What I've Been Doing

There may not be much on the calendar, but I'm making the most of it by organizing places that will probably never see this level of organization in my lifetime. I am still working on stowing everything that needs to live in the room where we're storing the school, sewing, and craft supplies. The room, I should add which now boasts a less awkward name. It shall henceforth be known as "The Studio." Anyway, all of this organization is somewhat necessary, because it is not a huge room, and I am trying to condense three rooms from our former house into one. I am so close to showing you the entire thing... but not quite yet.

I do want to show you what has taking nearly two days to accomplish. I have sorted and organized my fabric stash! See? (It's really hard to get a picture of all the shelves at once, since they are in a closet, and I can't step back quite far enough.)

This is all my fabric, folded to uniform sizes, sorted into types, measured, and put away. The larger piles of fabric are all my yardage (anything bigger than one yard.) Those cute little piles are everything bigger than a 1/4 yard, but smaller than a yard. Anything smaller was cut into squares and sorted into bags for future use.

Flannel, corduroy, wool, silk, and rayon.

Cotton and linings

More cotton, plus my pattern bins on the bottom

J. put a peg board inside the door so I could hang things...

such as my bags filled with the squares I cut, sorted by color.

But wait, the Type A, total obsessiveness doesn't stop. See these index cards? On them is a swatch of fabric and the amount I have of it, plus any other notes that I wanted to make. I hate having to open up a length of fabric to see if I have enough, only to find I don't, and have to fold it again and move on. This way, I should save myself some aggravation. Plus it should be easy enough to add to when I buy more fabric. (Which I really shouldn't do, considering how much I currently have.)

At this point, I really do think it is all going to fit, which I wasn't sure about. It helps that I reduced my craft and sewing stuff by half before the move, and as I've been organizing, have reduced it by another quarter. The next thing I need to really finish is a counter-top to put my sewing machine and serger on, and then I can show you the whole thing.

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Vegetable Tally:

Avocado – 1

Beans (navy) – 2

Brussels sprouts - 1

Corn – 1

Cucumber – 1

Edamame – 1

Escarole – 1

Green beans – 1

Lettuce (romaine) – 1

Onion – 4

Spinach – 1

Tomato (cherry) – 1

Tomato – 1

Zucchini - 1

Tonight we had roasted Brussels sprouts. It's not quite yet Brussels sprouts season, but everyone loves them. Really. There were no leftovers of them tonight. The key is the roasting. This recipe is from my sister-in-law who made them for Thanksgiving one year, and I asked for the recipe because I found myself craving them. Yes, they are indeed that good.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Trim and halve 2 pounds of Brussels sprouts. Toss them with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet, and roast them at 400 for about 30 minutes. You should turn them once halfway through, and they should begin to caramelize. While they cook, mix up the dressing:

1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP maple syrup (It's great with maple syrup. I never seem to have maple syrup on hand. We've substituted honey or regular syrup... something sweet.)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 TBSP grainy mustard
a small clove of garlic, minced
a little salt and pepper

Mix this together and pour on top of the Brussels sprouts once they are cooked. If you want to make them even yummier, add some cooked, crumbled bacon. I love it with the bacon, but like the maple syrup, rarely have it on hand. They are just about as good without the bacon, too.