I'd be lying if I said it wasn't killing me a little to see all the holiday goodies every-freakin'-where. What I'm not already steering clear of for the gluten and dairy, I'm now avoiding for the refined sugar and high carbs.
I've come up with a workaround for hot chocolate, though, and it is my Favourite Things Friday thing of the week. Also, a bit of a sanity saver.
Simple ingredients: Cocoa powder, coconut milk, 2 stevia packets, and a favorite mug. Oh, and boiling water, not pictured, but you know what that looks like.
Boil the water, open the can of coconut milk and give it a stir to combine any lumpy bits. The fat tends to rise to the top of the can. Don't discard that, it's good stuff. Really, you can Google it. Medium-chain fatty acids, lauric acid, and other words that'll make your eyes glaze over. It tastes good too.
Put about 1/2 Tablespoon of cocoa powder in the mug along with your stevia packets, and dump in about 1/3 cup of coconut milk. Fill the rest of the mug with boiling water and give it a good stir.
Mm-mm good!
I took the pledge for the 2012 Free-Motion Quilting Challenge sponsored by SewCalGal!
When I saw it mentioned on Elizabeth's blog, I knew right away it was something I needed to do in order to get me to practice and expand my FMQ skills.
See, I don't love free-motion quilting...yet...and I want to love it. But first, I have to make better friends with it, and we all know that in order to make good friends, you have to spend some consistent and quality time getting to know them. This challenge sounds like a good way to do that.
Every month, beginning in January, one of twelve FMQ experts will share a tutorial. If you complete the exercise that month and share it in the challenge, you will be entered to win a monthly prize. That works for me!
You can read all the details and register at SewCalGal. Whether you've been wishing you could, wanting to improve, or waiting for a sign, this may be it. The more the merrier!
Deck the halls with...Edward Cullen!
Fa-la-la-la—Ooh-la-la—la-la!
Not the season to be sullen
Fa-la-la-la—Ooh-la-la—la-la!
Dons he now his grey apparel
Fa-la-la—Ooh-la-la—la-la-la!
While I botch this yuletide carol
Fa-la-la-la—Ooh-la-la—la-la!
Oh, the merriment of hanging this poster in my sewing space today! It was a Christmas gift from my friend Marie, who likes me so much she read all the Twilight books just because I would not shut up talking about them. What a pal, huh? Though she has no desire to see Breaking Dawn, and Robert Pattinson does absolutely nothing for her, I sure won't hold it against her.
Hey, if Edward wasn't bored out of his gourd watching Bella sleep every night, I figure he can watch whatever foolishness I get into in the sewing room, right? Although he looks like he may be waiting for me to sew through a finger. All in good time, my pretty. All in good time.
I did manage to bring out a few, more seasonal decorations this weekend, but the going has been slow. Every year, I desire to decorate less.
We needed a catchall for the Christmas cards, so I employed a festive piece of Pyrex for the task.
How do you display your holiday cards, if you do?
It occurred to me that I have no appropriate holiday wall hanging for the front hallway, but I've got a plan to fix that soon with this Carpenter's Wheel block that I saw on Laughter in Quilts. As I commented to Karen, it looks seasonal without screaming "take me down on December 26," if you know what I mean. Here are the fabrics I've pulled for it.
And though I haven't sewn a single seam this week, I did manage to get a quilt cut out. These stacks of raw materials are now waiting for me to bang together at the job site. (What's with the construction reference, P.? *Shrugs*)
It occurred to me that the CDs I was listening to as I pressed and cut fabric kind of matched the quilt's color scheme. Very interesting!
Hubs, who overhears whatever I'm jamming out to in the sewing room, says to me yesterday, "I think you're becoming a progressive rock fan but don't even know it yet."
Don't know? Hello? Who has listened to prog rock since Rush, Kansas, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Yes, etc. were invented? I just go in cycles with music, and there hasn't really been a decent progressive rock sound I've liked in a while...until Mute Math. I don't even know if they're technically considered that genre, but it seems as if they lean in the general direction. By the way, if you want to read something hilariously funny on the subject of progressive rock, see THIS (warning: some people may find this link mildly offensive; I am obviously not one of those people). And Porcupine Tree? Must hear more!
The Black Keys are not progressive rock, but rock they do. I just want to dance with this gentleman. Perhaps without all the literal hand gesturing, however.
There have been many favorite things about this week. Nothing dramatic, but just little things each day that have made me smile. Since I've been a little absent around these parts this week, I thought I'd do a little day by day breakdown of favorites, Monday through Friday.
Monday ~ My physician's assistant, who shot the breeze with me about everything from paleo to palpitations. He's a smart and funny guy, kind of like talking to a friend for a couple hours.
Tuesday ~ Magnesium, which said PA recommended for said palpitations, and whaddaya know, it worked! Plus, I have been sleeping like a log.
Wednesday ~ The office Christmas party. Always good food, conversation, and a little random gift exchange. I received these, made by a 20-something coworker who had no idea how much I love vintage embroidery patterns!
Thursday ~ Brussels sprouts and new music, not necessarily at the same time though.
Friday ~ Ebay sales, all packed and ready to go to the post office tomorrow!
But my favorite thing of all was this batch of beautiful fresh pecans that my dad gave me today!
He bought them through my aunt in Louisiana, who shipped them here. Dad spent several hours handpicking them out of the shells this week,making up a bag for each of us kids. They're so much better than anything we can get in the store. What a treat! I'm thinking he'd enjoy a slice of pecan pie at Christmas, were I to make one. I hope I can stop nibbling on them until then!
This past week messed with my mojo a little bit, but it's all good. Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the turkey dinner. Hope all of you here in the States had a Happy Thanksgiving and that everyone everywhere is enjoying a great weekend.
We spent Thanksgiving Day at my sister's and had a nice time. I only managed to snap a photo or two early on and then put my camera back in my purse and forgot about it.
I liked her display on top of the quilt rack, some vintage kitchen items she picked up at the flea market we went to in September. Looks like there's even some room for future finds.
Have you seen the Handmade with Love holiday tutorial contest at Pink Chalk Fabrics? There are a lot of fun projects being linked. I explored several of them the other day and decided to make one as a Christmas gift. I worked on it Wednesday night while I listened to the rest of the Water for Elephants audiobook. Hours passed as I sewed contently along. Norm was running the soundboard for my brother's band at a local gig, so it was just blissful me time.
I finished that little project today but can't post a photo here because it is a gift. However, I did upload it to a Flickr group for the person whose tutorial I used, so you can see it HERE. I've asked the recipient not to peek—and if she does, I don't want to know!
Last weekend, we saw Twilight: Breaking Dawn, and I loved it. I wished it could have been different in some parts, but overall I was happy with it. But it puzzles me (disturbs may be a better word) when people bring their very young children (5, 6, 7-year-olds) to a PG-13 movie such as this. Several groups with young children filed in. Seriously? Was Happy Feet sold out?
Friends, you may be relieved to know that I had a brand new Twilight New Moon board game in my hands today at Goodwill, but I put it back. See? I can control my obsession. It was tough, though. I walked around cradling it for about 15 minutes before I set it back down. I hope the lucky person who buys it appreciates my sacrifice.
This, however, made me laugh uncontrollably. We got the holiday ThinkGeek catalog in the mail today. Be sure to read the item description...er, instructions.
It had me in hysterics, I tell ya!
There's a lot of fun stuff in that catalog. Like this T-shirt:
What's on your Christmas wish list?
