check in time

The picture shows Skyler taking his morning nap. He is quite long when he stretches out like this but a bit of a couch (and bed) hog. We have some cardinals nesting in the front bushes and had some rain this morning so the birds are out in full force this afternoon. He seems to enjoy watching them, chittering and chattering back at them. I guess he was worn out from all that "hunting" when I took his picture.

It has been a pretty quiet week. A little of this and that--DJ had a birthday earlier in the week so I had a cake to bake. I tried two new recipes for both the white cake with chocolate icing he requested though. The cake was perhaps a little more successful than the frosting. The directions were vague so I am not at all sure that I beat it as long as I was supposed to or that the cocoa and milk mixture got hot enough to dissolve the granulated sugar---it remained a bit gritty. We celebrated by lunch out and I fixed steak and the usual sides for our supper. The weather was perfect for grilling out.

Wednesday I had a nursing seminar to attend to get some of the needed ed units for license renewal. I keep an active license though I have not practiced since we moved to Alabama. You never know. I kept myself busy by knitting on my cardigan--easy stockinette stitch so I didn't have to think too much about what my hands were doing. DJ came into town and joined me for lunch.

Sewing though has remained in a short supply most of the week. Yesterday I finally got off my duff and sewed some binding together. I followed that up by cutting out this quilt top and then started sewing up the strip sets. The fabric had been stacked up and sitting out long enough!

Actually the painting bears print was ALREADY cut in exactly the number that I needed. I found the strips at our meeting place and someone had donated the blue star yardage. I did not realize that they were already cut into big squares at the time. I cut them into 6 1/2 inch strips and joined them in three pieces to get the WOF strip I needed. The yellow print is the leftovers from the 9 Patch Pizzazz challenge fabric that Pam sent but I cut them just a bit wider. The backing I chose was some that my mom sent from a good Hancock's sale last year. I wish that I had a nice clear red fabric that I could use for the binding---like red tone on tone WTIL fabric would work great but I only have a small square of that left, LOL. I am busting stash though not necessarily my own, LOL. The pattern is, of course, Mary's quick strippie pdf pattern and is wonderful for pro bono work as it makes up quickly and easily.

What to do next? I had a couple of mystery bags stuck in the closet. AHHH, another donation bag of scraps and project bag that one of the Belles had me pick up last month. There were 13 string blocks pieced to muslin with more bases cut out. 7 more blocks with sashing would make a decent sized top. I cut up the bags in the scrap, tossed the stuff we can't use and pulled down the 2 inch strip basket from my latest cutting binge. That's where I left off before fixing supper. Simple sewing is about all I feel up to at the moment but at least I'm sewing!

I need to go on a block idea search for one of the row quilts though----this one has a Mardi Gras/St. Pat's theme. Different color range for those. Purples, gold, green? I don't know that there are any blocks with Mardi Gras in the name necessarily and the one idea that I have might have already been used. Sarah's memorial heart quilt is still waiting for assembly too.

Guess that's it for this posting---I'll check in with y'all in bloggerland when I can even if I don't always let you know I was there.