apparently washing my hands 17 times was not enough

We started our day by watching Craig fly his helicopter over the house. The neighbors came over since we had some advance notice, and I videotaped the blessed event. Hopefully, I can figure out how to get videos onto the mac (yes, I like calling it 'the mac' - it's a lot shorter than 'the computer' and it makes me feel cool) mostly for Craig's fam to see, since everyone around here sees helicopters all the time and could probably not care less who is flying them.

After than, I began all the cooking projects that I have been waiting to do. Don't ask me why I

decided to do them all at the same time. I made pico de gallo (without cilantro, obvs) w/ tomatoes and jalapenos from our garden, made jalapeno jelly w/ jalapenos from our garden,

and made brunswick stew w/ some delish pork from neighbor Tracie (like that shoutout Tracie? You'd better be reading my blog) tomatoes & herbs from the garden, and some other veggies that have been hanging out in the fridge waiting to fulfill their purpose in life. I'm eating it now, and it's pretty darn great. I used an adaptation of Laine's recipe based on the contents of my fridge/pantry.

Even though I did wear gloves while I cut all the jalapenos, and washed my hands a bunch of times, it was still a bad idea to itch my eye. Oh well.

Here is my most recent finished project.

I've been on a real arts and crafts kick here lately... getting ready for winter, I suppose. This is my adaptation on The Quilt Formerly Known as Q-Bert. When Joshua saw it, he said "oh Mommy, I love this quilt that you made just for me." Too cute! It's just the right size for Zoe, though. I'm finally out of receiving blankets, so I'll take a break from quilting and move on to my other projects.

The front: hexagons made out of 3 diamonds each, pieced and quilted one at a time, and then sewn together & cut to make the raggy edges. Some of the diamonds were pieced together from scraps. That took me longer than anything else.

this is the middle hexagon, made out of 3 diamonds that were all pieced from scraps.

this is the back. The pink fabrics were not receiving blankets, they were flannel that I had left over from making rice wraps.

My model is showing you the size of the quilt. Perfect nap size! I almost made it one round bigger, but since it's pieced a hexagon at a time, I figured I can add to it when she outgrows it

As for the next projects... I still have to finish Zoe's outfit, make some booties to go with it (thanks to Leslie), make some crayon rolls (um, 7 of them) for gifts, crochet a hat that fits Zoe, and make some Christmas stockings (by Hubby's request) and aprons for my little elves (anybody have a favorite pattern? Leslie?). My outdoor projects include planting some fall flowers and bulbs, building a little grow area in the garage and figure out which plants and cuttings I'll have to bring in for winter (including all the baby strawberry plants). Seriously. Maybe I'll just sit on the couch & do nothing.