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Who is next in line for the water bowl?  Love it!

A Functional Replacement

Since I have been spoiling myself lately by having a pot of tea in the evening when I get home from work, I needed to replace the kitty cat teapot.  Sandy and I went to lunch yesterday and on our way back to the office we had a few minutes so we stopped at the antique mall.  I found this cute teapot for under $4!  It's not real big, which is perfect for me.  I thought it was cute.  My favorite side is the one with the plums on it.

Went to Wal Mart today and bought some more chamomile tea, too.  I like that in the evenings because it doesn't keep me up all night.

And Then There Were Five

Last night I boiled six eggs.  I had it in my mind to make egg salad in the morning before work.  After peeling the eggs, I turned around to throw the shells away.  Guess what happened?  Addy was quick and quiet in her pursuit of an egg.  She was trotting into the front room with that egg before I could say egg salad.  Egg thieving dog!

No sewing last night.  It's still bitter cold.  I think the air temp is something like 10 right now.  Brrrr!

Ode on a Kitty Teapot

Oh my kitty teapot
How you made me smile
With your cute little eyes
And grin wide as a mile

The mousy you held
Closely in your paws
Pink little nose
And mouth open for a cause.

The tea that you held
Stayed nice and warm
Particularly in
A winter snow storm.

Alas!  We have a dog
She is just a sweet pup
And now I make my tea
Instead by the cup

(My apologies to Mr. Keats)

Pickin' and Grinnin'

This morning before I went to work I went upstairs and picked out some fabrics for a few more 16 patch blocks.  I think these will work well together, as pairs.

We have snow again.  Woke up to about an inch on the ground and it's continuing to snow, although it is supposed to taper off soon.  I honestly take what the weather predictors say with a grain of salt because so many times we get more than they called for or nothing at all.

Chomping at the bit to get that tee shirt quilt off the frame.  It has just been too cold to be in the basement for any length of time.  This weekend I may just bite the bullet and do it anyway.  Put on my gloves and a couple pair of socks and a hat.  I'll look silly but no one will see me but Ev and the dog... haha.

Car Aggravation

Well, the car drama is not over.  When we picked up the car Saturday, after getting the alternator replaced, on the way home the check engine light came on.  Didn't get too upset because this has happened before.  Sometimes when they work on the car they might bump into a wire or a hose, and then that light would go on and I'd have to take it back.  Every time it had amounted to nothing.

Not this time.  This time it's got a vacuum leak that will cost over $1,200 to repair.  I am NOT a happy camper.  Had they found this before the alternator was fixed, I doubt we would have spent the $400 on the alternator.

At this point we don't know what we are going to do.  We don't want to spend that amount of money on a car that age and with all those miles on it.  We also don't want a car payment.

The mechanic said that without making the repair it would steadily get lower gas mileage and eventually start to run rough.  Right now, I can deal with that.

We may be going car shopping soon.

Ice Fog

This morning on my drive to work there was a lot of fog in the fields.  I snapped this picture, but it really was much thicker just a few miles south.  You can see it in the field here, but it has receded a bit from the road.  It was right up to it and heavier.

No, I didn't sew last night.  I did make a chicken and mushroom dish with monterey jack cheese on it that was pretty good.  Just something I threw together.  Also steamed some asparagus.  That was very good.  I did it in my pressure cooker using the steam function.  Pretty cool...

I need to go pick out some more fabrics for 16 patch blocks.  I'm thinking of raiding my neutrals and black and brown stash bins.  Just for something different.  Last count I am pretty sure I was at 13 pairs of blocks finished.

Give a Little Love

I was trying to snap the picture when the cat and the dog were loving on each other, but they moved before I got the shot.  They were each licking each other's faces.  It was so cute.  So much better than when they are fighting.

Didn't sew last night, but thinking I might get upstairs when I get home from work tonight.  Last night I had a couple errands to run before I got home, plus it was Monday.  After work on a Monday is usually not productive for me.

Weekend Sewing

In addition to all the baking and cooking I did over the weekend, I did manage to get three more pair of blocks for the Paducah swap finished.  I sent Mary a little teaser showing what one of the materials looked like.

Picture is a little blurry, but the eggplant are actually really small.

I finished a nice little stack of blocks.  They just need to be pressed now.

Mary and I have decided to do more in increments of five.  That way we won't get overwhelmed with the idea of having to do another 15 if we don't want to, or get busy, or whatever...

Frigid Temps

When I woke up this morning the temp was -4 degrees F!  Windchill factor was somewhere around -20.

This was what it looked like out my back door.

The snow just squeaks when you walk in it.  Addy sure likes playing in it, but when it gets so cold, she just wants to play for a little bit and come right back in.  Don't blame here there!

I did some baking over the weekend.  This recipe came from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog.  These were yeast rolls that were turned into a sweet bun.

All I did was roll the little dough balls in milk and then cinnamon and sugar, let rise and bake!  Yum!

When I made the dough recipe, it made a very large quantity of dough.  Besides these rolls, I made pizza for dinner.  Made one for Ev, Nick, and myself.  Here's mine and Ev's - after we started in on them!

Nick didn't come over until later and his pizza was a bit smaller, but it was enough for him to eat two meals off of it.

I also am experimenting with the dough.  I made up some small balls of it and froze them, like the ones you get in the package in the freezer section at the grocery store.  Hope they work out okay.

Car Problems

Well, my car may finally be getting fixed.  Since last August, I have been having trouble with it.  The shop has not been able to find out what is wrong with it until today.  It's the alternator.  So, I have a loaner car until they get it fixed, which may be Monday.  I'm fine with that, as long as I have wheels!

Ev and I were considering purchasing a new car if this one was not fixable for a reasonable price.  I'm glad we didn't have to go that route, because I really, really did not want a car payment right now.  Who does, right?

Dog Pillow

                                                                                                     

Here's the cover on the big dog pillow I bought.  Addy tried to chew up the pillow, so I thought I had better put an extra cover over it.  See all the destruction that dog has caused?  Her favorite right now is rolls of toilet paper.  She loves to shred them!  Sigh.

It's just a good thing she is so cute, right?  haha.

Going to have lunch with Ev at the diner/dive right by my work.  They have a good fish plate special today.  The only thing is, when you leave the diner, you always smell like fried food.  Oh well.

We may be getting more bad winter weather tonight and this weekend.  Hoping the roads stay clear until I get home tonight, then I can just hunker down!

Negative Temps

When I woke up this morning it was negative 3 degrees F.  By the time I got to work it was negative 5!  Brr!  This is what the road looked like on my drive home last night.  Was glad I was in the truck, as it made it a bit easier to see.  Lots of drifting and blowing snow, plus the sun was trying to make me snow blind!

Didn't do any quilting last night, but I did get up in the sewing room for a few minutes.  Addy has a big floor pillow to lay on, but she likes to chew on the corners.  Of course the stuffing then gets all over the place, so I took the pillow upstairs and made a new cover for it.  Didn't take too long because the pillow was 40x36 and all I had to do was chop off a couple yards of fabric then fold over and sew!  I hope she doesn't chew through this one...

Bread Pudding

I know it doesn't look like much, but boy was it ever good!  Last week I made a pan of bread pudding with raisins in it, just to have something sweet in the house.  I used to make bread pudding all the time, but haven't made it for years.  Well, I think I have to start making it again.  It is so easy and the ingredients are usually always on hand.  Bread, milk, raisins, eggs, cinnamon...  that's about all it takes!

Some people put a sauce on top of it when they eat it.  That always sounded good to me too, but the bread pudding was always gone by the time I got around to thinking about making a sauce!  haha.

Happy Fabric

Isn't this a happy little fabric?  I'm using it on one of the 16 patch blocks.  It just makes me smile.  Those lopsided flowers are just so cute!

A Beagle Win

Last night the Beagle won Westminster Kennel Club Best in Show.  Mom has two beagles named Danny Boy and Brasco.  Brasco was actually my brother's dog until he got a girlfriend and the dog got way too jealous...  Brasco had already been spending the majority of his day at Mom's, so it was a natural transition for him to become her dog.  We have had a lot of beagles in the past, so I was very happy to see Miss P, the 15" Beagle, take Best in Show!

Our sweet Addy is Best in Show in our house right now of course!  She watched most of the dog show with me.  I always pull for the German Shepherd, but he just never quite makes the cut.  German Shepherd's are my favorite breeds, probably because the first dog I ever had was one.

Back to (semi) normal

Here is the promised picture of the kids' Valentine bags.  Not fancy, just a little whimsical.

Internet guy was at the house yesterday to fix the problem.  It was fixed then two hours later went out again.  It came back on immediately, thankfully, but I've really reached my tolerance limit with this provider.

Made a big pot of chili yesterday.  It was chilly outside so we had chili inside!  Was a good dinner.  Now I need to go to the store and get some freezer containers because I have so many leftovers!  Cooked a lot of food over the time I was off.

Watched the first half of the dog show yesterday evening.  Tonight is the second half.  I really enjoy watching it every year.  Addy was checking it out, too, last night.

Speaking of Addy, she just loves the snow!  She runs around and leaps like a deer in the yard.  And, instead of laying down on the cleared patio, she lays in the 10" plus of snow in the yard!  Goofy mutt.

Sunday sewing

Just have three more pair of 16 patch blocks to complete and I will have done the original 15 we decided to do for our Paducah swap.  May just double that before April if we keep going!

Was in single digits this morning when I got out of bed.  Didn't really warm up much throughout the day.  May get some snow overnight.  Hope so!

Made a big pot of chicken rice soup.  Yum!

Happy Valentine's day

Still no internet so posting from my phone.  Fun fun.

Made 5 Valentine bags for the kids and filled them with goodies.  Will share pics another time.

Also pressed strip sets and cut them for 3 more 16 patch block pairs.

Ev took me to Lotawata Creek for dinner.  Was real nice!

internet issues

my internet is out and won't be back for s few days.  sorry1

My Next Project (Maybe)

I love to read other people's blog posts and have some of my favorites on the right rail, as you all can see.  Jo's Country Junction has some pretty good ideas on it and I would like to share a link to a post she had a couple days ago.

Jo posted pics of a quilt she has a free pattern for on her blog and some different color ways it can be made.  Here's a link to that post, which, in turn, will link you to the instructions for making it:

http://www.joscountryjunction.com/jimmy-john-in-batiks/

I have a jelly roll of batik fabrics waiting to be made into something spectacular, and I think this may just be it!  I love batiks.

My Life in Post It Notes

What did we do before Post It Notes?  While I'm working I will think about something I have to do, either at home or at work, and I jot it down on a post it and stick it wherever.  Some notes are pretty straight forward and anyone can decipher them, but others, not so much.

All that matters is that I know what they mean and hopefully don't lose the note before the chore is completed!

Hoping to get in some sewing tonight, if Addy is in a mellow mood.  I just want to get some pieces pressed for the 16 patch blocks, so if she is rowdy, I could just bring them downstairs and press them in the front room.

Going to be too cold in the basement to do anything on the longarm, but maybe tomorrow during the day I can get things finished on it while Ev is home.

I have a few days off starting tomorrow so I would like to get some sewing in if I can.

Last night I made some stuffed peppers for dinner.  They turned out pretty good.  This morning Ev ran over to the Italian Deli a couple towns over and picked up some Salteeza.  I'm going to fry it up along with some potatoes and that will be dinner tonight.

Baked a cake last night, too.  Just had it in my head to bake something, so I dug out a white cake mix and threw in some chocolate chips for good measure.  Yum.  Yeah, like I need cake...  haha.

Sampler Quilting

One of the blog links on my right rail is Dora Quilts.  The other day Dora posted a picture of a quilt and the quilting she did on it that I thought was just exquisite.  Here's a link to that specific post:

http://doraquilts.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-sweet-quiet-prayer-quilt.html

The picture she showed of the back made it look like a quilting sampler.  I just loved it and hope everyone gets an opportunity to take a peek at it.  Dora, you do very nice work!

Tin Cans

Several days ago I was opening a can of soup for a meal and a memory flitted through my head.  This small soup can was a reminder of those very large cans, like what you might get whole tomatoes in or fruit.

The reason I remembered those cans was because I was rinsing out that small soup can with water.  When I was younger and lived with my great grandparents we had a pump and a well outside.  That well water was the best drink in town, in my opinion.  Always cold, and always clear.  And I'm thinking you might know now what we used to drink from it.  Yup, a big tin can.  Grandpa fashioned a piece of baling wire around the body of the pump to hang that can on upside down, but many times it was just sitting there next to the pump and the washtub.  Mammy or Grandpa would take the label off a can and we would use it until it started to rust and then another can would be pressed into service.  Tin cans were the perfect fit.  A drinking glass would have gotten broke too easily as the well platform was concrete.  A plastic one would have blown away in the wind, or a stray dog may have carried it off.

That pump held a lot of memories for me.  The washtub that was under the spout was usually full of water.  Grandpa would use it to water the garden and Mammy would water the flowers with it.  If it was really hot, when I was very little, I would even get in and sit down with my legs folded up.  The bottom of the washtub was a bit slimy, though.

Every now and then there would be a turtle or a few fish in it when someone went fishing and didn't get to cleaning the day's catch yet.

Funny how opening a can of soup can bring back such a flood of memories.

Miss Addy

Yeah, it's a dogs' life...  I keep hearing that pop song "I'm too sexy for my shirt..." go through my head when I look at this picture.

Addy spent a lot of time outside during the day this weekend, since it was so much warmer than normal.  She loved being out in the yard.  It got quite muddy, though, and she did drag a lot of that mud into the house.  Oh well, that's what they invented mops for.

And she has no shame...  haha.

Work It

That's what I told myself - work it!  haha.  I am about halfway done with the quilting on the tee shirt quilt for my nephew.  It's been a project, but not horrible.  The worse part is the thread on top kept breaking when I put in a new bobbin, so after fiddling with it a bit, I just put in a different bobbin.  I did have to make some tension adjustments, but not too bad.

I talked to my sister in law to be, and she is coming over this week to write on a label for the back.  Will be glad to get it done and delivered.  I do enjoy looking at the tee shirts as I'm working on it.  One of my favorites is right there in the bottom row middle.  It has a mini Darth Vadar saying "Come to the dark side...we have cookies"!  I think that's so cute.  Don't know where he got that shirt, but I did recognize several others.  One was from the zip lining adventure we all did together.  That was pretty cool.  Still can't believe I zip lined...  :)

Fry Bread

Years ago we lived for a short period of time next door to a gal who was Native American.  She introduced us to fry bread.  I have her recipe for homemade fry bread and can make it, but it makes a huge batch and, frankly, it's a lot of work.  While perusing the internet I found a method of making fry bread using the frozen Rhodes Rolls.  Thought I might give it a try and was pleasantly surprised!  They don't look like much here, but they sure did taste good.

We put traditional taco toppings on them for the meal.  We then butter and drizzle with honey for a dessert later on.

This was dinner Saturday night!  Yum!

February Weather

Would you believe my husband got out his motorcycle yesterday and took a ride?  In February!  Our temps were close to 60 degrees, which is pretty warm for this time of year.  I'm so glad he got to take the bike out because he has a long dry spell between Fall and Spring when he can start riding again.

Loud Print

This is one of the fabrics going into a 16 patch block:

Pretty loud, huh?  I wasn't sure if I should pair it with a red, yellow, green, white, or purple!  In the end, purple won.  I'm having fun matching some interesting fabrics in these blocks.

This swap is actually a little easier than last years swap.  I think that's because we are only doing one kind of block - 16 patches, and that they are going to finish at 12".

See What I Can Do

See what I can do in 17 minutes:

I can take this stack of strips for three pair of 16 patch blocks...

And sew two of the three stacks into strip sets!

That's what I did this morning before work.  Last night I finished two more pair of blocks and cut the strips for three more pair.  When these are all sewn into blocks, I will have 12 pair of 16 patch blocks completed for my swap with Mary in Paducah.

2-4-6-8

When I woke up in the middle of the night, I checked my phone and the temperature was 2 degrees.  Brrr!  When I got to work it was 4 and it has made it all the way to 8.  Whee!  haha.

Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up, but I'm not holding my breath.  We had ice and snow last night, but not much in the way of accumulation.

I didn't sew last night.  Couldn't let Addy outside for very long because of the weather and she was in a rowdy mood.  I love that pup, but I will be glad when she settles down a bit.  May take a while...

Trying to get a small retreat organized for a few of my quilty friends.  Thinking of doing it in June or July, just over a weekend.  I've never been to a retreat and it really sounds like fun.  Especially the part where someone else does the cooking!  haha.

A.M. Sewing

Before work this morning the sewing room called...  I was able to get a few strip sets sewn together before I had to leave.  Hoping to get back to them tonight, but no promises.  So far I have 7 pairs of blocks completed for the Paducah swap.  We were shooting for 15 pair, but if we keep going at this rate, we may shoot for 30, who knows?  :)

Cold Start

Had a cold start to the week this morning.  I went out to warm up my car and all four of my doors were iced shut.  I could not get in my car!  We had freezing rain off and on all day Sunday then overnight we had freezing rain and high winds, so the temp was pretty cold.

I thought, oh well I will just take Ev's truck to work and guess what?  His doors were froze shut too!  Luckily the passenger door on the truck wasn't too bad and I was able to get into it.  He's coming up to my office to swap vehicles before he goes to work.

Now, I would have liked to have gotten this:

Mom said they had 15" of snow in the northern part of the state!  Love it!

Superbowl Monday

...and I'm dragging!  All that not-so-good-for-me food that I ate yesterday during the game has me a bit sluggish this morning.  But it was soooo good!  haha.  We had a bit of a spread:

Italian Beef with fresh rolls
Meatballs in chili/jelly sauce
Buffalo Chicken Wings
Mini Tacos - had to go to 4 stores to find those little buggers and then got the second to last box!
Egg Rolls
Jalapeno Poppers
Fresh Veggies and dip
Chips
Brownies
Sticky Buns
Rice Krispie Treats

There's a story behind those rice krispie treats.  I have had a box of the cereal sitting on the counter for a couple weeks.  I had bought it for a recipe around Christmas and then we never used up the rest of the cereal.  So it just seemed like a good idea to make the rice krispie treat bars.  Saturday evening Ev and I went to the little store in town and got a bag of marshmallows because that was the only ingredient not on hand.  When the ingredients were in the bowl in the microwave, there was a loud POP and when I looked in the bowl had cracked all the way around!  Now this was an older bowl, but one that had been in the microwave many times before.  So, of course the marshmallows that were in the bowl were not usable.  Never know if there are tiny bits of glass in there or not when something like that happens.

I just had it in my head that I needed to make those bars, so about 8pm we get in the car and drive to Wal Mart in the next town over, because by now I am thinking I need to make the sticky buns too and the Dollar General in our town didn't have the right ingredients for them.  We got what was needed and yesterday morning the rice krispie bars were done and ready to eat, as well as sticky buns.

And eat them they did!  Between Ev and Delbert I think they ate over half the pan!  So, the effort wasn't wasted, at least!