Just Hanging Out

I finally finished the top to this scrap quilt at our quilt retreat. All I needed to do was stitch down the appliqued hearts, but it sat in the WIP file for a while. I found the pattern in a magazine and thought it might be a great way to use up my scraps. Didn't even put a dent in them. I need to make 700 more scrap quilts.

This bell pepper coaster was in a book I bought recently. Easy and fun. The hardest part was finding scraps in pepper colors. I didn't bring my scraps to the retreat. Luckily, I have friends with fabric. ;)

Look who was hanging out Sunday enjoying a little sunshine after a rainy day. He scared Hollywood and her little charge away from the front door. Maybe he will work on solicitors as well. When I went to get a picture of him, Hollywood's charge said "do you want me to stand by him?" Ha! What a jokester. I don't think he was joking though.

My herbs are still on overdrive, so I clipped a ton of oregano and dried it. It smells so good. Makes me crave pizza. A gross caterpillar ate two of my tomatoes, so Inspector Gadget flicked him in the pool. Not my idea of caterpillar elimination, but I didn't want to handle it. Yuck.

I've pulled some fabric for the Giant Starburst Quilt. Looking forward to using that white on white floral so it will go away. Where did I get that stuff? I swear I have 20 yards of it. It's really not that bad, but I prefer solid white. I'm going to use this stuff first.

Hollywood's charge loves to craft. She brings him over for craptastic craft sessions and Sunday dinner while his parents are at work. I'm all ready for a brown bag turkey puppet next time. Good thing I've saved all the crap craft stuff my kids used to create with. We may have to try wood burning next.

To Infinity and Beyond

Remember my tomato plant? I bought it October 11 to celebrate a Friday.

Look at it now! Less than a month later there are six tomatoes about tangerine size. I'm practically giddy about its progress. Maybe my plant killer days are over. Apparently plants like regular water. Who knew?

I really love to eat green tomatoes too, but I'll try to resist. The spinach, peppers, and herbs are doing well too. Fall farming is the way to go. Anyone need some basil or oregano?

Speaking of giddy, Rene' gifted me with her beautiful selvage bag. I might have squealed. Okay, I really did squeal when I saw the Hey Girl journal and Bad Ass Quilter coffee cup and pin. I love those Ryan Gosling Hey Girl memes. The Bad Ass Quilter stuff goes so well with my Holy Shit Balls Sewing's Awesome project bag. Quilters are so fun!

If you haven't seen astronaut Karen Nyberg quilting in space, check it out. Amazing! I will never whine about gravity or misplacing my snips again. Our guild is making star-themed blocks to celebrate her homecoming.

Friday Farming

These herbs need a haircut. The oregano must love the cooler weather. I use a lot of cilantro and parsley but I can't get it to grow.

There are four tomatoes on my tomato plant.

The Okinawa spinach is growing like a weed.

Even flowers bloom if you water them.

Pumpkin grows quickly. I'd like to plant these somewhere and see if anyone would notice before they had 10 lb. pumpkins in their yard.

I added some borders to the log cabin quilt top. I wish the blocks were a little wonkier, but I like how it turned out.

Certifiable

What's up chicken butt?

Had a little fun in the scrap bins yesterday. Colorful log cabins in the making. Some of these are courthouse steps because I always get screwed up doing log cabin blocks. I was going for an improv look anyway.

Eek, scary dolls.

I roasted a couple of garlic bulbs yesterday. My house smelled so good. I think Yankee Candle should consider roasting garlic a candle scent. Right after they make a chicken stock one. I like smearing the roasted cloves on bread or tossing them in mashed potatoes. I might even eat them plain.

My favorite vinaigrette: lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. This combo really wakes up a salad. It's also great on avocado.

Oh hello, pumpkin plants! Don't you love the way I Macgyver'd the ceramic pumpkin? It didn't crack as cleanly as the instructions indicated. It's getting all Little Shop of Horrors and Attack of the Killer Tomatoes around here. It doesn't help that I have the movie Cujo streaming in the background. The mom and kid are trapped in the Pinto at the moment.

I've always loved Stephen King's books. Scared me to death as a kid, but I devoured them. I talked my mom into reading Christine when she was camping and as she was outdoors reading, her car windows exploded. First and last Stephen King book she ever read. Ha!

Oh snap, Cujo's in the Pinto. This is not looking good.

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday! I received a package this morning and it rattled. I knew it was a slate cheeseboard, so I assumed it broke during shipping. Nope, it was the metal handles rattling around. Yay! I ordered some cheese knives as well, so I'm ready for a cheese party. There may be wine involved too. Anything as an excuse to buy and eat cheese.

I use my blog as reference for many things, recipes, sewing and quilting projects, snake encounters, etc. I'm defrosting the turkey meatballs I made last month and wanted to see when I froze them. I made them on September 14, 2013. What was funny was when I did a search, I also made them on September 14, 2012. Same exact recipe. Bookmarked and photographed for reference. I raved about them back then too. Ha ha!

I finished the little pumpkin mini quilt this morning. Hope my friend likes it. I was going to try some free motion quilting in the white part, but my test/practice piece looked horrible.

Anyone watching The Walking Dead? As if zombies weren't bad enough, now there's a flu that turns you into a zombie. I'm also getting a little sick of them poking zombie heads through the prison fence. Wouldn't that get old?

Look! My first tomato. I'm a bit excited.

Don't forget the Shabby Apple dress giveaway.

Linking with Skip to My Lou's Made by you Monday.

Swamped

Crazy real job responsibilities, but I still found a bit of time for for farming. I'm growing pumpkins now. Couldn't get approved for poultry. I'm scared of chickens anyway.

Toiling with coiling. Now I remember why the last bowl I made was so small.

I Love the Weekend

I had some charm squares left from making a pincushion, so I cut some solids and made a little mini quilt this afternoon. I'm not sure if it will grow or stay this size. It would work as a table topper or car seat quilt for a baby. I used the coolest prints from the charm pack for my pincushion, but there are still some neat ones in there.

My Boos Block cutting board arrived this morning. This thing is huge. 18" in diameter. That's a big papaya on it. I've had my eye on these cutting boards for ages. My bamboo board has lasted a long time, but it's starting to show wear. I couldn't beat the price on this one. They're usually pretty expensive. Maybe I'll take care of this one and give it a mineral oil rub every now and then.

Found this clever and colorful turtle drawing during clean up today. The little feet kill me. They look like a lower case "b."

The herbs are loving this weather. Or maybe the normal waterings and fertilizer.

Look, something shiny!

Oh blogland, you are so distracting. In a good way. How About Orange had a link to make this adorable origami jack-o-lantern. Sure the dishwasher needs to be emptied and there's a load of laundry in the dryer, but origami is way more fun.

Speaking of shiny, I bought myself a shiny new tomato plant to celebrate Friday. It came in this cool cage and even has a few blossoms. Wish me luck in my farming adventure. I may need a chicken next. Ha!