Do You Ever...

Wake up and just know it's going to be a productive day?

I woke up and prepared hubby's lunch and dinner. Then quick doctor appt, then gym four and hour and a quarter. :)

Returned my late ncis dvds, showered, started some laundry and eating breakfast...yes, at one pm. :P

Three hours til work. We'll see how much of this I can get done!

Creative* Day!

Saturday Brett, Megan, and I had a "craft" day. However, none of us did crafts, so I'm changing the name. Not sure what to change it to, so I'm going with Creative Day for now. Brett and I quilted and Megan worked on a super cute hexie crochet blanket! We invited four other girls, but two were out of town, one was working, and the other couldn't get away from her two year old. :/ Maybe another time...

We did have a great time just the three of us, however. My cute hubby was there in the morning and we teased him while he ignored us at his computer. :P He says he gets distracted easily...but lately he's been super focused and when we said his name he'd look up - a little dazed - and say, "huh?" :D He's working so hard to put this business together!

Anyway, some fun pictures of our projects!

Brett, you have met: Isn't her quilt amazing?!

 Introducing, Megan! Isn't that little hexie adorable? She had a nice pile by the end of the day.

 Bits and pieces of my work spot for the day...the wedding quilt continues to take form...

 I also worked on some more owl pincushions! I didn't use the same template I used last time...I cut out something I thought would turn out similar to my original...but he is very skinny and has horns. :P He falls over a lot. Not great. So I tried widening the pattern...and apparently made him taller, and there is the pink one for you! Haha. Unibr-owl has some strange looking relatives. I gave the pink one to Brett. I'm thinking I'll fine-tune my pattern and host a little tutorial when I finish with this quilt...

After the girls left Sat night I decided to baste my quilt...and found that I had not done my math well. :( By quilt top was too wide for any of the batting I had! Blerg. The consequences of imperfectionism. I always estimate everything and Andrew keeps telling me I'm going to get in trouble...and I always do. :P So I ended up performing surgery and suturing on some extra batting to one of the sides...

Man, that job is tedious. :P

I'm about halfway done with the quilting, I think. Will finish tomorrow. I'm kind of excited. We're having another...Creative Day this Saturday (my hubby is going to the bachelor party for this wedding and leaving sat early afternoon) and I may actually be able to make a bag! Or start my next quilt...and I actually already have all the fabric...

Unfortunately Tied

So...

I have about a ba-zillion things I want to make. Current obsession: bags.

My friend Alyssa and I meet together on Thursday and pray for our husbands (each week going through a chapter in The Power of a Praying Wife). And of course we gab about other things (one being her highly energetic two and a half year old that I love babysitting!), and tonight we talked about scrapbooking...oh yah, I should probably finish mine at some point...

I also want to make at least two more of the little owl pincushion I created as gifts...

And I would really like to make myself some sort of clothes in the semi-near future...

But right now I really need to stick through and finish our friends quilt in time for the wedding! Time is ticking and every time she counts down on facebook I have a mini panic attack. :P

However, in my dreaming I have decided that this is the bag I am going to make when I have lovingly finished this beautiful quilt!:



Find her wonderful tutorial here. I'm not normally a total bright color freak (my mom tells me I look great in bright colors so I do try to, but I like black and grey and blue generally...), but I'm picturing this in orange! Orange of all colors. Not sure why. Probably because then I'd have to buy new fabric instead of take something from my stash...

Past/Current/Future

A long post with pictures!

Last weekend Andrew and I watched an episode of Friends (The One in Barbados) where all the friends had these delicious looking tropical frozen drinks. It reminded me of our own time in the Caribbean and the YUMMY drinks we had. And guess what! I had stuff on hand and we had our very own tasty drinks before the end of the 20 min episode!

Ali's "Caribbean Memories" drinks:

1 c ice cubes
1 shot silver rum
1 shot banana liquor
1/2 c orange/peach/mango juice (Andrew likes the Dole juices, and they are tasty in sweet drinks!)
1/2 can sliced peaches (juice drained)
a couple small slices of fresh pineapple (pineapple is very strong and it also leaves strings, so you don't want too much, I think I used about an inch square)
1/2 c milk (makes it creamy! I used 1%)

Mix all together in a blender and garnish with some pineapple slices! Yum!

Lately  have been working on a wedding quilt. Not only for a wedding, but a WEDDING quilt. :) White for the bride and dark purple for her wedding colors. :) I am kind of in a rush to finish, and I was a little at a loss as to how to design a white quilt and make it interesting. I'm hoping the little bit of ivory and light grey I threw in doesn't make it look dirty in the end, but at this point I am confident all my fears will drain when it is completely finished. :)

The bride said she loves lace, and I found a really fun way to highlight it. She also requested purple, but only a little. So it works well with the pattern. Also, I LOVE the white satin-y looking flowers that I used as the center of some of the white blocks. I just wish I had bought more! It was a little expensive so I was worried and didn't buy enough so I had to come up with something different for the other white. I think I'm going to like how it turns out anyway...glittery silver for the others. I think you'll approve when I get pictures up!

ALSO! I (sort of) have my "craft room" ("computer room") set up! A cute desk from my wonderful sister-in-law (with matching bedside tables, Andrew is very thankful since I stole his old one for the livingroom. :P), and lots of light. I was in the middle of starting an episode of NCIS on my computer when I decided to take this shot. Also, a nice replacement meal (it was a busy day with lots of snacking on crackers while I ran from place to place from 8:30am-2pm...) of tangerine slices with cottage cheese!  Yum. I always thought it was a weird combination, but I've been super into it for a month now.

As you can see, it's not super neat. I don't claim to be neat, and also, we did just move a couple weeks ago... (that can only be my excuse for a little longer, but instead of using my free time to clean and organize, I use it to sew...hmm...).

My ironing/cutting space right next to the desk - and staying hydrated with my new water bottle!

 There is the whole set up. Mostly organized, even if a little messy...and then - THIS:

Oh boy. Showing this just kind of makes me sad. How messy and unorganized! Slobs much?

But my friend Emily came over the other night and when I took her into this room to show her the quilt, she said, "oh good! I kept thinking - 'wow, they just moved and everything is so neat and unpacked already.' This makes me feel better!" Haha. No, I do not have it all together, even if our livingroom/kitchen gives that impression. We live there the most and THOSE places are more comfortable when they are neat (ish). :D

Anyway. I'm currently at work and Kelly and I are playing a match game. I'm going to try to post using my phone more so there are posts with pictures a little more often. I don't get out my camera very often, nor do I really get out my computer that much anymore (except for watching shows while I'm quilting), so getting them both out at the same time is a little...not going to happen very much I guess. :P

Saturday I am having a quilt/craft day with Brett and Megan (we invited Michelle, Ana, and Emily as well, but no one else could come, busy weekend!). I don't know whether I'm just going to work on this wedding quilt all day, or whether I want to work on a bag. I've been a little obsessed with making some sort of tote bag for my quilting stuff the last two days (since I keep things in a brown paper bag at this point...). We shall see.

Have a great day everyone, back to reality!

Better picture!

Apparently turning the machine off takes a better picture...

It's 11:30pm...

Do you know where your husband is?

Mine has been at a friend's house since about 6pm. :P Not that I blame him. Andrew and Luke could have been twins, they are so much alike.

And I got to hang out with Luke's family today (Alyssa and Josiah) at the beach, so I'm not really complaining...

Plus, I didn't get off of work until 10:30 and they fed him...

So this is what I'm doing while I'm waiting for him to get home. The room is actually a lot brighter than that but my phone camera isn't very good. :P

Usually I'd go to bed, but I have energy! I spent about three hours at the beach (I love california!) with two different moms and their sons today, then went on a run (slow jog...). So its been a productive day, I think. Oh, plus I worked 7 hours. :)

Still No Pictures

Sorry about that. I'm currently at work! Very blessed to be able to hang out with Kelly for a job, and we were super busy last night, so tonight we're staying in. :)

Since my goal was to write at least once a week, I nearly missed it! Wednesday to Wednesday...

Today I am feeling talkative! So let's get started!

I started off my day by hanging out with little Isaiah - he's about a year old. I'm his first babysitter and his mom was a little worried he wouldn't handle it well...but he was happy and we had fun the whole hour and a half - Mom got to run, shower and get dishes done! :)

From there I headed downtown to have lunch with Alyssa, then I helped her with Josiah (2 and a half) at the library. He is active and Mom can't pick out books while watching him. :P

From THERE, I headed over to Kate's and helped her with Jedidiah. :) He's three months old! So little! :) Helped put him down for nap and with dishes, then we caught up! :)

Then I came to work. It's been lazy since then.

However, my conclusion is this...moms need help, and I LOVE helping! :) I offer, and I am glad they take me up on that. I think this is part of my personality from the Lord, but it is also part of my beliefs. I believe as Christians, we need to help one another. But not in an obligatory, do-something-I-don't-want-to-do sort of way! We are all given gifts and time (whether it's a lot or a little, and right now, I'm blessed with a lot). If we use our gifts for people when we have the time, not only are they blessed, but so are we! I love kids, and I love moms. So why not use my gifts? :) Andrew gets to use his gifts for his job as well (I believe both my jobs fit well with my gifts, not just my extracurriculars). We're very blessed!

Well...I've also mentioned that I want to include more "cooking." :) So here is a recipe that Andrew LOVES and is easy! (Not my personal favorite, not sure why...)

Crescent Chicken 
Serves 4 (two per person)
From the Holly table


2 containers of crescent rolls
8 oz cream cheese
2 c cooked chicken
1/4 c milk
4 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp green onions, finely chopped


Preheat oven to 350. Mix cream cheese with mild and butter until smooth, then add chicken and green onions. Place crescent rolls on baking sheet. Do not separate completely. Each container has eight triangle crescents. Keep two together making a rectangle, press seam together (I find pinching it together and laying it flat to one side works best). I also stretch these a little so they're a little bigger. You will have eight crescents total. Evenly distribute chicken and cream mixture into the center of these. Pull up the corners so they meet in the middle and twist the top to make a pocket. Bake for 12-15 min. Let cool slightly (the insides are boiling lava for the first five min at least! Too many a burnt tongue from these babies...).
ENJOY! :D

Wild Olive

I started reading a new blog yesterday. It's by a girl named Mollie and she mostly does embroidery and cute, simple crafts. She blogs A LOT! And she also seems like a strong Christian woman...she preaches her faith every once in a while, and lots of her crafts include Christian holiday decorations, etc. :) She has two biological siblings, and three adopted siblings! Quite a family!

And what I realized is...first, I could easily blog more often, I could share my faith, and it's ok to post about little things, even when I haven't finished a quilt.

So I have a couple goals for my blog this year:

1. Post at least once a week.

2. Have fun! :D Mollie is silly and writes funny things and tells embarrassing stories...to become a better writer, i just need to start practicing more!

3. I haven't written much about cooking, even though that is the beginning of my blog title! So, a few more recipes will be included, though those will not be the focus.

4. I have a very interesting point of view that others may share, and I should write about it! I am a crafter, full blown and proud of it. I like making my own things and sharing the ideas with friends. In a way, it is not "technical" at all, but guess what! I am married to a guy who is VERY technical! I love our differences, but boy, they can be a pain sometimes (like when I wanted to go to bed at 10:30 and he starts wandering around finding a million things to do...)! They can be interesting and fun to share! :P

5. I'm going to try to make this blog easier to read. I'm going to add more upbeat posts, saying positive things and making jokes (though it may be a while before I'm actually good at making jokes on this blog...I am just not that funny of a person :P).

So even though I told Facebookland that I didn't have any resolutions...I've changed my mind. This blog has resolutions. :)

Also! Big news! We have officially moved! The new place is wonderful and unpacking is going smoothly (so far, but I haven't even touched what I call the "craft room" and Andrew calls the "computer room" - we'll see who comes out on top!). Things are looking more settled and more like "our place." :D