Sunday stitching.

 It is a quiet morning at my house. Well, other than the neighbor across the street playing weird music before 7AM that woke me up! Sigh. Better than the 2AM it used to be but this is the second Sunday this has happened. Deep breath, I am enjoying the quiet house all to myself with some coffee and catching up on blog reading.

I have been stitching up a Hexagon each day this week (except Friday and Saturday as I was too busy doing cross stitch! Oops) I'll just whip up 3 of them today! Once these are prepped, the stitching goes quickly. I will plan to prep a few more of these today. Sometimes I feel like working a certain color and all I have right now are blue/teal prepped.

The gobble gobble I started on Tuesday has been taking most of my time. This is a free pattern from Melissa who is so kind to make and share her talents with us. I transferred the pattern to a block sheet as it was easier for me to read that way. 

The bulky quilt addition of circles has not finished, but I will get the last 5 done today. I'd like to move the String of Beads quilt to a completed top stage. I'll probably do these during the F1 race in Brazil today. It was quite a Sprint race yesterday. 

Hand quilting - I have neglected the quilt in the frame as I did not like my choice for quilting on it. It came to me this week, I really want to do a Baptist fan pattern on it. I'm just going to free hand it I think (Yes, I'm too lazy to create the pattern although I might change my mind on that too!) I do need to take out the quilting I have done on a few of the blocks first. 

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers. The drizzle rain has ended at my house and the sun is bright and shining. A last 'warm' day before we get a freeze warning tomorrow night in Florida. It does happen and I'll enjoy grabbing out my jeans and sweater to be cozy! It will warm back up later in the week to our 'normal' temps. I am really enjoying these cooler weather systems that keep dipping down to us. 

Somehow I have 3 days off in the middle of the week, so hubby and I will attempt to tackle his Dad's house a bit. It needs to be cleared out, cleaned and then someone to do some plumbing work and painting outside so we can list it for sale eventually.  He is extremely happy in the assisted living quarters closer to us. He has his own room and things, they do his medicines, meals, cleaning and laundry and check on him throughout the day and help in the bathroom and dressing if needed. He is quite content for a 90 year old man. 

I forgot - I also need to make some wands for a Wizarding event next weekend! Oops. I guess I will be drizzling hot glue onto chopsticks today as well. Then I'll go grab some spray paint and get them colored up for next Sunday's event. Emily was planning to do it, but I ordered the wrong glue sticks for our hot glue gun. 

squishy mail

This is package #2 of squishy mail. The first (which is not where I remember putting it) was some yard cuts of KT line Wheatland. I think about 6 different fabrics in blues and greens. This below photo is half yard cuts (mostly) from Pieces of the past which is doing a 20% off through December as they close down that part of the business. I have neutrals to go with this already in the stash.  I suppose that means I need to start making bear paw blocks for the boy's graduation quilt.

I have one more package in transit. Pieces of the past had 30% off their applique kits last week. I looked. Then went back later in the week and picked up 3 of them. For 17x17 quilts - provided the pattern, all fabrics for the front and the back and I think the binding to complete it. Just needs a batting. The discount brought it down to about $25 each. Reasonable for all that I thought. Not that I needed more projects....

I've added a few more circles to this one. I just have 8 circles to go and it will be a top. I think I will carefully add a little white border - one that fits a stencil I have so maybe 3 inches? Then a green binding. That will make it about 53 or 54 inches square.

One kid has Academic meet today. They have won the 2 they have had so far with their new captain - my kid! Who would have thunk it? The girl is actually home on time today - a rarity. Hubby has a Dr. appt with the VA this afternoon. 

 

October 1

 In light of things happening in this country, I'm going with some nature and progress on projects.

I poked around the mess of a sewing room and managed to find my Applipops! If you saw the room, you would be extremely impressed! I then cut 16 yellows and found my starch and got 16 little circles made. Last night, they were appliqued to the middle of the blocks while watching episode 2 of High Potential and then the latest episode of Only Murders in the Building and then the podcast on Hulu.  

Bear is holding them in place for me right now! They need a trim up and then I'll machine stitch them together. It should be 48 inches square when done. So.... probably a white 2.5 inch strip will be added all around. We will see if the green peels in a border decide they are necessary or not. It might be happy with that and the green as a binding. I really wish it would make up it's mind. As it will hang in my office, this size might be just fine as is (if I say it enough, it might agree with me!).

Now from the morning walk. The girl did head to school today. I think a full day of sleeping helped with her humidifier on all day. The boy was fixing his lunch when I headed out the door with Bear for his walk.

We met 7 turkeys on the lawn up the street from us. There must have been a real bear nearby at some point as their trash can was knocked over and trash all over an area of their lawn. We are one street away from a nature preserve/forest area.

Isn't this a pretty sight? I do love watching as the sun comes up in the morning. Yesterday and Monday it was gloomy and all grey clouds with the Imelda storm off the Florida coast.

The neighbors one street over are all decorated for Halloween. My neighbor across the street has not put his up yet, but I expect that to happen today. The carriage is new this year and the flying witch. The basilisk has a head that is just out of the photo. 

This is a new house that was built this year and they decorated up a bit as well. Love the purple spider on her web.

On tap today - trimming so the blocks are the same size and then getting them stitched together. I have a baby panel that needs to get started. It is the ABC of Dr. Seuss, so I'm going to cut them and make each block a little bigger and then sew them back together again into a little baby throw. I'll have to pop out and grab the book to go with it. We were discussing a baby shower and it will either be the 12th or the 2nd of November. If it is the 12th, I've got to get it done quick!

Last String of Beads block is completed.

 Well, the peels are all completed. I still need to make 16 circles to pop on the middle of the block! I know I have the applipops somewhere in my sewing area. This is the second teal one. I guess I'll need to decide if the middles are all the same color (thinking yellow) or a color coordinating with each block. 

All 16 blocks. I just hope I don't lose the peel points when I stitch them together! Circles need to go on first though.

One kid is home today. She got home late after marching practice yesterday (6:40ish) and said she was not feeling great - sore throat and stuffy. Today is the only day she 'could' take off from school so this morning I was not surprised when she was in jammies on the couch when I got up at 6:30 and she asked if she should stay home today or not. I told her yes, go back to bed as rest is best. She had a crazy weekend - I just did the pick ups and it threw me all off with the late times. 

Last night was taco meat - one did soft taco's, I did mine as a salad with tortilla chips and one other did similar. I think Greg just did a taco salad. Tonight - I pulled a 2 pound chuck roast, so will either pop that in a crock pot or the oven (depending on if I do it after I post this) with root veggies for dinner tonight.

Sunday

 I did have a finish this week. My cross stitch had the last few stitches taken in Take time. I'll need to figure out how I want to finish it off but the stitching is completed.

It was an early wake up today for the F1 race in Baku - 7AM our time for 3PM their time. The dog is impatiently waiting on his walk. Look at that face! I'm stitching on the peels on the last String of Beads block. One peel down, 7 to go!

The front room finally got cleared out yesterday afternoon. Well, the Victrola and a telescope are in the middle of the room under a sheet. Emily and I did the first coat of what we could reach without ladders late evening. I did the edge work with a brush while she used the roller. The dark maroon wall (that I have hated for 14 years) is nearly gone. The model home we bought had lots of accent walls, and all were maroon. Greg is taking over my office area and decided to keep the table I had in there as my desk (my old kitchen table). He ordered me a rising office desk like we got Emily last year for her room. It will fit nicely against the front side half wall. The hand quilting frame will be in there as well. Aidan's racing and flying gear set up is now in his room - I have yet to go see how crowded it is in there.

I've been drawing different patterns into this triangle space to figure out what I want in there. I think I have settled on the green spot. We will see if I keep it hand drawn or make a template for it. Everything is stuffed into the sewing area of the finished garage area next to my old office. I can't get in there yet, but maybe by tonight.

I have a couple of hst's stitched for the next shoo fly block. Plenty of things to keep me busy this week.

Greg is going with Em for horses today (it is 50 minutes away now and she is not comfortable driving herself there yet). I've signed up for another cookie decorating and topper class this afternoon. I'm hoping some painting happens at home while I am away this afternoon! 

Nothing too special planned for our 19th anniversary today. I did get a pretty bunch of fall flowers handed to me yesterday. 

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC - piecing the top

 Since the Arkansas Traveller quilt is finished, it was time to grab another collection of blocks and work on getting them to a top stage. These are the second set of Birds in the Air blocks that I made with the RSC. I made the first set around the 2012 range and it was a 2015 wedding present quilt for my nephew.

I really did not want to see this one go... so I made another set of blocks for a quilt for me. I decided I wanted it bigger, so added 27 more blocks this year and now have enough for the 15x15 setting of 6 inch blocks. This first 4 rows are now a single unit. I snapped the photo while it was set out in case things got turned. Yikes, I see a mistake in the photo - bottom right. I'll have to double check that. Strange how you see things in the photo but not in person! 

*** I verified they are correct in the row that I sewed together.

All of them laid out earlier this year.

I have these two packs of 25 - 2.5 inch squares that I picked up at my local quilt shop before they closed. I keep moving them around from place to place. I decided to find a cream/tan neutral and cut out 50 2.5 inch squares. These are sitting by my machine. I lay out the blocks in the living room... walk thorugh the hallway, laundry room and into the finished garage area that is my sewing area/office and storage. I'll be making four patches with them as leaders and enders as I stitch this quilt top together. The pack has a range of colors and I've got about 4 of the four patches stitched together so far.

I do still have my last 2 teal/aqua string of beads blocks to applique down. They are the last 2 blocks, so I have no clue why I am avoiding finishing them off. I hope to get those 2 blocks finished this long weekend.

I think we are celebrating my MIL's birthday from last week today at a restaurant near us. I also want screens fixed around the house today, so Emily scheduled a text to hit everyone's phones today at 11AM to work on that. I believe we have the stuff and Greg has the knowledge. I'm getting my 3 screens in the bedroom fixed and hopefully the back porch screen door and one big screen wall, or 2 or 3. We will see how much screening we have. I figure it is a good skill for all of us to get. 

Linking up with the RSC.

Orange peels in green?

 I was not planning to use green in these peels, but what the heck. I have this pretty light green print and will pull a bright green for the next one. I did my ironing of the block - in half each way and then on the diagonal each way. Marked the orange peel shapes onto the background and then pin them one at a time for needle turn applique. Linking up with the RSC in green for May. I hope to get some sewing time in this weekend.

It was a normal busy morning. I got up and walked the dog. Bear was happy. We got home as Emily was heading to school for a 2 hour AICE review of one of her classes. She coordinated horses with Kyra and her trainer to delay an hour so she drove from school to horses for her noon lesson. 

I took the boy with me, and we headed to Bellieview to pick blueberries at Abshier Blueberry Farm. I paid about $35 so we got a lot of them at $4.50 a pound. I have a tray double layer full in the freezer from one bag picked. The other will eventually get some frozen but both kids mentioned cobbler. 

Then we headed to the Market of Marion which was 5-10 minutes from there. We spent $20 on veggies and $10 on plants. I got a pretty african violet - we will see how long till I kill it, and a nice looking cherry tomato plant for my planter. 

We got a small watermelon, 5 beefsteak tomato, a basket of green beans, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, 6 cukes, and 2 eggplants.  We got home before 11AM.  Aidan made a BLT for lunch. Eggplant parm tomorrow. I see lots of veggie meals next week as sides. I think we will do the black bean and charred corn burrito bowl with guac and fresh salsa tonight for dinner.

My FIL has been moved to a rehab facility. It is a new one to us and he moved Friday evening. We will head over after the F1 Sprint race today. Still in pain after the hip surgery but it is all in his hands at this point for recovery. At least he was lucid yesterday but very sleepy, so we did not stay long. 

We will see how he is today.

The boy had a great time at his Skills USA this week up in Jacksonville. He got a second place medal in a new competition to him and was quite pleased. 

Another Sting of Beads block done.

 I pulled out the dark pink peels and got another block done. 

Today we were planning to go to a 12:30 care meeting for my FIL to see how he was doing at the hospital rehab. We got a call a bit before 11AM - they were transferring him to the rehab facility about 30 minutes from us. It seems he was unable to do the 3 hours of PT/OT in their program, so he selected the rehab facility to go to. They were to inform us of when he was transferred and his room number. We will pop over tomorrow after work to see him. Kids are late after school, and one is driving and one has a late pick up.

I had picked up a 10 pound boston butt at Sams Club on Sunday. It was $1.98 a pound. It did not fit in my big oval crock pot, so I cut off a little under 4 pounds and that went into the small crock as pulled pork. The bigger portion went into the oval one as Carnitas. 

We had the pulled pork for dinner with potato salad and Bush's original baked beans.

Depending on what time we get home tomorrow - either steak on the grill with asparagus and baked potato or carnitas with cilantro lime rice, pico and guac. 

A busy week

 It has been a very busy week in my house! I did get a few of my string of beads blocks prepped today and started some needle turned applique in red this afternoon. I hope to get the other 2 red peels added tomorrow.

If you don't want to feel exhausted, feel free to stop reading now. This was my crazy life this week.

Monday - the girl turned 16 today and was a late pick up at school with Symphonic band practice. Stayed a little later to help with drum major try outs playing some stand tunes. She requested steak fajitas so that is what I made. 

Tuesday -

I was tapped to bring her for her driving test as Greg's head was feeling off. It was 30 minutes in one direction away from her school. Then the drive to school (50 minutes away). I just continued onto my doctor appointment (infection) and then home close to 11:00. I grabbed lunch, called out the rest of the day from work and headed to the hospital (45 minutes another direction) to visit my FIL who was doing better. They did not let us know they did his procedure Monday evening to replace his stint, that was originally an outpatient procedure Monday, but he landed in the ER/hospital with a UTI last Friday.  He was tired so we did not stay long, and I dropped Greg home and then headed to get the girl. I had to pick her up at school (Aidan had NHS tutoring after school - the national honor society started a tutoring program Tuesday and Thursdays after school). Fed her and then drove across town (30 minutes or so) for her All County band practice 5:30-8:30.

Wednesday - I tried to work. Then did the girl pick up at school, fed people and did the ride to the same place across town for the All county band practice 5:30-8:30. Aidan was late for Chess Club. We got a call late Wednesday that they transferred my FIL to the hospital Physical Therapy ward.

Thursday - A very busy day. I opted out of riding today. Aidan had to be at school for 6AM. I got up at 5:30 to see him off. He was headed to Orlando with the NASA MUREP team to present their project to NASA and UCF engineers. His team of 4 took first place! They thought they did horrible. They did not. We were able to watch them present on a Teams meeting that I cast to our TV for Greg and I to watch.  Lets hope the Feds continue funding this program. 

I had to drop the girl to The Reilly Arts Center for 8:30 for an all day practice for All County Band. They performed for us from 6:30-7:30. Quite the program considering the little bit of time to prep for it. They all did a wonderful job. 

After dropping her off, I headed home and made myself a breakfast burrito. Then watched the presentation. They were 3rd to present, they started the presentations around 9:30 and finished close to 2 with a 10 minute time limit. They were around 9:50. Then I made the dog happy and walked him. We headed to the hospital to visit Tom for a bit. Of the 4 rehab facilities he has been in, I think we saw the most people coming in and out of his room here. They were giving him some iron as it was low on his bloodwork this morning and he had just gotten lunch delivered at noon. It smelled yummy! He was talkative so we were there for about 1.5 hours. On the way home, we stopped for a bite to eat at Cracker Barrel. I had a couple of hours at home to prep some backgrounds for the peels with their placement of the peels and cut some red ones for my second red block. I got to add a few stitches and then headed to go see Emily at her concert. 

Friday, I'm on tap to pick up the girl as the boy is headed to see the movie Minecraft with his friends right after school. She asked me to drive her to school Friday evening so she can do her interview for leadership in band next year. Technically she could drive herself, but she will be nervous for the interview and is not up for the first solo drive yet. 

If you made it this far, are you as tired as I am?

Then I was chatting with Aidan all about his presentation and he mentioned 2 bills that were just presented to the Florida House or Representatives. They want to cut the AP, Cambridge Aice, and Certifications from the High Schools. They also want to cut the Bright Futures Scholarships (both my kids were offered up to 30 K in their Cambridge Aice program for college), dual enrollment and technical programs. 

First, they banned books, now cutting education funding? Florida House Bills 1105 and 5101.

Progress

 I have a stack of these granny squares in a box and I have slowly been adding the grey border around some. Another one into the grey round added pile.

The brown hexagons got stitched and into sets of two. I just need to get these stitched together and then I'll start assembling my row of them for the next column. This is the second column of 4 that I am adding to the existing quilt.

I have the yellows and 2 of the green peels added to this bead block. I am using needle turned applique for them. There is something soothing about needle turned applique. I'm using my silk blender threads for the colors and a matching green Gutterman on the green peels.

These are the 3 that I did last year. I see I need to select a red and prep another red block so I have 2 of them, I'll also select another yellow while I am cutting so I have 2 of yellow as well. I envision 16 of these blocks to make a wall hanging - so I need 2 each of 8 colors.
Note to self, pink, purple, blue, teal, bright green, yellow, orange, red. Light and dark of each color if I can or brights. Mix up in the 4x4 quilt. Maybe a green peel border? 

I hope to get a little red play time in this evening. 

****Edited for a Saturday RSC link up.

It turned out after work (a little before 3PM) we got a phone call from the first alert company that has the wrist band on my FIL. He tried to get up and could not from his recliner (too weak) so he pressed the button. They sent the paramedics and called us. We waited an hour for the kids to get home from school and for the ambulance to get him to the hospital ER. Then headed over to the ER. UTI and very weak. We just saw him Wednesday when we took him to his eye appointment. They admitted him and started asking him about assisted living and we also gave the option of moving in with us. He was in the ER in January for the same issue. Sigh. He lives alone about 45 minutes from us. I see lots of driving to the hospital/reab in the next few weeks. Greg's medicine is making his head fuzzy, so I've been tapped to drive him the last two times. Thank goodness for a very flexible workplace for me! 

April fools stitching

 It appears I was in a hand work mode yesterday. Unfortunately, the special elections were not my district in Florida.

I added the grey surround on these two while waiting on my 20 minutes to stretch the sourdough bread. I let it double overnight and then formed it into my loaf pan this morning. It took another few hours to rise and I have it in the oven now baking. I logged off work as I was tapped to drive my FIL to his Dr appointment today. (Standard eye doctor appt as he has missed a year from being in rehab) Greg's head is feeling wonky. I had offered and he took me up on it this time. I'll work tomorrow morning at work to make up the hours. 

I had time at my lunch to stitch a few of these purple hexagons and then finished them off after work and got them into a twosie. I also got one of the 3 browns done. 

Then I opened the baggie with the string of bead blocks and the yellow had one peel attached. I added the other two and have the third one pinned, before I needed to make dinner and then pick up Emily from flag practice. It appears they are now prepping for a fun show the end of the month, so instead of 7:15 they only practice until 6 and then fold the floors for a 6:15 pick up. I have more of these bead blocks prepped - light and dark blue, light and dark pink and this yellow. I have one red completed and a light and dark purple. I believe I was planning 2 of each color and the outer 4 peels will be a consistent green. The four middle petals change to the color of the month. I saw this pattern back in the 1990's and loved it in purple and green. It only took me 30 years to finally give it a try! 

Dinners so far this week. Monday was eggroll in a bowl using some hot italian sausage and the leftover cabbage I had in the crisper. Tuesday was Crispy Parmesean baked Chicken and veggies. Aidan mentioned the shrimp in the freezer, so tonight I'll grill those up with various veggies and maybe some sweet potato fries. 

A Birthday Sunday in our house.

 The girl has been sick with a head cold (dr said it was allergies friday) most of last week and out of school the last 3 school days. She is better today and in the kitchen now making her birthday cake. It appears it will be a 3 layer red velvet cake based on the 3 prepped round pans sitting on the stovetop. Just shy of 6PM she will officially be 15! We know she was sick since when we cancelled going to the encampment this weekend, I asked about horses Saturday and she said no. 

 

She did finish the online driving course last night and then did the proctored test with her Dad and passed this afternoon. So, he will take her first thing tomorrow morning to the DMV to get her learners permit. She will go to school after that. I'll be dropping the boy off to school for his zero period class (1 hour before school starts) for Robotics. He has a Skills USA tournament next week in the northern part of the state. I took him shopping Friday night and got his black dress shoes and dress pants for the tournament. We drop him to school next Sunday and then we get him back Wednesday evening. 

I might have over done the running around the last few days and today is a putter around the house and rest day. I had made an ice cream custard a few days ago and churned half of it last night with the kitchen aid mixer and the other half got done today. I tried a maple ice cream and it is yummy with 1 cup of maple syrup in it. It tastes just like the creemee (called soft server everywhere but in Vermont!) we get up in Vermont at the sugar house across the lake. I ordered a couple of pint containers to put it in, and they arrived right before I put the ice cream on to churn today, so they are both filled and into the freezer. Last nights got walnuts added but I kept them out of this batch. This recipe does make a lot!

While I was running around all of yesterday, hubby was manning the text chat with his Mom. Unfortunately, her husband Andy passed away at age 91 last evening. He lived a long life. We have called and chatted with her today and last night.  She has a terrible cold still as well, so will be heading to the doctors tomorrow. Trying to get her to rest has been interesting. 

I think I'm going to grab some hand work and settle in with a movie. Time to add the green peels to the string of beads block.

RSC Wrapping up Purple.

 It was a pretty productive month in purple. Some Arkansas Traveler blocks, some hand applique Sting of Beads blocks and some chicken blocks. 

This guy needs a red comb added by applique and then some quilting to finish him off as the challenge for the month. The cold I have had for a week is kicking my butt the last couple of days so it is not quite done yet. The challenge was purple and birds. Well, a chicken is a bird! I hope to get this guy finished tonight, so I can link up with Joy tomorrow. 

Note to self, pay attention to the way you lay out the big rectangle before sewing the two bottom parts on. The first one I had the long part side to side. I seem to have swapped that when doing the other 4 so I had to make some modifications to make it work. It will all work in the final scrappy quilt.... that just allows for some alternate space things... like eggs! I might unpick the two on the right and add a 3-d comb to those as well. I was going to leave them as babies as it takes a bit for the red combs to come out and get bigger, but I like the look with the comb better.

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.

After sleeping in (10:30!), I have been moving slowly today. I did go get some groceries - the boy decided to go with to pick out snacks and their salmon for dinner. He now has his license as of last week and has driven himself to his guitar lesson without anyone else in the car this week. He drove today as well. Only Grandma is coming over tomorrow for Easter as my step-FIL is not feeling well with a cold and my FIL doesn't like to stray from home anymore. Since the kids are not too crazy about ham, and Grandma and Greg don't care, I offered an alternate meal and everyone liked that better. So, we will be having Brats and Burgers on the Big Green Egg tomorrow. We have not used the Big Green Egg in a while, so Aidan opened it up and got it burning hot last night to clear things out. He'll clean the grill grate tonight and has already scraped out all the old charcoal and bits out so we can put some fresh in. They are going to cook the salmon on the grill tonight for them. I'll be making some soup with the prime rib bones - some beef and vegetable barley I think. I might have picked up another Prime Rib from Publix today.... to cook off tomorrow and then seal a meal slices for the freezer. 

Sunday

I have enjoyed a very lazy start to Sunday! I slept in past 9AM and then got busy throwing a corned beef with some potato, carrots and onion into the crock pot for dinner tonight. I'll grab a little of the juice to add to the cabbage which I will steam in the pressure cooker later tonight. I do love my cabbage cooked that way! The kids will be expecting some Irish soda bread to go with their meal this evening. Yummy!

The dog got a walk well after 10:30 and it was getting a little bit hot here in Florida. I believe we are expecting mid 80's and sunny today. The pool looks so much better after some attention at the end of the week. I just need to test the water and adjust the chemicals, but it is sparkling clear again.  

My plans today are to putter in the sewing room and machine quilt the scrappy kites quilt and get the binding made and attached. Stitching it down by hand will be my stitching this evening. I was able to pin it last night, so it is ready to go.

I watched a video this morning on how to color your embroidery projects.  Melisa at Pinkernpunkin blog has some adorable heart embroidery stitcheries she is releasing each month this year and I love the look the coloring adds. I have the first 3 hearts printed off and will start prepping the first one for stitching today. I think I'll start with the March block. Now to find the crayons!

I finally got a good start on the String of Beads blocks for the RSC this year. I saw a photo in an old quilting pattern book from the 80's and this is the layout. A little circle will be added at the middle spot, but I'll hold off on adding them as I am not sure if I want a sunny yellow for all of them or a shade of the middle colors. Plenty of time to decide. The two purples are done so I'm starting in on the reds from last month.

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers. It's after noon, so I'd better grab some lunch (I seem to have skipped breakfast!) and then head to my happy place to play with some fabrics. Enjoy your week.

RSC Saturday

 We are half way through the month and I have yet to make my purple AT blocks! That will hopefully be remedied this weekend. I did finally start the string of beads blocks in purple and got these two completed. The green outer peels will be consistent throughout the quilt. I have the peels traced onto the next background and the reds are ready to go.

I did a lot of digging and made a backing with leftover backings for this little quilt. I also dug through the batting cut offs and pieced 4 parts together to fit for a batting for this. Just need to get it pinned and some basic machine quilting on it this weekend and I'm hoping for a finish this month. 

Bear is doing a great job of holding the quilt down! He went to the Vet for his annual shots and got his new rabies tag. The boy is 85 pounds! 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge on Saturday. 

Progress...

 Work is at the waiting for the 'big day' so today was a clean-up time after verifying the test runs overnight. Sigh. A relief to be at this point with a Saturday 'go' day. I'm off tomorrow and will ride with Emily this week after we bring the doggie to the vet for his annual checkup. He gets some anxiety meds tonight and tomorrow morning. 

I had pulled out a package of boneless, skinless chicken thigh from the freezer yesterday and tonight they were baked with a crispy curry rub in one of my stone wear pans and served with some rosemary herbed roasted red potato and some buttered corn. Yummy!

I added a few stitches to the peels this afternoon and have one purple block completed!

I went out to toss some watermelon to the chickens since Aidan and Bear were out back. I got distracted while walking to get eggs and ended up brushing down the pool, which needed a clean, a shock and a quick clean run of the motor overnight. It should clear up most of it that I have been neglecting the last few months. A little more work on it tomorrow and it should be ready to adjust the chemicals and be ready for swimming for the weekend, if they want. I need to pop out and check for the eggs. 

Good thing I did! I guess I only got one or two yesterday morning and no one else collected since then! There are 3 greens, 3 light brown and one dark brown.  The girls are laying like crazy, and we are getting 4-5 eggs a day. I just put 10 in the pressure cooker for hard boiled eggs. I have 2 dozen regular eggs in the fridge and 18 in the round egg holder on the shelf. Since they are backyard eggs and not washed, they can be at room temp just fine. I picked up heavy cream when I ran to Aldi at lunch, so I think I'll be making some creme brule tomorrow, deviled eggs with those hard boiled ones and I'll have to see what other things I can do with some eggs. I'll ship 18 off to my MIL's friend Betty, the next time we see her. We usually send a dozen or two down for her and my FIL to have but we have not been going down with Andy in the hospital, and now in a nursing home rehab facility. 

While chatting with my Mom this week, I saw this bird out my window. I'm not sure what it is but it stayed long enough for me to grab my phone and take some photo's. 

Time to clear out the fridge and toss the paper shredding I was doing this afternoon in the office as it is trash night tonight. Then, some stitching while watching tv I think. . 

I'm really hoping to get my RSC quilt pinned for quilting tomorrow at some point. I'm on call Saturday, so just need to be home most of the day in case I need to log in and cover as I am backing up 2 people. That sounds like perfect sewing time to me!