This was my project for today. It’s a messenger-style bag with a pocket under the flap in the front for the power supply. Inside the flap itself is a small zippered pocket for my usb flash drive and anything else small that needs to go in there.

The green outer fabric is a green twill. It was originally bought for a skirt, but it never got made so it worked well for this. The lining is from an old bias-cut skirt I don’t wear anymore. I absolutely love the print, and it matched the twill perfectly.

This was a really difficult bag for me to make. I tried following the messenger bag with gusset tutorial at craftster.org, but couldn’t get the gusset right. That’s when I put it away for the night. This morning I decided to do the sides differently, and it worked a lot better. I strengthened the sides with plastic canvas and quilt batting (two layers of batting, one of canvas for each side). I could have even used another layer of batting, but that’s ok. I didn’t want it to look fluffy, and it doesn’t. I ran a few large basting stitches through the batting and canvas so the batting wouldn’t bunch because I didn’t want to quilt the whole bag.

The hardest part was topstitching the bag with the plastic inside it. The plastic wasn’t in the way, but it was just stiff enough that I had a really hard time getting it around my machine and under the needle. The bag would have been really easy without the plastic.

I also followed the zipper inner bag pocket tutorial here to set in the zipper. It wasn’t as hard as I expected and I absolutely love the results. The zipper is not perfectly straight but for my first try it’s not too bad.

Stephen said I should add some sort of fastener to the flap, but I’m out of ideas. The velcro I tried didn’t stick well, and I can’t fit the bottom of it that far back into my machine to sew anything on with the machine. So for now, I’ll wait.

Closeup of bag with the computer in it. I love how the lining matches the outside fabric so well. You can also see the top of the accessory pocket.

Closeup of the inner zipper pocket

This was quite the challenge, but was a lot of fun. I’m glad I tried it with “stash fabric” first instead of buying fabric for it. There is this REALLY cute coffee fabric at Hobby Lobby though, and that would make a really nice brown and black laptop bag someday, lol!

I am thankful for so many things, but tonight I am thankful for my three children.

I am thankful that God gave me children at all – when I am one who is not “supposed” to have any children at all.

I am thankful that God allowed us to adopt Samuel. I am thankful that He brought that precious little boy into our lives. I listen to Samuel sing – with such an innocence that I am reminded of how I am to come to God. Like a child. Like MY child. I am thankful for my Samuel.

I am thankful for the adoption loss that we experienced. The failed match that we had to walk away from. That failed match, though painful, if allowed to go through, would have kept us from having our sweet Samuel.

I am thankful for my Caleb. My boy who seems to always smile. My child that we weren’t supposed to be able to conceive. My child who is a mirror image of his daddy, yet whose personality is so much like my own.

I am thankful for my third child. The child we lost to miscarriage just two weeks ago. I didn’t blog about it then because I simply didn’t know how. God took that sweet little one Home with Him two weeks ago today. That very early miscarriage opens a new chapter in the book of infertility and loss for me, one I was hoping would never open. I am thankful for the short amount of time I did have with this little one. And when I grieve, God is near. In my quiet time, He reminds me how He sees my pain, how He is my comfort. I am thankful for the peace that He alone can give, spreading His love over my hurting heart like a healing salve. God is good.

So tonight, I am thankful.

We’ve had quite the fun with the quail around here. We had 11 hatch, and a couple have died. I think we have 8 now.

Yesterday, Stephen took a few out of the brood box so that I could take a few macro shots of them. He handed me one chick, and said, “You’ll have to hold her tight, she’ll. . .”

And she jumped out of my hands onto the floor. Thankfully it was over the carpet.

“Jump.” LOL! Thanks for the warning, Honey!

Then Stephen spread a scrap of carpet onto the kitchen table so I could take some photos without worrying about them messing up the table we eat at.

They were quiet for a moment, and then one of the quail took off running. It ran so quickly that we couldn’t catch it before it ran off the table and fell onto the floor.

It bounced.

Samuel ran after it. That quail chick ran so quickly that even Sam couldn’t catch it (and he can catch lizards with his bare hands!). It ran behind a cart, which we moved. As soon as the cart was out of the way, the quail took off again. It ran past me, and ran into a corner. I tried to catch it, but that thing was fast. Finally I was able to corner it and caught it.

Those little bitty chicks run SO fast! For a two-inch-high chick, they are speedy little creatures.

And now, for some pictures:

Quail that have just hatched but are still in the incubator

Two day old quail chick

Quail chicks in the brood box

One of the tabletop shots

Another tabletop shot

Samuel holding a quail chick

It’s been a busy day for us but I just wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

Sunday – sandwiches and chips (nice and fast for a really busy Sunday)
Monday – tossed salads with chicken tenderloin, wheat breadsticks, olive oil and dipping spices
Tuesday – chili
Wednesday – grilled fish and mixed veggies
Thursday – big dinner at Grandma’s house. We’ll probably eat leftovers here when we get home.
Friday – pizza
Saturday – meatloaf

You can read more menu plans over at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

So far, we have seven quail that have hatched. Or maybe this was the eighth one. Now I can’t remember. But they’re hatching pretty quickly. We had five this morning in a couple hours’ time. They’re so tiny! Each quail chick is less than two inches tall.

Heather asked if I could catch any quail chicks hatching on video. Surprisingly, one cooperated enough for me to catch it. The quail chicks are feisty little creatures! The video is on my Chicks Hatching page.

We have 28 quail eggs in the incubator, but so far, no signs of any about to hatch. We’re starting to wonder if we really got 28 dud eggs. I hope not – we were really looking forward to them.

Guess we’ll know more in a couple days.

I was typing this out for a couple people that had asked for the recipe, so thought I’d post it here.

Meredith’s Molten Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups packed brown sugar, divided
¼ cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk
½ cup chocolate or butterscotch chips
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional
1 cup boiling water

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat 1 cup brown sugar with butter until creamy. Stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in chips and nuts, if using. Spread mixture evenly in prepared slow cooker stoneware.
In a heatproof measure, combine remaining brown sugar and boiling water. Pour over batter. Cover and cook on High for 2 ½ to 3 hours, until cake layer looks cooked. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
From Delicious and Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson

Just a couple comments about the recipe. . .do not stir the batter after you pour the boiling water over it. When it’s done, you should have a cake layer on top and a pudding layer on the bottom. If you oil your crockpot first, it will be much easier to clean it out later. A double batch will about half-fill a standard crockpot. It’s VERY sweet, and it’s great with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We really like it with butterscotch chips in it, but we usually make it without chips or nuts, and it’s still delicious.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

This is a big leftover week. We had a lot of food left over from the church fellowship, so the cream cheese chicken and rice will probably be our lunch quite a bit this week. There is also a good bit of food left from the school, so that makes menu planning easier too.

16 Sunday – church fellowship. I brought cream cheese chicken, brown rice, rolls, and butterscotch pudding cake.
17 Monday – leftover Chinese
18 Tuesday – venison stew, whole wheat rolls
19 Wednesday – homemade chicken nuggets, sweet potato fries
20 Thursday – beef tacos, ww tortillas
21 Friday – pizza
22 Saturday – meatballs, squash casserole

You can read more menu plans over at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

There are 28 quail eggs in a regular egg carton

A closer look at the eggs

The eggs in the incubator. We’d like to eventually get trays specifically for quail eggs, but for now, the chicken egg ones work well enough.

The eggs are all really small – about the size of a quarter. It takes about 5 quail eggs to equal one chicken egg if you’re going to eat them or cook with them. Stephen and I crack up about eating a 10 egg omelet, but they really are that tiny.

It’s pretty interesting. Our quail actually lay better than our chickens. We have 3 quail hens and one rooster, and all three hens usually lay every day. 21 eggs a week is not bad at all. When you add that to the fact that a quail is mature in 6 weeks and should be laying by 8 weeks. . .even better. We already had the housing for them and most of their requirements are similar to that of chickens. It works out well. The eggs in the incubator should hatch out some time in the middle of this week. I’m hoping to post some pictures when they hatch.