A Little Blue Going On

Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for January is blue so I pulled out some blue scraps this week and set to work. Do you remember my inspiration photo from last week?

Grandma's Jewels
Photo from PaperPieces.com

So I grabbed my 1" English Paper Piecing Jewels and set to looking through my blues, concentrating on contrasting fabrics. Prep time came next -- I'm a glue-girl but you do whatever makes you comfortable. I managed to get one star sewn together and have a 2nd one ready to go. Now  I'm ready to watch some football!

I'll be going through the scraps again. I'd like to have at least 6 of these done by the end of the month. I'll be sticking with a plain ole blue palette and saving my dark blues, light blues, and turquoises for if/when our Fearless Leader Angela calls on those in later months.

In health news: I had my DEXA (bone density) scan yesterday. I figured it was a good idea since my "baby" sister had hers recently and was diagnosed osteopenia. Of course, if you're familiar with my blog, you already know my mother has severe osteoporosis. I don't have the report yet but they did measure my height. OMG! I'm shrinking! I am down to 5'2". No wonder I've been using a stool to get things down in my kitchen! I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until I hear back.

In the meantime, keep on sewing! And don't forget to check in with Angela's RSC quilters to see what they got up to this week!

I Like Thursday #177

Another good week here. I thank you all for the good wishes for my mother and our family. Mom had a follow-up appointment on Monday with NeuroSurgery for her back pain, osteoporosis, and back compression fractures. We met with Megan the nurse practitioner and she ran Mom through several tests. The conclusion? Everything we are currently doing for Mom is working and she is doing very well for a 92.5 year old with severe osteoporosis. While Mom is no longer feeling the bad pain she once was, if she does again we should do what we did before -- heating pad, Tylenol, and easy movement about the house. Above all, she is to continue with her PT as that will help her with balance and keep her muscle strength. Definitely no surgery, no deep muscle massage, no needles therapy, no twisiting, no bending down at the waist. This runs in line with her primary care provider and her Physical Therapist. We are so happy! Oh! And her blood pressure was 132/78, keep in mind she's not on any BP medicine. This doctor assessment was a BIG LIKE for this week! Mom had her own "like" too. She lost that pound that she gained from the last doctor appointment. Hate to tell her but that is not a good thing. Her PCP wants her to put on 10 pounds!!! Funny, he didn't tell me to do that! Lol!

Okay, okay, enough of the health report, even if it is a great like. I'm still enjoying playing with cross-stitch again. When Scarlett was last seen, this was my progress.

I'm happy to say that the stitching has been completed. Monday was Quilt Club at my LQS and I bought a linen for her back. I hope to get her completed this weekend. I really like the way she looks so far.

Speaking of Quilt Club, we had another Mystery Quilt finish shown. Isn't that green background pretty!!??!!

Of course, since Scarlett is finished up, I had to start another one. This one is called Sweetly Sayin' by Primrose Cottage Stitches. If you sign up for their newsletter, they will send you a free cross stitch pattern and a free quilt pattern each month. I liked that deal so I'm in. Here's my progress so far. I'm hoping for a finish before Valentine's Day!

This week I finished reading "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. It was an amazing read and I highly recommend it. It's a based-on-true story about the Tennessee Children's Home Society and siblings that were stolen to be sold through the adoption agency.

Read What Goodreads Says About It
HERE

Now I'm reading the 9th in the Cormoron Strike series by Robert Galbraith, aka J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. This one is called "The Hallmarked Man". I hope it's as good as the last book which I might have liked best so far.

Read about it HERE

When my company left after their holiday visit, I was left with several very ripe bananas. I turned them into a dozen banana chocolate chip muffins and a loaf of banana walnut bread. In particular, I searched for recipes using self-rising flour.  Our family grocery shopper accidentally picked up a large bag of self-rising flour so it needs to go! The baked goods are safely frozen in the freezer because we've got enough food laying around here. On second thought, maybe I should sit them out by Mom. She could use a little encouragement to put on a pound or two!

Recipe HERE

Recipe HERE
I Added Walnuts

Our prompt this week from LeeAnna is: "Do you ever sing in the shower?" and, if you do, do you have a favorite song in there? I do sing in the shower. I sound so much better in the shower than out in the open. Hahaha! I don't have a go-to song though, just whatever is in my head at the time. Another place I like to sing is in the car. I really belt out the songs if I'm driving solo -- thank goodness, eh? Hahaha!

Head on over to LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color to see if I'm in the majority of shower singers. Also maybe we'll get an idea for a "shower songlist"!

RSC 2026

Angela is once again hosting the Rainbow Scrap Challenge for 2026. I think you should be able to click the button on the right sidebar and it should take you to her website with the instruction to join in. You want to, right????

The color chosen for January is BLUE. I was thrilled with the choice because my local quilt shop is doing a "Snowflake" challenge for January and I knew what I was going to share. I'd started this quite a while ago and I knew it fit the bill for "Snowflake" and then it also was BLUE! I quilted and bound it last week. Ready to share and then hang for January!

Looks like a Snowflake!

I'm planning on pulling out some blue scraps for a new English Paper Piecing project. I was inspired by this photo from Paper Pieces. You can order the kit at their website but I knew I already had enough papers to start and I want to use my own fabrics. I think it'll make a great RSC project!

Grandmother's Jewels Kit Available Here

I'm not sure how big I'll end up making it. I'm never too sure exactly how big the "blocks" will be when EPPing. We'll just have to see!

Th-th-that's all from here in chilly IL. Next week we'll see the sun again and warm back up towards the 60s! Happy New Year, my friends!

I Like Thurs #176 Happy New Year! 🎉

Let's start this year off right -- a post for another I Like Thursday! I like a new year, a fresh start, a new quilt maybe? I like a new UFO List for 2026 and I would like to actually accomplish half my list of unfinished projects. What do you think? Can I do it??? Time will tell. *wink*

We had such a nice Christmas. I'll share a few pictures with you.

Brody, Our Drummer Boy

Cymbals Crashing

Delighted!

Jacob Watching Polar Express

Enjoying Grammy's Lap Watching
Paw Patrol

Grampa Sharing a Chirstmas Tradition

White Chocolate Covered Oreos
for the WIN!!

Peaceful Morning Walk with Gracie

Wishing you all a peaceful, joyful, healthy 2026! Cheers!

For more I Like Thursdays to inspire you for an uplifting new year, visit LeeAnna's blog HERE where more of us share happiness.

Between Christmas and New Year's Day

We've been busy around here -- shock! shock! My son and his family arrived Sunday (21st). With two boys, aged 3 & 6, it's been fun and very active. We had our Christmas turkey dinner the day they arrived and exchanged gifts on Tuesday morning. Jacob (3) got a couple of styrofoam (?) airplanes which gave us great joy throwing them about in the backyard. The weather was perfect -- sunny, 60s with a light breeze. That fun ended when we discovered the neighbor's rocks and we could throw them into the pond out back! Why do boys always NEED to throw things into water??!! Lol! Anyway the family packed it up on Wednesday (24th) and headed to the other grandparent's house. We'll see the group again tomorrow, the 28th, before they head back to Maryland on the 30th.

In the meantime, we've got a family funeral to attend today. Hubby's great-niece's 17-year-old son passed away from an epileptic seizure recently. We'll drive on down today to express condolences. So sad and especially so during to the holidays.

So have you been enjoying the month of December? We started the month with extremely cold temperatures which flipped last week with unbelievably mild temperatures. We're about to get cold-snapped this upcoming week so I hope to get behind my sewing machine a bit. I've got Christmas gifts to finish sewing! ACK!!! And a couple of flannel blankets to put a crocheted edging around. Sounds like a good project for watching all the upcoming football games!

As I'm sure you've noticed, there hasn't been a lot of time for sewing or blogging for me recently. There's lots to  do with doctor appointments and things to get straightened out for selling Mom's house. However, I have made sure that I've gotten in a little handwork most everyday. That's the beauty of cross-stitch & embroidery -- pick it up and go! Time's up? Shove it aside. Hahaha!

Here's my cross-stitch project -- Scarlett. I took a picture last week of where I was. Today I discovered I never even shared it. DOH! So here's my progress in four steps for your enjoyment -- whatever!

November 8th

November 20th

December 19th

Today, December 27

She's definitely coming along, slowly but surely. I feel like I'm in the final stretch anyway.

Since I also mentioned embroidery, during Mom's weekly standing Friday hair appointments and bi-weekly PT appointments, I've been working on Primitive Gatherings Snowman Gatherings panel. You really can't see it but the top half is done and I've only got from about the waist on down. I hope to piece the outer borders this winter/spring. I've got the pattern and the layer cake for it.

That's about it from here. Take some time to enjoy the stillness of Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere or enjoy swimming & boating if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. Wishing eveyone a moment of reflection as we approach 2026.

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 #174

Good morning, friends! It is very cold out here in the Midwest. Today's high temp will be 23 degrees F and currently (6am) it is 20. Our ugly low tonight is projected to be 8. Yes, ma'am, that's pretty darn cold.

Weather Captured as Leaving
with Gracie for our Walk
(Check out the Feels Like! Brrrr!)

Let's move on to our prompt from LeeAnna -- it's all about board games -- do you play them? Is there a go-to game at Christmas? Etc.

My family loves board games. Fred & I used to play board games just the two of us a long time ago. Scrabble was a good one. We also played card games: Rummy & Crazy 8s in particular. A good dice game is Kismet which is a Yahtzee-type on steroids. The Cribbage board was also a good one.

As we added members to our table, Scrunch, Pinochle, and Hearts were favorites. As our family gatherings grew, we added Parchesi to the mix. That was always a good time with players moving in & out. One year we even had 3 four-man teams competing in a Christmas tournament! Such great memories! A very big "Like".

This past Monday was our Christmas party at Quilt Club. Those of us that participated in the mystery quilt brought our tops to share. What a show!

These were all that had room to hang. Then there were many more shared at share 'n' tell.

Here's Me with Mine

Diann at Little Penguin Quilts reminded me HERE that Christmas decorating can start small. It could even include a Christmas coffee mug, so I brought one of mine out this morning. My coffee tastes so much better in the holiday spirit and that includes with a piece of Carole's Pumpkin Orange Bread! Carole shares a lot of her recipes and this one is definitely a keeper. You can find it HERE and she even included a PDF for easy download!

And that, my friends, is the end of another I Like Thursday post. Visit LeeAnna at her Not Afraid of Color blog HERE to see what others have shared. There's plenty to like there!