out with the old, in with the new

All the year end review posts are up all over the blog-o-sphere and I'm trying to get one last post up myself before New Years.

2011 hasn't been a bad year by any means, just a little bit of a struggle for me personally.A lot of sorrow for what I don't have (namely a baby of my own) and learning to except where I am and what I do have. (mainly and awesome God and a great husband, nothing to turn my nose up at) 

Creatively I've gotten out of my I don't have enough time mentality and started doing more.I've carved out time and space, quite literally to do what I love to do. I finally started up my Etsy after overcoming a big mental, I can't do this.

So here are some goals for my little blog and the foundation that is my little business:

• Blog at least twice a week
• Do at least one street fair/craft show
• Finish at least 2 new quilts (not just the tops)
• Remember to take more pictures
• Write at least one tutorial
• Sketch More
• Finish 2 UFO's
• Keep my sewing table/stash organized

I think that's all the big ones. Now off to straiten up my apartment. I have a very good friend coming over to hang out as well as a new-quickly becoming good friend who is coming over to quilt. Great way to spend new years eve day if  I say so myself. Not sure what we're doing tonight,if anything. I'd be perfectly happy quilting in the new year.

UFO's

First Published 2/2/10

Updated 1/23/11

I've decided that 2010 will be the year for finishing projects. The only new projects I will start are smaller ones for birthday presents etc.


and I reserve the right to end the year with one UFO. I know what it will be already. Its a king size quilt that I started in a class in 2004 or 2005. The top is finished, the back is finished it just needs to be quilted. despite my my new, larger pretty machine I am not comfortable quilting it myself.


So my list of UFO's includes:

Coffee quilt for my mom. Needs a border and I need to find backing fabric. I've been on the hunt for newspaper fabric.Completed 1/8/11

Christmas quilt: Top is finished, backing is cut? I need to piece it together. I think I have enough batting for this as well

Thanksgiving quilt: Top finished, back pieced and I have batting. probably the next project to tackle


unnamed purple and green: started it at a quilt retreat I went to in January of last year. I think i may have 10 blocks finished our of a gazillion.(well maybe not that many but since its been well over a year since I worked on it, I cant remember anything other than its colors)

Housewarming runner: table runner and napkins for some friends that bought their first house last summer. I started it then. completed 2/1/2010


Love Notes wall hanging: its about 11X14 and looks something like this:

I have the foundation for the applique and embroidery finished but have been daunted by the hand work because I don't know how to do anything but a running stitch by hand

lazy day

Today is my first day of vacation and so far it's been pretty nice.

woke up with a near migraine but it's gotten much better. Mini Doctor Who marathon, couch nap and made some yummy puff pastry goodies.

goat cheese and fig jam=delicious

now off to a new fabric store to spend some Christmas money that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Tomorrow will be slight more productive, time to finally unpack our luggage from Christmas and break out the quilt top to the baby quilt I've been working on.

It's quite nice to have some down time with nothing really important pressing.

I also need to get some of my 2012 goals down on paper, they've been rumbling around my head and I need to solidify them before Sunday.

Christmas 2011-Giving

I had a fabulous Christmas. Got to enjoy some quality time with my family as well as my husband. It was relaxing and cozy, everything I ever want Christmas to be.


Now that Christmas is over I can show you some of the things I made for Christmas.

Doctor Who travel mugs. These I was actually willing to buy but I couldn't find any that weren't ridiculously expensive. These are for my in-laws (hubby's sister and her husband) I paired these with a jar of  peppermint hot cocoa that we made.

As I've said before Doctor Who is very popular in my family. Also my brother-in-law is a truck driver so I wanted to make sure we gave him something he could actually use. This is what we came up with. I directed this one and my hubby used his photo shop skills to make it happen. We wanted to keep these.

Another embellished T-shirt. This time for my 4 year old cousin. He loves all things Thomas the Train and his initial happens to be T.

These onesies are for his little sister. She was born November 16th and is adorable.

There's a few other things that may get pictures taken of but I'll leave it at this for now.

I have another post to write on the awesome quilting related gifts I got as well as the purse my husband made me! yes made, all by himself. It's beautiful.

Hope everyone had a great holiday.

Home Made Christmas

There's not a lot I can show about this year's home made gifts but I can talk about my reasons for doing so.

It started out as financial. There's been more than a few Christmas's where the hubby and I were either poor starving college students or just flat out broke. I love Christmas though so this isn't going to deter me. Plus as a quilter I have built up quite the stash of fabric and other crafting supplies. So really I just need to get innovative.

Here are some of the gifts I have made in the past:

Felted wool TARDIS picture I made for my father-in-law (Doctor Who is a big favorite in our family, I really wish I had a picture of this one. I'll have to try when we're back for Christmas. He has it hanging in his office.)

Sunflower pillow for my sister-in-law

No sew Wreath from V and Co

Lavender and Flax seed eye pillows (links to the pattern I use as a rough guide, I don't mess around with interfacing but  I did make both the pillow and the carrying case)

Personalized Note cards

Knitted beanie's 

There's quite a few other things I've made but these are just a few.

 So Our financial situation has changed quite a bit. We're by no means rolling in money but both being gainfully employed helps in that department. 

This however has not stopped us from continue to try and make most of our gifts. I had a conversation with the hubby last Christmas about as we move forward financially I still want to continue to make gifts. 

To me it's just so personal in this day and age of disposable consumerism. Things are getting  more and more expensive and less and less durable. I love being able to make things in specific colors or patterns or reference favorite things in pop culture that I may not be able to find otherwise. 

Sure it takes extra time and a lot of thinking outside the box but to me it's well worth it. 

Do you make Christmas gifts? If you do/have what are some of your favorite things you have made? I would love to hear-I'm always looking for new ideas

Tutorial?

This is safe to talk about amd show since it's already been recieved

Or alternately titled why I currently fail at writing tutorials.

So I was going to try  and write a tutorial for this advent calender I made for some dear friends in Georgia. This is one of two pictures I took, they were nearly identical. Not only did I forget to keep taking pictures I didn't even take a picture of the finished product. DOH!

I had fun making it though. Most of the pockets have little activities for them to do as a family like decorate the tree, make a Christmas craft, take a family photo etc. Those that didn't activities have mini candy canes for the kiddos. I've written myself a set of the cards and eventually want to make one for myself, so maybe next time I'll remember to take more pictures. or rather pictures at all.

Major props to those crafting and quilting bloggers that write tutorials on a regular basis, it ain't easy.

Meal Plan Monday (Thursday Edition)

Week ? 9? 10? W/E 12/18/11

I've had a plan just haven't been able to sit down and write it down. Last week was full of junk. This is what happens when no plan is written and I never made it to the grocery store. This week's plan is trying to put some good stuff back in our bodies.

Monday- My Birthday my wonderful husband cooked me dinner. Spinach ravioli with garlic cheesy bread and a super yummy salad

(Taco)Tuesday- BBQ chickpea tacos with guacamole and home made spanish rice. I made a salad of sorts out of this with the leftovers and include pea shoots. I gave some to the toddler I take care of and she gobbled it up yesterday, it was a good moment.

Wednesday: Was supposed to be lavash wraps but we ended up Christmas shopping so we got Chipotle instead. oh well.

Thursday: Lavash wraps or yellow curry and vegetables

Friday: Whatever I didn't have Thursday

Saturday: We're going to the nutcracker with my in-laws for my birthday so dinner out will probably be involved. I was thinking of making a pork tenderloin if I decide to cook. I use this really good balsamic vinegar and garlic recipe that's super easy and always comes out amazing.

Sunday: Lavash Pizza with green onions, olives and bell peppers

From here on out the meal plans will probably be few and far between. I have one of my BFF's who lives in Boston coming next week, plus Christmas and trying to finish gifts. after that will be the fast my church does at the beginning of each year and although it's not a complete fast very little actual cooking is done during this time. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

For Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin cheesecake. I'm pretty traditionalist when it comes to the holidays and I always make pumpkin pie but I thought I would try something different. I'm soo glad I did.

I originally found this recipe and was all excited to do it. Until I got to the part where it said submerge spring form pan in water. That just sounded like way too much work. But I loved the idea of a  ginger snap crust and the caramel praline topping. So I kept those and used Paula Deen's pumpkin cheesecake recipe.

The Results:

Overall I would totally do this again. There's a couple of things I would tweak. I would probably cook the caramel a little longer, it didn't thicken up as much as I would like. Also the crust. I don't know if I used too many cookies or it was the fact that for some reason my spring form pan was leaking but it turned out sooo hard and it was pretty thick. Everyone else said it was fine. I'm not sure if they were just being nice or if it really was fine. The whole thing ended up getting eaten so I guess it wasn't that bad. I didn't have my food processor with me so I may be able to get the cookies more finely crushed that way then with a mallet. 

The cheesecake itself was delicious, just the right amount of pumpkin flavor. I would totally try other Paula recipes, they're easier to follow than Alton Brown and his weighted measurements. I don't care if weighing ingredients is supposed to make me a better baker.:-P

Has anyone else tried any new recipes this holiday season with good results? or bad?

8-12-11

My Grandmother passed away this morning. I didn't even know she was sick, it apparently was very quick.

She would have been 85 this December, I think. maybe 86? I'm named after her. she spelled it Joscelin and when my parents decided to name me after he she asked they swap the i out for a y.

Both our birthdays are in December. One year when i was 10 or 11 she took me to see the nutcracker ballet for my birthday when I was at my grandparents house over christmas break.

She took me ice skating for the first time too. I begged and begged for a couple of years if she would take me and finally she gave in. She was so suprised when she could see that I could do it.

so many bits and pieces of memories are jumbled in my head. It's been so long since i've seen her some memories are harder to remember then others.

some that stand out:

swimming in the ocean at redondo beach and her wrapping her weddings rings with medical tape so she wouldn't loose them (I found out at the funeral that they were married 63 years and she never took them off)

calling root beer floats brown cows

her calling me sweet girl

Shopping, lots of shopping,

her blue eyes

her white hair that she would sit and curl in the mornings

how very well dressed she always was

her love for rose print

the list goes on

I have a stack of fabrics I've been stashing away that reminded me of her. I was planning on making her a quilt once I had enough and knew what pattern. Now I don't know.


This was written right after I found out. Now that it's December and the holidays/her birthday month I'm really missing her. I can only imagine how my 91 year old grandfather is doing. I need to call and check in this week. His birthday is a week after mine,  I need to get his card in the mail. 


This holiday season I'm missing both my grandmothers. Is there anyone you think of especially at Christmas time? 

Merry Birthday to me

 my Birthday breakfast and a little bit of the quilt top I made 4 years ago and have yet to make a back for. 

Today I am 29.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have a friend who's Birthday is the 14th and she's freaking out. I think I'm indifferent. 

I had a little tea party yesterday after the Christmas musical at church. Tea,Red Velvet cake and this amazing turkey cheese ball. With a few of my friends. It was just what I wanted. We also played Deluxe Pit. Has anyone heard of it? I hadn't till last week when I got it as a white elephant gift. It's like playing the stock market, you get to trade commodities. It's really fun and goes pretty quick. 

Almost every year on my birthday I think when my mom was my age she had a _____. The answer this year is she had a 9 almost 10 year old and a 2 and a half year old. This is the first year that that seems kinda crazy to me. 

Today I work. Friday my in-laws are coming and Saturday we're going to see the Nutcracker then the birthday festivities will be over.

making progress

Finally starting to do a little decorating. I fought with the glue gun on this one because I couldn't find the wire I know we have. Oh well it's on there well enough to make it through the holiday. I think. I hope.

Deck the halls

I very much want to deck my halls. I have fall garland and decorations up everywhere.

It's been a crazy busy week and I've hardly been home.

Today isn't any different. I have quilt class later and I need to clean my apartment before I break out the big box of decorations or drag a tree in. I have no idea where the tree is going this year. We've rearranged a little and the spot I used last year isn't open.

I don't know where any of this is going. I'm sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee in my favorite mug my hubby graciously fixed for me after I managed to break off a huge chunk on the inside of the handle. Basically I'm just stalling having to do anything productive.

I have a half day at work next Friday, I'm thinking any sort of decorating will have to wait till then. That makes me sad. Oh well that means I just get to keep everything up a little bit longer *grin*

Have you decorated yet? 

December!

My tree from last year, no I'm not that together

It's December!!!

My favoritisit month (that's a word, shh!)

My Birthday is in 12 days, christmas in 25. The world is sparkly and pretty and makes my heart happy.

I had 2-4 year old duty at church last. I read them the nativity story. It warmed my heart to see them sitting there and answering questions about why we celebrate christmas. They really trully knew, I didn't hear a single santa as an answer.

I took sunshine the little girl I take care of to the Ferry Building yesterday. It's all decorated and instead of christmas she says HOHOHO. it's adorable. everytime we would see a new set of decorations I would hear HOHOHO.

YAY CHRISTMAS!!!