Shiny

These cute earrings are silver quilt squares that I got last year at the show.  I'm wearing them today.  They just make me smile...  :)

It was funny, last night when I decided to go upstairs all I was going to do was measure the quilt top but ended up not only picking out material, but completely sewing together the back.  It's all ready to load on the frame now.  Usually Monday's aren't a day I sew, plus it was almost nine o'clock when I went upstairs.  Works for me!

Back it up

This floral print is going to be the backing for last years Paducah swap top.  It is wide enough, but the length concerned me.  It was only a couple inches longer than the top.  I was worried that the back would shrink with the quilting, plus I know I lose a bit in attaching the back to the leaders.

To remedy this, I added a four inch piece of muslin at either end.  That will give me a bit of wiggle room.  I can attach the muslin to the leaders without losing any of the length of the backing.

Took Addy for a walk after work yestereday.  It was such a beautiful afternoon, would have been a shame to not enjoy it.  Although I did have a bit of a mishap.  While walking past another dog in it's yard, with Addy pulling like crazy, I walked on some loose gravel and down I went!  Hit the ground with a thud.  haha.  Only thing wounded was my pride.  I did have a little stiffness in my shoulder, and had a bit of tenderness on my bottom.  No big deal.  Good thing I have lots of padding!

Next, Please

I bought this flip book a while back and have had it in my purse, if you can believe that, for months.  I get it out and look at the blocks when I'm waiting somewhere.  Now, since the Paducah blocks are done, I am thinking I might find a couple blocks to put together and make a quilt from.  Even if it's a small quilt, that would be good for the nursing homes.

Happy Hedgehogs

These little guys are so cute and so happy!  I just love that fabric!  This was one of the last three blocks I made for the Paducah swap.  All my 16 patch blocks are done now.  I'm excited to see what Mary's squares look like and to get them combined with mine and sewn into a top.

Still working towards having last years top quilted before we leave.  I have a couple weeks yet and I have a day off Friday of this week, so maybe I can get that done.

Final Three

Down to the final three pairs of 16 patch blocks for the Paducah swap!  Mary and I Skyped and sewed this evening and I finished the group of six that I was working on and started the last three.  They are in strip sets of four now and need to be pressed and cut again.  Hope to get that done tomorrow.

Tonight Ev and I are going to Tilley's to watch Nick's band play.  Should be a good time.

Getting Closer Every Day

Our Paducah trip is getting closer every day!  Just a few more weeks now!

Mary and I were discussing how useful these little pouches were last year.  They have an area for a badge and have straps so you can put it around your neck or shoulder.  I put a few of my pins on mine. 

We bought them last year at one of the vendor booths that was set up in the Rotary Quilt Show area.

Jump Start

Last night I finally got my bad self upstairs and pressed those strip sets for the sixteen patch blocks.

Today, before work and after work I cut all the sets into strips of 4 patch units.  They are neatly stacked by my sewing machine patiently waiting to be sewn into blocks.  They won't take long to run through the machine.  Then I will just have three more sets of blocks to make!  Whee!

Mojo

I have got to find my mojo again.  Just don't seem to know where I put it.  I get home from work, make dinner, then plop down on the couch and pretty much fall asleep!

I guess if the pup were a little bit more behaved and I could do things in the sewing room without worrying about what she was up to, I might get some more sewing done.  Or not.  Well, either way, I'm just going to have to get moving on things.  No more excuses!

Where did Spring go?

Woke up this morning to temps in the low 30's and light freezing rain!  Gotta love this weather.

Well, I didn't end up doing any pressing, cutting, or sewing last night.  I made a pot of beef stew then watched Quilt Cam with Bonnie Hunter.  Bonnie was talking about a couple different machines and it got me thinking about getting one.  I think after Paducah I am going to start saving and get a Singer 301 if I can find one at a reasonable price.

Egg-zactly

So I know I post about some odd things sometimes, and this is probably one of them.  I should have put a ruler next to this egg before taking the picture, but trust me, it was a very big egg.  I get the nicest eggs from my friend who has chickens.  This egg was so pretty and so big I just had to take a picture of it.  Weird, I know...  haha

I was making that mandarin orange cake again when I got out the eggs.  It's almost all gone!  Ev and the kids love that cake.  That was on Saturday.  I also made a big dinner that night.  Made a roast in the crock pot using the recipe for the Mississippi Roast.  Love the way it turns out.  We also had mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  Since I don't see much of Ev during the week, it's nice to have a good sit down meal on the weekends with him.

Stripping Along

Didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but got a good amount finished.  I have the strips sewn into sets of four for 6 more pair of Paducah blocks.  They are ready to be pressed, then cut into strips of four blocks.

When they are done, I will have 25 pairs of blocks made.  Need to make three more.  I have fabrics picked out for two.  One of the fabrics I'm going to use is the little hedgehog print I bought at Hancock's last year!  It's so cute.

Yesterday we went to Lowe's and I picked up some bbq grill accessories.  The little gas grill I have is ready for the junk heap, but until I get a new one, I though I would replace a few parts.  Well, when I went to Wal Mart and got an adjustable grill grate, it didn't work, so when we went to Lowe's I got these aluminum sheets with holes in them to place over the existing grates.  They are far from perfect but they worked out okay.  I made burgers last night for Ev and I, and veggie burgers for Nick.  He was over to watch a t.v. show last night.

I also picked up a grill rotisserie.  I have been wanting one for years, but they never would fit the grills we had because they were too small (the grills).  Well, this time when I replace the grill, I'm going to make sure it's capable of handling this rotisserie unit.  It's a little bit of putting the horse before the cart, but when I checked the grills at Wal Mart I also checked for the rotisseries and they didn't have them.  So I thought I had better get it while we were at Lowe's.  Seems like places get stuff like that in, then because it's seasonal, they don't reorder when it's sold out.

Happy National Quilting Day/Weekend

I think yesterday was the actual Day, but I am celebrating it as National Quilting Weekend!  I sewed several strip sets together for the sixteen patch blocks and intend to get them all done today.  Hubby is taking the dog for a ride and I'll have the house to myself for a bit.  Gonna sew, sew, sew!

Hope everyone is finding time to do what they enjoy this weekend.

Why are they called Crackers?

Why are they called Animal Crackers?  They are cookies.  At least in my world they are.

You really have to have an imagination to figure out what these shapes are.  I'm guessing top row has a buffalo and a bear.  Second row is an elephant (with a deformed trunk!) and a horse?  Or maybe a zebra?  Third row would be a cat and maybe a rhino?  And that last dude could be a dog?

And why am I even posting pictures of animal crackers?  Because I don't have anything sewing related to post and I'm bored...  haha.

So my son was considering moving two and a half hours away, but after really thinking about it, I don't think he is going to do it.  The town is another smallish size town and there isn't a whole lot to do for a young 20 something guy.  He hasn't made a final decision, but I'm not really stressing over it too much.

Last night I made bacon, eggs, and hash browns for dinner.  Tonight I have some chicken strips I'm going to bread and bake for chicken tenders.  Have a box mix of scalloped potatoes to go with it.  Also think I'll make that mandarin orange cake again if I feel ambitious!  Not that I need cake...

34 Days until Paducah!

Leaving the Nest

My son has just informed me that he has the opportunity to leave the area and work permanently (for the same company) in a town two and a half hours away.

I wouldn't want to be so far away from my son, but I understand he has to do what's right for him.  Now he lives in the same town as I work in, so I see him fairly often.

Just going to have to see what happens, I guess.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope everyone has a bit of the luck of the Irish today.  We have some overcast weather here and a bit cool, but all in all not a bad day.

When I was younger, it seemed like there was a lot more clover on the ground.  I remember we had a neighbor who could spot a four leaf clover from a mile away.

Do you have something green on today?  I have a pair of green earrings on.

Creature Comforts

Just a glimpse of my desk at work.  My trusty mug that has seen countless cups of tea brewed in it over the years I've worked here.  In the background an unlit candle that is usually warmed enough by my desk lamp to give off a very slight scent - just enough to counter the somewhat less than clean smelling people that may come to my desk.  And of course, a picture of my crew plus one.

As I've said a thousand times before, Monday night's aren't good sewing nights for me, so as usual, nothing was done in that department last night.  I did, however, take Addy for a walk as soon as I got home.  She loved that!  Then I remembered that I was supposed to stop at a friend's and pick something up right after work, so I had to go back out.  Not a big deal, because it was just in town.

Two of Three

Remember my potholder idea?  Using up the scraps from the side of the longarm?  Well, I ended up making three new potholders.  This was the second of the the three.  The third one was more of a rectangle and would be better suited for setting hot dishes on the table.  It was very plain material so I jazzed it up by adding some scrap pieces to it like practice blocks.  Didn't get a picture of that one yet.

An Excuse to Bake a Pie

On 3.14 I did it.  I baked a pie on pi day!  Didn't get a picture of it before we ate half of it, though!  I had some peaches in the freezer from a while ago and decided we needed to have a peach pie.  It turned out pretty good.  I will be surprised if there is any left when I get home from work today.

We were going to have bbq chicken wings for dinner, as well as home made potato salad and corn on the cob.  Ev took the gas cylinder for the bbq grill off so we could get it filled.  When we got to the place that fills them they were closed!  Turns out they changed their hours and weren't open on Saturday's anymore.  We don't like to do the 'exchange' thing with the cylinders, so we just took it back home and I'll bring it with me one day this week and get it filled on my lunch hour.  There may be enough gas in it to make sausages on the grill, so that may be dinner tonight.  If I feel like cooking outside.

Anyway, we did have the wings because I ended up putting them in the oven and under the broiler for a bit.  Not quite the same, but pretty good anyway!

I had to eat off of two plates.  One for wings and the bones, and one for potato salad and corn!  haha.  It was a summertime meal at the end of winter.

Distraction Successful

Remember the huge bone I brought home for Addy?  Well, that bone kept her occupied for hours the first night!  She still has hardly made a dent in it and has been working on it all weekend.  Last night she brought it to bed with her and worked at it for almost an hour, even after we had turned out the lights.  She finally gave up when she dropped it off the edge of the bed and was too lazy to pick it back up.  I think she may actually have been eating it in her sleep... haha.

Can you see four different quilts on the bed?  They are well loved, and well used, and I don't mind if the dog lays on them.   They do get washed quite often.

Finally Finished with Tee Shirt Quilt

Yesterday I finished putting the binding on the tee shirt quilt.  Oh, am I ever glad it's done!  I texted my brother and his fiance' to let them know, and I'm hoping they come over tonight and pick it up.  If not, I will be delivering it to them within the next couple days.

This was one of my favorite tee shirt panels.  It was from a ziplining adventure that my nephew went with us on a few years ago.  I like the way the stitching looks like a zipline!  Well, sorta...  haha.

Some of the panels were not wide enough for the rows and needed to have pieces added to them on the side.  I think things blended really well and these pieces worked out fine.

Here's another close up of a panel.  Some of them were very thick with plastisol.  That is difficult to needle through and keep tension in line.  I also discovered it really dulls needles.  I went through two new needles doing this quilt.

This was some of the stitching on the back.  Nothing fancy in the quilting.  Just really, really glad it's done.

A Helpful Sewing Aid

At least in my case.  Do you think this 13" bone will keep Addison occupied so I can sew tonight?

Potholder Palooza

This morning, before work, I needed to take the tee shirt quilt and some other scraps upstairs.  This was the pile:

See those scraps on top?  They are my practice areas from the longarm.  They are off to the side of the quilt top and help me get the tension right before I start stitching on the top.  I kept looking at them and thinking that I really need new potholders and that they would be perfect pieces for that.

So this:

Turned into this:

There is more fabric to make another one or two, but this was all I had time for this morning.  I put the Packer material inside for extra batting.  Don't think the hubby would like having potholders made out of that material.... haha.

They were messy and very far from perfect, but who cares?  They are potholders!  And since Addy has developed a taste for them lately, their lifespan may be pretty short.

Closer to the Finish

I was off work today to go with Ev to a doctor appointment, so when we got home I decided it was high time I finished quilting the tee shirt quilt. 

Last night when I got home from work I did about 40 minutes of quilting on it, so today I was able to finish the quilting in a little over an hour.  It's off the frame and waiting to go upstairs for the binding.  I think I'll use some black material to bind it.

We have a gorgeous day of 65 degrees and clear skies.  Loving it!

Not doing much for supper tonight.  Took some spaghetti sauce out of the freezer.  Just have to heat it up and make noodles and dinner is served!

I went for a pretty nice walk yesterday after work with Donna and today after Ev left for work I took Addy for a short walk.  Really need to get back into walking every day.  I desperately need the exercise.

Dessert

This piece of cake looks a bit worse for ware, but believe me, it didn't taste it!  The recipe is one I used to make all the time years ago.  I came across it when I was looking for the glaze recipe for the pork loin.

The cake is baked in a 13x9 pan and after it's cooled the topping is put on.  Well, I set the cake on top of the stove to cool, thinking it would be safe from this:

Can you see her licking her lips?

Miss Addy knocked the cake off the stove!  Luckily, it landed where only a small part of the cake touched the floor.  I pitched that part, but the rest I just rearranged in the pan and put the topping on it!  Tasted just fine!

Here's the recipe if anyone is interested:

Mandarin Orange Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 8oz can mandarin oranges, undrained
4 eggs
1 cup oil

Combine all ingredients with hand mixer.  Bake in greased 13x9 pan for 35 minutes in 350 deg. oven.  Allow cake to cool before putting on topping.

Topping

1 8oz container cool whip
1 22oz can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 small box instant vanilla pudding

Combine all ingredients.  Spread on cooled cake.

Cake is best after being refrigerated for a short time.

Pork Roast

Over the weekend I made a pork loin roast.  The grocery store had a four day meat sale and I got the roast for a great price.  It was almost three pounds, so we are getting a few meals from it.

The first meal was when I marinated the roast in Italian Dressing and other seasonings.  Then after it was cooked through, I glazed it with an apricot glaze.  Oh, was it ever good!  Here it is on my plate, after I had already cut into it!

19 Blocks and Counting

*Disclaimer*  I DO NOT watch the t.v. show "19 Kids and Counting".  The post title is just a little play on words.

That little bit out of the way, I finally sat down and counted how many blocks I have done.  It's 19 and I just pulled the fabrics for another 6 pairs of blocks.  The blocks will finish at 12" so I think it's safe to say we are going to have enough blocks to make a good size quilt!  Mary had 15 done the last time I talked to her.  If I get up to 25, just with her 15, 40 will make a good size quilt.  And the more the merrier!

Here's the fabric choices for the next 6 blocks:

It's bitter cold again today.  When I woke up this morning it was 4, and it has only climbed to 11 so far.  I really need to get a warm day so I can finish up that sewing in the basement!

Going to dinner with my friend Diane tonight.  Probably just head over to the next town.  The have a nice sit down restaurant that we like and we can sit there for a while and not be bothered.  Just going to relax and enjoy spending time with a friend.

Nick stopped over last night for a bit.  I made him a couple grilled cheese and sent him home with some banana bread from the freezer.  Also sent some more supplies for him to take care of his wounds.  He's doing well with that and I think he's going to be just fine.

More 16 Patch Blocks

Here are a couple more of the 16 patch blocks.  I finished them up this morning before work.  I think I'm up to 18 or 19 pair of blocks now.  I've honestly lost count!  Doesn't matter, I'm going to keep making blocks until I don't want to make any more blocks.  Simple as that!

It's been really cold here today.  Temp was around 17 degrees F.  I'm thinking that was the high temp...  Now we are supposed to have some warmer weather on the way.  We shall see.

Good Soup

It might not look real good in this picture, but last night I made sausage and tortellini soup with garlic bread.  Oh was it ever good!  It had everything I like in it.  Sausage, onions, garlic, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, beef broth, cheese tortellini, and lots of seasoning!  I sprinkled parmesan cheese in it for an extra kick.  Yummy!

Ideas

I need to put my thinking cap on.  I would like to be able to make and sell some quilty items.  I just don't know what to do.  Seems like the one idea I had really wasn't going over very well.  Then a couple other ideas I had were being done already, and by lots of people.  Sooooo, here I am trying to figure out what to do.  Any suggestions?

The items would need to be something not too time consuming and that I could make a profit on.

Fun in the A.M.

This morning I did a small amount of sewing.  About 20 minutes worth.  I went from this:

To this:

And finally to this:

I didn't get all the sets sewn into 16 patch blocks, but they were flying through the machine at warp speed!  Once they get to that stage, where the strip sets have been cut into strips of four they really go quickly.

And if anyone is counting, it's only 49 days until we go to Paducah!

Kids vs. Ducks

My mother used to have this sign hanging in the kitchen.  It said "Having children is like being pecked to death by a duck".  I believe it is true.

Even though I had the entire day to sew yesterday, I did not get upstairs to do anything.  When I'm upset or nervous, I cook and bake.  And this entire weekend I was a cooking and baking fool.

I don't want to go into it too much, buy my son had an incident that resulted in a 3 a.m. phone call Friday night/Saturday morning.  He's okay, with a few bumps and gurgles, but they will be okay eventually.

I will say this, we all have angels watching over us and prayer is really important.  I heard the comment that "we have to pray because we really are in control of nothing".  And if you think about it, it's true.

My opinion.  If it's not yours, it's a free country.  And if you have kids, tell them you love them.  Right now.  Just because.

Share a Chair

A rare moment of peace between the species...

Had a day off work yesterday because of bad weather.  We got several inches of snow again.  The forecast is for more snow and ice tomorrow, too.

Over the weekend I finished up several pairs of blocks for the 16 patch swap.  There are 15 finished pair now, which was the original amount we were shooting for.  I have 4 more pair in the works.

Did a lot of cooking and baking over the past few days.  The best thing I made was a roast in the crock pot.  The recipe came from the internet.  It was called "Mississippi Roast" and here's the recipe:

3 lb beef roast
1/4 cup water
1 packet dry ranch seasoning mix, 1 oz
1 packet dry au jus seasoning mix, 1 oz
6 T butter or margarine
6 pepperoncini

Place water and roast in crock pot.  Sprinkle dry ranch seasoning over roast, then sprinkle dry au jus seasoning over roast.  Dot with slices of butter.  Arrange pepperoncini around sides of roast.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.

We had this as a roast with mashed potatoes and gravy.  You could shred it and put it on buns.  It was very good!