1/18/23

OMG: A Finish

Happy Hump Day, my friends. From where I'm sitting, it's Happy Hump and Haircut Day. I've been waiting a long time for my haircut. If it actually goes off this time, I'm looking at a bold new style. We'll see. If I like it, I might let you see it. And, if not, then I still might let you see it, but with a bag over the top.

We had grocery shopping to do yesterday. You'll be happy to know there were plenty of eggs on the shelf to satisfy all the shoppers in the store. The shelf was about half empty, though. I was just happy to get some. On my way home today, I'm going to stop off and get another dozen. I realized I was going to use half a dozen just in my dinner menu this week. That doesn't leave many for breakfast. When we got home, we had some lunch and took naps to sleep off the residue from grocery shopping. After that, I went straight to work finishing off the binding for Waste Not Whatnots. Sadie was my excellent helper cat.


When it was all finished, I laid it out for its picture. It ends up at 58 x 57 inches.


Quilting and binding Waste Not Whatnots was January's 


and so I'll link up there when the party starts later in the month.

After working so hard, Sadie needed to get outside for some tasty morsels of Oregon grass. Smitty went along to keep her company and stand watch.


I used the rest of my sewing day to finish off the 2nd block for The Story of My Day. These will have little scrappy strips added to them before I can call them finished. I'll work on that when I get home this afternoon.


Also, I made a little video of the downstairs now that it's all finished. Of course, it's mostly about my sewing room, which is the best room in the house, if you want to know the truth. I'm very lucky to have such a large space for sewing. As I mentioned when I posted this to Facebook yesterday, you might notice some noise in the sewing room. That is our furnace running. The sewing room was a big utility room when we bought the place. (Checks to see if she has some old pictures from when we looked at the house back in April of 2002).


There's a small alcove on the right side of the image just past those doors. That's where my sewing machine ended up sitting after Mike built a table and shelving there. We also added shelving and accordian doors to the alcove on the left side of the image. The one in the middle was going to become a wine cellar. So far, we only have the wine part of the cellar. Maybe Mike will get energetic one of these days and turn it into an actual small wine cellar. He's pretty good at simple carpentry. When we first moved in, we put a ping pong table here. Nobody every played, and so I appropriated it as my sewing work table. With that intro, here's a video tour. If you can't see the video, then click right here.


As I sit here, we've already eaten breakfast. I've been trying to find a way to make oatmeal without spending the entire morning at it. I'm a fan of oatmeal, but it takes too long to make in the morning, unless one eats instant. Instant is fine, but it doesn't have the fiber that steel cut oats have, and I prefer them that way. Last week, I tried a method for making them overnight in a slow cooker. That turned out absolutely ghastly, and I ended up throwing out the whole thing. 

After that, I went to my usual go-to site for when I'm trying something new. I don't know why I didn't start there. America's Test Kitchens has a way of soaking them in boiling water overnight, which softens them enough that they only take about ten minutes from getting out of bed to eating. It turned out great. I'd like to try this adding different dried fruits and maybe some nuts. And since I know many of you won't be able to open the link to the website, I'm going to tell you how to do it right here. If you like oatmeal, you'll like this. Besides, it's good for your pooperchute.


Okay, so I'm running short on time this morning. My haircut awaits. Wish me luck.

18 comments:

Barbara said...

As a kid, I got three meals a day. Oatmeal, miss-a-meal and no meal. ~ Mr. T

dgs said...

Congratulations on your downstairs reno being finished. Big project, but it looks so inviting, clean, organized, and cheerful. I got a chuckle out of seeing some of your diving gear hanging in your closet. Looks like our closet!

Vicki W said...

What a wonderful sewing space!

Chris K. said...

Our Walmart has steel-cut instant oatmeal, brand name Better Oats. They're chopped up smaller than regular steel-cut oats, but pretty good and not as sweet as Quaker. I'm the only one in our house who likes oatmeal, so it works for me. I'll save your recipe, though.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Sadie really likes this one. Oh, your room is finally done!

Kigwit said...

I loved the part of the video where you turned to go into your studio and it was so bright with color from your quilts!

Julierose said...

Your new room is just gorgeous--so nice and spacious!! And organized so well...
Good luck on your new haircut--I hope you like it...hugs, Julierose

Shepherdess55 said...

Thank you for making the video of your basement renovations. It's nice to be able to picture in my mind's eye the spaces you refer to in your blog posts.

Also, thank you for sharing the steel cut oats recipe. I have some languishing in my cupboard and this is impetus to get them used up.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

Nice quilting space. Good luck with your new haircut!

Quilting Babcia said...

Beautiful new space! I think libation celebrations are in order. Thanks for sharing the oatmeal recipe. I'll need to look more carefully for steel cut oats, we don't care for instant as it's way too sweet for our taste, but we do have regular oatmeal once or twice a week.

Joni said...

Thank you, Barbara, for the oats recipe. I have 2 tins of s.c. oats that I've tried twice to make with horrific results. Will try this method this evening!
So happy for FINALLY getting your sewing room back! Wow, it has been a long interminable, exhaustive ordeal. I'm tearing apart my sewing room getting it ready for the electrician. Can lights everywhere, please.

Christine said...

What a beautiful room for all your sewing needs, love the thread wall hanging!!
Those machines really do look like torture, well done for using them.
Christine

Astrid said...

Congrats on finishing the quilt! Love it! Thank you for sharing your basement renovation. Your sewing area looks great, and so organized! I hope you are happy with your haircut.

kc said...

Gorgeous!! Both the rooms and the quilts!! Absolutely spectacular!! Congratulations on a job well done, definitely worth the time and energy spent making it right. I'm almost inspired to do a straighten and purge of my own. Oops, the urge is gone. Talk about fleeting...not sure that lasted as long as a deep breath, lol

Driver has a VA eye appt tomorrow, in Ocala, at o'dark hundred. And, since it's eyes, I have to go too, in case he needs a driver due to dilation. Ugh. Guess I had better stir off the sofa, let the dog out, let the dog in, then go fix her lunch pack for tomorrow. No time in the morning. No time like the present, either. Besides, she's performing pop-up puppy....nice work, you four!!!

Kate said...

You have a very nice sewing space! Glad all the repairs are finished and you can get back to normal operations. Congrats on the finish, it turned out beautifully.

piecefulwendy said...

Your OMG quilt finish is a nice one - and a good sized one! Glad your helpers were with you all the way. I know your haircut turned out nicely, too. I'm going to send you a recipe in another email.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Thank you for the tour! What fun to hear your voice and to peek into your world. So glad it's all finally finished and now you can enjoy it to the fullest.
Waste Not Whatnots turned out beautifully! I love the amazing use of colour throughout.
Resident Chef makes our steel cut oats in the rice cooker - he adds coconut, milk and I don't know what else and then adds dried cranberries and/or raisins after it's cooked. We have a rather large rice cooker so it makes enough to last us about a week and a half. It goes in the fridge and he gets out enough for our breakfast and then heats it in the microwave.

Susan said...

Thank you for your video. That is an amazing sewing space! I'm definitely envious, but you two have worked so hard to have that beautiful space, and you deserve it. Congratulations on the monthly goal finish. It's always nice to finish something. That striped binding and border really pull everything together, and the name is awesome!