Gift for Grandma

My 93 year old grandma came all the way from Austin, Texas to Virginia to visit her grandson and his family. I had the pleasure of being close enough to drive to see her and my cousin and his family all last weekend. 

When I visited with her in the spring, she showed me some kitchen towels she had that she really liked. She likes how the dish towel is folded double.  She said that she couldn't find any more of them, so I determined to make them for her. They are really simple: a potholder sown to a dish towel with a button sown on. Of course I found a pinterest tutorial. 

Here's how they turned out:

So simple and I hope she gets good use from them.

Giant messenger bag

I bought fabric for this project in January and I finally got around to trying to put it together. I used a pattern from pinterest (of course). I unfortunately made the handle too long, so it hangs at an awkward place on my body and I don't love the corners, but I do love that it will hold EVERYTHING and that I was fairly successful in completing this project. :)

Sewing project

I have a problem with clutter. I saw a solution I wanted to try on Pinterest and I finally got around to making these:

I used the idea from Pinterest, but basically made it up as I went from measuring the back of the chair and the magazines/books I wanted to put inside. I doubled up the fabric and then folded up and sewed the pocked from the folded edge.  I particularly like the fabric I found. 

Scarf

A friend of mine had told me how she envied my secret santa for always getting a homemade scarf from me for Christmas. Since she had blessed me with a waffle maker for my birthday, I decided to return the favor with a homemade scarf of her very own!

I had stalked her pinterest to see if she had pinned any scarf patterns and I found one for this scarf. You actually knit from each end and then join the two sides together. I'd never done that before and it turned out beautifully! It just needed to be a tad longer, I think.

Project in progress

This is the current project I'm working on. I started it around Memorial Day and I hope to have it finished soon. The next project will be a late grad present for my cousin's daughter who is going to UVA. I can't wait to get started!

Quilting, eating and reading

I finally finished the fishes top

and I started on another quilt top made from a jelly roll.

I'm not quite satisfied with the colors at the moment and might buy another roll to match the colors up differently.

I've also had some cooking successes. A friend said that an easy way to make BBQ chicken is just to put it in a crock pot with a container of BBQ sauce. SO easy! And pretty tasty.  I got 5ish meals out of it! I also found a pinterest recipe for cauliflower poppers which were actually very delicious!  I still crave more.

For some reason I decided to adventure into making sourdough.  I set out a starter (2 cups of flour, 2 cups of water and a packet of yeast) for 3 days and my first two loaves turned out great! I ate more than half a loaf the first day (with cream cheese and cheddar cheese and apple butter an plain and as a roast beef sandwich)!

And of course I'm reading. I'm reading for church and for life group and for an online hermeneutics class.  When I don't get called in for my on call shifts I just sit and read. :)

That's my life lately! Pretty solitary, but thoroughly enjoyable!