Binding time

 I spent a slew of hours tugging this quilt through the machine throat yesterday. I made and applied the binding to the top. I just need to hand stitch it down to the back at some point. Nearly to the finish line with this one.

tugging, and tugging. I got lots of 'steps' on my fitbit yesterday tugging this.

I might have spaced and cut this a wee bit short, but made it work. Oops.

Loops and lines.

Ready for hand stitching the binding down. That won't happen today or probably tomorrow. Looks like a Sunday job.

Mid Week Check in....

 I have the whole day today... to finish quilting the AT quilt. I'll get started on that in a bit.

The dog got a long walk on a new route. The 3 big barking dogs, were not in their back yard when we walked past their house. It appears they are prepping to move out, so maybe the dogs have moved out with their adult kids? The dog whined a bit, but walked past good. They are the reason we only walk a set route each day, him pulling past the barking dogs was horrible. He enjoyed all the new smells and was a happy camper after a longer walk this morning. We will try that route again on the weekend and see how it goes.

I started a 'bundle' shipping over at Missouri Star Quilts last week and added a bit to it over the week with their daily deals. It started with the Life of the Ridge Charm pack (2 at the lower price!). The colors remind me of Kim Diehl quilts. I also added a couple yards of Kona Eggshell, so I have enough to make more of the flowering snowball and shoo fly blocks. I grabbed the Colorworks Solid Medley of tiles - (42 - 10 inch squares). The Vintage Valor charm packs caught my eye, so I got 2 of those with the lower price. Normally they only allow one charm pack at the low price, but this time they allowed 2. Yesterday was my final day and I got in before the 9AM cut off... and picked up the 9 yard bundle of Kona - 3 yards each of white, black and snow. That should keep me busy and out of trouble for a little bit. No plans for them, but I'm sure something will call their name.

Meals this week - which people have turned up their noses at! We had a pork loin, that I separated into 2 and roasted with different herbs. I did one as rosemary and garlic and one as herbs de province, and cut some carrots and onion to go in the bottom of the pan with them. Mashed potato went with it. Tuesday was stuffed peppers - I use Rice a Roni Spanish rice and add a pound of cooked burger meat to it, then stuff the peppers and bake it with some tomato sauce on top. Wednesday was leftovers. Tonight is baked code with veggies and roasted potato I think. Friday, I'm going with the band to a pre-season game in Inverness, so the boys are on their own. Saturday, I'm taking Emily to Orlando for a flag and riffle training session for winter guard. She really has not been taught, so is hoping this will give her some pointers. We will see how it goes. 

A little hand stitching. I've got an aqua shoo fly in process. 

Off to weed a bit of the front beds before it gets atrocious out, then making an appointment to see the new doctor who just got my bloodwork from last week. We will see what she recommends to even things out. I will say the brain fog is gone, which is very nice. The itchy skin has also eased and general mood is better. Wish my normal dr would have asked more questions or mentioned any of this over the last 10 years. 

Slow Sunday

 Well, it is more of a 'nothing scheduled so I can play and do what I want' day! I do so love those.

I did a bit of machine quilting on the Arkansas Traveller quilt yesterday. Just the outline stitching of the blocks to tack things down. I think today I'll take time and do this little curved piecing on each block with all the pull and push through my little throat on the Viking. I am debating if I machine outline the white space next to it or do a hand quilting about 1/4 inch or so from the colored parts which make a star type shape? I'll think on it while tugging this through the machine. Either way, I do see hand stitching binding down on this later this week. Sitting in my recliner with the AC blowing down on me from the air vent =). 

When I cut out the Accuquilt bits for the Flowering Snowball and Shoo Fly blocks, I had cut offs. I finally went through them yesterday and cut out these bigger parts. What to do with them? I must have another pile somewhere from the first batch I cut out with more blues in the mix. I'll have to search for them.

I took some time on Friday and with my close up glasses, I figured out where I messed up on this cross stitch years ago (I'm guessing 20 or so!) The lower part of the hoop is off and some of the quilt above the hoop is off on 2-3 rows. Sigh. That is a lot of unstitching. I'm thinking I might just 'go with the flow and adjust a bit and continue on. After all.... it is a draped quilt and those are forgiving! I have noticed that my eyes have changed in 20 years and reading that pattern is TINY!. Must have great lighting when I work on this one.

 

I pulled these out to count them thinking I had all the grey surrounds attached. Alas, I found 3 more dark blues that need that grey added. At least I do have a count of them and know I have more of each color yarn if needed. Dark blue - 22, Medium blue - 26, Light blue - 21. I was thinking sets of 9, but maybe sets of 4 similar? We will see.

I'll work on getting those 3 dark blues finished off today for some slow stitching crochet. I'll also hand stitch a flowering snowball block as well. I do love hand stitching that gentle curve. 

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

I just need to do a quick grocery shop to make sure kids have things to grab for lunches at school this week. Tomorrow starts a new school year - for my Junior and Senior! Both are driving themselves to school, as they have very different before and after school schedules. 

RSC Saturday

 Well, I have not played much with teal/aqua yet but that will happen this weekend. I have nothing scheduled at all for the weekend.... well, I told Emily I'd help with a complete change out of the chicken coop. We picked up the bedding yesterday afternoon. That should just take an hour or less tonight when it gets cooler out.

I did make progress on an RSC top Arkansas Traveller, which is now pinned for machine quilting. That should begin today =)

Progress this week was marking all the parts for the 13 blocks of shoo fly and flowering snowball. I was testing a phone app at work and the load time let me mark one or two parts. There were lots of files to load and test. I did get a few stitched up the in evenings as well.

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.

Aidan's rose is blooming out back. Such a pretty peachy pink color.

The girls got a little roaming time earlier this week. I've kept them in the last day or two as there has been a chicken hawk spotted nearby. They do have a good size run and coop in the shade to hang out in. Ignore the overgrown weedy garden. I need to start tackling that so I can plant it next month for the fall.

I am feeling more 'myself' the last couple of days. I made an appointment with a hormone therapy APRN, since I asked my current provider (another APRN covered by insurance) about hormone therapy. She said a referral to an obgyn or no referral needed for a hormone specialist. I had this persons name as a hormone specialist and contacted her for an appointment Thursday. No insurance taken there. We had a 45 minute no rush visit and chat. She prescribed a set of bloodwork and sent in a script for Progesterone. I took it Thursday night and slept through the night! No waking up to pee. Just a great nights sleep. My Fitbit gave me a 93 for sleep score... which was normally in the mid 80 range. Friday I had a positive attitude when I woke up (which I used to have!) and lots of 'pep'. No brain fog.  It is oh so nice to feel more like myself!  I did the bloodwork Thursday afternoon, so we will see when my next appointment is and what she sees and recommends for balancing things out for me. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long. I met her back in November but am so glad I made the phone call for an appointment. 

August Monthly Goal

 My goal this month is to actually get a quilt finish. I'd love to get my Arkansas Traveller quilt pinned, quilted and bound this month. Will I succeed? Time will tell.

I do have the top and the backing rolled onto the boards. I also have the batting for it cut. 

Linking up with the August One Monthly Goal.

Slow Stitching Sunday

 There was no horses yesterday, so no outside time needed in the high temp/humidity thank goodness. Emily will ride Tuesday morning early, before her trainer heads north for a couple of weeks.

I decided to prep more blocks through the Accuquilt cutter for the Flowering Snowball and Shoo Fly blocks. It took about 2 hours to get things selected, pressed and cut to be run thorough the Accuquilt cutter for the shapes needed.  So far, I have no duplicates other than the background! I did 7 more of one block and 6 more of another so I should have 36 blocks when they are done. 6x6 setting = 72x72. I had a lot of blue in the first batch so I added more purple and green this time.

 I might want it bigger, but I'll decide that later. I'm running out of the Kona Eggshell bolt so I might need to order another one if I decide to go bigger. I have not marked the stitching line on them yet, so I might do a little of that today.

I did get almost 2 more blocks stitched up yesterday. I just have one long stitching line to go on the flowering snowball. I have one more block marked for stitching, which will make 23 blocks completed. 

I did get a couple granny squares with their grey surround added. I find I can only do one or two of these at a time now or my hand hurts. Strange, the different muscles used for crochet vs. hand stitching. I have a few more of these to go.

I'll finish up the green flowering snowball and then do a granny square as I finish watching the F1 race this morning. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday stitchers.

Teal/Aqua in the RSC

Welcome to August! I got a little hand stitching in yesterday and got this purple and aqua flowering snowball completed. I have a couple of shoo fly bocks left and then I need to lay them all out and see how many more I need/want to cut out. I do love stitching these, especially the flowering snowball. I think I cut out 23 of the 25 the throw pattern calls for. I can easily just make more to make it bigger. The tricky part is finding scraps I have not used yet in the blocks!

 

I've had my 2 teal/aqua string of beads blocks ready to go for a couple of months. I guess this is the month to finish the last 2 of the 16 blocks. I see this needs a press after all the travel it did this summer.

Aidan mowed the lawn late last night (close to 8 when it got cooler to feels like 100 and the sun was going down) and put his hat on the dog when he came in. He tried this last week, and Bear knocked it off right away. Last night, he kept it on for a bit. He is not a dress up dog. We tried a kerchief once and he went nuts trying to get it off.

I think the girl has horses today, so I might go with her and see the horses. I'll probably be too wiped out from the heat and humidity to do much else after that! It is very draining.

Linking up with the RSC.

Crazy hot

 And yet, I'm still cooking!

Sunday night I roasted some veggies, Emily cooked up some hot italian sausage and we added penne pasta for dinner with some garlic bread. It is one of her favorite meals and we had not had it in a while. She was busy in the kitchen on Monday - and made Macaroons and back of the bag oatmeal bread from the king arthur flour website. Both were yummy. 

After work Monday, I had planned meatloaf for dinner but forgot to grab ground pork at the market on Sunday, so went to Publix to get that. I did ask if we needed anything. Nope. I walked back in the house and Emily looked at me with a guilty face.... we are out of Lactaid milk. Sigh, I use that in cooking so she can eat what we eat. She used the last of it in her baking. Arrrggghhh. It was HOT outside. Like feels like 110 + outside. I needed it, so went to Aldi this time since their milk is cheaper than Publix. Got home with the milk and proceeded to make meatloaf and baked potato. Unfortunately, it is a 90 minute bake so dinner was a wee bit later at closer to 6:30. It was yummy though, and the leftovers are vanishing fast. 

Tuesday we are headed to see Grandma and go out to dinner with her. She gave us Pig and Cattle or Outback as options. I told her it was a 2/2 tie she had to break. She went with Outback as we did Pig and Cattle last time. I've not seen her since before the trip, so it was nice to check in with her. This pretty monarch butterfly was hanging out on her lawn.

 I took chicken out of the freezer for Chicken Tikka Masala on Wednesday night. Alas, it did not thaw in time (we have the big freezer set to 0). I used one piece in a pan with greek seasonings instead, pulled a baggie of falafel out of the freezer and made some tzatziki and that was dinner with a salad.

I just prepped the rest of the chicken this morning for Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner this evening with rice. It was mostly thawed, and with it cut up in the yogurt sauce, it should be fine in time to cook it up tonight. 

I have spent way too much time scrolling on my phone and not stitching this week. The very little stitching was getting these two shoo fly blocks done. Here Peanut is 'helping' hold them down.

His brother Ollie decided to get up and help as well, although I think he just wanted petting!

The girls think it is hot outside! Their production has gone down a bit, but they are staying hydrated and get plenty of shade time and some roaming time in the back yard. We had a few days with only 1 egg, but I think I got 3 yesterday. 

We are waiting a bit to go see Tom. He tends to like to go to lunch at 11:30, so we will head over to visit about an hour after that. 

As it is the last day of July... and I have yet to finish a quilt this year I plan to actually roll the Arkansas Traveller onto the boards today and get that pin basted. I feel the need to see something get done, and that is the closes to the finish line at this point. So, that is my plan today. Play with that quilt and get it pressed, rolled and find the pins and get it pinned for machine quilting. I think the hold up is that I have no idea how to machine quilt it. Sigh. It will probably just be straight line outlining, as I am not good at free motion quilting. I'd better go get them pressed and rolled, before we head out.

Table Scrap Challenge.

 English country garden was the prompt. I did some internet searching and got a picture in my head of blurred flowers on the edge and a lighter walkway through the middle. I was thinking to add a butterfly or two to the top. Alas, the little experiment did not turn out like the photo in my head. Oh well, I did play with some scraps and came up with this 12x12 little quilt. The purple part - the backing was purple as was the binding. Maybe there was a little purple in the flowers in the fabrics here and there. 

The bag of Liberty of London fabrics were so happy to see the light of day and get some air. 

The finished piece.

The front from a different angle. I just used the walking foot for some improv quilting.

The back.

Linking up with Joy and the Table Scrap Challenge for July.

Sunday Slow Stitching

The dog was up bright and early this morning wanting his breakfast and a walk. He got that, then the pool got a clean and shocked, because I forgot to do it last night. The pool is in the shade in the morning so it should be fine. The chickens are roaming around the back yard, finding bugs. 

Some of the household has woken up around 9AM. I just put a batch of muffins in the oven to use up the extremely overripe 2 banana's on the counter. I've taste tested them, and they are a yummy muffin!  The F1 race is looking like a wash out, but we will see. 

I've been slowly hand stitching these flowering snowball and shoo fly blocks that I cut out with my Accuquilt. I have more cut out and marked for hand stitching. I'll be adding a shoo fly to the mix today with my slow stitching. I grabbed fabrics from the stash wall in blue, greens and purples with a single solid background of a Kona off the roll I got from Missouri Star Quilt Company. They had a deal on them a while ago, so I have a couple of lights and a navy in those. 

I'll need to cut out some more of each at some point to make it a wee bit bigger. I think I have 25 blocks cut out right now. I'll finish stitching all of these first and then find some more fabrics to add to the mix. 

I've been seeing all the cross stitch happening in the link up's. I have done that in the past but think I might dabble back in. I've had this little Christmas stitchery in the console of the car for ages, and think I might just stitch it up this week for a change of pace.

 

I did find another stitchery with this pretty cardinal.

I also have a half finished one that got stalled with a mistake in the counting and stitching. I might have to figure that out and unstitch so that can get moving along again. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC catch up.

 I missed orange and most of purple so I'm playing catch up this week. I did a few 16 patch blocks. 2 in orange from last month and one in purple for this month. I should be able to get some sewing time in to work on the alternate blocks in both colors and do another 16 patch block in purple today or tomorrow. 

First, I need to finish playing with this bag of scraps I have had since I lived in Vermont....so 16 or 17 years? Liberty of London fabrics I grabbed from a quilt guild table. They were my inspiration for the English Country Garden prompt over at the Table Scrap Challenge. It might not be purple, but it will fit the scraps and garden feel. Now to get it finished and see if it matches the picture in my head.

Sorted into lights and darks. 

I had a busy start to the morning. Someone was whining and wanted his walk at 6:45. He got it about 20 minutes later... then I got a quick shower and headed to the school for a volunteer opportunity for Girl Scouts. We had a table at the community back pack give away. I was there from 9-1 and missed the marching band 'preview' for the parents they gave of what they have been working on this week at band camp. It was M-F 8-6PM! I'll check out the video's someone will post of it. Em is off to bowling with some friends from the band for a team bonding thing this afternoon. Aidan is off with his friends for a late lunch. Do I curl up with a book on the couch with the sleeping dog (he is napping and I am a pillow!), or rouse him and go sew a bit? We will see.....

Linking up with the RSC.

Wednesday

After picking up the car yesterday after work, I figured out dinner. I had made a list on a post it note and attached it to the fridge door back on Sunday. It has lessened the 'whats for dinner' questions.  I had enchiladas down last night, so used some of Emily's roaster chicken to make that with a can of green enchilada sauce. My recipe is just chicken (extra roaster chicken, or canned chicken is what I use), a can of cream of chicken soup and some sour cream - about 8 ounces. I add a good spoonful of refried beans (I made my own yesterday and need to work on that!), then some of the chicken mix and then some shredded cheddar. Roll up the big burrito and place in a 13x9 pan. Cover the top with the sauce and then some cheese. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. 

After dinner, I prepped things and did another batch of tomato's. I now have 21 pints of tomato in the pantry. Well, the last 7 will get washed off and placed in there later tonight closer to the 24 hour sit mark. The all sealed already. 

While that was processing, I finished the purple flowering snowball and did this blue one. I think I have a green shoo fly prepped for tonight.

Tonight I have lemon chicken and capers over pasta with a salad on the list. I have some snow peas that will get quick boiled and then smothered in butter and salt and pepper as a side. I'll run out to Aldi and grab chicken for that and some spinach and cheese for the quiches tomorrow night. I'll do a spinach, onion and cheese one and then a sausage and cheddar cheese one for Emily and Greg. They are picky!

I also need to make the dozen of hard boiled eggs from a couple of days ago into Deviled eggs. Once made up - they tend to disappear quickly.

Thursday is my day off.... so I'm thinking I need to really get a 'finish' in soon of my UFO's. That Arkansas Traveller quilt needs to get pinned and I need to play with the Table Scrap Challenge for Purple as well. A few 16 patches need to get made in orange and purple and some alternate blocks are needed as well. If I'd get off my phone games and work on some of that I might see some progress!

 

Rainy day

 We are in a rain and t-storm loop. No doggie walk this morning. 

I picked up a 25 pound box of tomatoes on Friday. They needed a little ripening, so I waited to process them a few days. I got 2 batches of them canned in pint jars last night. 14 so far. All sealed fine. I just do the ball canning for raw pack tomato like my mom did. I figured with the upcoming issues with fields not being picked,  I'd better get some staples canned. I had my first broken glass in the canner on the first batch, so 1 jar and contents got thrown out.

I've got some tomato left for another round today. Some might have been used for tomato sandwiches as well.

One last bit of stitching needed to finish off this flowering snowball block.

Honda said the car is ready for pickup.  I took it in for the recall maintenance. The also did a car check and the tech said it is one of the nicest he has seen from carvana! Yea!

Sunday

Sunday and a migraine. Sigh. I went back to bed after about 30 minutes and slept until after noon. A bit better. No, I am stubborn and have not taken the meds for it. I will though, as I'd like it gone and I normally have multiple days once I get one. Mine tends to be behind the right eye, but thankfully light and sound don't bother me too much. 

I did get a new to me car yesterday! We got it through Carvana and traded in the 2016 Kia. I now have a 2018 Honda CRV EX-L. It's got about 45K miles on it and drives well. I'm happy to be back in a CRV. They delivered it to our door and everything!

 Aidan is driving my 2014 Crv. Emily has Greg's 2013 Tacoma truck. It got stripped down and painted over the summer and looks like a brand new vehicle for her. She has been driving it to horses on Saturdays and will be driving to school this week for marching band practice. They are doing one week instead of 2 this year, so it is a long day for them. 8-6. The teacher is pregnant and due the end of November, so she is very organized this year! 

I did a little hand stitching in between things yesterday. I just need to sew the rows together on the shoo fly block. Then move onto the curvy parts of the flowering snowball. I had just a wee bit of thread left, so added that yellow square with it yesterday. I think it is around a one inch square, so just a few stitches and it was attached. This is my current hand piecing project. 

I'll also work on crocheting the grey around the last 6 granny blocks this week before I figure out how to assemble the box of them into an afghan. 

I'd also like to get these last two teal blocks finished this month. I have 14 of the 16 string of beads blocks completed.  These are needle turned applique. They need a press, as the travel bag got them a bit wrinkled. I drew on the peel placement with pencil. My two teal colors and the outer dark green peels are marked and ready to go.

 This is the first 12 of them. The orange ones did not make it into that photo, but they are completed.

Plenty to keep me busy and out of trouble this week! Linking up with Kathy and the other slow Sunday Stitchers. 

Seeing the results of Kathy's unpicking on that pretty bird cross stitch, I might have to revisit the January cross stitch design that has been at a standstill for too many years due to a counting mistake. It might be time to figure out where I went wrong and unpick so I can get that one moving along again. 

Erin's Butterfly blocks

I had good intentions to press and load a quilt top and backing onto the boards for pinning yesterday. That would have involved clearing off my sewing table. The backing blocks and the parts for Erin's Butterfly were sitting on my cutting mat. I had zigzag stitched the pink and a light blue one earlier this year. Instead of moving them..... I decided to cut the fusible to attach to the wings, pressed them on then placed onto the background and machine stitched them down. All eight are ready for the body to be attached by hand, (the pink was done) and then they need embroidery for the antenna. I do need one more of these made... so I think that will be the next step in the sewing room. Dark green I think - I'll steal from the greens I got for the Christmas tree quilt I have yet to make for those wings. Julierose - this one making progress should make you happy! I know you've been rooting for this one to be moved along for a while now.

I hand stitched this purple shoo fly block yesterday as well. 

I'll link up on Saturday with the RSC for progress on some purple sewing this month!

The blah's

 I've had zero motivation to do much of anything the last few days. I'm calling it vacation overload? 

Tuesday I had scheduled the kids cleaning at the dentist. It had been since 2023! Busy kids. They did say I could just send the kids and not be there. Aidan paid attention when we got there and when I told the receptionist their names and then sat down, he said 'that it?'. Yup, I just pay outright for their dentist so no forms. Clean bill of health for both! 

Wednesday, I got my eyes checked. It has been since March 2023. I guess I completely missed everything in 2024! I noticed the close up is getting worse. Seems the distance got slightly better, and instead of the dime store readers of a 1.0, I should switch to the 1.5. Not bad for age 52 I guess! I've had glasses for distance since age 16. Something about headaches every day after school by sitting in the back in math class. Good thing I was good at math and didn't need to see the board. The poor teacher..... he knew if my hand went up, he had to fix something on the board he wrote wrong in Algebra. 

Did I mention the Kia's issues lately? Before the trip there was a shimmy that we had it in for twice. $1,200+. Well, it was not fixed 100% and still happened occasionally on the trip up and back. On the way home, the oil light came on occasionally when pressing the brake. I did check the oil level, and it was ok. I did an oil change this week and the little light came on again after. Sigh. We have been looking at Carvana for the past week, and I found a 2018 Honda CRV that is being delivered to us on Saturday. They will take the Kia as a trade in. I guess a bunch of time has been reviewing cars online this week. I need to clear out the Kia today of all the stuff. Greg will head to the DMV today and get the title. It appears Florida doesn't give it out when you own or transfer the vehicle unless you ask for it. We need it for the trade in. 

I 'kinda' cooked this week. Sunday, Aidan was at Grandma's and Emily tends to make her own stuff, so I made the hamburger tater tot dish for Greg and I. She did take some! Monday, I tried a new dish with lentils. I did not have the red lentils it called for so used the brown I had. It was a red lentil curry. I think the red lentils would have been better for texture, but it was yummy. I used a little chicken broth I had made from the Sam's roaster chicken I had in the crock pot Sunday night. Tuesday, the kids had Pub subs for lunch so were not hungry. I did some wings and roasted potato and veggies later that night. Wednesday, I cooked up the beef fajita meat I got at Sams last week with onions and peppers, some fresh salsa, guac and black beans. I'll do something with chicken and veggies tonight. 

I did finish the shoo fly block and pieced a light purple flowering snowball block on Sunday.

This one has been coming out to snuggle in the living room in the evenings. Well, the dog sensed it 2 nights ago and chased him back to the master bedroom. Poor guy has not come out since! This is Ollie, my standoffish one. He is not the cuddle bug so him being on my lap for pets is very out of his nature. I guess he missed me!

I went through my 'to go' bag to see the status of the crochet granny squares. I have 10 dark blue with their surround on. I found a rogue light blue with a surround on it. Then 6 that need the grey added. 4 dark blue, 1 light and 1 medium.  I'll have to start playing with them to see how many I have and what might work for putting them together. 

The dog got walked and is back in bed with Emily sleeping. Time to wander into the sewing room and see if I can get a top and backing pressed and rolled onto the boards for pinning. I really would like to get a quilt finished this month.