unofficial blogging break?

Time flies. I'm not going to say that I can't believe it has been two weeks since I last posted as that is almost a cliche. Nothing much to say lately. Don't you need some pictures to go on these things? Well, I STILL have not completed those darned appliance covers which is the main thing I have been supposedly sewing recently. Just don't feel like sewing. It is hard to talk about busting stash or sewing when you aren't doing either of those things. What's more, I am not even thinking about the next pattern I would like to try. That is unusual for me.

It is not that I have been busy with holiday preparations either. DJ and I have little shopping to do though I did run a few errands mid week. I have not been busy decorating the house for Christmas either. It rained for several days this week. DJ said we had about 4 inches of rain, all told, so we have/had a muddy mess in the yard and water collection on the car port. I did not want to get of that mess in the house just to haul the decorations in from the shed. It could wait a few days. We have almost ruled out the idea of putting up the tree anyway since a little black and white boy kitty will surely be too nosy about that whole deal! He'll string up some lights on the cedar tree outside at some point. At the very least I'll put up the Nativity set and a few of the Christmas themed wall hangings.

I DID print up address labels for both of us---his cards are out while mine still sit but in my defense I had a bulk mailing to do earlier in the week for the Belles' Christmas party. (The date kept changing so it was a bit like mailing Jell-O to the wall, LOL) I was working off an old data file and had to update my lists. Something that I had not done with the switchover/upgrade earlier this year till I had to. I need to type up the note to go with my cards---that's the hang up there. Maybe this afternoon..........

I have been a little more involved with cooking lately. I find myself scanning the recipe files to find new ways to fix some of the old ingredients. I have 6 lbs of apples to use up from a buy one, get one sale so the pecan pie bars I planned to make for the Christmas party turned into Apple Pecan Cake, my sister-in-law's recipe. DJ thought I made it just for us though. He was not listening when I told him it was for the potluck. He was all set for dessert on Thursday night. I decided we would keep the Jemison Inn Holiday Eggnog Pie that I had also made (while he was napping) as I figured it would be harder to keep frozen at the party. Funny though, I thought I had some nog leftover last time I made this and we had a couple egg nog lattes?

I made my own pizza crust the other day and found out I need some help in the yeast and bread making area. My troubles might have been because I don't think I put the dough hooks in the mixer the right direction and then had the wrong size mixing bowl. Did the dough even raise properly??? I had to get the mixer manual out to read up but did that after the fact. It tasted fine, even used the stone to cook it, but it sure was not a thing of beauty on the edge of it. In fact, DJ said much the same thing---"it didn't look that hot but it sure tasted good" LOL, I should have had him roll it out as he worked in a pizza shop years ago as a moonlight job. Heck, he can probably even hand toss the dough with a little practice. I find myself yearning for a taste of fresh baked cinnamon rolls and not sure just how to go about making that happen. I think it is Judy L and Libby's "fault" as well as some other cooking blogs I have linked to lately. I want to be a better cook, try some new tricks and enjoy the process rather than rush through the deal and fix the same old, same old just to get the job done. I can "do" egg whites now without freezing up about it, so I think pie crusts and breads should be next.

Also on my mind--a few of the quilting goals I would like to set for myself this year, besides learning how to make bread. I know I have another t-shirt quilt to do after the first of the year. A WTIL challenge quilt top with "that fabric" should be done by the end of January. A FAB challenge will need to be in the mail by Feb. 1st too. Two of the Belles just turned in a total of 4 tops for me to quilt at some point but no deadline there. A UFO a month would be a good goal---those half started tops or kits are not doing any good in storage but I think I need to keep it simple. A redwork Santa from Birdbrain and a Bee-attitudes block each month maybe? That would be fun for me! Food for thought anyway.

The Belles and I did have our Christmas party yesterday. Linda C hosted it this year with help from her husband in setting up the tables. Because it was later in the week than we usually have it I think we were missing just two of the girls. Delish meal. Good company. Betsy had made up quilter's bingo "cards" using a pattern from an article in the Fons and Porter magazine so some of us played Bingo before we headed home--that was a lot of fun! I can see I need to make my own card up for next year after I track down the article, that is. We thought a couple of the cards were "duds", LOL but I think we played long enough to have most everyone win that wanted to. Thanks, Betsy for sending the prize box along.

Pictured above, me with Aline and Judy. Not sure why I looked so serious but I was telling the girls about a memorial donation we had received on Theramae's behalf about then. Her daughter-in- law's Priscilla's brother and his wife had sent a generous check recently. Priscilla told me that the wife was one of the author's of the play "The Quilters" I had seen a production of the play at the junior college in Paducah during the AQS show years ago and loved it. Since Theramae was such an avid quilter, I loved the connection in the story. So what am I doing in this picture? Those wonderful Belles surprised me with a money tree with strict orders to spend that on ME. not the donation projects. Since I am planning to go to Oregon in August 09 for a FABS retreat, I told them I would apply it to my trip monies as I know we will be heading to Fabric Depot if Pam has any say in the matter. And she does.........

It is sort of a tradition for us to show our donation challenge quilts/ tops when we gather for the Christmas party. We did a "show and tell" with the other projects and quilts that had the bindings done . I came home with a pile of quilts that will headed off to WTIL headquarters as soon as I get a box for them and log them in on the quilt documentation. I'll post some of those pics in a separate email as this posting is sorta all over the place.

Stay tuned................