2018 Recap

It is the last day of 2018 - time to take a look back and see what I was able to finish this year. 

I loved making these pretty blossom blocks from Joann at Canuckquilter. It was a RSC Challenge block for me making a few each month in the rainbow scrap color selected. So fun and this one I get to see every day as it lives on the back of the couch - ready for anyone to pull down to snuggle under when needed. 

This one was a graduation gift for my niece Sarah who graduated high school last June. I have 2 left to make - Sally for June and her brother Charlie in a few years. I have made one for each niece/nephew as they graduate from high school. 7 so far and 2 to go. Thanks so much to Pat for sending me the pattern. 

Extra hearts..... There were the cut out backs from the baby heart quilt I made for my great niece this year. I think they turned out great - what a way to use scraps! I did an applique challenge of a heart a day in the month of May.... I may have done 2 a day - one for the mail quilt and this extra one cut from the back of the previous days heart.

Scrappy houses.... pattern from Bonnie Hunter in the free pattern section. I started this with the RSC a few years ago... got stuck on those hill parts and then finished them up this year. A simple wavy line quilting and a nice red binding to finish this one off. As you can see.... it is cat approved!

The last finishes of 2018 will happen today.

The baby hearts quilt for Ari is nearly done. One little corner of binding to stitch down. Emily wants to add some stitches so she will tack down the triangle on the back I added as a label tomorrow when she gets home. 

I also plan to get the binding for the 16 patch quilt hand stitched today. I'll leave Emily's for the new year!

The kids are dropped to Grandma's for the night. (Greg dropped off while I was logged into work this morning). We just got back from a late lunch out at Chili's... and I got an extra chips and salsa to come home for later.

Some things I have learned this year... if I don't have a plan and 'deadlines', then things don't make progress. I am going to use that knowledge in 2019 and make some changes. 

I really like having set things to post about on certain days. It keeps me organized and motivates me to do the project so I have something to show! I am going to bring back my Tiny Tuesdays..... and will even attempt  a linky party if you would like to join in! No rules- cause rules are made to be broken! -  just if you want to do a block for each Tuesday, I'll have a link up.  

For me..... I had marked down an applique umbrella block a few years ago after making one for my midget applique blocks and I believe 2019 is the year to make them! I'll do one a week for 52 weeks... following along with the RSC color challenge through October. I'll fill in November and December with whatever the quilt decides it needs more of! Who know's... maybe some clouds will appear as well!

For the RSC Challenge (Saturday) - I really fell off the wagon the last couple of years. I seem to do much better if I have one block type per week  to post about.  I'm thinking the umbrella (ok this will be each week but maybe I'll do an end of month post of them), 16 patch blocks cause they are so versatile and fun, pulling out my hand pieced hexagons I made a few years ago and this year I'll applique them to a black background (completely changing my thought process on this one but it was not moving and I saw one I liked in the Sylvia Bridal Block book so I'm going with it!) , scrappy 6.5 inch crumb blocks... cause those scrap buckets are overflowing and really need to get worked down. I'm leaving one open... for either the 2019 challenge or whatever fun block someone else decides to do that I 'must' make as well! Come on, you know you all add stuff after the first week or two's link ups! 

I love the Sunday Slow Stitching link up as well. Kathy is wonderful at encouraging us to slow down and relax with some slow stitching. I don't always listen but do try occasionally! I hope to show progress on hand quilting (baskets and trip quilt on the frame) and my new to me - embroidery/redwork (ok, blue work... cause I LOVE blue!).

For other things.... I need to finish off Aidan's quilt.... now that Emily's is nearly done.

Finish making scrappy green and cream log cabin blocks - these will become a donation quilt and I hope to have it done by mid march so I can bring it up to VT with me.

Sally's graduation quilt - blue and yellow chevron pattern.  Due in June.

Some hand quilting - little baskets will get pinned today and I'd love to get back to working on the 90x90 trip quilt on the frame...... once I see how much damage the cats did to the batting when they were still little kittens earlier this year.

Lots of lofty goals for the new year.... we shall see how I do! If I do even part of this I will be happy. I'm not even mentioning all the block collections and tops waiting in drawers. If they come out to play, great. If not... they will keep for another year. That is the great thing about fabric - it is extremely patient.

RSC....

One last finish for the year...... I machine quilted the 16 patches today and gathered bits and pieces of extra binding and made a scrappy binding  and attached it by machine. That leaves some hand stitching for today or tomorrow to get it finished off this year. This should go quickly as it is 40x40.

It is competing with the 3 sides of the baby hearts quilt that needs hand stitching of that binding...

And... Emily's triangle quilt that got it's binding attached today as well. She picked pink and did the pressing for the two bindings for me. This is laid on top of a lego space shuttle that the boy is building.

Linking up a little late to the RSC Challenge. Hopefully I get a few more of my sets of blocks finished off in 2019!

Last weekend of 2018.

We took a trip yesterday. We drove to St. Augustine FL to visit the historical town. Aidan was to go last year with his 4th grade class but it got cancelled by the superintendent as it would 'interfere' with testing. Personally, I think the kids would have been better to see the history they learned about all year rather than try and 'test' their knowledge for state standards. Emily does get to go this year..... they scheduled it for February instead of March. They have been learning about the city and it's different 'owners' all year in 4th grade.

We were disappointed that the fort was closed due to the federal shutdown but we were able to walk around outside of it.

On the sea wall.

We also visited the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum and did a red train tour around the city.
Aidan loved the keyboard made shuttle and Emily liked the jeweled house.

We walked in the historic district and ate some great cuban food for lunch. We did a round of mini golf on the bay and watched the bridge open up and let some tall yachts through.... which Aidan loved. We topped it off with a Ben and Jerry's ice cream on the way back to the information center and car. All in all it was a good day. We'll have to go back to see the inside of the fort and I want to go on the island and see the light house. It was a 2 hour ride in all back country roads to get there and back.

Today..... is all about sewing! and..... I'm going to cook a standing rib roast for dinner tonight that I did not do last Sunday. We also need hair cuts.... so a quick trip to Great Clips has been done already. Might drop Emily to a friends for a play date.... or have them here this afternoon. We will see.
A nice walk will happen too.... as I got 12,000+ steps yesterday (including 4 hours in the car driving) and want to hit my 10K today too.

For machine work - I want to quick machine quilt the 16 patch little quilt and attach a binding, and make progress on Aidan's quilt parts. Oh, I need to trim Emily's quilt and make and attach her binding as well.

Hand stitching.... will be binding! I have one side done on the baby hearts quilt and will have that 16 patch binding and Emily quilt to choose from as well. I do see a movie in my future this evening.

See Emily's machine quilting.... not bad for a 9 year old with a walking foot!

Maybe tomorrow I will prep the little basket quilt 32x32 for hand quilting. I think I hand appliquéd these baskets in the summer of 2017 while up in Vermont for part of the time.

I stopped at Joann's and got some hand quilting batting since it was 60% off. I might even take a look at the frame and see what damage to the batting the cats did a while ago and see how much work it will be to fix it. I do need to work in the morning tomorrow but the other 3 are off..... so hubby can take the kids to his Mom's for the evening. She is letting them stay up so they are heading there for the night. I plan to sew =)

Maybe my new year  challenge will be to add 2 strands of quilting to the frame each day and see if I can get that 90x90 trip quilt moving.

Off to sew so I can hand stitch later =) Linking up with the other slow stitchers at Kathy's Quilts. Come back tomorrow for a yearly recap post.... it was not a very productive year quilting.... but there is hope that next year will be better!

I also plan to learn some new things and have been watching a video tutorial from Craftsy on Embroidery. I have a nice book on redwork designs that I would love to try out this next year. I also had a nice package waiting at home yesterday. When I got my year subscription to Craftsy/Blueprint earlier this month it came with 4 $25 gift cards one each quarter. This quarters got spent on this little bundle. A fat quarter bundle of this pretty red and cream line, a charm pack of the line and a charm pack (5 inch squares)  of a pretty purple stack of fabrics. The way I see it - for the $99 I paid I get that money back in these gift certificates and I also have gotten my choice of free classes to save off. I have used 1 of the 3 so far. The kids have been streaming the baking and cooking classes and having fun. They also looked at some drawing ones... to help with a couple of their Christmas gifts they made for us.

Emily's progress....

It was a long day - bowling (the boy stayed home as everything (legs and arms) were achey). Sigh, I have not checked but he grew taller over the last 2 days..... we will see if he is still flirting with 5ft or over at age 10! He seems more himself today so far this morning.

We stopped at Walmart on the way home..... so crowded! We got a chicken to roast in the air fryer. Greg got it months ago for chocolate making...... and we will see how upset he will get if the next batch of chocolate tastes like chicken..... The chicken came out really good though! The cleanup was easy as well.

After dinner cleanup, she got to start machine quilting! I need to do the middle she said.... but she did good. She slept under the partially quilted quilt last night!

She just did a walking foot 'straight' line along one side of the diagonal rows of triangles. It came out good. One side is completed. I'll do the middle 3 rows and then back to her for the rest.

Edited - the chicken carcass was in the crock pot all night with water and veggies and herbs to make stock that is turning into mushroom barley soup for lunch. We will see how it is!

The next hand quilting project.....

Never mind that I have a 90x90 trip quilt on the frame..... that is being neglected.

I did finish hand quilting the baby hearts quilt and added the binding last night. I still need to hand stitch it down... cause after I got to my recliner it seems Peanut had overtaken it! I picked him up to move him and he landed on my lap, belly and chest... he was laying down and comfy!  and Sophie jumped up onto the foot part. I was unable to do any hand work with those helpers.

So I pulled out the next 2 quilts I was thinking about hand quilting. The baskets and the cat and mice.

I asked the kids.... they said the baskets... which is nice and small and should go quickly.

The cat and mouse..... just doesn't seem finished. Aidan said it needs a border of lizards... you know, cause my cats love to chase the lizards down here in Florida! I like the idea... but a plain border with hand quilted lizards is more my thought process. He also thought it needed some balls with swirly lines like they are rolling... so I might need 2 borders! We will see as this one still needs some work.

I was going to stop at Joanns on the way home from bowling to pick up some hand quilting batting...but since that basket one is small I 'think' I can piece the leftovers from the baby quilt to be big enough.

One more week of the kids being home........ not that I am counting down the days until January 3 when they go back to school! =).

Grant me patience today... Emily will try and quilt her quilt this afternoon.

I gave myself a little gift this morning. I had purchased a year subscription of Craftsy earlier this year for me and the kids. The deal gave me a $25 coupon each quarter. Well, that got spent this morning buying some fat quarters of a pretty red and cream line that was marked down, a charm pack of that and a charm pack of purples. Yes, it was a little over but that $8 was worth it! I also purchased one of my 'free' classes today - a hand quilting one that looked good on the reviews. I can't wait to watch it. I also saved off a slew of free patterns (ok - 11) in case they go away tomorrow. Some dress patterns, little coin cases, skirts, pj's, microwave bowl holders....

I think today will be showing the kids that lava cake video and have them make it for dessert tonight!

Progress on Emily's quilt...

Someone has been bugging me about finishing up her quilt.

Today after I finished working we measured, cut the batting, made the backing and laid it all out after pressing it on my new ironing board. It works great! The quilt is pinned. She measured it at 62x69.

Tomorrow after bowling, she will try and quilt it. She wanted to make shapes but I told her no - walking foot straight lines to start. I know I get frustrated with free motion especially when the machine is way over do for a spa treatment. We will see how she does.

We might have had a little help from Peanut.. he was laying right next to the throat of the machine as I pieced the backing. No paws were hurt. Then.. he kept trying to eat the safety pins. Silly boy.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Emily's Santa gift with a polo shirt to wear and lots of LOL dolls.

Aidan's Santa gift - telescope!

Me - 18x48 ironing board made by the kids and hubby! I love it

Christmas Eve....

'Twas the night before Christmas,
And the quilts were not made.
The threads were all tangled, the cookies delayed.
The stocking weren't hung, the pantry was bare.
The poor weary Quilter, was tearing her hair.
Stacks of fat quarters, tipped over in streams.
Visions of Log Cabins, had turned into dreams.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear,
But a bus full of quilters with all of their gear.
They went straight to work with just a few mutters,
Sorting and stitching and brandishing cutters.
The patterns emerged from all of the clutter,
Like magic the fabrics arranged in a flutter.
Log Cabins, Lone Stars, Flying Geese & Bear Tracks
Each quilt was a beauty-even the backs.

Her house how it twinkled, her quilts how they glowed.
The cookies were baking, the stockings were sewed.
Their work was all done, so they folded their frames,
And packed up their needles, without giving their names.
They boarded the bus, and checked the next address.
More quilts to be made, another quilter in distress.

She heard one voice echo, as they drove out of sight,
Happy quilting to all and to all a good night!  
Author Unknown  


I did get a little sewing in yesterday - both hand and machine.
Machine...... these scrappy log cabins emerged with some more in process.

Then while watching The Polar Express last night I made great progress on the baby heart quilt. I have ONE more heart block in purple to quilt and then I can make and add the binding....after fixing a few of the applique to tack it down good. I hear silk thread sometimes does that.. or maybe just me and too big of stitches in a few places.

Now.... where are those magical quilters to clean my house for me today? At least I'll have a nice smelling house.... I got a standing rib roast at Publix yesterday.. which will be dinner tonight. Yummy.

Slow Sunday before Xmas......

and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a toy mouse! I do enjoy the nice slow mornings before anyone else wakes up...... Hmmmm I'm the last one to bed too so I guess I don't need as much sleep as the rest of them!

Since we went to Grandma's yesterday to celebrate an early Christmas and early Birthday (Papa Andy was born on the 25th) we will have the kids today and tomorrow and all the Grandparents down here in Florida will come over for a bit on Christmas day for 'appetizer snacks' throughout the day. That add's 3 to my house - Papa A and Grandma H and Papa Andy.

I plan to head to the trails for a nice walk (and will drag the rest of the family with me!), do a little sewing with machine and hand and at some point fit in 'The Polar Express' movie with a cup of hot cocoa. We have not watched that one yet and it is on the 'must do' list! The kids will be making some sugar cookies to use a new set of cookie cutters Aidan got yesterday.

I'll be stitching the baby hearts while watching the movie......6 blocks to go!

What will you be working on today? Remember to slow down, breathe and enjoy the little moments of this holiday season. Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Stitchers.

Saturday..... XMAS number 1

Today is Christmas at Grandma's house and early birthday celebration for Papa Andy who was born on the 25th. I believe he will be 86 this year.

She is like a kid at Christmas..... her favorite holiday. We will head over and eat, play games and sing Happy Birthday for the afternoon.  The good news... I don't have to cook dinner (or lunch) and if anyone is hungry..... it is their own fault! I think she forgets it is just 6 people, not 60!

Looking at the RSC Blogs of people who have actually finished off some quilts makes me realize I have been terrible this year at finishing anything! Maybe tomorrow will be designated as a day to sandwich and finish off the 16 patch top I put together last week! I need to decide if I piece something with flannel or just cotton for the backing. The quilt is 40x40... just big enough that a bolt wide is just not quite big enough for a backing....

Off to shower... and remind someone that the guinea pig cages need cleaning before we leave for Grandma's.

First day of Winter break.....

Well, the boy had his first meltdown last night. Technically he was diagnosed as high functioning Autistic a year or two ago.
Sigh..... I think he just needed a 'reset' and hopefully the next week will run smoothly. Normally we have gotten used to a terrible month of December with him. It used to be hours of fighting to get him settled down for bed starting before Thanksgiving. It is a month of changes, holiday things, anticipation and excitement and for me .... a month of hell. So far so good...... until yesterday. Yes, Mom, I even stayed calm through it. 20 minutes and done.

We were able to calmly discuss it after (he is maturing, thank goodness and we can talk it through after). A couple things happened at school which frustrated him. He got reelected for safety patrol for the next 2 semesters but the teacher in charge took his belt and didn't understand when he tried to tell him he got reelected and still needed his safety belt and that caused him to worry about not having his belt and thinking it didn't happen. I and his teacher said it would get fixed in January when they go back to school, but he is a worrier.  Way too much sugar at his holiday party and the next two weeks of no structure for his days. I'll be having him make a schedule today so he has something to go by. That tends to help him.... he needs to know what is coming up and when.... now to get him to not get so frustrated when he is working on something and it doesn't go right..... or keep the stupid slime making things away from him... and his favorite clothes! Thank goodness it came out in the double washing last night.

Today is my holiday pot luck at bowling. The kids are going (you know, cause there will be lots of FOOD!) and they might get to bowl or play games in the arcade or watch shows on their iPads while cheering on my team.

We ended yesterday with a board game of monopoly  - which Dad actually won when Aidan went bankrupt. He landed on Boardwalk... which Greg owned and kept adding rent to each time he could. I was ahead until Aidan landed on there and owed him $1600 to end the game! He took defeat well, and Greg was tickled pink to actually win the game!

For now... it is pouring rain - the radar is yellow and red all over my area of Florida with flood warning and will be through tomorrow. Just imagine if the temps were below 32.... the SNOW we would have.

Time to prep the dish cloths I made into a baggie for gifts for my teammates.. with some lottery tickets, a present for the first strike gift grab and I'm picking up little dummies from my team for our contribution to the food on the way there.
Time to get dressed.

Slow Down Sunday.....

Today will be a fairly calm day. Some baking, some sewing, some relaxing. Just what I needed!
Everyone is still asleep. The house is quiet. The animals (cats and guinea pigs) have been fed.
Just me and a cup of coffee and some relaxing quiet stitches on the baby hearts quilt this morning.

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers today.

The cats were play attacking each other...my entertainment this morning.

RSC Saturday.....

I have plans to sew something today... not sure what but after I post this I will be heading into the sewing area for a little bit (maybe 1.5 hours!).

After school pick up yesterday -rainy day car line and it poured all day - over 6 inches of rain fell in my area but the nice sandy ground soaked it up. We did a little pick up of the house and then found some ISpy books. The kids and I sat and searched our way through a couple while waiting for T to arrive for a sleepover. We made a pizza crust and the girls 'decorated' it. Lets just say it was a very cheesy pizza with pepperoni! They were busy playing and we did some games (kids and I) of pictionary and then they went to play horses while Aidan and I played Zingo. It was a late night for everyone.... and I think the girls hardly slept if at all until after 3AM! This morning Aidan and I made chocolate donuts in a muffin tin and then they wanted some eggs for breakfast. The girls and I headed across town to help with the Wreaths Across America as our community service. It was a really nice event and the girls did great. We had 12 attend from the 2 girl scout troops.

We will head over and do an early dinner with my FIL tonight. The kids are playing Minecraft, Greg is sleeping and I am heading into my sewing room until we need to leave!

I think I might just sew my 16 patches all together and call it a top! The need to get 'something' done will lead to a very scrappy 16 patch top I think!

Linking up with the other RSC Challenge folks... who have made a lot of progress on their projects! 

Edited - got some sewing time. Laid out the blocks...needed one more. Hmmmmm. Pulled some browns (cause I didn't have a deep chocolate brown block!). 

TaDa! A top! 40 inches square. 

Field Trip - Silver River Museum

I went with the 4th grade class to the Silver River Museum yesterday. Aidan went with his 5th grade class on Monday - they are cycling through the classes - one 4th and one 5th class goes each day to learn about social studies and the Seminole Indians and the settling of Florida and the 5th grade did a science lesson and visited the museum.

I actually learned a lot! I have gone and done some different field trips in the past - they teach about the area and the local Indian tribes and how the area was settled each fall in school with various lessons as they progress. 2nd grade they bring in people and the props and set up an area in each classroom. I know I did the animal pelts one year and tools the next year.

For us - we got to visit a little village and saw a replica of a cracker house (they called the settlers from up north crackers, because they rounded up the cattle with a whip that cracked when they used it! ) The cows, horses, pigs and chickens were left  behind by previous Spanish settlers. They saw how the kitchen was not attached to the house for fire reasons. The outhouse, one room school house and they got to be in school for about 20 minutes! They wrote answers on slate tablets and cleaned them with a wipe (which one of the older girls got to bring home and wash daily - or the days they did school between 10-3:30 from October to March). Hot potato - they brought half cooked potato to school for lunch and put it on top of the stove to be cooked for their lunch. It was neat to see how they taught 8 grades in one room! They also cracked some corn, pulled some water from the well with a pump (64 buckets needed each day to water things - the kids job before school. No wonder they had so many kids!) The blacksmith was the favorite - especially for the boys!

Blacksmith on the right and the hand crank for milling dried corn and pumping water.

We then had lunch and learned where the bugs and chiggers are - if there are pine needles it is safe as that is a natural insect repellant!. Then it was into the nice and warm museum part. They had a sheet of answers to go around the museum front room for their scavenger hunt. Then it was to the back to learn more of the settlers and had a answer hunt and classroom instruction with passing of items to see.

I snapped these photo's in the last part......

Hand crank sewing machine. The instructor told me as a newbie she brought this out to a Seminole woman for one of their events and had grabbed a extension cord. I guess the lady laughed and mentioned they had never used electricity for sewing. 

Their dresses told a story - I don't remember them all but it mentioned thunder storms, snakes, etc. Each pieced row told a story.

This was in another section/time era.

Yet another section - imagine ironing everything with these?

Tuesday....

I miss my Tiny Tuesday posts.... so I think I will start them back up! Now, I'm not sure what they will involve but it motivates me to actually get something done, so I have something to post about. It might be making a few more 4.5 inch lemoyne stars, finishing some applique on the save the bees 1st block or maybe finding the hexagon flowers and starting to connect them together...... It will be a surprise! (for me too!)

Today.... I finished a yellow dish cloth that will be a gift for Christmas. I need to make a blue and purple one as well for my bowling ladies. This pattern is fun to make and is quicker than the knitting version.... although that one is great for working when I don't want to pay attention... I could probably make them in my sleep!

The above free pattern can be found here. Two stitches - single crochet and treble crochet. Easy peasy lemon squeeze.

Sunday.....

I have not been sewing... but did a little (not much) crochet this week.
Lets see what happened  and why there was no sewing this week....

Sunday (last) - recovery from campout with the girl scout troop at the drive in overnight. I slept really good on Sunday night. Ok, maybe I did hand quilt a block or two today... and sew a little on Aidan's quilt.

Monday - working (woo hoo figured out a stupid mistake and got it unit tested and up for user testing!), pick up kids, supervise homework and coordinate getting a girl scout dropped off to me to bring her caroling for our meeting. I took her home and then hit the store to get something Emily needed for school and home for bed.

Tuesday - Working (production issue detective work - extra hours from my normal 5), get kids and back to work, then horses for Emily - late night home well after 7Pm... for me to do dishes to find the sink in the kitchen and then eat my dinner. Leftover yummy 16 bean soup from Monday.

Wednesday - Working - still that production issue but it got figured out today in between - pick up kids for early release from school - oops remembered 10 minutes before release, back to work until had to capture kittens for vet booster shots and back to work to finalize plans and change a couple production things to give another 2 day wiggle room. Done at 5Pm..... then they wanted dinner... I found frozen fish (salmon and cod) and Aidan took over for me and baked them, made rice and a veggie! He and Dad were cleaning up the kitchen when I left..... - girl scout leader meeting tonight - pot luck and I did not get to make the cookies so had to stop at Publix and get some. Home 8:40 to tuck kids into bed.

Thursday - Bowling on my day off... (started crocheting the yellow dish cloth and had finished off the green in car line Wednesday) and a quick trip to Aldi on the way home as we were out of produce and the guinea pigs need their vitamin C in lettuce and carrots... directly to pick up kids. Some kids study times and then Sams to get the basics - flour, sugar, paper towels, tp... you know, the stuff you need! Also got some steaks which Aidan started the Big Green Egg for me to cook them on! He is a good helper most of the time. Study time - Emily had 3 tests Friday so review time after dinner with Dad for science and me for spelling and vocabulary. I think math review too.

Friday - Working - clean up/resolve issue at work, cross fingers and pray .... and it seemed to work! Phew. Hubby was home from work today - the cats just didn't know what to do with 2 adults in the house... most of the time they were in my office with me... like they always are. Silly boys. Pick up kids... and I have no clue what happened to Friday night! Oh, the start of the December evenings with the boy... at least it did not last long... like the 2-3 hours of he double hockey sticks it used to be!
December is lots of 'extra' stuff going on and excitement for Christmas. He was worried about a report due Monday and excited for a field trip on Monday...makes for a not fun night for me.

Saturday - cooked off sugar cookie and decorated them for a cookie exchange in the afternoon. Took Em with me to play with the other girls there. The boys were to make pita bread and grilled chicken and tazetki with a salad for dinner.... could not find the yeast (in the jar that had peaches marked yeast on  top right on the top shelf of the fridge) so they made a pastry crust, pulled out frozen ham and used up leftover potato and peas to make a really yummy pie for dinner! There was none left (after a little meltdown from the boy who didn't think the crust cooked and all was doomed before we actually ate it. Yes, it was thick and could have cooked better but.... other than 3 little parts of crust thrown away all the rest was gobbled up just fine!... Emily wants it again this week!).

The tent finally got set up to air out in the morning and Em and Dad slept out last night despite the rain predicted for this morning.

We also had a bonfire in the back yard... which lead to a nice breakdown of not listening....again, I hate the month of December!. All ended good as the 2 went out to sleep in the tent and I had promised a quick game with the boy so we did that and then I tucked him into bed nicely but late and after 9PM.

Sunday  - very lazy start to the morning and he had to try a new recipe... apple and raisin baked pancake. An oops with the heat cooking the apples so those got tossed, we did a quick version and then added the rest and popped it into the oven. 15 minutes later it was huge and yummy! We added fresh raspberries and powdered sugar on top. None left of that one either! Greg took Emily to Grandmas.... really late morning today.
The boy is not 100% (he needed to finish his book report on Theodore Roosevelt - the drawing of him on the big board. Yup - I had to attempt that and we dressed him in a rough riders outfit today.) and is tired.... late night last night and he is so excited for that field trip on Monday. We have had a Mom and Aidan day today.... which he has said is really nice. We also hit the grocery store to grab lunch things for him tomorrow and a bunch of other things. Hey Mom - I found the Cabot Everything Cheese in Publix today! There were 4.... we took 2 home with us! Aidan wanted to get all 4! It was not where I expected it to be but I am so happy they brought it in for me! Dinner is made and we are just waiting for Emily to be returned home by Grandma.

I think I'll get a few relaxing hand stitches in on the heart quilt while I can. I have this heart to do one more outline on, the above block for an X and then I am at the top row heart. This is working up the left hand side of the quilt to the top. That will leave 2 sides to go. If only I'd do at least one block a day it would get done!  

Cleaning up mode.....

This doesn't happen very often so I usually go with the flow when it hits.

Pulling some greens for the log cabin quilt. I didn't have enough of the cream so that part will be scrappy too. Now the decision  - go with all greens, the sage greens????? Hmmmm. Will have to play a bit and see. Making 12 inch blocks - using scrappy strips... cause I hate having to cut when using scraps!  For a 8x8 setting at 96 inches I need 68 blocks. For 7x7 with a border I need 49 blocks. We will see how many get made! It is a work in process decision kind of thing.

Now the scary part. You might need to sit down. You were warned.

This is my pantry. I know, there is a lot of stuff! It is scary in there... I can't find anything and the kids keep putting stuff in without lids on tight so they fall and get all over the floor (baking cocoa, nestle quick, cereal) and everything down there. I am thinking I might pull stuff all out this afternoon - toss the old stuff (you know there is always those expired things in the back!) and see what I have. Then the fun part (other than trying to organize as I put it back), try to make meals for a couple of weeks using just the pantry and freezer! I found some big shells so I think stuffed shells will be one of the meals later this week. Haven't had them in ages.

 I hate going to stores in December so other than the staples of fresh veggies, dairy and some fruits we will see how I do. I just hope I find the lentils.... which is what I went in there looking for this morning. I wanted lentil soup with a ham bone in the freezer. Didn't find it but found a bag of black beans and a can of 16 bean soup. I pulled the 16 beans out and will soak them for a bit in boiling water and see if maybe they might work for a soup dinner with a side of spinach and cheese quiche... for the ones who won't eat the soup (Emily and possibly Greg). Aidan will gobble it up I know. If it isn't ready tonight.... it will be for tomorrow! I have had an issue with them taking forever in the crock pot to get soft (like 18 hours!). I am down to this batch of soup and enough for one more in the can then it is gone! Don't worry, there are plenty more cans of 'storage food stuff' around the house. Maybe even a can of lentils? (I know, I have lentils on the brain today!)