Leaving on a jet plane...

We leave for London tomorrow! If you want to follow along on our adventures, please visit here.

And then there was none.

So of course that’s how it works.  I get all excited about 2 posts in a row and then nothing..nada, for over a month.   I love it when I can really concentrate on the blog but unfortunately the last month or so has been entirely too overloaded for me to concentrate on much other than school.   I did, however, manage to get through the last semester and a crappy research paper.  Happily here I am on my first weekend with no homework hanging over my head.

Outside of school, in the last month I have managed to complete the crazy nine patch quilt top (and back). All I have left to do is the quilting and binding, and I’m hoping that will be one thing I get to work on tomorrow. 

We finally finished painting the kitchen green, and also hosted the in-laws last weekend and had a wonderful visit.  It isn’t very often that the family band gets reunited.  We had a great time, enjoyed amazing food cooked by my mother-in-law, and can’t wait until the next visit.  We worked hard at convincing them to buy the house next door that’s currently for sale, but so far no dice. We’ll have to keep at it.

In crafty news, I have so many projects in my list of “stuff I wanna sew” that I don’t even know where to begin.  I really want to make a birdhouse wall hanging for my mother for Mother’s Day, but being the newbie quilter I am, I’m not quite sure how to start.  I’ve also been totally inspired by these mini-quilts at Tallgrass Prairie Studio, as well as this art piece that I think is so amazing.  I’m going to try to play around with stitch drawing and see what I can come up with for Mother’s Day.  I really don’t want to get my mom yet another Pandora bead, although I don’t think she would mind much.

My knitting has been floundering this year, though I haven’t stopped reading knitting blogs.  I’m still plugging away at the same scarf albeit very slowly. 

What’s also been keeping me preoccupied is our upcoming trip to London.  We’re down to the last week and a half, which is going to fly by considering next weekend will be taken up with my friend’s wedding in which I am a bridesmaid.  We’ve finally narrowed our itinerary down and are beginning to pre-book train tickets for our day trips.  Our top choices of places to see are the British Museum, Tower of London, Bath, Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace.  Somehow we are hoping to also squeeze about 20 other destinations in our short six day visit.  Tomorrow we’re going to do a packing dry run.  My husband really wants us to use just carry-ons but I think he’s in dreamland. 

Coming soon…pictures of the Crazy Nine Patch quilt and some of my upcoming projects. 

Two in a row!

Lookie here…two posts in two days…it must be spring break!  This weekend was very busy with errands and odds and ends, but I did get some things accomplished.  The crazy nine patch squares are completely pieced, all 36 of them.  The next step is to get to trimming them and then it’s time for sashing.  I can’t wait to see the quilt top come together. 

I also did a little fat quarter shopping and used up some gift certificate credit at the local quilt shop, Calico Junction. It was only my second time in the shop and I’m pretty sure based on my browsing that’s it nearly 90% Moda fabric, which was just fine with me.  The lady who was working on Sunday was super sweet and cut fat quarters for me right off the bolts. She even did a little hunting with me to choose just the right yellows and oranges.  I went in armed with a printed out color wheel and my notes on color schemes and ended up with what I think is a nice  palette.  I haven’t chosen the sashing or the backing pieces yet but I do have something in mind. 

 

 

My most exciting news is that Chris and I have finally narrowed down what we want to do for vacation.  We’ve booked our plane tickets and tonight reserved our room in London.  I’m so excited I can barely stand it.  I’m really looking forward to some overseas blogging so stay tuned!

Spring Break

I’m extremely happy to say that my midterms are over and Spring Break has officially started!  Of course, for the younger set this means beaches and parties.  For the older folk like me it means watching TV with my husband in the evenings and lots of crafting on the weekend. 

I have so many plans for this weekend’s free time I’m not even sure where to start.  I am hoping to finish the quilt top on the crazy nine patch quilt this weekend.  I am 2/3rd’s of the way through the last set of 9 squares and after that it’s just sewing on the sashing.  I have scrap fabric from the squares that needs to be pieced as part of the backing, and then I’m in the home stretch.

I am also hoping to hit the fabric store this weekend to pick out some fat quarters for the Quilt-a-long over at one of my favorite blogs, oh, fransson!  If you’re a newbie quilter like me, this quilt-a-long is shaping up to be the perfect learning experience.   Elizabeth has already done a couple of really great post on basic color theory and choosing fabrics so far that was a huge help to me.

Speaking of fat quarters, I have to say I made out quite nicely in the Sew Mama Sew quilt swap.  Thanks so much to Calico Daisy, Simply Cotton, and Sibling Craftery who sent out such nice fat quarters.  Please stop by their blogs and say hello.

Well, I’m off to begin the Spring Break festivities…first stop, quilt shop.

Dismissed

Today was the day I was report to Jury Duty for the first time.  I must admit, I was quite happy to see the summons in my mailbox.  I have always been interested in the whole judicial process, as well as doing my civic duty, and really had no interest or inclination in trying to get out of it.  Unfortunately for me, it was not meant to be this time around.  I was assigned to Group 21 for today’s jury selection, however when I called the clerk of courts over the weekend for instructions,  Groups 1-20 were instructed to report for duty while Groups 21 and above were dismissed…bummer.

So instead, aside from a quick little blog post, my assignment for today is to complete the title page and introduction of my research paper, as well as write my essay on the Philosophy of Nursing.  Woo hoo!

At the moment I’m taking a break and wanted to show you the four fat quarters I’ve chosen the Sew, Mama, Sew fat quarter swap.  I didn’t follow a pattern or color theme, I simply chose patterns that I really liked.  I think my favorite might be the Koi fish second from the left.  I love the colors in the flower pattern, love the aqua in the pattern on the far right, and am a girly girl at heart who loves butterflies as in the blue pattern.  In the morning I will be sending each one off to their new homes, one as far away as Australia!  I hope the recipients are happy with what I chose.

On a completely side note, I watched the Oscars last night mostly because I wanted to see Slumdog Millionaire do well, and it did.  If you haven’t seen the film yet, it’s really well worth hype and attention it’s received and I highly recommend it.

Happy Valentine’s Day

A Day off.

I’ve recently changed my work schedule to where I’m working four 10 hour days instead of five 8 hour days in order to accommodate for some study time.  I know that I’m extremely fortunate to be able to do this with my schedule and try hard to utilize the time appropriately, but it’s SO hard not to sit here and read blogs for hours about what I really want to be doing…sewing or knitting.  In fact, at this very moment I have my school book open on my desk yet I find myself blogging and daydreaming of the Kobayashi fabrics my very sneaky husband bought me for Christmas.  He saw me drooling over a post on The Purl Bee before Christmas and then ordered the exact same fabrics from that blog post.  The fabrics are Kobayashi Chrysanthemums and Flower Squares and I have 5 half yards of it calling to me today. My sister-in-law went in on the gift and added the coordinating solids to make a nice set.  I’ve been kicking around ideas for what to do with the fabrics for awhile now and have narrowed it down to a quilt in a style similar to this Caroline Quilt, also from The Purl Bee or maybe Oh, Fransson’s pattern for the Mixtape quilt.  However, I am open to suggestion. 

Also on the agenda for today is a little fancy cooking. I’m a huge fan of Thai food and I have the greatest little Thai cookbook that I cook from once a week. So far I’ve enjoyed every recipe I’ve tried of which my favorites have been Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini (ooh, spicy!!) and Five Spice Stew with Hard Boiled Eggs and Pork.  Today I’m going to be trying Panaeng Beef in Red Curry Peanut sauce.   I say anything with peanut butter as an ingredient has got to be good. 

Speaking of food…Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. This year my husband and I are going to repeat what we did last year and cook a nice meal together. Last year we made Italian food and some home made bruschetta.  This year I am pretty sure I’d like to try a chocolate soufflé for dessert but I’m still up in the air on the meal.  What will you be doing for Valentine’s Day this year? 

I must get back to studying now.  If I can get my schoolwork finished by 11:00 12:00 1:00 then maybe I can get to doing something a little more fun!