I Like Thursday #194

 Welcome to my 194th I Like Thursday post.  Each week a handful of bloggers share things throughout the week that they have discovered that they like/love.  LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color hosts each week.  

I got in a wee bit of sewing the past couple of days.  I finished the binding on a quilt called Covered in Truth.  I am donating it to church.  This was a kit I purchased, and the directions were not great, and the measurements were off, a lot.

Of course while I was trying to take a picture Bobbin had to help.  

I also finished 2 quilts and started a 3rd for church.  They do simple squares, then a pillowcase turn.  

I have been trying to be good about buying fabric and saw some and broke down and had to have it.  I have been trying to stick to the rule that any purchases will be going toward stash to work on projects, and I am really trying to not start anything really new.  It doesn't mean that I can't pick up a few patterns here or there, but they have to be made from stash unless I am in need of a background.

I love the sewing theme with the machines, scissors, thread, cats, and even some tea pots.   I loved the fun bright and whimsical prints.

What I loved about the package when it was delivered was the bag it came in.

 I am still working on the gray string piecing for Bonnie Hunter's On Grassy Creek from 2020/2021.  I keep pulling gray scraps, but I really feel like I am not getting far.  While I grabbed some gray fabrics from stash, before cutting it up for the string piecing I cut enough to work on my old fancy fox quilt which I started as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2016.  I wrote down all the colors for the past few years RSC so I can pick up and start working again on the blocks.

I have had this hankering to make scones.  I have no real reason why.  I make them at work all the time, and frankly, the ones I make don't really appeal to me.  They are dense and kind of crummy and we put glaze on them.  I have been trying cream scones which are very tender.  This week I tried cranberry orange scones.

They had a glaze of powdered sugar, fresh squeezed orange juice, a little orange peel, and a dash of sea salt.  They were flaky, and tender.  Definitely not on my diet though.

My books for the week, most are series.  Some I have read recently, some a while back.  I think I would like to go back and reread the 1st book in the Kate Shugak mysteries.  I find that a lot of books I read in 2017 I cannot remember, probably due to widow's fog.

A Fatal Thaw by Dana Stabenow which is the 2nd book in the Kate Shugak Mysteries.  Kate is an Aleut living at her father's homestead in the middle of a national park.  Nearby a shooter goes on a rampage killing 9 people.  But soon it is discovered one of the 9 was not killed by the shooter but someone else.  Kate is tasked with finding who killed victim 9, and there are many suspects in the tiny community nearby. 

B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton.  I think this book was much better than the first book.  Since it was much improved I will read the next in the series. 

Caught Bread Handed by Ellie Alexander is the 4th book in the Bakeshop Mysteries which take place in Ashland, Oregon.

One Potato, Two Potato, Dead by Lynn Cahoon is the 3rd book in the Farm-to-Fork Mysteries which take place in Idaho. 

I loved the movie Practical Magic which was released in 1998.  Practical Magic was written by Alice Hoffman and is a tale of the Owen sisters. 

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

 

I Like on a Late Thursday #193

 I am going to try to eke my I like Thursday post in this afternoon.  Every Thursday a handful of bloggers share things they have done, found, saw, heard that they like/love during the previous week.  LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color has been kind enough to host for well over 2 years now.  

The pet aisle at work always has something interesting.  

These cutie pajamas with cutie pie on the bum.  

Did you know that Oreos are 110 years old?  

They have chocolate confetti cake Oreos to celebrate.

I had a hankering for a scone, but I wanted one that was tender, not too dry and flaky.  I found a recipe for cream scones at The Flavor Blender.

Oh they turned out so yummy.  Nice and tender, and the left overs could be reheated in the microwave for 20 seconds.  I put blackberry jam on mine.  Definitely not on my diet!

We had a warm, sunny day and it helped some of the snow/ice melt.  Bobbin and I were lounging in the sunroom when there was a huge crash that shook the room.

Here you can see the couple of inches of snow/ice on the roof.  The roof is metal, so as it warmed the sheet of ice/snow started to slide off of the roof.

 

You an see the ice that slid off and broke into the blocks.  I think that they were at least 3-5 inches thick. 

Back to work so many neat items about women recently.

These awesome towels!  

A quote attributed to Calamity Jane.

Another quote attributed to Mary Anne Radmacher.  

Then there were these cute Llama planters with succulents.  

I have been readings some great books lately.  My current reading trend seems to be historical murder mysteries.

Murder in the Crypt by Irina Shapiro.  

Captain Jason Redmond has arrived in the village of Birch Hill in England to claim his inheritance, there are so many moving parts in this book, that all tie together to create a character that you empathize with.  Constable Haze too has many things going on in his life.  When the body of a young man is discovered in an ancient crypt Constable Haze is quick to pass judgement and arrives at the estate to apprehend the perpetrator, only to discover that Captain Jason Redmond is the new Lord of the manor.  Redmond and Haze form an unlikely alliance to discover who killed the young man in the crypt.

A Woman Scorned is the by Suzanne Downes is the 3rd book in the Inspector Lazarus Mysteries.  

For Dead Men Only by Paula Paul is the 5th and final book in the Dr. Alexandra Gladstone mysteries. 

I finally left the past, well kind of and read  The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths.  Archaeologist Ruth Galloway has been asked to investigate a skeleton of a child unearthed under a doorway in a house that is being demolished to build flats.  

Finally Heather and Homicide by Molly McRae is the 4th book in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries.

Finally LeeAnna mentioned that she was enjoying watching The Olympics curling competition.  When I saw this I had to share. 

Now head over and check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #192

It's a snowy Thursday here, and another chance to share on I Like Thursday which is hosted by Lee Anna of Not Afraid of Color.  Each week a group of bloggers share things they have seen that they like/love.  Th1is is my 192nd post. 

We have had a little snow, well up until yesterday, then the "snow event" started. It has snowed several inches, and according to the push notices on the phone will continue until 10pm Thursday night.

One morning it was very foggy and once the sun came up it was amazing, almost like everything was coated in powdered sugar.

The ice crystals were amazing clinging to everything.

My SIL gave my parents household COVID.  Luckily they are all immunized and boosted so it hasn't been terrible.  The fact that we are all pretty angry with my brother and his wife for being so cavalier about COVID and passing it around is a road I am just not going to go down that rabbit hole.  But the fact that everyone in the household had COVID, and even though I live thousands of miles away my mom asked me to pick up an anniversary card for a friend and mail it since she was told by her doctor to stay in and quarantine for 14-21 days due to her age.  I really wanted to get this card.

But I was trying to be mature and picked something else up instead.

I know I have mentioned (probably ad nauseam)  that I have been doing a lot of workouts, the problem is the different devices I use, trying to use a Kindle Fire, Ipad, or even an Iphone is not always easy getting them to sit at the right angles.  I purchased this easel and I love it!  I can put my Ipad, or Kindle Fire on it and adjust it perfectly so that I can do whatever workout I am doing.

I love the quilts and patterns by Jen Kingwell, and pre ordered her new book Quilt Recipes months ago.  It finally arrived!

There are a couple of quilts I really would love to make.  

I finished filing all of my patterns, I also printed out many that have been sitting on my old computer, and transferred them to an  external hard drive.

I read several books this week, what I actually picked up were some tried and true, which I discovered that I had never read.

A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton, the first of the Kinsey Milhone mysteries.  I am not too sure if I liked the character or not.  The story line was good.  

The next book I read was One for the Money by Janet Evanovich, the first in the Stephanie Plum series.  

I really enjoyed the book, and enjoyed the writing.  After this one I read the next in the series Two for the Dough, and then the next Three to Get Deadly.  Stephanie is a sassy Jersey girl, while not always the smartest cookie, sometimes dumb luck gets her far.  

Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor.  1934 London and Lydia Langstone has left her abusive husband and moved into Bleeding Heart Square with her father.  There are many dark mysteries that surround the house and square. 

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

I Like Thursday #191

 It's Thursday again and time to share the things we found during the week that we like/love.  Thank you LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for encouraging us to look for those things to share with others.  

I made a pillowcase for Finn for his 9th birthday.  I can't believe that almost all of my grand kids are tipping on the precipice of double digits.  Where did the time go?  I made Finn a pillowcase using these fabrics.

It was a fortuitous gift because he got a new pillow for his birthday also!  

I have complained a lot lately about the cold gray (what they call hazy) days around here.  We have had a little snow lately and have been in the mid teens as a high and single digits at night.  What I do love about it though is that we have beautiful blue skies most mornings.

I like this cute dog sweater I saw at work.  I thought it was appropriate for those of us that jump from project to project.

I like that a statue of Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte was installed on Centennial Mall in Lincoln, NE.  Per Wikipedia:

Susan La Flesche Picotte (June 17, 1865 – September 18, 1915, Omaha)^[1] was a Native American doctor and reformer in the late 19th century. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Indigenous peoples, and the first Indigenous woman, to earn a medical degree.^[2] She campaigned for public health and for the formal, legal allotment of land to members of the Omaha tribe.

Somehow this week I ended up stuck in the past when it came to my reading.  

Death Comes to the Village by Catherine Lloyd.  Miss Lucy Harrington is the daughter of the rector of Kurland St. Mary, and has been given the task of caring for her father's home, and siblings after her mother's death during childbirth, and visiting the infirm--including Major Robert Kurland who was injured during the battle of Waterloo.  When one of the maids goes missing Lucy is convinced that foul play has occurred, especially after the Major discloses that he thinks he spied something suspicious going on in the graveyard one night.  Lucy is sure that both incidents are related.  

 

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh was written in 1934 and along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham is known as one of the Queens of Crime.  A Country house party with 5 guest and a game called Murder.  Suspects with what appears to be air tight alibis, a Russian Secret society and Detective Alleyn of Scotland Yard has quite the puzzle.  

Murder at the Manor by Catherine Coles.  Evelyn Christie is resigned to a long weekend house party with her husband's family at Hessleham Hall.  The Earl of Northmoor is murdered and the next in line is a boor, until he too is bumped off and Evelyn has to use all of her sleuthing powers to prove that her husband Tommy who is next in line to inherit is innocent.

Thanks for stopping by, please head over to Not Afraid of Color to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 
 

I Like Thursday #190

 OK so I am a wee bit late this week.  But sometimes it is just the fact that you show up, am I right?  

Welcome to my 190th I Like Thursday post, where we are encouraged to share things, we like/love which we have discovered throughout the week.  Thank you LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color for hosting and encouraging us to find the positive in life. 

Every New Year we see posts about getting organized, cleaning, purging, getting healthy.  I am just trying to get my dining room table cleaned off.  Many times as I am sewing cutting, I cut up scraps and then they get lost in the mess.  I bought a couple of sets of these cute tiny baskets to through my scraps in as I cut them up.  Then I can transfer them to the bigger containers.  Also if I am using a template I have that in the basket too.  I will say at least I can see a larger part of my dining room table.  Still not cleaned off yet, but I am working on it.

My second organizational, clean up was getting a handle on my patterns, and quilting books.  I am sure none of you have ever purchased the same pattern, or book multiple times....but I have.  A few weeks ago I started a spreadsheet on my computer listing the patterns I had just sitting on my dining room table, chairs, and nearby.  This is not even attacking the bookcase in my sewing room, or the expand file sitting at the top of the stairs.  

My first page was organized by designers, then as it started to get a wee bit full, I started breaking it out into tabs by pattern name.  I even added a label if it is a pattern, block, applique, embroidery.  

But then I had this pile of patterns, what to do with them.  I always keep in the back of my mind that I need to consider that we will be moving in the distant future.  

 So I bought 4 of these file boxes, a box of hanging folder, as well as a box of manila folders.  Every day or so I will spend an hour or so cataloging the patterns, and filing them.  If I have a small kit, I even throw it in there.  

If I have a BOM, SAL, or large pattern I put it in a pocket folder, and place it in the file box too.  I am sure eventually I will be buying more hanging folders and using more of the boxes but for now this is as much as I have got accomplished.  

I have tried a couple of new recipes lately.  One I made (sorry no pics) was tortellini soup.  I used this recipe by Peas and Crayons.  But I wanted it to be a bit more hearty.  So I added some browned spicy Italian sausage, broccoli, and kale instead of spinach.  I also used 2 cans of diced tomatoes and peppers, and added a can of tomato paste.  The recipe made enough for 8 servings, and I actually froze 6.  The soup had  a lot of flavor.  

The 2nd recipe I tried was on the back of a bread bag which we produce in the bakery.  We have a new vendor and they make a nice sized Italian Boule bread.  Slice the bread (not all the way through) going two directions.  Then stuff with a mixture of mozzarella, cheddar, jalepenos, and bacon.  Drizzle with about 1/4 cup of butter, wrap in foil and bake for about 30 minutes.  Remove from oven, open up the foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes to brown it up.  

 UPDATE:  I found the recipe in the burn bag, so I will share it now.

It was very good, and I had a few pieces then promptly sent it next door for the kids to devour.

 

Even though I have worked a lot of days in a row, I did manage to get a couple of my ribbon star blocks cut and sewn.

I now have 8.  Perhaps today I will get a few more prepped to sew.  This is my first day off since before New Years.  

I have been reading of course. 

Wolves of Winter by R. Allen  Chappel.   Book 6 in the Navajo Nations Mysteries.  A ancient burial of a disabled girl at an archaeological site helps to unlock two recent murders. 

Tie Died:  A Quilting Cozy Mystery by Carol Dean Jones.  Sarah Miller has moved into a retirement community much to her chagrin.  As she unpacks her belongings every item holds a memory of her late husband or grandson.  Thanks to a very outgoing neighbor Sophie,  Sarah starts to find friends and hobbies, one of which is quilting at the local quilt shop so that she can make a quilt of the ties which once were her husband's.  When a local neighbor is found dead in his own home, the local police are convinced that the murderer is one of the community residents.  Sarah and the rest of her friends can't believe one of their own would do such a thing, and so they start to investigate.  Along the way Sarah meets the former police officer that had notified her of her husband's death, as well as worked on the death of her grandson years before. 

The Book of Candlelight by Ellery Adams.  The 3rd book in the Secret Book and Scone society does not disappoint!  There has been a lot of rain in Miracle Springs, so much that a pedestrian bridge washes out upstream.  As Nora is crossing it among the wreckage she discovers a body.  The body belongs to a Danny a local Cherokee potter.  Though the death is ruled as an accidental drowning, Nora is not quite convinced and decides to investigate further.  

Medium Dead by Paula Paul is the 4th book in the Dr. Alexandra Gladstone mysteries.  Under Queen Victoria's reign women are not allowed to be called physicians.  When a local medium is discovered murdered in the graveyard in the small town of Newton-Upon-Sea wild rumors circulate including one naming the regal personage visiting the local Manor house of Lord Dunsford being the perpetrator of the crime. 

A Noble Pair of Brothers by Suzanne Downes.  When CH Underwood arrives to visit his brother, the vicar of the small village named Bracken Tor in 1820, he fully intends to take a long needed rest after tutoring at Cambridge.  He soon becomes in intrigued with a local murder that had occurred the year previous when the corpse of a young, headless woman is discovered on the property of landowner and Magistrate Sir Henry Wynter.  

Thanks for stopping by, and please head over to LeeAnnas at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I Like Thursday posts.