I Like Thursday: December 31, 2020

It's Thursday and time to fill the internet with happy energy.  I Like Thursdays are hosted by Lee Anna at Not Afraid of Color!  Visit some of my other blogging friends via her website!

This week's likes:

We weren't supposed to exchange gifts this year but I think my husband felt bad at how much I was doing caring for him.  Anyway, as usual he got me a long sleeved poodle shirt:

I love it!  It looks a lot like Kerry, my mom's new puppy!

I like that my husband fixed the dryer!

 Of course it broke after he had his surgery and couldn't fix it.  It's surprising how old memories come back so quickly.  Suddenly our old radiators became invaluable as I dried things outside, downstairs in the basement and over the radiators (an old trick my Nana did).   

I like tired puppies!

Each day we check on my mom and Scout and Kerry continue to romp.  It's always a good thing when Kerry gets worn out!

It doesn't happen very often!

I like clean sewing rooms.

We've all be doing a lot of sewing and yesterday I just couldn't stand it anymore and cleaned out the sewing room.  I'm almost finished with my latest Christmas top:

It's the "4x4" pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  The pattern is free.  It's a modern take on an old pattern and I thought it would be perfect for a young family member.  I still have to put borders on it but I'll do that this weekend.

No matter how much I try to curb my Irish superstitiousness, it is just a part of who I am.  So I'll just say I'm looking forward to some new quilt patterns in the new year....and of course wish you a happy and safe holiday!

2020 Quilts: The year in review

I don't have much to do today which is why I decided to do a the sewing year in review.  Over at the Pennsylvania Piecemaker blog, I posted a bunch of challenges, patterns, and other sewing events coming up in 2021.  

The big difference this year was not much embroidery.  Why?  My mind would start racing when I embroidered and I needed to just put something between me and my head.  The sewing machine worked as long as I kept to basic patterns.  Anything more intricate and I was sure to make mistakes.

Lap Quilts:

Most were gifts.  

Wall hangings:

Donation quilts for Camp Erin:

Have a safe and happy day!

To-Do-Tuesday: December 29, 2020

Happy Tuesday!  How was your holiday?  Ours was quiet.  I just want to continue to hibernate in my sewing room.  Today is Tuesday and time to link up for "To-Do-Tuesday" sponsored by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us!  I love to check out the bloggers on this day for inspiration and ideas! 

My only goal last week was to complete 56 Christmas blocks.  I ended up going a different direction. There is a young lady in our family getting married next December and I went with a more youthful design.  All the blocks are done (which turned out to be 56 blocks anyway) and I'm almost finished sewing the rows.  I hope to get this top done this week.  I'd like to make a table runner with leftover scraps for her as well.

Goals for the coming week:

1-Finish Jenny's Christmas top

2-Finish Tablerunner for her and Linda

3-CLEAN THE SEWING ROOM

Stay safe!  Have a great day!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

I like Thursdays: December 24, 2020

 Merry Christmas!  How are you and yours holding up?  It's quiet here but we are looking forward to 2021 and getting the vaccine.

It's Thursday and time to post a few things that make us happy!  "I like Thursdays" is hosted by Lee Anna and you can find more happy posts here.

I like dogs playing together!

A rare photo of Kerry aka Taz.  

We had a break through this week.  Scout had decided she likes playing with Kerry and now bugs me in the morning to go over to see her.  Another interesting turn of events is that Scout is more comfortable that she won't hurt the puppy.  She is really asserting her dominance over her and that makes me happy.  and has tantrums sometimes 😁.  It appears to make Scout happy when Kerry is stymied, hence this photo:

Nothing much else happening here.  The only people we see are my Mom and it will be a quiet holiday.  Brad is feeling good and hoping to go back to work in January.

Have a safe and happy holiday.  Wishing you and yours blessings and good health!  

Merry Christmas!

To-Do Tuesday: December 23, 2020

 

Happy Winter!!

Today is To-Do-Tuesday and I hope you and yours are all doing well!  You can check out other bloggers at our wonderful hostess' website, Home Sewn By Us.

Last week my only goal was to assemble the Sunny Skies quilt top and I had that done by Saturday:

I thought I was done with Christmas quilts for this year and I cleaned up all the scraps and put them away.  The next day I went upstairs to look at what I might sew.  I was thinking I might do a nine patch quilt.  But nooooooooooo.....the Christmas fabric scraps called out to me.  So I found another pattern and in between my chores, I'm piecing blocks together.  The pattern entails more 16 patches and I'm hoping to get enough from the scraps to make two lap quilts.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll need 56 blocks.

Goal:  56--16 patch quilts.

I hope you are all doing well and pray you stay safe!

Have a great day!

Sunny Christmas Skies

 

Yesterday morning I finished my latest Christmas top.  The pattern is from Missouri Star Tutorials and it is called Sunny Skies.  I wish we had sunnier skies right now.  None of our snow has melted yet.  

Linda has already asked for this quilt for her family room and I'm happy to oblige.  She actually helped choose the colors.  I don't know about you, but I'm always looking to make good contrast choices.  I was going to scrap using this pattern because the Engelbreit 16 patches are already wild but Linda said, "It's a Christmas Quilt, go crazy!"  Actually using two darks for the chevron worked well.

And here's a little secret:  I don't have any dark green regular fabric left so I used fabric that is supposed to emulate grass.  Like Beth said:  We use what we have and I had enough for this quilt.  Here's an overexposed photo so you can see the pattern:

I just figured if you turn the grasses every which way that it could look like a close-up of a pine tree.  Anyway I'm happy with it and Linda loves it so all is good.

Today I'm going to attach binding to two quilts so I can hand bind them this week.  I'd also like to make some kind of single Irish Chain quilt.  I just feel like making an Irish Chain right now. I'll pull fabric and start cutting that today.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend and please stay safe!

I Like Thursdays: December 17, 2020

 It's "I like Thursday" and time to fill the internet with positive posts!  Check out our hostess LeeAnna for more happy posts!

Well as predicted, we got a lot of snow last night.  There's about 10-12 inches of the stuff and a few more flakes might fall this morning.

We aren't going anywhere anyway so it may as well snow although Scout is sulking that she can't lay on the couch after she's been outside.  😁

I like that I'm not mailing Christmas cards this year.  I was all ready to...but then my Mom was lamenting that she didn't have cards to send out.  I gave her my bag of cards to use.  She needs projects to keep her busy and it seemed like a better use for the cards.

I like the new sofa cover I bought for the winter.  I just wanted something different and I like this.  

I like holiday humor:

Happy pups with Christmas toys.  Always a plus during snow storms!

I tried this recipe yesterday because... I had everything in the house!  It was easy and pretty good.  I served it over rice cauliflower yesterday. Today I wanted to make some fried rice with the leftovers but hubby doesn't want the rice.  I'll figure out something.  I used toasted sesame oil because that is what I had hit the title for the recipe:  

Simple sauteed sesame chicken

This week I'm grateful that my friend Diana made it through surgery and is safely at home.  

I'm grateful that my neighbor clears the snow for us.  I pay him and bake him cookies to thank him but it means so much more now that we are getting older.  

I'm grateful the kids understand that we can't get together this holiday.  

I'm grateful that we've been isolating (for months) so we can have a Christmas dinner with my Mom.

I'm grateful for the vaccine that I hope we get soon.

There is a lot of good out there.  Just look for it!

Have a safe and happy day!

To-Do-Tuesday: December 15, 2020

Good morning!  It's To-Do-Tuesday and time to list my goals for the coming week.  This wonderful idea is hosted by Roseanne over at Home Sewn By Us and you can visit our bloggers for inspiration here.

My only goal last week was to finish my 16 patch blocks for my latest Christmas quilt.  Done!

I also started on the alternative blocks.  I have nearly all of them done except for 15 border blocks.  With the snow anticipated for this week, I'm hoping to not only finish those blocks but assemble the quilt as well.

I haven't even decorated for Christmas.  To be honest, after caring for my husband for 4 months, I'm exhausted and I'm really tired of the police shows he watches all day/every day.

The sewing room is now my escape as he is doing more things for himself.  I like the silence and I'm really looking forward to the peace that descends when we get a snow storm.  We are expecting 12-18 inches of snow Wednesday into Thursday.

I hope you are staying well and keeping safe!  Have a great day!

 

I Like Thursday: December 10, 2020

Happy Hanukkah friends!

Today is "I Like Thursday" and time to fill up the internet with happy posts!  Hosted by Lee Anna at Not Afraid of Color, be sure to fill your day with positive thoughts by visiting her and the other participating bloggers!

Photo above is the little pond down the hill from us.  I was surprised to see a boater on the water.  Turns out the city was pulling out a floating fountain they use in the spring and summer.  Little surprises like this make me happy!

Scout and Kerry are cleared to play with each other.  It's really hard to get a photo of the puppy because she is all black.  Also she is a handful.  She wanted to play with the really big crazy Weimaraner next door.  She kept going to the fence to see him.

Yesterday she wriggled through the fence!  My mother had to call my brother to come collect the pup.  Fortunately the big boy didn't hurt her (of course she is so crazy that maybe he couldn't catch her).  There's a reason why my husband has nicknamed her the Tazmania Devil.  On the other hand, Scout is a little lady.  She doesn't want to play with the rough boy, and tires easily of the puppy's constant attacks on her.

Early in the pandemic, we all quickly became tired of cooking.  We looked for new recipes and had breakfast for dinner.  Lately, we've been having childhood favorites.  This is partially because I was so exhausted from caring for Brad and partially because I was looking for nonperishable foods to put in storage.  Brad is particularly fond of canned ravioli and fish and chips dinners.  I know we should be doing all fresh food but sometimes you need to take a break.  This week I actually bought Spam.  Neither of us have had it since we were in elementary school.  We are wondering if we will like it as much as we did when we were kids.

We are close with our neighborhood and this past week, Scout got a Christmas stocking.  She loves the hedgehog that was in it!

Scout got a haircut yesterday and I took the opportunity to run up to the mountains for a no-contact pickup from my machine quilter.  Scout looks beautiful and I'll get a photo of her this week (she's still tired).  What I didn't expect was that once I was on the turnpike that I would encounter a heck of a snow storm.  Down here we got a dusting but north it was treacherous and the roads hadn't been plowed or treated yet.  Today I'm grateful that is behind us.

I'm off to work on my Christmas cards and get some sewing in!

I hope you are all doing well and staying safe!  Have a great day!

 

To-Do-Tuesday

 

It's Tuesday and time to participate in To-Do-Tuesday!

Each week we list our goals and share them with other bloggers.  This is sponsored by Roseanne and Sue at Home Sewn By Us and I love to peruse the bloggers and get inspired!

Last week's goal was to finish the navy Christmas top!  Done!

We didn't get to Terri's to drop it off, hopefully later this week.  I haven't take a photo of it either because I was feeling that sewing Christmas put me in the mood a little.  I pulled a lot more of Christmas fabric out and decided to use a jelly roll of Mary Engelbreit Christmas fabric I've had for years. 

This week's only goal is to complete my 16 patch blocks for the quilt I want to make.

Hope you are all staying safe and have a great day!