The Sewing Mom

It’s time for Four Foods on Friday, my favorite meme! This meme is my favorite for several reason the first being that it is hosted by one of my very favorite bloggers, Valmg. Another reason is that it means it’s Friday and this seems to have been the longest week so I am very thankful that it IS Friday! I think because it was the first week back to school and work for my family and we’ve all struggled to get up and get going in the mornings. Next week will prove to be even busier for me because I am returning to work.

As you know, I was hired in last fall by Hilton reservations, but then I was laid off in October. This sort of worked out because I got to spend the holidays doing all that busy stuff and not having to stress about it. Now I’ve been called back to work. I filled out my re-hire paperwork on Wednesday and start again with the training, where we left off, on Monday.

Anyhow, enough about me, here are this week’s questions and my answers! Remember, if you’d like to participate too, just hop over and give Valmg a visit, I know she’d love for you to see her new blog theme.

#1. Waffles. Do you usually eat frozen or homemade? My daughter eats frozen on school mornings, but if I make them, it’ll be homemade. I just don’t do it very often.

#2. Eggs. Do you buy brown, white, or it doesn’t matter? I buy white.

#3. Oatmeal. Do you usually make instant or cooked? I make instant, low sugar oatmeal almost every morning. I ran out and so the other day I attempted to make quick cooking oats and it wasn’t too good. I’ll save those for my oatmeal cookies!

#4. Bacon. Share instructions or a recipe that you use bacon in Sorry, I really don’t like bacon so I don’t eat it. I’m also on a cholesterol reducing diet so bacon is out. I will however occasionally put bacon bits on a salad, but that’s only if we’re at a salad bar.

I woke up today not overly enthused and really felt like staying in my pajamas the entire day.  The only thing on my agenda was a follow up doctor’s appointment and that wasn’t until after lunch, so, I figured what the heck and sat down at the computer to do some sewing supply shopping.  Oh what a happy day this turned out to be and for you guys who are reading this, equate this to something like finding the elusive but high quality Volvo Parts or something along those lines!

I have become completely hooked on Nancy Halverson’s designs.  I am currently working on a block of the month quilt called “Beattitudes” and I also made the “Countdown to Christmas” which she designed.  I recently purchased her latest book, “Cider Mill Road” and have several items I’d like to make.  I’ve been purchasing fabric and have been hunting down the cutest buttons she uses in her designs.  Noone around here seems to have them, so this morning I started looking online.  I went to the website of the button manufacturer and clicked on a link that took me to retailers in my area and I couldn’t believe it, but there was a quilt shop I’d never seen or heard of and it was only 13 miles from my house!

Well, I have to tell you, I was so excited I hopped right into the shower and got myself spiffied up so that I could head out.  I grabbed my GPS and headed on down the road.  In about 25 minutes after leaving my house I was standing in the middle of fabric heaven, aka located in historic downtown Garland, TX.

This store was filled with so many fabrics it was difficult to contain myself! I loved all of the colors and selections, they even have one whole section dedicated to Civil War era fabrics and they are beautiful. They also had an entire section with nothing but sewing and quilting supplies, just about anything you could possibly need was there. I ran across a few fabrics I had been looking for from my Christmas collection and I did buy those as well as some quilt inspired notecards. Sadly, the buttons I was searching for they did not have so I will probably order them online tomorrow.

Besides all the fabrics and supplies, they have a full schedule of classes that they offer. I am currently considering one for next Saturday, but, as it turns out, my husband may need to have knee surgery next Friday, so my class may have to wait. I am certainly looking forward to the next time my Mom comes to visit as I know she will also enjoy this shop.

This is not the best photograph, but I wanted to showcase this beautiful table topper. I did not create this, it was a gift from my Mom. She made this quilted table topper at a gathering with my 2 sisters. They were all very busy buying fabric, sewing and creating beautiful projects, all while I was stuck at home, unable to participate.

My Mom stopped by on her way from Indiana to Arizona a few weeks ago and left this beautiful quilted Christmas table topper on my counter for me. The fabrics are all so pretty and many have flecks of gold in them. She quilted it using a metallic gold thread making it sparkle even more. I absolutely love it and am so happy she chose to give it to me.

My daughter’s birthday is less than 2 months away and I have no idea what she’d like to do. She will be 13 and I think that is a birthday that deserves to be celebrated in a very special way. The last year and a half have been somewhat difficult for her because she left her friends behind when we relocated to Texas. She had so many true friends too and many she had known since she was in preschool.

I really would like to do something special so I’ve continued my research into going to Branson, Missouri. There are a lot of activities we could do, for example, did you know that there are over 100 shows at 49 different theaters that we could go see ranging from rock-n-roll to country to gospel and everything in between? Or, if we wanted to be outdoors we could go ride the Ducks. The Ducks are WWII amphibious vehicles that you ride in to get a tour of the area. Typically they will go from land into water (they float) and back to land. It’s a great way to see the more natural areas outside of downtown Branson. There are even local caves in the area that can be explored.

Mini-golf is prevalent in Branson and that’s one of my daughter’s favorite activities. While she and my husband were putting around, I could probably sneak off to one or two of the many quilt shops located in the area. Later we could take in one of the many museums, perhaps the Hollywood Wax Museum.

Of course, when we become too worn out to go on, we can always return to the sanctity of our luxurious room at the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel which will also allow us to take our dog along. The are located near all the shopping and entertainment venues and have plenty to do at the hotel including a wonderful spa that would be awesome to take advantage of. If I book now I can take advantage of the Winter Escape Packages that Hilton is offering at the Convention Center Hotel and the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing another one of their full service hotels in Branson.

My daughter is due home from school in a few minutes and I think I’ll talk it over with her. If she agrees, I’m making our reservations pronto!

A contest is being held and I’m determined to win it! The prize? A Keurig Platinum Brewer that uses the K-cups for making wonderful, delicious coffees. It also brews hot chocolate and tea and I drink all of the above!  This coffee brewing system is almost a $200 value and I’ve been wanting one forever!

This contest is being hosted by Momdot.com and if you’d like to enter, head over and check it out for all the details. There are several ways to enter and the contest is running until January 29.  In fact, I enjoy their website so much, I’ve even added their banner in my sidebar, check it out too!