Saturday, March 16, 2024

RSC Purple and Miscellany

Good news & bad news. First the good news: My marked and pinned quilt went from this ....


to this ...
I have to wad it up and cover the machine due to a certain kitty that lives here. Lol! Anyway, you can see on the back that Baptist fans are being quilted along. Progress is always good news.

Now the bad news: I'm quilting this upstairs on my piecing machine because, as I was cleaning my other sewing machine to prepare it for actual quilting, a piece flew out! Aaron, my Bernina guy, will be by to pick the machine up on Tuesday for a cleaning & repair. So while my upstairs machine is tied up with quilting, the piecing has been put on hold.

I did manage to make a little more progress on my purple pineapples this week. Two pineapples are ready to be joined with the middle piece and one pineapple needs its parts trimmed and then joined.


There have been appointments this week so there was time to embroider a little also. First a picture of my latest Red Thread block.

Love this little bird!

Here are a couple blocks that I think I forgot to show you. The little girl was supposed to be some random little girl from the original antique quilt. I decided to personalize my quilt with a depiction from one of my favorite pictures of my daughter as a little girl. I think I'll probably embroider her name underneath.


Pretty Flower
Did you all have a good Pi(e) day on Thursday, March 14 (3.14)? I made up a chocolate cream pie in its honor. A family favorite with the graham cracker crust!

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. We will be having the traditional dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We will also be having Irish Soda Bread for breakfast. It just came out of the oven and this house smells so DELICIOUS!

I highly recommend Ina Garten's recipe. We use raisins instead of currants. Just before baking but after the X is cut with a knife, I brush the top with a little leftover buttermilk and sprinkle on turbinado sugar. I can't wait for breakfast in the morning! So yummy toasted up and schmeared with butter!!!

Wishing everyone a lucky St. Pat's Day and "may the sun shine warm upon your face". Have a wonderful weekend!


Linking up with the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilters HERE.



Thursday, March 14, 2024

I Like Thursday #140

Good morning and Happy Pi Day! Will you be making a pie to celebrate the occasion? I've got a chocolate cream pie in  mind for this household! I'll need to get going on it because the longer it chills, the better it tastes.

Spring has started to show her lovely face. Even houseplants notice the longer days and warmer temps. Here's a picture of my spiderwort. Check out that pretty purple flower!
We were proudly informed that our nephew has passed the next phase of his training in the USAF. Congratulations!!!!
A quilt top that I marked for quilting finally got pin-basted. Let the actual quilting begin!
I spy a bit of purple!
The Senior Center held its monthly luncheon last week. We dined on corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. We even got a cupcake for dessert. And while the meal and camaraderie were terrific, the entertainment stole the show. Seven ladies performed Irish dancing!!!
This young lady is 6th in the country!

She dances tall & proud

This one is a beginner.
Old & young enjoying this art

Even the very young

High stepping

Having so much fun!
I've got a few recipes to share but they'll have to wait until next week. I hope you have a grand Thursday. If you need a pick-me-up, visit LeeAnna's blog to catch up on even more reasons to be happy!

Saturday, March 9, 2024

RSC, a Small Finish, a Few Embroideries

Hello and welcome back! We finally got some rain here in my corner of the world and I'll just bet we're going to see a flourish of color in the next few days.  Spring is such a pretty time of year, isn't it?

In case you missed it, I made a sweet little table runner specifically for Spring. If you're familiar with the 10-Minute Table Runner pattern, mine is the mini version.

Spring Toilet Topper

Back of the Toilet All Decked Out for Spring!

I've run Mom around quite a bit this week so there's been time for some handwork. The Red Threads blocks are starting to make quite a nice stack.

Our monthly EPP Club resumed again and so I've started getting the papers ready for that project again. No picture but progress has been made.

The same goes for Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I've gathered my purples and will start to cut out pieces over this next week.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend. Our weekend looks to be chilly but at least we got some moisture!

Don't forget to check out the others following along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. You can find their posts HERE.

Thursday, March 7, 2024

I Like Thursday #139

It's been a while since I shared things I've liked. I'd first like to thank LeeAnna for gathering us all together weekly whether we join in or not. Even if I don't post, you can still catch up with everyone else right HERE on LeeAnna's blog.

Spring has sprung around here and I'm sure I'll be joining others with this very same like.

Purple & White Crocus

2nd Group of Crocus

My Beautiful Pink Hyacinths
(And They Smell So Good!)
Even indoors, Spring has sprung. I found this fabric at my LQS and knew exactly what I needed to make ... this mini 5-minute table runner goes together really quickly!
Spring/Easter Toilet Scape
I'm still reading "The Ink Black Heart" by Robert Galbraith. With less than 150 pages left, I hope to be finished by this time next week.

So glad "Survivor" has kicked back in for TV viewing. We also started watching "Tracker" and so far, so good. It's about a guy who tracks down missing people or things. Mysteries usually are well-received in this house.

Of course I'm still cooking in the kitchen. I made a couple of delicious & easy Lenten recipes. Last Friday night's Instant Pot New England Clam Chowder and the previous week's Baked Orange Rough, Italian-Style were both tasty. A while back I made Sara's Sunday Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Gravy and it was very good. However, it made so much scrumptious sauce/gravy that I saved and froze half of it for the next time I have a plain pork roast dinner. In my opinion dinner is not complete without dessert. These Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting were SOOOOOOO YUMMY! I will say, after looking at the picture, I only made half a batch of the frosting and there was plenty to top the 12 cupcakes! Hooray for pictures!!!

And that, my friends, wraps another edition of I Like Thursdays. Do remember to hop on over to Not Afraid of Color to see more fun & likable stuff!

Saturday, March 2, 2024

End of RSC Red and a Good FNwF

Just noticed it's been longer than I thought since I've posted. Time sure flies when you're busy, doesn't it? Wish I could say it's because I was so absorbed in sewing but I can't complain. Some of my time has been with various quilt clubs so that's good.

Earlier this week I remembered all about the pineapple quilt I've been working on. I started it last year with RSC and was half finished by the end of 2023. I quickly whipped out my red bin and got to work. Actually finished in them on the 29th -- Yay! for Leap Year! These were, in fact, finished in February. (I just saw that March's color is PURPLE!)
Last night was Friday Night with Friends. Earlier in the day at various appointments with Mom, I got a good start on one of the embroideries for Red Thread. These are so nice and portable, just what I need.
After dinner I settled in behind the cutting table and sewing machine and got a good start on February's first of 2 blocks for the Vintage Christmas SAL at my LQS. I'm making the 12" blocks and will need 25 to make a large quilt so 2 per month with an extra thrown in somewhere ought to do it. I've decided not to use Lori Holt fabric. I'm pretty sure I've got enough scraps to get this done. *wink*

Please hop on over to the links below to see what the other makers have been working on. There's a lot of fabulous projects underway! Have a great weekend!

FNwF: Cheryll at Gone Stitchin'

RSC: Angela at So Scrappy

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Friday Night Sew-In

Friday Night Sew-In was tonight. I thank Wendy for getting us together every third Friday of the month. This month it lands really early but that's fine with me. My Friday night sewing started early too but it was right on time Australian time! Every Friday I take Mom to the hairdresser and I take something to sew on during that hour or so. My Red Threads embroidery project is my "ole reliable" on Fridays.

In order to be ready, first thing Friday morning I traced out my block. Good thing because new blocks post on Fridays! Yup, officially a week behind again! Haha! I took my project bag with me to the hairdresser's.

I continued later in the evening while watching Laundry Basket Quilt's Wednesday YouTube video and then Primitive Gatherings' Thursday YouTube video. Made pretty good progress.


If you look closely, you can see that there is plenty more to go.

On the RSC Red front, you may or may not have seen that I finished my Valentine pillow just in time -- on February 13th. Of course it's red!


At this month's Quilt Club, I shared my Valentine table runner. My friend Connie brought it to my attention that it was posted on the LQS's FaceBook page.


I got to thinking this week. I'm supposed to be making more pineapple blocks! EEK! I need to get busy!

We got 4" of snow yesterday. It was forecast for maybe 1-2"  with nothing going to stick due to warm roads so our snow crews were not prepared. It is very unusual for our subdivision to not be plowed OR salt treated. Gracie and I still managed a mile and a half walk this morning though and BRRRRR! Was it ever cold again!


Have a great Presidents' Day weekend! I'll be snuggled up indoors wRhile seeing what the RSC quilters were up to this week right HERE.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

I Like Thursday #138

Howdy to all of you! I got quite a few compliments on my horses embroidery. Thank you all so very much. I am loving working on these weekly Red Threads blocks but I am a couple weeks behind. I'm sure I'll catch up all in good time. The next few seem to be botanical so not as exciting as the critter blocks. Lol!

Look what I finished Tuesday, February 13th! Just in time!!


The pattern is from Primitive Gatherings and is wool applique on flannel. It is soft and beautiful. It was also a lot of stitching. The real problem that had me taking so long to finish though was the "Covered Zipper" backing that I wanted to make. Lisa Bonjean of Primitive Gatherings has a tutorial but I seem to be allergic to sewing zippers. I get so nervous because I'm very unsure of myself. It turned out pretty good and I'm thrilled to call it a 2024 finish!

Sunday, February 11, I spied this fellow, a sweet bluebird of happiness. Also just in time for Valentine's Day. He was perched on our back deck railing. Isn't he gorgeous??!!


Recently I've acquired a silly "Like". Every morning I look forward to watching a "Matlock" rerun. Andy Griffith just makes me smile. He seems like one of the most personable fellows ever, to me.

Yesterday and today I will be enjoying my "bestest like" -- retreating with friends and fellow quilters. I'm home in the late afternoon to watch Jeopardy at 4:30 with Mom & Fred. After sleeping in my own bed, I'm heading out the next morning to take up where I left off the day before. Isn't that a most splendid way to spend a day?

I hope you have the most splendid day yourself. Don't forget to appreciate those around you and don't forget to love yourself.

Sharing with others at Not Afraid of Color.