A Mixed Bag

I've had a busy, productive couple of days. Today will be busy, but not likely as productive.

I'm a food channel junkie. I get lots of ideas from it, from techniques to recipes to how to tweak things to make them work for me.

I've seen them make empanadas on several different shows with several different types of filling. Mine were more "Hot Pocket" size but they came out great. It took me all afternoon to make them, I used the dinner roll recipe for my bread machine and made two batches of dough. The filling for these is a mixture of Thanksgiving leftovers which include some turkey, dressing, green bean casserole and creamed corn.

These were a big hit with my family. I had quite a few left, which were heated up for lunch on Sunday. These will be making regular appearances in my house, with a variety of fillings. In fact, I've already decided that it will take 3 batches of dough to make as many as I'd like since my husband and our oldest daughter take box lunches with them and our oldest son gets home from work about 1:00 or so and is usually looking for lunch then.

With the cold weather setting in, we've been pulling out winter coats. I was very excited to find one of my daughter's coats fits me. She hardly wears this one any more as she has one she likes better. I also found 2 more that will fit me later on in the winter. Last year, I bought Ruthie a really sweet pink furry coat...but it's still WAY too big for her! In searching through coats I found this one, which has been worn by all six of my kids. It's getting a little dingy, but is otherwise in good shape. I found it at the Carter's Outlet store when our oldest was a toddler. It even came with red snowpants and the set was twelve dollars! We sure have gotten our use out of that over the years. This one fits Ruthie much better, so her pretty pink coat will likely be waiting one more winter. I forget how tiny my girl is until I buy her clothing in a size that I think she should be wearing! With her in this picture is Lucas, who is happy to snuggle up to his sister for a picture any time.

My big project of the weekend was to finish my table topper. This was really fun to work on, it was a 'wing it' project. I saw something similar in a catalog and made my own version of it. I started this last Monday, finding the letters on a banner program on my computer. The letters are hand appliqued and it's hand quilted. I'm really please with how this came out. I think the blue almost looks like the sky does when it's heavy with snow.

I'm nearly done with the baby quilt that I pulled out so I'd have something to hand quilt on. I've also started a new project. This one will be a table runner for our dining room table and will have "Merry Christmas" lettered on it. I'm working on prepping the letters now.

Also on the agenda is pulling out some patterns to see what other odds and ends I might be able to make for this year. I'm finding myself in the unusual position of having spare time during December, I figured this was a good year to make some new decorations for our own house! I'm also hoping to make a few small beaded ornaments and a beaded, sparkly garland to go on the table top fiber optic tree I bought at the end of the season last year.

So while our decorations aren't out yet (though some neighbors lights are put up...and turned on every night!) my thoughts are with Christmas. It feels a little surreal so far...maybe some Christmas music and a plan on when to decorate will help!

It won't likely be today, though, as I will be spending the afternoon on the run. My oldest is in cosmetology school and Monday is "model" day. They have to have someone come in so they can cut or color their hair. Two weeks ago Rachel (daughter number 2) went to get her hair colored and today she's going back to get it cut. The school is 25 minutes away and with gas prices they way they are it's foolish to come home. I'm going to take Ruthie to spend her birthday money from Grandma, but that won't take the 2 hours that we need to fill. Once we've wandered around the store for a while, we'll head back to the school and wait in the waiting room...I'm hoping to have the applique ready for the next project to take along, but I think I'm being overly optimistic!

So off I go, it will never be ready if I don't get off here! Have a great day everyone...happy quilting!