and another week goes rolling by

Time flies.  Another week went rolling by and looking back, I am not entirely sure how I occupied my time but it is gone.  Well, some of it I know.  Some of it is the usual routine---walking, errands, household tasks, reading, playing on the computer.  Typical stuff.

I stayed home from quilt guild today as both Jane and Aline were going to be unavailable.  Initially my plan was to do a little cleaning around here but I awoke with a head pounding sinus headache which has only improved slightly since I got up.  I thought about going back to lay down around 9:30 but got passed that, thank heavens!  The caffeinated iced coffee and the aspirin must have kicked in.  It is in the mid to high 60's, overcast and looks like it could rain any minute.  The overnight storms and rains were projected to be out of here in the early morning hours.  I shut off the a/c---again---and opened some windows.  No sun= no 80's.  

So here is how it looks around here---

Skyler in his "usual" spot high above the fray.

Oscar logging some couch time between chasing his frog and tug of war with me.

As they have both been fed, watered and played and/or walked I suspect that naps will ensue shortly.

BUT I do not think I will be heading back to the sewing room to work on this----

Hard to believe that all that is one whole quilt top.   By Monday evening I had the pointy parts seamed for the Quatrefoil challenge quilt.  Tuesday morning I trimmed and pressed the 2nd flippy triangle area.  Tuesday afternoon I drug the sewing stuff over to the church small group and seamed all the 4 patch sections--6 strip sets.  I also seamed the binding strips and sewed the cornerstone materials onto the 12 1/2 inch inch strips section so I can pre-sash the blocks.   I figured out how to do this a long time ago, on my own--treat it like part of the block instead of piecing long rows of it and trying to attach that skinny strip to long and often bulky body of the quilt.  Anyway, I need 19 of those pieced sashings, 12 without stones and one single cornerstone to get the job done.   I had another one of those "can't get back to sleep in the middle of the night" nights and got up and cut up the strip sets.  Yesterday  I was able to have Oscar go outside for a bit while I sewed 4 patches.  Last night I did the 4 patch spiral and finger pressed those while the boys and I chilled on the couch.    From here on out it is just making a souped up 9 patch block and head to this, below.  I suspect that I probably will not sew today since Oscar is IN with it being wet out. I have Bama Belles coming up so if nothing else, I could sew away from home and a retreat coming up too.  I will get this done by deadline.  

I have been considering some ideas for what to do with the leftovers though.  It changes daily almost, LOL.  Yesterday I got a bulk mail ad for AQS that included a free pattern for a quilt called Rubix by Stacey Day.  (Google it and it will lead to a pdf of the pattern.)  When I mentioned it to my pal Norma my BC  buddy told me Ms. Day is from Vancouver and slated to do a trunk show at her guild at one of their upcoming meetings!   Ms Day has free patterns on her blog that also look promising.  Linked In and Button Up were what caught my eye most.  Sun Day Afternoon could work for the donation fabrics.  HMMM I wonder how many of these Norma will see in person during the trunk show?   We bounce ideas off each other a lot and have done so via the 'net for years!  Norma suggested one she had seen designed by Beth Helfter for Eva Paige Designs called Kickin' Stash.  I like this multicolor deal but Norma also found one in all blues that looks quite striking too.   Food for thought.

Speaking of food, I had a cooking binge day for about the first time in forever on Thursday. Other than making  Green Chile Quiche, Joanne Fluke's Lemon Fluff and my version of  pimento cheese spread the week before I have been barely cooking  for months.  I had decided to make Cheeseburger Soup though the day turned out to be anything BUT soup weather.  It still sounded good to me.  I had made this before and DJ loved it which in a way was surprising.  Normally he preferred just plain old potato soup when he asked me to make it.  I was forever itching to add grated carrots, corn, ham or whatever and make chowder of it.  He was not crazy about cheese soup either but this is not screamingly cheesy---I used a bit less than called for,  used a full pound of lean ground beef, used the whole box of chicken broth rather than the 3 cups called for and added a bit of thyme. I also made the white sauce/cheese sauce separately and then sort of tempered it into the soup itself once I knew the potatoes were done.  Tasty!  It is good with beef broth instead, BTW. 

I did a good bit of peeling that day---carrots to be grated, potatoes to be cubed and apples for Classic Apple Crisp.  It had been so long since I used the food processor I had to get out the manual to remind myself how to attach/detach the disc arm!  I cubed the potatoes on the Vidalia Chop Wizard and that worked wonderfully once I realized I had to cut the potatoes in cube sized chunks first or it would be like a long french fry----duh!  Needless to say, I ran the dishwasher TWICE that day as I cannot seem to cook without dirtying a ton of dishes.  By the time I was done I had used two large mixing bowls and dirtied almost all of the measuring cups at my disposal and totally emptied out the brown sugar container and its measuring cup.   I made a batch of Basic Corn Muffins as a finale.   AND I took both soup and apple crisp down to the neighbors since I had so much.  I didn't think the soup would freeze as things with potatoes often don't.   I put half of my apple crisp in the freezer as the recipe did give some hints in the comment section of how it could be reheated later--tent in foil till bubbly, etc.   I enjoyed what I had but not enough to want to eat it more than two meals.  

I don't know what I may decide to fix this next week.  In some ways without DJ to cook for I have lost most of my enthusiasm for cooking.  It is not that I don't like to cook but more like "why bother?" for just me.  I suppose a lot of widowed, divorced or single women go through that.  There is not enough room in the freezer to take care of all the leftovers.  I did take a little time this morning and straighten mine out  There is some chopped turkey in there I had forgotten about that may turn into Pot Pie or maybe Turkey Wild Rice Soup. Spotted the ham slices leftover from Easter too.  Ham Balls??   Or I may see something on Pinterest or email box that I just have to try.   Lately it just seems to be the desserts rather than entrees!   Can't just live on chocolate though, can you?  

I guess that's about it.  If I am not going to sew, then maybe it is going to be curl up with a good book.  I'm reading a few more in the Laura Child's Tea Shop Mystery series that I checked out from the local library currently.  Real books, not  Kindle version, LOL.  Think Oscar will let me flop on the couch and read?