Saturday, February 15, 2025

Late Again -- Not Surprising!

This morning was an early out-the-door morning here for me. It was time for our monthly TAS (The Applique Society) chapter meeting. I didn't make last month's meeting because I was at retreat so it was nice to see folks I don't see all the time. Our theme this time was Dresden plates, fans, circles, and sunbursts. We had a lot of show 'n' tell which is wonderful. I showed off my Dresden Stars, pattern by Laundry Basket Quilts. I also showed BOO, a pattern by Sewing With Susan. No picture of BOO, sorry.


As for my RSC quilting adventures, I did manage some progress. Here are two GemTones blocks in blue. The pattern was in the February issue of Am. Patchwork & Quilting.


Probably could've used a little more contrast.
Same story in the pink ones last month so it's OK with me.
 
I also decided to join Sherri Falls in her BOM on her blog The Quilting Life. I was going to do it last month in RSC colors but never got around to it. There was another RSC-er that did and it turned out beautifully!

Anyway, I did last month's block in RSC Pink.

Then, since I was on a roll, I made the February block in RSC Blue!

There will be twelve blocks total from The Quilting Life which she explained will make a table runner. I thought this might be a fun and yet practical project.

Block #2 of my Design Party Table Runner was also completed this week. This project is my take-along project to Mom's appointments. English Paper Piecing is good for that! I thought it turned out cute!

Needs a good pressing
I did start quilting my PINK AccuQuilt quilt last weekend. I stitched in the ditch the 12 blocks making up the quilt and just started ditch-quilting the borders. Looking forward to getting it stablized so the fun free-motion quilting can begin!

We are having a gloomy, gray day here in the St. Louis area and the forecast is very cold temps for next week. There are also no "bonus" appointments for Mom (other than the regular PT & hairdresser), so I hope to get some of that quilting done!

No sewing can get accomplished with the laptop at hand, so I'll sign off with the link to Angela's SoScrappy blog where there is more RSC sewing to view. Have a great weekend!


Thursday, February 13, 2025

I Like Thurs #169

Last Thursday, the three of us joined the group at the Troy Senior Center for our monthly luncheon. We had chicken & dumplings, green beans & bacon, peaches, and a roll.


Of course we enjoyed dessert! We each got a delicious cookie and there were various ghiradelli chocolate pieces included in our baggy.


And there's always entertainment and this month we had The Nitpickers. They sang 60s, 70s, a little country, a little Elvis, a little Beatles .... so much fun and lots of singing!


I finished The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. Highly recommend it. It will keep your interest all the way to the end!


Can't just stop reading so I checked out The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton. If you recall I read Afterwards by the same author and thoroughly enjoyed that read. At the end of that book, the first chapter of her newest book was included. I read it and was curious about it. That "newest" book was The Quality of Silence and it took a little while for my library to get it in. I've just started it and I'm already into it.

Synopsis HERE
So what did you think of that SuperBowl? We decided it wasn't all that super of a game but we enjoyed wings. I made them with Kosmos Apple Chipotle sauce, which is a little sweet & a little spicy. It was perfect for Mom & me. (I got it from my son for Christmas last year and you can find it HERE on Amazon. Get some -- it's really good!) I made a separate sauce for Fred of BBQ sauce mixed with Honey Mustard sauce, a little Worchestershire, a little brown sugar. I got a thumbs up for it! Mom & I also imbibed a little Prosecco Rose. I think that's my new favorite "fancy" celebratory drink! I really LIKE it!

This week my workhorse Bernina had a trip to the spa. I love how my guy picks up my machine right at the house on a Tuesday and returns the machine to my doorstep the following Tuesday. He shows my machine a little love and I get door-to-door service! Gotta LIKE that!


Our January snow finally melted away, even where the plow piled up mounds. Then yesterday we got about an inch, maybe a little more. It'll be a cold day today with a high of 26 and tonight's low 11 but then we're in for a warming trend and actually expecting RAIN this weekend!!! Then they say the freezing temps will return. We'll see how it all plays out. In the meantime, you can find me getting Mom to PT today, her hairdresser tomorrow, and sewing every chance I get!

In between sewing I'll check out what these fine bloggers are finding interesting with their I Like Thursday posts. Feel free to join me HERE!

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Where's the Blue???

I can't seem to find time for RSC Blue sewing. February is such a short month, I'd better get my mojo going or, before I know, it'll be March and a new color suggestion.

What I managed this week:

Used My AccuQuilt Baby to Cut the Pieces
for Two Blue GemTones Blocks

Leftover GemTones Fabrics for 
A-Maze-Zing Blocks

Pink AccuQuilt Quilt Pin-Basted and
Marked in BLUE for Quilting!

I worked last night a bit more on my cross-stitch project. I've made quite a bit of progress on it because I ordered a Spring project that I want to jump into when it arrives. UPDATE: Came in the mail this morning!

'Tis Spring by
With Thy Needle & Thread

This is the one I'll be putting aside so I can get going on my Spring pillow.

As Last Seen on January 30th Post

As of Today

To give you perspective on this December cross-stitch, it'll finish 6" x 4.5" approximately. It's very tiny with lots of teeny Xs.

That's about it on the Creative Front around here. I hope you have a super SuperBowl weekend! There's more to enjoy on Angela's SoScrappy post HERE and see what my friends got up to on this month's Friday Night with Friends evening. Cheryll corrals us up on Gone Stitchin' HERE.

Saturday, February 1, 2025

No Blue Yet

Since today is only the start of February, I continued working on my January pink projects. This even though Angela was so kind as to give us a heads up that February's RSC color would be BLUE. So let's see what got done. (Not much.)

I decided that my scrappy, piecing blocks would be A-Maze-Zing ones. I believe it was Julie who introduced us to these as she made placemats through RSC2024. If you know me, I'm going big. My blocks will be 15" x 20" and I'll need 30 total for a nice-sized quilt. Since I only just decided on these this past week, I only got three part-ways finished. I'll have to continue on them while getting a few blue ones done too this month. I'll talk more about this pattern in the months ahead.



I also realized the end of the month was quickly approaching and no quilting projects were 100% finished. That meant nothing to report for Stashbuster2025! I was very close to having enough cut-offs and tidbits of fabric to get a pet bed sewn up so that's what I did. I'll donate it to my guild's charity group. It used up a half yard of fabric for the back & front and even has some pink!
Stashbuster 2025 Project
For those of you that remember my long-running project Brown Threads, I thought I'd share with you my friend's version. The original quilt was called Red Threads and was a redwork quilt. I chose brown threads and my sashing flying geese will be Kansas Troubles, Kim Diehl, and Fall-ish colors. I'm still working on the sashing strips at my monthly retreats and will continue until I get them all finished. In the meantime, here's a picture of Dorothy's quilt in teal/aqua fabrics. Isn't it gorgeous and what an inspiration for me to get mine done!

Besides the flying geese, I also worked on these tiny 4-patches. My local quilt store (Itch'n to be Stitch'n) is hosting a mystery quilt this year. She is also encouraging us to use up our scraps! Our first clue was given at the January meeting and the February meeting is quickly approaching. My 54 units will be completed this weekend.
42 of 54 Done


Thank you to Angela at SoScrappy to coordinating us Rainbow Scrap quilters. I hope you manage to click your way to her link to see what others have shared with their scraps. And a special thank-you to Carole of FromMyCarolinaHome who is doing her best to get us to whittle down our stash. Ha! Like that's gonna happen! Lol! Join in this challenge HERE.

Have a great weekend. Here should be a quiet couple of days after last week's multiple days out with Mom for PT twice, a dental appointment, and of course her weekly hair appointment which ends with a little grocery shopping too. Pshew! Exhausting! As for me? I'll try to get in some sewing!

Thursday, January 30, 2025

I Like Thursday #168

Happy Thursday! See? The day is already starting out pretty good. Thank you to LeeAnna for hosting the I Like Thursday links HERE so we can all share all the fun & interesting things around us.

I'll start off with the interesting animal sightings in my yard. Remember those turkeys out back?


I've learned from my son and my neighbor that they are both female. I'm sure that there is a male lurking somewhere close by too but I have yet to see him. This week one of the gals got pretty brazen and walked up through to the front!


With all the cold weather we had been having, I've done my best to keep the suet feeders filled. One day this past week I caught this red-bellied woodpecker fending off a starling and getting himself a bite to eat.
Isn't He Handsome??!!

On the TV front, we're happy around here that some of our favorite shows are back, including NCIS and Price Is Right at Night. Also this week began Tournament of Champions on Jeopardy. Mom is really looking forward to the return of Matlock this week too!

I am still reading "The God of the Woods" and am now thoroughly into it. Whoever recommended it -- Thanks! It took a bit to get into due to a lot of characters introduced and also going back and forth between current and past times.

Since I finished the last monthly cross-stitch project, I decided to knock out another month. I figured that I'd better before my eyesight goes to pot. These monthlies are worked on VERY TINY aida cloth and there are lots of half crosses.
Finished Project (Upper Left)


New Project

I guess that's it from me this week. Time to get out with Gracie this morning and then it's off to the periodontist with Mom for her annual visit. She's been very anxious to see this dentist in particular. She's sure that her teeth have moved and wants him to take a look. I hope she'll be able to rest calmly after the visit and he can satisfy her anxiety.

Have a great rest of your week and don't forget to visit the others sharing fun tips & sightings & whatever else they decide to share HERE.

Saturday, January 25, 2025

RSC Pink Report

I'm enjoying my monthly weekend of sleep-in-my-bed retreat. I wish all my fellow scrappy quilters a good final week of RSC Pink! I myself managed to dip into pink this week and did the following two GemTones BOM blocks offered by American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.



That's all from me this week. I'll be sewing today with my friends although cut a little short due to hubby has an MRI appointment in St. Louis this afternoon. I'll need to get home to be with Mom.

Thank you, Angela, for getting all us scrappy quilters together again for the final push on pink! See more pink HERE.

Thursday, January 23, 2025

I Like Thursday #167

Thursdays are good days to reflect on good things in our lives. LeeAnna gets us together each week to share these things. You can see what others have posted HERE.

My cross-stitch project was finished this week and I managed to get it set for hanging. Here it is in my entryway.

New Cross-Stitch Project Hanging
with the Winter Embroidery.
Pattern by Kathy Schmitz

I started the next cross-stitch in the series already too. I need to get as many of these done as soon as possible. The count is very tiny and my eyesight will not be able to handle many more of these. Lol!

This week I finished reading "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah. It was a super book and truly worth reading.
I was glad I finished it when I did as my next eBook was ready to check out. It is called "The God of the Woods" by Liz Moore. It was recommended by one of my blog friends and looked like a good one to read. I'll let you know as I dig into it soon.
GoodReads Synopsis HERE

I had a little time the other afternoon and broke out another puzzle. It was only 500 pieces and I figured it would be a good "confidence builder". It was!
Sushi Puzzle

The other day I posted this picture of the current weather as I was walking out the door to take Gracie for a walk. Note how cold it was, including the Feels Like temperature.

Here's a picture from my phone on the coldest day this week that Gracie and I walked. Brrrrrr!

We are actually warming up over the next few days to high temps in the 30s and 40s. There's a rumor that we may even hit 50 on Saturday! Bring out the bermudas! hahaha!

Wednesday afternoon, Hubby hollared for me to look out the window. Look what we saw! I guess they were very hungry as they were heading towards out bird feeders to see what they could scrounge.


Television-watching was good this week. As you know I've been enjoying the Australian Open. I absolutely love watching the tennis and watching out for rising stars. I hope to see more of Learner Tien from the USA. He's only 18 and has really made an impression on us all with his talent.

We also were glued to the tube on Monday watching the Inauguration of our 47th President. We are loving how he seems to enjoy talking and joking around with the press. It's good to see a president taking questions, answering them to the best of his ability, and smiling the whole time. This house is hoping that our country is turning a corner for the better. Having hope is another thing to like too!

Speaking of hope, I hope you're having a good week too. I have my monthly sleep-in-your-bed retreat coming up later this week and that is truly one of my best "likes"!