Thanksgiving Family Post & Scrappy Saturday

I realized today was Saturday when I saw Angela's Scrap Happy Saturday post this morning. I sat down for a bit and did the final assembly of my Sting-X block for October. I really like the brown strings but, then again, I love the color brown! I have a lot of chocolate browns (no surprise there! Lol!) and I think I made a beautiful block.

This was block #10. I need two more String-X blocks for a 3X4 layout. I know I'm going to make a black block but what should the other color be? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Already did a red, pink, orange, yellow, light blue, dark blue, aqua, green, and purple one. Is there another color???? Maybe gray? or dark cream/paper bag brown? Help!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving here, just Fred, Mom, & me. Because it was just us, I asked the gang if it would be OK to have stuffing on Thanksgiving and then mashed potatoes on leftover night. We all decided that was a great idea. We didn't really need both all on one night.

A good dinner was had by all. Then we had pie with whipped cream. I made pumpkin and apple.

Gracie wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. She was grateful that we don't eat giblet gravy and all the goodies go to her. We stagger it out over about a week because we don't want her to get too spoiled! Ha!

And Polly liked that it was just us. She really doesn't appreciate company.

I'm watching over the cat next door while the neighbors visit family in Mississippi. Kitty is VERY old but she can still jump up into a lap ....

.... and onto the couch for a nap.

My niece  came home on Wednesday from UNC-Wilmington to have her wisdom teeth removed. I think she'll be in pretty good shape by the time she leaves tomorrow for class again on Monday. Here's a picture of her applying a lot of ice to keep the swelling & bruising down.

Speaking of Wednesday, we had a horrible wind storm run through here Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Gracie & I took a walk Thursday while the turkey was in the oven and we across this tree down on the trail plus lots of leaves, twigs, and branches.

And to help support small businesses, Mom & I shopped at The Chef's Shoppe in Edwardsville where I got an early Christmas present -- Le Crueset Dutch Oven. Got a good deal plus I got to use an almost-$20 rebate that I earned from last year's shopping!

Next stop was Allison's Shoes in Glen Carbon. My Birkenstock clogs were worn smooth on the soles and the leather was all cracked, peeled, and yucky in general. Got me a new pair and Mom got herself a new pair of Naot shoes. We certainly helped the economy this afternoon!!

Polly approved my purchase.

I will be linking up with Angela HERE in case you missed the link at the top of the post. Anybody diving in to the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt "Frolic"? Will you be using the same color combo Bonnie used? I'm still on the fence if I'll jump in.

Have a great weekend!

Progress & #41

My hand piecing saga continues and, I'm happy to say, Kyoto is coming right along. Clue #7 is all about making the center star.

Two more points to go for this and then come the Clue #6 parts from this post to get sewn in between the points. I hope the #6s are as easy to sew in place as these points have been!

Last week I managed to get the quilting done on this patriotic wall hanging. I'm happy with how cute it turned out and will be happy to show this one off at UFO Group on the 10th.

The pattern is "Liberty" by Kathy Schmitz and most of the fabrics are by Primitive Gatherings. It might be their Patriotic Gatherings line? Anyway I love the red rockets and the navy sheep!

Today I want to wish my husband a VERY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Today marks 41 years of our  marital bliss! It's a wonder that we've put up with each other all this time considering all we've been through. But we've done it together and that's the cement on our marriage. Think we've got another 41 years in us??? Lol! I love you and am looking forward to our dinner out tonight!

I'm still on the trail with Gracie each morning but haven't been going as far as before. We're closer to two miles or just under. The hip is better but not 100% .... yet! I'm feeling confident though! This morning we went 2.03 miles and it was a beautiful, crisp morning. The sky was so blue and the sun was shining so brightly. Really put a spotlight on my favorite tree on the trail!

Have a great week!

Normalcy Returns

Things are finally getting back to "normal" around here. The laundry is caught up, the house was thoroughly vacuumed, and the bedding changed on all of our beds. No guilt getting back to my hobbies!

No pictures of Kyoto this time but I am 100% finished through Clue 6. There are only 8. I viewed the video tutorial for Clue 7 and it looks pretty complicated. This will take some major time. When I get the six wedges completed, I'll have to audition to see what setting I want to go with. There are 18 different ways to sew this one together! From the video however, I've already nixed twelve so that helps narrow down the choices.

Before leaving on vacation, I picked out some yarn that I had purchased during the Summer's Last Blast Yarn Crawl this year. On the drives to and from, I knitted my heart out on a scarf. I plan on gifting it to my neighbor for Christmas and as a thank-you for taking such good care of Miss Polly this vacation and the last one. I blocked it the other day and, now that it's dry, I only need to take care of the loose ends.

I hope she likes it! (The colors are a bit brighter in real life.)

Before going on vacation, I had finished off a pair of mitts. The yarn for these was WONDERFUL to work with -- so soft! This yarn was also purchased on this year's yarn crawl and the pattern was a freebie from Knitorious. (If you're a knitter and in the St. Louis area, this is a shop worth visiting!) Anyway, the mitts were blocked and also need the ends tended to for the final finish. These are also a Christmas gift for someone special.

This morning I prepared this wall hanging for quilting. It is a Kathy Schmitz pattern that I sewed up a long time ago. I listed it on my UFO list at my local quilt shop. It has to be finished by December 10 to qualify. Will probably take care of it this weekend. I need to buy some matching thread and I'm not going anywhere today. Maybe tomorrow ...

That's the end of the crafting portion of this post. If you don't want to read on, feel free to exit now!

Monday I went to the orthopedic doctor. Remember when I fell on my hip due to the ice last February? Well, I decided I'd waited long enough for it to heal. My PCM earlier had taken an Xray and declared nothing broken yet I was still limping and it was only hurting more. Turns out I've been living with traumatic bursitis. I was definitely NOT looking for hip replacement as so many of my friends have been having lately. Just wanted a shot and to get better. So ... I got the steroid shot and it felt better immediately. Turns out, it was only the lidocaine working. When it wore off I was in worse pain than before I went to see the doctor! Yesterday marked 48 hours and it was certainly better, practically 100% right. It was the last day before expecting rain and Mom had loads of leaves in her yard. Hubby & I raked and then I raked, and raked, and raked some more. I didn't even stop for the blister on my thumb!

Front Yard Raking in Progress

Back Yard Raking Ready for Hubby Part 1

Back Yard Raking Ready for Hubby Part 2

Suck It Up, Hubby!

We finished the job after a little bit over three hours. Rushed off to buy a jug of milk and make it home for Jeopardy. We are true fans!

Sorry to end on such a sour note but I have to say one more thing. I started raking between my mother's house and the neighbor's but had to stop. Apparently they use the side yard as an ash tray. So many brown-colored cigarette butts buried in the leaves! Can I get a big, fat YUCK here! See them in the leaves? Too bad you can't smell what I smelled while uncovering them. 

Several times while sucking up the leaves we stopped to pick the butts out and toss them back over their fence. Didn't want to stink up our blower/sucker! So nasty!

And on that note, I'm off to get properly dressed since of course I walked Gracie. Have a fabulous day!

Linking up here with my friends around the world that share their love of quilting, in particular scrappy quilts. Thank you, Angela, for another Scrappy Saturday!

Long Time, No Post

It has been FOREVER since I've posted. The reason: I was on vacation. We left on October 27 heading for North Carolina to visit my brother (John) and his wife (Karen). Hubby went fishing with John over the next three days.

John Caught a Nice One

 In spite of a rainy day, the boys continued fishing.

John With Another Keeper

Hubby Caught a Good One Too!

Meanwhile, Mom, Karen, and I took off for Raleigh to pick up one of my twin nieces (Kelli) who attends NC State University. Then all four of us headed to Wilmington to visit the other twin (Jennifer). I had visited NC State but hadn't seen UNC-Wilmington. Also, the girls had each moved off campus for their sophomore year and we were wanting to see how they were settling in to their places. Kelli spent that night with her sister while us adults spent the night at the local Townhouse Suites. We enjoyed our visit very much.

Me with Jennifer's Roomate's kitty

Jennifer in front of the UNC-Wilmington Library

Kelli Found a Little Worm

Jennifer with her Roommate's Puppy

All Us Girls Enjoying Dinner at Poe's Tavern

On November 1, Mom, Hubby, and I took off for Maryland. Of course we wanted to see the kids but we REALLY wanted to spend a little time with our adorable grandson, Brody. We drove through Virginia.

 We crossed the Harry Nice Bridge into Maryland.

At last we arrived!

Brody Trying on the Sweater Grammy Made

Brody with His Mommy (Amanda) and Dogs (Sadie & Rocky)

Proud Grandpa

Three Manly Generations

Grammy with Brody 

Just Look at that Face!

Brody Turned 5 Months While We Were There

After spending nearly a week in Southern Maryland, we headed to almost the Delaware border so Mom could visit her sister. It was a nice visit but we didn't catch my aunt on a really good day. Apparently she had been up several times the night before and was really tired the day we visited. Didn't matter -- we enjoyed our visit with her, my cousin Ellen, Ellen's daughter-in-law Jenna, and Ellen's new granddaughter Emma.

Mom and Aunt Jinny

Aunt Jinny Just Wanted to Eat Her Ice Cream! Haha!

Aunt Jinny with Her Great-Granddaughter Emma (2 Months)

We arrived home in time for the Midwest snow & cold and a mountain of laundry!

I finally got to do a little sewing. Angela got a little behind on our Tiny Tuesday blocks due to LIFE but they were waiting for me when I got home. I sewed up two of the brown RSC blocks and the last block is laid out, waiting for me to sit down to the sewing machine.

For my leader & ender, I sewed brown strings. These pieces need to be trimmed up and made into a big String-X block.

I've been working a lot on Kyoto lately. It was a hand-pieced Mystery Quilt from Jinny Beyer in 2018. I had finished the first three clues, messed up the fourth, and had started on Clue 5.  I finished up Clue 5 and started Clue 6 when I realized I had never gone back and finished Clue 4. I'll be working on that this weekend. There are only 8 clues to get this finished!

Clue 6 - Add the striped piece to these mirror pieces.
There are six of each of these pieces.

Tomorrow I'll be selling tickets all day for my guild's raffle quilt at the local Yard Sale/Craft Fair. This evening I got some embroidery ready to work on while working the booth.

Not sure if you can actually see the stitching lines but I'll be working on these dish towels. Hope to not get a lot of embroidery done because I'll be too busy selling chances! Lol!

Now that I'm back home and we're caught up, I'll be posting a little more regularly again. Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Wendy at FNSI and Angela at Scrappy Saturday. You can see what all my cyber friends have been up to by clicking on the links!