Purple and I'VE GOT A FINISH!!!

We have arrived at the last Saturday of March which means Angela will be selecting a new color for April. I may not have done a load of purple blocks like some of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge friends but I managed to show off quite a bit of purple anyway. If you love the color purple, visit Angela's SoScrappy blogpost.

First up are my purple pineapples. Got my three done for the month.

My best purple achievement for the month of March is a finished quilt. Here's a little background on this project.

Around Christmas (I think) I found a pretty top that was all completed and only needed to be quilted. I don't remember sewing this but the fabrics are familiar to me and I'm pretty sure it was a mystery quilt at my local quilt store, Rosemary's. What leads me to believe this was a mystery quilt was I later came across the spotted batik fabric labeled Fabric #3 Binding. It's also in the body of the quilt, of course.

Not too long ago I ordered a Big Fan stencil from FunwithBarb Etsy Shop. I love the look of fan quilting and Barb Vedder had been a guest speaker at The Applique Society meeting. She shared some of her quilts with the fan quilting and I loved it. When it came in the mail I was happily surprised that it was truly LARGE -- about 14" tall! Now what could I use it on? That's about the time that I discovered this quilt in the basement.

I marked the entire top with the standard blue water-soluble marking pen, pieced together a backing, cut some batting, and basted it up. I took me the better part (or maybe even a little longer) of a week to quilt. I finished the binding last Tuesday but there were no beauty shots due to cold and/or rainy weather but Mother Nature is shining this morning so here are a couple of pictures.

Ta! Da!

A Sideways Shot to See the Quilting?

Laying Sweetly with the Daffodils

Close-Up of the Front Quilting

Close-up of the Pieced Back Quilting

So Many Lovely Fans!!!

I love how this quilt finished. It is so soft and squishable and a nice lap-size at 58"x 72". Anyone out there have an idea of what this quilt pattern was called? It is too lovely to remain nameless. I'm looking forward to your suggestions. The colors kind of have a Mardi Gras vibe?

Wherever you are, I hope you are having a beautiful weekend. If you celebrate Easter, I wish you a blessed Sunday.

I Like Thursday #142

So many things to like this time of year. Spring has shown up everywhere with bulbs reawakening, trees budding & flowering, and birds showing off their finest colors with song. My son spent five nights hospitalized due to headaches and apparently Bell's Palsy. He was released yesterday with meds and a follow-up appointment to a neurologist. I really like that he is finally home to recuperate.

Check out this little fellow. This goldfinch will soon be golden. Not a great picture since I had to hurry to get it through my screened window.

Speaking of screened windows. did you know that screens are optional in new houses? I find this mind-blowing!!! At least this is the case in North Carolina. Man, oh man. I love my screens. Fresh air with no bugs. No birds accidentally flying into the house either! Lol!

While sewing binding on my quilt, Polly needed to check it out. She hollowed out a space big enough for her, then left. But not before I snapped a picture!

Here's a funny photo I took yesterday. We noticed that Mom & her P/T guy were dressed similarly the other day. Look! Twins! Hahaha!

Which one is the Danny DeVito
and which one is Arnold Schwarzenegger?

I'm still reading "Holly" by Stephen King. It is really keeping my interest.

The kitchen has been busy this week making deliciousness. No pictures but trust me, good food. Chicken, Gnocchi and Mushroom Skillet was a hit. I substituted chicken thighs for the boneless chicken breasts since that's what I had on hand. This is a one dish meal -- NICE!

Another easy dish was this Crispy Breaded Pork Chops (Baked). I had some leftover mashed potatoes that I served with these and a couple days earlier I made these Refrigerator Pickled Beets. Earlier Mom & I had noticed that our favorite grocery store had beautiful fresh beets available.

Due to a very busy week, I needed a yet another quick meal. I went to my Instant Pot for this Beef Barley Vegetable Soup recipe. Unfortunately I used a different-than-the-usual wine in it and Hubby detected it. He said it was good but I've made better. Pretty sure if I made this again using the merlot it would be approved by all in this house. I personally thought it was wonderful! Rats! Unfortunately I can't share this recipe with a link because it came from one of the Melissa Clark cookbooks that I checked out from my library. It was from either "Dinner in an Instant" or "Comfort in an Instant".

My broken sewing machine was picked up this week and will be returned fixed & cleaned next Tuesday. Another major "Like" for this house.

I hope you have a great week. Don't forget to be grateful for all the good things in your life. If you need a little motivation, check out these other shared posts from bloggers on their "Likes" over the past week.

Purple Pineapples!

While I've been away the last couple of days at a daytime quilt retreat, one of the things I most wanted to work on was my Rainbow Scrap Purple Pineapples. Here's a picture of all three accomplished!

Some of my friends were wondering what was going on with these pineapples and some of my friends were wondering why I was still working on them. I explained about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and I explained that this was a 2 year project. I started it in 2023 and I got half of the needed ones done. 2024 should be a good year!

They also wondered what the original purple pineapples looked like. I dug them out and posed them all together. Best purple friends!!!

Here's another glimpse of the quilt I've been working on. I am actually hand-sewing the binding on now with a short side done. Woot! Woot! Loads of purple here too.

I hope you're having a good weekend. Our weather is fluctuating a lot. Definitely Spring!

Linking up with Angela and all the others participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. If you like purple, you'll love visiting all the sites HERE.

I Like Thursday #141

Here we are on another Thursday and I will share a few things that I've "liked" this week.

My Lenten Rose is grateful that I cleaned out and clipped back the dead growth from last year. It practically jumped for joy overnight and made flowers!

My daffodils have been making quite a show around here too. I clipped a few before some expected storms so we could enjoy some blooms in the house.

My birthday gift from my BFF arrived late due to out-of-stock status. I love this coffee mug especially when enjoying  it with a slab of Irish Soda Bread!

The mug reads: I Wish We Lived Next Door
We could also add "Again" to the end of that!

Recipes around here have produced some delicious meals. I can't remember exactly which ones I've shared and which ones I haven't. Here are three delicious ones that were declared good in our house. Sorry to say I forgot to take pictures.

"Easy Coleslaw Dressing" from All Recipes was good in my opinion. Mom agreed but Hubby didn't care for the mayo base. Along with coleslaw that night, I saw Today Show's Dylan Dreyer make "Dylan's Oven Baked Ribs" so I grabbed her recipe. WINNER! Do you like Asian food? I tried Pioneer Woman's "Sticky Crispy Orange Shrimp". In the intro, Ree says this recipe is based on a similar recipe only using chicken so I decided to make this recipe with chicken. I had 2 large boneless breasts and chopped them into shrimp-sized pieces and then followed the recipe. It was also delicious and this entire household approved.

I finally finished "The Ink Black Heart" by Robert Galbraith. It was good but it was LOOONNNGGG. I only read 15-20 pages a 24-hour period. It was hard to remember some details over that much time since this book was over 1000 pages. I will say, for the most part, I enjoyed reading it.

Finished with this book, I downloaded an eBook from my local library. I really like reading on my Nook. "Holly" by Stephen King had become available for me so there was no choice to be made. I know the main character, Holly Gabney, from other Stephen King books so it was a relief to pick up with her storyline again. I'm not too far in but let me say that Stephen King has my undivided attention ... so far!

Synopsis from GoodReads

What a great week I had! Please join the others if you'd like some TV-viewing, book-reading, cooking, gardening, or otherwise interesting I Like Thursday posts HERE. 

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.

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!

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.

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!

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