Christmas 2013 Unveiled!....Finally!

Yes, I'm aware that February 2014 is almost behind us and that we are all so desperately awaiting Spring after such a long crazy winter.  It's finally time for me to recap all my homemade Christmas Gifts that I made but couldn't spoil before they were gifted.

Here they are in no particular order:

My mother-in-law and siblings-in-law families received potholders this year.  I was hoping to make more but then that darn tornado kinda stop that productivity in the tracks and guided it elsewhere.  No problems.  I've been getting great reviews, so I'll have to make more.  The five sets are pictured below.

After last year's stockings to my nieces, my older sister asked that I make two more for her husband and her...and I agreed.  Then she got pregnant, so I added one more for the little guy.

My younger sister and her husband got aprons.  Full and half size with their last name stitched on them.

And the Quilt that the Mo & I worked on for two years was gifted to my brother & his wife.  I've been showing pictures here and there but had to stop when it was all coming together.  Yes, It's the Black & White...and Yellow Quilt that is finally done.  All the Pratt Women contributed in some form or another be it through creativity or financial support.  It was a group project.  

That's a wrap! Christmas 2013 is over and now onto this years projects!!! 

Herbs and more

My chamomile has taken over most of my herb garden, but I just love making tea and I think I should have enough to last all winter especially if I give up coffee for Lent again.  Chamomile tea is just so soothing and delicious to have before bedtime.  I can't count how many harvests I've had already but it grows like a weed and comes back every year.  I was using my food dehydrator non-stop during the chamomile harvest and it works great!  Thanks to my lovely librarian friends who gifted it to us for our wedding.

Rhubarb was plentiful this year too.  I have over 4 gallon freezer bags full of chopped rhubarb which awaits the day I will make jam or more delicious dump cake.  My nieces helped pick and wash some rhubarb too!  My picky eater niece even had some rhubarb dump cake!  I think if I make a big deal about eating it and include her on the harvest of the food, she's more interested in trying it.

 This is the husband.  He's happiest when he's playing in the dirt.  In the picture below, he is weeding the beans, which some are now growing taller than the pictured fence.

 

Raspberries are slowly turning ripe but there aren't quite enough of them yet to last more than a few hours in the house before we eat them all.  We really need to make some vanilla ice cream to go with them! That would be heavenly!

Basil:  I have six basil plants this year and I just had my first harvest last night and it filled the sink.  I kept waiting to have enough time to harvest & make pesto that I was getting alittle nervous thinking the Japanese Beatles would get to them first.  Thankfully, they hadn't gotten to them yet.  I expect them to arrive before the next harvest.  We made up a double batch of Pesto and they are in the freezer now setting up in the ice cube trays for easier freezer storage and use later.  When I don't know what's for supper, I just grab a few cubes, heat them up, make pasta and Bam! Dinner's done.  Love cooking that way.  Mike just loves the Pesto Fresh from the blender!.

 

Saturday's Backyard Sunset!

 Iris Mystery Unraveled this Spring.  My iris' finally bloomed after I transplanted them last year not quite knowing what color they would be.  I love the dark purple!  They are done blooming and we will see what comes up next year, other than more since they multiple like crazy.

Gardening, Quilting & Biking!

Garden is in!  Onions, Spinach, a few varieties of lettuce, carrots, potatoes, radishes, turnips, watermelon, cantaloupe, rhubarb, asparagus, swiss chard, chamomile, rosemary, sage, lemon balm, oregano, lavender...and I may be missing a few.  Our early crop of Asparagus & Rhubarb are tasting excellent!  Looking forward to fresh veggies this year!  I think if my husband didn't work, he would expand the garden to the entire back and front yard! 

Quilting.  The Black & White (and now yellow) is progressing nicely...just slow since it's a group effort with my sister Mo and finding time to be together is more difficult now that she's about to have a baby boy!  We have 9 more black & white squares to border in yellow.  Then we will have all 48 blocks to sew together onto another grid then the border!  Can't wait to see it all together!  I have some other projects that I have been itchy to do, but I am doing the best not to start another project before this one is completed.

Biking.  Mountain Bike Season is Here!! (and road biking too) With the rain and storms last month, it left our home trails with alot of trailwork.  Many volunteer hours were spent putting bridges back into place, adding on to some bridges and cutting deadfall.  All the work was completed just before the Black Partridge Race which was this past Sunday.  I raced Women's Sport 30+ and got third place.  I had one hard crash that has my left shoulder really sore but thankful of not breaking any bones.  I hope it clears up before our Memorial Weekend plans to ride Levis Trow Mounds in Wisconsin.  I did cross over to the dark side and now have a road bike.  It's a bit of a necessary evil in mountain biking.  I've enjoyed going on long rides and just get miles in which is helping with my endurance in the longer MTB races.

The Fresh 20

I'm in love with The Fresh 20 and I have to spread the word!  http://www.thefresh20.com/

I've been married three months now and already hate that daily dreaded question....What's for Dinner?  How many of us spend hours looking through cookbooks and pinterest to gather ideas for weekly menu planning?  How many of us don't meal plan then end up eating out more than you want?  And how many of us are really eating enough fruit & veggies? The Fresh 20 is the answer to all my meal planning worries.

Every Friday a meal plan is posted on the Fresh 20 website.  I signed up for the Gluten Free Menu Plan.  They also have options of Classic Menu or Vegetarian/Vegan to choose from too.  Your annual subscription includes a shopping list of 20 Fresh Food Items, Preparation Guide, Recipes for 5 weeknight dinners and nutritional values of each meal.  The annual subscription is the equivalent to one dinner for two people at a nice restaurant.  Read more on how it works. http://www.thefresh20.com/how-it-works/

Initially, there is the added expense of stocking your pantry with 20 recommended items to have at all times.  For this week, I found everything at Wal-Mart except one item. I’ll be making one extra stop for fresh shrimp for tonight’s dinner.  (Some things should not be bought at Wal-Mart and Shrimp is one of them.) Shopping took about 1½ hours on Saturday.  On Sunday, I prepped for three hours by roasting 2 whole chickens and slicing it up for several meals this week, chopping veggies and making an enchilada sauce.  Last night was my first meal and it only took 20 minutes to warm the chicken up and to cook veggies.  The point of it all is to spend your time in the kitchen over the weekend and that saves valuable time during your hectic work week.

My First Experience of Roasting Whole Chickens.  YUMMM!

Thanks to the blog of Gluten Free Girl and the Chef http://glutenfreegirl.com/  for sharing this resource!  I think I’m going to like this alot!

2013 Garden Begins!

Gardening in the Staub Family is a way life.  Not so much on the Pratt Family side, but I am learning.

We started our indoor plantings this week.  We planted sweet peppers: 2 kinds of Yellow (they are my favorite), green and purple.

Two Skirts & Travel Towel

I have finally figured out how to upload photos since I reset my password.  I guess it was more like actually taking the time to figure it out.  Now that it is fixed...I give you photos.

I finished my Christmas Tree Skirt.  I was hoping to have it done for our first married Christmas, but let's face...the last few months have flown by.  So, we are ready for 2013 and many more Christmas' to come.  The hardest part was cutting a finished quilted piece, but I had too, or else it wasn't fitting around that tree.  I got the idea and step by step instructions from one of my favorite websites, The Missouri Star Quilt Company.  Here's the tutorial: http://quiltingtutorials.com/all/quilt-adorable-christmas-tree-skirt/

I also made another skirt, this one to wear.   It is my first attempt in making clothing.  I started with a very simple idea.  Here's that tutorial. http://vimeo.com/26612612   I don't know where I would be without all these wonderful tutorials.  Here's a horrible, fuzzy photo with me having crazy eyes.

I had a super awesome sew day with my friend Stephanie last weekend and I made this skirt.  She was very helpful since I had no previous knowledge of making clothes.  I also made another pattern and skirt out of muslin.  I got this skirt idea from Pinterest.  Here's the link. http://www.oneaviandaemon.com/?p=328
Since I had to make the pattern from her instructions, I made it out of muslin to save on wasting my cute fabric. This second skirt will be my first attempt of ever sewing in a zipper.  It's kinda scary.

My last creation to share today is simply a hand towel with a few straight lines to form pockets to carry toothbrushes & toothpaste.  Don't you hate getting hair in your tooth brush?  Or have everything else in your toiletry bag get wet?  Do you and your husband have different toothpastes? Well, just use the towel and throw it in the wash when you get home.  I got the idea off Pinterest but the link was to a girls Etsy shop.  I figured I could do it on my own. 

2013 Goals

Yes, I am aware that we are almost finished with February 2013 as I write this post.  I drafted my 2013 Goals during the end of December and the wee days of January.  I didn't want to jump on posting the goals right away, I had to let them soak in for awhile.  So, here we go....

In 2013 I want to:

Lap Swim in Winter
Yoga

More canning of garden treats
Race the Illinois MTB series in Sport Class
Cook More
Attempt to Meal Plan every week
Have a slumber party with my nieces
Perfect Gluten Free Pie Crust & GF Bread
Cook a Roast
Learn to use Mike's Grills
Make more time to cuddle
Write more love letters
Make Soup
Sewing Projects (this is a completely separate spreadsheet of all projects I want to finish in 2013)
Lose 10 pounds
Sew Days with Girlfriends
Make a Skirt
Buy Work Pants that actually fit
Plan Vacations

With posting these late, I can report that some items are already crossed off!! Yes!