Another Sewing Club Project

 Hello, everyone.

I was looking at various things made lately and noticed that last month's sewing club project had not been blogged on. (There actually are others, too, that I will Get Around To. I hope.)

Our sewing club members all having embroidery machines of one kind or another, we did an in-the-hoop project last month. It's another one of the John Deer patterns, one which they have also made a lovely Youtube video to show the method.

This is a coaster. Though I think it could be a flower on a headband, or stuck onto the center of a ribbon bow.

It went together very nicely. And I acquired a new gadget, too! A stencil cutter, to trim the organza just outside the stitching on the petals.

The people at John Deer's shop recommended using rayon thread, not polyester, to sew this as it's basically a free standing lace kind of project. 

Sewing club project

 Hello, everyone.

The sewing club meets once a month and we usually do a project, or start a project, at our meeting.

This month, our project was a fabric box.

We had instructions of what supplies to bring, and parameters for any embroidery we wanted to do on the fabric for the project. This is a mod-psychedelic floral design from John Deer's web store. I coordinated the thread colors to the lining fabric so the piece would look like it belongs together.

The shape is created by the Peltex interfacing. The design is done in rayon embroidery threads. The lining is quilting cotton left over from a baby quilt some years back, and the outside fabric is a fake-linen that was lying around in the fabric box. All are from stash.

More healthy food

 Hello, everyone.

To keep encouraged and "at it" here are some more healthy meals.

This was dinner: panfried chicken breast with cauliflower "risotto" and green salad. The chicken piece was too big. (Dog cashed in!) The risotto was a hit.

This was lunch: the leftover wedge of a "quiche"--actually more of a frittata--that had mushrooms and some Italian 3 cheese shreds (hard cheeses, I think Romano, Parmesan, and Asiago) plus a few bits of shredded carrot and zucchini in it. I baked it in a pie plate instead of a casserole dish as the recipe called for. The frittata was a hit the first time and the last bits were not rejected either.

(Edited for spelling.)

Another installment in the healthy meals

 Hello, everyone.

The "healthy meals" is also known as "turning over a new leaf." ;-)

This is Friday breakfast. As y'all know, this particular Friday falls in Lent and is meatless. 

Breakfast for 2: Per person, 2 eggs and a splash of heavy cream, and about 2.5 slices of yellow squash cubed and browned in butter in the skillet. The eggs and cream, lightly beaten with a fork, went into the pan with the browned squash cubes and were scrambled. Then at the end the Italian 3 Cheese shreds were added and stirred in to melt.

Plating: half of the egg scramble to each plate, some bits of chopped fresh parsley--parsley was not damaged in the Big Freeze a couple of weeks ago, thank heavens--and some wedges of tomato.

Teapot in back has "Ambrosia" tea from Maggie's Farm in Memphis. ( This was a Christmas gift from DD1.) The teapot is our Turkish style teapot, which we call the "forever teapot" as with water refills it can last all day.

No bread, no rice, no oats or farina cereal, no sugar added to the eggs, just tasty goodness.

Another new dinner idea

 Hello, everyone.

This is another in what may become a series of low-carb dinner posts.

This is chicken liver, with bacon crumbles, yellow squash, and tomato quarters.

The bacon bits were put into the skillet first, with some olive oil, and then the livers were added. A sprinkle of curry powder for seasoning. These cooked in the skillet together, part of the time covered. In a separate skillet, some butter was melted. Slices of yellow squash were placed in a layer one slice thick and cooked gently until tender-crisp. The tomato was washed and quartered.

Plating: first the livers were laid in a crescent. Then the bacon pieces were piled inside the curve. The vegetables were then placed on the remaining space.

Because the meal was so satisfying, no dessert was required.

New dinner recipes tried

 Hello, everyone. 

There was a gap in posting because of the disorganization conected with the big freeze and power outage. I have a renewed appreciation for heat and electric lights now!

DD2 had a camping trick she shared with us, when we were puzzling in the chilly dimness.

She taped a flashlight onto the neck of a bottle of clear liquid and the light refracted around part of the table.

The new food is part of renewed emphasis on healthy eating. Sliced mushrooms and onions, roasted broccoli tops and carrots, and cute little meatballs. Tasty!

A garden puzzle

 Hello, everyone.

This spring--yes, we're almost in spring now as our average last frost date is coming up in a few days--we have unidentified plants popping up. They popped up last year, too, and I don't know whether to call them allowable as their tiny flowers must be feeding the little flower flies, or weeds. They're really small even when they're as big as they apparently get.

That little thing that resembles parsley or cilantro is it. It's much smaller than a cilantro seedling. The leaves get more divided as the plant gets older, and it has very tiny white flowers. The flowers are not in the umbel form we see on parsley, cilantro, and fennel. It's especially likely to sprout in the clay that has been turned into my herb garden. But it seems content to sprout in potting soil, as here, too. (This is a pot of basil.)

The herb garden last year. The Italian oregano has grown a lot, with graceful stems leaning over the stones, and even a stray branch or runner at the base of the stone now. The assorted basils have mostly died out, not having been pruned, and more rosemary and a Greek oregano have been added. The bare bit by the barbecue has acquired some rain lily seedlings. Who says I can't have flowers with my herbs?