I Like Thursdays #148

Wow! Did we get a lot of rain from Hurricane Beryl on Tuesday! My rain gauge only goes up to 4" and it overflowed! The best part was it cooled off our weather with barely 70 degrees F on Tuesday and just into the 80s yesterday. Summer is expected to return this weekend and we'll be seeing near 100s again. Ugh! It beats Las Vegas weather though!!!

Before we got drenched, I saw my neighbor's tiger lilies were blooming. Aren't they the sweetest the way they bloom looking downward? And especially pretty with the daisies.

Yesterday's walk caught a couple of glimpses of the effects of rain.

Mushrooms Popped Up Overnight

Check Out the Green Moss on this Big Tree
(So Pretty with the Sunshine)

I'm cooking right along with "The Women" by Kristin Hannah. It's hard to imagine how difficult it was in Vietnam but especially for the women nurses. I find it hard to put this one down.

Cooking this week has been uneventful. I did try to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for Mom. I'm not familiar with rhubarb except it's supposed to be quite sour. Mom wants more rhubarb than strawberry in her pie. The one I cooked turned out quite soupy and the rhubarb cooked down to nothing. Anyone out there have a good recipe for Mom?

Television watching has been a lot of Wimbledon tennis. However a friend recommended a Netflix movie -- "The Queen Bees" with Ellen Burstyn, Jane Curtain, James Caan, and more. We found it quite entertaining. If you have Netflix, check out this light, funny, old-people movie. Ha!

Our prompt today from our hostess is if we have a favorite summertime drink. I, of course, went straight to cocktails. My favorite would be a tall glass of Jalapeno Lemonade spiked with tequila or vodka. Second choice would be a refreshing Moscow Mule. If needy no with time to make a drink, then I'd pop a bottle of Coors Light. If all else failed, I would reach for a big glass of cool water.

I hope you have a great finish to your week. Stay cool! I'll be checking with the others HERE to see what they've found likeable this week.

I Like Thursday #129

Today is Thanksgiving. I like to think that ALL the I Like Posts are about Thanksgiving. Anything that makes you smile, makes you happy, gives you a warm fuzzy, can be reasons for giving thanks, right? So here's another I Like Thursday/Thanksgiving post from yours truly.

Look at this beautiful clematis that was appreciating our nice weather. Gracie & I were appreciating our beautiful weather on our walk too!

Is this upward view on the trail something? Definitely added to my Thanksgiving List this year!

My friend's daughter had a Friendsgiving get-together last weekend. Charcutier boards were the potluck theme. Here's a picture of my friend's dessert board. Isn't that Rice Krispie Turkey in the middle of the back wonderful??!!??

My daughter sent this picture to me from her local grocery store. She was very impressed (😜) with the marketing on this loaf of bread. She's pretty sure it's just plain ole white bread but I think it has poultry seasoning in it to taste like stuffing but no mushrooms, oysters, or other "different" additives. What do you think?

Last Thursday Mom, Fred, and I went to a Veteran's Day luncheon with the Troy Senior Center. They served ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans with bacon, and for dessert - your choice of pumpkin or apple pie. It was delicious but the best was yet to come! They honored all veterans from all branches of the military and we were entertained by the Scott AFB Airlifter Brass Band! They were magnificent and we certainly were privileged to meet these fine young Air Force musicians.

To say we were razzle-dazzled would be an understatement. They played a little jazz, a little marching music, a little orchestral, and an extraordinary rendition of a medley of all the military branches, including the US Marine Corp, the US Navy, the US Army, the US Air Force, the US Coast Guard, and the newest US Space Force! We didn't even know the last two branches had songs! Man, are we old!!! Lol!

Yesterday's walk, Gracie & I went up and over the bridge to see what our friend Emma was talking about when she said there's a giant Care Bear on the other side. She was right! There's no plaque to explain it but there it is.

Last week we watched (on two recommendations) "All the Light We Cannot See" on Netflix. It has four installments, each about an hour. It took us two nights to watch the whole thing. We all enjoyed it. I can add that I read the book in April 2022. Besides synopses, GoodReads is also good for keeping track of books I've read! You can read about the book HERE but watch it on Netflix.

On top of all this, we seem to be in good health around here so we are all thankful for that as well. Warm Thanksgiving blessings to all of you and your families!

Let's Do Some Pink!

To begin, I'd be remiss if I let Dark Blue January leave without a final picture. All of a sudden I realized that I hadn't finished the dark blue string zig-zags for the outer border of String-X. The blocks were made but not cut down to make the half square triangles and then assembled. So I set out to do just that ... and I did!

I mentioned last week that I'd started the Twisting Heart Valentine. It has now become a finished top. It's not super large and those squares finish at a mere 1-3/4"! It is just full of pink, isn't it? Let me show you the steps in pictures.

Sew together 3-1/2" squares

Using the Tiny Twister tool, cut out 2-1/4" squares
where the seams meet

Sew squares back together

Add a border and ...
voile! You're done!

Wasn't that fun??!!!

In the meantime I finally finished the January Uptown block. Lots of parts. Thankfully the February  block doesn't look as difficult so I might actually get caught up!

Has anyone seen "The Banshees of Inisherin" yet? It's up for a bunch of Academy Awards including Best Picture. Per Wikipedia, this is what it's about:

"The Banshees of Inisherin is a 2022 black tragicomedy film directed, written, and co-produced by Martin McDonagh.^[6][7][8] Set on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland, the film stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them"

"Black tragicomedy" is an excellent way to describe the plot. We found the Irish accents a bit difficult to understand but I enjoyed the movie even if a little disturbing. Of course there's a message within the movie -- hey! It's up for Academy Awards! Need I say more. I'd be curious if anyone out there has seen this movie yet and their thoughts.

Whether or not you watch the SuperBowl this Sunday, I hope you have a good weekend. Enjoy those half-time snacks!

Thank you, Angela, for continuing to inspire us to use our scraps each week on your SoScrappy blog.

I Like Thurs #87

Happy September! Lately I've noticed a few leaves on the ground under certain trees. Has it been the heat and lack of water that has caused this or is Autumn truly around the corner? Today is the first day of the first Fall month (September) after all. The days are getting shorter, the mornings taking longer to come around. I especially notice this because it's getting later & later for me to put out my hummingbird feeders. Which reminds me that we've probably only got about 6 more weeks of their buzzing happiness.

So what's been going on around here to like lately? I spied this beautiful spider web on my walk the other morning. Isn't the sun gorgeous glistening through the dewy web? It almost looks like a bull's eye on the shed! Haha!

This past Tuesday I took Mom and her neighbor Dee to see the movie "Where the Crawdads Sing". Mom & I had read the book but surprisingly Dee had not. All three of us loved the movie though!

My friends at retreat had told me that the movie would not disappoint whether you'd read the book or not. They were right! I recommend either or both.

Our prompt this week is any warm "back to school" memory. I'm afraid I'm drawing a blank. We of course got some new school clothes but mostly what we needed. Same went for our supplies. We went through our old stuff and got new what we needed. It wasn't made a big deal of in our house. Very practical upbringing, I guess.

I will say that this time of year is when I collect "office" supplies due to the sales. I love these mechanical pencils by PaperMate They make a very fine, visible line for sewing and cutting HSTs.

I also look for the Elmer's School Glue. It works wonderfully for applique and tricky-to-match seams.

Upon occasion, I have been known to pick up a 3-pk of pretty gel pens. I really liked the last ones I got but I can't remember the brand or the particulars. There was a pink, a purple, and a light blue pen in the pack. I've had them stolen lost them along the way and would love a fresh pack. I'll definitely be on the lookout for them.

I'll bet the other "I Like"rs will have better school supply tales to tell than I. Check here at Not Afraid of Color for more back-to-school fun!

I Like Thursday #86

I Like Thursday has arrived once again without fail and I'm starting it off with my finished Twistie quilt. You can read all about it HERE but let's just say I love it. The pattern was fun although I must admit 80 blocks almost did me in! Haha! I draped it across a lounge chair with another one of my likes:  the Limelight hydrangea. It is so full of heavy blooms that the branches droop -- some all the way to the ground! The blooms start off with a green tint, turning whitish, then fade to a pink. It probably towers 12 feet high!

Last Saturday when Gracie and I took our morning walk, I noticed A LOT of bikes! There were a lot of different colored arrows stuck along the trail too. Then I spied this sign and realized the reason behind all the activity. I liked the reason for the crowded trail.

Forty mile route with the green arrows marking the way? I'll pass, thank you, but you all go ahead and enjoy the ride! Haha! It was a nice day though for a bike ride.

Fred & I had already seen "Top Gun: Maverick" and enjoyed it very much. This past Tuesday we took Mom to see it. Her hairdresser told her how good it was too so she was wanting to see it for herself. She was WOWed by it! Hahaha!

I bought the tickets through my movie membership so we didn't even have to wait in line. We also got our "Members Only" free popcorn. Mom really liked that! We plan on going to see "Where the Crawdads Sing" next. Mom & I read the book and loved it. We're planning on taking Mom's neighbor too because she also enjoyed the book. You can't hardly beat $5 tickets and free popcorn now, can you?

Speaking of books, I'm currently reading "The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle" by Stuart Turton. This is one strange book. I'll finish it because my daughter recommended it to me. I'm still undecided about whether I like it or not. Guess I must like it though because I keep wanting to read more! You can read about it HERE on Goodreads.

As for our prompt this week from our fearless leader: relate a place where you take an annual summer vacation or attend a summer event. This was a hard one for me because we don't have "usual" anythings planned for summer. Every Spring & Fall we make the trek to the East Coast to visit family but nothing in the summer. I guess I'd have to go back in time to visiting the Lake of the Ozarks as a kid. Dad came home with a boat one year. He named it SuJoLi for his three children: Sue (me), John (brother), and Linda (sister). We went most every summer after and we all learned to water ski and drive the boat. It wasn't anything extravagant with only a little 35 or 40 horsepower motor. We had rules we had to follow too. We weren't allowed to go over 20mph if we were pulling a skier! I'm not sure the boat could go much faster than 25 or 30mph anyway. Haha! And I have to admit that the water is hard if you fall, even at only 18mph! 

The lake was beautiful early in the mornings. The water was so calm it was like skiing across glass. We'd see fish, deer, turtles, and plenty of other wildlife. It sure brings back wonderful memories, for sure.

I hope you enjoyed this trip down Memory Lane and found something to amuse yourself. Stay tuned next week for more likes and another "summer prompt" from LeeAnna. You can always find more fun stuff with the other I Likers HERE.

I Like Thursday #70

Here we are on another fine Thursday being given another chance to share positive thoughts. Thank you to LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color for giving us this opportunity.

Last week I told you how much I enjoyed the book "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty. What's next for me to read? A couple of days ago I started "Finding Freedom: A Cook's Story; Remaking a Life From Scratch" by Erin French. Here's a quick blurb from Goodreads.com on what it's about:

"From Erin French, owner and chef of the critically acclaimed The Lost Kitchen, a TIME world dining destination, a life-affirming memoir about survival, renewal, and finding a community to lift her up."

So far I'm really enjoying this book.

Easter dinner was a roaster chicken that I stuffed. Today there were showers and it was damp and cold. I boiled down the bones and made chicken soup. I threw in celery, onion, carrots, potatoes, peas, and spinach. So tasty! We like to eat homemade soup.

Look at the beautiful tulips on my header photo. Today I noticed that they had changed color, turning a deeper pink. From light pink to dark pink, these flowers are a joy to see each morning.

We recently watched "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" on Hulu. Jessica Chastain, who played Tammy Faye, won the Oscar for Best Actress. RottenTomatoes.com summed up the movie like this:

"THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE is an intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. In the 1970s and 80s, Tammy Faye and her husband, Jim Bakker, rose from humble beginnings to create the world's largest religious broadcasting network and theme park, and were revered for their message of love, acceptance and prosperity. Tammy Faye was legendary for her indelible eyelashes, her idiosyncratic singing, and her eagerness to embrace people from all walks of life. However, it wasn't long before financial improprieties, scheming rivals, and scandal toppled their carefully constructed empire."

All three of us enjoyed this movie -- Hubby, Mom, and me.

Lately I've been very disappointed in Bloglovin.com being down. Again they went off this weekend and I haven't caught them up at all this week. This leaves me unable to read the blogs that I enjoy following, I mentioned my problem to Diann at Little Penguin Quilts and she said that she reads blogs on Feedly.com. So guess what? I switched over to Feedly this weekend and have been working to catch up on missed blogs and setting up my feed. I REALLY LIKE the close-knit "family" of bloggers. Thank you, Diann, for helping me out during this frustrating time.

Wishing everyone a good week!

I Like Thursday #63

It's Thursday and we here in the Midwest are getting snow ... FINALLY! It's our first "real" snowfall this year which seems pretty late to me. Yesterday started with rain, followed by ice, and then sleet/frozen pellets. It ended with a few inches of snow. Fred & I got out there and cleared most of it up and I am grateful that he managed to get my SUV's door open since it was all iced up. I took the dog for a walk around our property and took this interesting picture down by the woods.

Still dark outside so the flash went off. Very icy.

A few minutes later, no flash, but loads of ice.

Here's a picture of my dogwood tree. Look at the top of the tree. You can tell the wind was blowing as it was getting all iced up.

A look out the front. Yup, icy!

A look this morning out the front door of more snow falling. I already shoveled the walk about an hour ago and you can see the snow is still coming down because the walk is covered again. It's supposed to stop by afternoon.

I did get the suet out on the back deck and this little downy woodpecker is thankful.

Can you tell I like SNOW!!??!! I don't mind shoveling since I don't have anywhere to go. I really like watching it come down and I like watching Gracie run through it. The husky in her really comes to life in this weather!

On the tube, we enjoyed streaming "Joe Pickett", a short series on Spectrum. It's based on a couple of books by C. J. Boxx. It's rumored that Spectrum will be filming a 2nd season and we like that! In the meantime we started streaming "Save" which was written by Harlan Coben, an author that Mom & I have enjoyed in the past. "Save" isn't a book but I see that there are numerous of his books that have been made into movies on Netflix. Bet we check them out soon!

I made Katie Lee Biegel's Hometown Lasagna last night. It was a bust per Mom & Fred. I kind of liked it. The biggest complaint from the peanut gallery was it was dry. So glad I added an extra cup of water since Katie had us use uncooked lasagna noodles! Truthfully, I loved the texture of the noodles in the "dry" sauce. Oh well, we'll smother the leftovers in Prego and call it good another day! Ha!

Last weekend I liked sewing with my friends. I hadn't sewn with this group since September last year, I believe. We were probably gone to visit Brody in October and we don't sew in November or December due to the holidays. It was SO GOOD to see "my peeps" again!

One of the ladies there, Pat, was just starting a new Crabapple Hill embroidery project called "Snow Days". The weird thing is, while I was searching earlier for something else, I came across a bag full of fabrics, floss, and this very pattern to make for myself! So funny! But, even funnier, another quilter there said she had just finished her version and so she brought it the next day. That's the top below! Pat & I both agreed that we need to make ours too! Then all three will need to be quilted.

I'll close this week with a family picture! Ha! Then I'll be off to visit Not Afraid of Color to see the others sharing their "Likes" for the week. Thank you, LeeAnna, for gathering us together weekly!

I Like Thurs #58

Happy Thursday! It definitely makes for a happy day when you look back over the week and think about all the wonderful things around you. My first like would have to be my grandson Brody. He was trying on Daddy's glasses. Doesn't he look sooooo smaaaaaart!?!

Next would be how we quilters share tips and our love of quilting. Recently Katy @ KatyQuilts shared a method for easily applying binding using Elmer's Washable Glue. You can find her post HERE. I'd like to add that I also like using that glue for applique. Just a little dab will do ya! (Did I just age myself? Do you remember that jingle too?) Anyway, in order to get just a tiny dot or line, I like to use this tool that was shared to me by my friend LindaLee. You can find this applicator at JoAnn stores. It's made by Dritz and is only a few bucks.

See that tiny applicator tip? Makes VERY FINE dots or lines of glue.

Convenient lid for keeping tip clean. Just add glue! The bottle comes empty! I had a friend that also used glue for matching teeny, tiny points while piecing. Match it up perfectly, apply a dot of glue, hit it with the tiny Clover iron, and stitch it up perfectly!

As you may recall, our anniversary happened recently -- right on Thanksgiving Day this year. This week we finally celebrated with "date night". In the past, whenever there was a new James Bond movie out, we would go see it. So that's what we did this year!

I really enjoyed it. Fred did too until the next day after thinking about it. That's the problem with thinking! Hahaha! Anyway, we went to the early show on $5 Tuesday when we also got free popcorn. Afterwards we headed over to Red Lobster with gift cards to enjoy a nice dinner.

We got home around 7, just in time to turn on the TV to watch the St. Louis Blues. What an exciting game. We won in overtime! That was a triple trifecta that day -- good movie, nice dinner, wonderful hockey game!

Speaking of TV, I've been enjoying Survivor this go-round. The season finale is next week and it's shaping up to be a good one. The previews look like there will be a lot of twists & turns. Stay tuned!

I hope you can take a few moments to review all the things you've like this past week. You can also go visit LeeAnna's blog where there are several of us that share our "likes". Just go HERE!

Make it a good week!

I Like Thurs/Fri #56

Guess I'm a little behind. I feel like the days continue to pass without much happening, quilt-wise or otherwise. Maybe I'm still trying to wrap my head around the time change? Whatever the reason, I have LeeAnna and other grateful bloggers to thank for uplifting posts. Join us HERE to find happy thoughts.

This past week our weather has fluctuated between highs in the 70s to 40s. On one of the colder days, I made chili. Mom & I added green onions and cheese. Unfortunately, what I thought was my son's delicious smoked cheddarjack was smoked horseradish cheddar! Yes, there was a little heat in the bowl! Ha! It was good but I had a leftover bowl to which I added the correct cheese. Even better!!

Last month Carole from My Carolina Home hosted her annual Autumn Jubilee. You can find the details on the button on my sidebar. I like how every year she puts together several projects to celebrate Fall.  A quilted project is always included and I finally got my top done. It's not quilted yet. I plan on getting it 100% finished for next year. In the meantime, it'll hang as is until we get the house ready for Christmas.

I've mentioned before how much I like my guild Hearts 'n' Hands. We are a very active group and the past couple of years I've been very grateful for that. This is my November BOM, the 5th of nine. I'm using mostly scraps of lime green and dark blues. We've been using 16 HSTs for each block using different settings. It's been fun so far.

I know I post a lot about Gracie because I really enjoy my morning walks with our dog. However, there is another member of our family that doesn't get enough attention. This is Polly, our kitty. I was surprised when I took her to the vet for her annual check-up to discover that she is 8 and a half years old and weighs in at nine pounds. We had her a couple of years before getting Gracie and she took to the new puppy in the house very well. I can report that Polly has never made Gracie bleed even though Gracie sniffs her in obscene places and nips at her back legs for attention. Polly is very patient as well as photogenic.

I did finish the book I was reading by Harlan Coben, "Fool Me Once". It was a very good read. Lots of twists and turns ... all the way to the end. Harlan did it again with this book.

I just checked with my library and discovered that "Troubled Blood" by Robert Galbraith is available. I plan on running down and checking it out today. It is the 5th book in the Cormoran Strike series and you can read about it HERE. In case you aren't familiar with Galbraith, that is a pseudonym for J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. Whereas Harry Potter was written for young adults, the Cormoran Strike series is for adults. I've loved the first 4 and figure I'll like the 5th as well. I understand that there is a 6th one due to come out soon. The author has promised that there will seven books in this series, just like the Harry Potter series!

If you've lasted this long, I'd also like to recommend "Red Notice", a movie on Netflix. It features Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, who was hilarious! There's plenty of action in this film and, mixed with the humor, makes this a fun movie. Highly recommend! Read about it HERE.

I think that ought to do it for this week. Hopefully I'll my mojo will return and I'll be right on time next week!