Winter . . . and Quilts

It's more than a day or two later, but I am back!  

This has been quite the winter here in our little corner of the world. We have had snow on the ground for at least two months. A lot of snow. The piles on the edges of our driveway are high and rock solid, and as Dan says, we'll be able to keep our sodas cool on the 4th of July!! We got a few more inches today although rain is forecast for tomorrow with threats of flooding.  Because the ground is frozen and covered with snow, there's no place for the rain to sink in. 

Meanwhile, although I thought I might get down to my sewing room today, I didn't. I had Bible study this morning followed by a haircut this afternoon, and then Dan was in a cleaning mood, so we attacked the floors on the upper level with dustmop, broom, and vacuum. 

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been working on some quilts over the last six months, so I'll share a couple of them today. I think I've mentioned that I make baby blankets for a local ministry to women who have crisis pregnancies. I've made fleece blankets and flannel receiving blankets in the past, but lately I've been making quilts. I think I shared this first one in the piecing stage, but here's the finished product:

I really like how it turned out. My success with this "use up my scraps and fat quarters" project inspired me to use another Accuquilt die, the tumbler block. I truly used every pink scrap I had to make this next one.

As I finished the piecing of the top, I decided to spice it up a bit by adding the ruffles to each end. I used my ruffler attachment to make them and it was quick work. I think they add just the right touch.

I had one other baby quilt in my closet that I'd made several years ago and so I was able to take three quilts to the center just before Christmas. I finished a boy quilt recently and have another on the quilting machine. I'll share those another time.

Hello There

I know. It's been a very long time since I've checked in. Life sometimes gets in the way and as it does, the writing muse (as my friend Kathy would say) disappears. Last April and May, my dad who turned 93 on May 4, began to fail. We made it through the summer and I managed to peck away here once in a while, but by September, things began to go badly and we lost him the day after Thanksgiving. He was one of a kind and I'm so proud to have been his daughter.  

Here are a few pictures from his life:

With his mother, circa 1935

Smokejumper, summer of 1946

Circa 1985

With Bruder Bear and me circa 2010

Life goes on, however, and I guess it's time I get back in the swing of things. I have been getting some quilting done and I'll share pictures in a day or so.  It's been great therapy.  

Quilting...

I finished piecing the top of the pink and yellow quilt last week.  And here I have to admit to an error in my last post about it.  The block pattern is not shoo fly, but churn dash.  They are somewhat similar and will use that to justify my mistake. :-)

For a quilt that started out as a couple of test blocks, I love how it turned out.  I essentially used all the pink and yellow fat quarters I possessed (obviously they're not colors I use much) and then was stumped as to where to go next.  I kept pawing through my stash and came up with the green (it has tiny polka dots which are indiscernible in the photo) for the sashing and had enough of the small pink check left to cut inch and a half cornerstones.  The border really had me stumped until I found a yellow remnant from a long-ago quilt that was just enough. It's very feminine and I think it will make a lovely baby quilt.  

I'm in the process of putting it on my handi-quilter frame and hope to start stitching later today.  ♥  

Kitchen Stuff

At the risk of geeking out in my kitchen, I have to say there's a new power couple in there.  Now I love my KitchenAid stand mixer, and my ancient old bread machine is still dearly loved. My Cuisinart food processor rocks, but two recent additions are currently starring in a number of productions.  

I wrote last year about getting my InstantPot electic pressure cooker.  I'm still amazed by it.  Mostly, I love that it's fix and forget, enabling me to go about other cooking without keeping an eye out on it. My second favorite thing about it is being able to make yogurt.  I still can't believe I can do it! 

My sweetie has been working, working and working, and been out of town many nights, leaving me alone with my computer. My long time friend, Kathy, gives herself rewards when her husband is out of town. As a joke a month or more ago, I told Dan I was going to buy a Vitamix blender and start drinking smoothies. He just rolled his eyes and said, "Go for it!"  Well, somehow, the more I said it, the more it took root in my mind.  (Hmm, there's a lesson there!) I checked around town but found only the usual suspects, no Vitamixes.  

I read reviews, blog posts, recipes, etc, in an attempt to tamp down my interest, but it only served to make me more interested.  The downside seemed to be price. They are not cheap.  But then I discovered that Amazon had refurbished ones which came with a full warranty and required quite a bit less money.  The reviews were excellent. Finally, one day I clicked "buy now with one click" and two days later a huge box arrived on my front porch.  (You knew that was coming, didn't you?)

So here they are, the new power couple in my kitchen:

I just used both to make the most amazing roasted red pepper hummus (recipe from Pressure Perfect by Lorna Sass).  I cooked the chick peas (garbanzos) from dry to ready-to-go in just an hour, start to finish, and then made the hummus in the Vitamix.  Yes, I even roasted my own red pepper (a first) on our grill.  I made the tahini a couple of weeks ago in the Vitamix.  Tahini is muy expensive and I could never bring myself to buy a container of it, but my favorite grocery store has a huge bulk section and sesame seeds are very reasonable.  I'll have this blender paid for in no time!  

Oh yeah--and I'm drinking smoothies too!  ♥

I've Been Stitchin'

I'm not really in the mood to blog, but I decided I need to or it will be weeks ... again.  Dan has been super busy with his consulting so I've had long days with time on my hands.  I have enjoyed watching some quilting videos online and have ordered a few things to feed the habit.  One thing doesn't necessarily have to do with quilting, but it does sometimes figure in.  I have many types of stabilizer for machine embroidery and every time I need to use some, I've had to pick through a whole shelf of them (an upgrade from the basket I used to keep them in).  I noticed a clever over-the-door hanger just for stabilizer in an email from Nancy's Notions and I decided to order one.

It's easy to see what types of stabilizer I have and I no longer will have to spend precious sewing minutes searching for the one I need.  Plus, the hanger is out of sight and I had an empty shelf!

I have an AccuQuilt Go! cutter which hasn't been used as much as it should be.  I watched a few videos and was inspired to buy a BOB (block on board) die for making shoo fly blocks.  It came on Tuesday and yesterday I decided to give it a try and sew a test block. I picked a pink fat quarter and after searching through various other FQs decided on a yellow print that included pink.  Well.  After making the first one, it was so cute I used up the rest of those quarters and made two more. I decided these three were too cute to waste and I spent some time plowing through my fat quarter stash and came up with several more fabrics that would work.  I'm thinking a baby quilt or small lap quilt.

I know it's a poor picture because the sun is hitting the back row but you get the idea.  I love that the pieces come out of the Go! so perfectly and by putting the two colors together with right sides together I can start right in stitching and chain piece.  (Some of the pieces for the next three blocks can be seen in the bottom of the above picture.)

Here's a picture of the die.  It's called a BOB, block on board, because all the pieces needed for the block are on one die.  

I'm having fun!  And, gasp! I'm working on another quilt when I haven't finished the Yellow Brick Road baby quilt I was working on last week.  I am one of those weird quilters who always finishes a quilt before I start another one, but really, the top is done (see below) so technically I'm sorta done with it.  I'll just quilt these one after the other and be done with both lickety split!

And now to head down to my sewing room and crank out (literally!) a few more blocks! ♥

Happy 4th! and Other Mutterings

For some reason I always feel that when the 4th of July hits, summer is half over.  Really, it's not and I'm not certain why I feel that way.  Maybe it was the years I was teaching and August was creeping steadily closer. Once August hits, teachers turn their thoughts and efforts to a new school year: planning, getting to know new textbooks, putting the classroom back together after the summer cleaning crew leaves, and so on.  One teacher friend likened summer to a weekend: June is Friday night--hey we survived! July is Saturday--let's play! And August is Sunday--Monday's comin'...

At any rate, it's our country's birthday! And a three-day weekend.  We here at the resort are enjoying some down time as Dan has been super busy with his consulting and will continue to be in the weeks ahead.  I plan to grill some chicken breasts later and have it with pasta alfredo.  Mmm.  Hardly 4th fare, however. Hopefully I'll have some chicken leftover to put in salads this week.  Love these salads in the summer!

Meanwhile, I've been doing some stitching.  A week or so ago when Dan was out of town for the week, I pondered possible projects in my sewing room closet. I'd had one pulled out for a while but I finally realized it was not one I would enjoy, so I pulled the kit apart, threw the pattern away, and put the fabrics in the appropriate fabric stacks by color.  Whew!  The relief I felt told me I'd made the right decision.  But now what?  

Something fun and easy, that's what.  A few years ago when I tore my sewing room closet apart and Dan made me new shelves, I put together several bundles of fat quarters to make Yellow Brick Road quilts.  One such bundle was comprised of the Bella Baby fabric line by Marcus Brothers in blue and brown.  The time had come! I began cutting and soon had the various blocks made.

I currently have the blocks arranged on my design wall and plan to start stitching them together in a day or so. I should have this quilt done in no time and then I'll get to choose a whole new project.  ♥

Red, White and Blue

I'm a fan of using peanut M&M's as part of my seasonal decorating and love that they make appropriately colored bagsful throughout the year.  Last summer a Facebook friend posted a picture of a bowl of red, white and blue ones and I wanted some. I searched all over town to no avail and was totally bummed.  This year I decided to start my looking early, but still no luck.  I even looked on line and did find some--for some pretty amazing prices,  Apparently the M&M people don't make many bags and some people are price gouging.  I didn't purchase.

Fortunately back in March when I had some Valentine's M&M's left over as I changed over to Easter hued ones, I noticed I had a few white ones left.  In a light-bulb moment, I scooped out the whites and put them in a ziplock baggie...just in case.  I bought a huge Costco bag of the usual multi-colored ones last trip and picked out some red and blue ones.  And so it is that I have a bowl of red, white and blue peanut M&M's to add to my summertime Americana decorating.

And I tell everyone to only eat the red and blue ones.  ♥