Happy Eating Plus a Craft Project

We’ve had some pretty good weeks since we last posted. We’ve been making it up to our local ski hill, Snowbowl a few times a week and we’ve been eating especially well. Our first photos are from Snowbowl. First, the view of Missoula from one of the runs.

Second, here’s a photo of Abby in the middle of a nice glade run we were skiing last week.

And now on to the food! First up is a photo of our Superbowl feast. We made Velveeta salsa dip in the crock pot, hot wings in a Korean-style sauce, and a big pot of chili (not pictured). Add a few bottles of quality Big Sky Brewing Co. beer and it was quite the spread.

Next up is our meal from last Saturday. We made Moroccan lamb tagine with a lamb shoulder from this summer’s farmers’ market. On the side we had couscous with almonds and dried apricots and some homemade naan with a delicious flavored dipping oil.


For the crafting portion of our evening, I’ve been working on making myself a kilt. I’ve been wanting a Utilikilt, but they start at $150 and go up, so that’s not in the budget. (If you've never seen a Utilikilt, you can see them at www.utilikilts.com) I found a set of instructions online and I used some Christmas money to buy a used sewing machine and the materials I need to make a contemporary kilt. Here are some progress photos. First, this is the piece of fabric I started with. It’s 57 inches by 2.25 yards.

This is the fabric after I cut it in half and sewed it into a piece 4.5 yards long.

Here it is after sewing in all the pleat edges.

And finally, here is a shot of the pleats all bar tacked down.

Since this photo, I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to taper the waist and have it sit straight. I think I’ve got it pinned down how it needs to be. So what’s left is to sew down the tops of the pleats, tack the aprons in place, and apply the waistband. Then I’ll have my kilt!

Hope all are well.

Love,
David and Abby