Baby Quilt - Finished and Gifted

Well, seems like I'm developing a monthly blogging habit. I don't want to post things just to post, though - my favorite bloggers are the ones that feel the most authentic. I'm not a "writer," in that writing is not a natural skill of mine and I don't feel a pull to create written work. I do, however, like gathering my thoughts, and that's what this blog is. It's a place to focus on what I've done or what I'm doing, but when I just don't have the time, it gets pushed off my to-do list pretty quickly.

I've been trying to record more things photographically speaking, though. I'm trying for a picture a day - or, to be more accurate, a picture per day. Meaning I may take 6 pictures on a Saturday and call them the week's pictures. I'm about three pictures short right now, so I'm not doing too bad.

In other news, I finished the baby quilt a while back, actually got pictures of it, and gifted it today! It was a project that I started without a specific recipient, and I ended up giving it to a young woman at my church who's pregnant with her first baby, a little boy. Here it is, complete:

I don't know the finished size - good for cuddling, I hope. It's cotton on the front, flannel on the back.
You can see how I pieced the back if you look closely, but the pattern is busy enough that it wasn't super obvious. I hope it gets lots of love and holds up well. Let the quilting adventures continue!

French Toast

I'm ready for the holidays to start. We're spending Thanksgiving with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law; it's so fun to be here and not by ourselves in Virginia! It's a relatively small Thanksgiving group compared to what we've had some years, but it will be good.

My mom, my sis-in-law, and I are all cooking, so I had to get supplies. I'm making candied yams, rolls, pumpkin pie, and some snacks for earlier in the day. I wasn't quite sure what I was making and what I needed until Sunday, so I ended up going to the grocery store tonight - and it was kind of crazy. Too many people. And I forgot eggs, so I had to go back in. And while I was grabbing eggs, I decided I wanted whipping cream too. At least with only 2 things I could do self checkout and get out quicker.

I'm looking forward to the long weekend, too, but unfortunately my husband will be working so I don't think we get any lazy days together. I love having a late breakfast with him, but we don't get to do that very often anymore. This was my breakfast on Saturday, French toast:

Does anyone else top their French toast with powdered sugar and cinnamon? I didn't realize until I was a teenager that most people top theirs with syrup. This is how my mom always made it. I love when the sugar gets a little dissolved into the butter and it's all brought together with cinnamon... mmmm.

Whatever you eat this Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy it!

Took the day off...

I spent the day with my husband, Buddy, in "the city" (which around here means San Francisco). He had the day off, so I took the day off too and we headed out for a day trip we've been trying to take since my birthday (almost exactly a month ago).

It was a beautiful day. We took the ferry.

The Ferry Building is very cool and has some wonderful shops in it. We started off with coffee at Blue Bottle - which is amazing.

Then, we got a hazelnut macaron and an eclair from Miette. This was my first macaron - loved it! I was so excited to eat it I took a bite and then got a very blurry picture. So I made it more blurry... ? It's like a dream picture of a macaron (or something):

Then we walked around and went down to Pier 39, where we saw the sea lions, bought a Christmas ornament (I like getting these when we go somewhere, because I know it's a collection I'll actually use and enjoy), got some candy, and saw a super creepy cat urn for sale. Really.

Oh, and we saw them decorating the big Christmas tree! The ornaments are gigantic.

Then we went back to the Ferry Building to shop around there. We had lunch from Cowgirl Creamery, which was SO good. I <3 cheese.

It was a very good day off.

Busy Week

Well, this is shaping up to be quite a busy week, more than I'd expected. All good things going on, but I don't have much extra time.

I'm going to try to make myself a lightbox (about 97,600,000 Google results for how to do that!), so on Monday I picked up a piece of white posterboard. It also happened to rain on Monday, and my umbrella is less than wonderful.

On the way in to the store, I had to hold it open because I couldn't get it to extend all the way and hold itself open. On the way out of the store, I was (awkwardly) trying to both keep it out of the rain and hold it fairly steady so it wasn't flapping around. As I was doing so, I walked into the parking lot down the (lane? aisle? row?) I thought my car was on. I looked around... didn't see it. Wondered if I was seriously confused because I was pretty sure that I had walked down this row and across that crosswalk to get into the store.

Looked over at the next row, because sometimes I do lose myself in the parking lot. Through the rain, I could tell that my car was indeed NOT on that row either...... Hmm.

At this point, I realized that I actually went through the opposite entrance, and my car was probably about 4 rows and several rainy steps away from where I was. Luckily, my posterboard didn't warp or anything, but it was definitely damp by the time it got into my car.

Moral of the story? Don't buy posterboard in the rain.

Also, get a new umbrella.

(this one's cute AND funny-shaped!) at Target.com

I Voted

Did you?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

This was the extent of my pumpkin decor - and it turns out, the acrylic paint worked fine this time!

Sewing Class

For my birthday, my parents gave me money to use for a sewing class. Now, I have to decide what class I want to take. I've looked at a few options:

* A 5 week "Intermediate Sewing" course covering sewing a shirt? That would help me with a lot of garment sewing things that kind of scare me (like arm holes!)
* A 2-day class to sew a knit dress? Has the garment construction things AND knit (which scares me a little)
* A class to sew a pencil skirt
* A "dresses" class
* Something else???


I need to do more research on what's available around here, but I'm also indecisive and might take too much time trying to decide! It might be better to wait until after the holidays anyways. We'll see.

Birthday Pt. 2

Today is my husband's birthday, and we celebrated our birthdays together with my family last night and with his family tonight. I now have money for sewing classes, fabric, new clothes, and coffee - these people know me well!

October 13

Today is my birthday! It's been pretty low-key, I went to work for about 1/2 a day, my mom took me to lunch with my aunt & grandma, and then I went shopping! :) I didn't buy much, but I got some fabric, an Anna Maria Horner pattern, and some yarn. The WIP list will be growing.

I found a cute (little) fabric store today! It's called StitchCraft, and it's in downtown Petaluma. There's also an Etsy store! If you're in the area and you want a helpful, local place to shop, I highly recommend it.

Off to go hang out with my man.