It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

 Yes you heard that right.  It's a beautiful day out today.  It's still cold and I still have frozen pipes but it is sunny out and the animals made an appearance.

I have seen so far today:

  one neighborhood dog taking a dump in the street (at least it's not in my yard)

 three cats (Miss Tangerine, Miss Big Paws, and one I don't know)

birds

So, obviously I took some pictures.

You've seen pictures of Miss Tangerine and Miss Big Paws before so I'm not showing more now.  They each insisted that I give them hugs and pets so I sat out in the cold to do so.  I also gave them some more food since it is still cold out.  :)

I have started to stitch down my Welcome Bunny and then put sleeves on a couple of things and changed up what I had hanging on the door and walls.

I still have to figure out where to hang my turtle.  I will figure it out sooner or later.

I only have one more thing to report and that is my youngest grand nephew started High School today!  He certainly can't be that old already can he?

Enjoy high school Liam.  You're growing up to be a tall handsome young man.

That's it for today's report.  Everybody stay safe and warm.  Sooner or later we will have warmer weather.

Snow and more Snow

 That is the word in all of the news today.  Either Snow or Winter Weather Watch.  They use the names almost interchangeably.  

To remind people, this is not Illinois it is Arkansas!  Of course Illinois and northern states have it much worse.  

It seems that some four legged friends have visited.  There were bird prints in the snow on the porch but they got brushed off.  I have not seen the cats much.  Today I did see Tort, or at least one that looks like him, so at least the food and water I put out aren't going to waste.

I know that it is cold so I thought I'd warm you up a bit by putting in a couple of pictures of Hayley.

I tried to work on some craft things but it is cold enough that I just wat to stay under cover and watch season 1 and two of Babylon 5.  Put on my electric throw and get my pillow out and I get all snuggly in and watch it.

When I did come out, I figured that I would do the postage stamp block for Farmer's Wife.  It calls for 1 1/2" squares.  The book uses four colors but I think I am going to make it more scrappy and cut out the 1 1/2" squares from the colors that I use in other Farmer's Wife blocks.  So far this is what I have.

I believe that I need around 36 squares for that block.  I might start to save up more 1 1/2" squares and do a postage stamp throw or quilt or wall hanging.  Not sure yet.  We'll see how it goes.

It's time for me to get back under the blankets.  Everybody stay warm.  I will be spring before we know it.  REALLY it will.

Ice Storm Warning

 Awww.  Arkansas wanted me to feel like I was back home in the midwest today by having an Ice Storm Warning.  Wasn't that so nice of it?  Oh wait.  I'm retired.  I don't have to go outside if I don't want to and at 27F (feels like tempt of 19F) and I don't want to.  

That means, of course, that I'm NOT going to talk about the weather any more and talk instead about cooking and crafting.  First up is cooking.  I managed to make a loaf of beer bread and I like how it turned out.  The recipe only make one loaf and is a batter bread type.  It has...wait for it...only 3 ingredients.  That's my kind of recipe.

The recipe calls for:

3 cups pancake mix (yes you read that right)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 can beer (12 oz or 1 1/2 cups)

You just mix everything together but need to add the beer slowly and more like fold it in because of the foam that results from pouring beer.  Then bake for about 30-40 minutes in a 350F oven.

That's it.

In the next day or two I might try a biscuit recipe that has mandarin oranges and coconut in it.  Doesn't that sound yummy too?  I'll keep you informed on how it turns out.  I also made a couscous recipe that I saw on Jacques Pepin Facebook page.  It was delish!  It had spinach, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chicken broth, and of course Couscous.

With nice warm bread in my tummy, my thoughts turned to crafts.  First up was putting together the top, which I call Welcome Bunny.  It is actually called  Bunny and Blooms but I never remember that.  

The next step in it will be to pick out my embroidery floss and match up some colors.  It will get put to the side though on the 16th so I can do my two weeks of cross stitch.  Before I switch crafts on the 16th I wanted to get a couple more blocks done from some of the BOMs that I am doing.  I *did* manage to get my first block done for the Civil War - Hands All Around BOM.  This is the one that was inspired by Louisa Alcott and offered by Barbara Brackman.  

The colors look a little off in the picture but the corners are an off white while the flying geese-ish rectangles are white.  The 9 patch uses the same off white that the corner blocks have.  I had all of those cut out when I realized I didn't have enough to do everything in the same color.  I'm trying to use up scraps when I can.  I finished it up just in time because today block two was posted.  Block two will be a Missouri Star block.  Did I mention that I am proud of the 9 patch block?  I'm proud because I didn't use any of the short cut methods for it.  The flying geese are all done with triangles!!! and they fit in pretty good I thought.

On a side note, I have ordered Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, 3rd edition.  Amazon should have it in March.  It was expensive but not as expensive as trying to get an older copy of it and I watched a review on it.  I'm trying to get more into piecing and this seemed like a good investment.  I think that I might have shocked my friend Susan with that statement but after doing the first block I figured I might continue with learning how to piece.  hehehe

the Civil War block wasn't the only blocks I worked on.  I also managed to get some more Farmer's Wife blocks done.  

This is Contrary Wife

This is Streak of Lightning

and this is Homebound

The only other thing I have to show today is my newest template....the half Heart from Missouri Star Company.  It will be used when I do their pattern called Hearts and Gizzards.  There is a video tutorial on their website showing how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guqmuwOAO4E&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=MissouriStarQuiltCompany

I hope that you enjoyed todays blog.  Stay safe and warm and enjoy your day.

Some Bunny Loves You

 It is February 7 and I find that I haven't done much.  I do have things to show you though.  First up, let's see another pictures of Hayley.  Yeah, I have another one.  LOL.

It was nice to be able to see something nice since I also found out that a former boss of mine, and a professor that I took classes from, had passed away.  In case some of you might have known her, I've included the info that was sent to me.  She didn't get along with everybody but I got along with her and still smile when thinking about my class with her.

From here I will jump quickly to what I had for breakfast.  I don't have a good link to go from one topic to another today but here is what I made for breakfast today.  It is a breakfast bowl that had eggs, cheese, sausage, salsa, and guacamole.

NOW, continuing on with no great link to my next topic, I'll just jump into the quilting news.  Going through some of my quilting stuff, I found a UFO (yes another one) that went back to 2014.  It was a Civil War BOM offered by Custom Quilts Kit.

I need to put on borders but I haven't decided what color I will use for that.  Then, of course, I will need to finish it by doing the quilting sandwich and quilt it.  If it will be quilted, I'll send it out to a long armer to do but another option would be to tie it.  Not sure which will win.

I also found my picture for another of the Farmer's Wife blocks.  It is Autumn Tiles.

Another thing that started on came from the 2021 Quilt Summit that I signed up for.  It was online for five days but I paid for a years access.  There was one that said Welcome and had a bunny in it.  Here is a picture of it laid out.  I just laid it out and need to fuse and stitch it yet.  I think it is going to be soooo cute and I already am in love with it.

That's it for now everybody.  Have a wonderful day.

Happy Mail!!!!!!

 Before I get to show what came in my mail today, I want to show you that I have finally finished another Simple but Elegant block.  This one is called Leaves and is block 7.

I'm not sure that I will start another block yet since I will be switching from Quilting to Cross Stitch on the 16th.  I might try to get some more Farmer's Wife blocks done instead.  I'll let you know which way I go on it.  Ready to see what came in my Happy Mail?

Not that long ago, Pineapple Fabrics offered a sale on their Batiks.  It was for four pounds of it.  I took advantage of it because I do like surprise packages and I wasn't disappointed.  Here is what I received for my four pounds.  

  Some pieces are larger than others and some are close in color...especially in the pictures.  It was worth it.  I thought I would post so that you know if you see an offer again, you could get an idea of what you might get.  All the fabric is good quality and will be used.

That's it for now.  My 20 minutes of being vertical are over with which means it is time for ibuprofen and to lay down/stretch out on the cot for a bit.

Have a great day!

Hello February!

 One month into 2021 already?  WOW!  Time, once again, has travelled forward at an alarming rate.  Still things get done and life goes on.  Speaking of life....It's time to share another picture of Hayley.  :)

Doesn't she look so comfy?  Just remember Hayley,  “A person’s a person, no matter how small.” (Dr. Seuss) so continue to wrap them around your little finger and all will be well.

I've been having back problems lately so have had to take it easy.  I've finally gotten it to where I can sit up for around 20-30 minutes at a time so I will try to get this post in before I have to go and lay back down again.   Right before I was hit with the back problems, I managed to get row one finished for the 9 patch sew along BOM.  I should have realized how large this project was going to be but I REALLY didn't realize it until I finished that first row.  

It was so long that I had to put it vertically on my design wall and then turn it so I could get the idea of what it will look like.  It looks a little wavy but that is because my design wall doesn't sit flush with the wall.  It is hanging from a rod.  Still it will give you an idea.

What else can you do when you can only stay up for 15 minutes?  You learn to do things in sections.  I am working on a Farmer's Wife quilt and now have started to do some of the blocks.  The blocks are 6 1/2".  

I managed to do that by picking out fabrics in one section, cutting out the fabrics in another section and then finally sewing them together in a 3rd session.  I have three blocks done but am not sure if I took a picture of the third block yet.  I'll post it here when I do.

I also discovered an old UFO project.  In 2014 I was part of a Rose of Sharon BOM.  I finally found my unopened monthly packets.  It appears that I had fused about half of them but only started sewing on one of them.  There are lots of work to do yet but here is a picture of the blocks.

 Well that's it for my time of being vertical today.  I will leave you now but not before I share this wonderful quote from my Happy Planner.  It said "When it rains look for rainbows, when it's dark look for stars."  Isn't that a great quote?  Here's another one that I wanted to share.  It is another Dr. Seuss quote.  “Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”  I love all of you so rejoice that you are you and am here to celebrate it.