A two post day...

I was able to finish this top this afternoon and my helper in the jeep helped me lay the top out on the grass. I'm waiting for him to get me the shed key so I can open the gate and bring the soccer net to the driveway... something about the hockey puck goes better on the driveway than the grass out back.



Another quilt top completed... I really need to go to Lowes tonight and pick up my boards so I can get these two pinned for quilting.

Pink.... a little late.

Well, after pulling out that pink top from a previous post... I know why it was in that stage. It just didn't feel 'done'. It was square and with the light border it just seemed off. So.... to make it a little longer I added some pink to the top and bottom and need to find more of the cream fabric to put a 2.5 inch row on the top and bottom to frame them up again.

Then....the outer border decision. Do I go scrappy - thinking 4.5x7 inch blocks of various pinks along the outside.... or just a plain print fabric and call it done. Thoughts? I have strips cut out at 4.5 of various pinks from the above border that would frame the quilt for the outer border. I am leaning towards scrappy.... since I don't have enough of any darker pink from my stash to create a single plain border.


I've also been working on these 'diamond' blocks for a border on the Starburst quilt.


Go on over to Soscrappy and see what everyone else is up to in the rainbow scrap challenge.

A completed top!

I was able to get a little sewing in this afternoon and now have my Jacobs Ladder quilt to a completed top stage! It is raining and dreary out so another inside picture. Excuse the waves on the borders.... they'll get tamed when I press it and straighten it out for pinning later this weekend.

Now I must go start dinner. I'm going Greek tonight and found this recipe for a Greek Orzo salad at Allrecipes.com. I'm going to add some grilled shrimp on top and maybe some 'carrots'. That's what Aidan calls them - really they are asparagus and he picked them out at the farm stand this morning. Em wanted tomato's... and I got to have a tomato sandwich for lunch. Yum...nothing like fresh picked tomato's.

Jacobs Ladder blocks...

Some progress has been made. I laid out the blocks a couple of ways and took pictures.

Excuse Miss Sophie who decided she had to test out the blocks.



I decided on this setting and started sewing the rows together. Then I noticed that I had two of the blocks turned wrong and had them wrong when I took the first pictures. Never do this after 9PM at night!



I was able to unpick those two last night and hope to get them sewn correctly on today. Heck... maybe I can get the rows pressed and sewn together too. Then a small cream inner border and a larger green border.

The borders will be using the same fabrics in these hourglass blocks that I was able to finish this week. I laid out the nine patches with the hourglass blocks and decided I need 6 more of the 9 patch blocks.

Now that I am caught up on the midgets I really need to pull out the next one and get working on that so I am set for next week.
So far... not enough sewing going on and no quilts pinned and ready for sewing. Maybe I can have Aidan help me during his afternoon quiet time on Thursday to get the pink one pinned. Baby steps.

For now, I've got to go into the store this afternoon to meet with the accountant and tomorrow we might go to a Tractor show in Leesburg for a couple of hours with Grammy and Papa. Then they'll head along their way for a week before they come back next Wednesday to kid sit for us while we go to a seminar in the evening.

At least we got the kids pictures taken yesterday so they will be ready for pickup next Friday, plenty of time to spare so things are all set to send up to Vermont with Grammy and Papa when they drive home at the end of the month. The kids did cooperate and we got some great pictures of them... just makes the decision part a lot harder when they all come out good!

Tiny Tuesday #30

I was able to work ahead a bit on these and have #30 - Square Blossoms done. I am very happy to be keeping up with my one midget block a week this year and really like how these blocks are accumulating so quickly. This one went together pretty well, despite me putting 2 of them together wrong on the last step. I put the triangles on the wrong spot, decided to measure it and noticed it in time to fix those two and make the other 2 correctly. These sure are addicting.

Breakfast.... baked french toast!

Years ago a friend of mine went to Minnesota to visit her daughter and knowing I love cookbooks she brought this back to me.


I flipped through the book and saw the baked french toast recipe.


I admit... it is the only thing I have made out of this book but boy is it yummy. I tend to make this at least once a month and it warms up well in the microwave the next morning. As a single person it would be about 3-4 days breakfast for me and sometimes a lunch or two.

This morning Aidan got up early (6:17 he was climbing into bed with us) so it was a good day to make this. He helped wisk the eggs, measured the 2 cups of milk and added it and then mixed the eggs, milk and vanilla. I did the bread part after he greased the pan with butter for me. He also added the raisins and improvised by adding some to the top layer too. Little sister was still sleeping so she just gets to eat today.

This is the result as I pulled it out of the oven.... so yummy.


Just showing a picture of the strawberries I got yesterday.

We made a batch of freezer jam last night and after we bring the recycling to the recycle center we'll pop to a roadside stand and get a few more lemons to make another batch or two this morning. I can't wait to plant my lemon/lime tree this weekend and hopefully I can just pick it from the back yard in a few years. But.... mix and match 4 for a dollar is a wonderful price! Then...... this afternoon Mom and Dad arrive from Vermont for a week. They will be down in Florida for a month but will be wandering around the state and checking in with us a couple of times. They had just hit South Carolina when I called them yesterday around 4. They should arrive after Emmy's nap this afternoon. The kids are so excited to see them... and show them our new digs down here in Florida.
Have a great Friday everyone.

It's March!

SoScrappy was thinking ahead and posted that Pink is the scrappy color for March in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I was wide awake on Monday night/Tuesday morning so I decided to go cut some fabrics. I pulled some pink and cut out the pieces to make three of the pinwheel blocks this month. I also cut some 7.25 inch squares of cream and green to make some hourglass blocks for my 9 patches. I have two of them done and the rest are in progress. I'll just finish the hourglass blocks up and put them together in a drawer until I'm in the mood to work on that one again. At least I'll have all the blocks ready to put together.


Last night, I got to have a date with my hubby! We went out for dinner after we closed the store for the night and had a wonderful meal at the Olive Garden. I just love their food and my Mediterranean Chicken was wonderful. A big thanks to My MIL for watching the kids for me yesterday afternoon on short notice and feeding them dinner so we could go out.

Today, while putting things away to clean up the sewing room for company I pulled out the pieces for the pinwheel blocks. I made three of them this month to add to the pinwheel pile. That was my 'reward' for clearing out that room and organizing my projects to work on while my parents are here.



I pulled a pink top I completed last year for the challenge and hope to get it pinned while they are here so I can quilt it up next week or the week after. I have the backing made I just need to cut some batting off the roll for this one.


I also want to put the Jacobs Ladder blocks together. I decided to keep it at the current size and just add an inner border of cream from my stash and then an outer border of green leftover from the hourglass blocks above. The binding I'll cut strips of my greens and have it be scrappy. I hope to get the top together and pinned over the next week.

The other project... is the graduation quilt. I now have the blocks for a 5x7 setting. I am starting the diamonds for the border using the leftover HST's. The goal is to have this to the point of needing the outer border by mid March so I can try and get it pinned when my parents come back the end of the month. If I can get through most of these things during the month, I'll be doing great.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting!