What's Cooking?

 Whew!  I don't know about you but my brain hurts as well as my hands because of trying to get all the projects done that I need to.  That means this post will be more about what I plan on cooking this week as well as introducing you to my friends new blog.   Susan (Susie) has been talking about journaling/blogging for a bit and I am so happy to see that she started.  You can use the link below to check it out.  She has just started so there isn't much to show yet but bookmark it to go back to later.  I will put a tag in the next day or two on the side of my blog so you can just click that.

Quilting Susie Blog

It is cold here today.  I shouldn't be surprised since it IS December so I sat down and made a list of what I would like to cook this week.  So far my list consists of:

apple butter or apple sauce, I'm not sure which yet

white lasagna

ramen noodle chicken soup

cookies - chewy ginger molasses; peanut butter (hopefully to put in the freezer for closer to Christmas and the New Year)

Cupcakes and frosting - not sure if yellow or chocolate 

That's all on my list so far but I feel like I am missing something that I had thought to add.  Oh well, sooner or later I will remember what it is...Oh..I just remembered!   Rice pudding.  I have a lot of rice and raisins so a nice rice pudding sounds good.  I will have to double check on how many eggs I have.  With all this cooking I might have to get more eggs before I can make everything.  LOL.

Now it's time for me to get my bible and do my daily reading challenge.  That is to read a chapter of Luke each day in December leading up to Christmas.  

The bible that I am reading out of was presented to "Mom Chamberlain" on December 25, 1953 by Anita and George Chamberlain.  In this case, Mom Chamberlain would be my grandmother and was given to her three years before I was born.  It is the King James Version "The text conformable to that of the edition of 1611 commonly known as the authorized or King James Version".  I have to be careful with it since the binding is coming off.  I need to get some glue or something to put it back on. 

I hope everybody stays safe and well.  I thank you all for reading and hope you have good holidays.

Peace to all.

The Day After!

 Whew!  Welcome to the day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Are any of you taking advantage of Black Friday sales?  I probably won't but I will still look online and see if I need anything.

I had a great Thanksgiving.  I talked to my sister in law.  She does cross stitch and dried flower arrangements etc. so it is nice to hear from her.  It was also my friend Dan's birthday so he came over.  He almost missed it since he hadn't been feeling the best before (shh.  too much cheese in his diet -- been there before) but by six he was feeling well enough to come over.  That's only 4-5 hours later than planned.  I think we need to invent time stop or something even if nothing else for cooking.  You know, after the turkey goes in to be done between 1-2 p.m. and you find out your company isn't going to be there until 6 p.m.?  The turkey refused to stop cooking!  It still turned out great and since it was a small turkey, I gave Dan the rest to go back home with him.  I actually gave him around 90% of the leftovers to take back home with him.  LOL.

As you can see we didn't go hungry.  Dan took these pictures.  This was his first plate of food.  He stopped at two plates.

Having limited room to set things up, I decided to recruit my ironing board to put some of my crockpots on as well as the gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce.  The pies and biscuits were on the card tables.  Dan discovered if he leaned slightly to the right, he didn't have to get up to get the biscuits.  :)

The menu was:

Turkey (10 pound)

dressing

gravy

fresh cranberry sauce 

green bean casserole

party potatoes (new recipe for me this year --- will definitely make it again)

biscuits (hot out of the oven)

apple pie

pumpkin pie

Blackberry Honey Wine - Thank you Dan for sharing your birthday gift with me...Double thanks for leaving it for me to finish off.  :)

I even shared some of the turkey with the outdoor cats Tangerine and Orange.  They used to belong in the house but the former residents kicked them out.  The neighborhood feeds them as does the mail lady.  I don't normally feed them, but did find an animal house in the back yard that was brought up front to put in the trees in case they want to shelter in it.   I noticed that somebody put two small animal beds in there now.  I wonder if they will ever use it.  I have seen them checking it out by sticking their heads in but that is it so far.  Animals adapt to their surroundings so if the weather gets bad enough I'm sure they will go in it.

Today is back to a more normal day for me.  I've done most of my dishes from yesterday.  My roaster is still soaking but everything else is done.  I have the laundry out of the washer and in the dryer.  That is the laundry from yesterday.  The towels, dish clothes, etc.  In a little bit I will put regular laundry in the washer.  No need to start it now since it would have to wait for the dryer anyway.  

This week is start to address Christmas cards.  I'm debating if I will type up a "what's changed" letter in them or not.  I don't normally do that but 2020 has brought a lot of changes so it might be nice to recap it. 

Time to get back to chores.  Have to finish them before I can get back to stitching on Christmas in Jacksonville.  I'm on the last of the embroidery blocks for that.  I do not think I will do the log cabin/courthouse steps blocks that the pattern calls for.  I might, however, look up some more Christmas themed patterns that I could embroidery in blocks to add in instead.  It was the embroidered blocks that caught my attention and what I liked best about this pattern.

Everybody have a great day and stay safe.

Hugs to all.

Another UFO came back from the long armer

 This is just a short post to show you my final UFO that came back from the long arm service.  It has a teal Minky on the back.  I didn't know it was Minky until today so it will be interesting to see how I'm going to put the binding on.

That's it for now.  Time to check on the apple pie in the oven.  :)

UFO's ALMOST finished

 Before I post up some pictures of my UFO's that are almost finished, do you know what this picture means?

I put my scraps to use and cut them into 2" strips.  Then I sewed them all together and ironed them like I would for binding.  It's not binding for a quilt though.  I'm using it to "bind" my aida cloth so it doesn't ravel when I do my cross stitch.

It's not the only binding will I be working on.  I need to do my binding for two UFO's that are now quilted.

The first one is the top.  The material shown in the lower right corner on the front is the backing material as well as what I think I am going to do the binding in.  

Here is a close up of the quilting done on it.  I sent it out to Missouri Star Quilt Company to quilt.

The other wall hanging that I sent MSQC to quilt is my hexagon heart.  The backing material  is the pink swirl material in the lower right hand corner.  They quilted it in pink thread so you can see the swirls nicely.

I will bind it with the backing material.

That's it for now  Christmas Chronicles: Part Two is out on Netflix now so it's time to watch it.  I will also be watching Iron Mask on Vudu today.  

Bread is in the bread machine for tomorrow (if I can resist it).  I will be making some other of my side dishes for tomorrow today.  Things are starting to come together.

I hope everybody has a great day today as well as a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Tooting a friends horn!

 Hello my readers! 

It's a mid month check in but first of all I wanted to toot a horn for my friend, and reader, Susan Smith.  Susan is a quilter and has just recently been accepted as a pattern tester for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.  As most of you know, I love that magazine and test their patterns whenever I can.  Susan just got permission to tell and show people her first test pattern that she did.  She doesn't have a blog but I am more than happy to support the crafting community so here is a picture of the top of her test pattern.  It is called Boxed Dutchman by RaeLyn Boothe.  

As she stated "This quilt is multi purposed, it is Red, White, and Blue for the Fourth of July as well as able to be used for Christmas due to the Red Poinsettia fabric, the Blue Crackle and the White with Roses". I also think that it would be good for any of the patriotic holidays. So many uses and times where she can show off her talent. Well done Susan!

I am working on multiple projects myself but since most of them are for presents I can't share the pictures.  Still I am thinking on what to work on in 2021 and I'm getting excited.  2021 will be my year for working more on cross stitch patterns.  I will be quilting too but cross stitch, hopefully, will be featured a bit more.  Of course lots of times my plans get changed so we'll see what 2021 brings.

I hope everybody has a wonderful day.  I'll be doing a post before Thanksgiving so watch the blog for that.  

Hugs to all.

I'm making progress....

 It's nice to be able to report that I'm making progress on another UFO.  This one is a Christmas Rail Fence pattern from Jordan Fabrics.  The pattern didn't call for a border but I put one on anyway  I'm liking it a lot better with the border.  

In between working on the UFO, I also finished crocheting the pot holders for a birthday present  for Dan later this month.  I have four of them that I'll be giving him.  

I haven't stopped there.  I also am on schedule to finish up the 3rd (of 4) tulip block for Simple Yet Block this week.  I only have 6 more leaves to stitch and I'm pacing myself to do 2 every day.  That way I can pace myself and not get tired of working on it.  

With the colder weather, I also have picked up on cooking a bit more.  I got three Diabetic Living cookbooks and they look like they have some nice recipes in it.  I'm not diabetic but that doesn't mean I wouldn't benefit from eating a bit healthier.

I am almost done eating my savory onion bread.  It is great toasted!  I'm not sure what bread I'll make next.  A cinnamon bread might be next or just another white loaf.  It is so hard to decide.

With the cooler weather settling in, I also want stews and soups.  This one is a lentil stew and I served it over a garlic and pepper rice.

It was nice to have waiting for me after I raked the leaves.

It's time to get back to my stitching.  I have two blocks fused for LeFleur and need to start on them.

I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll post again in a couple of days.

Welcome to November!

Sorry for not posting in awhile but life has been busy for me as I'm sure it has for most of you.  Now it is November and time to turn our clocks back since Daylight Savings Time is ending in 45 minutes.  Where DID time go.  With thinking about where time went, it reminded me that I need to be a bit more structured so that I'm not wasting time and spinning my wheels.

When I first retired, I made lists and semi keep to them.  It was good to look at the list to see what I had wanted to accomplish.  I didn't get everything done but it was good to see all those check marks in the "finished" column.  I've slacked off on that during COVID and realized that I need to get back on track.  That is my goal for November...to get back on track.

With that in mind, what will be on my list?

I finished the test pattern that was due by November 9th so that can already be crossed off.  The other things on the list are:

Le Fleur - I pieced together two 9 patch blocks that are the background for the applique.  I have one fused on and probably tomorrow I will probably fuse on the second one.  Then I will hand stitch them down.

Christmas in Jacksonville - I will keep working on the embroidered blocks.  I'm not sure if I will do the pieced blocks.  They are a log cabin/courthouse steps type block and while I like them something is telling me not to do them.  If I don't do them, I will have to fill in with something else.

The House blocks for COVID - I need to applique trees on some blocks and then put them together.

Simple Yet Elegant - I am behind on my blocks but will keep working on them.  I am almost finished with a third (out of four) center tulip block.  I have been postponing doing one block.  A bird block.  I think I will do that one next just to make sure that it gets done.  I have another block that is fused on that needs to get stitched also.

Finish a rail fence UFO.  The top is done except that it has no borders.  The pattern didn't call for it to have a border but I think that I will put one on.   It's a smallish wall hanging so it could use a border.

Cook Thanksgiving dinner for Dan and I.  

That's what my list looks like.  Do you have a plan for November?

 

Be more like a Flamingo

 I know...a flamingo?  Not my first bird of choice to look to as a role model but hear me out.  

I was given the October-November 2020 issue of National Wildlife so I was looking through it and found a short piece on "Birds of a feather...".  The first sentence caught my eye and it really made sense. "For the first time, scientists have documented that flamingos consistently spend time with a handful of their close 'friends" while avoiding birds they don't get along with."  

Doesn't that sound like something we should do too?  I'm sure that most of us don't go out of our way to hang out with people we don't get along with.  In our Covid world that we fid ourselves living in, it makes more sense than ever.  "When unfriendly birds get too close to each other, on the other hand, they joust with their necks and beaks to determine dominance, with the winner most likely to be the individual with the longest neck...flamingos that regularly sat or stood less than one neck away from one another were classified as friends."  

Let's be more like flamingoes and hang out with our friends.  Stay a safe six feet away from our friends (a much longer distance unless you are Pinocchio) but still within talking range.  

Be like a flamingo and keep your friends within a safe but sociable distance and try to talk about pleasant things instead of all the negativity that is in the world today.  Need an ice breaker to start a conversation?  Use this post.  Who knows, after a couple of drinks the new drinking game could be "who can stretch their neck the farthest."  If you do use that for a drinking game, don't forget to add another element.  Perhaps standing on one leg while doing it or when taking your next drink.  Don't forget to have cameras ready when others try this.

Enjoy. 

What I have been up to...besides no good

 Seriously though, I have been busy with reorganizing and trying to figure out what I want to do.  I'm in a rut with my projects.  The good news is that I am making progress on each project but the bad news is that, without thinking about it, most of the projects I'm working on are using the same colors.  I have been stuck working with Black, Green, and Red DMC Floss.  Good thing that I have big cones of the Black and Red so I don't have to worry about getting more.

Ready for some updated pictures?   Here I go...

First up is a block that I am doing from one of my Facebook groups.  This is just the first one.  Not sure how many of the blocks I will do but it is pieced which is outside of my comfort zone.  You know that I love applique more but sometimes I have to work on pieced projects also.

These next two pictures are from the Covid house exchange project from one of my groups.  We exchanged house blocks and this is how I'm putting mine together.  I was feeling pretty good about getting two rows done and then I noticed it....

(insert big sigh here).  Somehow I cut into one of the blocks.  Se that metal sticking out of a slit in this next picture?  Yep, up towards the top.  Now I have to think on how I will repair/cover it up.  Of course I could just redo the block but that is a last resort option.  

I will probably cut out a cloud to put there or maybe a bird.  Then I will have to balance it out in another block in the next row.  At least I think I will need to do that to balance it out.  It would probably bug me if I didn't.

I don't have any updates on my Christmas in Jacksonville embroidered blocks nor in my Simple Yet Elegant blocks.  That is because I am picking back up my Fleur blocks.  Progress pictures will be posted down the road. 

I *did* get my rocking chair put together.  Thank you Dan!  This was my service award for 30 years at NIU.  I actually worked for around 32 years but they only do awards in 5 years increments.  I was lucky to get it and, knowing that I was going to retire, I kept it in the box until the moved occurred.  Now it is time to get/make some cushions for it.  The back certainly needs it since it hurts my back when I sit in it.  The bars/spokes on the back hit my spine so I need some cushion to put a barrier there.

As I was looking through one of my totes to see if it had more hidden fabric in it, I discovered my HIGH SCHOOL graduation present from my dad's only sister, Aunt Rachel.  She would crochet an afghan for everybody in the family and give it to them when they graduated high school.  This was given to me in 1974 when I graduated from high school.  I'll let you do the math on how long ago that was.  :)

I think it is holding up pretty good for all those years. 

That's all to report this time.  Next time you might see some pie pictures.  That is if I ever make up my mind if I want to make an apple pie or a pumpkin pie.  If I don't make an apple pie, I will probably use my apples and make applesauce.  Hmmm. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day/night and even better weekend.  See you next time.

Whew! I've been busy

 I'm tired and just remembered that I've been so busy with stitching and prepping for stitching that I hadn't posted here.  This will be somewhat of a long post so grab a cup of your favorite beverage and sit down and relax. ....Ready?

I'll first start with the progress on my sewing room.  I managed to pick up shelving units from Home Depot and am using them now.  Thank you to my friend Dan who took me to get them and then stayed to put them together.  I like that they are sturdy.  Each shelf can hold up to 250 pounds in weight and is high enough that I stack my storage units on them.

With it being a bit more organized, I am able to put individual projects in the bins and find things easier.  That has allowed me to finish another UFO which I'm just calling a braid wall hanging.  I wanted to learn how to do the braid and had a little bit of it left so framed it for a small wall hanging.  The border on this is much lighter than what the pictures shows.  Some colors are hard to get right in pictures.

To add to my joy, some fabric that has been ordered for quite awhile has now been delivered.   I'm sure it is not a surprise that I love it all.  First is 4 pounds of Batiks that were on sale. 

Of course one sale led to another and I HAD to get these.  They are 10" wide strips by 110" long.  I hadn't seen them offered that way before and for $7.99 for each strip it was a bargain.  Oh, did I mention that it is Stonehenge fabric?  Yeah, now you know why I said I HAD to get them

I also love fabric from The Intrepid Thread.  These are their Chambray fabrics which recently came out.

They feel so nice!

Also from them came my pre order for Maple Farm.  I haven't decided what to make with them but one day it will come to me.

I am making progress on my Simple Yet Elegant Block of the month.  I put them together to take a picture.  I have three blocks that are fused but need to stitch them yet.  The top left block (yellow) will be placed one block to the left but it didn't fit well to take a picture so I just moved it to where you see it.  

I think it will be pretty when completed.  My friend Susan is doing this also and I hope one day she will let me post her pictures.

I also have been working on Christmas in Jacksonville embroidery blocks.  I'll take a picture of that for my next post since I am close to finishing another block.  That way you get to see the most updated progress.  I need to pick out colors for the pieced blocks.  Hopefully I will have that figured out by the next post.

If that wasn't enough, I have been cooking too.  Dan took me to Little Piggy's BBQ and I came away with enough BBQ Ribs to eat for a couple of days and also have plenty to put in the freezer.

It even tasted good in my noodle bowl as leftovers.

That's it for this post.  I hope you have enjoyed it.  Everybody stay safe and have a great day.

Saturday Updates

August is almost over with and has been pretty much productive.  I am starting to adjust my schedule to try to make my time awake more productive.  Take today.  I woke up around 2 a.m. after going to bed last night around 10:30.  It seems that my body likes to wake me up after around 3-4 hours.  So as I laid in bed this morning, trying convince my body that I really should sleep more.  Then I got up because I was laughing at myself for thinking that, and worked on my House Blocks.  This quilt has been given many names including Coronaville, Home and Heart, and House Block Quilt.  Even I change up the name of what I call it.  Most of the time I call it the House Block. I am making progress on it.  This morning (see?  I can get back on topic) I sewed the top row together.

I'll start to work on the next row next week.  That will be three tree blocks and two house blocks.

Also next week I will be doing some more work on the lattice layer cake quilt. 

I have cut some more of the layer cake but haven't finished matching up which triangles will be paired together.  There will be plenty of repeats since it was a layer cake.  

With the last week of August looming around the corner, what are my plans for September?  I will be working more on my  Mini Owl cross stitch, the cross stitch quilt blocks, Christmas in Jacksonville, and the Simple Yet Elegant blocks.  I think there are more that I've slotted but I'll write about them when I remember.

It's time for me sign off for now and perhaps get some breakfast or take a nap.  I'm never sure which will win out.  

I hope everybody has a great day and enjoy your weekend!