Secret Projects

Oh hey! Did you miss me? I missed you!

This summer has been non-stop. I'm working on a secret quilting project that I can't show, but I am still finding time to cook and sew other things.

I chopped up some bright batiks to make a scrappy Irish chain for the #ohscrap along that Canoe Ridge Creations whipped up. I did the first block at home on my Juki and subsequent blocks on my Sew Day machine. The sizes are quite different, so this will be a Sew Day project. I like it!

I've received two Try the World boxes. These are a blast. The one above is from France and the one below from Argentina. We're enjoying trying all the unique items.

Yumi, my buddy from Japan made these this beautiful wallet. I needed a new wallet. I finally had a minute to get my stuff in it. She uses vintage kimono scraps. Gorgeous!

Cherry massacre. I made these Sweet & Sour Cherry Salty Dogs. Yum. Cheers and happy Monday! I hope you're having fun.

Happy Sunday!

We loved these Turkey Sriracha Meatballs. Just a few ingredients and then pop them into the oven to bake. The sauce is the bomb! I made brown rice to serve them on and broccoli slaw with peanut dressing. Yummy! The photo doesn't show fresh ginger. I keep my ginger roots in the freezer to store them longer. Always hated finding those dried out ginger roots in the crisper.

Bones turned 14 April 12. I had to get his "birth certificate" out to double check the date. Loved reading his relatives' names. His dad was Snoopy and his grandfather was Festus. Grandma was Sprinkles. Great Grandma was LuLu! That's what I call my Hollywood! Funny! Bones is pictured with some bearded gentlemen who used to be my little boy.

We didn't have a party for Mr. Bones, but he did get a container of Mighty Dog for dinner. He loved it! He normally only eats dry food. Don't feel sorry for him, the dry stuff is usually topped with meat and broth from our meals. He may be spoiled.

Last Saturday was Sew Day for our guild. I had Friday off, so it was a perfect weekend to get the chores done early and goof off the entire weekend. Greek layer dip was my potluck dish. It's easy and quick.

There's hummus on the bottom, feta cheese, scallions, olives, cucumber, tomato, and parsley. Serve with pita chips. The dip can be made ahead of time or served immediately. I love this stuff so much.

I finished the CatVent quilt Sew Day. Yay! I like how it turned out. The blocks were fun to make.

The back is a mess, but I was determined to get rid of that mottled gray fabric from my stash. I have no idea where it came from. There were just a bunch of wide strips.

I hope your weekend is wonderful. What's everyone up to?

History

Did you see this Paris apartment that has been untouched since 1942? The owner, Madame de Florian, a socialite and actress fled during the war but continued paying the rent until her death in 2010. I thought it was so fascinating. I would love to wander through her apartment and look at everything. Is that creepy? I've been going to estate sales for years now, which my kids think is beyond creepy. Whatever.

We had our guild Sew Day last Saturday. It was great to get out and sew. Real jobs have kept me from goofing off and sewing. Red's foot control decided to go haywire and sew at excessive speeds, so I had to leave early. The next day, I took the foot control apart and cleaned it out. It seems to be fixed, but we'll see. In the meantime, I hope I don't sew over a finger or two. It goes SO fast and you can only stop it by turning the machine off. Did I mention I'm on my second foot control in five years?

I pieced all the Catvent blocks together at Sew Day. Twenty five days of Christmas cats. The different blocks are so fun and I love the rainbow colors. I added grey borders after this, so it's a little larger. It's plenty small enough to quilt it myself, so that's up next. I have two extra kitties to put somewhere on the backing. I'm going to try to piece that today.

Our block of the month for February is the Scrappy Trip Along block that went viral in blogland last year. It's a fun block and looks great in scraps. It will be fun to see all the blocks together. We have lots of participation in our guild blocks of the month.

I haven't been cooking as much as usual, but I did make some good egg salad last week. I threw everything but the kitchen sink in it and still forgot Dijon mustard. It was still good. I wanted to make avocado egg salad. Doesn't that sound good? My avocados weren't cooperating that day. The avocados have been dirt cheap this season. I buy a bunch at every grocery trip and then patiently wait until one ripens.

I also tried this Greek yogurt markinated chicken. Pretty good! I grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs on my BBQ grill. Bone-in chicken is always better, but I buy what looks good and/or is on sale at the grocery. I'm getting skin on chicken next time too.

Breakfast this morning was this salami, bacon and spinach hash. I substituted the russet potatoes with a half baked sweet potato leftover from a dinner fail. I threw some fresh jalapeno in too and left out the orange zest and nutmeg, because I was trying to remember the recipe without looking it up. I'm the only sweet potato fan around these parts, but Inspector Gadget is usually more hungry than picky. He's not a spinach fan either, but I put that stuff in everything!

So happy to have a day off where I don't have to travel, work, or run errands. Even laundry sounds fun. Okay, I'll go now. Clearly I fallen off the deep end. Have fun!

Still Celebrating

It's been a fun holiday season. Visiting family and friends, eating tons of yummy food, holding babies, playing with toddlers and puppies. There was a fun game of Dirty Santa at my Aunt's house Christmas Eve. Today is the first day I'm home long enough to catch my breath and tackle Mount Laundry. I made this pecan pie for Christmas Eve. Such an easy pie to make and most people love it.

I finished my Catvent blocks Christmas Day during a quick lull. Now to add borders to the blocks and put them all together. I'm hoping to get a bit of time today. It's rainy here, so it's perfect for sewing. Or watching movies. Or reading.

I received two! grills for Christmas. One charcoal, and one gas. Both are Webers. Love them! Everyone knows I love to grill. My big gas grill was on its last leg, so I had been using my charcoal grill most of the year. Clearing the ashes was kind of messy. This new charcoal grill has a fancy ash removal pan. Yay!

My dad wanted an iPhone for Christmas. This was us trying to explain to him how to send messages using voice recording. No idea what a wiggly Alma is! Hilarious. It's his first smart phone, so he should have some fun with it. I put a bunch of apps on it for him, and we blew his mind with Face Time. So fun to see him learning. Good thing we and the kids have had years of practice to show Gramps the smart phone ropes. Heck, the kids still show me stuff. I think they're still learning tricks too. Technology keeps us on our toes.

I hope you're still celebrating and having lots of fun.

Catvent

Yeah, yeah, I drank the Catvent Kool-aid. It started with Ralphio, cat 5. I was just going to try one and see if I liked it. I made him before dawn and didn't realize he was supposed to be done in reds. As a result, I have a ton of orange cats laying around here. The blocks are quick and easy to make, so I can make extra.

It only took me five days to realize that Catvent was an ode to Advent. *cough* A cat a day until Christmas. I get it now!

Progress...I love that they are all named. There's Bernadette, Zeke, Sunny, Chowder, Lucy, Barley, and more! Poor Yanick, my Sew Day next door neighbor had to listen to me keep track of the names.

My blocks so far. I made two of the same cat. One in yellow, one in green. Oops. My Catvent may go longer than 25 days! I can throw the extras kitties on the back.

Cat Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman at Oh, Fransson!

This is what the quilt looks like finished. Isn't it cute? I can't wait to make more blocks.

My first Christmas present. Thanks Kathryn!

Sunday Stash #79

On the left Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax and on the right a fat quarter bundle of  Moxie by Erin McMorris for Free Spirit. I loved the speech balloons.

All of these big chunks of fabric were in a scrap bag. There were some really fun ones in there. I think scraps will always be my favorite. I especially enjoy buying them online and being surprised when they get here. It's hard to believe I went a month without buying fabric. Well, almost a month. That kind of gives you an idea of how crazy pants it's been around these parts.

While I'm more of a dog person, I have loved seeing all these colorful cat blocks on the Oh, Fransson! blog. I'm going to admit it right here that the Kool-aid is tempting me. I'm so easy. But how cute and scrappy are those kitties?

I ate shrimp several times last week. The dish on the left is my favorite and from our local watering and eating hole, Fish on Fire. They take the most flavorful large pink shrimp and stuff a piece of jalapeno and cheddar cheese inside. Then they wrap the whole shebang in bacon and grill it. Dip them in melted butter, I dare you.
The seared Ahi tuna salad on the right is the Inspector's favorite.

Their smoked fish dip is pretty tasty too. And it comes with a few veggies, so it's practically good for you! I can also highly recommend the bacon, blue cheese burger too. Oh boy, I need to take a bike ride.

Here's a shrimp dish I whipped up for dinner. Charleston Shrimp and Grits. It's one of the Inspector's favorites. College Boy digs it too, but he's been busy with finals, work, and girlfriend. Hopefully in that order! This quick dish couldn't be easier. Get the best shrimp you can find and feel free to substitute some turkey sausage for the andouille. I couldn't find andouille at my grocery store. What? I probably didn't look hard enough. I also substitute a 14 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes for the four cups of crushed tomatoes. And I cooked the grits in water not milk. I'm healthy like that. Ha! I dumped in some shredded cheddar after the grits cooked. Had ya going huh?

Our guild's January BOM is this adorable Butterfly Block by Four Wise Monkeys. We're using a pink, orange, and yellow color palette. I did some saving my sanity Sunday sewing and these were just what the doctor ordered! I feel so much better. I might even fire up the vacuum. Hope your week was wonderful.

Hmmm...

Stole a beer and made this Cheddar Dill Beer Bread. I had to have that blue Tumbleweeds Pottery bread crock when I saw it and I've probably only used it twice. Need to work on that. I have numerous bread fans in the house and I love baking bread.

Then it got all healthy up in here and I made these Baked Zucchini Sticks with Sweet Onion Dip. Hey now, zucchini is a vegetable. And I replaced most of the mayo in the dip with low-fat yogurt and sour cream. So there's that.

The baked treats were supposed to make up for meatless marinara sauce. My meat eaters played nicely and didn't complain. They didn't even comment on the tiny diced carrots in the sauce. I exercised restraint and left out olives and capers.

Someone come bind this monster quilt for me. This quilt is a Quiltville Mystery called Double Delight. I have no idea when I made it, but I used fabric I acquired from a quilter who gave up quilting. Can you imagine?! The fabrics aren't anything I would normally purchase, but they were excellent quality and perfect for practice. I can honestly say it was pieced after 2007. Eagle Mountain Quilting did the lovely quilting just this year. At this rate, it should be bound by 2020.

Eek! I'm almost out of thread. I have several spools in this condition. Well, not this bad, but with not much thread on them. I guess I grab a full spool when they get low. I use the smaller spools for travel, but they were adding up. I'm using them up while I wait patiently for my thread order. Red, my machine, likes Connecting Threads cotton thread. She's picky that way.

Bow tie city. Up to 91 blocks. I'm already doing math to see how few I'll need for a baby quilt. Told you I would get bored. But it has been fun playing with all the fabric. And I'm conducting very scientific testing for fabric durability. Some of these fabrics are a little crunchy. If I can rip them with my bare hands, they get tossed. There weren't many.

Here are a few of my favorite prints in the old stash. One good thing about this project is the clean out and organization. So inspiring and freeing. Maybe I'll tackle my master closet next. Ha! I crack myself up.

I tried to make a little bow tie block the size used in my inspiration quilt, but apparently I stink at quilt math. Add an imaginary seam allowance and you get the idea. Now back to work before my boss discovers I'm goofing off. Enjoy your day.

Tackling Tuesday

Lucky Stars of the Month for April. I decided to go with scraps and make the 6" version. Challenging to say the least. I think I'll go back to the 12" size. And maybe use some coordinated prints.

Scrappy Trip Along made with 2" strips. I got bored with these blocks really quickly, but I think this pattern is something I'll tackle again someday. With 2.5" strips! I love how everyone's quilts have turned out. I did a self binding with the backing fabric.

I made a 20 lb. spinach lasagna yesterday. My kids hate lasagna, so I never make it. Something about the ricotta cheese (best part in my opinion). They were both out, and I was craving lasagna. Plus, I had leftover bolognese sauce I needed to use up. It will be up to Inspector Gadget and I to consume this monster. I froze half of it, but there's still plenty. It made a good breakfast this morning.

Don't forget about the Mondo Mushroom Pincushion pattern giveway.