Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I hope this finds you rested after the holidays. Have you made your "New Year's Resolutions"? I find that resolutions get broken to fast, so I make goals that are more attainable. Most of my goals this year are quilting ones. I have alot of projects to work on and finish.

This will be an exciting year. We are starting the year off with a member of our quilting group expecting her first grandson in a few days. Then it will be time to work on things for my nephews wedding this summer.

We still have some snow on the ground here, but just spotty now. We were snowed in for several days. That's ok- it was too cold to go out anyway! This is a picture of my birdhouse off the deck.

Molly had a wonderful time playing in the snow. More than once we had to rinse her off under the faucet to remove the snow from her legs and face. Santa brought her a new sweater for Christmas- but she got to have it early so she could keep warm. She looks like a peppermint stick when she wears it. If asked, she will choose to wear her new sweater!! The kitties just cuddled up near the fireplace to keep warm.

Hubby bought me a new recliner that has massage and heat. Mr Graham has decided that it is his chair and sleeps in it when I'm not around. If I'm in it then Molly wants my lap.

Have a great New Year,

November Musings

I received school pictures this morning from Cozy, our granddaughter. She is in kindergarten. She is also a talker! She figured out really early what a phone was for and called me frequently. I may not have understood anything, but we talked. I still talk to her as often as I can. She loves school. She is a tiny little one and has been very sick. Among other things, she has a vomiting disorder. They have just found a medication and protocol that is helping. Maybe now she will begin to put some weight on. She weighs about 25 lbs at age 5. But inspite of everything she is funny, joyful and you never know what she will say or do next.

This is a picture of Christina and I at Apple Hill in CA. We were having a wonderful time. I am going to get started on her quilting projects this week, hopefully. Just need to get some muslin for it. I need quite a bit. Probably should find a good deal on a bolt! She & her hubby bought a beautiful new dark oak table. So we found some "wine" related fabrics to make a set of placemats, a tablerunner and some napkins. Very pretty. It should go together very quickly. Soon as I have it done or mostly done I'll post pictures.

I have much to accomplish today. Laundry, ironing fabric for the Broken Star class tomorrow, and paying bills. ugh. :)

Will talk later,

hugs,

Cheryl

Happy Halloween!

I can hardly believe that it's Halloween already and I haven't posted all month! However, being gone most of that time on my trip to Sacramento CA is a good excuse.
I took the train down. It was late leaving Seattle, so we were late all the way down. But it was a beautiful ride. I had decided to pack my meals for the trip down and that worked really well. The one thing that I didn't think to pack and that will go into my carry on first next time is a blanket! It was cold on the train. The view was fantastic. All the rich fall colors were perfect. I heard several people say, both going down and coming back "Stop the train! I want to take pictures!" :)
Our daughter and I had a great time. We spent most of it shopping. Most of it was shopping for clothes for both of us, one day was spent checking out local quilt shops, another day we caught up on a few things and then partied. The group that she works with threw her birthday party early so that I could attend. Then we went in and got our hair done. Her's is about 12 inches shorter now. She donated the braid for cancer victims wigs. Her hair was down to her waist. I just got a trim, coloring and highlights. Looks terrific. We checked out the bar where she & her hubby work part time as well as the local casino. On my last day there we went to her in-laws home. They have a beautiful home in the hills. Lots of wild animals- wild turkeys all over the place. Also the deer are tame. They just stand and stare in your window and watch you like TV. Unnerving! Funny too! Also that day we went up to a concert. We went to hear Nick Palance-Jack Palance's nephew. He's a wonderful tenor. The town we were in was built in the mid 1800's. There is a plaque on the building where the Wells Fargo wagon stopped, there is a Hotel and Saloon, 1 small grocery store, an antique store/gift shop. No stop lights :) Very small- but neat little town to visit. There are many towns like this in CA. Had tons of fun. Had to go buy another duffle to cart my new stuff home in.
Brought home a horrible cold, so have been sick most of the last 2 weeks. But I think I am just about over it. There will be more to tell. I will try to do better in the coming weeks.
hugs for now,
Cheryl

Ready for Chili?

It's getting to be chili weather. I am making up a pot this afternoon and I thought I would share my recipe with you. I love this one as it is a total harvest veggie chili and I don't mind not having meat at all. See what you think. Let me know. If you have a favorite chili recipe I'd love to know about it.
Garden Chili
Makes 5 qts
3T corn or safflower oil
3 large onions, chopped
3 zucchini, sliced
1 lb fresh mushrooms, chopped
2-3 leeks, cleaned and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1T chili powder
2tsp mustard seed
1tsp cumin
¼ tsp cardamom, ground
¼ tsp cinnamon
2 (20 oz each) cans diced tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can stewed tomatoes
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1 cup beer or water
1T vinegar
1T light brown sugar
3 cans (16oz each) kidney beans, rinsed and drained

GARNISH: Your choice
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Plain yogurt
Green onions, sliced
Salsa
Tomatoes, chopped
Lettuce, shredded
Tortilla chips, lightly crushed
Green chilies, chopped

Heat oil in large kettle over low heat. Add onions, zucchini, mushrooms, leeks, garlic, and spices. Saute for several minutes. Add diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, beer, vinegar, brown sugar and kidney beans. Cook over low heat for 45 – 60 minutes or until thickened.
Ladle chili into soup bowls. Garnish as you choose.
Makes 10-12 servings. I think I figured a serving was 1 2/3 cups- 2 cups depending on whether you base it on 10 or 12 servings. (5qts=20cups)
If you are following Weight Watchers this is 4 points per serving, without any garnishes.
Calories:262; fat5.6gram;

From the Kitchen

We got mom & dad into their new place last week. Kitties were dropped off in a safe place for a few days, the packers were there on Wed. and my hubby, brother & nephew moved them on Thurs. Kitties went to their new home on Fri after the phones & cable were turned on. Busy week. Still much to do. Now comes the unpacking and finding a place for everything. Then they still have to clean the mobile home and get it ready to sell. I think once everything is finally all out, they will just hire someone to come in and clean. Much simpler.
We celebrated Phil's sister's birthday this weekend. Phil's mom used to make a wonderful Korean Steak on the bbq. When she died, so did the recipe. But we found one that was very close. Phil's mom used to make this for E's birthday dinner. So we've picked that up. It's very easy to make. It marinates for 2-3 hours, or even overnight, so you can make it up the day before you cook it.

Korean Steak
this makes 4 servings

1 lb flank steak
6 cloves garlic,
1/2 pear, peeled, cored
2 green onions
4T soy sauce
2T granulated sugar
1T sesame oil
1T rice wine (sake)
1T sesame seeds
1tsp minced fresh ginger
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Very thinly slice (as thin as you can possibly cut it, a very sharp knife helps) flank steak across the grain into strips. Put into large resealable baggie.
In a food processor, mince pear, garlic, ginger, and the blend soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, sake, and black pepper. Pour over meat. Add green onions and sesame seeds. Mix well to cover all the meat. Refrig. at least 2-3 hours. I like to do this a day ahead.
To cook in oven: Broil about 4 min per side on a broiler pan that has been sprayed with a nonstick spray.
To cook on the BBQ: gently lay across the grate and watch carefully. Cook on medium heat. It will only take a few min to cook.

I served this with her favorite veggies: green beans and sweet potatoes. I dressed up the green beans with a sprinkling of feta cheese. Then instead of a birthday cake, we had marionberry pie. It was very good- not to sweet.

Another good recipe that I came up with this weekend is a spinach salad. I was looking for something different for lunch. This is what I came up with:

1/2 cup baby spinach
3 oz chopped or shredded cooked chicken
1/2 cinnamon pear (canned)
1T feta cheese
Layer in order. The juice from the pear will act as the dressing. Mandrin oranges would be good on this for a change instead of pears too. (This makes 1 serving)

Let me know what you think of the recipes. If you have some to share, I would love to hear them. I am always in search of new recipes.
hugs,
Cheryl

Sewing With the Stars '08

This last week has been a busy one. I left early last Wed and spent the day in Lacy at the Pfaff Creative Center. I helped put the finishing touches on a 12 foot banner that a friend had made- it took 5 large spools of thread to embroider. It looked big until it was hung on the wall in the room where we were sewing! Then after the store closed, we were off to the Little Creek Casino where the retreat was being held.

Thurs morning I met my "roomie", a wonderful 70 yr old lady who is originally from Holland and has been all over the world. It was fun talking to her. We then spent the day working on a pillow and learning new techniques. We embroidered the first part of the design, then felted the center and then went back and finished stitching it out. Then it was on to playing with our decorative stitches, adding cording to the outside and then adding trim and the flaps in the back to insert a pillow form.

The felting machine was lots of fun - we used it to add the color to the center of the rose and to the leaves. Great way to add shading as well. I can see the potential for many things! I just had to get one.

Then on Friday we first embroidered the stippling on the cream part of the bag and then learned how to use the new yarn couching foot for both embroidery and free motion stippling. This was lots of fun! All of the bags turned out really nice. That night "Mr Pfaff" came to talk to us on the history of sewing machines and Pfaff in particular. It was a wonderful presentation and I learned a lot. He has been with the company for 53 years and now lectures to various groups.

Sat had us up and ready to sew- but we were tired. We did a small sachet. The sachet parts were all pre-done linen. What we did was to learn how to do sequencing in our machines with scallops. We stitched them out on a length of linen, added fray check to the outside and then cut away the fabric. Then sewed it into a circle and gathered it to look like a flower. Sewed it to the center of the sachet and machine stitched a button on to the top of that. Added a lavendar sachet to it to finish. It came home and immediately went into my new dresser. (it still has that new dresser smell-more chemical than wood).

By then it was lunch and time for our Pfaff Educator- Sara, who had so patiently been teaching us, to show us her goodies. Show & Tell time brought lots of ideas as well. That's always a fun part to look forward to. I realized as I was packing that as busy as I had been this last year, I had either given or sold everything I had made, leaving nothing to take. So I just did the "Tell" part. It was lots of fun.

Now to get busy. I came home with so many new ideas. Molly was really happy to see me- the puppy kisses lasted about an hour. I have only a couple of weeks or so before I take off again and so much to do.

Will share more with you later,

Cheryl

Busy September

Busy day. It was time to update my sewing machine and the embroidery software. Took a trip to Silverdale for help, but it got done. So everything is up and running in time for the embroidery class this weekend and "Sewing with the Stars" next week. Then late this afternoon I received a phone call that I was going to have a roommate next week. That will be fun. I enjoy meeting new people. 3 days of sewing and having fun at the casino.
My afghan is coming along nicely. I have 2/3 of the blocks completed now. All of blocks 1 & 2 are done and I've started on block 3. That took a little longer as I had to learn the new stitch. But it's getting better.
One of the things that I deal with 24/7 is back and hip pain. Sometimes the meds will help and sometimes it doesn't. This week I saw my dr again and he has done 2 things. The first was to ask my insurance to get me a tens unit and they approved it. I have to call about it tomorrow. The other is looking into vitamin deficiency. We had found before that my vitamin B12 was really low and when we got it up to where it was supposed to be, my back pain disappeared. Now, I realize that vitamins won't take care of all of the problem, since part of it is due to degeneration in my lower spine- but if we can get the nutrients back to where they are supposed to be just maybe things will smooth out. I hope so.
DH managed to secure a 4 day weekend and has Mon and Tue off next week. One of the days I think we are going out to the Point Defiance Zoo. We haven't been there in ages and it seems like it would be a fun day to spend together. I'll post more on that later. Pictures too.
Take care,
Cheryl