posted Apr 30, 2012 9:34 AM by Katie Theken
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updated May 8, 2012 10:20 AM
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The last few weeks have been pretty low key. After Easter, Andrew, his mom, and I went to visit his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Ethan is getting big. I didn't get any really good pictures, but here is a cute one of him playing his piano while wearing his fedora:
In an effort to exercise more, Andrew and I have been jogging/walking at Quail Hollow State Park. The park has some nice trails, and I think we have gradually been doing more jogging than walking. My biggest issue is that my ankles and calves hurt when I run. I am flat footed, so I think the "normal" way that I run puts too much stress on my lower legs. I am trying to be more attentive to the mechanics of how I run and working on running the "right" way.
Last up, here is my April TUSAL:
At the end of this week, Andrew and I are heading back down to North Carolina for my graduation, which is May 12. I'll post some pictures of me in my fancy regalia after the ceremony.
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posted Apr 9, 2012 6:00 PM by Katie Theken
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updated Apr 10, 2012 6:15 AM
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I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Easter with friends and family. As has been my tradition for the past six years, I prepared an Easter Egg-stravaganza, which Andrew likes to call Feaster.
This year, I made a meal of threes. Three meats: turkey with lemon and sage, honey-thyme glazed ham, and orange crusted lamb. Three vegetable dishes: veggies with bagna cauda dip, asparagus and walnut salad, and potato salad. Three breads: challah, olive bread, and baguette. Three cheeses: an aged goat cheese, a blue, and a triple creme. Three desserts: white pepper creme brulee with fig and prune compote, apricot almond layer cake, and almond lavender cake. Here are some pictures to whet your appetite:
My sister, brother-in-law, and nephew are up from Maryland for the holiday weekend. Luke is thirteen months old now and runs around, getting into everything. Here is a picture of him sitting on a book, which is something his mom used to do:
And here is one of him popping bubbles with Aunt Tess:
Lastly, here is my WIPocalypse update. I added one band to the Heirloom Wedding Sampler and have made a bit of progress on Morning Prayer:
Well, that's all for now. Have a great week!
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posted Mar 25, 2012 11:20 AM by Katie Theken
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updated Mar 25, 2012 11:23 AM
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Andrew had to head back to Durham for work for a few weeks, so I came with him since I don't really have anything else going on. It has been nice to get out of Ohio for a little while and stop by some of our old haunts. On Friday, Andrew and I saw Butterfield 8 at the NC Museum of Art. It was a pretty entertaining movie, although some of the dialogue came off more comedic than I think it was meant to be when it was released in 1960. For example, there was an exchange in which Liggett was trying to convince his wife to divorce him because he was cheating on her that went something like this:
Liggett: I can't keep on disappointing you. Mrs. Liggett: Well won't you try?
We also went to see The Hunger Games. I had read the books, which I thought had a good story, but were sorely lacking in character development. A lot of back story from the books didn't make it into the movie, so the significance of some of the events in the story is lost. The movie was enjoyable to watch. I think the scenes of the Gamemakers in the control room during the Games were my favorite parts.
Now for my late (as usual) WIPocalypse update. Over the past month or so, I have made a lot of progress on Madonna of the Garden:
As you can see, her skirt is mostly done and I have moved on to the yellow trim. As I was stitching, I realized that I didn't leave myself much fabric by way of clearance - about two inches - but I think that should be fine.
Also, I did a few rows on Heirloom Wedding Sampler:
Hopefully, I can spend some more time on this one as the weather gets more sunny. I think I only have three bands left before the hardanger section on the bottom.
Because they both have a lot of threads to keep track of, I didn't want to bring either of those projects along while traveling, so I brought Morning Prayer with me. I have been working on finishing the border. Fingers crossed that my counting is right and the edges meet up correctly in the bottom corner.
I am behind on TUSAL posting as well. I didn't bring all my orts with me, so here are a few from this week in my project bag:
Have a great week!
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posted Feb 14, 2012 11:58 AM by Katie Theken
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updated Feb 14, 2012 12:01 PM
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This time I am only a week late with my WIPocalypse post. Maybe next month, I will be on time.
First up, Madonna of the Garden:
If you compare to my last post, most of the progress has been in her skirt.
I have made quite a bit of progress on the Heirloom Wedding Sampler:
I think I am about halfway through the sampler. It is hard to gauge because although I have finished 15 of the 23 bands, the last band is the hardanger section that makes up a substantial portion of the overall sampler. The quote is one I found on the internet attributed to Antoine Saint-Exupery. Andrew and I agreed that it was a perfect sentiment to include on our wedding sampler. I think the sampler is turning out well. I especially like the pearl beads; they add just the right accent to the embroidery.
Also, for this post I am introducing a comments section. Since this site is a Google site, rather than a Blogger page, there is not a straightforward way to enable comments for visitors. I have found a gadget by pnyxe that may do the job. If it works, I will include a comments section on all future posts.
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posted Jan 26, 2012 12:22 PM by Katie Theken
As usual, I am behind in my updates. This post will cover both the WIPocalypse and TUSAL for January, hence the title.
First up, my WIPocalypse update. I started Madonna of the Garden from Mirabilia on New Year's Day and have made pretty good progress:
I really like a lot of the Mirabilia designs, but this is the first that I have stitched. I like how the design is detailed, but doesn't have much backstitching. I don't mind having to do some backstitching, but a lot of can be tedious, especially since I tend to save all the backstitching for the end.
I have also worked on Heirloom Wedding Sampler from Victoria Sampler:
I am making this for me and Andrew, and had initially hoped to have it done for our fifth anniversary (February 17). However, since I only work on it when I am feeling very patient and the light is good, I don't think I will finish it in time. Plus, I am not good with stitching to meet deadlines. As soon as I set a deadline for myself, the project seems to become a more of a chore than just an enjoyable way to pass the time, so I am just going to work on this one as I feel like it and it will get finished when it is finished.
Next, my TUSAL update, which includes orts from the aforementioned projects:
In non-stitching news, Andrew and I decided to get a new mattress and bed frame from IKEA. Last Saturday, we drove out to Pittsburgh, picked out the stuff we wanted, and had the bed delivered on Tuesday. Once we had the bed frame almost completely assembled, we realized that we were missing a piece. It turns out that we were supposed to purchase this piece separately, but no one at the store indicated that we needed this piece. We called the store to see if they could ship us the piece, but apparently it can only be purchased at the store, not over the phone. The piece isn't even available for purchase online, because it is already included with the bedframe when you order through the website. We probably should have been more careful at the store when we bought the bed, but Andrew and I were still quite annoyed with the quality of the customer service. Anyway, our friend Zach is going to pick up the piece and send it to us so we don't have to drive ~1.5 hours back to IKEA. Hopefully, we will get it sometime next week, but for now we are sleeping on the new mattress on the floor, which is still better than the old one.
I think that is pretty much all the news I have for today. Have a great afternoon! |
posted Jan 1, 2012 11:46 AM by Katie Theken
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updated Jan 1, 2012 11:54 AM
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I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and had an opportunity to relax with friends and family. Andrew and I had a pretty good Christmas. As has been our tradition for the past four years or so, we celebrated the Feast of the Seven Fishes with Andrew's mom, sister and brother-in-law, and his family. I made most of the things I usually make: creamed cod with mashed potatoes, shrimp creole and crawfish etouffee with rice, crab mac'n'cheese, baccala salad, seared sesame-crusted tuna with wasabi, salmon with dill sauce, mussels with tomatoes, garlic, and white wine, crab legs, stuffed calamari, and seared scallops. I also made a hazelnut panforte, which was a nice alternative to a typical Christmas fruit cake.
On Christmas Day I cooked for Andrew's family on his dad's side. Unlike the Christmas Eve fish dinner, I don't really have any traditional dishes that I have for Christmas Day, so I had fun picking out some new things to try. I made porchetta, juniper-brined turkey with mushroom gravy, fennel mashed potatoes, roasted butternut squash with balsamic drizzle, kale and brussels sprout salad, beet gratin, cranberry sauce with cherries and marsala, candied oranges with cranberries, and a twelve-layer mocha cake. If you ever need a good icing recipe, I recommend using this coffee and mocha buttercream recipe as a starting point. The icing was pretty easy to make if you have a stand mixer and spread so nicely. Be warned, however, that the recipe does call for 6 (!) sticks of butter. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the food to post, since I was too busy cooking to take any.
This year, Andrew and I also constructed a gingerbread house. Here are the "blueprints" and the house under construction:
And here is the finished house:
We had some help in decorating from our friends, Sarah and Ryan, and their daughters, Maggie (~3.5) and Lyra (~15 months). Maggie ate lots of candy and a good time was had by all.
Now on to the looking-forward part of this post. I have signed up for the WIPocalypse and the TUSAL in a shameless attempt to have people that I am not related to visit this site. For the WIPocalypse, my list as of now is:
Victoria Sampler's Heirloom Wedding Sampler (for me and Andrew)
Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons
My Big Toe's Morning Prayer
Mirabilia's Madonna of the Garden
I am generally a one-project-at-a-time stitcher, so I don't have many works in progress. Actually, I started most of these in order to have some for the WIPocalypse. I may add more throughout the year depending on my progress.
To make following the WIPocalypse and TUSAL posts a bit easier, I have added links in the sidebar.
Anyway, that is all for now. Best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to all! |
posted Nov 9, 2011 5:40 PM by Katie Theken
Yes, you are seeing correctly. I have actually written a new blog post! I have meaning to post an update for months, but things have been somewhat busy for me and Andrew.
The biggest personal news is that I have finished my Ph.D. My parents, sister (Elise), brother-in-law (Pete), nephew (Luke), brother (Andrew) and Andrew's mom came down to watch me defend in June. I wore fun leopard shoes:
After the defense, we went to the Outer Banks for a few days:
In September, my second nephew, Ethan Alexander, was born. Andrew and I spent a week at his sister's place after he was born, so I could help out while her husband was at work. Here is a picture of the little guy looking quite angelic:
I also recently spent a week with my other nephew, Luke. Elise's husband, Pete, was studying for his comprehensive exams, so I went down to their place to watch Luke during the day for him. Luke is growing up fast and is getting to be such a stinker:
I think he looks a lot like his mom:
Anyway, that is all for now. More updates soon (I mean it this time). |
posted Mar 20, 2011 6:17 PM by Katie Theken
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updated Mar 20, 2011 7:26 PM
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Lots of news this past month. First up (and the most exciting): my first nephew, Luke Francis Schafer, was born on March 9. Here he is with his mommy:
(That picture is my favorite of the bunch). And here he is with Mommy and Daddy:
And here he is with Grandpa, who is making a very excited face:
Andrew and I are planning to visit Elise, Pete, and Luke this coming weekend. I am looking forward to meeting the little guy.
In less exciting news, my other sister, Tess, sent me some pictures of both the framed wedding samplers. I think they turned out well:
And in even less exciting news, I got some new shoes:
Well, that is about it for news. Stay tuned for more baby pictures after next weekend.
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posted Feb 13, 2011 4:31 PM by Katie Theken
This weekend I finally finished up Andrew's Christmas presents. He wanted a charcoal gray waffle cloth robe. Since I wasn't able to find one online, I decided to make him one.
There were a few wrinkles in this plan. First of all, waffle cloth doesn't come in charcoal gray, just white or off white. I ended up buying 10 yards of white waffle cloth and then dying it charcoal gray. Andrew and I ended up doing the dying up at my parents' house over Christmas, since we can't dye in the washing machines here at our apartment. We used a Procion dye which seemed to work out pretty well. We did get some streaking, but that was to be expected with such a large piece of fabric.
After we got back from Christmas, I cut out the pieces for the robe and started to assemble it. Surprisingly, the waffle cloth was really tough to cut through. I also had a hard time getting my sewing machine to go through all the layers, so there are some places where I had to leave gaps in the seams. The waffle cloth also felt kind of rough, so I thought that maybe I should make a fleece lining that was softer. I got some red fleece and sewed a lining robe. When I put the two together it was too warm for Andrew to wear, so I ended up making a second robe.
With all these bumps in the road, I got kind of tired of working on them, but I did finally finish them. Here are some pictures. The infamous charcoal gray waffle cloth robe:
Andrew making fun of the placement of the pockets on the red robe:
I will also post a few pictures of my Christmas presents. First, some colorful boots from Andrew's dad and Beki:
And the Christmas Story Nativity set from my sister Elise:
Before I say good night, I will leave you with a picture of Andrew when he was halfway through shaving off his winter beard. Doesn't he look like Super Mario?
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posted Jan 30, 2011 10:38 AM by Katie Theken
I have been remiss in updating this site, so the next few posts are going to be an update of the past two months or so. Stay tuned for more updates.
In early December, Andrew's boss, Roger, flew us out to Asheville in his plane. Andrew and I had been meaning to go to Asheville and see Biltmore, so it was a nice trip. Normally, the drive would be about 3.5-4 hours, but it was only 2 hours in the plane. The flying experience in a personal plane is about a million times better than in a commercial jet. First of all, you don't have to show up early to go through security; basically you arrive at the hangar and get right on the plane.
Also, you don't have to sit in the plane on the tarmac for an extended period of time. This is probably the biggest perk for me. I tend to feel nauseated from sitting in the confined space and breathing recycled air. When we were ready to take off, Roger just contacted the air traffic control and they told us which runway to use and we were on our way.
I guess the main drawbacks to flying in a propeller plane are the range and speed. The plane can hold enough fuel to fly for about 5 hours, which is enough to get from here to Chicago. Obviously, commercial jets have a much greater range and fly much faster, but even the propeller plane is much faster than driving a car.
Here are a few pictures from the flight:
We really enjoyed the trip and the flight, so Andrew has started taking private pilot lessons. He goes to class every week and has been flying with an instructor a few hours on the weekends. He is hoping to finish the training and take the FAA test sometime this summer.
Roger also took us down to visit Sarah and Ryan and their girls over MLK weekend a few weeks ago. He likes to fly whenever he has a chance since he enjoys it and in order to keep up his skills. He was planning to fly us down to the Charlotte area on Saturday, come back to Durham, and then come back to pick us up on Sunday. Once he dropped us off, the plane wouldn't start back up, so he drove back to Durham. He was going to try to get another plane to come pick us up, but Andrew and I decided to try the train.
We had never ridden the train, and had been meaning to, particularly since the Durham Amtrak station is less than a block from our apartment. Overall, the train ride was pretty relaxing. Andrew was talking to some other passengers and apparently the trains don't always run on time, but we lucked out and arrived when the schedule said we should. Here is a picture of Andrew coming back to sit down after getting some complimentary coffee:
When we got back, Roger drove Andrew out to the airport to pick up our car, and I walked home to make some gnocchi and pierogi. I had a bag of potatoes that needed used up, and both gnocchi and pierogi are nice to have around when I need to make a quick dinner.
Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned for updates from the holidays and other goings-on. |
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