Mother's Day Quilt

I got back from Houston last night where I was visiting with my parents for several days.  In my 2010 recap post, I had mentioned that my mother was diagnosed with cancer back in November.  Unfortunately, about a month ago, we learned that her cancer has metastasized.  While her prognosis is less than rosy, she's seeking treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and she began her first chemotherapy treatment last week.  Fortunately, I was able to go down and spend some time with them as she finished up her first round of treatment and celebrate Mother's Day.

She graciously let me squeeze into her hospital bed for her infusions. 



Given the circumstances, I wanted to give her something special , so in sort of a last minute effort, I made her a quilt.  I tried to take some pictures of it late at night before I left town, but I've got to admit that they are a pretty terrible representations of the colors of the fabric.  I followed a tutorial for a snowball quilt, and I used fabrics from Patricia Bravo's Bazaar Style.

 

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Summer Cucumber Cocktail

My and Michael's cocktail preferences don't often overlap, but yesterday he made the most amazing summer cocktail that I am now sharing with you.

A couple of years ago, we tried our hand at infusions for the first time--something we've done with great success many times since.  We've done jalepenos, blueberries, pineapple, vanilla bean, lemon, lime, and even bacon {Honestly, there's not much to infusing liquors.  You basically cut up whatever it is you want to flavor your liquor with, put it in your liquor of choice, set it away from sunlight, and strain anywhere from 4 days to a couple of weeks later.  A simple internet search will provide any ingredient-specific directions.}.  For whatever reason, however, we've sort of been at a loss as to how to use the cucumber-infused vodka (all the way to left in this pic).

I'm convinced that there is absolutely no better use for it than this very cocktail.  It's light, refreshing, and slightly sweet. Absolutely delicious!  So, without further ado:

Summer Cucumber Cocktail

Ingredients:

Ice

Cucumber-Infused Vodka

Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth

Simple Syrup

Slice of Cucumber (for garnish)

Directions:

• Fill cocktail shaker with ice.
• Add 4 parts Cucumber-Infused Vodka, 1 part Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth, and 1 part Simple Syrup. 
• Shake.
• Strain into cocktail glass. 
• Garnish with cucumber slice.

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Too Many Gallery Walls?

Never!

I flag a lot of ideas for my home (both current and future)--a lot of ideas that I don't find the time, money, space, or wherewithall to actually execute, but when I saw this one from Martha Stewart, I was ready to move forward:

Source: marthastewart.com via Mandy on Pinterest

There really wasn't much creativity to this project.  I picked up six frames from Ikea and ordered the very same set of mats used in the Martha Stewart photo (available here).  I relentlessly searched around to see if I could get a set a little cheaper, but this set really is the cheapest so if you're going to do this, save your time. 

Then, I picked out some photos.  I tried to pick out some arty ones.  Of the six photos, four are wedding-related, but what can I say, they are by far the best quality photos that I have on hand and obviously encompass some pretty awesome memories.  I converted them to black and white, and just printed them off here at home. 

Photo Credits: personal photo, personal photo, all others by betsy limbaugh photography

Finally, I put it all together and hung it in our foyer.  I don't have a picture of what was going on in there before, but I had a wooden sunburst mirror on the wall.  Here is the poorly lighted, poorly photographed, full-of-glare after:

This brings the gallery wall tally to three...

In other news, despite Pete's adorable new bed, he still prefers the most ridiculous sleeping spots.  For the past five days, when we've not been able to find Pete he's often curled up in this grocery bag...



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