I Like Thursday #132

 Seriously it is Thursday again?  Thanks for stopping by, and a huge thanks to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things we like/love each week and share with others.  

 I don't decorate for holidays much anymore.  I really should, I used to love holidays.  This year I decided to drag out the little wall hanging I made years ago and the table runner.  

The table runner was made in 2012, which is a lot more recent than the wall hanging.  

Block 1 the fabrics were a Riley Blake line. 

Block 2 more of the same.

Block 3 I think is my favorite.  See that purple/orange mix?  It wasn't a batik, it was a cotton, but I just loved the colors. 

The whole runner.

I even quilted a nifty spiderweb in it. 

Of course if I have my table runner out I need to create a vignette with it.

I guess more fall than Halloween.  I love pumpkins!

Wandering through the store the other day I spied this little guy.

I can't tell, is it a dog, or a cat?  But it was just too sweet. 

The other day I thought there was a leaf stuck to my window screen.  Upon closer inspection it is a praying mantis.

A dead praying mantis, stuck to my window screen.  My biggest challenge is that my windows for the 1st story are a good 10 feet off the ground, so a ladder will be needed to flick it off.

I try to keep the freezer at work organized.  Monday I was moving a lot of boxes and trying to keep them stacked in such a way that it is easy to find the product you needed, keep like products together, and condense down boxes.  Common sense to me, if you take 1/2 a box of one bread, and 1/2 a box of another bread, why not combine the two partial boxes, mark what is in them and get rid of the box?   At work I wear a hair net and a trucker type cap, well soon my poor ear started hurting.  I think I started to get a wee bit of frost bite on my ear, to the point where it was burning and is still hurting 3 days later.  I decided I needed a pair of ear muffs that wrap around the back of my head.  I got to giggling this is what they were carrying at the store.

You can't really tell, but these are huge!  There was black, red, white, and some with a beaded looking headband.  They looked like you had a full size rabbit stuck to your head. Nothing that would suit my needs.  

I had to share a picture of girl cat, she is so colorful, definitely an autumn girl.  She was rolling around in a pile of leaves on the porch.
 

My books I have read for the week are:

A Litter of Bones by J.D. Kirk.  DCI Jack Logan solved a major crime, a serial child killer, that they dubbed Mister Whisper.  With the person caught and in prison, but still some victims missing DCI Logan visits the  Mister Whisper often.  A child abduction in the highlands of Scotland ten years later has all the earmarks of Mister Whisper, but how can that be? DCI Logan is sent to help with the case which is too eerily similar, and with some things coming out that were never disclosed to the public.  How can that be when Mister Whisper is behind bars, DCI Logan questions, that perhaps he has the wrong man, or is there a copy cat out there?  I will warn you the book is very dark, but it was a good story.  

My next book a wee bit lighter is The Ghost Rock Cafe by Chinle Miller.  Sheriff Bud Shumway is sent to the Swell to investigate the death of an old hermit.  Some day he was killed by a mountain lion, some day a bigfoot, but Bud thinks it was murder.  

Finally my light read for the week is Candy Coated Murder.  Mia Jordan has moved home to Pumpkin Hollow after being in college for 10 years, she just can't decided what she wants to do with her life.  Coming back to her hometown to work in the family candy store wasn't what she was expecting.  But a group is trying to do away with the Halloween Season, see Pumpkin Hollow is a tourist town centered around a Halloween theme, 365 days of the year.  When the most hated person in town, who just happens to be Mia's neighbor is killed, Mia feels it is her duty to solve the murder to try to keep the tourists coming.  

Finally, with all of the political stuff going on, I am sure your head is spinning at times.  If you have Facebook you should follow Heather Cox Richardson, she is a historian/teacher and explains what is going on currently very succinctly.  Do you know what an "Originalist" is when it comes to the recent Supreme Court appointee?  Do you know what socialism is?  Words that are thrown around quite a bit as of late.  Heather Cox Richardson daily does a write up of what has occurred during the day, citing precedents, laws, history.  

Now head over too LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #131

 I know many people feel like time is dragging with quarantining, but for me the days seem to speed by.  Once again it is time to find things to share this week that bring smiles, joy, happiness.  Thanks to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find and share each week. 

Fall has been slowly sneaking into the region.  The cottonwood leaves are huge, as big as my size 10 foot!

I like how coneflowers look after they are bloomed out.  

I have some mums, and zinnias I bought at the farm stand.

My petunias are still blooming too.  

We have been watching the turkey buzzards heading south.  The other day there were sets heading south, 5 separate groups in about 1/2 a mile.  Since we were outside they would swirl down to check us out.  It is amazing how some animals just know.  Girl cat slunk along the building walls, and fences, the roosters herded the girls into the chicken house and covered yard.

The downside is the leaf incursion into the mudroom.

I forgot to share the Ring doorbell I installed about a month ago.  If you pay $3 a month they will record the videos and store them, but you still get notified if something moves within the area set up to monitor, and you can pull up the images on your phone.  If someone pushes the doorbell, you can see and talk to them.  

 I had one day off last week, and two this week, they are hardly ever together when I have days off though.  

I did manage to get some sewing in though. 

Amish with Twist.  I am not too sure I like the corner blocks so far.  I was to use 6 fabrics and there just doesn't seem to be much difference.  Next will be a bunch of 16 patch blocks.  

I chose borders for the Beary Bewitching.  I chose the one on the right it reminds me of snakeskin.  

I participated in a batik strip swap and got some awesome fabrics.  We swapped 20 fabrics each, and they only had to be 2 1/2 X 20 so you could use a fat quarter even.  

I also finished up a couple of charity quilts for church.  I love whip-stitching the opening closed. 

I had to have some Halloween Peanut M & M's.  They are called ghoul colors.

Work has been tough.  I have had a lot of days that I am the only one working.  Unfortunately customers don't know or care if the product they want isn't baked, or on the floor.  I feel like this many days after leaving work. 

The holidays are on their way and I have the product to prove it.  

I have 3 pallets of pumpkin pies stored in the big freezer.  I had received 20 cases of Caramel Apple Pies the other day, I didn't have anywhere to put 20 Caramel Apple Pies in my freezer without some creative stacking.

My book pick for the week is Coyote Alibi by Jena and Dennis Burges.  Naomi Manymules is looking for a job, after a couple of terms at the local community college she has a little training as a paralegal, but then the courses had been discontinued.  Grant Carson is a new resident of Sage Landing, and has quite the reputation with the ladies.  Naomi hears that he needs some help with his law practice and approaches him looking for work even with her limited paralegal education.  Throw in the murder of the local sleaze bag, his wife being blamed, and many colorful residents and it was a fun read.  I look forward to more Naomi Manymules paralegal adventures.  

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

I Like Thursday #130

 Welcome to my 130th installment of I like Thursday.  

I Like these personalized items I saw recently.  I played with them to create what I may want.

Not a great picture but a mock up of a coffee cup.  You can choose the saying on it.

Mock up of the blanket.  I like the darker Bobbin she is between the two colors. 

I worked outside a lot this week, trying to get the pool set up to close.  Only to have a storm come through and have to start back at square one.  The kids and I finally finished today, and got the cover on it.  While outside I spied this interesting plant.

It is called Bittersweet.  Have I mentioned how much I love the app Picture This for plant identification?  I did purchase it but after all the different ones I have tried it is by far the best and worht the money in my honest opinion. 

I wish I had more time to sew, but with work, and outside stuff it is tough.  So to explain how lazy I am.  I had someone ask me to fix their face masks, they were too tight.  So I took one apart that they had tried to fix and tried to sew it on my machine, which meant I had to use black thread.  Well it didn't go well with the machine, and I actually did better hand sewing the masks for the person.  My machine was still threaded with black so what is a lazy girl to do?  Well finish up a UFO. I grabbed the Amish with a Twist and finished the final block which I shared last week on my I like Thursday post.  The quilt has several different setting blocks.  I have finished 3 so far, but what slowed me down is I can't work on it when I am tired.  Imagine doing a braid.

The next step is to trim it down making sure it lines up correctly.  Matching up the 45 degree angle, on the 2  3/4 mark.  Well you get the picture.  A disaster in the making if I was doing it when I was tired. 

I decided to wait until I had a day off for this step so I was nice and rested.  

I am now working on finishing blocks part 4.  All cut out and I have started sewing it. 

My fun discovery at work this week was this awesome dog shopping bag.  Look at all those sweet faces.  

My book pick for the week is the 3rd installment of the Bought the Farm mysteries by Ellen Riggs.  This one is called AStreak of Bad Cluck.  

Ivy is finally settling in on Runaway Farm, and even has a tentative truce with her pesky neighbor Edna.  Ivy is going to host Edna's bridge biddies weekend, talk about the original mean girls in octogenarian form!  Edna decides to not stay the night after being on the receiving end of their barbed remarks, and the next morning Ivy discovers Edna, dead in the swamp down the road.  

 Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I like Thursday posts.   Let's keep putting good vibes out there in the universe. 

I Like Thursday #129

 I have had one of those weeks. It started off -- Let's just say that my time off I requested was messed up and then when I pointed it out to my boss I was argued with.  As I age I have learned:

I know what the computer system said, I even had another supervisor verify that I had done it correctly since we are using a new time management software for punching in, out, requesting time off.  All it means is that I will be taking another long weekend very soon since I have to use my vacation before my work anniversary date in December.  

I Like having several days off in a row!!!!

What did I do on my 4 days?  I worked outside, almost had the pool ready to close, it rained first, then the wind storms have hit, and it is too cold to get into the pool to clean out all the leaves which have landed in the pool.  Ten acres of land explain how every leaf within 1/2 a mile seems to find its way into my pool?

I learned some new techniques for applique' using MonoPoly thread.  I started sewing down my chickens.  I couldn't seem to match my thread.  I asked a friend, could I use rayon embroidery thread which I use in my embroidery machine?  She said yes.  But I looked at this and thought about all of the thread changes so I learned how to use MonoPoly.  I am about 1/2 way done with the stitching part. 

I have seen where when they are doing the applique', the piece is already sandwiched and so it is basically quilting as the applique is being stitched down.  I am thinking I should have done that with this piece.

I will be using the MonoPoly to applique this piece also. I watched a video by McKenna Ryan on Fon's and Porter to see how she sewed it down. 

Beary Be Witching by McKenna Ryan of Pine Needles Designs.  I purchased backing so when I am ready I will sandwich it before I stitch down the applique'.  

Below it you can see my maple leaves for the Fort Worth Fabric Studio's Absolute Autumn mystery.  I have all the parts cut for the rest of the quilt but I got a wee bit distracted.   

I have most of the borders on my flower delivery quilt and the applique all ironed on, yet another piece                                 

 that needs to be sewn down.

I also have my Oregon Banner to applique.  Do you see a pattern with me and applique'?                   

 I love how the applique' looks but I find the sitting and stitching it down, even with machine very tedious.  Which is funny, because I love piecing and it is basically the same thing.  

I finished a couple of other applique pieces though, even quilted them and they are sitting in this pile by my chair waiting to be bound.

I cut out the final block for the BOM Amish with a Twist which I was doing last year.  Since there is now dark thread in my machine, and I must just be lazy I am working on the finishing blocks.  

I have one set done, 1/2 way done with the 2nd set.  I only work on them for an hour or so in the evening and if I am tired all bets are off.  I think there are 3 more finishing block sets then it will be ready for assembly.  

I measured and sewed a lot of borders during my vacation, did some quilting;

Since I have a couple of projects almost completed and have picked up a UFO to work on I can start something new (Hey my rules!). 

This is the engine part of the Tild Tractor made with the fabrics from Tiny Farm.  I love these fabrics, the colors, the hand and when I am done I am sure this will be a favorite.  

I saw this piece and had to share it, just the link.  Many of the other bloggers not only quilt, but paint, make journals, do photography, knit and so I thought this was fascinating.  Agnes Herczeg creates miniature scenes out of mixed media and lace.  

Speaking of lace, what about spider lace?  Check out this web!  Spiderman would be jealous!

I read or listened to a lot of books this past week.  

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora is a novel from a slave's point of view in the years before and after the Civil War.  

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

and one of my favorites for the week because it definitely made me giggle.

Murder at Melrose Court by Karen Baugh Menuhin.  I like the synopsis which says Downton Abbey meets Agatha Christie.  

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