Just call me Martha

This weekend I turned into a domestic godess. I cooked beef stew, baked two loaves of bread, spent many hours sewing, and even contemplated doing laundry. I suspect this may be pregnancy hormones taking over, but even if it is, I'm having fun.

I found a wonderful recipe for beef stew (a fairly typical one with sirloin, carrots, onions, potatoes, red wine, beef stock, thyme, etc.) and had lots of fun chopping and stirring on Sunday. And I have finally, according to my loyal taste tester/husband, mastered the art of French bread. I made one loaf of that and one of jalapeno cheese bread, which isn't half bad either.

It's the sewing, though, that amazes me. Sewing is so much fun. How did I never know this? I received a sewing machine for Christmas and already have grandiose plans of making curtains, pillow covers, baby clothes, and all sorts of other items. My skill level so far consists of straight lines, basic sewing, and not much else. I have made five "door dogs" and a sewing machine cover. Door dogs are those long snakey-things that you put down at the bottom of outside doors to block drafts. We have somewhat drafty doors, so the door dogs were a necessity. They're harder to sew than they look because how the heck do you sew up that last end? I wasted a fair amount of material learning how to sew up the last end after the dog had been stuffed. (tip: you must cut the material longer than you need in order to turn the ends in and make this look finished)

The sewing machine cover was a last minute project yesterday that I undertook because I had extra material. It was actually quite hard to make, but lots of fun because I used all sorts of crazy stiches (my sewing machine has 135 of them!). The best part is that the cover fits on the sewing machine and looks pretty decent. Next up is a pillowcase cover for my new body pillow. I have to find a zipper first and learn how to sew a zipper onto a piece of cloth.

Stay tuned!