Paprika!

OK, I’ve become a little obsessed.  Well, maybe not obsessed, but certainly looking at something and having fun.  Recipes.  Yeah, cooking isn’t my jam.  BUT, a long time friend (35+ years) introduced me to the Paprika app, and I’ve been downloading and importing recipes.  My Mom had been using Master Cook and these recipes import perfectly on my Windows machine.  I also bought the iPhone/iPad app and can sync between these devices.  It also works on a Mac.

What?  Did I just get a Food.com email with a recipe for Chicken Enchilada recipe?  OMG!  I can use their snippet capture to add the recipe to the app!  And it works BEATUtifully!

I resisted at first, as I had subscribed to another service for the past year, but I wasn’t really using it.  This is SO much more my style; it’s not an annual subscription and I can still do the menu planning and grocery lists, etc.

Did I really say I was going to cook??  LOL!

My husband wants some help in the kitchen and I need to step up.  So, that’s part of it.  Give me a tech angle and I’m in!

Half Year Review – 2015

Well, howdy, Internet friends!  Seems that I sort of disappeared from blogging the last half of 2015.  So, it may take awhile to catch you all up; I’ll resist my initial inclination to do it all at once!

I started a new job last year, in May, which coincides with when my blogging dropped off the map.  I’d been at my previous employer for almost 10 years, so it’s been a bit of a transition.  I’m still in the same tech field, though it’s a much smaller department, and even get to travel and go to conferences.  I think I’m finally getting comfortable and I really like the people I work with.

I also started a small quilt group.  It wasn’t an intentional decision, just a group of my friends who I wanted to spend time with and, well, it just sort of blossomed.  This photo is from one of those sessions where they helped me with a collection of scraps; what happens at sew day, stays at sew day!

Interestingly enough, the majority of the group are teachers, whether by formal training or natural ability.  We call ourselves the Grateful Threads and we meet once a month, working on both personal and group projects.  There’s so much laughter, fun, and learning that goes on, I can’t believe how lucky I am to know each and every one of them.

I bought a Pfaff 7570 sewing machine this summer because not only do I love my Pfaff machines, this one is capable of embroidering and came with the original cable that will allow connection to an (older) computer and a TON of embroidery cards.  I’ve had some challenges getting it connected so I can make up the embroidered quilt labels as I intended, but that’s an ongoing process.  I’ll keep you posted!

Fast forward to the recent holiday season, and I had several customer quilts I had promised for Christmas.  I finished by the 12th of December, so I helped a friend with her first quilt, which was made up of a variety of 5” blocks sewn together and a dark blue minky back.  She wanted to give it as a gift for Christmas and it was so much fun watching her gain confidence in the process.  I didn’t get any photos of the quilt, but I’m sure she did so I’ll post them later.

I also made 4 hats on my bulky knitting machine, 3 of them using this EASY pattern:

http://knittsings.com/how-to-machine-knit-a-basic-easy-stocking-hat

 

For the 4th one I adapted a hand knitting pattern that allows for a ponytail at the top so that my long-haired niece could wear it:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/holey-hat-2

It was fussy to do because I don’t have a garter bar for the bulky, much less know what I’m doing with adapting patterns or moving stitches around!  LOL!

I’m planning on getting my ribber set up in the next couple of weeks because I really want to start making a sweater that uses ribbing and I REALLY don’t want to hand knit it.

I’m also looking forward to trying a  new pattern for a Quarter Crown hat pattern that not only is it a new technique to learn but I’d like to contribute some chemo hats to a gal who only takes hand knitted hats made in the round because a seam is too rough on the chemo head.

http://slisen.blogspot.com/2016/01/quarter-crown-for-hats.html

I’m definitely looking forward to this coming year.  There will be many challenges but I’m going to embrace them all the best I can.

Happy New Year!

PSQ: Postage stamp swap

You know what amazes me?  I got a package in the mail today all the way from the Indian Ocean!

How, you ask?

Well, I signed up to swap 7 packages for the spring swap hosted by The Curious Quilter.  She generously donates her time putting on a swap twice a year and this time I signed up for international swaps.

I’m doing a traditional alternating dark/light pattern with mine, and it’s taking me awhile because I use them as leader enders instead of focusing on them, but that’s OK with me.  It’s really fun seeing the progress.

My original plan was to make a king sized quilt, but I think it would be way too busy with this pattern.  Maybe next time.

You should check out Mary Wilbourn’s site even if you don’t think you’ll ever do a postage stamp quilt.  It’s fun to see the variety that can be made from them, but Mary is fun, too.