common threads block(s), flirting with veganism and a travel tip

today i had the blissful pleasure of sewing for several hours this morning and i eagerly dug into the most recent batch of fabric sent for the common threads quilting bee.  lynn sent a very fun set of fabrics, using colors that i don’t normally combine (orange, lime green, grey, brown) but which looked great together and her instructions were very wide open–any size is fine, any style is fine, but she’s attracted to quilt blocks that look like mini-quilts.  this was my first block:

but there was so much fabric and i was enjoying it so much…. that i made a second block:

this one started off with 4 columns of “stacked coins” but i was running short on the brown border material, and i liked the squareness of just doing 3 columns, so there you have it.  ahhhhh….. sewing is such a restorative activity for me.

let’s see, what does the title say next?  oh yes.  flirting with veganism.  see, last weekend when i was meeting my new nephew, i also got to visit my very dear friend and college roommate.  (i am so lucky that she and my sister live in the same town!)  her family has been eating vegan since shortly before christmas for health reasons.  they read a book (i should ask her to remind me which book it was) that touted the health benefits of eliminating animal products from your diet, so they’ve been trying it out.  they still occasionally eat meat to get their vitamin b12 and to avoid hassle at friends’ houses or restaurants, but at home they cook vegan.  i’m inspired by this.  i don’t know if i could ever be a full-time vegan, but i talked about possibly doing one vegan day a week with mr. happy stuff and he said, “why not two?”  since i was home all day today, i thought i’d give it a shot.  i mostly succeeded at avoiding animal products (i noticed later that there was a miniscule amount of milk in the slice of bread i ate for breakfast), but i don’t know that i had very successful food intake today.  my lunch was a bowl of rice, a bowl of guacamole and some corn chips.  but i learned some things!  (always nice when you’re trying an experiment)  1.  before attempting veganism, it’s a good idea to make a few menu plans and then go buy the groceries for them.  not just scrounge around for whatever you’ve got.  2.  i think i can pull off one vegan and one vegetarian day a week, but eliminating dairy and eggs is a real challenge for me!

and last, but not least, i remembered a travel tip that i wanted to share with you.  sometimes, when i’m traveling by plane, i remember to pack an orange or two for the trip.  eating them while i’m on the plane and smelling the peels helps to battle the stale air and accompanying nausea that is almost always a part of air travel (at least for me).  anyone else have a favorite travel tip to share?  or a vegan recipe suggestion?

This entry was posted in crafty stuff. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to common threads block(s), flirting with veganism and a travel tip

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *