If you don’t sew (or do so sew so rarely) and you are a regular reader of my blog I’d like to send you a travel-sized tissue cozy of your very own made by, you guessed it, me! Send me an email at kz@tds.net with your snail mail address and your favorite color.
Peace!
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.” -Winston Churchill
Linda and I had a good day at the Sugar n’ Spice quilt shop in Morton yesterday. She had plenty of customers, I pin basted a quilt to get it ready for quilting:
And no, I won’t let you see any more of the quilt until I’m finished quilting it.
Linda and I spent the rest of the day brainstorming ideas and I showed her my latest obsession, travel tissue holders:
I have finally finished my October block for the Quilter’s Junction $5 Quilt Club, just in time for Friday’s meeting. Woo hoo! Yup, I’m pretty proud of myself.
I’m really loving the Serenity line of fabric that Evelyna chose for our blocks. Really, truly luscious, the depth of color and soft hues really call to me.
Thank you, Evelyna!
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” -Meister Eckhart
About 10 years ago, on a whim, my boys and I piled into the Suburban and headed toward the Oregon coast on Labor Day weekend. Crazy, right? No reservations, no idea where we were going or where we would end up, we just followed the road. We had a BLAST!
At least once a week I like to take just a smidgen of that Sense of Adventure and I follow a few links from my favorite blogs. I figure if I enjoy reading their blogs, then I’m likely to enjoy reading what they enjoy reading and may even find a few real jewels.
Here’s a few links to some really interesting places:
And what, you may be asking yourself, do these links have to do with the disgusting picture of slimy mushrooms in my lawn? Not a thing. I just thought the picture was cool and I couldn’t figure out how to work it in to the conversation. 
Yes, Nancy knows I have been really anxious to get to use this picture that I so shamelessly stole from her last month:
Yes, it’s a BOY! *doing the Happy Happy Grandma dance* We have a new little hunter/fisherman/baseball player on the way, due in March. My oldest son Stosh and his girlfriend Ariel will need lots of prayers and support (as ALL new parents do!), follow the link to my prayer blog and join me in prayer for the Gift that God has given to them for us to share…
“You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” -Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance
I spent the day at the Quilter’s Junction in Centralia yesterday teaching the X-Blocks table topper class. Judith, Barbara and Phyllis had me all to themselves, so we were able to cut and sew and talk at our own pace. How nice that was!
And can you believe that in under 4 hours Judith finished her top? Judith proved that you CAN socialize and sew at the same time (I have trouble with that myself, it must be all that blonde hair under my red dye ♥).
And here you see Phyllis and Barbara at work:
I can’t believe I didn’t get any pictures of Barbara’s table topper! She used a really cute penguin fabric that I was so crazy about that she gifted me with a half yard of it! Woo hoo! I love making friends at class.
Oh, and here is a picture of the blocks that Phyllis completed in class. She emailed me this morning and said she has all of her blocks together and will be putting the border on today or tomorrow. Yay Phyllis! Please note that my camera flash DESTROYED the beautifully elegant burgandy and green tones of her batiks, BUT you can clearly see her precisely pieced points:
It was a good day, in a good place with some good ladies. Thanks be!
We lost our resident barn owl to a falcon or hawk late in the summer. The man that picks up the owl pellets (tiny mouse skeletons he finds in our barn to sell to school science classes) told us that there are some owls that travel from place to place and don’t have a real home and that chances were pretty good that one of those transient owls would find our barn a good place to make a home. I think we have a new owl friend. I’ve seen him three times now and heard him on two evenings.
Silly me, the first time I heard him at night I was on the back porch doing laundry and I heard his call. I stuck my head out the window and said, “Mr. Owl? Is that you? Have you come to live here?” And then I waited, quietly, with my head stuck out into space, listening for an answer.
No, he didn’t answer me. Yes, I ended up feeling very silly. But, you know, I also ended up feeling rather hopeful and feeling as though I had recovered at least a small amount of childlike wonder. It felt good.
My daughter Tara and I shop hopped yesterday, hitting 5 of the 20 shops. We started in Vancouver at the Art ‘n Sewl. Tara has started a new blog, quilt.g33k (quilt geek), “Adventures of a g33k that quilts.” Love it! Follow the link to visit Tara’s blog and see Tara’s pix from our outing.
And yes, I shamelessly stole this picture from my daughter’s blog. But, in my defense, because she was carrying such a big gun (a really AWESOME camera), I didn’t feel I needed to get my little ol’ pea shooter outta the holster.
Quilting. Seriously.
I spent the day in my Roundabout Road quilt class at the Sugar n’ Spice in Morton. See my daughter? She was one of my students (clever girl!). That’s her orange and pink, green and purple block on the design wall in the back.
Here you can see 4 out of 6 of the students blocks. Babe and Sarah had to leave early, but I’ll see them again soon and get a picture of their quilts. Doncha just love Lila’s “vintage” look (top left)? I think she must be Mary Mashuta’s long lost other twin (triplet?) sister, very similar style with a bold color sense!
My daughter seems unable to stop herself from playing with scraps after class. Look what she came up with! (And remember she is BRAND NEW to quilting!)
I’m worn out and haven’t even one more word in my head. I need to refuel, so I’m going to crawl back inside the latest Dan Brown thriller. See you soon!
I clicked on this link, anxious to see the spider that Martha was twittering on about…
And yes I follow Martha on Twitter, don’t you? And did you notice that she said the spider was crawling around in her BLOG STUDIO? Who wants her life, show of hands…
And then I DEFINITELY clicked on this link at the Deus Ex Malcontent blog, I mean who wouldn’t? I mean, “A mash-up of the ultra-hot “Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer” video and Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity.” That sounds AWESOME!
Really, click and watch, you will at least LOVE the music. Guaranteed! (Seriously, I’m loving that Jamiroquai, why haven’t I heard of him before???)
But here’s the “Kim’s SOOOO shallow” part: I, who views the internet through the slowest of internet dial-up connections, clicked here…
…to view the video with the First Lady, cuz I really AM concerned about health care reform (I have NO health care insurance). But then when I got there I read that I would have to download a full 5 minutes and 20 seconds of video…”That’ll take a LONG time,” I thought to myself, so I CLOSED THE WINDOW!
Huh. But I did not, not even for a moment, hesitate to click on the 3 minute 54 second video to see the “Drunkest Guy Ever Goes for More Beer – Jamiroquai Mash-up.”
Yup. Ashamed? Yup Yup. Downloading the First Lady’s video? Absolutely!
Can I get a WOOT! WOOT! up in here?
I just had another small bowl of my new Stew and decided I MUST share the recipe. This is waaaay to good to keep to myself.
The FarmVille Farmer’s FABULOUS Fall Stew Recipe
1½ lbs beef tenderloin or bison, cut into one-inch cubes
2 leeks, white and light green only, cut into chunks and well rinsed
3 medium-sized cooking onions, cut into chunks (I used an Italian onion)
3 carrot, peeled and chunked
3 parsnips, give ‘em the carrot treatment
1 small can whole tomatoes
1 small can small potatoes (trust me, canned holds up best!), drained
lotsa garlic
olive oil
½ cup whole-wheat flour (I used graham flour)
sea salt and black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 cup low-sodium, low fat broth (chicken, vegetable or beef)
1 cup light beer
A1 Steak Sauce, some
Freshly ground red pepper flakes (to taste)
1. Place flour, salt, pepper, oregano and basil large zip-lock bag, add meat and shake, shake, shake. Brown meat in oil, de-glaze pan with beer and simmer for a few minutes. Drink remaining 4 ounces of beer while flavors develop.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large Dutch oven and saute the garlic and onions until soft. Add remaining vegetables, except canned potatoes, cook 5 at least minutes more.
3. Toss meat into Dutch oven, add broth and a couple a shakes of A1 Steak Sauce. Check seasoning.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add potatoes and cook over low heat or covered in oven for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add broth if it starts looking too thick.
Oh, and for dessert, hop on over to Nancy’s blog and try her latest favorite: Coconut Banana Bread with Lime Glaze.
I got out and about yesterday for a bit, but I’m back in and under (the weather) today. This is the most frustrating flu bug ever! I’m sick, but I’m not THAT sick. Arrrrgh! I thought was getting better, but now I’m chair bound again — computer chair and television chair.
Anyway, I was able to cook a couple of good meals yesterday, but really I think it was more self defense than anything else. Big Man brought me pizza and ice cream Monday night and I decided I couldn’t eat one more meal with a tomato sauce in it (pizza, spaghetti, tortellinis — the extent of Big Man’s repertoire).
I put together a really beautiful stew to send with Big Man on his trip. I bought the vegetables at the Chehalis Farmer’s Market, just look at the organic loveliness!
I wish you could have seen Big Man’s eyes as he took his first bite. You know that look, that look of sudden recognition of tasty awesomeness? Yup, that look. His only complaint was that I didn’t put enough meat in the stew, but I told him that he couldn’t have afforded “enough meat” — I used tenderloin.
I know, I know, stop with all your shocked gasps of horror! When I was at the store debating with myself over buying stew meat or tenderloin I remembered my Ex-Mother-in-law’s pot roast. Ya see, my X-MIL made the BEST pot roast ever. EVER!
One day I asked her what her secret was and she said, “Well, first you take the prime rib roast and…”
I couldn’t even let her go on with her story. “Prime Rib roast????” I shouted, “Why would you take a perfectly good prime rib roast and pot roast it?”
“Well, Bill (her husband, who raised Angus cattle) doesn’t like prime rib and besides, it makes really good pot roast.” Uh, yeah! I’d say.
Anyway, I also tried a new “boxed meal” for supper — Restaurant Favorites, Wanchai Ferry Cashew Chicken.
All you add is the chicken, though I would add pineapple chunks and sweet onion next time. Mmmmm, good!
I bought yarn for yet another scarf, some goat’s milk lavender scented soap and some dried lavender.
I ADORE lavender *happy sighs* and I can’t seem to get enough. And I’m lovin’ the knitted and woven scarves look that the Ladies of the Church are rockin’, so I’ve been knitting during television time. See?
Yeah, I know it’s sideways. Just tip your head to the right…
“When we can begin to take our failures nonseriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves.”–Katherine Mansfield
Mystery Link: Roundabout_Road
Bad News: I’ve come down with a bug, so I’ve had to cancel class tomorrow.
Good News: We’ve rescheduled the Roundabout Road Quilt class at Sugar n’ Spice in Morton for next week, Saturday, October24, 10 am to 2 pm AND there is still room for you in the class. A mere $14 and you receive 4+ hours of live instruction and my Lifetime Friendship Guarantee* (LFG, defined below).
*Lifetime Friendship Guarantee: Whenever you take a class from me, you become my friend for EVER (yup, whether you need it or not!). That guarantee of friendship includes FREE help finishing your quilt whenever you ask for it — today, tomorrow or even 10 years from now (I’m not sure I can guarantee more than 10 years out…) ;o)
I'm a 47 year old Quilter, Episcopalian
, and Lover of Words. I'm of mixed heritage (1/2 Ozark Hillbilly, 1/2 Southern Belle), I live in the Pacific NW and I love to talk about my family, quilting and country living.
I live a Creative, Joy-filled Life in love with God, all creation and my neighbor (that means you). It's my vocation. I hope that one day, if I practice long and hard enough, I might get good at it.
I WOULD LOVE for you to leave me a comment or you can send me an email.
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The next Sugar 'n Spice Girls Quilts of Valor Corps meeting is Thursday, December 3. Email me at kz@tds.net for more info or call Linda at the Sugar n' Spice quilt shop at 360.496.6629
Visit the Quilts of Valor Foundation website.
"Ascension Day Banner"
May 2009, for St. Timothy's Episcopal Church and in memory of Ginger
36" x 52", Machine Pieced and Quilted
"The Four Seasons"
January 2009, Mom's Birthday
21" x 22", Machine Pieced and Quilted
"Ruth's Maple Leaf Jumble"
December 2008, from Ruth B. McDowell's Piecing Workshop, 18" x 24", Machine Pieced and Quilted
"Out of the Darkness..."
Advent 2008, St. Timothy's Episcopal Church
29" x 54", Hand Pieced & Embroidered, Machine Quilted
Click and go and sew
