Crazy week so far...

 It is the last week of school for the kids in 2020...they start back up in January. Em was out the past 2 days and got to go see the doctor yesterday. The neck pain on day 3 was concerning so a check by the doctor and diagnosed with an infected lymph node below her ear going down the neck. She has had 2 doses of the antibiotic (pricy little bugger but a strong one) and hopefully that will do the trick. 

I really need to get off my phone at night playing games and stitch or address the Christmas cards or something... I did get a little progress on block #8 last night. I do love the look of the simple outline stitching.

Sunday evening...

 It has been a busy day and I am about ready to settle in with a little stitching tonight and relaxing. Hubby has gone to fetch the kiddo's from his Mom's so I have another 1-2 hours of peace and quiet.

Lots of running around today - dropping card making supplies to all the girls in my troop for our card making Zoom meeting tomorrow night. I also had to pick up the girl scout cookie packet for the troop today. Cookie sales will start for us January 2. We will see how it all goes this year.

I hit up the local grocery store where they have the standing rib roasts on sale this week and I just pulled it out of the oven. Yes, it appears no one but me likes it so I get it all to myself! I cut slices then seal a meal and pop them in the zero degree freezer to pull out when I want some for lunch options.

I did get a little cutting and sewing in on Clue #3 finally late afternoon. It is a start anyway. The silly cat pulled the draping himself over the sewing machine so I decided I'd better turn it off and pay some attention to him. I'll settle in with some hand quilting where he can settle in on my lap and purr and nap like a spoiled boy that he is! This is block 8, so I'll have one more to go after this and then all the sashing and cornerstones.

The chickens were all in their coop so they got their door closed for the night. It is dark now, so I'll pop out to watch for meteors tonight as well. I hear there will be a lot so if you have a chance, look outside.

Some photo's of the chickens, 4 are laying now and the others will start in a couple of months. This was my find earlier this week one morning. These are from the light brown chickens.

Emily with Emma the chicken. Poppy is an easter egger on the ground. 

3 Plymouth Rocks and the 2 easter eggers.

the 4 that are laying now - a cross between a rhode island red and white.

Linking up with the Slow Stitchers this Sunday.

Saturday.....

 Well, I have no progress on RSC projects however... I did finish another Endless Diamond block while at horses with Emily this morning. I need to take out and 'fix' that part attached by the green. I am pulling from the scrap bins to make this so I figured you all would give me a pass for including this!

19 blocks done. #20 is cut out and waiting to get pieced. That would make a 48x60 quilt top. 

I also finished the hand quilting on the flowering snowball block on Book Club this morning. 2 more blocks and the sashings to go.  You will be seeing more of this block.... I might be getting the accuquilt die for it under the Christmas tree this year. I plan to make a scrappy one next year.... once the Endless Diamond blocks are done. They might be getting finished off sooner than later as new 'fun' blocks are calling my name.

One of which might also include the hexagon templates I purchased this year and made a little candle mat with. I think they will be part of the RSC Challenge next year working through scraps and making some hexagon - quilt as you go parts to be assembled sometime in 2021 or 2022.

It was clean out the fridge once we got back from horses. Chicken Enchilada soup was the result and now I have lots more room in the fridge and tons of plastic containers washed and draining in the drying rack. (Black beans, the rest of the rotisserie chicken, fresh salsa, pico, leftover corn, 1/2 a box of chicken stock - all removed from the fridge!). 

Linking up with the RSC where others are busy finishing off or adding in to existing projects from this year. Head on over and take a look. 

Grassy Creek Mystery... clue #3

 Would you believe I am actually done clue #1+2 and ready for clue 3? Yup, me either!  This is most of the parts and pieces for the first 2 clues. I 'might' have a little pressing and trimming for a few of clue 2 left to do but that should not take long. You can find the Grassy Creek Mystery Clues here.

So... while I was working away on finishing up clue #2 yesterday.... Peanut decided to do this!

Notice the machine is off. I had done a little sewing, then press and trim and cut some more for sewing so I had turned it off. Yes, I think he was sleeping this way at some point!

When I went back to sewing .... I was wondering what he would do. 

He opted to get 'more comfortable?'. The little bugger stayed this way for over 30 minutes while I was sewing away.  When I finally got him to move.... he did this!

The little turkey.

Last night a rocket went off. Yes, we watched the one from SpaceX a few days ago that lifted off, did the turn, then landed a little fast with a big boom! It was a teaching moment with the boy to see how Elon Musk handled that explosion... which was in a very positive light. Trying to instill if you look at the positive, things go much smoother in life rather than finding the negative. The rocket last night was visible for almost 5 minutes outside our house on the other coast of Florida from where it went off. It is that spec of light over the tree towards the middle of the screen. It went across the sky! With a boy who is very into airplanes, flights and space and rockets.... let's just say I know about and get to watch all the launches from around the world!

Not much sewing....

 It feels like girls scouts took over my life again the last few days.... I opted to be the Troop Cookie Mom this year.... so I would not get stuck taking over halfway through again. That meant training.... and since it is technically my 'first' year, I had to do both trainings despite having figured out the system.... twice. Sigh. 2 hours on Saturday Zoom, 2 hours on Tuesday night Zoom. I also had a troop meeting on Monday night so that hour (Zoom again) plus the planning for that meeting and the follow up gathering supplies for the next 2 meetings.  Last Wednesday was a Zoom leader meeting as well. 

No sewing time allowed since that took up most of my non-working and car pick up the kids and drop off to school time. (we live 20 minutes from their school of choice and I shuttle them and pick up - it is worth it for the Cambridge program they are in). Tonight was Aidan's guitar lesson... which was a struggle to get him out of the house to go. Once there, he is fine and enjoys it.  Em and I hit Sam's while he was at his 30 minute lesson and managed to get back with 4 minutes to spare! Not too shabby... but there are not many people there at 7:30 at night and we use the scan and go app as we shop so no checkout through the lines. Kids have things for their lunches, a roaster chicken for either lunch or dinner tomorrow night. Other than dropping supplies to the girls for our Christmas card making meeting next Monday together on Zoom, I get to sew! The girls opted to do their community service project for their holiday share the season patch by making Christmas cards to bring some cheer to local hospitals. I called and made sure they would accept them, and the administration said they would and would be happy to distribute throughout the hospital. We will have at least 90 cards to drop off (each girl is doing 10). 

The little bit I have done is add some quilting to the flowering snowball block on the Book Club quilt. 

I'd better prep the kids Christmas snakes so they can start them in the morning. All chocolate goodies (or sourpatch or nerds) this year. I might have hit the dollar tree after picking up the cards for girl scouts to grab the fillings for the 'snakes'. I tend to start on December 10 so I have 15 days of things for them to open for the countdown to Christmas. Little things in the past but went with all goodies to eat this year. Instead of yarn to separate the days.... I saw some cotton flannel extra bits. I cut them into strips and used those to tie the different day's. The cats tend to eat yarn... so we will see how these strips of fabric work! 

Slow Sunday stitching...

 The kids are heading to Grandma's house for the day. I get a good span of hours all to myself! Well, hubby is home too but he will be relaxing on his day off too after putting on some outside lights on the edge of the roof.

Yesterday..... a lot of time was spent on errands - Emily had horses in the morning, then I remembered I had a cookie training... which was 2 hours!... followed by haircuts and a quick stop to Aldi to get things for 'Greek' night. I used some greek seasonings on some chicken tenders and put mine on a salad with some tomato and tatziki and feta. Aidan had his tatziki in a pita... and left me about 2 tablespoons! Em wanted potato salad so she made and ate that. We did head over to see the Christmas house that is all decorated up and set to music on a radio station. It seems Emily's favorite song is the Grinch set to the lights! There were about 8 other cars during the time we were there.

I did manage to cut out the clues for part 2 of the mystery while on the beginning of the training... and sat outside with the computer with the chickens outside for the last half.

Today - I plan to sew up the mystery clue, play with the new Accuquilt Go! cutter and get a little hand stitching in.  Maybe a little prep in the garden too. I 'should' pick up in the sewing room and my office as well, but we will see if that happens or not. I also want to make a batch of cookies - but the recipe for that is pretty quick.

The cat interrupted the hand quilting last night so I have 2 triangles to finish off block #6 of 9 on the Book Club quilt. I plan to finish that off and start on block #7. I was thinking of doing a stencil in the sashing... but I think I'll just go simple and continue with the outline stitching in those area's as well. 

Linking up with the other slow stitchers this morning. 

RSC Saturday

 Earlier this week I got the Stashbuster quilt to a top. I had hoped to work on it more but alas, life. My goal is to get it quilted before the end of the year. Right now it is 48x60... a good snuggle size.

Last night I got a little hand quilting in on the Book Club quilt while watching the movie Goonies. Love that movie!  Block #6 has just a little quilting to go on it. The center part is done, time to move onto the four corners of this block later tonight.

Before I can do anything.... someone has a riding lesson this morning. We all need hair cuts - so that is right after lunch. The outside and inside of the house needs more Christmas decorations put up/out and I would like to rake and till the garden area today... so the chickens can peck in there a bit more before I attempt to plant something this winter. Not sure I'll get to the Grassy Creek Mystery until tomorrow.... or playing with my new Accuquilt Go! I have plans for the HST and square that came with the  8 inch die block set that came with it for one of next year's blocks. I 'might' have ordered the flowering snowball die for a Christmas present for me.... which is the block in the middle of the bottom row in this photo. A future hand piecing project for me =) I'm really hoping that by taking that rotary cutting part out it will go much quicker on the prep work side - so just marking the sewing line and stitching!

Linking up with the RSC Challenge.