I Like Thursday #206

 I'm late for my 206th I Like Thursday post, but since I usually only post once a week I am determined to get it in.  Each week LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color encourages us to find things we like/love during the week to share.  It can be books, food, movies, and so many other things.  Just things that make us smile, or lift our heavy hearts.  

My work schedule was changed, and so I am all thrown off, but what is really kind of amusing, my days off it has been raining, so no weed pulling or gardening for me.  I did wander out to see what was going on, other than the 3 feet high weeds which are taking over of the flower beds.

Lily of the Valley!  Oh I love these little flowers.  Their tiny delicate flowers, the lovely scent!  The bed where these flowers are is under a maple tree, on the west side of a garage.  The starts were brought to me by Jeff years ago, when a resident brought in several 5 gallon buckets full to dump.  It has taken over 6 years for these to establish.  I am always told that they are very invasive, but so far they have had a pretty slow start.

After I did a quick walk through of the yard, I spied the Columbine which seem to decide where they will grow each year.  

As you can see I have thistle already taller than the columbine.  

I saw this sign at work and it made me smile.

I have done a little sewing.  I was caught up with the Moda Blockheads 4 blocks until Wednesday.

Moda Blockhead 4 block 8 4.5 inch

Moda Blockhead 4 block 8 9 inch block

Moda Blockhead 4 Blocks 8  Wild Geese

These blocks were simple.  Then I did the bonus block.  I do ok with blocks but when they have instructions with 1/8th inches it really messes things up.  

This is the Moda Blockhead 4 Bonus block 4.  The large one came out alright.

The 4.5 inch block did not turn out the right size.  I will have to make it again.  Oh well, an orphan block can always be used later on to make a quilt label, or go on the back.

Moda BH 4 Bonus Block 4 4.5 inch block

Moda BH 4 Bonus Block 4 Zipper

Moda BH 4 Block 9 Cross My Mind.

Moda BH 4 Block 9 4.5 inch block

Moda BH 4 Block 9 9 inch block

Moda BH 4 Block 9 Cross My Mind

 

I also worked on finishing up my gray string blocks.  It is funny how long it took me to make the strings because of my duh moments, ok not moments months.   It actually took me longer to remove the paper than to sew all the blocks when it was all said and done.  LOL  

I have read some really awesome books lately.  

The Business of Blood by Kerrigan Byrne.  1890's London and Fiona Mahoney's profession is cleaning up after corpses after they are taken away.  Fiona's best friend was the last Jack the Ripper victim, and though it has been two years Fiona continues to search for him.  When Fiona is called to a crime scene the victim's body is left in a very similar manner of the Ripper victims, the only difference, this is a man.  Fiona is determined to discoverer the murderer, is it Jack haunting the streets again?  

Somehow I ended up with a book related to Botanical Folktales from great Britain.  I enjoyed listening to the different stories.

Botanical Folk Tales of Britain and  Ireland was written by Lisa Schneidau.

I also read the next 3 books in the David Wolf series by Jeff Carson.  

Cold Lake

Smoked Out

To The Bone

Thanks for stopping by, now head over to LeeAnna's to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #205

 It is Thursday, so it is time for my I Like Thursday post.  Each week a group of bloggers, hosted by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color share things they have found or done that they like/love during the week.  We are throwing some love and positivity out in the universe.  

I will say I have stacked a lot of days working in a row, and when I have spaces of time like that, I am not very productive, nor am I engaged in social media much even.  We finally got into the 70's and had a couple of days that we were in the 80's even.  While Bobbin and I enjoyed some sun one afternoon I heard a rustle in an overgrown flower bed.  Expecting a bunny, I was surprised to see one of the kittens, Tangie, sleeping in the high weeds.

But today, my day off, it rained so I could stay inside without guilt, and do some sewing.  I cut out all the blocks for the Moda Blockheads 4 block 8, 9 and the bonus block 4.  I also finished all my string piecing, and trimmed all my gray blocks to On Grassy Creek.  I spent several hours just removing paper Wednesday and it is still not done.  

The lilacs are blooming, usually they bloom in a wave starting at the driveway and heading East, but this year they all bloomed at once.

Sitting outside the smell is divine!  

I have been binge reading a lot of series lately.  The Redmond and Haze series by Irina Shapiro.  Jason Redmond, has arrived from America to recover and rebuild his life.  Jason has inherited the title from his grandfather and Redmond Hall.  Jason is a surgeon, who fought in the American Civil War as a Union Soldier, and later a prisoner in the notorious Andersonville Prison.  In the first book when a body is discovered in an ancient Crusader's crypt, Daniel Haze the constable of Birch Hill automatically suspects the new guy in town Jason Redmond.  Jason and Daniel share many adventures along with different residents of the area throughout each book, and along the way Jason acquires a wife, Micah the orphan that Jason has brought with him grows up and goes off to school, and Daniel repairs his marriage, and both gentlemen become fathers.  

The next series I have been reading are the David Wolf Series by Jeff Carson.  David Wolf starts as an deputy in a small mountain town in Colorado.  

Foreign Deceit--David Wolf is next in line for promotion to the Sheriff.  A missing boy and search starts the book, when the boy is found dead at the bottom of a cliff David doesn't believe it is an accident.  The investigation gets put on hold though when David is notified that his brother has died in Italy, and the death is ruled a suicide.  David goes to bring his brother's body home, and falls into an investigation with the Carabinieri.

 The Silversmith is book 2.  David Wolf is passed over for the Sheriff's position, and is offered a position working for a local landowner in private security.  But when David declines the offer, and the new Sheriff who just happens to be the son of the local landowner is killed, David is accused of the death, and is being hunted by local law enforcement and another mad man.  

Alive and Killing--David and his son are on a camping trip and meet a strange man while hiking.  Suddenly they become the target of a group of men in the mountains and once they escape.  The FBI is called in and David is determined to discover who these men are.

Deadly Conditions is book 4.  After a snowstorm a body is found by a snowplow.  David is determined to find more about the woman, and discovered who killed her and why. 

Thanks for stopping by, and you can head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #204

 Welcome to my 204th I Like Thursday post.  Each week a group of bloggers post things that they found that they like/love--Something they saw, ate, read, watched, or accomplished.  You can find us all in one spot at Not Afraid of Color, the blog of LeeAnna, who encourages us even during the darkest times.  

I like that I had a few days off and wandered down to Sauder Village in Archebold, Ohio for their annual quilt show.  I met up with Kris of Kris Loves Fabric and we viewed the show, ran into some more quilty friends, ate lunch, and wandered the village and the quilt shop, and did a lot of catching up.  There weren't as many quilts as in years past, and so the set up configuration made it difficult to get good pictures, and I had one of those moments where I neglected to catch the card on many with the information about the makers.  

I liked this quilt called Hee Haw.  The quilting was very cute too.  Reminds me of my favorite sign from Etna, California.

I also liked this one which was amazing, and I know the quilter, she does some awesome applique.  

 This quilt was called Lady Liberty

Lori Holt's Farmgirl Quilt.  I love the border with the fence and the animals. 

365 paper pieced three inch blocks.  This quilt was made by someone I know, and I succumbed to peer pressure and joined this QAL last year.  I think I am in week 3.  :D

This was just a few of the quilts, and I didn't get anywhere close to getting pictures of many of them.  

Mother's Day is low key around here, everyone seems to have to work that day.  I got flowers from the kids.

While I was off, and it was rainy, so I had an excuse to not do any yard work, I cleaned up downstairs just organizing fabric.

I had a pile of Halloween fabric, a pile of neutrals, a pile of Christmas fabric, a pile of fabric for Bonnie Hunter's Rhododendron Trail, and a pile of fabric  I will call "I know I bought this for a reason, but at this point in time I cannot remember."  I got it all sorted, put into kits, or folded and put away!  

I got caught up on the Moda Blockheads 4 blocks.

Block 7 Gameboard 4.5 inch block

Block 7 Gameboard 9 inch block

Bonus Block 3 Star Turn 4.5 inch block

Bonus Block 3 Star Turn 9 inch block

I was all caught up until the release of block 8 on Wednesday.  

I also made one more Ribbon Star block.

While visiting with Kris and shopping at Threads of Tradition the quilt shop at Sauder Village I was looking for gray fabrics.  I have been on step 6 of On Grassy Creek, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt from 2020 which is 60 string pieced blocks in gray.  I don't have much gray, and I only had 10 made and they took me forever to make.  I mentioned to Kris that Gray is not a predominant color in my stash.  Imagine my delight when Monday I received a squishy envelope full of gray fabric from Kris.  Thank you so much, words cannot express how much I appreciate it.

There was also a super cute wool kit from Primitive Gatherings.

I will say when I do something really unintelligent I will share with people because I can laugh at myself.  I mentioned earlier in this post I don't have much gray and I would cut scraps and I had this teeny tiny gift bag full of gray strips I was working out of, it was pathetic when I dumped it into my 5 gallon bucket.

I was shopping online checking out the Mother's Day sales, and looked at the Accuquilt site, looking to see if they had a good sale on dies.  I spied a die that had 4 different sized strips on a single die, and I thought on that would help with my strip cutting.  Then it dawned on me.  I think I have that die.  I checked my previous order history and sure enough I do!  I had bought it when I was the head of the charity quilt program for the quilt guild to cut up the fabrics that I received in donations.  

That is when the light bulb really went off.  I can cut a ton of strips at one time!  So I grabbed my gray fabrics, cut a 4 1/2 inch strip and started laying them out crosswise on the die. 

In less than 10 minutes my bucket was full of miscellaneous sized strips just waiting to be string pieced.

I have sewn for about 2 hours total and have 37 pieces done, and 23 partially finished.

Obviously I need to learn to work smarter not harder.  Once I am done string piecing these I will remove the paper and finish up step 6 which shouldn't take much time at all.  

I read a lot of different books the past week, but time is short and I have to go to work.  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope I gave you a giggle or two.  Now head over to LeeAnna's and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.