Christmas Eve Eve

 Today's achievements----

DJ had requested some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.  Since it is one of my absolute favorite cookies (Pride of Iowas would be the next one, LOL) I happily obliged.  The recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli white chocolate morsels bag was the same one on the back of the chopped nuts so I went with it.

These are a little too crunchy once they cooled completely or else I should have baked them a minute less.  Actually I wonder if a half shortening, half butter deal would have been a better way to go.  Don't get me wrong, they are very tasty!  Also I was experimenting a bit as I only have one airbake sheet.  SO I put a sheet of parchment paper on the large old cookie sheet and baked on the lower rack using the airbake in the middle rack as I always do.  Those cookies baked smaller and over browned a bit but that could have been from the low rack.

I am going to track down the other recipe I normally use to see what the difference were---if any.  That last batch I made was not this firm---does that have something to do with the proportion of flour to fat???  There was plenty enough sugar in there!!  The yield was listed at 5 dozen and drop by teaspoons.  I used my cookie scoop, not completely full though and got 6 1/2 dozen.  Most of them went to the freezer!


2nd achievement---the row of snowmen is completed except for some embroidery for the mouths and button eyes.  I put some fusible on the back of some orange felt and cut them free form.  Drew the mouths on free hand too though the pattern had some shapes that could be traced off.  I don't know if I am doing anything more with this tonight.

I have some ideas about the next blades I want to work on for Allison's tree skirt and I may do some searching through my available Christmas patterns.  I am enjoying some Christmas music from a new to me group "Point of Grace" as I putter around in the sewing/computer room.  DJ is busily watching yet another Christmas movie while Skyler is sacked out in his kitty cube.   If you put his stuff away for awhile he stays interested for a little bit anyway.  The catnip underneath the bottom pad might have something to do with it, LOL.

And sew it goes-------

How did this happen?

In a blink of an eye, it would seem I went from this---------

Age 2, maybe 3??

Age 6 in my paternal grandparents kitchen  

And this past October 2011 about to enter round number territory.  Hair is a bit longer but just as gray.  

My brother who will be passing this same threshhold in 16 months  asked me if I was going to celebrate this one or just let it go by.   I think maybe I am coming to terms with the fact that I am getting older----key word is maybe.  I didn't used to feel old---these days Mother Nature is making it abundantly clear that I am getting there, LOL, in spite of my wanting to will away the inevitable.  Happens to all of us, right?  

I don't want to hear any of that stuff about "any day above ground is a good day" or "better than the alternative" or "age is mind over matter---if you don't mind, it doesn't matter".  Just quit, okay?  Let me wallow in it a bit.  I'll give myself a talking to/pep talk later.  When I turned 30 I was almost despondent.  I wasn't married, had no children and I was sure it would have happened before then.   Double that number now and I am resigned to it.  I married too late to have kids---my life may or may not have turned out as I planned but it is the hand I was dealt.

I just received word last week that my old 7th grade crush was killed in as a result of injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash.  Mike was a good guy --- maybe he got to 60 and maybe he didn't.  Other friends have wrestled with serious illness and come out on the other side.  I have been fortunate not to have had near those problems.  What could I possibly be bellyaching about?   That is what I told my mom a few days ago.

Here is what else I decided is okay about birthdays.  I like birthday cake as long as I don't have to make it.  I like dinner out at a more upscale restaurant with my husband.  I like having a bit more spending money to support my quilting habit.  So yeah, I'll be the queen for a day because that is the only time I get away with being so self centered.   Happy Birthday to me!

_______________

So how am I spending my day so far?  About like any other so far.

I finished the long side of binding that remained from yesterday's binding binge.  I still want to hand quilt around the watermelon seeds but I need to get some black quilting thread and WM had everything but.

I baked another sheet cake----this time my old TNT Tex-Mex version.  (Yesterday was Peanut Butter Sheet Cake---new to me recipe).  Aline, Jane and I are the refreshment girls at Friendship Quilter's Guild tomorrow.  I baked the two cakes and prepped a veggie tray as my part of the deal.

This afternoon---more binding on the other wall hanging but DJ is taking me out to Outback Steakhouse.  I want some coconut shrimp though I think he will probably go for steak.  

I am going to go see if this "not a birthday" cake has cooled enough for me to put it up and er. test for quaility control purposes.    THX for stopping by

Still not sewing?

Still not sewing??  Then more cleaning but toss in cooking two meals instead of the usual one and some baking to boot, LOL.   DJ had neglected to pick up some of his awful store bought oatmeal cookies---he has one or two after lunch and after dinner.   I offered to make some "not a bday" cupcakes that he should have gotten when it WAS his birthday.

I used  the Chocolate Nutella Cupcake recipe from 52 Kitchen Adventures blog, scratch baked since I didn't have any cake mixes on hand.  That's okay though I like to scratch bake.  I had time to play in the kitchen---not sewing, after all.  The cake part is good, moist, dark chocolate taste but they sunk a bit in the middle.  Not at first but it may have been when I switched the pans around and took the larger pan out to test.   Also I noticed that the temperature dial had moved from where I had set it too far into the baking.   I decided that I do NOT like messing with those paper liners.  They do not fit the holes in the pan, fan out and then you can't get the batter into them without them folding or dumping.

I let DJ test the missing cake as it had stuck to the pan when I removed it to the rack to cool before I frosted them.  He liked the cake but said it needed frosting---which I had made up so I glopped a bit on his uneaten portion, LOL.   The frosting is wonderful --- chocolate, nutella-- how bad could that be??  Other than the obvious fat levels, I mean.   I wanted to play with the piping tip of the Wilton Decorator thing I had recently bought but obviously could use more practice.   DJ spotted me and told me if I got good then he had some caulking I could do on our siding.  Nope, that's your job, Honey but thanks for the vote of confidence!  Most of these are going in the freezer.  I'll pick up his cardboard cookies tomorrow when I go to get groceries.

I posted this bit of nostalgia on facebook where they had been posting old washtubs and washboards, wringer washer etc.  I have a pictures of me outside in a washtub---that started my trip down memory lane. I had a picture with Dave and Mom at the wringer washer too.  Maybe an old Sunbeam mixer will be next?   In this shot Mom was obviously making something.  The fact that we three kids are gathered around the mixer must be because we were ready to lick the beaters and spatula/bowl if offered.   I'm guessing she was making cake and this is the frosting.  Such a look of concentration on my little face!  Budding baker??  I am 6, Steve 5, Dave 3 assuming this was early in the 1959 folder.

And a little detective work on  my part:  my sister Janet scanned most of the family slides and made us discs of the images. If the number assigned to the slide used the information Dad gave it originally, it may have been for Dad's graduation from Northern Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL back in 1959. ( OR it could have been his April birthday.)    A subsequent shot shows my grandparents with several aunts and a uncle gathered around the table having punch and cake---yellow cake with white frosting.  The following images show the church in rural Wisconsin that was my dad's first pastorate and where he was ordained the following year.  Memories!

So today----more binding ahead on the 76 Bowties QOV.  I can turn it in Saturday since the quilt guild will be meeting.  Some weeks I just barely leave the house but will not be the case this coming week with a board meeting in Pell City tomorrow, Belles on Tuesday and back over to Pell City for the guild meeting Saturday.    Today is the Golden Springs Quilt and Car Show and I'll run out this afternoon since I will need to bring my entries home as well.

There you have it for today's installment-------

WIP Thursday, wk 43

I totally forgot that yesterday was Wednesday and didn't post what I was working on!

Since some of my deadline sewing projects (birthday gifts, FAB challenge) were complete, I had time to do a little extra cooking/baking yesterday morning. Poor DJ has been the quick, down and dirty version of meals lately OR the leftovers from the freezer as the cook was busy. We aren't going to starve or anything but the faster I could get out of the kitchen, the better lately. I had sewing and/or crafting to do!

You see, I like have some homemade muffins or bread on hand in the freezer for an occasional mid morning coffee break. A quick zap and we can split a jumbo muffin or chunk of bread. Alas, the cupboard has been bare of that stuff for about a month. I made two loafs of the copycat version of Starbucks Pumpkin Bread since the recipe uses only half the can. Then the leftover sweet potatoes I had stashed in the freezer became a sweet potato pie with like a praline topping on it (Susan Branch newsletter) That goes with tonight's turkey breast in the crockpot meal though we did try a slice last night. Possibly poor planning on my part since the cholesterol/triglycerides are bound to be up.

SO anyway, what I DID do yesterday afternoon is prep some stitcheries. Above you see a Crabapple Hill Studio freebie designed by Meg Hawley that can be downloaded HERE. At that point I was just getting ready to trace it off.

To the right, the cornerstone blocks for the Bird Brain Santa project. Once stitched I will trim them down to the 2 inch finished size required in the kit. I have an itty bit of the #12 Santa block done. Since I plan on going to DJ's cardiologist appointment with him tomorrow, I will drag that along with me----and judging from the wait times he has experience on his previous appointments, I will get a good bit done on it.


Lastly, the last 3 Halvorsen calendar quilt blocks were traced off and ready to pull the required floss colors. I did a little bit of the stitching last night and will back to it this afternoon till supper prep time.

I am pretty sure that my next piecing/applique project will be Pumpkins 4 sale from Country Threads. I had pulled some of the fabrics a few months back and it being fall, something fun to work on. I had spotted this done up on a blog last year about this time and Margo at Heart in His Hand was so sweet to let me know the pattern source so I could track down the pattern. If I can dig up some dark green fabric from my stash, I think this one could be a reality!

At some point Lois and I will make a run up to Boaz to pick up our quilts from Susan, our long arm quilter. If not Saturday, then after Wednesday next week. My Daisy Chain is done and that means binding and a sleeve coming in the near future---my next quilt show entry, no doubt.

MMMMMMM, it is starting to smell like Thanksgiving at my house---the turkey in the pot. DJ will be eating good tonight! Have a wonderful weekend and thx for stopping by------

WIP wk #31

A little progress has been made on this triple rail donation top in the past two days. I had the bulk of this section done a few months back so row 6 was the one I pieced and attached.

Below is rows 7, 8 and 9---the long rows thru the middle of the quilt. 10 will complete the lower left corner when I get to it. Since it is on point, the rows get progressively smaller as you work out to the lower right. I'll get back to it tomorrow.



I have a ton of blue and green blocks made up so I am only trying to NOT put the same print right next to each other. I admit that is hard NOT to try to be too matchy-matchy with the prints---to just pick up a piece and use it no matter what, LOL. I couldn't resist working in some of the jigsaw scraps from the last donation top. You can't see it on this shot but it is in there. I'm going to whip up a couple more from the scrap basket before I resume the rows.

The pattern (from Mary Ellen Hopkins long ago online subscription) calls for a heart block to be pieced into the rails. It is in memory of the founder of Wrap Them In Love's mother who passed away earlier in the year. I have made this quilt once before but did not make that section heart colored. The heart part didn't show up as well. This time it will. THIS post contains a shot of the first one I made. You will see what I mean about the heart not showing up and where I am headed with this thing.


I'm going to put a few more stitches in this block today rather than machine sew. And maybe read a bit---I am right in the middle of Earlene Fowler's State Fair book. DJ and I also picked up a couple books from the bookmobile today.

Plus I see some kitchen time ahead on the horizon. I am thinking about trying a new cake recipe for Honey Bun Cake. I found it printed up in this month's ALFA members publication but HERE is a link online (looks the same to me.) I do love cinnamon! Someone I know has a birthday next week.....not that this IS a birthday cake. ( I refuse to make my own bday cake!) I feel like baking and just want a taste of a little something sweet tonight. The leftovers can go to the freezer. HMMMMMM, it says to bake it in a 13 x 9 but shows it in a Bundt pan so I may go that route instead.

Hope you are having a good day in whatever YOU chose to do

if it looks like bread................

it must BE bread, LOL. Ignore the chunk the cook cut off for quality control purposes. (I think it needed a bit more salt--tastes a little bland in spite of the herb and garlic mixed in)

After spending a couple days reading the kitchenaid conversations.com forums and printing off recipes and filing them along with my previously acquired yeast bread/quick breads I finally fired the mixer up. Big old 3 inch ring binder is full!

I ran into one of the Belles at the store yesterday. Jane suggested maybe we could do soup and cornbread for lunch at our meeting on Tuesday rather than head out to a nearby restaurant for "more chicken salad". Yeah, it's good but she wanted something different for a change. I asked her which one did she want me to fix--the bread or the soup? She chose soup, LOL. I added buttermilk and Martha White cornbread mix to the grocery list. I have all the ingredients measured out and along with the utensils so I can just mix that up quick and bake it there in the church oven. The Herb Garlic Baguettes will be shared---well, one of them will. The one I whacked into can stay home for our supper. Two different sizes and a little mis-shapened but it is bread. It rose and did all the things it was supposed to. (I made DJ a Toll House Pie before that as his "thank you" for the mixer so that was the inaugural dish, I guess)

So after playing the kitchen for several hours I think I am ready to do something quilt-y. Have a good day and thanks for stopping by---------

try this again---midweek post

After two days of rain, the sun is finally out though some dark clouds persist. Parts of the state did have flooding, flash flooding and tornado warnings yesterday so it could have been much worse. Some wind damage down along the I-20 corridor in the south end of the county, the paper said. Boy, is the wind whipping around out there today! I know it is nature’s way of drying things up but it is howling. I don’t remember it ever being this windy even when we had the effects of Hurricane Katrina this far north. If I were Skyler, I would be hiding under the bed or something by now.

The picture was taken through his cube as we were playing this morning. (ed note: I just plain cannot get this picture to load!! Grrrrrr and what's more I am giving up trying--maybe later then) Sometimes we put his warming mat up against it to make a longer tunnel and he shoots through there and back at about 90 miles an hour. Usually there is a mouse or too in the cube or near it. There is a pocket on the bottom of the cube, just under the sheepskin fleece that holds catnap but I believe he is one of those cats who has no effect from it. (Pippi and Tyson definitely were) His routine at the moment is to nap in the cube for several hours after supper till he migrates to either the recliner with DJ or hogs the love seat till DJ heads to bed.

I am still working on the machine applique on my FAB project—well not this minute, I’m obviously typing and on the computer. One last segment to complete and then I can get ready to quilt said project. I got quite a bit of the work done yesterday while I listened to "Dewey" on audiotape. Cute story about Dewey Readmore Books, the Spencer, IA library cat. I got up to the point where Dewey's health is failing at age 18-19 and it sounded so much like my Pippi's situation that I didn't think I could handle it and shut it off. I will finish listening to it at some point but yesterday was not a good day for that. Tears, machine stitching, not a good mix. Anyway, I’m afraid I won’t have anything "quilty" to show you till the reveal in early February on that score. The Belles meet in a week so that might be my only hope for quilt pictures since I am not sewing anything else. (Red work doesn’t count.)

I got lucky on my thread run on Monday. I had 2 definite shops that I was going to try---Hobby Lobby was one but it is a good 14 miles or so from my house at the Oxford Exchange. Maybe the Discount Fabrics place out on US 78 would have what I needed? Just about as far away but on the way to Hobby Lobby. One of my girlfriends said that they carried off brand stuff but I could look. The one and only quilt shop was just down the road from that discount store. I don’t know what they have in the way of thread but the shop used to be an heirloom sewing place—only been in there once since it opened. Another option was the thread box at our meeting place. All those locations were within a mile or so of each other and I would go if if had to. Another option in the back of my mind was to mail the two spools to my mom and ask her to make a Joann’s or Hancock’s run. (You are off the hook, Mom but thanks for offering!)

As I hit town, I thought I would stop by a store that sells mainly upholstery fabrics though some other stuff as well and gardening stuff just on the off chance that they had thread. I had only been in there once in the 11 years I have lived here. I honestly did not remember what they had in the way of sewing notions. I was able to match the rust colored thread exactly. A gold they had was a better choice that what I had. Woohoo!

I practiced some bread baking again this morning—Onion and Herb Focaccia from Prepared Pantry. I had initially thought that I might use it for our lunch sandwiches as the bread but it was not done in time. Mine did not look as pretty as theirs. Sorry, no picture as I cut into it before I thought about it. My plastic wrap stuck to it as it was rising. Maybe Press and Seal is not exactly what they meant by plastic wrap in the first place. My fingers did not leave the nice dimples that they had in the picture but looks were not everything. It was tasty! Nothing like warm bread from the oven. The instructions say that you could use this for a thicker pizza dough or even breadsticks so I might do that with the 2nd mix down the line. I put most of it in the freezer once it cooled. I would love to try their Orange Blossom rolls next but DJ said we should not get in the habit of having a sweet roll with coffee mid morning, even though he loved those cinnamon rolls I made recently. He is probably right but how else am I going to learn how to bake bread if I don’t keep practicing?? Maybe for our anniversary for a little treat.

No more cooking today as there is chili in the crockpot for tonight. Guess I should go do something productive---maybe a few stitches in Santa #2. Sunday I finished off the one in the last post that was almost done and started on the one with him holding the large star and heart. See picture HERE for what I am talking about.

Is anyone else having problems uploading pictures on Google today? I have been posting lately on Windows Live Writer without any problems but today it kept saying there was an internal feed error. Then I tried just copy/pasting my narrative and adding the pictures through Google. No dice after several attempts. Then I tried posting the pictures through Picassa "blog this". The pictures loaded finally but who knows if they will take the whole post. Guess I'll find out. Actually I had another picture of Skyler on the sewing table but I discovered that it showed too much in the background----Norma might see what I was working on. That won't do!

Hope that you have had a good day in whatever you chose to do--------

playing in the kitchen

Since I seem to be stuck in binding mode the past few days, both stitching it and making it, I took a break this afternoon and made a batch of cinnamon rolls. My maiden voyage in this area, I might add. I am serious about learning some new cooking skills this next year.

I ordered the roll mix from the Prepared Pantry as I really liked their pizza crust that we had tried recently. There were a few kitchen tools in the order as well. LOL, I got to admit that I like kitchen toys as much as quilt toys. I like office supplies too--that might be a hang over from my days as the "purchasing agent" among other things at the podiatric practice where I worked for 12 years.

I wound up with two more rolls than the recipe called for so I must have rolled the down out a little wider than they showed in the pictures on the directions. They DID raise up like they were supposed to though. Not entirely the same size but I think that was the pan situation (the over flow went on another pan) and the jelly roll was a little fatter in the middle section. Tasted delicious though---lots of cinnamon. Smelled fantastic in here too.

You might note that the blender now has a cover on it. The toaster does as well. I'm working on the food processor one now but Skyler keeps getting either on it or trying to get under it like he does the bed covers.

Hope you have had a good day in whatever you chose to do--------

this and that

Obviously something outside, possibly the neighbor across the lane's dog or a bird flitting by, has attracted Skyler attention. He has developed quite a fascination for the bathroom sink when you run water or brush your teeth but no way can I get a picture of him doing that. Moves too quickly. If not for his rapt attention to whatever it was outside, I would not have gotten this shot, LOL.

A little of this and that going on since my last post. Mostly spent finishing up the binding on the commissioned T-shirt quilt. I know--boring! I took the last stitch in it Saturday evening--big woo hoo there. Still trying to make connections with the owner for delivery or pickup.

When I got my haircut the other day, my neighbor/hairdresser said to come on over and get some apples from one of the trees that was bearing. They are small and the skins are blemished but I didn't find any worms in them at all. I must have peeled and chopped those things for over a hour and half yesterday morning but boy, did we get some good applesauce that I cooked up in the crockpot.

This morning I got to walk for the first time in two weeks. I only went 2 miles rather than my customary 3.3 but I didn't know how I would do wearing my walking shoes and the uneven terrain of the park. They had just spread some new gravel to fill in the rain washed out areas and not too evenly at that. I managed fine though the foot was squawking a bit by the time I was done. I plan to keep adding a lap a day to get back up to where I was provided I don't have any increase in pain. I was at the MD's on Friday on an unrelated manner and he offered to x-ray the banged up tow but I didn't think that would be necessary. Yeah, it is a bit sore with shoes on but I know from my 12 years in a podiatry practice what little bit would be done if it WAS fractured. I'll live and don't think I need a surgical shoe.

Which brings me up to the next subject, a frozen banana fell out of the freezer last night and almost hit the same sad little toe. Since I had about 7 of them in there, I decided to use up the last of the buttermilk and half of those bananas make a banana oatmeal cake this morning. It smells wonderful at my house though I did warm up the kitchen a bit making it. (Air won't go on till at least 1030 or 11---the annual summer gripe from me). Caramel frosting will be made once it cools but I will use the tried and true one recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor for that. I love to cook and bake when I have time. Don't need to be eating much of it but it will freeze---just like the surplus applesauce.

At right (and above) the next t-shirt quilt. It will be one of those 3-D appearing ones like the last one. The polka dot stuff is what the family wanted used but it will be tempered down as the frames around the shirt sections. Maybe someone can make some pillowcases of the leftovers for the owner-to-be. Won't be me though, LOL. Fabric content is indeterminate but I am guessing that there is some synthetic in it as it feels and looks a little slick. I'll deal with it as I did with the gingham from last round. Susan sent 4 yds of WOW -- washed and pressed that up on Sunday. I already have the black fabric for the shadows on hand ready to use.

Just for grins and giggles, I am keeping track of the time it takes to make one of these since essentially that is what I am getting paid for on this one. 19 shirts--small to medium sized so less interfacing needed. FYI: I have found that it can range from 10 to 13 yards of the stuff. Took 45 minutes to rough cut them apart with the rotary cutter. Took 4 hours and 40 minutes to cut the interfacing out to rough cut size and fuse them. Next up: square the sections up so I can start the sashing process. Then I will follow the process I outlined in this post for the design process so the shirts float on the background. It all takes time and as for size, it is what it is.

Here is the last one quilted. I am afraid that I cannot get a full out shot of it as it is too big and too heavy to hold up. I won't be at the meeting place for another week to spread it out on the fellowship hall floor so DJ's bed will have to do. Susan did a wonderful job of quilting it. She used little swirls in the picture frames and all over meander between but not through the main figures of the shirts.

This is what I would like to do next after the t-shirt top is done though. I have had this pattern for years---best guess, 97 when we moved in here. I had big plans to make matching kitchen accessories but only got as far as making the curtains. Chair cushions were cut out too so if I really want to be a glutton for punishment I could make them. I still have the fabrics on hand plus others to add to it though I need greens for the job, not blues. Mainly we need a new toaster cover but I had always hoped to make the blender and food processor cover as well. The wallhanging, while cute, is nice but there is no blank wall in my kitchen to hang one anymore.

I still have a list as long as my arm of things I would like to work on for ME. I'll get to them in due time--waited this long, after all so what is a bit longer going to hurt? Norma and I have been talking about doing an Atkinson Design Cheese and Crackers with some of our 30's stash so that probably tops MY list. My mom and some of her quilting friends in Lexington (IL) made one for the Taste of Country Fair quilt raffle and she was given the leftover scraps including some that she had donated to the cause. She is going to box them up and pass them on to me. A head start, I guess.

Guess that cake has had time to cool so unload the dishwasher and make some frosting.

Happy Birthday/general chatter

Happy Birthday to my dear husband--though it really is tomorrow. Also one of my nephew's is the 29th and a dear friend's is today (you know who you are!) Actually he wanted to just skip it this year but I told him "no cake" in that case. LOL, he wanted cake. I told him what kind I would make if it were my birthday----so he had a couple choices. Come to think of it, I didn't get one as I refuse to make my own. I just finished frosting this---I used the banana cake recipe from The Cake Mix Doctor . (The author Anne Bryn was a first cousin to one the Bama Belles, now deceased.) I think I used a different recipe when I have made banana cake before--probably one that used some leftover buttermilk or some such thing. This uses a non pudding'd yellow cake mix as a base. It is topped with her "Quick Caramel Frosting" recipe which I have made before. Normally I would not mess with toasting pecans but hey, it is his birthday and the recipe DID call for them. DJ had to come help me top the cake while I worked to get the frosting on before it hardened. Stuff tastes like penuche or maple fudge.

He wanted to celebrate today by a trip out to the golf course--rent a cart, play nine holes and have me along as "caddie/cheerleader". I really should have taken my camera as there are some really pretty spots on the golf course with the "mountains" off in the distance etc. We got done in plenty of time to take a 2 lap (about 1 1/2 miles) course around Oxford Lake on a gorgeous, breezy day in the high 60's. He wanted to go to Cici's for pizza buffet. I didn't quite know how to take it when the manager rang it up as two "seniors" but DJ corrected him. I'm not sure what the cutoff is for the senior discount but I am reasonably sure I'm not quite there yet.

Here is the birthday boy in his reading spot. (Jan, he said to thank you for the Patterson book---it saved us a stop at the library on the way home) Oh, he also said that he is going to start counting those birthdays backwards. I said he should repeat the last number again then---can't have him catching up with me at some point, after all!

Quilting wise, I finished up the last 6 blocks on Aline's "54-40 and Fight variation" quilt in those lovely batiks on Wednesday. Yesterday I pulled fabrics for my part of the row quilt that needs to be sent out by Tuesday. Joy had requested 6 or 12 inch blocks that will total 48 inches finished and had sent a section of Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks. The green she chose for the "paths" is similiar to 30's green but the blocks themselves almost had a jewel toned look to me so I didn't go with 30's colors but did chose a 6 inch pointy bladed fan that might be faithful to the period taht GFG suggests to me. Technically called "Mary's Fan" -- Brackman number 3328. The blades are all cut but I need to sew and prep the quarter circle thing that covers the base for applique---what do you call that thing????

Weirdest thing---the colors that to me seemed to "go" best with this project were some of my prized Civil War Repros and the Smithsonian "Grooms Quilt" pieces from 12 plus years ago. The stuff that I would rarely cut into. I raided my reds, purples and my quilt shop yardage in the tealy range that I would get a yard of each trip to a particular shop. Proving yet again, that fabric is meant to be used---not stored---and they will make more. Besides, I only had to rough cut about a 5 inch square of any of it---plenty left for something else. I'll get a picture when the project is done.

I'll get busy on the sewing after we have supper----another 20-30 minutes and I'll have to head out there start meal preparations. Seems like I just left, LOL. Ham, candied sweet potatoes (his choice) , green bean casserole (another fav). He only wants a pot of vegetable beef soup for the real birthday meal. I live to serve, LOL.

After I took the picture of Ms. Pippi she decided to flop on the rug in front of the door and soak up some sun. She always stops at the end of the hallway and looks towards the door as she approaches the living room like she expects something or somebody to be standing there. There never is, LOL. The catnip scratching pad is her "safe" spot. DJ had recently cut down the overgrown bush that was almost directly in front of the door so there is plenty of light streaming in. Not sure how we will get the stump out though----he already tried chopping it up a bit with an axe and destroying some of the roots. I vote that the next one he takes out is the other one that is blocking air, light and visibility from my sewing room. He was not amused---go figure.

I think that I have finally been around to all the blogs on my list, not always commenting. but just trying to get caught up with y'all. That's what happens when I get myself chained to the machine quilting---limited computer access and when I am done, I just want to get off my butt and rest my legs and back and not sit some more in front of the computer. You all continue to inspire and challenge me in ways you will never really know.............