I Like Thursday #108

Welcome to my 108th I Like Thursday post.

I like that we are seeing a wee bit of spring.

The Bradford Pears are blooming.

The rhubarb is coming up.  In fact it is already going to seed!

The Canadians are displaying their families.

See the 2 geese?  There are a bunch of babies in between them.

The field that I am allowing to go back to natural habitat is full of these trees with these blossoms.  I looked them up and I think they may be what are called Callery Pear trees----which is also known as a Bradford Pear.  I guess they are a very invasive species and looking at my lot, I would say yep.  I found an interesting article on NPR about them.     Callery Pear

 While the weather may be warming up it still gets pretty cold at night.  I recently purchased a Pendleton Wool blanket, the pattern is called Chief Joseph, for my bed.

The color is called slate.  Bobbin and I like the warmth it provides.

During this time I have been trying to support small business.  Some local, but some not so local.  Goldbelly per Wikipedia  --Goldbelly is a curated online marketplace for regional and artisanal foods crafted by local food purveyors throughout the United States. Goldbelly's staff curates products from restaurants, bakeries, delis, etc. to feature on the site and facilitates shipping across all 50 states.

I decided to treat myself and so I ordered Lobster Rolls from McLoon's Lobster Shack.

They send you the ingredients with instructions and you put it together.  All I can say is that it was awesome!  A nice treat.

I received a text the other day from my oldest daughter.  Made me giggle, because she lives in Oregon.  "Mom you got a package sitting on your front porch."

I was outside, walked around to the front of the house, and sure enough there was a package.  In it was my Mother's Day gift.

Nice travel mug.

I have been trying to get up enough oomph to sew a little every day. I am actually on clue 10 of the Quarantine Mystery quilt from River's Edge. I will share more of that later.  I have been using my stash of Bonnie and Camille Fabrics, all different lines.  As I was cutting the other day I looked down at this selvage and it made me smile.

The kittens are getting big.  The oldest boy loves babies and has been known to sneak down to my house and into the garage so he can sit and hold the babies.

The little light gray one is his favorite.  Oh and we have a whole herd of girl kittens!  Just rolling my eyes.  For sure no one leaves the garage until we are all spayed! 

A few I Likes ago I was mentioning that I liked this sponge thing that helped pick up cat hair.  Roseanne told me about silicone dish scrubbers and that they work well too.  So I bought a package.

This is awesome.  I will say it works better than the cat hair sponge. I used it to clean my design wall and as you can see there are no threads left, except the spot where I didn't go over with the scrubby.  Thank you Rosanne!

Finally my books for the week.  I have a wide range.

Murder int he Manor by Fiona Grace.  Lacey Doyle returns to Wilfordshire, England after her recent divorce.  England held such fine memories for her of her family during a childhood vacation.  The story takes a while to get going, but once it does I enjoyed the setting, and the characters. 

Plague by C.C. Humphreys, I know a little off putting considering our current circumstances.  But a very interesting tale of war, murder, love, religion, the royals, and the plague.  I really enjoyed this book. 

Finally I am currently reading Death by Jack-o'-Lantern by Alexis Morgan.  This is the 2nd book in the Abby McCree Mysteries.

Abby just doesn't know how to say "no" when cornered to head up different committees through her new hometown of Snowberry Creek, Washington.  When Ronald Minter turns up dead in his corn maze, Abby's tenant Tripp Blackston ends up in jail for hindering prosecution.  The police want to question Tripp's friend Kevin Montgomery, a homeless vet who lives in the nearby National Forest, but Tripp doesn't want to turn his friend in who claims to have seen the enemy infiltrating the area.

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

I Like Thursday #107

Welcome to my 107th I Like Thursday post.

I rum across things at the store that make me smile.

I saw this cute salt and pepper shaker.  Did anyone in your family collect salt and pepper shakers?  My great grandmother did and I ended up with a bunch of them.  Over the years I have winnowed it down. I am sure cute salt and pepper shakers like these got people started.

With spring finally kind of settling in this llama riding a bicycle made me smile.

My pet peeve at work.  People deciding there is something they don't want and jettisoning it anywhere within the store.  I get ice cream, milk, veggies left in my department all the time.  This item left in the produce department made me smile.

Do you think jellybeans are organic?

This is an OPO squash which is related to a Calabash.  I had to go look it up, it is related to a gourd.  There are recipes throughout the internet on how to use it. 

As I state earlier spring has kind of arrived around here. 

The chives are taking off.  I am waiting for them to bloom so that I can harvest the flowers and make chive vinegar.

I am not a fan of daylilies, but when Jeff was alive we tried to transplant some alongside the ditch.  I noticed many of the people up and down our road have been planting them near or even into the ditch.

I smiled when I saw this thick green carpet of what I know are daylilies.  If they bloom before the county cuts the ditch remains to be seen.

I like the peach hand soap from Bath and Body Works and so I ordered some online.  Isn't this box cute!

What isn't to love about a blue gingham lined box?

I like these little furballs.

We did lose one kitten.  But these seem to be doing alright. 

I just love this little face.  Sometimes when I go out to feed their mama they hiss at me.  It is hilarious.

I read a couple of books this week, but the one I would recommend is Murder by the Book.  

Addie leaves her beloved Boston for a small New England town named after one of her ancestors.  Addie inherits Graybourne Manor a large house overlooking the harbor, full of antiques, and first edition books.  Addie decides to open a bookshop and things take a turn from bad to worse. 

Finally I will leave you with this video about a farmer allowing his chicken to free range throughout the woods.

Free Range Chickens in Italy

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

I Like Thursday #106

Welcome to my 106th post of I Like Thursday. 

I like my new wire shelving unit I got for my sun room to put my plants on.  For the past 3 years there has been a bookcase headboard sitting there.  It was kind of icky looking, but served the purpose, and I couldn't get rid of it due to all the probate stuff.  But now, it is gone, some of my power tools are on the bottom shelf, and I made sure the shelf had trucks (heavy duty wheels) so it can move around.  

I like that I found a place to put my 2 bird houses that my sister bought for Jeff and I for Christmas one year. I cleaned them all up.  It is nice to see them someplace more prominent. 

I like this towel that I found at work and yes, I know non essential technically, but I bought it anyway.

Have any of you tried cold brew coffee?  It is what you use to make iced coffee drinks so it is a concentrate.  I about fainted when I looked at a bottle and it was $15!  My oldest daughter said it is nice to have a cold coffee drink sometimes but using regular coffee, and adding ice it gets kind of like drinking dishwater.  I saw a recipe for cold brew coffee using an InstaPot and the pressure cooker feature.  I had a White Russian Coffee by Bones Coffee company and my mind thought, "Oh the possibilities!"

Um yep I have 5 quarts of cold brew.  Haven't tried it yet, because of course today it was cold, wet, windy, and snowing.  But soon, and I will share my thoughts.  These babies are residing in my refrigerator until it warms up, soon I hope! 

I liked this tiny nest in a tree in the parking lot at work.

Just looking at the tree you can see how young it is, hardly any branches, so it gives you a good idea of the size of the nest.

Speaking of new life.  I have a kaboodle of kittens

My girl kitten had kittens.  Urgh!  I thought perhaps her brother was the father, but he was fixed 10 weeks ago, and the gestational period for cats is 9 weeks.  Yep someone dumped a cat, a male, we have spied him a few times lately.  Sigh!  I will have to catch him to take him to the feral cat clinic to be neutered, as well as the girl kitten and this bunch too, once the clinic opens back up.  Each of these kittens has been spoken for already.  LOL  So much for my feral barn cats.

My favorite read of the week is Basket Case by Nancy Haddock.   Nixy lives in Houston and works

  at a gallery.  Nixy has received several phone calls from a dectective of Lilyvale, Arkansas, where Nixy's aunt and only living relative Sherrie Mae lives. Eric Shoar, the detective insists that  Nixy takes a few days to come visit her Aunt Sherrie Mae.  Nixy arrives at the house to a folk art festival taking place on the grounds of the farm, and altercation at the house between Sherrie Mae and Jill Elsman a land developer.  Add a cast of characters that reside in the house....Maisie and her sister Aster, as well as 3 other room mates, and Nixy is going to have her hands full explaining to the sexy detective the reasons for the booms, smoke, and fire that is continuously occurring at the home.  When Jill Elsman AKA Hellspawn ends up dead in the family cemetery behind the house Nixy's Aunt Sherrie is under investigation.  I enjoyed the book and look forward to the next book in the series. 

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

Shelter in Place

While many are tired of the "Shelter in Place" orders throughout the US and Canada, it is just what this girl needs on her day off.

First thing I grabbed some fabric and made up a test block for my Tuesday Sewing Group BOM from 2019.

I then tried it with a couple of other blocks.

I decided that this was going to be my alternate block.  So I did the calculations and started cutting so that I could make 12 more blocks.

I stated in my previous post Finding Treasures that once I figured out that problem I could pull it off my design wall and throw the BOM from the LQS up and figure out the layout I wanted. 

But 1st I was going to reward myself with making step 2 of the River's Edge Quarantine Mystery Quilt.

 I had to make 8 of these. 

Here it is hanging out with clue 1.

Since I was already cutting I decided to grab clue 3 and cut too.  Of course once you cut you have to sew.  As you can see I made 4 of these blocks. 

Then it was time to put the quarantine quilt away and work on a UFO.

I pulled the Kaleidoscope quilt back out.  played with the layout a bit. 

Then I could sew! 

Since I was still cutting I threw in step 4 of the quarantine mystery to cut blocks.

I would alternate making block 4 for the Quarantine quilt, sewing for the 2019 Alternate block, and adding sashing and cornerstones to the Kaleidoscope quilt.

One row sashed and cornerstoned for the Kaleidoscope Quilt.  I was also still working on cutting out pieces for the alternate blocks for the 2019 BOM. 

Clue 4 done I had to make 2 sets of 4 blocks. 

I also manage to make one more alternate block before it was time to call it a nice couple of days off.  I keep looking at this and think that I need to do some sashing and cornerstones for these blocks too.  I think a 2 1/2 inch sashing with a 2 1/2 inch cornerstone in red where the red meets, and green where the green meets. 

When making my blocks for the quarantine quilt I busted into my fat quarter bundles of Bonnie and Camille Early Bird, and Smitten.  I loved the roses on the dark navy with the crosses so found a small shop on Etsy and ordered a couple of yards.

I also used up some of the other fat quarters in the quarantine quilt and knew I may want more so I went on an Etsy hunt to find those too.  What I found....

These lovely roses on Navy, but then some green chicken wire, and tractors red, gray, and green!

Roses

on aqua, the green darling dots, and bias plaid.  But also a couple of an older line called Little Snippets. 

More Bonnie and Camille from an older line called The Good Life.

Finally some fabric from a line called Hand Made.

I also may, or may not have ordered some fabric from their new fabric line called At home, they have a pussy willow print that I love.  

I know I should have been working in the yard but, wouldn't you know it the days I had off were cold and this happened.

We actually ended up with a couple of inches of snow on the ground.  Then the sun came out and within an hour or two it was melted. 

I look forward to the days I get to stay home. 

I Like Thursday #105

Welcome to my I Like Thursday post #105.  Thank you to LeeAnna for encouraging us to find things we like/love during the week.  It is especially important during this time.

I love a video that was posted on Facebook that shows the young women and girls of my tribe sharing their heritage wearing their regalia.  If you do not have Facebook it may not allow you to view the video. 

Cultural Heritage

Keeping with my heritage Native Americans believe our dances and songs heal the sick and also a sick world.  I especially love the Quarantine Dance Special 2020 on Facebook.  I also found a few on YouTube.

The videos on Facebook of the small children is awesome.  Go check it out if you can.

I like that we had a couple of warm days and my daffodils are blooming.

I like that I finally had time to make a face mask. 

 There are times that I find the funnies memes on Facebook.  I sent this one to Jacky in hopes her hubby would help clean house.

And for those of us that have done a Zoom meeting.

I like this book series by Jana DeLeon called the Miss Fortune Series.  The latest book I read was Cajun Fried Felony.  These books always make me giggle. 

 Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and find some other inspiration for the week.