And Baby Makes Three

A dear cousin of mine and his wife just had their first baby a few months ago. I had been invited to a baby shower for them, and I had made a baby quilt as a gift. Unfortunately the shower had to be canceled due to Covid. They do not live anywhere near me, so I was holding on to the quilt, hoping we could meet up somewhere. I wanted to give the present in person, especially once the baby girl had been born. I was dying to see them, and get my hands on that sweet baby.

But the timing just didn't work out right, and I ended up putting the quilt in the mail to them. I didn't want the baby to outgrow the quilt before they even got it - ha! They seemed to appreciate the gift, and I am hoping they will email me a picture of the baby laying on the quilt. That will have to suffice for the moment.

This is the first baby quilt I have made since we moved to Charlotte. I've used my sewing machine for other projects such as face masks, a Christmas tree skirt and a table runner, but not for the more traditional quilts. I selected flannel as the fabric, and I had never worked with it before. It wasn't too bad to handle until I got ready to quilt the top to the bottom. I do that on my sewing machine, and the fabric gave me fits. I had used large squares of the fabric from the front on the back, so maybe you just don't want to have flannel on the back as well as the front of a quilt?

It kept sliding, creating a bit of a mess on the back of the quilt. That is not something you want to have happen, particularly on a gift. I was able to somewhat work around the issue, but that may be the first and last time I use flannel in a sewing project. Or at least one that will be quilted. It turned out pretty cute anyway, I think.

quilt front and back

Bicycle Built for One

Our new neighborhood has many hills, which makes it great exercise while walking but a real bear when on a bicycle. I finally got to the point where I could ride my bike to the pickleball courts without having to get off and walk the bike. But going anywhere beyond that in the community was not happening. There is a bike club here, but I could never join in the fun because I wouldn't be able to keep up.

So for Christmas my husband got me an electric bike. There are probably a couple dozen people here who have one, so I was able to see different models and even ride a few. I listened closely to what they liked and didn't like about their bikes. We have a Trek store nearby, so we went there in December to see what they had. I really liked the look of the Townie 7D, which was redesigned for 2022. But they didn't have any that I could ride. They did, however, have a 2021 available. I took that one out for a spin, and rode a different style bike as well, and I really liked the Townie. It is pedal assist, so you must be pedaling to use the power.

We put a deposit down on a Tahiti Blue bike that was supposed to arrive in mid January. Like many other things during Covid, that didn't happen. They finally got the bike in last weekend and assembled it, and I was going to pick it up on Monday. But Monday was a rainy day, and I knew I would want to take it for a spin to make sure everything worked fine and didn't want to do that on wet pavement. Tuesday was sunny so we got to the store shortly after it opened. 

By borrowing the neighbors bike rack we were able to take my old Trek in to be evaluated as a trade in. When the sales guy looked at the rack, he said there was no way we could put the Townie on that to get it home. It just wasn't substantial enough for a 45 pound bike. Fortunately the front tire on the new bike is a quick release, so we were easily able to get it in the back of our car.

I've taken the bike out three days in a row, and I absolutely love it! I mostly have the power off, just engaging it when I'm going up a hill. I can ride with Jim now, so I know we will motivate each other to get out and get fit. I'm also eager to join the bike club and meet some new people. Merry Christmas!

Sew Much Fun!

baby quilt

My daughter's best friend M had a baby this month. M is like another daughter to me as the girls came to our house from school nearly every day and ate their lunch. I decided to make a baby quilt as a gift. There is no rush as I don't see M and her husband unless Katie is in town. Which is too bad, as I would love to get my hands on that baby! It is partly for this reason I decided not to make the quilt look too baby, and rather do it in fabrics that Baby Z can grow with. As M loves cats, that became the theme for the quilt. I have a bunch of fun, bright, quirky cat fabrics from a quilt I made for myself, so I used those as a starting point for the quilt. I added the yellow and blue squares in between as the cat prints are pretty busy.

quilt top

I found this pretty yellow print fabric to use for the border, and the top of the quilt is now complete.

My next decision is what to do with the back of the quilt. I can make it one, solid color or mix it up with a couple different fabrics. I saw an idea online to add the baby's name on the back. I liked that, so I made her name out of a cute paw print and mouse fabric, and will appliqué the letters on the back of the quilt once I have the new fabric/fabrics selected. I have never made anything like that before. It was fun to learn something new, and not as difficult as I had imagined.

When the back is complete I will layer batting between the top and the bottom before quilting it all together. Another decision needs to be made at that point. Sew it on the machine? Tie the layers together with thread or yarn? Then I will need to make one more fabric purchase for the binding, which completes the quilt. I'll need to see all the fabric colors together in order to select one that will blend with the others. Fun times!

Review of the Vitamix 7500

Vitamix 7500

For Christmas my husband got me the Vitamix 7500. I'm not gonna lie - I wasn't too thrilled. And there is a reason that I don't play poker because if I am thinking it, my face is probably saying it. As soon as I opened the gift, he knew. Have you ever received a vacuum cleaner as a present? Or pots and pans? Yeah, it was kind of like that. Now don't get me wrong, we had talked about juicers - discussed the pros and cons like we do most things before we buy them. I was concerned about the amount of time it would take to chop things up prior to making anything in the machine, as well as the clean up involved. I do 95% of the cooking, so those things are a big deal to me. And quite frankly, we have a perfectly good smoothie maker. (Albeit one that is kind of a pain to clean.) So I wasn't completely sold on the whole Vitamix idea. Or the thought of receiving an appliance as a gift.

That is why I was surprised to find one under the tree - just for me. I put the box in the pantry, and there it remained until a couple of days ago. I finally opened it up, hoping everything was there and in working order. Here is what comes in the box:

Vitamix 7500 machine and Welcome Kit

In addition to the Vitamix, you get a Welcome Kit which includes the Owner's Manual, a Getting Started booklet and a Getting Started CD.  I actually watched the CD and found it to be a waste of time as I had already read the Getting Started booklet, and the same material was covered in both.

One feature that is pretty amazing on the machine is that it has a cleaning feature. Once you have finished making your drink, salsa, soup or whatever, you simply fill the blender jar (which is plastic, not glass by the way) half way with warm water, add a couple drops of dish detergent to it, and run the blender on high for 30-60 seconds. Easy, peasy cleanup!

Yesterday morning I used the Vitamix for the first time. I made a smoothie to go with breakfast. I used an orange, 1/2 banana, 6 large strawberries, 1/2 cup grapes, 4 ounces of vanilla flavored Greek yogurt, a leaf of kale and 6 ice cubes. After blending for 30 seconds, the smoothie was ready to go. It made enough for two servings and was very tasty! I ran the cleaning cycle, rinsed out the blender jar, and set it on the dish drainer to dry. No worries about clean-up with this machine.

I still had to plan for the time it takes to prepare the fruits/vegetables for blending, but I imagine that I will find ways to streamline that process. As this blender also allows you to make soup, I am eager to try that soon. In the meantime, here's to healthier eating!

Anyone else using the Vitamix? Do you have any tips or recipes to share?