I Like Thursday #203

 Welcome to my 203 I Like Thursday post.  Each week a group of bloggers share things that they have found that they like/love during the week.  Perhaps it is just that they want to share their accomplishments for the week, anything positive to throw some kindness into the universe.  LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color is our head wrangler.  

I have worked a lot of days in a row again, the price I pay for asking for days off.  The downside is I will admit I get very tired and don't accomplish a whole lot after day 4.  Perhaps it is the working nights, perhaps it is all the physical work I do because out of those first 4 days back I do a truck 3 days.  It means I help break down 8-16 pallets a night stacked at 8 feet tall.  I usually end up with 3-6 pallets of bakery items which then need to be stored in the sub zero walk in freezer, so there is a lot of lifting.  So when I accomplish anything it feels like a big deal.  

I finished a quilt from a SAL called Joy in the Journey.  At least it is to the flimsy stage!

I used a lot of fabrics which were hanging out on my cutting table after finishing a previous project.  The background are all neutral fabrics and scraps.  I made a 1 1/2 inch border around the quilt using different lengths of neutral scraps and then found an awesome orange batik that went perfect with all the other colors.  

May is mental health care month and I thought the Riley Blake blog had a pretty neat idea.  They shared a #RBDsewingselfcare 30 Day Challenge.  You can find out more about the challenge at the Riley Blake Blog website.

Next to my work are two ponds and during the majority of the year they are filled with ducks and geese.  I got a kick out of these baby Canadians wandering around.  They are so cute and fluffy!

This was just 2 of a huge gaggle.  

Speaking of birds.  The Yurok tribe of California has been working at reintroducing Condors to the Northern California area.  They did a very neat YouTube video on the Condor recovery.  One of the reasons which I thought this was so important is it is my people who are working toward these re-introductions. 

At the library I spied these violets in the grass.  

The chickens are laying like crazy.  In fact we had so many eggs, both extra refrigerators were full.  The kids put out coolers with ice in zip log bags in the bottom and we ended selling almost 60 dozen eggs total over the weekend.  These are the eggs from 2 days this week.  All washed and ready to be crated.

And there is another giant egg.  I keep watching my chickens to see if one of them is injured in any way, since this is so huge!

I have been binge watching TV so far I am caught up on Outlander, Bridgerton, and Virgin River, and while I watch I work on my wool quilt blocks or other handwork. 

I have also been binge reading....

The Dickinson Sister's Mysteries.  Lily and Iris Dickinson are the spinster seamstresses in the the town of Grangehurst, Yorkshire, England during the early Victorian period.  The books by Blythe Baker weave Victorian propriety with murder and some unfortunate events that drag the sisters into the middle of the mysteries.  I binge read books 2-6 and finished the series. 

I also read Cleopatra's Dagger by Carole Lawrence.  

Elizabeth van den Broek is the only female reporter on staff at the Herald, 1880's New York's most popular newspaper.  Relegated to report on fashion, cooking, and Lady Astor's garden parties, Elizabeth if desirous of doing real journalism.  One the EL (Elevated Train), Elizabeth sees what appears to be a murder taking place in one of the apartments.  When she returns to the apartment she is told no one lives there, and the disappearance of the former tenant is hushed up.  But when Elizabeth and her new friend Carlotta Ackerman stumble upon a mummy in the hole, where they are preparing to erect Cleopatra's Needle(now called The Obolisk), Elizabeth convinces the journalistic powers that be that she should be able to report on the crime, and perhaps solve the murder.  Little does Elizabeth know it places her in the sights of a serial killer too.

Thanks for stopping by.  Now wander over to LeeAnna's to check out the other I Like Thursday posts. 

I Like Thursday #202

 Welcome to my 202nd I Like Thursday post.  Weekly, there are a group of bloggers which create a post of things that they like/love during the previous week.  You can find us all over at LeeAnna's blog-- Not Afraid of Color, where she hosts us, and offers encouragement.  

I had a weird week.  I had what started out as a tummy problem, turned into a migraine, and then back into a tummy problem so I actually called off of work 2 days.  I slept a lot, read a lot, and played catch up on some sewing.  

I managed the Moda BH bonus block 1 in the 4. 5 inch size in my fashion.

BH 4 Bonus Block 1 4.5 inch

BH 4 Bonus Blocks 1 Roundabout

I then worked on cutting out blocks 4, 5 and the bonus block 2.  I think it takes me longer to select the fabrics than to sew the two blocks.

Blocks 4 called Spinners

 

BH 4 Block 4 Spinners

BH 4 Block 5 9 inch

BH 4 Block 4 4.5 inch

BH 4 Block 5 Two of Five

 

BH 4 Block 5 Two of Five

BH 4 Block 5 4.5 inch Block

BH 4 Block 5 9 inch block

BH 4 Bonus Block 2 Mix and Match

BH 4 Bonus Block 2 4.5 inch

BH 4 Bonus Block 2 9 inch Block

BH Bonus Block 2 Mix and Match

 

Moda BH 4 Block 6 Spinning into Spring

 

BH 4 Block 6 Spinning into Spring

BH 4 Block 6 9 inch block

BH 4 Block 6 4.5 inch block

I also finished 3 ribbon blocks

Ribbon Star Block 15

Ribbon Star 14

Ribbon Star Block 13

 I also did a seamstress job of fixing some sleeves on a person's work shirts, and I put one of the borders on my Joy in the Journey quilt.  

I also put borders on the paper pieced bunny I made a few weeks ago.  Now to quilt, and make into a pillow.

 

During my days off there was an 80 degree day, but we are back to barely in the 40's for the highs.  I still do not have any tulips, but my giant snowdrops have bloomed.  

The kids took the deck off where the pool used to be.  We decided any building not necessary would be removed and salvaged for our next property.

 What was really funny is somehow an Easter Egg ended up down here in the planter and it had candy in it even!

Since the weather has warmed up a bit the clucky girls are laying a lot more.  I get almost 2 dozen eggs a day.  One day there was an egg which was huge.

I have read a lot of books recently, but the stand outs were the following:

The Woman in the Green Dress by Tea Cooper.  The book starts out after WWI when new bride Fleur Richards discovers her husband has been killed just a few days before the Armistice her whole life is turned upside down to find out she just travel to Australia to claim her inheritance that her husband left her, even though they were married such a short time. 
 

The book jumps back and forth between 1850's Australia, and post WWI Australia where Fleur discovers many secrets.  

Death at the Workhouse by Emily Organ is the 8th book in the Penny Green Mysteries.  When Penny and her sister infiltrate the workhouse to report on the conditions they are surprised at how some people are turned away because of their age, or their inability to work.  But when 2 of the male inmates are discovered dead, it is easy to suppose that they killed each other, but Penny suspects something completely different. 

The Gang of St. Bride's is the 9th installment of the Penny Green Mysteries by Emily Organ.  In this installment Penny is sad to be leaving her Fleet Street career due to her impending nuptials to Inspector Blakely because no married woman continues to work after her marriage.  But before her wedding day Penny is investigating the robberies in Picadilly by a gang of women.  During her inquiry she is given a riddle to solve which is purported to lead her to the leader of the gang of St. Bride's.  

 

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

I Like Thursday #201

Welcome to my 201st I Like Thursday post.  Weekly LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color encourages others to share things that they have discovered during the week that they like/love.  

I love flowers, and I enjoy my garden which is a work in progress.  I am a willy nilly gardener.  I put things where I want to see them, no real plan other than does it need sun/shade, how tall is it?  While it is too cold to garden here yet, I loved these flowers that I spied at work.

Lovely tulips which are yellow with hints of pink and green in the petals.

 

While it is hard to tell these hyacinths were almost a yellowish peach color.  I sometimes contemplate, perhaps I could buy them, and plant them later.  But then cooler heads prevail the less things to move the better, right?  The other reason why I don't buy plants yet is this:

I saw a meme the other day and it made me giggle:

 

My housekeeping style can be best described as "There appears to have been a struggle"

I liked these magnets I saw at work.  

 I saw a recipe to make strawberry brownies and so I thought I would try it.  They were quick, easy and very yummy.  The glaze is a lemon glaze.

The brownies were made with a strawberry cake mix, 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, and 2 eggs.  

Also it is that time of year one of my favorite ice cream flavors is out.

I haven't done a lot of sewing this past week because I worked 8 days in a row.  I did work a bit on my wool applique.  I had a pillow that Dawn of Relaxing Robin had given me and it is  great size to sit on my lap and do my applique. 

 

I also found a little chicken pincushion I made and use it to stick my pins that I used in the applique piece.  

I love doing wool applique and using the lana wool from Aurifil.  I have some motifs which were not really red, but not really pink either, so I ordered some of the smaller spools in hopes one would work.  

 

Wednesday was my first day off and I worked on the Moda Blockheads 4 bonus block from a couple of weeks ago.  The 9 inch block was easy.

 But I didn't like the 4.5 inch block since it was just a quarter of the 9 inch block.  I tried to calculate the math to make the 4 1/2 inch block and I think I had a mental block.  I started one and thought it would be too small.

So I started again and it was too big.

 

Recalculating I determined that the first block was the correct size.  I managed to get another quarter done before I had to leave for an appointment.  I still have 2 more to make.  I also need to do the blocks 4 and 5 which are available.  

I realized that I had only a couple more books in the Sebastian St. Cyr Mysteries by C.S. Harris, so I decided to finish up the series.

London 1814 and the body of a beautiful music teacher is discovered in an alley in the middle of a blizzard.  Is her death related to her ties with the royal family and Princess Charlotte?
 

Sebastian must investigate the death of Lord Ashworth, the husband of his niece Stephanie.  Ashworth was a dissolute, handsome man.  Investigating Lord Ashworth's death, Lord Devlin discovers just how wicked Ashworth truly was, and worries that perhaps Stephanie murdered him. 
 

Nicholas Hayes the 3rd son of the late Earl of Seaford was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, but at the last minute he is transported to Botany Bay, and was believed dead.  During a warm summer evening Nicholas Hayes body is discovered in London and as Lord Devilin investigates, it is discovered he also has been seen with a young boy.  Who killed Nicholas Hayes, and where is the young boy?

The war in France is finally over.  In 1811 two families are viciously murdered, it is believed that a young seaman John Williams is the culprit but hangs himself in his cell before he is brought to trial.  When the lead investigator Edwin Pym is found murdered much in the same manner in 1814 the city fears that a serial killer is back on the loose. 

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