Latest finish

My latest finish---Finn's and my blocks with the hand quilted Snowball alternate squares. After piddledinkin' on the computer with this and that the better part of the day, I finished up the last bit of binding. I interrupted DJ's watching some wretched Steven Seagal movie to hold this up--what the heck does he see in those films? There were pencil markings to wash out and it came out of the dryer beautifully---the quilting even more defined and full of cuddle factor with the soft peach backing fabric. I'm glad I re-pinned it. I am a little sad to be done with the hand quilting so will have to find another project to fill the desire to slow down and enjoy the process.

When I was putting the binding on the other day, I found out that I was about 8 inches short of having enough to make the angled join. I was NOT going to take all that off again but thought perhaps there was a bit of that Mumm floral in the scrap bags. Maybe not though as it had been used for backing, bowties, maybe turned up in the Pineapple Blossom or Heartstrings blocks the Belles made for a group quilt. I dug around for a while and then flashed on the idea that perhaps it was with some pastel fabrics I have set aside for Log Cabin Baskets. Nope, but I found a scrap of a 30's print from a past BOM quilt that was just right----I bet most people would not spot it right off but it is there.

Speaking of Log Cabin Baskets---this was the Wrap 'Em yahoo groups raffle quilt from 2005. We were to make a block for the quilt and a block for drawing amongst the participants and I got some of them. Someone other lucky person got the quilt though. (Tickets for the current one are available now on the website---link in my sidebar)

Someday I will make a quilt of my own though though maybe not with the garden lattice stuff. My impression is that it would not be too easy to get the rails and x's to line up. I later made one block in 30's repros to be included in my Pioneer Sampler----I hope to finish up the machine quilting on that one when things slow down a bit with the donation quilts. Currently I have 8 pinned and waiting for me and 7 tops at the church to be pinned. Once those are done, I WILL move onto my own stuff, though I cannot promise that I won't still sandwich some more donation work in between.

And just because I have not posted any pics of my Kitty lately doesn't mean that she can't stay out from under the bed and be friendly. She kept moving her head around so it took about 6 attempts to get one of her face, LOL. Looks like she is just barely tolerating the picture taking to me if you look at those ears. She's doing okay eating wise--not great but okay. Lab tests later in the month to see where her kidney function levels are.

Nothing much going on today. Walked this morning early but that's a part of my morning routine most days. I've got the Brother set up to do some piecing today--a block for a special friend and some odds and ends. See what strikes my fancy after that but it will be piecing, not quilting for a few days. Tomorrow I best get busy on the last round of the row robin since it is due in a week.

I am sure that you join me in saying a prayer for those involved in the collapse of the interstate bridge in Minneapolis, MN. The fatality count may rise and a lot of people were injured or missing from what I am reading online. The rescue workers job is not finished nor is the healthcare workers caring for the injured. Just goes to show that things can change in an instant. Sobering thought.

this and that

If anyone reads my postings from a RSS feed through their web browser, you may have seen an old June post that I edited to replace the picture. Roger kindly sent the original jpeg to me so I took the old scanned photo off and put the real image up. Sorry for the confusion but much better without the glare off Dad's and my shirts. And if none of that makes any sense, I'll refer you back to the original post HERE .

Been somewhat quiet around here the last two days. I finished quilting the sashed Ohio Star quilt seen HERE yesterday afternoon and started finishing the binding on my Beetle quilt. Pat came by to pick up 3 quilts since she volunteered for binding detail. I dropped Lois' quilt off for her yesterday morning and caught her in the middle of freezing corn. She sent some cukes home with me but unfortunately, DJ thought it was a bag of kitchen scraps and tossed them. ( Color me sad)

I had a few errands to run this morning as well as a couple of calls/emails to make in regard to the quilts we will be delivering to the Boys Big Oak Ranch. We CAN deliver them to the facility the day we lay them out on the church pews which will be a good deal---won't have to haul them all back to Linda S for storage just to drag them all back out a few days later. And, I sent something into the community pages of our paper as invitation for anyone to come see them that would like to do so. As part of the press release I needed to get a tally of just how many quilts we have donated since we started in 2000----1575!! and we aren't done for this year yet. That's a lot of kids wrapped in love. Of course, we have had help over the years---our friends who have come to sew-in's we have hosted over the years have helped sew and donated tops; friends from the internet have sent tops, blocks and fabrics, my Mom who is a long distant Belle has made tons of quilts for WTIL and so forth. Still, not bad!

I don't have any finished tops to show you and Pippi has been making herself scarce lately so no recent pics of her either. SO I'll guess I'll share a picture of the WTIL raffle quilt. The yahoo group helped make blocks some time back and my mom came down to Alabama for us to assemble it. Ellen asked someone to quilt it but that did not work out because of the quilter's teaching and traveling schedule but no matter, it is done now, thanks to Ellen.

Tickets are available on the Wrap Them In Love site (which I cannot open at the moment. ) Go to the home page HERE and click on the raffle quilt if you are interested in purchasing tickets. I don't think that this is going to click bigger so please check out the one posted on the website so you can see the quilting better. I believe that the drawing will be held in December. I thank you for your consideration of a cause that is near and dear to me and others.

We have been having a bad time with ants this year, both inside and out. Remember when they zapped out the switch in the air conditioner a couple of weeks back? I have had it with insects that belong outside being inside though. Last week they had gotten into a cupboard with baking supplies, sauce mixes and pasta. Tonight just as I was starting supper I discovered that they were in the muffin mix (double corn casserole was intended), dried soup mixes, puddings and jellos. When I think about the money that just went down the drain in recent days with those pests it about makes me sick. We have tried everything to get rid of them! Right now the cupboard contents that could be salvaged are sitting in laundry baskets on the kitchen floor. I do not want to deal with putting the stuff away tonight.


Speaking of Pippi, we have to go for her followup labs tomorrow to see how her kidney function is holding up. Of course they would like us to make an appointment. HA! She disappears and pops out when she darned well feels like it. Just when she is starting to trust us NOT to be putting her in the carrier every time she turns around, I'll prove that her trust was unwarranted. Bad kitty mama! She has been staying out from under the bed a bit more during the day time hours. In the evening and at night she curls up on the sewing room pressing/cutting table on whatever quilt is laying out but retreats once DJ and I get navigating in the morning. I think she could be eating better but subjectively she seems to be acting okay. Cross your fingers that she doesn't have to have IVs for a couple days again.


I tried a new recipe tonight from the Southern Food about.com site---if you have fresh blueberries on hand, you may want to give it a whirl. Pretty tasty and not too sweet.


Easy Blueberry Pudding Cake


INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups fresh blueberries


• juice and zest of 1 small lemon


• 1 cup all-purpose flour


• 2 teaspoons baking powder


• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon


• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


• 2/3 cup granulated sugar


• 1/2 cup low fat or whole milk


• 1 large egg


• 1/4 cup melted butter


• 1 teaspoon vanilla


• 3/4 cup granulated sugar


• 1 tablespoon cornstarch


• 1 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS:
Place blueberries and lemon juice in a buttered 8-inch square pan. Mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt, spices, and 2/3 cup sugar. In another bowl whisk together the milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla.

Stir dry ingredients into the milk mixture; pour evenly over berries, spreading if needed. Mix 3/4 cup sugar with cornstarch and sprinkle evenly over batter. Slowly pour boiling water over all. Bake at 350° for 40 to 50 minutes.

Guess that's if for today--------