Here are some of this year’s crop of Pigeon drawings! I think I have done this activity every year since I became a librarian.
So far in our kindergarten Mo Willems unit we have read the Pigeon books, drawn the Pigeon books, and read the Knuffle Bunny books. This week we move on to Elephant and Piggie!
I made this yummy, surprisingly straightforward dinner a while back (and added some asparagus to the mix). I love Steak au Poivre, or really anything peppery. The tips were nice for a weeknight when you don’t necessarily want an entire steak. I bought one nice sirloin steak, and it was more than enough to feed us both.
The steak was the easy part; the oven fries were more labor intensive. I started those waaaay before the steak. In the end, mine probably could have come out of the oven a little sooner. But, the fries weren’t fried, and overall this was pretty great. Both recipes are from Cook’s Country. These are the original recipes below, which serve 4.
Steak Tips au Poivre
Serves 4
“The browned bits left in the pan after cooking the steak tips are essential for this recipe and give complex flavor to the pan sauce. To release them, deglaze the pan with a combination of wine and broth”
1 1/2 pounds steak tips, cut into 2-inch chunks **Tips are from sirloin, so if you’re butcher doesn’t have them just buy a sirloin steak and cut it into chunks
1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
Salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
Um…remember how excited I was when this guild started back in October? Well, that was the only time I went. Holidays, work, babies, drama. I just never made it back.
Until last week, when I finally made it for the May meeting! I showed my Dr. Seuss quilt and got more inspiration from fabulous crafty folks.
I’m so glad I went, you guys! There were more great projects, but they were small quilts and I got terrible photos of them. This is a really nice group, and it was nice to be back. Looking forward to June!
I kind of decided that the beach quilt I made last year is really more of a park quilt. The laminated back is great for wet grass, but less ideal for dry sand. It slides around.
However, the giant size and quiltiness of it are, I still maintain, perfect for family beach time. So, I’m using some of these prints from Dear Stella’s All Hands on Deck collection to make a new one this year.
I picked up most of the prints during our spring break road trip through New England and then ordered more to make sure I had enough. My plan is that this quilt will be 72″ square. It will be all strips, divided into 4 columns. I cut up about 21 fat quarters worth of fabric to make 144 strips that were 18.5″ x 2.5″. So when the top is finished that will come out as 4 columns each made up of 36 strips that are 18″ x 2″ when sewn.
Some of the fabric was actual yardage cut up, but that gives you a rough idea of how much you need. Every fat quarter yielded about 7 strips, so after I went through the fat quarter yardage I’d bought I started in on the half yards I had (which yielded about 14 strips each).
I divided the strips into “light” and “dark/bright” piles, then I spent time pinning lights and darks to each other.
Then I chain pieced the 72 pairs together.
They have all been ironed with seams facing the same direction, and I have pinned those 72 pairs together again to make 36 sets of 4 strips. And I’ll go on and on that way until my columns are ready and can be joined.
It’s coming together pretty quickly.
The Banana is just into everything. ALL OF THE THINGS. She is hilarious, mischievous, curious, sweet, pleasant, good-humored, and so sweet-natured. I just…boy, do I love this kid.
And here are some 14 month old shenanigans from another angle.
(This one above is my favorite).
I mean, I just can’t. Miss Baby.
She’s perfect!
