10/21/13

No Jeans Queen

It's the best kind of stay-at-home day. There's absolutely nothing on my agenda except quilting from this point on. That reference to "no jeans" simply means I'm spending the day in my most comfy sweats. Some days I feel obligated to at least get dressed, but some days I just don't give a rip. Today is one of those days.


My housework is done for the day. I was supposed to do laundry, but Mike did me a favor by not remembering to carry the laundry hamper downstairs before he left. Oh freaking well. I guess that means I can't do laundry. It can wait until tomorrow. And tomorrow I have to take little Smithers Man to the vet for his annual check-up. Last time he was in, he earned the name of "Popcorn" when they gave him a shot and he jumped out of their arms almost clear to the ceiling. I think he's grown up a little since then, but one never knows. But today...nothing except sewing.

This morning I worked a little on my cheater project. What's a "cheater project?" you ask. Ordinarily, my embroidery consists of working on quilt blocks, but sometimes a smaller project sneaks its way into the line-up and I work on two projects at once. I've been working on the latest Quilted Snow Ladies block, but a cheater project found its way into the line-up. It's a gift for a friend, and so I can only give you a peak for now, but I'm close to having it finished. For the past few days, it's been getting all of my attention.


Also this morning, I took the pictures off the Birdcam and got a few more images of the Flicker. This first one was taken early in the morning, and sadly, the lens was covered in dew. I was able to rescue it with photoshop, but it's not the best image.


Then, this morning, he gave me this view of himself. I think he's protesting the empty suet feeder. Of course, I hurried right out and filled it again. Maybe he'll give me a picture of his beautiful face.


Yesterday the kids moved into their new house, but sadly, they couldn't sleep there last night because they had no water. Mae said they had been warned to activate their water account. She tried to do it online, but wasn't able to, and then she forgot to call them. They'll be able to get that turned on today and then I expect they'll sleep there for the first time tonight. So exciting for them. I don't envy them all the unpacking and rearranging they have to do, but the worst of the move has been accomplished.

As I said yesterday, I tried a new recipe for a German Winter Stew. I actually liked the recipe for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was its quick start and neglectibility (I just now made up that word). You just cut up a pork shoulder roast, throw it in the pot, brown it, add some diced onions and chicken broth, and then put the lid on and ignore it for three hours. That gave me lots of time to quilt. In the final hour, you add some apples, cabbage, and some noodles. It's a one-dish meal, but we had some store-bought rolls for dunking. Next time, however, I would do a few things differently.

For one thing, it needed twice as much broth. I checked it hourly and kept adding broth to it. You'll want to keep the meat submerged in broth. I use low-sodium chicken broth, and so that meant tasting it and adding a little more salt occasionally. (A little white wine would be a good choice, but don't overdo it.) Also, I would use half as much cabbage next time around. There was way more cabbage than would fit in the pot, and it would have been fine with half the amount. Finally, the recipe calls for "cooked" noodles, but I added them straight to the pot uncooked in the last 20 minutes. They cooked in the broth just fine. 

I can definitely recommend the recipe to you, and my family, famished as they were, lapped it up as if it were the best thing they'd ever tasted. Ravenous hunger will do that to a person. Oh and one more thing: the recipe wants you to make a mustard "sauce" to drizzle over the top. We just added stone-ground mustard straight from the bottle, and it was delicious. Sour cream was also a good topping.


The mornings have been chilly lately, although the days have been lovely. That means my little cat has been spending more time hanging out in my lap in the morning. Also, he's been taking more afternoon naps in his bed on my desk.


He's looking a little sleepy right now. 

So with that, I think I'll move on to the quilting part of the day. I was able to get a lot done yesterday and I should easily finish the blocks today. Hopefully, I'll get a good start on the borders too.

Have a good Monday. Do lots of sewing!

15 comments:

WoolenSails said...

I think a day at home in our sweats, quilting, is the best kind of day;)

Debbie

Lisa said...

Sunday was the first day in 5 weeks my husband has been to work (surgery sad face). So it was up at 4:00 a.m. to fix him breakfast, then clean the house, laundry, made homemade chicken noodle soup.... THEN SEW SEW SEW... It was a never got out of my pajamas day.. OH how I love them!

Lucky Duck Dreams said...

Thanks for the Smitty pics. My Kalli-cat is still missing so I am going to use Smitty as my kitty for a while if you dont mind. He makes me smile.

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

Sounds like the perfect day to me!

Dogwood Lane Rambles said...

Oh joy, tomorrow will be a sweat pants day for me! Thanks for the German stew recipe sounds yummy and I love the bird cam, so interesting. Taking Smitty to the vet must be an adventure. I know when I take one of my dogs to the vet I'm exhausted and they LIKE to go there.

Kate said...

Fun bird shots. I like the lighting, were they taken about dawn or is it just cloudy?

Hope you enjoyed your sewing day.

Michelle said...

I wonder if that stew would work without the onions (Hubby can't stand them) It sure sounds good, and I think I've got some pork roast in the freezer.

Brown Family said...

I am planning to put the recipe in WW and see how many points it has. I almost had a BOM finished when my thread caught in the bobbin area and now the bobbin case is loose, again! I will have to call the shop in the morning! Drat!

quiltzyx said...

Yay for sweats days!

Thanks for the stew update. I think I am going to try that. I am glad to know to use only 1/2 of the cabbage, because I was wondering what I was going to do the the other half-heads of cabbage! lol I'll just pick one color & go for it.

Your cheater project is very cute. I think I may be doing a little embroidery before my next guild meeting for a new challenge we have on.

Smitty is so cute with those sleepy eyes. :)

I did actually do a little sewing today!! I was given a baggie of 5" Christmas charm squares & I sewed them all into pairs today. :D

Snoodles said...

Oh, how I need a "sweats day"....LOL
Love the photos of Smitty, and your stitchery is beautiful! I definitely think that the bird was expressing his attitude about the empty feeder. Hehee!

Diane Wild said...

Sounds like a wonderful day..no jeans, only sweats. Why do they call them sweats? Does anyone actually sweat in them? One of life's many questions. Getting colder here, too, so Minnie is sleeping in most mornings.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I'm in my sweats today (we dropped close to freezing last night) - a stay indoors, sew til you drop kind of day. My furries are already full of tuna and cuddled up for a day of napping.

Dar said...

I totally agree that staying in pjs or sweats all day and just sewing is wonderful. It doesn't happen much at my house though. I have been staying in for a couple days and not combing my hair or putting on any makeup at all! Cute red stitching. I need to get some of my embroidery UFOs going again. Smitty looks like you woke him up in the middle of a good dream. I think your flicker picture looks wonderful. So lifelike in the early morning. Keep up the great shots.

Judy1522 said...

I am enjoying the pictures from your bird cam. Thanks for sharing them.

Tami C said...

You described most all of my days. I only go on on Wednesdays when hubby & I take his mom out to lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon visiting. I spent almost all of yesterday at the sewing machine. It was a wonderful day. I did the laundry today & have another load to get out of the dryer.