I Like Thursday #98

Welcome to my 98th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things we like, or love during the week and share with others.

I like that it is Shamrock Shake season at McDonalds.  I don't eat there often, but I love their filet o'fish sandwiches and the Shamrock Shakes. 

I like that I have a sewing room again, and so to celebrate I opened my new Panasonic iron that I bought during Christmas at a stuff your stocking event.

I like the small wooden tv tray that I purchased that I can sit by my ironing board, and sewing table to hold my iron, some gum, perhaps  pincushion within easy reach.  You can see the table under the iron.

I like Paczki.  You can read about it here.  Paczki.  But being a baker the last few weeks have been a bit more strenuous making a couple of dozen extra pastries a day, until Sunday where things really ramped up.

Four Paczki go into a box.  The flavors that I had were Raspberry, Lemon, Bavarian Cream (Custard), Cherry, Apple, Blueberry, Strawberry, Cheese, Prune.  Then there are the mini Raspberry, and mini Bavarian Cream which have 8 to a box.  I like to mix mine up and they are either glazed,  or have powdered sugar, and some boxes have both.  Fat Tuesday in my neck of the woods is Paczki Day, and it has been crazy insane the past 3 days.  To boot the normal donut girl took vacation so I had 8 days in a row of working during this very busy time. 

Here is a small sample of the front table that has just a few of the boxes I made.  I filled this table 2 times Monday, and 4 times on Tuesday.

I like my friends at work.  This was awaiting me Wednesday morning.

At home I had a package from my mom.

A pillowcase with different places throughout Oregon.  I was told it is for my travel pillow that lug all over when I am traveling.

I got flowers from my oldest daughter.

They are gorgeous with lovely purple delphinium, asters, some lilies and the gorgeous yellow roses.

I received  best friend necklace from the youngest daughter.

One part goes on Bobbin's collar.  The other part is mine. 

I love this little card that came in the package. 

I received this awesome package from Dawn.

 A book called Setting Solutions by Sharyn Craig, just flipping through it got my creative juices flowing and some ideas for finishing up some quilts.

 A sweet hand towel, and a green homespun (which will be going into a Halloween quilt kit).

Then there is the great card.  Every single birthday girl needs a big hunk (of cake) for her birthday.

I bought myself a few little gifts too.  

I saw this pattern and of course had to have it being the super sexy chicken lady.  LOL

I bought it from a shop on Etsy, and thought that the receipt that was sent along with the pattern was very cute too.

After traveling through Glacier National Park this summer I had to have the newest panel by Riley Blake.

I also saw a nice bundle of orange and yellow batik fabrics.

I needed a new shirt and this one from Badass Quilter's Society is awesome.

Working 8 days in a row there hasn't been a lot of sewing going on, but I did manage to get the Ribbon Star table runner sewn together.  Now to just find a backing, sandwich, and quilt. 

The book I am reading this week is Stiff Competition by Annelise Ryan.  Book 7 in the Mattie Winston mysteries.

Mattie Winston's had an awesome life.  An ER Nurse at the local hospital and married to Dr. David Winston, the perfect life, until she catches Dr. David dallying with another nurse.  Dr. David has Mattie blacklisted from the hospital so she is getting divorced, has no where to live and no job.  Mattie is offered a job working with the local Medical Examiner's office. This is several stories into the series and Mattie's life seems to be one uncontrollable situation after another interspersed with murder investigations. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's and check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

Chasing Squirrels

So I had made a kind of resolution.  I wouldn't start a new project until I finished a project.  Does it count when it is  project for a sewing group?

The group I sew with on Tuesdays decided to make table runners that will be put into auction baskets during Applefest in the fall.  I am also supposed to make some microwave bowl cozies. 

Also once a month one of the ladies teaches a new technique, so there is another one.  Remember this awesome panel I won from Dawn at Relaxing Robin? 

We will be doing an attic window, similar to Dawn's nemesis the Oh Deer! quilt.  That makes 2 new projects that I will be starting.  Sigh!

I have been scheming planning for next projects.  Have you seen the one block wonder quilts made from panels?  I saw this panel and down the rabbit hole I went.

 Of course I had to get the matching fabric, right?

I had seen this awesome pattern with goats in pajamas and knew I had to make one.  I mean who doesn't love goats in pajamas?

Of course when I saw the Just Red line recently released by Zen Chic I thought oh those would make some cute goat pajamas, and since Bella Solids were the basic of the month, I decided on a gray background, bought a couple of charm packs for eyes, and horns, and a fat quarter bundle of neutrals for the goats. 

Of course because I am a text fabric lover I had to get these from the same line to be used in a future project.

And yes there is a squirrel in here. There is a running joke between my middle daughter and myself about squirrels.  She lives in downtown Portland, where there are a lot of trees, and squirrels.  For a long time she called them urban rats.  Then she discovered her kids were putting peanuts on the window ledge of the apartment and feeding the squirrels. 

When I saw the pattern RU Ready for Winter by Lorna MacMahon of Sew Fresh quits and had to have the pattern.

The squirrels will be in birch trees and so I found some birch bark fabric.  I don't have a background but I did kit it up with the pattern.  

See no squirrels were hurt in this post. 

I Like Thursday #97

Welcome to my 97th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you LeeAnna for encouraging us to find things during the week that we like, make us smile, and give us hope. 

I have a cat and a dog that shed like mad.  The couch is blue, honestly, but with all the hair it is hard to tell.  I have used rollers but you would go through all the little tape squares on it to get the hair off.  Vacuuming has little to no effect.  The Great Aunt had one of these weird sponge things, but it was a wee bit worn out, but she swore by it.  I decided to find one and order it. 

I will say that it works awesome.  You just kind of sweep it over the surface and it seems to pick up the pet hair. 

I like wool dryer balls, but did you know that they kind of wear out?  I was noticing that my clothes had quite a bit more static than before, so went to research.  Dryer balls last about 1000 loads.  I think mine were a wee bit past that.  So I went to find  new set.  I ordered these.

I am not one for scents in my laundry, but they say you can add an essential oil to them also to freshen up your laundry.  Maybe bedding and sheets? 

The set I ordered are pigs.  Isn't he adorable?  But there are sheep, sloths, pandas, and many others. 

I finally started working on moving my stuff into the spare room vacated by all the charity quilting stuff.  I have a couple of big bins of scraps, the new lady in charge of charity didn't want them, and I can't seem to throw them out.  So I will show you the part of the room which is semi organized. 

I purchased 2 bookcases, but they were too tall.  So I purchased 2 more to set a table top on, they are still a bit tall, but I can adjust.  I can almost see my dining room table, that is where I used to sew. 

I bought this cute shelf, coat rack, and have been eyeing a peg board on Etsy.

I saw this video and it made me giggle.

Finally the book I have been reading this week is Heresy by S. J. Parris. 

 A Murder on the 16th Century Oxford Campus, Giordano Bruno a visiting ex monk becomes in a grisly murder.


I just finished Buried in a Bog by Sheila Connolly.

Maura Donovan visits a small Irish village at her late grandmother's request.  Quickly she steps in to help at the local pub and  learns of a mysterious murder when they discover a body in a nearby peat bog. 

Now head over to Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts.

I Like Thursday #96

Welcome to my 96th installment of I Like Thursday.  Thank you LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find positive things throughout the week to share.

Since I started working, the kids run down to the house to give Lucy some food, and let Bobbin out to potty.  If I work early mornings, they run down to feed Bobbin too, check my chickens, gather eggs.  The downside is misplaced barn keys, house keys, or doors that remain unlocked.  Normally I find the keys laying in the driveway, having dropped out of someone's pocket.  My mom suggested a combination lock.  I purchased one a couple of weeks ago, but frankly it has been too cold to have the door open long enough to install it.  Well Monday was the day.

Outside, yes there is  key in case of battery failure, but it came with a code, and an ability to set your own code.  (Wow my window glass trim in the door needs some serious help with the caulk.)

The inside, can you see where my grimy paws have been working on the door open, close, open, close?  I think that I may need to paint my door, inside and out.  They say to paint your door a color that when you see it, it makes you happy. 

I do buy real books occasionally.  I don't venture to many bookstores, but occasionally I have a book I want to read, I don't want to buy it from Amazon, but I buy them from Alibris.   At one time many of the books were from libraries, but I have noticed they also have small bookstores too and when I can get a book for 99 cents and then a couple of dollars for shipping, and they have several books I want to read, I feel like it is a win.

 I introduced B Rad a couple of weeks ago.  B Rad was being bullied by Cheech.   Sam and I had talked about perhaps taking some of the broody hens and having them try to hatch some chicks.  So Cheech and a couple of the girls have moved into the chick/brood house. I now wake up to him crowing in the morning.

He is quite a handsome fella really. Now to keep the kids from collecting eggs.  LOL Kind of defeats our purpose.

I know many of you have your sweethearts and perhaps planning something for Valentine's Day.  I saw these M & M bags and they made me laugh.

They say all sorts of funny things.  

As I was thumbing through the April 2020 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting I noticed an advertisement for a Gammill.  I took the time to go to the website and read the story.  Go check out The Combat Quilter. Follow him on Facebook, he is very inspirational. 

My book of the week is Dark Pattern book 4 of the Naturalist series by Andrew Mayne.  Doctor Theo Cray is a mathematician that has happened to discover serial killers by using scatter diagrams and anomalies.  

Theo is chasing a serial killer, an "Angel of Mercy" but he doesn't have just one, he discovers he has two and they overlap.  Chasing this killer takes Theo over the edge, to the point where he loses everything, his lab, his mentor, and his girlfriend Jillian. 

Now head over to LeeAnna's and check out the other I Like Thursday Posts.

No Where to Be

I had a day off, and I didn't have anywhere that I had to be, no appointments, meetings.  Nada!  Today I planned on sewing, and maybe a wee bit of a home improvement project.

First on my list a church charity quilt.  I usually have a couple hanging around to be finished.  I needed to hand sew the opening closed then sew around the edge.

Done in no time.  That was a good start to the day. 

I finished up the half of my rainbow.  I have another half to do, but I needed something different to work on for a bit.

I grabbed some scraps from yet another shoe box full of batiks, and started cutting them up.  Some for spools, some for the 3 patch chain scrap quilt.  Maybe spools should be on my agenda today, Hmmm what color of spools though?  I found some pink, and with the gray dreary day, pink it is!  But what was in my scrap box was limited.  So I went and retrieved my two boxes of batik strips, and squares.

I dug, and fiddled and ended up with these 3 spools. 

Pink is definitely not a color that is common in my batik fabrics.  

I worked on the 3 patch chain since my bin is getting full.

I also sewed some more on the Dresden Charity quilt.

I am almost ready to sew the whole top portion together. 

There was some reading, a nap, and I made a pot of potato soup for dinner.  Overall not a bad showing for the day.

Challenges and Lists

A few days ago Dawn at Relaxing Robin shared her Moda Blockheads book she purchased.  Then a couple of days later, because she wanted to stray from her goals and use the book, she came up with a challenge. Turn to page 24 and make that block.  Lucky for me she couldn't hear me scream from Michigan, "Get Thee Behind Me Satan!" toward her.  Dawn then later changed up the challenge that you could make 2 blocks, 4 blocks, just do something.  Works for me!

After my recent blog about making lists, I decided to make up a simple spreadsheet and list my UFOs.  OK maybe it isn't quite as simple as I think. These are quilts that are in process.  Fabric has been cut, blocks made, borders needed, quilting needed, maybe squaring up, applique stitched down, you get the picture.  I am sure I am missing some but I was aghast at the number!



Last count I was at 83!  I also made a tab for those that need to be quilted, and a tab for what I do with them when I am done.   I also started a tab for kits.  Either kits purchased or kits I have made up with fabric, and a pattern. 

I will say that I have stayed on track this week and not started anything new. 

The donation quilt for the church auction was a kit is called Covered in Truth.  I had cut it a couple of weeks ago.  I mentioned that it would be easy peasy.  Famous last words.  I double checked the measurements and discovered that while my cutting was on, their measurements were wrong.  I took the borders off and measured once more.  I had to figure out a way to make it work. Without adding tiny 2 inch sections. 

The final border with the pinwheel blocks were the worst. You can see from the above pictures that not only was the border with the houses too wide, but it was short by about 2 inches. 

I took it all apart and measured again.  I tried to match up the houses and created one long border, then measured them and sewed them on.  I tried piecing it again and sewed it together. 

The corners were a wee bit off.  Have you ever fought putting something together and get to a point where you are just "done" with it, but feel like it is horrendous?  At first I thought it was terrible, but looking at it a couple of days later, I decided it wasn't too terrible.  Now it just needs a backing, quilting and bound. 

 I finished binding my tiny tree wall hanging.  I decided to just use the background fabric as the binding.  I lost a corner of my Christmas Tree, but it is done, and even labeled.

I also finally finished the binding on the guild charity quilt that I have been working on for 3 months now.

I worked on my January Quiet Play blocks of the month. 

I still have some background to finish, then the next half of the rainbow.

I never shared the panel that I won from Dawn at Relaxing Robin....I will be making a quilt similar to Dawn's deer quilt with the group I sew with on Tuesdays.  Does a project with a group count as starting something new?

I also continued to work on cutting scraps.  I found another shoe box full of batik scraps.  I used them for cutting parts for the spool quilt.  Anything that wouldn't work in the spools quilt, was cut into the 3 patch chain quilt, then into the 1 1/2 inch strips and squares, anything smaller went into the string box, or the dog bed filler. 

As to Dawn's challenge?  Well I met her challenge I sewed 24, well actually 27 squares for a charity quilt for guild.  So moved it along a bit. 

Challenge met.  I will now officially dub Dawn "The Squirrel Queen."