An AHA moment!

For those that know me, I'm not much of a cook.  Don't get me wrong, I can be a good cook IF I choose.  I don't have the time, I don't have the interest. Food isn't important to me except that I need it to live. I know this is shocking to the foodies of the world.   I like to eat, but I would be very happy to eat pretty much the same thing all the time.  Plain and simple is what I'm all about. It helps to keep you from gaining weight as well!

As you know, I've been having an issue with cooking my oatmeal. It bubbles over in the microwave.  I saw Kathy's comment on my blog this morning and well - that was an AHA moment.  She says to cook the oatmeal at 60 % power.  Now why the heck didn't I think of that?  

This morning, I cooked it at 60%.  I had to check out the microwave and I don't think I quite perfected the technique, but the bottom line - cooked oatmeal - NO mess.  Mission accomplished!

A HUGE thank you to Kathy for that tip!!!!   And now I love, absolutely love my soup mug for oatmeal.  While the mug is hot, the handle is not.  PERFECT!!!!   Life just doesn't get any better!

From time to time, you see me post about little gifts that I've received from my students or friends. I still have a couple pictures to post, but no time. It's just total chaos these days. 

However, I don't want you to think that all those kind gestures are one-sided.   Case in point - this quilt below. 

Quilt made from Fireside fleece

A while back, a long, long while back, Ronda bought a kit for a quilt made with Fireside fleece. I think it was one of those "I NEED this kit" moments.  When she got to thinking about it, making a quilt from Fireside fleece is messy!  It's hard to sew because it's stretchy and well, all around, not good news.

After it had sat at her house for a while, she gave it to me - I think the original intention was for me to try and sell the kit to someone.  Well, that won't do.  After all, she bought the kit because she liked it.   I decided that I would make it for her.

It sat at my house for a long, long while and some time ago, I cut the top and serged all the squares together. It went together quite quickly and then it got quilted.  I have no idea when it was sewn or when it was quilted but I want to say that it was this year!   I even made something with ALL the scraps, but that's not finished yet.

I was going to give the quilt to her without the binding. I thought that at least she could do the binding.  Then I thought, NOPE, it's got to be complete or it will sit for a long, long while at her house before anything happens.  The next question was what binding to use for this quilt.  No to cotton and I really didn't want to use fleece, although I've since found instructions for putting on a fleece binding.

I opted for black flannel.  Washed the flannel, since the fleece isn't going to shrink at all, but that flannel will.  Made the binding slightly wider than normal because of all the thickness - yes there is batting in that quilt. I managed to get that binding on by machine - both sides!    I did hand stitch the corners of the binding down and now it is at Ronda's house. Just in time for the cooler weather!!!

And that's one more quilt out the door.  Now why did I do that for Ronda?  Because she has saved me numerous times, with a run to Tim's, picking up little things here and there.  Making this quilt - I probably still owe her for all the small favours she has done for me.

Thanks, Ronda!!!!  It's great to have friends like you.  Enjoy the quilt and NO - it isn't for Mark!!!!

ON that note, the day is already off to a wicked start.  I'm standing in the locker room at the gym (after my shower) and my locker won't open.  Thankfully I wasn't alone in the locker room so someone notified the front desk on their way out and the attendant came to rescue me.  We discovered the lock was broken. Thank god - but now that I'm thinking about it - I might be the one who broke it!  You see, I go to two different locations of this gym.  One you turn the lock to the right to lock it and the other is to the left.  Ooops - I think I turned to the wrong direction.  Sigh........  

Time to get moving!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!