Now, what's up with this ... and the day after Christmas

I got up about 5:30 this morning, after a really good night's sleep, and started the finishing touches on the bags I'm making for Steph & Scott, then about 7:00 I got dressed, made my nice coffee drink, had my breakfast. Lauren and I went out to play our 5 games of ping pong about 8:30, and after a few volleys, the ball landed on the floor on my side. As I bent down to pick it up, this is what I saw. This puts new meaning to "two right feet!" Hmmmm!

Needless to say, I changed my left shoe right away, hoping it would improve my chances of scoring some points. (Naw, it was business as usual. Always close, and a few deuce games, but Mr. Man almost always gets that winning point!)

Coffee
I think I have one recipe down the way I like it for the cappuccino. I'm using Don Francisco's espresso grind coffee. It's Arabica coffee, advertised as "bold." I bought a small quantity of fresh ground Von's brand, espresso grind, at first, but it's a little bitter. I like this Don Francisco's. I use just a little less than the recommended amount for two cups of espresso, along with water for four cups, and when it's brewed and I have the (fat-free) milk steamed, I pour the coffee and then the steamed milk over about a tablespoon vanilla flavoring, about 1/3 packet of instant (fat-free) hot chocolate, about a teaspoon of cinnamon, and a little packet of Splenda.

It seems to me that you should sit and relax and enjoy a good conversation with someone dear if you're drinking a nice hot cup of coffee or warm milk, so I pour this concoction over ice in the drinking cup I carry around all day. I poured it in this beautiful glass cup this morning just so I could take a picture of it. I should have sprinkled a little cinnamon on the top for effect, huh? It's a really satisfying brew! I will probably start experimenting with flavors, soon. There might be some possibilities with instant apple cider, cardamon, nutmeg, and other flavorings.

Stash Building
I had some extra 50% off coupons from Joann's for this sale cycle, and I had just ran out of this nice red fabric, with a small beige star, that I like so well for the military quilts I'm making. So I decided to take an extra trip (I usually go only once during a sale cycle) after Church on Sunday. I ended up with some great bargains. I used my two coupons for the red and blue fabrics at the lower left - they sew up nicely in these quilts; but I spied this sign on Joann's Red Tag fabrics (fabrics they've reduced) that said the price of any of those fabrics was now an additional 50% off.

I didn't think that was supposed to happen until the 26th, and I knew I didn't plan on going down there today (the 26th), so I browsed through the bolts on the shelves. They're really in no particular order - felts, wools, polys, brocades, quilting cotton, all mixed together - you have to look at every bolt if you really want to find anything you want.

I really lucked out. I got about 2 yards of each of 8 pieces (two suitable for my military quilts) for either $1 or $1.50 a yard. Whoopee!!! But I was the last one that got that deal on Sunday. The fabric was scanning at its regular marked-down price when the gal cut it for me, so she went to check the sale sign and realized that the signs shouldn't have been put up until Dec 26. She called to have someone pull the signs, but gave me the extra 50% off price. Double Whoopee!!! I don't know how long it's been since I got such a great bargain!!!

(In the back of my mind, there's this little whisper: "But you're supposed to be reducing your stash this year!!!")

Oh well!!! I guess I just have to live long enough to use it all up. How fun that sounds!!!

The Bags
I finished Satos' bags Monday so I was able to take them with us for Christmas dinner at their house on Christmas day. We had a really good time there. Mutsy is such a good good. She had a warm rice casserole (I think she purchased it already made) that had grated squash in it - oh, was that good. And then there were the roasted carrots. She buys the baby carrots, par-boils them, and then seasons them with butter and a few things like garlic and pepper, and then roasts them. Lauren brought us home a bag of small carrots from Henry's today, and we're going to try it!

Satos' bags are made of corduroy - the first I made from this fabric. I cut out a couple floral motifs from some home decor fabric and raw-edge appliqued them on the pockets. I hadn't done this before, either. So that makes these bags unique. It's nice when I can try something different when I do something I've done before. These bags, though, are so handy that I will probably do many of them before I get tired of making them!

On my Friday trip to Joann's, I found some new heavy fabric (twills and denims) to make more bags, and so I made Scott and Steph's bags from this new fabric. This twill has some Lycra in it, so it's stretchy. I worried a bit about that, so I lined them with some unbleached muslin. It made the bags feel really sturdy, so it wasn't a bad thing.

Look at the back of the bag on the right in the left picture - you can see the main fabric. Now, this fabric is designed to be "bottom weight" - fabric you can make slacks and jeans from. Think about that. And then think about the Lycra (or spandex) in it. And imagine wearing a pair of tight jeans made of this colorful stuff.

I think Flo (from Flo's Diner) would look great in these. They would be her style. (And don't tell, but I think I might have found a pair or two in my closet back in the 60s and 70s. I can only be glad this style has gone OUT of style, at least for me.)

My Sewing Room
With the bags done, I can clean up my sewing room and start back on the quilts.

The room gets quite messy very quickly when I sew. Sometimes I think I'm running a dust mill. There's nothing that will create dust so quickly as running fabric and thread through a machine.

When I'm heavy at it, I bring the vacuum into my sewing space, and I use the nozzle to pick up fabric lint, snippets of threads, and clippings from the fabric every couple hours. If I didn't, the house would be strewn with all those bits and pieces all the time.

I also set up the ironing board and a few odds and ends of portable tables (like the one holding the serger) to hold this or that. It gets crowded out here, but it's really nice having a spot that's dedicated to my work. Periodically, I have reclaim and clean my space - my next project before I get back to the quilts.

You can tell from the picture that we're having a really sunny day. This room is a sun room, and it faces south like any good sun room; but with too much sun, it gets really, really hot in here, especially during the summer. During this time of year, the sun is lower in the horizon and it shines directly in my face as I work; so I let down the sun shades we patched together when we realized our drapes weren't going to be sufficient. Had I known this, I might have just lined the drapes (Roman shades) with the sun-block fabric instead of the fabric I used. Oh well. I figured it wasn't worth fixing. There are too many better things ahead to get into.

One Last Thing - A Nice Walk

My walking is pretty stable these days after our trip to Israel, so Lauren and I took advantage of it this morning, hoping to extend my better balance and strength, by going up the hill to where Poway and Espola Roads meet.

I had asked yesterday if we could go up to Iron Mountain - I figured I could handle at least the flat areas. We passed there on the way to Satos, and there were cars (with walkers on the path already) parked on both sides of the road. I really yearn to hike again! We thought we might like to go today, but we're going to a movie this afternoon and I thought maybe we were biting off more than we (I) could chew for one day.

The walk up our "own" hill was exhilarating and beautiful. The picture on the left is as we were going up, and the picture on the right shows our end of Poway Valley as we were coming back. Wonderful!!!

So with all that to blog about today, maybe I'll slip back into "Sometimes Daily...." very soon. Christmas is a sweet memory and tomorrow is a new day. My head will be stuck in fabric and yarn and cleaning and organizing as we get ready for the New Year, new projects, new travels.(I'm so excited. Such wonderful trips planed in the next six months! I going to get to see everyone I dearly love!)