Oven Mitt

Last night I tested out the walking foot on my new sewing machine and made this oven mitt with Skip To My Lou's tutorial. It was so easy with the walking foot that now I'm really anxious to start quilting. Now I'm off to the laundromat to wash my backing fabric (and a mountain of dirty clothes).

Welcome Back

I'm taking a break from cleaning an apartment that has been neglected for the past couple weeks. Yesterday I sent off a Thank You care package to Peter and Jodie for giving us an awesome time in New Orleans. I included the card above that I made from these tutorials for the card and envelope.



New Orleans was great! This time I actually got to see New Orleans and not just the French Quarter and Bourbon Street. We got to see lots of parades, which is apparently real Mardi Gras. There are multiple parades every day in different neighborhoods. The streets are packed with families and ladders where their children are propped on top. I was amazed by all the different ladder contraptions that everyone had, most with wheels attached so they could be easily carried to and from the parades. I have some pictures on my flickr but I still need to scan the 35mm roll I took as well.

My birthday is a week away, I'll be 27. I know this is not old, but I'm starting to feel old-er for many reasons:

-I am now obsessed with quilting. I haven't finished my quilt yet but I already have other projects in mind. The next of which must include these fabrics.

-I have a new love for Snail mail and want to get back into actually sending regular mail and packages. If you would like to be included in this you might want to send me your mailing address because I only know a few.

-I will be able to upgrade my phone next month and I'm really, really excited about getting a phone that has NO internet capabilities. I'm trying to get Adam to join my plan so it will be cheaper for the both of us but he keeps threatening to get a land line. I guess he's more old man than I am old woman.

Alright, back to cleaning!

I love corn

I have a tattoo of an ear of corn on my arm. I get asked all the time "why?". The response I always give is "I like corn". People don't seem to like that explanation. But why would I tattoo something I don't like on me? Growing up in the Midwest I have fond memories of corn, which maybe is hard for people to understand. I have fond memories of going corn picking with my brothers and Grandpa when I was little. I have one distinct memory of going to pick corn and then our Grandpa taking us to Dairy Queen for a treat. This was when there was a Dairy Queen on North Prospect just past the railroad tracks. As we got close to the Dairy Queen, I remember our Grandpa asking us "Railroad crossing, watch out for cars. Can you spell that without any R's?"

The older I get the more I am amazed at how easily entertained children are. Picking corn was so much fun. Also lots of fun? Throwing around packages of toilet paper. I learned this after watching an old home video of me any my brother playing at our old house on Locust. We didn't need fancy toys all we needed was a 4 pack of toilet paper to throw around. I can't believe how much fun we were having.

Anyway, this post is not supposed to be about my childhood. It's about corn. And how I love it. And ultimately it's about how today I made myself some corn chowder soup (courtesy of my Betty Crocker recipe book).

An ode to my ancestors

I would like to dedicate this post to my ancestors, who have supported my love for sewing throughout the years. My generous Grandma Edie and Grandpa John recently purchased me a brand new sewing machine as an early birthday present. I have never owned, let alone used such a nice sewing machine. It's completely electronic but very easy to use. I've been having a lot of fun using it recently. I've even picked up some projects I started years ago... which brings me to the other branch of the family tree.

Maybe 3 years ago I decided I wanted to start a quilt. I've always loved reproduction quilts and wanted to try making one of my own. I picked out a pattern and my grandma Myrna helped me purchase the fabric and cutting supplies necessary. First I had to prewash all the fabric and then cut 1,248+ 2.25"x 2.25" squares. It took me a good couple months but I finished all the cutting and started piecing. When I got to the point where I needed to had applique some squares I think I lost steam or got distracted. So my quilt pieces sat in a drawer for the past couple years.

Until last week!

Ida wanted to be in the photo too


close-up photo

I still have a way to go, but as soon as I get some backing fabric and batting I'll be ready to try out some machine quilting.

Nawlins

I'm really happy New Orleans won the Super Bowl last night. But not because I like football or care about the Super Bowl. But because I'll be leaving Thursday for New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras! There will be lots of happy, intoxicated people.

Adam and I are going with my old roommate Jeff. We rented a car and I'm borrowing a back rack for it so that we can all bring our bikes. We're staying with Jeff's friends Peter and Jodie who recently moved back to New Orleans from Chicago.

I'm really excited! I went to New Orleans for the first and only time almost exactly 9 years ago. I was only 18 and it was during Spring Break. I'm really excited to be there during Mardi Gras but also to see it post-Katrina.

Thanks Grandma!

I've never been the kind of person to post pictures of food I've made, but that's because I've never been good at making food. I recently told this to my mom, who told her mom, who then bought me a Betty Crocker Cookbook. This has been the greatest edition to my kitchen. Since I don't know how to make a lot of different dishes it's nice to have a cookbook to flip through for ideas. Looking for recipes on the internet is alright if you know exactly what you are looking for, but since I rarely do I'd much rather sit down with a real book to figure it out. I must be getting old because my aversion to technology seems to be increasing.

Anyway, I came home from an all day ESL Tutoring training and was really hungry. I decided I wanted to make something non-traditional, something I have never made, and something spicy and delicious. Having never cooked an Asian dish in my life (and also having the majority of the ingredients in my kitchen) I decided to give the Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Noodle Bowl recipe a try. I had to make a few adjustments though since I didn't have all the ingredients.



Lanni's Spicy Chipotle-Peanut Rice Plate (or Bowl if you prefer)

1/4 cup peanut butter (I'm a Peter Pan extra crunchy kind of girl)
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (from 7-oz can), seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce (from the can!)
1/8 cut chopped fresh cilantro
1 medium size chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups water
1 medium carrot, cut in julienne strips
1/2 medium bell pepper, cut in julienne strips (the recipe called for red but I only had a green one)
1 cup rice

1. In small bowl mix peanut butter, apple juice, soy sauce, chilies and adobo sauce together until smooth. Stir in cilantro.

2. In saucepan, heat water to boiling. Add carrots and bell pepper; cook 1 minute. Remove carrots and bell pepper from water with slotted spoon. Add rice to water; cook as directed.

3. Meanwhile in skillet cook chicken over olive oil till cooked. Add peanut butter mixture and cook on low heat until rice is finished.

4. Pour chicken and peanut butter sauce on top of rice. Top with carrots and bell pepper.

The verdict? Spicy and delicious!

I don't wanna close my eyes

The neighbors upstairs have been blasting Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing on repeat for the past 30 minutes. They are musicians so I'd like to think maybe they are just playing it on repeat to learn how to play it, but considering one plays the tuba and the other the clarinet, I really don't think that is the case. Rather I think they are just really into Aerosmith. I've always felt that there was something rather off about people that really love Aerosmith. I don't really know how to explain it. I don't really think I can. But when I was working at the fabric store in Champaign I worked with this girl named Bridget who was probably 19 at the time. She was originally from Wheaton and was student at the U of I. She was also a girl scout. She also loved Aerosmith. So much so that her and her roommate (who I presume equally loved Aerosmith) decided to decorate their entire apartment in an Aerosmith theme. For the longest time I assumed all people from Wheaton were like this, until I met Adam.