I Like Thursday #62

Let's do another round of I Like Thursday today, OK? Recently we've had a couple of visitors to the pond out back. This bald eagle stopped by for a couple of days and even brought a buddy a time or two. So regal. We really liked watching them.

Anyone care for a little ice fishing? Hahaha! Silly eagle! But doesn't he look cute? Do eagles' feet get cold? Hmmmm ....

I like watching the geese on our pond every winter too. We get so many and I love watching them fly in during the morning, skating across the ice lately. We've been so cold. Gracie & I walked the other day when it was 6 degrees. Thought that was bad until this morning when it was 2 degrees! Oh my!  But Gracie loved it! I guess the geese love it too. There's a bunch of them sitting on the ice surrounding the water that doesn't freeze due to the fountain.

On another morning this past week, I spied Wile E! That's right -- a coyote! He was walking in the field next to the bike trail. Here he is.

See that fencing? I was zoomed in but here is where we actually were. Gracie & I cut through here lots of mornings. I'm sure that sign isn't meant for us!

On a sad note: That field is filling up rather quickly with villas (aka duplexes). Gracie & I won't be able to run & play through there much longer and I wonder what will happen to Wile E. Boo!

I took this photo of Polly this afternoon. This used to be her very favorite sunbathing spot ... until Christmas when my grandkitty Penny arrived and claimed this spot for herself. Since Penny left, Polly sniffed up there once and promptly left. Fred & I have put Polly up there several different times over the past couple of weeks. I replaced the Penny-smelling blanket with a clean one. Nope! Polly would have none of that. Until today, that is. First time I've seen her up there since before Penny's Christmas visit. Hahaha!

Do you have these where you shop? Our local grocery store chain (Schnucks) has these roving robots. As you can read on the front, the name is Tally, and it goes up and down the aisles taking inventory of the food items. If there's a person in the way, Tally either waits or maneuvers to go around. She's apparently quite smart. I took this picture because (1) no one was in the aisle to see; and (2) to share with everyone! Do any of your stores have these?

 

This afternoon I decided to make some cupcakes. They're a little early for Valentine's Day but I figured what the heck? It's almost February! The cake was Duncan Hines Yellow and the frosting was the recipe from the back of the Hershey's Cocoa Powder box. It's the absolute easiest to make and the most delicious to eat frosting! Find yourself a box and make the recipe yourself. Here are my cupcakes complete with red, white, & pink hearts and white & pink sprinkles.

That completes my list of likes for this week. I'll be sharing and viewing other lists on LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color. Hop on over yourself and be tickled, amazed, and amused.

RSC Reds

This week was a cold week here in the Midwest. I walked Gracie with a wind chill of -9! No precipitation though so safe driving around here. That's a good thing since Mom had three places to be this week! Tuesday she had her quarterly podiatrist appointment. Thursday we were off to her hair appointment. That brought us to Friday for a follow-up/annual doctor's appointment. Her back is the same as it's been or possibly a little worse as I've noticed she's watching the clock to take more pills for the pain. The doctor said we are to start incorporating some stretches into her day and get her set up for both back-issue & balance p/t. That'll keep us running around, won't it?!? Thank goodness I'm not at all sad to do handwork! So what have I been up to?

I added block #2 to Gardenhurst. This pattern is by an amazing Australian quilt designer, Irene Blanck.

Block #1 (left) and Block #2 (right)

I finished block #1 of Uptown. I signed up for this BOM through Sentimental Stitches. Gay is reproducing an antique quilt and I was excited to do one with her. Check out the bits of red in here too. Just in time for RSC January - RED!

I also started the first embroidery block of Frosty McChill. There are 12 of these blocks offered from Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching's blog. He's just about finished and it's just about time to trace out block #2. And check it out -- RED! Worked in a little more red for Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Needs a little ironing but he's been a travelin' man!

And last but not least, I actually sewed on the machine a little for RSC Red. Can you believe it? I experimented with an idea for the border of my String-X top. Here's a memory refresher of the top,

I really need to sew this together!

After getting inspired by Bonnie Hunter, I decided to do a zig-zag border with strings. The outside of each block will get the same color zig-zag. Since that leaves out yellow and brown which are located in the center, I've decided I'll probably sew a narrow yellow border around the edge before adding the zig-zag. So here's my first border section.

Won't this add some zing! Do you see that bit of St. Louis Cardinals fabric? How about both of the Valentine fabrics? Just so much FUN! And boldly RED!

That's what's been happening around here. Now I need to zip on over to Angela's blog ( SoScrappy ) to see what everyone else has been up to. Have a great week!

I Like Thurs #61

Here we are, another week into 2022 and another date with LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color. The I Like Thursday posts are ones that I look forward to because there are a lot of tips, recommendations, recipes, and more shared by other bloggers. You should hit the link above and see for yourself!

My post will start as my days start: walking the trail with Gracie. Every morning I'm on the lookout for Screech & Hootie. Here's Screech from the other day. I saw him yesterday too when he swooped between the trees. I certainly wasn't fast enough to get a picture of him!

Have you heard of the fun, new Wordle craze? Every day you have to guess the new 6-letter word of the day and you only get 6 guesses. This is what the board looks like. I like how they give you the letters below the board. The letters get grayed out if you've tried them and they aren't used. They turn yellow if they are to be used but you haven't put them in the right spot. Green is good -- you've got the right letter in the right spot. You only get one word a day so it's not a time buster. Still time to sew! Lol!

On the tube, we've been enjoying the Australian Open (in spite of the ker-fluffle with Novak Djokovic). We're also pleased to be watching new episodes of NCIS again and I like to watch The Amazing Race. Switzerland was so pretty this week! Have you seen the movie "The Power of the Dog" on Netflix? I enjoyed it although it was a bit dark. They're talking an award for Kirsten Dunst's role. It's an interesting flick and I recommend it, although just know that it is hauntingly interesting/good.

I seem to be on a stuffed peppers kick lately. This time I used this recipe from Molly Yeh but didn't put the tahini sauce on it. Instead I threw in some feta cheese. I also went out on a limb and used ground lamb. Man, oh man! So delicious! The curry & turmeric with the lamb and bell pepper? Scrump-dilly-itious! Lol!

Mom has been staying here with us this week. Her back is still bothering her and she has a hard time keeping track of when she last took a Tylenol (or not) for the pain. She also had a podiatrist appointment Tuesday and has a hair appointment today with a follow-up doctor appointment tomorrow. Just easier for me to drive her here & there from our home. I suspect she'll have physical therapy starting up and I'll probably keep her here for that too.

So that's my week. While there has been some stress with adjusting to Mom's presence 24/7, it's still been a good week. Mom loves everything I cook! Haha!

Enjoy your week!

I Like Thursday #60

Today was a busy, busy day with Mom. Recently her back has been hurting and it was time to pay the doctor a visit to be sure we were handling it right and if there was anything else to do for healing. Then there was a trip to the dentist in the afternoon. In between, I took down her Christmas tree, put away all the holiday decorations, did a couple loads of laundry, straightened out some stacks of papers, swept her basement, soaked her sink sprayer in vinegar and got the sucker spraying again, and also provided some company for her. I was so busy that I almost forgot about my I Like Thursday post! Thank goodness there are several other posters that reminded me so here goes. A special thank-you goes to LeeAnna @ NotAfraidofColor for keeping us focused on the good things around us because the news on TV sure doesn't help us much in that department! Ha! Visit her blog where we are rounded up to share. Bet you find some interesting things to make you smile!

By now I think you know that Gracie & I like our walks. We haven't seen Hootie the owl lately but we've discovered another critter to look for. I named him Screech because of the screechie noise he makes. That's how I discovered him, saw him a second day, AND heard him a third day in the subdivision even though we weren't even on the bike trail yet!

Screech, a hawk

Screech soaking in some sunshine

I've heard that there are quite a few folks enjoying the series Yellowstone. It's on a pay-for streaming channel. Well, if you get Spectrum, you can enjoy Joe Pickett! It's advertised as Spectrum's answer to the popular Yellowstone. It's based on the books by C. J. Boxx and my mother has read all of them. Even though Fred & I have not read the books, we are enjoying this season all together!

On the kitchen front, I made some stuffed green peppers. I used THIS RECIPE as a base but changed it up a little to suit me. I used Zatarain's Spanish Rice box mix for starters. Then I used all ground beef instead of some chorizo sausage, no corn, and then I sprinkled mine with Tabasco Salt and my son's delicious smoked cheddar cheese. Then I cooked it as per the directions.

Scrumptious! Just add wine!

I must also add that I really like my neighbors. If I need to borrow anything, I've got a neighbor to go to. If I need a good repairman, I've got a neighbor to ask for a recommendation. If I need advice, I've got a neighbor to confer with. If I have a gardening question, I've got a neighbor to go to for an answer. I consider myself so lucky!

Recently a neighbor brough me this beautiful amaryllis. It's been blooming such gorgeous flowers. I hope I can keep it alive to bloom again next year. I'm also using it for my header picture.

If you've read through all of this, I hope you are inspired to find some good things in your life as well. Here's hoping we ALL have a good week, my friends!

January is for RED!

As usual I'm behind the power curve! Ugh! I saw the hints about what January's RSC color was going to be but I wasn't 100% sure. Several days later it was made clear to me but I still lagged behind on what I planned to work on this year. But FINALLY it all came together and I believe I have a plan. Yes, a plan but no scrappy sewing ... yet.

I will be making scrappy, strippy units for a streak of lightning border. At least that's what I think it's called. This border will go on the RSC2020 String-X top. Here's a picture of String-X laid out and ready to sew together. I think my border plan will set it off nicely. There will be a narrow border in between the blocks and streaky border.

I did manage to make some progress on 2020Twisted and there was plenty of red. Unfortunately it was EXTRA RED because I was seeing RED. The first time I sewed these blocks together, I sewed all (yes, ALL) the corner units upside-down. It took longer to rip it all apart then it did to sew up the first time around. After all apart (again) I stacked these units up and went to bed. These absolutely will get sewn together correctly in the morning!

All sewn up correctly now.

I decided to lay them out with friends to see what I've got going. I didn't have enough room to lay out the right side but I think we can get the idea of what's going on here.

Look at all that RED! These blocks will be laid out on point. I've got most of the pieces cut and ready to sew up to make the setting triangles. Stay tuned!

Have a great weekend. I'll be reading plenty of RSC blogs over at Angela's SuperScrappy link. So much fun happening over there!

Friday Night With Friends

First Friday Night with Friends and I was very happy to join my fellow stitchers from around the world ... even if only virtually! Thank you, Cheryll, for hosting this community event again every first Friday of the month and providing the Linky party!

I knew I wanted to do some applique Friday night so I picked up my Gardenhurst block. It looked like this:

These stems were only glued down and needed to be stitched in place. I knew this would be the perfect thing to work on since Friday nights are good TV-watching in our house and we were happy to see that the shows were all new episodes!

After stitching these stems in place, I glued down the center stem and stitched it on. Next I prepped five leaves and the top of the vase. After gluing those pieces in place, it was time for bed. My block is looking good so far and I'm ready to sew this afternoon when Mom arrives!

Have a good weekend! I'll be reading my fellow FNwF folks' blogs and getting inspired no doubt!

Linked up with Gone Stitchin'.

I Like Thursday #59

It's been a while since I posted but, suffice it to say, I had a very nice holiday season. I guess that would be my first like for this post. Family!

Gifts from my cousin almost always come from Macy's

My nephew, brother, and Mom in the background

There's my Mama!

I like that my daughter brings her kitties. Gracie likes keeping on eye on Penny who likes to keep an eye on Penny! Ha!

Penny felt quite at home this year.

Gracie was always exhausted from the company
at the end of the day

My DH got me a new laptop for Christmas -- or was it Santa? Either way it took me a little time to get everything transferred over and I still haven't personalized it 100%. I love it. Isn't it amazing how you don't even realize how cruddy your electronics are running until they're replaced? This one seems lightning fast!

My daughter figured out what was wrong with my Instant Pot. I used to use it a lot but lately it was messing up. We tested it by quick-cooking dried black beans. Ta! Da! Worked like a charm so I made some Black Bean Chili to test it out using this link.

Later I made a crockpot full of ham & bean soup using the ham bone from Christmas Eve dinner. I followed these two recipes: Mostly Ham & Bean Soup (Crock Pot Style) and a bit of Basic Ham & Bean Soup. We don't like Great Northern Beans and I didn't have a bag of 15-bean soup mix, so I just used mostly black beans with about a 1/3 of kidney beans. It was very tasty.

Lately there had been sticks along the bike trail indicating sign locations. The other day there was a vehicle on the trail in the distance.

The next day there were some very cool signs strategically placed along the trail at intersections, This is the sign that Gracie & I see first when leaving our subdivision. Look! Includes mileages! Very nice!

Before all the cold weather arrived, Gracie & I admired some lovely artwork in our neighborhood.

And where would I be without a picture of our Brody. Here he is enjoying life in his parent's bed watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That movie is a classic!

In the library department, I'm still reading "Troubled Blood" by Robert Galbraith, aka J. K. Rowling. I've been enjoying her Cormoran Strike series and this book, number 5 in the series, is also good. You can read about it here.

I think that pretty much catches you & me up. I hope you can look around and find plenty to like in your world too.

Linking up with LeeAnna @ Not Afraid Of Color.

And so PHD2022 Begins

Another year, another list of UFOs. Wish me luck! Ha! In  case you don't know what a UFO is in "quilt-ese", it is any quilt that has been started and has yet to be completed. I'll be joining Quilting Gail again with a list of my 12 UFOs which I hope will strive to complete this year. You may notice that a few of them are repeats from 2021. Unfortunately I did not complete my PHD (Projects Half Done) last year so some of them made the list again for 2022.

Each month, Quilting Gail will be hosting a Linky Party for all PHD 2022 Challenge participants to share their progress and root each other on. If you care to join in or have any questions about this challenge, you can find ALL the details at her link HERE. 

Here's a peek at the twelve projects I hope to finish this year.

2020 Twisted Mystery
Lots of blocks made with more to go.
Final assembly as yet to be determined.

Another 12 Days of Christmas
First block almost done with 11 to go!
Offered by Susan @ SuznQuilts

Autumn Jubilee 2021
Top completed; needs to be quilted
Offered by Carole @ My Carolina Home

Cactus Flower
Pattern by Judy Niemeyer

Calla Lily
All blocks & borders completed except pillow top.
My oldest UFO.

Gardenhurst
One block done and the second barely started
Pattern by Irene Blanck

Guild 2021-22 BOM
Six blocks done with three (?) to go.

 

Heartfire
Many blocks done, many more to go?
Pattern by Lynn @ Sew'n Wild Oaks Quilting Blog

Irish CourthouseH
27 blocks completed, many (?) more to go
Pattern by Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville's Quips & Snips

Maple Leaf
Top completed. Needs to be quilted.
Pattern by Norma Whaley @ Timeless Traditions

String X
Blocks are done. Needs borders & quilting.
Free pattern from Bonnie Hunter @ Quiltville's Quips & Snips

Xmas Placemats
Partially assembled.

And there you have it! Of course I've already got big plans with a couple of SALs (Uptown with Sentimental Stitches and 2022 Twisted Mystery) and playing along with RSC2022. I noticed that I missed RSC Red Month for Heartfire and I want to do a string border for String X.

Thanks for reading along this far and I hope to share progress with you on these UFOs all through 2022. Here's to a new year with a new PHD list! Thanks again to Quilt Gail for organizing us and hosting the Linky parties.