In the past few days...

On Thursday/Friday I went out on the Penninsula for a visit with Lia. She taught me free-motion quilting. I didn't get around to taking many pictures...just this one: Annika giving Chick a violin lesson (so sweet!). Chick is also wearing one of their dresses, because she can't resist fancy dresses.

Here's a picture of what I did while I was there--one or two of these may become pot holders...they are just little practice squares. The figure 8 was the hardest for me. Clearly this is a skill that will take some practice, but it was really exciting to learn anyhow. Thanks, Lia!

On Saturday I put my new knowledge to use and started my first real project (for one of my promised giveaway items). I got it all quilted that day, but haven't finished the binding yet. Since it's a gift, I can't show it to you, but here's a little sample section. The quilting is hard to see--making it a little difficult to quilt it because I could hardly see where I'd already quilted, but it was still really good practice at stippling & was kind of an adrenaline rush to be able to do : )

After I finished that, I went shopping. By myself. Without feeling guilty. ok, a little guilty. but not too much. I went to the thrift store, and the fabric store, and got myself some french fries & a smoothie. And I went grocery shopping, which was the "reason" for me to go out in the first place. Anyhow, at the thrift store I got some cute kid's spoons--regular ole' stainless steel spoons like normal, but they're smaller & are the perfect size for my little munchkins. I also got a basket, which was one of the things that I was specifically looking for...I'll put pictures on later: it's going to have a makeover : ) I also got a lazy susan, which may prove to be useful, but so far is best for HH & Chick to play with (HH: "Lets see how fast we need to spin it to make this fall over" etc). That will also get a makeover, and I'll be posting a poll later to help me decide on color selection.

At the fabric store I got new sewing scissors, as well as some supplies for upcoming projects. The scissors I've been using were cheap ones that I've had for 10 years or so, and which I avoided using because they were so dull. I bought a nice Gingher pair, which work like a dream.

I came home, fixed dinner, and worked on finishing my ribbon spooling project while I watched movies.

The next day was church, and then we had our friends, the Hebers, over for dinner. I made Lettuce Wraps from this recipe. Not the best idea: I've only made them one other time, a couple of years ago. I forgot how long they take to make--lots and LOTS of mincing. Thankfully HH was a good sport about being a sous chef, so we weren't tooo late in getting to the table. But honestly, I think I'll add them to my monthly repertoire, they are SO GOOD, SO GOOD YOU SEE. The recipe says that it's for one person, so I pretty much quadrupled it and we had enough left over for dinner tonight & I'll have more for lunch tomorrow! (good thing I like them).

Today I was tired. I hate that...I slept on the couch while the girls played. But Chick informed me that it was Monday, so we needed to do Muffin Tin Monday. Huh, I didn't know she knew the days of the week? Anyhow, there wasn't a theme today, so they got: cheese, tangerines, carrot sticks, crackers with cottage cheese, hard boiled egg, and a beverage (soy milk for Monkey, juice for Chickadee).

In my unproductivity, I blog-browsed & came across Once a Month Mom...a freezer cooking blog that does a lot of the organizational work for you (menus & prep timeline provided). They're doing a cookoff, and I think I'll do it. It's due by March 8th, so I'll need to decide and get it done pretty quickly.....

I guess that's it.

Here's a little familial felicity.