My 26th Birthday

I celebrated a wonderful birthday yesterday. The day started out with breakfast in bed and finished with sushi for dinner and a glass of wine. After all it was Wednesday, and on Wednesdays my husband and I like to try a different wine each week. "Wine Wednesday"

After enjoying my breakfast I met up with three wonderful ladies from the quilting group to go fabric shopping in Dongdaemun. It was the perfect way to spend the day. The weather was sunny and fairly warm, so it was pleasant inside the market buildings. I bought an assortment of fabrics, notions and thread that will probably last me for a couple years. You can buy spools of thread as large as soccer balls! It is crazy the assortment of things you can find at the market. I picked up several business cards of places so I find them again. I went to lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant with the ladies. We had an assortment on things. It was all delicious.

My husband and pretty much all he military in Korea is in the middle of a large training exercise. He has been working late each night. The thought of eating dinner at 10pm wasn't too appealing, but luckily someone at work was willing to take on my husband's duties, so he was able to come home at 5pm. When he walked in the door he had a beautiful bouquet of spring colored roses in hand. They smell great and are really pretty on the dining table.

I also got a new camera as my birthday gift. It is a Canon Digital SLR XSi. I love the quality of the pictures it can take. I now need to read the manual to learn about all the functions it has. I'm excited to try new things with the camera.

We went to dinner at Fuji Sushi on post. I really like the double shrimp rolls there, so that is what I ordered. It was nice being able to eat dinner with my husband because that probably won't happen again for another couple of weeks.

When we got home we tried a different Pinot Grigio that we haven't had before. It was a nice way to end a great birthday.

I'm excited to create with my new fabrics. I need to still put borders on my Krazy Quilt and then sign up to get it quilted on the long arm machine.

Introducing the Yongsan Long Arm

It's only Tuesday and I feel like is should be Friday! Phew! On the first Mondays of each month the quilt group meets at a member's home rather than at the Quilting room at the on post Chapel. The monthly meeting allows us to show and tell, discuss projects and just have some girl time. This month was my first time visiting another member's home. It was nice to just sit and chat. All of the ladies are very informative and helpful. I brought my finished Krazy Quilt blocks to share as well as my Hanbok example block to show for the exchange. Both items were well received and boosted my sewing/ quilting confidence. Some of the other ladies brought their blocks to share as well. I think they are all really cute.We were all talking so much that before we knew it, it was past 3pm. We had arrived at 9:30am!

Tuesdays at the Yongsan Quilt Shop are designated for long arm quilting Quilts of Valor. I decided to go to the shop and start training on the machine. Once/ if I get trained then I will be able to use the long arm to quilt my own quilts as well as quilts for other people. The process isn't too confusing, but is just takes practice. The machine that we have is AMAZING! The entire machine is computerized. Below is a picture of the computer screen for the quilt we quilted today. Here is the machine in action. We quilted a patriotic pattern on the quilt.
The long arm has a 14 foot bed and measures pretty much everything for you. You click the buttons on the sewing machine to designate your parameters and then you decide on pattern placement. Owning a machine like this would be crazy. Anyone have an extra $35,000 laying around?

I checked the mail center today and there was a lovely surprise there for me. My new sewing chair arrived! I've been sitting in it for only about 20 min and I'm already in love. The chair sits a little higher than a normal dining chair and the low back is great for supporting my lumbar. When I saw this chair I was in love with the funky retro looking fabric. The fabric is an Alexander Henry print, so I will check to see if Dongdaemun will carry the fabric. I was able to purchase the chair from JoAnn's for 50% off the original price, no tax and free shipping! I thought that was a great deal. The shipping was a lot faster than most of the orders I have placed too. Below is a photo of the chair from a website advertising it.
One thing I like is that there is storage under the seat too. I love things that are dual purpose. This picture is also from the advertising website.
Now that I can roll around my sewing room, I will get to work on some of the exchange blocks. I'm excited for tomorrow because I am heading to Dongdaemun with some of the ladies from the quilt group. Also tomorrow is my Birthday! I think shopping for fabric will be a great way to celebrate!

Baking Bazaar - Most Favorite Muffins

In preparation for my parent's visit and my DH's birthday, I'm baking! On the list is: Whole Wheat Beer Bread, Carrot Oatmeal Muffins (the best muffins in the world), apple pie, and a birthday brownie cake.

I'm writing this post as I wait for the oven to catch up with the row of prepared batters. I've had several requests for my most favorite muffin recipe, so I am including it here:

Carrot Oatmeal Muffins (aka the Best Muffins in the World!)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 canola oil
3/4 cup plain apple sauce
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup uncooked rolled oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 cups shredded carrots (the pre-cut "match stick" carrots work well)
1 (8 oz) can crush pineapple, drained
2/3 cup pecan bits (optional - but they are very tasty)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add sugars, oil, eggs, vanilla, and apple sauce. Mix until evenly moist. Fold in oats, coconut, raisins, carrots, pineapple and pecans.
3. Bake 21-25 minutes in the preheated oven (newer ovens usually require about 21 min) until muffins are golden or a knife inserted comes out clean.

For the sweet tooth: These muffins are so delicious that you could serve them for dessert or a special treat... just add cream cheese frosting to the top and its like eating carrot cake! Delicious!

Please feel free to share this recipe. I found it awhile ago and have been 'tweaking' it since. It is definitely a favorite for everyone I have made it for. Let me know what you think!

Birthday Cake

Today is my neighbor's 2nd anniversary of her 25th Birthday, so I made her a cake yesterday. I had purchased tiny 3 tier cake pans months ago and I finally had the opportunity to test them out. I think I may be giving the guys at Cake Boss a run for their money. LOL The plate is 7" round, just to give you an indicator of how small it really is. So cute!
Today is also my husband's brother's 30th Birthday. We are sad to miss the festivities, but I would like to wish him a very Happy Birthday anyway!

In celebration of my neighbor's Birthday we went out to celebrate last night. I was certain to bring the camera because I recently realized we don't have many new pictures together since he has been home. Here is one of the shots that we are both looking at the camera and look halfway decent! I was the DD for the evening, which allowed our friends to enjoy celebrating. It had been awhile since we went out, and Georgia definitely has some interesting characters!