I Like Thursday #159

Welcome to my 159th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things that we like/love during the week.

It is fun to see all the growing things around.  

I love apple blossoms. My poor trees are struggling.  I needed to spray while they were dormant, but once the weather stayed above 40 degrees for a 24 hour period it was too windy.  

My trees had very few blossoms.  

In the field I saw these wild strawberries.  

 

I spied a butterfly, 

I thought this petunia originally looked like a dark purple. 

Maybe it is more of a maroon in the sun.  

While wandering around the property I spied these teeny tiny flowers.  This is called birdeye speedwell, it is a Veronica.

I have an app on my phone called "Picture This"  I will say that it is one of the best plant identifier apps I have used.  One thing which is neat about the app is it will show many photos of the plant, it will give you the scientific names, but it will also share an excerpt of the poem by Andrew Blakemore: 

The speedwell and daisies are blooming together
Their colours entwine in the grass where they grow,
So rich is the land and so verdant the pasture
As a carpet they make with sweet patterns that glow,
Like the blue of the sky and the bright golden sunshine
They rise from the green on this bright summer's day,
Wherever they shine I'll be happy to wander
For I'll never tire of their wondrous display. 

The other plant I saw had these lovely little yellow flowers.  

It is called mock strawberry. 

I spied a chicken basket at the feed store. 

Many years ago at a quilt shop which is no longer in business I saw a basket.  There was a pattern, but I didn't buy it, thinking perhaps in a few weeks I would return to the shop.  Life happened, I sent them an e-mail inquiring the name of the pattern, and filed their response in an e-mail folder.  I wanted to make this basket to use in my bathroom to hold dirty clothes. 

Recently I went through my e-mail folders and found the e-mail and went on a search for the pattern.  

 

Knotty Basket. 

I started acquiring the necessary supplies to make one.  

For a  girl who doesn't have a lot of time to go searching for supplies, I do shop online a lot.  I will say that finding the necessary items has been a trial.  

I have pulled fabrics trying to decide which ones I want to use.  

I am leaning toward using fabrics 2 and 3 from the bottom.

I did get a little sewing in this week. I managed to get 5 of the little blocks done.

block 8

Block 9

Block 10

Block 11

I managed to read/listen to a couple of books this past week.

A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas---what is Sherlock Holmes was really a young society woman?  Charlotte Holmes does not like the idea that she must marry and bear an unhappy, unfulfilled life.  When announced to her parents that she would rather attend school an agreement is made, but Charlotte discovers that her family had no intentions of allowing it.  The only option would be to "ruin" herself, buy getting herself into a compromising position.  Once done though, the mother of the married man that Charlotte had use is discovered dead, and Charlotte's father and sister are the suspects.  

Legally Blind Luck is the 7th installment of the Braxton Campus Mysteries by James Cudney.  I really enjoy this series, James has created characters that you find yourself invested.  In this book, Kellan and his family are mourning the loss of his uncle, Kellan is now the guardian of this uncle's teenage son, and there is an upcoming exhibition at the college of African art.  Kellan's uncle is suspected of having been in possession of a cursed talisman, which everyone is looking. 

Welcome to Piney Falls by Joann Keder.  Lanie has the perfect life, the best house which she is constantly renovating, a great job with one of the most prestigious office supply company in the world.  Lanie decides to take a creative writing class at the local college and is given an assignment to write about a town that suddenly changes it's name.  When Lanie's home burns to the ground her life is turned upside down, and she is pushed by a friend from the creative writing class to go research the assignment.  Lanie arrives in Piney Falls, Oregon.  A town with a lot of secrets.  

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

I Made Something

 I have not really finished much this year.  But today I finally made something.  I was inspired by Carla of Creatin' In the Sticks recent blog hop "In the Kitchen Stitchin'."  

One of the creators made a dish drying mat.  I think that same creator had made one in a previous blog hop, and at that time I was inspired.  I just hadn't done anything with the idea, but I had amassed the supplies.  

A few months ago I created this embroidery.  

I then remember that the creator of the blog hop mentioned there were some tutorials on YouTube, so I went off to look for the video.  I watched the one by Shabby Fabrics.  

It was amazing how fast this went together.  I think it took me less than an hour!  I used the embroidery piece, 2 1/2 inch strips, and bosal made specifically for drying mats.  I did see some YouTube videos where they used inexpensive drying mats from the dollar store. 

It would fit perfectly in the area where I place freshly washed eggs to dry, along with my egg skelter.  Yep that is one weeks worth of eggs, which ended up being approximately 7 dozen eggs.  

Perfect, and I am so please with how well it turned out.  Many of the fabrics were from the garbage bag of 30's fabrics that I was given a while back.  I have been working at cutting it up recently into 2 1/2 inch strips.  

I have been putting it into a pretty big shoe box.  I had added some Bella Solids to match into the mix.  I still have a few more to cut up, but the bag is empty, and all the fabrics are ironed and waiting to be cut.  

My plan is to make a Scrappy Trips quilt from these scraps, many were partial fat quarters.  Yep I just created at least one new project for myself cutting up these scraps. 

I LIke Thursday #158

 Welcome to my 158th I Like Thursday post.  Join me, and some other awesome bloggers that share awesome hings we find that we like during the week.  A huge thanks to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find some good, and sharing.

 

I am so glad my flowering almond bloomed.  The last couple of years it was a wee bit sketchy.  I thought I was going to have to dig it out.  But this year it looks awesome!

I like a trip to the local garden center.  I bought some veggies to plant, and a few flowers and herbs.  Now to get them planted.  

I loved this wind art that looked like peacock feathers.  

I like I had a few hours to sew my one day off last week.  I did 3 of the little blocks from the sew along I joined.  

Block 5

 Block 6

Block 7

OK no laughing, you can smile widely but here are all the blocks for week 1.  

I only read a couple of books this week.  

Under a Gilded Moon by Joy Jordan-Lake takes place in Ashville, North Carolina upon the completion of the Biltmore Estate.  Kerry McGregor returns home to care for her ailing father and twin siblings leaving behind her dream of college in New York.  Upon her arrival a journalist is killed mysteriously in the street.  Wealth and privilege versus poverty, and expectations which are often wrong war while Kerry attempts to solve the murder of the journalist.  

To Fudge or Not to Fudge by Nancy CoCo is the 2nd in the Candy Coated mysteries which take place on Mackinaw Island.  Allie McMurphy's pup Mal discovers a bone, with orange toe nails in the lilacs by the newspaper office.  Throw in a cooking reality show, Mal continuously finding human bones in the mulch and who are the bodies and who killed them?  

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

I Like Thursday #157

 Welcome to my 157th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you to LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to find things that we likeNot Afraid of Color love to share with others.

We have had many beautiful days, but yesterday it happened.  We had snow.  About 6-8 inches of snow.  It snowed all day long, and most of the night.  I went into work at midnight, I wish I had taken some pictures of the Bradford Pear, it looked like a Dr. Seuss tree.  But I thought this was interesting looking.

 It is mostly melted by now, but it is chilly.  Bobbin has been taking advantage and drug her bed under the dresser to be almost on top of the heater vent.  My daughter tattled and told her, you are going to start a fire.  She had to send me a picture for proof.  Caught in the act.

The local feed store is fully stocked with so many cool garden whirligigs, art, bells, chimes.  This one caught my eye immediately.

I ordered some fabric from a shop on Etsy and I just thought their sticker that they used to close the bag was too cute. 

It has been a busy week, I worked 6 days in a row because we do a monthly inventory which throws my days off out of whack.  One of the young girls is out indefinitely so I volunteered to work on Friday, even though it is my day off.  Friday is just too busy to not have a baker/clerk during the day.  

The only sewing I have done is charity sewing for church, sewing closed envelope type quilts.  Perhaps I can do some selfish sewing in the next day.  

With my schedule I haven't done a lot of reading either.  

I read Died in the Wool by Melinda Mullet the final book in the Whiskey Business Mysteries.  Abbi is roped into helping a women's shelter and joining the board when one of the clients is found dead, and another disappears leaving her young daughter.  I was sad that this is the end of this series.  

Mortal Arty by Anna Lee Huberis the 2nd  installment of the Lady Darby Series.  Kiera and her family stop at Dalmay house to visit childhood friends, when it is discovered Kiera's original art teacher William Dalmay, who was thought to be dead, is in fact alive, and in residence.  William is suffereing from PTSD and had been placed in an asylum by his father years before.  When local girls start missing, William is the obvious choice.  Kiera is determined with the help of Sebastian Gage to prove William's innocence and get to the bottom of the disappearances.  

A Grave Matter by Anna Lee Huber is the 3rd installment of the Lady Darby Series.  Kiera is visiting her brother and attending a Hogmanay Ball when the First Footer is shoved aside by a young man soaked in blood.  It is discovered the the caretaker has been murdered in the ruins of the old nearby Abby and a grave has been robbed and the bones are missing.  Kiera and Gage embark on an investigation to locate the missing bones, only to discover some of the other noble families have had similar crimes of grave robbing lately.  

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

I Like Thursday #156

 Welcome to my 156th I Like Thursday post.  I am a wee bit late posting, well at least later than normal.

I had my 2nd COVID shot on Monday.  By that evening my arm was very achey but nothing else.  Tuesday was my day off and again nothing more than the achey, sore arm.  I will say it was sore enough it was difficult to do my shoulder exercises.  By 9 pm Tuesday night I had a pretty nasty headache (I no longer get headaches often---I jokingly say it is probably because I no longer have a man in my life to cause it. 😮)  I went to bed, the next morning at work, the headache continued and my tummy felt off.  After 4 hours I decided I had enough and went home.   I curled up with Bobbin and slept for several hours.

Bobbin's favorite days are when I nap, often, and she can curl up with me.  Late Wednesday evening I was feeling loads better and crawled off to bed early.  Hence the late post.  But I like that I have all the vaccinations and that I feel a wee bit safer.  After 2 weeks I will feel loads better and more sure yet. 

The babies are getting big, to the point where we are going to have to split them into 2 tanks.  

You can see that they are getting their feathers.  They grow so quickly.

Thursdays are my cheat days and last week I went to Bob Jo's frozen custard.  This used to be Jeff's and my favorite treat!  Now I share with Bobbin.  

I forgot to share the awesome surprise that arrived a couple of weeks ago.  My cousin who lives in Vermont has a syrup operation, imagine my delight when a box full of syrup arrived!  

These are quart containers and is such an awesome gift for me, because every morning for breakfast I have Irish Steel Cut Oats, what is also called groats, with a tablespoon of butter, a tablespoon of syrup, and a tablespoon of brown sugar.  I do not know why, but eating this for breakfast stays with me for a good 10-12 hours unlike if I eat cold cereal with milk, or even eggs and bacon.  

I read a couple of books this past week.  

Rituals by Mary Anna Evans which is the 8th installment of the Faye Longchamps archaeological series.  Faye and her newly adopted daughter are in Rosebower, New York a town founded by Spiritualist, As usual a death, old secrets and many strange things surround Faye as she tries to unravel why was one of the premier spiritualists killed in a fire, the door to her seance room nailed shut, and whatever happened to the crystal ball?

The Moonglow Cafe by Deborah Garner is the 2nd Paige MacKenzie mystery which takes place in Montana.  Paige is sent to Timberton, Montana to research Montana Sapphires called Yogos.  Paige meets the locals and finds a hidden journal.  

Deadly Dram by Melinda Mullet is the 3rd in the Whiskey Business Mysteries.  Abi Logan has owned Abbey Glenn and their whiskey has been nominated for an award and it is a 5 day competition at a 5 star resort.  The night of the opening ceremonies one of the judges is found dead, and one of the up and comers a Japanese Whiskey, and its creator are suspected in the death.  Abi wants to protect her friend, but discover who is killing the judges.  

 

Not a lot going on this week, now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #155

 Wow 155 I Like Thursday posts.  What is I Like Thursday?  I Like Thursday was started by LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color.  The mission was to find things that we likes, loved, and/or were positive throughout the week to share with others and put a little kindness back into the universe.  

I like the warmer temperatures around my neck of the woods. To celebrate I had to have this hanging basket which I spied at work.

I mean who doesn't love purple and yellow together?

 

I just love pansy faces.  When I was small I always thought they were velvety.  

The yellow is Nemesia or what they call Lion's Face.  I love the multi-hued yellows!

Since it was nice outside, Bobbin and I walked to check on the flower beds.  We still have loads of Daffodils, and more tulips, but none have bloomed as of yet.  I did spy a Snowflake thought.

It is a giant version of a snowdrop and I adore the little green dots on the points of all the petals.  

The orchard never did get sprayed with dormant spray.  Sigh.  I needed a 24 hour period that the temperatures stayed above 40 and there was little to no wind.  

I think soon there will be apple blossoms.  

And some cherries I hope.  I untangled my planters with my strawberries and pulled them out into the sun.  

Not a lot going on sewing wise.  I did make a few bookshelves and started organizing my stash better.  I ended up lugging 2 crates full of fabric upstairs and put it away.  I also realized that I have a lot more that needs to be folded and organized. 

I only read a couple of books this past week.  

Still Life by Louise Penny it is the first installment of the Inspector Gamache' series.  

The 2nd book was The Anatomist's Wife.  Lady Darby is in hiding in the Scottish Highlands at her sister's home after the death of her husband.  During a house party one the guests is murdered.   Kiera wants to put her past aside, but when one of the house guests is murdered, her brother-in-law asks her to utilize her knowledge of human anatomy to aid the insufferable Sebastian Gage—a fellow guest with some experience as an inquiry agent. While Gage is clearly more competent than she first assumed, Kiera isn’t about to let her guard down as accusations and rumors swirl.

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

I Like Thursday #154

 Whew a wee bit late today.  Welcome to my 154th I Like Thursday post.  Thank you LeeAnna for encouraging us to find things that we like, love during the week to share with others to throw kindness, and uplift others.

I have been going into work at midnight and getting off by 8:30 am.  The trouble is, while most people are sleeping, I am working, and there are times I need to sleep during the day.  I always think of this poem by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Bed in Summer

By Robert Louis Stevenson

In winter I get up at night

And dress by yellow candle-light.

In summer, quite the other way,

I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see

The birds still hopping on the tree,

Or hear the grown-up people's feet

Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,

When all the sky is clear and blue,

And I should like so much to play,

To have to go to bed by day?

The upside to the crazy schedule is that I can enjoy the beautiful weather we have had.  The beautiful weather translates to lovely growing things. 

 

Daffodils raising their sunny head and exploding throughout the flower beds!  (Those flower beds really need to be cleaned up!)

The promise of tulips.  

 

Confession time....after Jeff and the great aunt died, I fell off the rails in many ways.  I have been really working hard at cleaning up my house, choosing what to keep, what to donate(this is easy).  On top of that I have accumulated enough fabric to open up my own fabric store, either through purchases or what others have given me.  I am very slowly getting it folded, or cut up and organized.  

 

One such task is a garbage bag full of reproduction feedsack, 20's, 30's fabrics.  Many pieces had chunks taken out of them, looking at them I decided what I would make, and started cutting them into 2 1/2 inch by 20 inch strips.  I ended up with a pile of  2 1/2 inch strips which were shorter, some 2 inch strips, 1 1/2 inch strips and anything smaller was thrown into a string bin.  I swear that the bag is bottomless.  I will take out 4 or 5 pieces, starch and iron and place by my cutting table.  When I go to cut something while sewing I will cut up some of those pieces too.  The shoebox below is just the 2 1/2 inch by 20 inch strips.  It is running over already and I have much more to cut!

Near my cutting table I also have an apple box full of scraps from previous projects.  Those too are getting trimmed into a scrap system.  I think just cleaning up my scraps could be a full time job for years.  Sigh!😞

I have managed a wee bit of sewing.  

Little block 3.

These blocks are so fun to make and I enjoy choosing the fabrics.  

Last week I had 2 days off in a row.  Thursday was my "cheat day" from my normal healthy eating.  Bobbin and I ordered and picked up deep dish pizza.

Since I was off for 2 days in a row, and the weather was beautiful the grandsons wanted to have a fire.  Then the rain started.  Initially it was a light drizzle, but we stayed, and roasted marshmallows, and made s'mores, chatted, laughed and told stories--the kids planned it since it was my cheat day and they thought I needed a treat.  Then the rain started a wee bit heavier, yet we stayed.  Finally it was time to call it a night and we found this guy nearby us.  

There are random holes throughout the property.  Jeff used to tell me they were crawdad holes.  I would look at him and think, "Seriously there is no water for hundreds of feet."  But when it rains hard here they are.  Since our water table is so high I think they live just a foot or two below ground and when it rains hard they emerge. 

Once inside a doozy of a thunderstorm came through, dumping a lot of rain in a short time.

Here you can see just how much precipitation fell.  

Trying to keep up my healthy eating regime I have learned to change up recipes to make them healthier, but also another change is to make smaller portions.  I love my small ramekins that I purchased recently.  I could make up 4 from my recipe.  Perfect portion for a meal, and the rest could be put in the fridge for the next day or even frozen.

I am grateful that while I am sewing, cutting or working out many times I can listen to a book while doing those tasks, so at least I get some entertainment or things to make the think.

My book reads for the week.  

I had ready Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen a few years ago. I am surprised at how much literature is out there which Jane Austen plays a role, such as The Jane Austen Society, The Jane Austen Book Club, Pride, Prejudice, and Poison just to name a few.  A whole genre' of its own.  

I am sure most of us know the story of Emma who is always matchmaking.  

The next book I read was The Lady Vanished by Gretta Mulrooney.  It is the first book in the Tyrone Swift series.  Tyrone is a retire police officer that has opened his own detective agency.  He inherited a house from an aunt, and sublets part to an elderly gentleman.  Tyrone is hired to locate Florence Davenport's step mother that has gone missing. 

Many intriguing characters and some main characters that you thoroughly enjoy.

Finally my third book I read this past week was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.  I will admit that initially I didn't like the character Nora Seed.  While in life there are circumstances that can be a wee bit out of our control, many are controlled by our choices.  Unfortunately Nora has had more than her share, and the final straw is the death of her cat Voltaire, that she thinks has been hit and killed by a car.  At that time Nora chooses to take her own life.  But instead of death she ends up in the Midnight Library with the librarian from her youth.  I like this write up:

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

While there are a plethora of regrets through our life, if we chose differently would it really make our life better?  

Finally I want to apologize, with my schedule, trying to eat healthy, and exercise I don't always get a chance to read and comment on everyone's blog weekly.  In fact many times my reading is spread out through several days, and sometimes I read, but do not comment, or I play catch up reading a couple of posts from a blogger at a time and commenting.  I do miss having the time to read blog hops.  :(

I used to laugh and say those that stay fit, at least many that I know, usually spend more time at the gym than they do at anything else during their free time.  While I do not go to the gym (yet) I will admit that yes; trying to get at least 10,000 steps a day in, do the joint workouts and other strengthening exercises in during my day takes out a huge chunk, almost 2 hours.  

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