Split nines is finished!

 

Split nines was made with 2.5 inch squares each month in a color from the RSC and finishes at 48x54. Simple blue binding from the cut off backing and it is done. I was too lazy to piece a few of the celestial backing parts together, so cut into some blue floral print backing instead. 

This guy got finished off last night and my off center photo was taken this morning before it hit melting stage outside.

We headed over to visit my FIL this morning and caught him while he was at Rehab. After a little visit when he was back in his room, we checked the house. With my new to me car, I backed it out of the driveway and onto the lawn/road and jumped out to close the garage door and check the mail. It is a good thing I tried the door to the vehicle before Greg pulled away with his Dad's car as I was locked out with the car running! Sigh. We had to pop home to get the extra key and then drive back. Got there... and the key fob needs a battery@$#!$#@. Hubby played with it and if you push a little button and pull, out pops a hidden key for the door! Who knew? We got into the car, and I was able to continue with my day. I gassed it up (we live 45 minutes away!) and hit Joann's as my reward. I needed fabrics for a baby boy quilt for my niece who is due in July. No clue what to make... I had planes and trucks in my cart... then found the Kona on sale. Picked some basic colors... then back to the fabric aisle. I opted for dinosaurs and changed out a few of the solids for different tones. I'll come up with something. I'm thinking of surrounding a square of dinosaur fabric with the various solids but could change my mind. We will see what happens.

Holiday Monday

 I managed to get the quilting done on this split nine patch and a binding made and attached to the front. I'll work on hand stitching that to the back this week. The quilt is 48x54.

I looked over last night and saw this..... 

Bear had curled up on the couch with a pillow and his quilt. Silly boy.

Grandma is coming over for brats and burgers on the grill. I made a potato salad last night. She is going to bring her dog Scruffy. Scruffy has not been here since we got Bear, but he did go there once and they got along well. We will see how they do. 

Sunday

Yesterday I finally decided on a backing for the split nines quilt. I cut it and the batting and did a little pinning. I decided to try a pre-programmed stitch on my machine and got 2 lines done before the needle broke. That told me to turn off the light and call it a day. I'll head back in soon and see if I can get this completed this afternoon.

I did get some hand quilting in on this cat while the F1 race was on this morning. I just need to outline the white part and then I'll have 2 cats left. Two grocery runs were completed, and meals planned for the next few days. 

These two like to curl up together. Emily decided to 'help' me and totally cleaned the master bedroom. Dusting, vacuuming and moved the furniture to vacuum under and behind it. There was a lot of cat hair as that is their territory. It was so nice to sleep in there last night. 

I've got a few hours until I need to make the sauce for the chicken to go on the grill. We call it the Weatherby sauce - from Enosburgh Falls Vermont. It is basically just butter, margarine, vinegar, water and salt. Sounds weird but oh so yummy! Great on bone in skin on chicken cooked on the grill. I have great memories of Dad manning the grill with a maxwell house glass container with holes poked in the top to hold this sauce that is boiled and then put on the chicken whenever you turn it on the grill. 

I should have some time to put in a new needle on the machine and see if I can make some progress on the split nines.

Another cat done....

 

This cat was completed last night, and I moved onto the next one. It is just outlined so far, but every length of thread counts.

Tuesday...

 I pulled out the cats again and got this pretty one done last night. The finger does not hurt at all today, so that is good news. Other good news is Aidan and I watched the first 2 periods of the Oilers hockey game last night. He has been rooting for the Oilers the last year or 2 and was so happy to see them advance to the next round. 

The age old question of what is for dinner? Emily was 'bored' in her last period class yesterday and kept blowing up my phone with recipe links! She did not like when I mentioned it sounded like she was in charge of dinners this summer! 

Last night was Veggie Lo Mein - listed under my recipe tab at the bottom of the page.

Tonight - Aidan has asked if we had Carnita meat in the freezer last week. Nope, I was out so I picked a pork shoulder up on sale yesterday and it is in the crock pot today for dinner tonight. Recipe link is on the Recipe tab page.

Hand quilting.

The girl got a wee bit overheated at the picnic yesterday. Thankfully lots of sleep and liquids had her feeling better this morning. Off to school she went. The humid summer temps have arrived. =(. Thank goodness for AC!

 Instead of cleaning the house yesterday, I cleaned in the kitchen and then decided to bake a bit and mess it up again! In my defense, 3 bananas were overripe, so they became banana bread. Then, I had eggs to use, and quick breakfasts are nice to have .... so, I pulled my individual pie pan (6 mini pie pan) and sprayed it with Pam. Then I cut up a scallion, some baby peppers that needed using and some deli ham. I shredded a little mozzarella cheese and then put a little of each into all 6 areas. 5 eggs and a little half and half with salt and pepper got mixed and then poured into the tin. I baked it at 375 for 15-20 minutes and they were the cutest things! I had one last night for dinner and one this morning. Yummy and a quick and easy breakfast. I really need to play with this pan and try some little pies. I'll have to check out the Pampered Chef recipes page for those. I'm thinking little blueberry pies. Yummy.

After all that, I got lazy and was listening to an audio book while I did some hand quilting. It appears if you don't work on something, it really does not progress at all! So, I finally finished up one cat and did another yesterday. I can feel my right middle finger as I guess that is the one I push the needle with! I have not quilted in a while and I lost my callus, so I'll have to work on building that back up. I have 6 of the 12 cats quilted. I need to figure out the sashing and then start in on those. I noticed a few mice need to have their applique 'fixed' as well. I think my goal is to get this one completed by the end of the summer. It will probably travel up to VT with me this summer. Note to self, use the glasses I picked up from CVS to help thread the needle!

It should be a fairly quiet last week of school. Emily is late Thursday for Graduation band practice and Graduation is Saturday early. A few tests still for both kids and then they are off for the summer. I have seen Emily's summer homework but Aidan has not shared his yet. 

RSC Arkansas Traveller blocks all caught up!

 I managed to finish off the pink and yellow AT blocks this afternoon. Well, technically I still have some parts for a 4th yellow, but I forgot I had a pink started and only cut out 4 of the 5 background parts needed. 

This morning the girl had horses (89 degrees, feels like 100 and was muggy) and it was bareback riding day. Both girls managed to walk, trot and canter after lots of fussing and 'I'm going to fall off'. Neither fell. This is Henry the barn cat. He is a feral cat that has been fixed and lives on the barn property. He kept an eye on the girls. After their lesson, they went out to the grassy fields and he followed them as they were wandering around both areas.  

Tonight is the band banquet. I need to pop out and grab some cookies for the pot luck dinner. Tomorrow is a picnic for the end of year GEMS girl scout planning committee. I will make some sugar cookies for that one, which means time to check the butter for softness and get that dough made so it can chill. Worst case, I'll buy cookies for that one as well! 

I'll link up to the RSC and hopefully will be able to visit some links later tonight.

Stormy day

 Another stormy day for us. Lots of rain, but we have not had any for a long while, so it is a good thing.

I managed to finish one AT block and almost done another. I need to unpick the final seam and try it again for a better shot at a middle join.

This one is good.

This one is not!

The kids both got invited to their end of year academic awards ceremony last night. Both got recognized (with a whole slew of other kids!) for 4.0 or higher GPA non weighted. Emily got her academic letter and Aidan got a pin to add to the one he got last year. They clean up pretty nice! Notice how much taller he is than her with that blue sign! We stopped at Cracker barrel for dinner on the way home.

The blueberry place is opening tomorrow for one last day of picking and I think I'll go and get a few more. We have been eating them fresh and I am almost out from the last picking. They are going in my overnight oats for breakfast.

 

Monday....

 I did a little in the sewing room last week but not as much as I hoped. I did pick fabrics for the Arkansas Traveller blocks. I got one pink one almost done before I had to head to horses on Thursday. I never made it back into the sewing area! 

It seems to take the longest time to pick the fabrics! I picked these for the next two pinks. I got 4 sets of the yellow. I need to cut some more of the background parts for the last 5 and then I can stitch them up hopefully this Thursday.

This pretty rose is in bloom out back.

Thursday was my annual checkup after riding. Since I still have a bit of my cold I asked and she said I still have thrush, so got some meds for that. I don't know if it was that or something I was exposed to at the doctors office, but Saturday I woke up not well, and proceeded to go back to bed and slept all day long. I felt a bit better Sunday and was able to eat a bit but took it easy. I guess all the running caught up to me?

Bear was so happy to get his walk this morning.

Hopefully I can resume my normal schedule..... last 2 weeks of school for the kids.

A relaxing Sunday.

 I was able to finally relax with some hand quilting this week and it felt so good! I finally finished off the quilting in the dark blue cat and moved onto this teal one. It appears I am doing circles/fans or straight lines in alternate cats on this one. 

On the last day of April - was the anniversary of us adding Bear to the family 2 years ago. He was a shelter rescue and has fit in well to his family. I got him this duck toy that arrived yesterday. He was so funny when he saw it this morning in the living room - tail wagging happy dog.

It is still blueberry season in Florida, and I got up early yesterday and went and picked a little under 4 pounds. They have one more week. I hope to go next Saturday as well... since the girl and I seem to be grabbing a handful every time we go past the kitchen. I looked at the sign and they are $4.50 a pound for self pick. After running all day yesterday, I am looking forward to puttering around at home today.

Now to enjoy the yogurt scones that just came out of the oven with a few berries on top!

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC in pink and yellow!

 Since I did not get any yellow sewing in last month, I'll do both pink and yellow this month!

I got a little sewing time in on Thursday morning and cut and pieced 4 chicken blocks. I even remembered to do the big part of the chicken correctly, so I didn't have to modify the parts to make it work! I had that purple one right next to the machine for reference as I stitched.  I did 2 in yellow and 2 in pink. I might make a few more of these later in the month if there is time. The red part is 3-D. 

I had the parts cut out and in process for 2 more of the potato chip blocks so those got stitched while I was doing the chickens above. I think I will get out my 2.5 inch strip die and cut a bunch from the stash wall so I have a variety of fabrics to choose from. I'll go through the white bin as well and try and get some usable parts cut. It is overflowing and needs taming.

Linking up on Saturday with the RSC. Head on over and see what scraps are turning into.

The boy has 2 Cambridge college level tests today and then a review after school for Mondays exam. He said the math one was a killer yesterday and all their brains were fried after it. He thinks he did poorly, but we will see what the results are in August. This is one that gets sent over the pond for grading at Cambridge. He got invited to a surprise moving away party at the middle school this evening for his old Robotics teacher. He is moving north and will be teaching elementary next year in the Carolina's and starting a Robotics program at his new school. A bunch of the kids from high school who were in his classes are planning to attend and wish him well. He had them for 3 years in middle school with the robotics program and the boys helped out at the after school program with him last year for volunteer hours and helped at a few local tournaments the last 2 years for him.

Hopefully I can get a little yard work done this weekend. Pull some old bushes and plant new flowers, trim some hedges back and just tidy up before the humidity hits the crazy levels and I hibernate in the AC for the summer!

Almost normal?

 Wednesday was a good day! I got a few stitches in on the cat last night. Progress.

The kids were a normal pick up. When I saw some frozen catfish in the freezer (when clearing out to defrost it so the noise stopped, blessedly quiet all-day Wednesday!), and a recipe card Aidan has picked up at Publix for Catfish Po'boys, his dinner was decided for Wednesday. We did stop at Publix on the way home and picked up a little more catfish so there was enough for him and Greg, and Emily and I got subs. We dislike most fish!. He did a great job doing the recipe and fying the fish. I might have changed the oil and cleaned the fryer as well. I did a little prep work for him of slicing tomato, lettuce and making a tartar sauce. 

Greg went and visited his Dad and it appears he will be in Rehab for a while. He needed a wheelchair to get to therapy yesterday so his strength will need to get built up again. 

The dog has been walked. I'm off to go pick some blueberries and then I have riding this afternoon before picking up the kids. Might I get a little stitching in? I do need to return a set of pans to UPS and fill up the chlorine jugs for the pool at Pinch and that is in the other direction. It might just be an errand day. We will see.