I Like Thursday #182

I'm back in time for an I Like Thursday post. Honestly, I don't know where the time flies except life keeps happening and I feel like I'm always running here & there. Can you relate with busy times in your life?

What's kept me busy is going through Mom's house (of nearly 56 years). So many decisions made -- what to keep, what to donate, what to let go, what to put in storage, what to keep for other family members. My goodness, so many decisions! Then to have everything set up for transporting all the things to a storage unit. Have you ever heard of and/or used Two Men & a Truck? Even though they were a little pricey (and I was warned of that), they were very efficient, competent, timely, friendly, and -- bottom line -- got the job done.

Mom & I attended the closing last Friday, the 13th. Yahoo! All the utilities have been closed out in her name, her homeowner insurance cancelled, and yesterday we had our appointment to get her a new state ID card with her official new address. She also was re-registered to vote at her new address.

Guess what? I LIKE ALL THAT!

Here are a few more things that I've liked the past couple of weeks.

Goose Party on our Backyard Pond

Belleville Main Public Library
The Library I Used While Growing Up
Such a Beautiful Building

Chatty Grand-Niece on Valentine's Day

Pre-Lent Polish Doughnuts - So Yummy!

Polly Has Decided Gracie's Bed is Just Right for Her!
Hahahaha!

Conversation starter of the week
what was your favorite subject in school... elementary, high school, or college... or did your favorite subject change over time? what was the teacher like? do you still have an interest in that subject?

I loved any and all math classes. To me, geometry and algebra were like puzzle games just waiting for me to figure out. In high school, I took English I & II. Loved both of those classes. Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Milton's Paradise Lost were terrific reads.

Don't forget to visit Not Afraid of Color. LeeAnna has all the I Like Thursday bloggers partying there!

I Like Thursday #178

Midway through January already and sharing all things positive again this week. Valentine's Day is less than a month out so I started getting out the decorations. I made this wall hanging in 2014 after buying the fabrics in 2004, I believe, at Primitive Gatherings in Wisconsin before I knew who Primitive Gatherings was!

Lacy Hearts Made by My BFF

Speaking of Valentine's Day, I finished stitching the cross-stitch piece from Primrose Cottage. Lousy picture. It's actually stitched on a beautiful piece of blush-colored Lugana. I will try to get it finished this week or next. Who knows? Maybe I'll even get a better picture taken!

On the homefront, I managed a monumental task this week -- I hand-washed all my hand-knitted socks! The weather earlier had been perfect to get them washed and hung out on the line to dry. I'll not be able to do that again for a while! Our weather has turned frigid once more.

All Folded Up on the Dining Room Table

Here's one last chuckle for you. Little Polly decided that Gracie's big bed in the kitchen was the perfect size for her.

9# Kitty in a Bed for a 70# Dog!

Question for the week from our hostess: Have you ever lived anywhere else? As a "military brat" who ended up marrying a military guy, yes, I have lived in other places. I was born in Tripoli, Libya at Wheelus Air Base. The base was located in Africa on the Mediterranean Sea and at the edge of the Sahara Desert. After Dad finished his ROTC commitment, the family moved back to their roots, New Jersey. Due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, Dad was re-called back into the US Air Force and we moved to Alabama. Before Dad retired from the military, we saw Germany, New Jersey again, and then on to Illinois. After marrying Fred, I lived in Nebraska, Colorado, Hawaii, Florida, and Maryland before returning to Illinois. Sometimes I wonder if I'll live here forever or if there is maybe one more move left in me! Lol! If my story has you curious about others, check out LeeAnna's blog HERE where we are all sharing this prompt.

Have a great week and "Bloom where you're planted!"

I Like Thurs #175

Welcome back to another round of likable things. My first "like" is the weekly invitation from LeeAnna to share our posts and the next "like" is what all the other bloggers share. Visit LeeAnna's get-together HERE to see what I mean!

First up to like was the Senior Center Luncheon. We always have a good meal and a good time! Lunch, cookies, and entertainment!

Beautiful Cookies Bagged Up for the Taking

Look Who Showed Up! Santa & an Elf!

Mom Enjoyed a Santa Visit

She Tried to Convince Him She was a Good Girl! Lol!

Even I Got a Hug! I Liked That! Ho Ho Ho!

A Christmas package arrived in the mail. Polly liked that! Hahaha!

One of our lovely neighbors dropped off a bucket of Christmas cookies. Definitely the most wonderful time of the year and a big Holiday Like!

One night I made this Hamburger Stuffed Acorn Squash. Too bad I can't find where I got the recipe. Argh! I hate when that happens but, trust me, they were good and even hubby liked.

Last night we went to Olive Garden. We were supposed to go on November 25th, our 47th anniversary, but Mom didn't feel like it so we ordered Jersey Mike's subs instead that night. Last night we all enjoyed our dinner out and anniversary celebration.

Don't forget to check out the other posted "likes" HERE. Have a great week!

I Like Thursday #172

After a long pause, I'll see if I can jump back on board again. LeeAnna has continued to give me the monthly prompts for I Like Thurs posts even though I've been dropped from the list. Lol! Totally understandable since I haven't been dependable. Check out all the good things going on at her blog Not Afraid of Color.

So, my introduction over, the prompt this week was do we decorate for Thanksgiving? Yes! Of course! Although it's mostly for Autumn. Here are my Thanksgiving-specific decorations.

Ancient Home Interiors
Grateful Children

November Mug Rug
I Hang Mine

November Thanksgiving Insert
My BFF & Her Hubby Made This for Me

Pilgrms & Turkey
Also Made by My BFF

I'll leave you with a parting shot of Miss Polly patiently waiting for a little attention ...

... and one of my favorite pictures of my niece at her brother's wedding patiently waiting for Miss E's arrival!

Make your Thursday a good one, friends!

Closing Up Purple

Here it is the last weekend of July and August is lurking around the corner. The weather has reminded us that it is still, in fact, summer. Wouldn't you know our A/C went on the fritz! We noticed that it was getting warmer in the house and our upstairs at night was getting really awful for sleeping. It just so happened that Fred went downstairs to check and lo! and behold! there was an Error Code 69! What did the code mean? I sure as heck didn't know but I did know what Error meant! I called first thing on Monday morning (7 am) and had it checked out around noon. Ugh! Computer board was the likely culprit as the compressor looked to be running OK. Hallelujah! We were still under warranty because our HVAC was barely three years old. Part was ordered and installed on Wednesday! Cool air has been blowing through the vents again and happiness has been restored in this house once again. You know, you don't realize how much you love your air-conditioning until it's gone and Mother Nature has thrown near 100 degrees at you with extremely high humidity (due to what is called corn sweat here in the Midwest) with Feels Like temps approaching 115. So all is right again here in Troy IL.

On Vickie's last couple of days with me, we decided to do a project together. I had seen on the Bernina blog We All Sew a tutorial on making a coiled rope cat basket. We both have kitties and Vickie had wanted to make a rope basket and these directions looked easy enough so let's do it! We followed the directions explicitly --except we didn't have the exact size needles required and I don't have a fancy machine with dual feed but I do have a walking foot and Vickie couldn't use her knee-lift for some odd reason with her computerized sewing machine right then. Yup! Directions followed perfectly! Haha!

Inner Coil Started

Let's Start Adding Color!

And Done!

Vickie's Completed Basket

We had so much fun making these baskets. When I struggled a little, Vickie helped me out. When she had trouble, I was there for her. Besties for sure and we had a great time making the baskets. Best part of all, our cats seem to like them, especially Vickie's Jasper who curled right up in it when she got home and put it out for him.

Jasper is a 17# cat

Vickie used fabric she had purchased at a thrift shop while on vacation in Nebraska before stopping through here. Isn't it beautiful??? Knowing her Jasper is on the larger size, she didn't stop at the 14" mark for the bottom but continued on to 16". She also added handles on hers because she's smart! Lol!

Polly is barely a 9# kitty

I used purple scraps for Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Polly's basket. She's a smaller-sized kitty so I stopped at 12" for the bottom measurement of my basket. If you're interested in this project, you can find the tutorial HERE. If you have a kitty, you really need to make one.

We were sad to see Vickie leave Tuesday morning
She was headed to start the All KY/TN Shop Hop

Now, what did I do after Vickie left and the A/C got fixed? I sewed RSC, of course! First up was to do the second purple block of Gem Tones.

16" Finished

As I was sewing the rows together, I glanced at the picture in the American Patchwork & Quilting mag and discovered my flying geese were pointed in and were supposed to be pointing out. Oops! At that stage I wasn't about to rip it out. Here's a picture of both purple blocks (see the difference? Well, poop!) up on the design wall along with a couple of other Gem Tones friends.

I also tackled the first July step of the Mystery QAL at Itch'n to be Stitch'n, my local quilt shop. Looks to be possibly the center block?

It's a huge 16" Finished Block!

In between these big blocks, I started Bonnie Hunter's 2025 Leaders & Enders project. I'm basing my colors on lovely hydrangea bushes. I finished two blocks and a third has been started. Bonnie is calling this challenge Four Patch Fun.

I think that's enough from around here so I will close with a couple more basket pictures since we had so much fun making them.

Silly Goose!

Silly Crane on Top of Neighbor's House!

I hope you had a great week and are planning a good weekend. I, for one, am looking forward to the end of this week when we are supposed to finally cool off a bit. Until then, you'll find me enjoying my sweet air-conditioner!

Thank you, Angela, for keeping us all together on the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!

Purple Sewing Began This Week

Last night was the 3rd Friday of the month and that meant it was Friday Night Sew-In. I thought it was high time I started on another cross-stitch project. This pattern has been hanging around the house for years, sometimes lost and sometimes right under my nose. Time to get a move-on!

Old Pattern, New Project

My Grand Start!

Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge color this month is PURPLE! I'd bet there's not a lot of people out there that do not like purple. It's a wonderful color and sure brightens up the hot, humid weather we've been dealing with lately. If it's not scorching here in Southern Illinois, then it's raining. It is what it is because it's mid-July.

Because I'd already cut out the pieces for Gem Tones, I thought that might be a great place to start this week. Over a couple of days I managed to complete one of two blocks!

Purple Gem Tones #1

Polly Approved!

In between sewing the 16" finished block, I used The Quilting Life BOM for my leader & ender. This month was a churn dash block in RSC Purple.

There was a PT appointment and hairdresser appointment this week and so I put a little time on my TAS (The Applique Society) UFO project. Here's a peek.

My best friend arrived last Tuesday and will be departing Tuesday this week. It's been nice having a fellow-quilter in the house. She has just started a Dear Jane project and her fabrics are beautiful as is her applique. I believe she said she has 14 of the 169 center blocks done. She's got a ways to go! I'll try to take a couple pictures for next week's update.

Keep stitching wherever you are! Have a great weekend!

Linking up with Wendy at Sugarlane Designs and Angela at SoScrappy.

I Like Thurs #150 AND a Finish!

I haven't been posting lately because things had gotten hectic around here between appointments, my daughter's visit, and just taking care of the necessary things around the house. However, right before Sarah's arrival, I finished quilting and binding a top! Yay!

This is what it looked like a couple of years ago. I was on retreat with friends at Kinderhook Lodge. Earlier I had gifted my BFF a kit and also one for myself. We made our tops together at retreat.

Kinderhook Retreat -- October 2022

Of course, Vickie quilted hers up right away while mine lingered and waited to be quilted. I felt like I was on a patriotic roll recently since I'd finished my AccuQuilt Flag (see header) and decided that this was the year to quilt this one. As a matter of fact, since I was making red, white, & blue striped binding for the AQ Flag, I went ahead and made the binding for this one. I've never made my binding before quilting it but I'd seen others do that. Wow! What great motivation to get 'er done!

So, may I present a finished Charmingly Patriotic!

This is a Lisa Bonjean (Primitive Gatherings) pattern actually called Charming American. The top is made with 5 charm packs. All you need is binding & backing from there. The top finished at 50"x60" but was actually 47.5"x57.5" after quilting & laundering.

Although it's not a huge quilt, I decided to quilt it using my Barb's Baptist Fan Stencil (find it HERE on Etsy). I had such success using it on the Mystery Quilt in April and went with it again.

A Close-Up of Primitive Gatherings's
American Gatherings Fabrics

Pieced Backing

Close-Up of the Large
Baptist Fan Quilting

This one definitely qualifies for a major LIKE! Woo! Hoo!

I also like how Polly keeps an eye on my quilting. Thankfully she approves. Lol!

Last I checked in, I was reading "The Women" by Kristin Hannah. I finished it and absolutely loved this book. I must say I was a little skeptical since it isn't my usual kind of book. It's the story of three nurses that do their patriotic part in Vietnam. During the course of their tours, they become close friends even after the war ends. I truly recommend this one though.

Currently I'm reading "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett. I'm already over halfway through it and am surprised by how much I'm enjoying this book too!

GoodReads synopsis HERE

Again, not a usual book that I might read but I'll bet one of my fellow bloggers recommended it. I will do the same, I'm sure, when I finish. Until then, I'll keep on reading. Next on my reading list will probably be a book recommended by Sarah. I see that I'm still at least a month out for a book on hold at my library. So happy to have books in line to read!

I'll finish this post up quickly with just a couple more LIKES around my neighborhood. Here are a couple of pictures from around my neighborhood.

I thought I heard some clucking from this backyard!

Two Chickens -- Golden and Black Hens!!

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard Taking the Ducklings Across the Pond

We took Sarah to Grant's Farm, MO. This was a home owned by Ulysses S. Grant and is now owned by the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch. There is a tram ride from the parking lot, through an animal park/reserve, and onto the animals to view.

Mom & Sarah on the Tram

There are goats to feed. Do you remember Delilah, the goat quilt I made for her?

This is why!

Ice Cream Cones Filled with Kibble
for the Adult Goats

Baby Bottles Filled with Milk for the Baby Goats
(I'm Watching & Laughing!)

I thought this was a fun little ditty for the wash-up station by the goats.

Grant's Farm also has stables for some of the Clydesdale Horses. Until you stand beside one, you have no idea of just exactly large they really are.

Have you been able to catch any of the Olympic games? We have been pretty much glued to the tube watching during this first week. Loving the gymnastics (both men's & women's), thoroughly loved the rugby (who knew? Haha), the swimming, and the beach volleyball. How about you?

If you made it to the end of this post, you will probably need a breather before checking out the other bloggers' posts of things they've liked recently. Whenever you're up to it, check out more HERE.

Have a great week!