All ready for winter now

I promised more sewing and here it is.

These quilts have been in the works for quite a while, especially the blue/green one. I believe I started it just over a year ago. Sewing the top together was the quick part and then my Mom took it to a lady who machine quilts to have it quilted for my birthday. I finally tackled the binding a few months ago thinking it would take for ever but to my surprise, it was actually very quick! I used Heather Bailey's binding tutorial to refresh my memory on how to do proper binding.

The cowgirl quilt came about when I saw a sample of it hanging in the quilt shop and I totally fell in love with it. I actually machine quilted it myself, which was a first for me. I stuck with straight lines and it wasn't that hard at all! This quilt is the perfect couch cuddling size and I can't wait until it's cold outside and I get to snuggle up in it!

The kitties approve:

Happy Saturday!

I hope it's as beautiful in your part of the country as it is here! We've had a week of just plain cloudy and rainy weather and now it has all cleared away and everything is sparkling.

I got a lovely package from Sheri at The Loopy Ewe this week. She always includes a few extra little goodies and is the most thoughtful person to do business with.

These are Interlacement Tiny Toes and they are the most saturated colors I have seen! The top is the Summer Fruit colorway and the bottom one is the Southwest colorway. I have really been coveting that Southwest color! This may be a little corny but we're planning a roadtrip/vacation in a couple of months to New Mexico and I wanted to have this yarn to knit on when we're there. :) I LOVE both of these colors sooo much!

And here is the progress I've made on my Fiesta Knee Highs:This is pretty much the only thing I knit on all week. I'm following the basic formula found here. So far so good!

And I leave you with one last picture for the last day of February/March Project Spectrum (blue, black, and white):

Next up will be green, yellow, and pink for April/May.

Good Times....

You know, I've never blogged about food before but I wanted to post a recipe that has become kind of a tradition to make around Christmas and New Years. It's a recipe that my mom started making years ago and she doesn't remember where she got it from. We don't even really know the name of it either.....we just call them "Bacon/Water Chestnuts Appetizer". Anyway, here's the process as I do it:

1)First, you start with a package of regular bacon, two cans of whole water chestnuts, and some toothpicks. Cut the package of bacon into thirds and wrap each piece of bacon around a whole water chestnut and secure with a toothpick.

2) Next, you broil them 'til the bacon is crispy. And you make a sauce with approximately 1 cup of ketchup, 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard, and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and stir until combined.

3)Lastly, you transfer all the bacon thingys (technical term) to a baking dish and drizzle the sauce liberally over them and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes or until everything is warmed and a little bubbling.

Now, if you're still with me, this sounds totally weird, I know, but trust me, it is crazy good....especially if you're a fan of bacon. :) It's just the perfect combo of salty, crunchy, sweet and vinegery!

So, it's Christmas evening now and we've had a great time with all our families and friends! I really love this time of year because it's one of the only times everyone can get together.
Here's a gift that I couldn't blog about for a while but now that it's been gifted here it is:
Pattern: Counterpane Accessories pouch from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece in Red, less than half a skein
Needles: #4
Notes: the knitting was really fun but the finishing is actually quite a bit of work. I did it far enough in advance though that I was able to just do a little bit at a time.


And as if there aren't enough pictures in this post already, I leave you with this very cute one of my cat on the perfect Christmas Eve day:

Merry Christmas everyone!

Naughty cats!

The casualties: Knit Picks circular #1 chewed in half.
1 skein of Claudia Hand Painted sock yarn tangled.

What happened is that I forgot to zip up my knitting bag last night and when we got home from work today we found out how much fun the kitties had been having all day! It could've been much worse! luckily, no actual knitting was destroyed. It was just a skein I had started a sock with the other day but then decided to rip it out. But the little buggers got it into quite a tangle and I can tell there are a few places where they used their razor sharp teeth to snip it up! Most of it should be salvageable but I haven't finished trying to untangle yet. And I can't believe they bit my circular needle in half.....in TWO different places. Little stinkers!

S*October

Okay, I'm not offically part of Socktober but seeing everyone else's socks in blogland I'm definitely in the spirit of things.
I'm loving this sock yarn! Cherry Tree Hill Supersock! I think the colors are perfect for the Pomatomus pattern too. Does anyone know how well this yarn holds up over time? I plan on machine washing them and laying flat to dry. This is my first experience with the magic loop method. I like it. I don't have a problem with dpns but handling the one circular seems less fiddly. It was a little slow at first but I'm finally getting into the rhythm of the stitch pattern.

And for a lack of anything else to post at the moment, here's a cute kitty pic.