Hey, Hey, Hey!!!

Hello all of  my blogging friends!  I have missed blogging SO much!  I am still in dire need of a new computer, but I decided to pop in today to say hello.  Just so you don't forget me altogether! 
Summer has flown by, and we are all getting back into the swing of having school in session again.  Of course, you know my three children are grown up.  But I take our grandson, Noah, to and from school every day.  It is nice to be thinking of Fall again.  The summer has been horrendous!  Hotter than hot.  Miserable really.  We still have a couple more months of it to deal with, but the evenings should be starting to cool off now, at least. 
Oh, and today is our 36th Anniversary!!!  How did THAT happen?  I have no idea.  It has gone by so fast! 
We will go to Taps for dinner tonight to celebrate.

I was looking for a wedding photo, but my files are messed up on my computer.  I couldn't find one.  But this is a favorite from Apple Picking last Fall.
I have continued to do a lot of machine embroidery.  However, we still have not been able to upload designs to my machine.  So still, I am limited.  I feel like I have a sports car, and can't take it out of second gear.  I NEED to get that uploading designs all figured out for my Christmas sewing!!!
Hannah had been given this softball bag, and it had the little girls name and All Stars embroidered on it.  The bag was very nice, and she used it all last season, but I thought I could  personalize it for her.  I had to make an applique to sew down over the existing machine embroidery, but it worked.  I forgot to take a photo of what it looked like before I covered it up.  But this is the back side, so you can see what a large space I needed to cover and fill.

 Here it is all done.  I did the applique on a piece of black flannel, doubled.  Then I sewed it down onto the bag.  Which was quite an adventure!!!  But it turned out cute, and she was happy with it. 

Here it is a bit closer.

Miss Claire is playing this year too.  She will be on the same team as Hannah.  She got her very own softball bag too.  I wanted them to be different, so this is what I came up with for Claire.

I was pleased with how it turned out too.  I used the same method, and then sewed the applique down with  my machine.

 A friend of mine asked me if I could remake her glider cushions for her.  I said sure.  This was the before.

I used a seam ripper and took the entire thing apart.  I ironed out the pieces, and used them for a pattern to cut out the new cushions.  I had suggested to my friend that she get a similar type fabric, or perhaps a slightly heavier home decor fabric.  She doesn't sew, and when she went looking, she fell in love with this heavy upholstery fabric.  When she brought it over, I went, uh oh!!  I didn't know if my domestic machine could do the job.  But I set out to give it a try.

I cut the pieces out and got busy.  It was not easy.  I broke 4 needles in the process.  The fabric was just really too heavy.  But I was determined to make it work.  While I was sewing cushions, my friend was sanding and painting her glider black.  I don't have a photo of the cushions on the new glider, but boy did it turn out nice!
Here are the cushions sitting atop my floral wing chair in my sewing room.  Try to imagine them on the new pretty black glider instead.

She wanted me to cover some buttons in the matching fabric, but it was too thick, so I sewed two pretty wooden buttons to the back cushion to form the tufting.   She wanted a little pillow out of the extra.

That same week, a friend asked me to alter her bathing suit a bit, to add a little more coverage for her.

I have actually been doing a lot of sewing lately.  I am still working on the Bee In My Bonnet Quilt Along. 
And I have been doing a few other projects as well. If you have been visiting my blog for any time, you know that I also love to cook.  This summer I took a couple cooking classes at Cal State Fullerton Arboretum, with my girlfriend Thea.  They were a lot of fun.  They made homemade potato chips at one of them.  And I thought, how fun.  I am going to make some. And make some I did.

I used my mandolin to cut up a bunch of russets.  Cause that is what I had.   You need to remove the moisture from the potato before you fry them.  While I was working on this, I got my sous chef busy cooking bacon.  I had some nice ciabatta rolls, and all of the fixings for BLAT's.  Bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato sandwiches.

The chips fried up nice and quickly, and were a hit with our yummy sandwiches.

They were crisp, and well seasoned, and fun to make.  But not something I will do on a regular basis.

I have been cooking up a storm this past week too.  If you follow me on IG, you will have seen the killer fig and prosciutto pizza, with fresh pesto sauce.  I added roasted asparagus, crimini mushrooms, goat cheese and mozzarella, then heaped baby arugula on the top after it baked.  Drizzled it with olive oil, and shaved fresh parmesan on top.  It was to die for, good!!!  
I made a delicious lasagna with a homemade meat sauce one night.  And then the other night, I made Croque Madame.  Which is really just a very fancy ham and cheese sandwich.  I melted butter in a skillet, dredged thick pieces of artisan bread into butter on both sides.  Lay bread down, and then topped with black forest ham, gruyere cheese, and a ladle of fresh bechamel sauce, then the other piece of bread.  Flip when it begins to bubble, and start your over easy eggs in another pan.  When both sides are golden brown, and sandwich is ooey, gooey and perfectly hot and melted, remove from pan, and ladle another bit of bechamel onto the top of sandwich.  Then top it all off with the fried egg.  HELLO!!!!  Comfort food at it's finest, I tell you!  You will need to eat this with a knife and fork, and some extra napkins.  But You.  Will.  Love....It!!!!! 
Sorry, but all of the pics are on IG.
This weekend we will have the grands over for one night.  We will also have a celebration for birthdays in the family, and a newly engaged couple too!  Greg will be 60!  EEEEK!!!  And nephew Matt will be 26.  Also, Matt and his darling girlfriend Candice became engaged a couple of weeks ago while on a cruise to the Bahamas!  Exciting times!!!!  I will try to bring my camera and be back to blog before the next 6 weeks again.  I promise.
Love you all!!!
xo Kris