Trying to get back into quilting

Now that the semester is over, and I have a bit of free time, I'm wanting to start working on my quilt again.

I'm on my second ever quilt, so I'm definitely a beginner. I piece the quilt top with my sewing machine, and do the quilting by hand. I'm new to this and it's going quite slow lol. With school and everything I haven't had a lot of time to devote to it. I'm hoping to change that.

I've been doing it in sections, with the plan to attach the sections together at the end, thinking that may make it easy to handle.

I love looking at quilt websites and Pinterest for inspiration. Some of these quilters are absolutely amazing. I feel so inferior in comparison. But hey, we all have to start somewhere.

My cat Toby loves to snooze on lap underneath my quilting hoop...

Wine Steak Marinade: How to turn a cheap steak into something delicious

Sorry for no posts the last few days. My laptop went kaput - after downloading some free fonts and Photoshop brushes, the blue screen "of death" kept showing up. Not good! I can no longer use it for the time being. I have a guy taking a look at the laptop, and hopefully he can bring it back to normal. I do have a small old netbook I can use for the meantime, at least. It's kind of hard to type on this tiny keyboard, but I wanted to at least post something,

I'm working on my second quilt - It's coming along slowly but surely. Here's a peek:

Hey... how about a recipe?

I got some cheap steak on sale at the grocery store, and I wanted to figure out a way to make it super tender and juicy. The last time I made steak, it was rather tough to chew and dry.

I found this recipe online, and decided to try  it tonight. I did not use every ingredient on the list, I modified it based on personal preference and the ingredients I had on hand  - the ingredients I did use are in bold. My personal notes are in italic.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I used garlic powder)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper (I used lemon pepper)  
• Not in recipe, but I also added onion powder, about 2 TBSP each of: Worcestershire sauce, low sodium soy sauce, and BBQ sauce. 

Directions

1. In a heavy-duty plastic food bag, mix all ingredients well.
2. Place steak in marinade and seal bag tightly. (I also poked a few holes in the steak)
3. Place in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, inverting bag every hour. (I marinated about 7 hours)
4. Marinade can be used to baste steak while grilling.

The steak was absolutely delicious, juicy, and tender. My husband and I loved it. The longer you can marinate, the better, if you have time. I'm sure it would have been awesome if I used ALL the ingredients, too.