August 2009 – Page 2

A New Apron

59 Comments / August 12, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Sewing

Thanks for all your compliments on my sleek, humid, stickpeople look! All that weather talk put a pox upon us — the day after I blogged about how hot and humid it was, the A/C went out. Thankfully, we were only two days without cool air, and it really wasn’t too bad. A little sweaty, but doable.

In the meantime, I worked on an apron pattern that I picked up when I was in Utah. I saw this fabric in several of the stores and liked it, but couldn’t think of what to make with it. Then, when we were at our last shop with Kim, I spotted an apron pattern that I liked, so the match was made.

This is a really fun apron to wear. And because I finished reading Precious Bane (Yum!) this weekend and I can imagine our heroine, Prue Sarn, wearing just such an apron (minus the bright colors, of course), I’m thinking maybe I’ll call this apron my Prue Frock. So far, I’ve worn it cleaning and those big pockets are just perfect for all the little odds and ends that I picked up as I moved from one room to the next.

The pattern is pictured below. It’s the Lilly Apron by Busy Bee Quilt Designs. I made the band that sits on top of the bust just a bit narrower and moved the pockets just a bit closer to the center. It’s open in the back and that “bust band” ties in a big bow in the back. It probably looks a little funny, but that’s okay, it’s soooo comfortable. And of course, I didn’t want to overshadow the pattern model with my new frock hotness, so I hung it on MyDadLovesMeBestSister’s planter instead of modeling it.

Oooh, and see my new little pincushion plate? I saw those in several quilt shops in Utah too and had to have one. It adds just a bit of elegance to the dungeon. A chandelier and a pedestal pincusion — gosh, I need a diamond to complete the sparkly trinity. (In my dreams!)

XOXO,
Anna

The Weather and Such

51 Comments / August 9, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Around the House, Recipes

Oh Dear, I’ve committed a blogging faux pas. In my last post, I said “when you start talking about the weather, you’ve run out of things to say” and several of you rather eloquently proved me wrong! I take it back. I’ve really enjoyed reading your weather posts and I look forward to many more!

Maybe it’s just that our weather has been rather, well, boring this year. Beautiful, but boring. Well, until this weekend — now we’re back to our regularly scheduled summer weather. Hot and Humid. Hot. Humid. Ick. I mowed the lawn this weekend in the heat and humidity.

You can just see the humidity in the air. That’s me on the mower — see how straight and stringy the humidity makes my hair? And sweat. You just have to walk outdoors and you’ll start sweating. That’s why I’m a mere shadow of my former self there on the lawnmower — I’ve sweat myself into peoplestickdom.

Ewwww. See? Weather-talk just doesn’t work very well here, at the moment. I’m pretty sure you didn’t tune in to read about sweat. I’ll try to make up for it by giving you one of our favorite summer on-the-grill recipes. It’s fast. It’s easy. And there’s no clean-up, other than your dinner plates.

Kielbasa and Vegetable Packets

1 ring (1 lb.) fully cooked kielbasa sausage, cut into pieces
12 new potatoes, cut in half
1 green bell pepper, cut into pieces
1 medium onion, chopped into wedges
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, cut into pieces

Seasonings (add what you like):
Cajun seasoning
Garlic salt
Salt
Pepper

1. Tear off four approximately 18 x 12 inch size pieces of aluminum foil.
2. Place 1/4 of each of the sausage and vegetable groups onto each square of foil.
3. Drizzle each packet with a little bit of olive oil and some of your choice of seasonings.
4. Fold foil over kielbasa and vegetables and seal to make square foil packages. Leave a bit of room for heat circulation and expansion.
5. Place packets on medium-hot grill and cook for 30 – 40 minutes. When done, open up packets and serve.
::Makes 4 servings.

You can make these no matter what kind of weather you’re experiencing. Well, ok, it might be a little difficult in Jody’s hail — I hope your weather this weekend is less exciting that that!

XOXO,
Anna

Just Checking In

45 Comments / August 5, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Knitting, Sewing

How is your week going? Things are very slow around here — I think I might be in vacation letdown. I have a lot of projects I’d love to start, but the house is still a mess from lack of cleaning. I’m trying to clean one room each night after work — that’s the slow way to do it, but hopefully it will mean I won’t have to spend all weekend cleaning.

I have been reading a little (Precious Bane, which I’m loving — thanks for the recommendation Molly!) and knitting a very little bit. Here are the socks I’m working on.

It seems like they’ve been on the needles forever. I hung them on my Gerbera Daisies because I couldn’t think of anywhere else to put them. Those daisies don’t look particularly happy, do they?

I also forgot to show you a smock apron that I made before vacation and took to my Aunt Annie. I couldn’t show you before we left as I’m not sure if she reads my blog.

When we were out there a few years ago, I noticed that Aunt Annie likes her smock aprons, so I took one of them and traced out the pattern on some craft paper. It was very easy to make — 2 basic pieces, yoke seams on the front and back and then just put pre-packaged binding around all the raw edges. I love a no-fuss pattern like that!

Well…not much else to report. Our weather has been beautiful — it’s a perfect 70 degrees outside with a beautiful full moon. And when you start talking about the weather, you’ve run out of things to say and it’s time to sign off. Have a great week!

XOXO,
Anna

Ms. Bitty Bit Wilson

31 Comments / August 2, 2009 February 22, 2011 / Travel

A few months ago, Ms Bitty Bit posted that she used to write tole painting books back in the day. The opening line in her post was “This is soooo funny…”. Only she didn’t know just how funny it was, ’cause I actually have several of her books in my old collection and I NEVER would have made the connection between THAT Ms Bitty Bit and the blogging Ms Bitty Bit that we know and love today if she hadn’t posted about it.

So, given that bit of shared history, along with our blogging friendship, I knew I’d HAVE to meet Ms Bitty Bit on my recent trip to Utah. OhMyGosh! It was fabulous!!! We had a wonderful time. (I’ll back up for a minute here to tell you that my Aunt Annie and I were on a little two-day shop hop — we visited the shops in Bountiful/Brigham City/Logan on the first day and on the second day, we visited a few in the SLC/Provo area.)

Ms. Bitty Bit met us just as we were finishing up at Thimbles and Threads on the second day. It was lunchtime and since Aunt Annie and I had never been to Pine Needles, Kim suggested we go over there and eat at the restaurant. What a great suggestion — we loved Pine Needles and Gardner Village. And our lunch was yummy. I can’t wait until we can go back! After lunch, it was on to Broadbent’s in Lehi where we got this shot for my Wilson collection!

We had a great time. Kim is just as charming, kind and FUN as I knew she’d be. And, can I just say, the woman is a celebrity? The ladies at the quilt shops all knew her and her blog — too fun! There was fabric purchased and I’d show you, but where fabric purchases are concerned, I’ve had to go into the witness protection program, if you know what I mean. (Oh, come on, if you’d OD’d on all those fantastic quilt shops in one place, you’d sneak it into the house too!)

Anyhoo, after the purchasing of fabrics, I had our star autograph my tole painting books while I played the paparazzi photographer. I was so sorry after this that we had to rush off — our day was WAY too short. (We didn’t even have time to go to Material Girls — I’ve heard so much about it and I wanted to go. And my favorite shop, Whimsy Cottage wasn’t open when we were there early that morning, so we missed that too.)

I was so touched that Kim would take a whole afternoon out of her busy schedule to spend with us. AND, just look what she gave me! My meager picture just doesn’t do her fabulous gift bag justice — that bag was chock full of goodies — CHOCOLATE and a delicious ear of carmel corn (which were both consumed on the long drive home (btw, Kim if you have any info on that carmel corn — I forgot to write the company name down before I threw the wrapper away in the middle of Kansas ;-) — I LOVED that stuff!)), this adorable bag made for her Moda Bakeshop Tutorial (how lucky is that?), the cute little teddy bear with the friendship embroidery, a stack of very pretty Moda snippets (they fell down into that bag), AND she thoughtfully made some very pretty handmade earrings for me, Aunt Annie AND SweetiePie! (I love that little bag — it reminds me of a retro sundress.)

THANK YOU SO MUCH Ms. Bitty Bit! I loved my gift bag, but even more, I so enjoyed finally meeting you. Aunt Annie kept telling me what a nice friend I have — I feel so lucky! Next time — and Yes there will be a next time — we’ll meet for longer — maybe with some sewing involved? I can’t wait!

XOXO,
Anna

P.S. Remember that darling little quilt Toni sent me? Well, Ms. Red Boot is giving a quilt pattern away — run over there and sign up. I was reading this post, and thought — Ooooh, that’s an adorable pattern I need to sign up. Well, hahaha, then I remembered that she sent me that pattern when she sent my little quilt. It’s a super pattern — I hope you win!

Month: August 2009

Kielbasa and Vegetable Packets