Freedom is Finished!

Stitchy Stuff
With almost 200 hours of stitching time, Freedom is finally finished! I stayed up until well after midnight on Friday night to finish it. It’s now washed and pressed, waiting to be framed. (This counts as #3 for my Project Challenge.) As luck would have it, Hobby Lobby is having a 50% off sale on frames this week. I may check out Michael’s too. For those who want to see the finished product, I won’t be posting a pic until after it’s framed. So you’ll just have to wait a bit longer!!

I started an ornament for an exchange I’m in. I’m stitching it over-one and have had to frog it a couple of times already. I find it’s easier to just cut the stitches out than to try and unpick them. It’s a strain on the eyes to do over-one, that’s for sure! I also worked on the Treasured Memories Quilt afghan.

Cooking
Over the weekend, I tried two more new recipes: Crockpot Southwestern Chili and Jambalaya Kebobs. Due to the ingredients I had, I changed the chili recipe so much that I’m not sure it’d be considered ‘southwestern’ anymore. LOL It turned out good, though. The kebobs turned out awesome, too! They were done on the grill.


JAMBALAYA SAUSAGE KEBOBS & RICE

2 small zucchini (about 6oz ea), cut diagonally into ¾” slices
1 red pepper, cut into 1¼” pieces
½ small onion, cut into 4 wedges
4 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 pkg. (16oz) kielbasa or cooked smoked sausage, cut diagonally into 1” chunks
1 large celery, chopped
2 c. cooked white rice
1 med. tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. water
Wood skewers

Soak skewers in water overnight. In large bowl, toss zucchini, pepper, onion, 3 tsp. olive oil, and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Alternately thread vegetables on skewer. Place skewers on hot grill and cook 10-12 minutes until kielbasa browns and vegetables are tender crisp, turning skewers occasionally. Remove skewers from grill and put on platter.

In skillet, heat 1 tsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add celery and 1 tsp. Cajun seasoning. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes or until celery softens, stirring occasionally. Stir in rice, tomato, and water. Cook 3 more minutes, or until everything is blended and hot. Serve rice with kebobs.

School
One of my group members was suppose to have the report outline to me last Wed. She came to class and said she'd email it to me by Friday. Friday comes and goes... No email. Saturday afternoon arrives and I finally get the email. I opened the attachment and what do I see? Garbage! You know... all those funky squares and odd characters... where there's suppose to be decipherable wording? Thank goodness she put her phone number in the email! I called right away. She re-sent it using a different file extension, plus copied and pasted it into the email (at my request). I spent a good 2 1/2 hours on Sunday writing the lab report on Prairie Diversity. I have a couple of questions for the instructor before the final copy can be printed.

Movies Watched
• Spanglish
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants