real nice on a chilly day. If you put them into coals that are orange, get ready for some crispy fried potatoes. I've tried it. And take my word for it, they're not good. So, here are your potatoes, all snug in their bed, and then scoop more coals on top. Cover them up good. Don't leave any part of them uncovered.
I always go inside and set the timer for 40 minutes. It's very useful to have a set of b-b-que tongs and a metal pan, or something to put the (really hot) potatoes in. I used a 9x13 pan. When digging up the foil pouches, be very careful. Today I used the back of a metal rake, but a shovel works too. I've used the pitchfork that we use when burning, and that doesn't work. That day I was too lazy to go get the shovel. Anyway, very gently, scoop out the pouches, and then pick them up with the tongs and sort of shake them to get off the coals. You can let them sit for maybe 10-15 minutes if you want, but you don't have to. Here they are, in all their glory! Enjoy!
