De børn er stadig i ovnen

Danish lesson of the day (according to babylon.com): "De børn er stadig i ovnen" means "The bun is still in the oven." That's right, but not for much longer. Less than 2 weeks and Baby Z will make his appearance! Less than a month and he'll meet his favorite Aunt. (Sorry, Ali but it'll be true.) So, what does this mean? I have to get sewing!

It took me about 45 minutes to lay out the squares on my guest bed. If you look between the 2 pictures, there are a few squares in different places, but not too many. I think 4 at most.



Then I spent 2 hours sewing the bottom 3 rows. Well, the rows themselves are not sewn together yet. Just the 7 across in the 3 rows. Included in this 2 hours is switching 2-4 blocks around, doing a quick clean of my machine, a trip to the store to get a seam ripper, and fiddling with Pandora to get more Elvis and Michael Buble music. I don't know where my seam rippers wandered off to. I can remember using them on a non-sewing project, so I probably put them away with my hammer or something.

For Baby Z, Den Lille Kaptajnen

Danish phrase of the day: translation.babylon.com says that "den lille kaptajnen" means "the little captain."

Check out these fabrics (mostly picked out by my sister, but I found the sailboats & lighthouse fabrics):



And look at what 3+ hours of work did!

Ok, so maybe you can't tell, but that's 3.25 hours of work right there. Well, 15 minutes of finding appropriate music since I want to channel the music into the quilt. (I think I ended up listening to a comedy station that probably isn't too child-friendly, but this will be the first of many secrets between Z and Auntie Shell Bell! Besides, that's only because my Elvis Pandora station wasn't playing Elvis songs!)

Anyhoo - the remaining 3 hours of work was for ironing, reironing, and cutting. I cut a total of 70 8.5" squares (7 squares in 10 different fabrics if you're a little slow on counting the picture). For most of these fabrics (all but the startfish on the far left), I had to line up each and every square to make sure it lined up well and will look good when sewn together.

Phew. The worst part (ironing) is over! Next I'll lay them out in a somewhat-random order and start sewing.

Peppermint Meringue Cookies

The search for peppermint extract: HEB #1 didn't have any. I called the next day and they didn't have any. I then called Walmart, was put on hold for 10 minutes, and then got the response, "Sir, we only have Season 1." (I'm looking for peppermint extract.) "You're not looking for The Vampire Diaries?" (No, peppermint extract is an item used in baking.) "Oh. I'm confused. Are you looking for a CD?" (Sorry lady, I'll look myself, it'll waste less time than calling you.) Hobby Lobby said they had it, but on my visit to the store, they only had peppermint oil and they were all out. HEB #2 was all out. Finally, Randalls had some! Alas, they didn't have candy canes so more trips needed to be made.

Make the meringue, add some peppermint flavor (mix) and some red food coloring drops (don't mix).

I spooned it into a baggie to pipe out. This made it easier, they looked prettier, and they were more uniform in size.

Voila! I love the stripes! (Another perk of piping.) And it was easy. (Hey ma, check out the sheet I used to put the cookies on. It was a great Xmas present last year. I love them!)

All Things Christmas

I had the idea of making an ornament wreath last year. I'd have to say, it took quite some time and I almost ran out of bulbs! (Thus the giant bow.)


Aaand Mike really wanted to know what it felt like to be blonde. Merry Christmas!

Onsies for a Nautical Elvis-loving Cowboy Viking.

...Or at least that's what his family will persuade him to be for the first 10 years of his life!

If you can't tell in the picture, the Elvis hair is fuzzy. I considered making one for his Dad too (but I don't have a Tommy Bahama white T to use).

A few weeks ago, there was a baby shower for my sister & brother-in-law. Not only did they get some good loot, they got a few one-of-a-kind onsies. I'm not going to lie -- I almost forgot the viking hat! I love the orange beard with it too! It might become an annual gift with different sizes as he grows.

Things are a-Growin' on the Huckleberry Farm

(Notice I didn't use "Kasiske Farm" - that's already taken.)

I thought my hopes for a 3rd pumpkin were all but gone. Then I saw this little bugger when I was watering the pumpkin patch. He's been growing for a few weeks now!
This is the original pumpkin - still the oldest in the patch, but too much bigger than my head.

This is the one that I aided in the pollination process. I lent a hand (wha-whaaaa) to the photo to give you an idea of size.

And once again, my patch is trying to trick me. I thought female flowers will only bloom is one is put into existence when the vine is created. (ie, as it grows longer, I've noted several potential female flowers on the end of the vine.) However, this flower was in the middle of my patch & quite ready for some bees to visit. Looks like I'll be making pumpkin pie from scratch for Thanksgiving.

Ok, not a flower. But I'd have to say the first and last time I heard about a "walking stick" was in 2nd grade. Alas, a walking stick visited the marigolds in my side garden. I sprayed water nearby to make sure it wasn't a twig! :)

A mystery liquid fell from the sky.

Apparently, that's what Mike says whenever it rains. Not because it doesn't rain often, but because Texans are such horrible drivers in the rain. It's true: traffic around Austin slows down as if it's a giant snow storm.

It has rained twice this week in my 'hood, and we couldn't be happier about that. Yes, when it started last night, I wanted to get a picture. If I was wearing different clothes, I would have danced in it too.