Chef Series

Each month at Gilda's Club we have something called the "Chef Series". The Chef Series consists of a chef from a Milwaukee restaurant who donates his/her time, food and talents to treat the members of Gilda's Club to a phenomenal meal. Tonight did not disappoint. We had Cate Miller from Cate's Kitchen. Cate's series was slow cooking. Her first dish, orange chicken, was a crockpot dish. Cate's second dish was a yum-o pot roast dish with potatoes, carrots, onions and celery. The pot roast dish was slow roasted in the oven. My only disappointment was the fact that there was no bread around to sop up the gravy left behind by the pot roast. Cate's birthday is tomorrow, so she finished the night with a tasty red velvet cake with french buttercream frosting. By the way, she shares her birthday with two other not-so-famous people, my husband Jack and my girlfriend Linda. Happy Birthday you three!

HELP, I Need Pictures

Ain't it the truth? Hopefully this week I will have it figured out. I am not the most technologically advanced person, let me just say that. Jack bought a new digital camera right before Christmas. It takes wonderful pictures and I would love to be able to show off some of my accomplishments.

Speaking of which, the January cards are done and going in the mail tomorrow morning. They were a bit challenging this month as I needed to find a glue that would stick to acetate and not rub off. Ask around, which is exactly what I did. Sure enough, Staz-On has a new glue that will stick to almost any surface.

In the studio, I found a pattern for a fabric badge holder. I belong to a quilt group that requires you to wear a badge (translation: mini cardstock held behind a crappy plastic holder with one of those cheezy pins on the back). The pattern looked easy enough and it was. The only thing I had a slight problem with was the clear vinyl. It was hard to see, as it blended in with everything. But, I am very happy with the way it turned out. Now, if I could only post a picture of the completed project. Hmm.....

Easily Distracted

I seem to be on a self-deprecating kick here the last two nights. This will be the last of it. Does anyone else have this problem of being easily distracted? Sometimes it actually gets to the point of being ridiculous. I will start cleaning or working on something in one room and suddenly I find myself somewhere else and involved in another completely different project. Today I was working on some handmade cards. I needed to clean my rubber stamp because I got some glitter on it. So I am in the bathroom looking for rubbing alcohol to clean my stamp and suddenly I find myself cleaning out the cabinet. As if that isn't good enough, I then proceed to clean a bunch of other rubber stamps that I had put on the side to be cleaned later. By the time I got done, I forgot where I was in the project that I was working on. I am the same way at sporting events. Apparently, I don't go to watch the game, because my eyes are everywhere but the game. I am a people watcher, plain and simple. So, if you ever hear that I got my bell rung from a hockey puck, you will know why.

Patty Perfect

Patty Perfect is a pet name some of my quilting girlfriends gave me. You see, I seem to have a problem with letting things go. When I am quilting, "good enough" doesn't seem adequate. I don't know when this little problem started, but it seems to arise now and again. I certainly don't have this problem with my house cleaning. I have been known to sit and rip out almost any amount of quilting if it doesn't meet my standards. I am one of those people, if I make a mistake and don't fix it, my eye will keep going back to that spot and it drives me crazy! And, jokingly, I am sure it is my parents' fault. They were the ones who always made sure I colored inside the lines!

Hawaii On The Horizon

Today I pulled out my fabric that I bought when Jack and I were in Hawaii. There is 2 yards of this wonderful parrot print fabric with a black background. My plan is to use it as a border fabric in a log cabin quilt. The other colors I plan on using are greens, oranges, purples and fuschias. I measured all the fabrics and figure I will have enough to make a double/queen size quilt. BUT, I must finish Ashley's quilt first. So for now, I am going to wash the fabric, iron it and fondle it a bit more before I get to the actual cutting of it. The colors are so bright and cheery. I think this might be a State Fair contender. We shall see.

Aloha

Tonight Jack and I went to a potluck dinner at Gilda's Club. I usually try to make a meat dish as those are usually in short supply. I decided to make something called "waikiki meatballs". You use the usual meatball mixture, but the sauce is made with vinegar, pineapple juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch for thickener. They were really good...as far as meatballs go.

Today my friend brought me some quilt books with patterns for baby quilts. I want to make a quilt for my neighbor's son and daughter-in-law who are having a baby. I know this is going to sound terrible, but I want to make a quilt that looks really nice but doesn't involve a lot of effort. I love making quilts, and these people are very special, but you know, if you are a quilter, that most people don't have a clue how to take care of a handmade item. They figure they can throw it in the wash with all the rest of their clothes and then dry it on high. Then they casually mention how they can't figure out why it is falling apart...almost insinuating that you did a crappy job making it. And yes, I could buy them a blanket and I'm sure it would be very nice, but that wouldn't be giving them a part of me, of who I am and how special they are to me. I just hope they don't ask me if I kept the gift receipt!

Light At The End of The Tunnel

Tonight I finished all the rows on my Goddaughter's quilt. Thank goodness. I don't know why this particular quilt was so hard for me. Granted, it had a lot of little pieces, but for goodness sakes, it was a rail fence! I guess I just got bored with it and then it became a drag to work on. But, as the title states, I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. I have cut the inner borders and hopefully will attach them on Thursday. I want to have the entire top ready to go by Saturday the 19th. Then I can take it to the library, where there are tables set up so I can pin baste it. The quilting itself won't be fast, but it should be easy. I just plan on ditching the seams. I am just itching to start a new, old project.