Happy Easter!

 We had a nice non-traditional Easter meal today with Grandma. Aidan worked to get the Big Green Egg back into working order and it is now up on some cement blocks to stabilize it and make it a nice level height to use. 

The kids cooked salmon on the grill last night for dinner and today Aidan was the grill master and cooked up some burgers and brats for our lunch with Grandma. It is a lovely partly cloudy 80 degrees today and right now Greg and the kids are outside in the back yard. The chickens are roaming free while they move the cage run attached to their coop run a little as they have dug up all the grass and made plenty of craters to take dust baths in. With the hawks around and the dog, it is safer for them to be in their safe area most of the time. The dog is inside with me watching those chickens and wanting to be outside with them!

Now that our company is gone, I'm going to relax with a little stitching. This purple chicken needs a red comb appliqued to it's top and then some simple quilting and a binding to finish it off. The pattern is from Sew Inspired but since I messed up how I placed the big rectangle mine is a little different.

This month I want to make progress on my Brimfield Awakening project. I have various charm packs that I will be using for this but I need to decide how I'll lay them out. Until then, I'll keep making the parts and then decide how the colors will flow on them. 

I did get one of the cats hand quilted this week. Each cat will be quilted differently. I think the next one will have circles or swirls after I get it outlined. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

I do love a prime rib (only the girl is with me on this one in my house - so I just have to fight her for it!) and since it is on sale now with the holiday, I got another one yesterday. It cooked up today and this is how it looks when I pulled it out of the oven. It is resting now, then I'll cut it into slices (the bones were cut off and tied back on by the butcher - those get sealed and frozen for soups!) and will seal a meal them and freeze them. Emily and I will pull them out for a quick dinner (her) or to add on top of salads for lunches (me). It will be gone by the end of June. This one was an 8 pounder. The last one never made it to the freezer and the remains are a beef barley soup in the fridge. 

Slow Sunday stitching

 Kathy reminds us each week to slow down and rest. It sounds like I am not the only one who does not tend to heed that! I am getting better at it and will take a 'me' day once in a while and play. Today should be one of those days, which means I will be slowly playing with fabrics, my accuquilt and the triangle die and the sewing machine. Some slow stitching will happen as well on quilting of the bear paw quilt.This is the second feather in the middle of the quilt. I am quilting with a blue hand quilting YLI thread.

I will also prep some fabrics for Brimfield Awakening today so I have car line things to work on.

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

The kids should be heading to Grandma's today on a day when we will be hitting record high temperatures in Florida. The disadvantage of living inland a bit is we don't get the coastal breezes to cool things off. In Ocala they are predicting 90 degrees F.... that does not include the 'feels like' temps. Sigh. 

Emily and I both rode yesterday at horses. I had my lesson at 9 and Greg took Emily for 11. I had not ridden in over a month, but it all came back! I did have a new ride - Princess. It sounds like Prism was a little overworked this week and the trainer said I have soft hands so would work well with Princess. She is a lot different from the first 2 horses I've ridden. She is very 'sensitive'. Slight movements and she follows where I had to really kick to get Elwood or Prism to trot. It was really foggy yesterday morning, so I was riding in a mist with low 70's for temps. It was perfect! (I don't mind mist when it is comfortable temps!) It got hot quickly after the clouds lifted but I was done riding by then!

We had yet to start the garden. Never got around to it the last month or two so Emily and I were working on that yesterday with lots of breaks and water. Greg ordered a sun net to put over part of the garden. Emily had planted some pumpkins and they would get burned with the direct sun down here. Greg and I put it up a couple of weeks ago and it has really helped the plants. The garden got weeded and tilled. The add in's are raked in a bit. We just finished planting and now we just need to finish getting the fence up, since the dog really likes that area under the sun shade! Yes, water does go through it and it lets some sun through it. Time to get moving and showered before Grandma arrives to get the kids.

He is not spoiled at all!

A lazy Sunday

 It is a rainy cool day today. I am being a wee bit lazy today and resting. I did get up and watch the last F1 race of the year this morning. Grandma came and picked up Emily for the day. Seems Aidan was up chatting with a friend online until 3AM and is quite tired today! 

I should go sew the last 2 16 patch stars in the sewing room... but I think I'll put on a movie and do some hand quilting on the Bear Paw quilt today instead!

I did make some progress on EPP and Brimfield Awakening this week. I need to prep some more fabrics to keep moving on this as well. I'm planning to try this flat back stitching when I put them together.

I'm recovering a bit from my adventures yesterday helping out at a girl scout encampment. You can read about that here.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers. She has been a little under the weather and showed her medicines to get her through. My whole house is sniffling with all the colds going around right now or allergies. Emily likes the humidifier in her room to add moist air to help her breath at night and I'll mention for them to add vicks rub on the chest to help clear out the airways with that strong menthol scent. I got more Sudafed, that works great to dry out a nose for a good 4-6 hours and she took one this morning before heading to Grandma's. We are out of my favorite Cloverine salve to add to the outside of the nose to help sooth from all the blowing, so are using Vaseline instead. Lots of tea drinking and spoonfuls of honey are happening around here as well. The kids are off school this week for the Thanksgiving holiday so plenty of time to rest up and feel better.

Brimfield Awakening

 I had cut out parts for this project a while ago and yesterday was the day to start in on them. I need to prep a bunch more and figure out how I will lay them out in their blocks. I am using a few charm packs for these, so they are on the purple to blue spectrum. I also have 2 of them in pinks, purple and blues that should coordinate well.  

Just laying them out to see how the block could look scrappy. I think I will keep the similar hues together but we will see. For now, I'll prep more and worry about assembling them in a bit.

We got a glorious cold front move into Florida and I am enjoying the cooler weather. 50 degrees for the morning dog walk was wonderful. All the animals are enjoying the cooler temps and have quite the energy to burn off!

I see horse riding and garden play in my future with a little last minute planning for the girl scout event on Saturday. 

Slow Stitching Sunday

I decided to bring some crochet with me to horses while Emily was riding yesterday. It was pleasant in the 80's and sunny. I'm missing the covered arena from the last place, but she built a nice seating area for the parents that is under cover. 

This week has mostly been adding granny squares to the pile. 

I do hope to add some stitches today during the F1 race to either the Bear Paw quilt 

or EPP on Brimfield Awakening. I really want to get this one started this month.

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Stitchers.

I need to get dressed and pop to get groceries before the race starts. The garden will get tilled after the race. Emily is letting me have a little bit of the garden and I'll plant green beans and peas, which I know will grow for me. We will see what she decides on. I can't get the turkey yet, since the frozen cheesecake and cookie dough is arriving sometime this week and I need room to house the goodies until I can get them distributed. 

 

Sunday before the storm (school storm that is!)

 The kids spent the night at Grandma's after a late night at the car races. Tomorrow, I start getting them up at 'school time' so they are not too surprised on Wednesday when they have to go to school! Monday Aidan has Freshman orientation at 2 and then the rest of the school and parents arrive at 4 for the 4-5:30 orientation. We got a robo call informing us that Tuesday they have to pick up a crome book for school between 9-3. I guess they don't think parents work? Thank goodness I have a flexible schedule and so does Greg with his schooling. I think Greg will do the 2PM drop off (well 1:45 drop off) and I'll go at 4. Tuesday... we will see who brings him to sign out the computer. I think my morning meetings got moved to the early afternoon so it might be me. 

Wednesday should be a mad house dropping off and picking up so I'll make sure to have my 'busy bag' with me in the car. It will have a skein of yarn and crochet hook for the below project of the granny squares. I am not sure if the grey and/or cream will be in the afghan. We will see. I have lots more of the medium country blue than the light and dark. We will see what happens. I have been looking at different ways to join them and might go with this one - Join as you go by the crochet swirl. 

I have been waiting patiently for school to start to begin my Brimfield Awakening EPP project. I have it all prepped and tucked into a container with the necessary supplies. I really hope I like EPP - as I might have purchased a few Accuquilt single dies for it - the hexagon and the paper and fabric cutting for the diamond. I have always wanted to make a tumbling block quilt! 

Then the third option is hand piecing on the third Hand Pieced Sew Along - Harmony.  I have one block completed and planned to make 3 more. 2 are prepped and in process. 

I might also have a 4th project as I plan to stitch along with Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching. She is doing a Mystery Autumn Stamp Stitch Along. It starts tomorrow.... so I might need to go shopping to make sure I have the floss.

Linking up with the Sunday Slow Stitchers. 

I saw this pretty shot out my window this week and had to go snap a photo as the sun was going down. 

Sunday....

Well, I was planning on driving all day today, but we pushed off the leave date to Monday. There will be lots of driving time for me this week as we make our way north up the east coast to visit Vermont and family. We will be making some stops along the way to break things up.  The kids have only done this drive once when we moved here when they were 3 and 2.

Am I packed? Well, technically no but I do have all the clothes pulled in a pile, the drinks are ready for the cooler - waters and Gatorade and some snacks for the car. The first thing I did pack on Friday was my hand work bag from Thirty-One. You know the important things get packed first! I love my bags - I have 2 like this, a lunch cooler that is great for the car in Florida and a few of the Utility totes for shopping. I knew someone who was a consultant and got invited to a few parties' years ago. Anyway... what's in the bag you ask? There are 6 pockets on the outside and one on each end - great for water bottles and little things. I remember having 8 labeled water bottles at a parade with the girl scouts in there at one time!

Let's take a look! On the left we have the EPP for the Brimfield Awakening block with all the papers, templates and things needed to work on those. In the middle is 2 Harmony blocks that are in process for hand piecing from last year. I do have one 28 inch block completed but was planning to make 4. Hopefully I make progress on this the next few weeks. I threw in a sewing kit I got at Aldi's last year - just in case I need something there is a good variety of things in there. I'll also tuck my Vera Bradley coin purse where I have thread, scissors, pins and my needles but that is by the recliner still.

Inside we have yarns! I grabbed a skein of each of the 3 blues for the granny squares and the hook, some scrubby yarn and some dish cloth yarn. I know I have knitting needles in the car as well.

I have 6 dark blue and 8 medium blue granny squares so far.

I'll also bring the RSC Squares quilt to finish off hand stitching the binding if it doesn't get finished tonight watching the hockey game. I have one 64 inch side hand stitched. 

Last night I finished hand stitching the binding on the Baby Masala Box quilt. This will travel up to VT with us so I can show my Mom and then I'll ship it to Cece in Wisconsin.

I'll probably bring the Endless Diamond quilt that I am hand quilting. I have 4.25 blocks left to quilt. I think I might make and attach a binding today in case I finish quilting it then it will be nearly done. 

I think that should keep me busy for the 2.5 weeks we will be gone! Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Hubby is staying home to care for the animals (chickens, dog and 2 cats) and continue with his college classes. He starts 2 new ones tomorrow as he finishes up 2 today. Every 8 weeks he gets a new set of classes toward his degree.

I'd better finish breakfast (I just pulled blueberry muffins out of the oven) and grab a shower before I take the car through the car wash and give it a good cleaning inside and top off the gas tank for tomorrow. It got a check and lots of fixes at the dealer earlier this month and a new battery last Saturday so we should be good to go with my 2014 Honda CRV. 

A busy Thursday....

 I started out the day in the blueberry fields! I did drop a kid off to school first though. Greg had already taken Emily who had an FFA exam this morning before school.

My basket was filled and close to 5 pounds of blueberries later (we won't mention all the testing that went on in the field!) I have a sheet pan and another pan in the freezer filled with berries. It is probably time to move them into quart size freezer bags. I have a few containers of fresh berries in the fridge for eating. Blueberries are great snacks!

After the berries were put away, I had the task of picking out fabrics for the first block of the Quilters Patch Quilt along. I am starting this a few months late, but I'll work along on it as I can. Selecting fabrics is the most difficult part I think. I still need to cut out the background parts for this block and hope to do that before I head off to pick up the kids from school.

I switched to prepping some fabrics for the EPP project of Brimfield Awakening. I'll have to find a container to put these in with the papers, scissors, needles and thread. I have a knitting dish cloth on the needles in the car right now, but as soon as that is finished it will be replaced with these parts.

First, I need to pop out and fill the car with gas and run the car through the car wash. With the smoke from a prescribed burn in the forest near my house yesterday and the construction of the road on the way to the school with all the dust, it could use a good wash. 

Easter Sunday and a new project!

 Happy Easter! I think I am ready for company. My In-laws are coming over for appetizers and the traditional Easter Ham meal in the early afternoon. Things are picked up and prepped and after I grab a shower, I think I might begin the prep work for my new project. 

The Brimfield Awakening block. The charm packs are big enough for the templates so they should work for this project. A big Thank You to Karen for passing along the templates.  I have the pattern, EPP papers and the templates so I am all set to begin. This will probably be a long term project and be my car line work waiting on the kids. I'm not sure what the background will be yet, but I'll work on making the EPP part first and worry about what I will applique it down to later. Any advise? This is my first foray into EPP.  Linking up with the other slow Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts. 

My night time stitching is hand quilting on the Endless Diamond Quilt. This one was hand pieced from a template I created, based on a photo from Facebook in 2015. It is very happy to be out of the waiting line and getting some stitches added to it each night.