Weekly check-in February 23, 223

Hi everybody!  

   It was a beautiful day this week and I was able to sit outside.  Sunny came up to see me and looked so cute so that I decided to take his picture.  Unfortunately I had to get in the pix also but I guess that is the good news and the bad news.  LOL.  

   I don't have much to report this time.  I had hoped to be able to show you progress but I really can't.  Still, I promised to report on any progress.  I did manage to work on the Rose of Sharon quilt block but since I was sick for a couple of days, I didn't get to finish it.  Hopefully by next week I will have a picture of it for you.

   Another thing I was hoping to post about was this weeks Blackwork filler.  No such luck.  I did get it started so hopefully soon you will be able to see the progress pix.

   One thing that I did get done was concerning my DMC floss.  Whenever I end a project that includes DMC floss, I put the floss into a baggie and save  up to put them officially away until the baggie is full.  It was time to officially put them away so I pulled out my floss containers and got to it.  It took me a bit to get it all put away but now they are all nicely organized again.  

   

   It might look like a lot of floss, and I guess it really is, but not all of those containers are full.  I split them up by the DMC number so some even have less then 10 bobbins in them.  Eventually more will be added since it appears I still don't, contrary to popular demand, I don't have EVERY DMC cotton floss color there is.  I even find that I'm out of certain colors to work on individual projects.  How does that happen?  I certainly don't know.

   One thing that did pick up my mood was that I received my block of the block block.  This is the block for March.

   I love that shamrock fabric that was used for the center.  I did figure out what I want to do for the April block.  Since the saying is "April showers bring May flowers", I am going to do a block which has an umbrella on it.  Then, of course, I can do a block for May which flowers.  I picked out my fabric and got the appliques all fused down.  I even have the floss I think that I can use and best of all I think I only have two colors that I will be using.  One is a light blue and the other one is a darker blue which I will use on the handle of the umbrella.

   

   Like I said, I didn't have much to report.  Progress is still progress though and I hope to be able to report more progress next Thursday.  In the meantime, I hope that all my friends are staying safe.  I know that one friend has lost electricity in this last round of ice storms and I sincerely hope that she gets it restored soon.  Be safe everybody!  Hugs to all.

This weeks update

    Did you catch my title for this post?  Yes that is right, I said this weeks post.  I am going to try and post each week.  Not only that but I am going to try and do it on Thursdays or Fridays.  Does that sound too organized for me?  Maybe.  With me working on the Blackwork Stitch A Long it will give me something to post with.  Each week I will have a new filler to show everybody.  This will also help me get back into the habit of posting on a regular basis.

   This week I have an update on my Rose of Sharon UFO block.  I am feeling pretty good about keeping up with my decision to work on some UFOs.  It's only February though and I wonder if I can keep it up all year.  If I do, I will have 12 blocks finished. That is far more than I've gotten done so far.  I also hope to get a completed UFO done.  Wish me luck on these goals.

   Enough talk for now.  It's time to show you what I have done this week.  It's not a lot to show off because when you do applique it takes a bit to do by hand.

   First here is a picture of my blackwork.  

   I am loving how this is turning out.  Like with my quilting, I am starting to learn to look at a small section of the pattern at a time and not the large picture once you start to work on it.  It can be so overwhelming if I look at a piece of blackwork but then if I narrow my focus to only look at a part of it, it is doable.  It is the same theory of the old joke about "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time." 

   Now for the Rose of Sharon.  One of these times I will have to actually gather some of my tops and start to save up to have them quilted.  I will do my own binding but I do need somebody to do the sandwich and quilting for me.  

   I am making good progress on this block.  It should be finished by the end of February.  I only have 4 more leaves to stitch down.  This is  a picture before I did the brown circle.  By the end of today I will only have green Celtic looking center design to do.  I work on it late at night or early in the morning when I can't sleep.  

   Here's a surprise for you.  I found another pattern I'd like to make.  I actually might get to work on it.  It is called Apple Cider and is from the Quiltmaker September/October '14 magazine.   The finished size is approximately 53 1/2"x 53 1/2" with finished blocks being 14" It is a standard 3 x 3 layout.

   I know that my friend Susan will laugh when she sees that picture.  It has a ton of leaves on it which is a standing joke with us.  It appears that most of the applique patterns I like have a lot of leaves in them.  By the way, if you get a chance, check out Susan's blog page.  Here is a link to it.

   Susan's blog

   She is relatively new to blogging and I find it interesting to read what she writes.  

   That's all that I have to report on this week.  Now it is time for me to figure out what recipes I want to make.  I have some feta cheese crumbles that I'm wondering what to do with.  I don't have any lettuce to make a regular salad so I might have to get creative.  I might also make some soup tomorrow but that is only if I remember to soak the beans tonight.  LOL.  We'll see.  I'll report next week on if I make it or not.  Oh, one thing that I will be making today is Chicken strips.  I was given Chicken strips and I think I will bread them and then either bake or fry them.  Not sure yet.  I am leaning toward baking them since it is a damp day today.  Rain on and off all day and this morning had a thunderstorm complete with lightning.

   I hope everybody stays well and can find some time to relax and create.  See you all next week!

Squirrel Day

 What?  You don't have a squirrel day on your calendar?  I don't normally because I do it so often I don't need reminders.  Squirrel Day is the day I made up to work on a bit of everything.  The trick is to try and have organized squirrel days.  That almost sounds like a contradiction doesn't it?  As long as I have a "to do" list,  I can have a squirrel day.  I am thinking that Mondays should not be called Monday but instead Squirrel Day.  For those of you who still work (I'm sorry), wouldn't you rather go to work on Squirrel Day instead of Monday?  You probably already have a list of things that you need to do which will just get longer after you get to work, so why not eek out a bit of fun while you can.  So far it has helped me get some work done.

My squirrel list today consists of:

- Work on email accounts (change passwords, set up recovery means, etc.)

- Go to "my groups" on my quilting sites and check if I have to respond to anything and/or download the latest pattern for a block of the month or similar.

- Send out the Monday Recipes to my group of ladies.  

- Make progress on UFO's.  

- Cook food and, sigh, do dishes.

That being said, I have worked on my email accounts, although I have to write down my changes yet.  I have also gone to my quilting sites and downloaded what I needed to responded when needed.  I have to thread some needles before I can work on one of the UFO blocks for Rose of Sharon but that won't take long.  Then comes lunch and figure out what to make for dinner.  Lunch is easy.  I'll reheat my chicken burrito with white sauce for lunch and then figure out what to make for dinner.  The burrito with red sauce has some of the red enchilada sauce I made.  That was my go to if I didn't like the white sauce.  The verdict?  It was pretty good even if it didn't have much kick to it.  Go ahead, ask me why it didn't.  Well it seems that I used my notes after watching the video to make it but before I rewrote my notes.  In other words, I forgot to add the taco seasoning.  I squirreled.  I didn't have taco seasoning (although I thought I did) so I made up some.  By the time I finished making it up I couldn't remember what I wanted to use it in.  I even checked the recipe but since I didn't have a "clean" copy of the recipe, I missed it.  Live and learn, right?

All that being said, I think I have had a pretty productive day.  Now I will sit at the computer, stitch on the Rose of Sharon block, and ignore the sewing room/bedroom because it is still in Chaos even though I have one corner of it straightened out.  Think I'm kidding?  Here is my proof of what else I need to do.  LOL.

Doesn't it look all nice and pretty when it is done?

This is the other side of the finished cleaned up storage.  Not too bad but it still needs work.  The fabric that is in those shoe box size cubby holes is mostly fat quarters.  My new theory is that everything has to fit.  If it doesn't fit it gets thrown out.  GASP!  Did I just say that?  I mean it gets thrown out of my house.  VERY few pieces of fabric actually get tossed into the garbage.  I have some quilting friends who I send things to periodically and that means it is THEIR problem on how to fit them into THEIR stash.  Devious of me, right?  Oops.  I suppose it would sound better to say isn't that nice of me?  (grins)

The other part of the sewing room that needs cleaning is:

My method of cleaning is to move pile to another pile in a different location until no more locations are left to move.  This section is the last section/pile to move things to that have fabric.  After that comes the shelves that hold my DMC floss and project containers.  That section doesn't need much work.  I just need to straighten it up a bit.

I hope to finish or at least sandwich my Rainbow Flowers (by Edyta Sitar) wall hanging this month.  I'm not going to put on her border because I want to get it done.  May will be here soon and I want to hang it up then (unless I squirrel again).  I think I will use that brown for the back and then wrap around binding.  I will big stitch it by hand so it will be simple but take me a bit to do.

That's about it on the crafting front.  I'll soon be posting a progress report on my Blackwork Stitch a Long.  I'm caught up on it and am just waiting for this weeks pattern to be sent out on Wednesday.

You remember my friend Dan?  Well he had some major vehicle issues (Universal Joint, drive shaft, 2 sparkplugs not working as well as their wires, and a vacuum hose) so he had to rent a vehicle for about a week.  While he had it he took me for a little spin after getting groceries to see the ditches around where he lives (30 minutes from my place).  Here are a couple of pictures I managed to take.  These are not lakes or ponds.  At least that isn't what the farmers who work these fields didn't intend them to be.  I think that the birds in the areas think they make good ponds and lakes.  What do you think?

 The farmers won't be in those fields right away!

Time for me to get to threading needles.  Everybody have a safe and great day!

January is over...Hello February!

 Today is a little warmer since I see the temperature is already 32F.  Yesterday our high was only 30F.  To warm me up a bit more, I decided to switch out my wall hangings and decor for a warmer theme since it is February.  Isn't it exciting to know a winter month is over with?  That means we are one month closer to summer months and warmer weather.  Ok, back on topic Bonni.  So I decided to put up my February projects.

This is my corner where I sit and stitch early in the morning when I can't sleep.  Last night/this morning it was 1:30 a.m. and I sat and stitched a little bit.  I need to get better cushions for the rocking chair if I am going to stitch more in it.  I like to sit in it because my gas heater is right there and I won't get cold.  I am a little disappointed in my cascading hearts (the one on the door) wall hanging.  When I ironed it, I noticed yellow spots on both the front and back.  Did it come from the washer?  Who knows.  Luckily it is just me here and they are faint enough not to detract from all the hard work I did on it.  I was a pattern tester for it.  The pattern was offered through The Quilt Pattern Magazine a couple of years ago(?) so check them out.  Their subscription price is very reasonable and it is an online magazine that has lots of patterns in it.

Since I also have a wall which has a hanger on it (convenient, right?) I decided to put design wall flannel up on it. That's the white you see above the wall hanging.  This wall hanging was made after exchanging the house blocks with some of the ladies in my Our Time To Quilt group.  Since the middle of the houses have hearts, I decided it could stay up on the wall for February.

Another wall hanging that I decided to keep up even though it has Christmas/holiday fabric in it, is the rail fence quilt.  This was made with a kit from Jordan Fabrics.  I liked working on it and it went together very quickly.  Sometime I might buy more than one kit and make a larger wall hanging.

I also managed to work on my Blackwork Stitch A Long that is from Peppermint Purple Facebook group.  It isn't as hard as it looks and it is free so if it interests you, check it out.  The past weeks are still available and you will get to see lots of eye candy and beautiful  work.  Some people are doing theirs in colors but I wanted my first blackwork project to be that...all done in blackwork.

I hope that you enjoyed this little update.  Please stay warm and stay safe.

Hugs to all.

PS:  I changed the background theme on my page.  The deep red might not be for everybody.  If you don't like it, don't worry.  I will be changing it after Valentines Day.  I do like how you can see the orange peel (or cathedral windows) pattern on the sides,