Dinner!

We had to have the oven serviced on Monday, the broiler wasn't working and I finally ran out of recipes that didn't call for the use of either a broiler or the oven. I even made tuna casserole on the stovetop one day. So I called John to come and fix the oven. He discovered the heating element thingy on both the broiler and the oven were in need of replacing. 

So this is my $170 quiche.

I'm sure we will enjoy every bite! :)

Still playing with pink

I'm still playing with my basket of pink fabric.

These are my favorites of the lot.

I cut up some 2 1/2 inch squares and came up with this simple design.

43"x 47"

Then I saw this border on a quilt somewhere and decided to see how it
would work. I like it.
45" x 53"

 I found this idea

in one of the many magazines I have, can't remember which one right now.

I already had the 2 1/2 inch squares cut and just had to make the

half square triangles.  I decided to make the corner squares to extend into
the border. 

Boy, it needs an ironing doesn't it!

I'm going to bind this one in pink polka dots.
40" x 56"

This is a quilt top I made some time ago, and am still using some of these fabrics

in the new quilt tops. 

I especially love the butterflies.

I've got to finish this one!

I still have lots of pink fabric left, so I decided to try 

this pattern that I saw in a catalog. I drew it out on graph paper

since the size I wanted was smaller than the one they were showing.

I hope I have enough to finish this top as I'm not sure how much I

will need for the bottom of the blocks.

Sorry for the bad photo, not sure why the fabric appears yellow

at the top of the picture. Might be the Ott light I have on my cutting table.

Next I'm going to do the

Pure Baby Boy pattern shown on the Moda Bake shop blog.

I figure I have enough pink 2 1/2 inch squares to make it, maybe two of them

if I like it enough. 

You can find the "recipe" here.

I do so love the Moda Bake Shop blog, they have a pinwheel baby quilt that I want

to make also. Check out their website.

 I expect I'll be totally sick of pink pretty soon. Then I'll have to figure out what to do next. 

I do have another laundry basket full of yellows....................

Indecision

I'm in between projects just now. Can't decide what to make.

I need to make a pink baby quilt and can't find a pattern I like.

I decided to go through my magazines to see if something jumps out at me. 

I found a daisy applique quilt that looked good.

 Until I started cutting out the petals and counting 

exactly how many I would have to cut and applique down. Yikes! Lets rethink this! :)

Quilting the border

I have been working on a quilt top that I made quite awhile ago. I made it with several dusty pink fabrics in a simple square pattern and I embroidered a couple of butterflies on one of the squares. This last week I sandwiched the quilt together and have quilted flowers and leaves in an allover pattern on the quilt. I backed it with a dusty pink kona cotton. I love the kona cotton but it is very hard to needle. My fingers are quite sore, both from needle pricks and from the stress of needling the fabric. Now I have started quilting the border and can see the end of the tunnel. I really can't wait to finish this one. I need to find the tin of Bag Balm I have somewhere! :)

Also tonight I was able to cut out the binding for my blue and yellow star quilt. I had forgotten that I had to finish this up. Thank goodness I was able to find the matching white background fabric. Sometimes I use up the fabric I intended to use to finish a quilt and then am out of luck! Skittles has claimed this spot as his own and seems quite comfortable to supervise my stitching the border on the other quilt.

My Monday

I didn't do too much today. Did a little laundry, did a few dishes, read some blogs, did some shopping, reorganized the linen closet, added to the Goodwill pile, washed a few walls, petted the cat, got my hair cut, made dinner, washed walls, swept and cleaned bedroom, petted the cat, read some blogs, did a few dishes and washed walls.

Not too much for a vacation day.

:)

I had to work on the fourth. 

Yeah, that sucks.

I decided to make hamburgers and pasta salad for dinner that night.

Simple, you say.

Yeah, not for me.

I was so tired and hot after work that I treated myself to an ice cream cone on the way home.

Chocolate, yeah! )

Feeling sorry for yourself does have its rewards.

When I got home hubby was gone to a party and wasn't to be back until 5. 

Well, I never heard him come home.

I was out, sleeping like a log until 6:30. :(

It was too late to cook and hubby had eaten at the party. I wasn't that hungry.

Fast forward to Monday. 

Hubby, lucky man had a 3 day (yeah, 3 day!) weekend, but he was busy doing odd jobs.

I decided to make the pasta salad and hamburgers. 

Plans don't go like we want. 

When I was making the salad I realized I didn't have two ingredients that were important

for the completion of said salad. Since it was 3000 degrees outside and I was still

vaguely anti-social from having to deal with crowds for the holiday, there was NO way

I was going to go out and get the two ingredients. :)

So fast forward to Tuesday.

I had to work the evening shift, so no cooking that night.

So fast forward to tonight.

Wednesday.

Yeah! I finally got to finish making the pasta salad, but wait!

I took one more look at the recipe..............

ugh! I had gotten the wrong cheese!

I threw in the cheese I had and called it a day! 

Hubby and I enjoyed it anyway. 

Smiles.

I'm still working on quilting the elephant quilt. Been busy at work

and came home tonight with a sore ankle. I'm sitting in my

lazy boy chair with some ice tied around my ankle, and 

catching up on the blogs I read. :)

Hand Quilting

I really love the look of hand quilting, especially since I don't have a

 machine that does machine quilting! I can't imagine how much 

I'd get done if I had a fancy quilting machine. I have a very good and 

dependable sewing machine but it doesn't have a stitch that duplicates quilting.

 So I hand quilt.

I finished the borders for the elephant quilt and was able to pin the

 backing, batting and top together today. I started by quilting the 

center block then moved to doing the surrounding elephants. 

It is going pretty quickly and I hope to finish this up soon.

I thought I would have to order more fabric for backing 

but was able to match up the stripe so you wouldn't notice the seams 

unless you were aware they were there.

Tonight I am really feeling the pain in my left wrist,

 must've strained it putting in all the safety pins this afternoon. 

Elephant applique

My week of quilting  (vacation) is over :( !

Today I took my Airplane quilt in to work to give to Jeanne, but she wasn't there.

 I'll miss her all week due to different schedules but a

co-worker put it in the office to hold for her. I would've loved to see her reaction when she

saw the quilt. Hope she and the other girls like it. I'm never quite sure how others 

judge my handiwork, and I always want to please even though I know I can't please

everyone. I liked it, so that should be good enough, right?

Yesterday I started a pattern I got a few weeks ago from Bunny Hill.

I'm not quite sure why but I fell in love with her elephant and nine-patch

quilt but I love it!  

I decided to use some fabrics from the Peek a Boo fabric line, made by

Craft Town. I got the browns and blues. 

This quilt is for a friend who is having a baby at 41! A surprise, but a good surprise.

I'm not quite sure yet if she is having a boy or a girl so this is made on a "hunch".

They have had mostly boys in their families, I think her brother had 3 or 4 boys and 

she has had 2 already. They are ready for a girl but I've had a feeling she will

have another boy since I heard she was expecting! :)

If it turns out she is having a girl, I'll just have to make another quilt! LOL!

The nine patch blocks went together really fast and I've got most of the applique blocks ready to

stitch to the background fabric. The pattern is really easy.

I used freezer paper on the wrong side of the fabric, drew a pencil line around, then trimmed

leaving about a 1/8 - 1/4 turn under. I basted (yes, Mom I've learned to baste! LOL!) the edges

then basted the applique to the background square. It's time consuming but I find it relaxing.

I'm watching the Miss Marple series on public TV and have been

watching the Rosemary and Thyme English TV show from Netflix. 

It's kinda like Murder She Wrote, where no matter where she goes, someone dies! :)

I think if I ever won the lottery I will plan a trip to England. Want to see lots of

the places I've seen on these shows and the historical places I've read about.

Oh, dreams! :)

LOL!

Three finishes!