Not much going on!

Haven't been keeping up to date on my blog lately. Haven't been doing much though. I go through cycles. Sometimes I am all about knitting, sometimes cross stitching, but I have always been and will always be a reading freak! That is what I have been doing since my last blog update. Reading. I have read seven or eight books since my last update. I usually read a book a day when I am in my reading cycle. I tend to reread a series I have or find a new one when I know I am in the reading constantly for a week or two phase. This time I chose the Rachel Morgan series. It is by Kim Harrison for anyone that doesn't know. I love this series and can reread it and love it as much or more every time I do.

I have managed a little knitting even though I am mostly sitting around with my nose in a book. I tried my hand at knitting a shawl. I chose a really simple pattern and ran with it. It doesn't look like the pattern I chose, since I tend to change things as I knit stuff for fun. Here is a picture of what my family is calling my Fairy Net Shawl. It is a white cotton yarn paired with a sparkley purple, gold, and white yarn. The pictures do not do it justice. Serenity likes it so much that I think I will let her keep it.

I am also working on another baby hammock. I wanted to try it in brighter colors. I will upload a pic of it when I am finished with it. I am only doing a few rows a day, whenever I get an urge to knit.

I did start another cross stitch kit for my daily stitching. It was scheduled to be my Tuesday wip, but I haven't been working on them since last Wednesday. I haven't stitched for a week. Wow, I am being lazy LOL. Just in that reading phase of my cycle. I have a pic of my latest start and a pic of my Cat progress.

I am almost done with the cross stitches on the cat. Just on small area left and then it is on to the satin stitches. Isn't it so cute. It is the only indoor cat I am allowed to have. Bobby doesn't like indoor animals. The things we put up with for love. :)

I have a lot of new cross stitching and other crafty books that I have been getting off of listia and eBay. Here is a picture of some of them. I am really getting a collection going!

I think I got all of these off of listia. The complete guide to sewing book in the upper left was a gift from a lady that really wants me to be able to learn sewing and quilting. She knows I want to, but don't have anyone I know that can teach me. I had won a thinner book from her and she threw this one in for free, even though it tripled the shipping. Isn't she a sweetheart!

I made a huge meatloaf for dinner Sunday using a new recipe I ran across and we ate on it for days! It turned out really good. I took some to Mother (my grandmother that raised me) and still we had a lot left over. So I looked up recipes for leftover meatloaf and ran across a recipe using it in Shepard's Pie. Now I had tried to make a Shepard's Pie before without great success. But I thought I would try it this way. So last night I made the leftover meatloaf Shepard's Pie. It turned out better than my first attempt from last year. I thought it looked really good so I took a picture to share it :)

The problem with it was this. It tasted like what it was. Leftover meatloaf with mixed vegetables and mashed potatoes. I loved how the mashed potatoes get all crispy crusty from the baking though. I think the main issue was that the meatloaf recipe I used made a really strong flavored meatloaf, so that flavor kind of took over the flavor in the pie. I could barely taste the other ingredients. Don't get me wrong, I liked it just fine. So did the rest of the family. But I think that if I ever make another Shepard's Pie, I will just used ground beef or whatever, instead of leftover meatloaf. It is a good way to use up leftover meat though. I also saw recipes using leftover meatloaf in spaghetti sauces and in various pasta dishes. Now I know a few ways to use up leftover meatloaf once we get burned out on meatloaf sandwiches!

So that catches everyone up on my crafting and my life in general. Just haven't been doing much. Bobby's car is still broke down, so he is using mine to go to work and back, so I am stuck at home all day, every day. I spend all that time reading, instead of crafting. I am not sure why. I did get to go to the flea market in Princeton this weekend and buy some yarn that I really love. I have no idea what it is. It looks and feels a lot the Bernat boucle stuff I already had. It is a pretty blue and pink mix. I am using some of it in the baby hammock I am making. So, yep, that is it on the update. I feel kind of bad for not sticking to my stitching rotation, but it is a hobby, so I am not going to beat myself up over it. I know I will get back into it soon. I just needed to read for awhile.

Until next time, my faithful tanglers..... Happy Crafting!