New Shirts

 Earlier this summer our grandson Patrick asked if I could make him a shirt like Grandpa's only with a Harry Potter print fabric, of course, I said yes. Several weeks later I was in the fabric store with several grandsons to get the fabric for the shirt, while looking at all of the licensed fabric Patrick decided he really liked the Animal Crossing print and wanted his shirt made with it instead. Then Henry asked if I could make him a shirt too, again, I said yes. Henry selected a Marvel Comic print. Yesterday I finished both shirts, I am pleased with how they look and will given them to the boys next time I see them. Younger brother Charlie has now asked for a shirt, he saw a print he liked but isn't totally sure it is the one he wants, I will take him to the store to browse the licensed fabric and go from there. 

Patrick's shirt

Henry's shirt

Dave (Grandpa) modelling his Starry Night shirt

The Very Long Monopoly Game

Last week on a Monday afternoon the boys were dropped off by the school bus, came in and devoured a snack and Charlie asked if we could play Monopoly. The game began, properties were bought, rents paid, but no one owned a complete set of properties before the boys were picked up to go home.

It was Wednesday when the boys were over again, we got a little bit of a late start on resuming the game as Patrick had play practice after school. But things quickly got exciting, Patrick got a completed set of properties and started buying houses, then I did, and after a bit so did Charlie. Then the boys were picked up to go home. It certainly looked as if Patrick would end up the winner.

Roll on to Thursday. The boys arrived home from school, had a snack, and the game resumed. It was brutal! After a bit Charles was bankrupt, but I think he was just ready for the seemingly never ending game of Monopoly to be over and left the table quite happily. Patrick and I battled on, but in the end he got the better of me and became Monopoly Champion!

It was a lot of fun but we were all glad to finally end the game.

 

February Quilt Guild

The second Wednesday of each month is a day I really look forward to as I get to go to Quilt Guild. I have learned so many things since the first meeting I attended in October. The block of the month assigned in January was Spinkys Block, I love seeing how the blocks look different depending on the color choices.

At every guild meeting someone presents a demo. Some demos are very basic, and last maybe ten minutes, and others are very detailed, but all have provided tips and techniques that are helpful. The past two meetings have had very good demos. In January it was tips and tricks for new quilters, I have quilted for many years and walked away with several useful ideas. Last week we had another good demo on how to use Bloc-Loc rulers, they are amazing, and how to use and design borders. It was so interesting. 

This book was passed around during the demo, it had pages and pages of border ideas. I went online to order a copy of the book and found that it is out of print and the only copy I could find was priced at $70, a bit steep for my budget. I checked with the library and it is not a book they have in their collection. I am sure there must be other books out there with border ideas.

 During the business meeting part of quilt guild the ladies talked about their annual field trip, usually taken in June, and it sounds so fun. The field trip will involve stops at various quilt shops and lunch out somewhere. I can't wait to hear what is planned and am looking forward to a fun day out with a bunch of super nice ladies.

Happy Valentine's Day

Last week I was talking to Mom on the phone when she mentioned that Dad was sending me a gift for Valentines Day. I could not imagine what he would be sending, he is an excellent photographer and the only thing I could think of was perhaps he was sending a picture. Imagine my surprise when a large package arrived at the house and inside was everything necessary to make a mini herb garden. 

The directions said to soak some of the seeds in tepid water for a day. I started my seed soak in the evening and left them over night.

The other seeds did not need to be pre-soaked.

At first glance you might think this is a rather murky cup of coffee, it is in fact the potting soil. The herb garden kit came with four hockey puck sized discs of potting soil that needed to be rehydrated. I let the soil discs soak over night in a pitcher of water

The next morning it was potting time. I found that I had to add additional potting soil to the soil provided in the kit. Because I have a mild house plant addiction I always have a large bag of potting soil on the go, so I added a scoop to each pot before adding the soil that came with the kit.

Because it is a winter and seeds like a bit of warmth to germinate I decided to create a greenhouse effect and wrapped the tray of seed pots in Saran wrap. I placed the tray over a heating vent for the first couple of days. 

So now I wait, and hopefully in ten or so days seedlings start to emerge and I will enjoy watching the plants grow. This is a really nice project for the final weeks of winter and it has me excited about starting a garden this spring. Thank you Dad.

Happy Valentine's Day

 

A Short Trip To Tavares

Last week I headed to Florida with our daughter Emily, our grandson Masen, and Emily's step-daughter Emma. My parents are getting ready to move to Colorado to live close to my sister and brother-in-law and I went to help mom get some things done in readiness for the big move. Emily and co. went to visit and have some fun. They visited Homosassa Springs to see the Manatees, and on the last day they surprised Masen with a visit to Disney.

The car is loaded, Masen is buckled in and plugged in and ready for the long drive from Indiana to Florida.

We were making good time until we hit southern Kentucky where we ground to a halt. We spent several minutes not moving seeing the Welcome To Tennessee sign ahead. Suddenly we able to inch forward and then stopped again with the front of the vehicle in Tennessee and the rear of the vehicle in Kentucky, it was kind of funny. We travelled like this for nearly two hours! 

We stayed overnight in Macon Georgia, Masen was excited to see a palm tree.

Masen met Great Grandma and Mr Woftie

Masen met Great Grandpa

We took a few late Christmas gifts, Mr Woftie is modeling his new doggy sweater that will come in handy in Colorado.

We did a lot of sorting out and took several loads to the local Goodwill store.

We had some fun while sorting out and Mom "rocked" this hot pink wig.

It was sunny and rather chilly while we visited, Mr Woftie was glad to have a sweater, and one morning it was only 34 out.

The weather did not hold Masen back. As soon as we arrived at my parents house Masen asked if he could go swimming. We went out to check the water, it was very cold! Of course being six Masen insisted it was warm enough to swim, so we let him. If I have to use one word to describe Masen, exuberant, is it. Not one to mess around with dipping in a toe, he leapt into the pool without a second thought, his face when he came up out of the water was priceless. The swimming didn't last very long and not once during the rest of our stay did he ask to go swimming.

Enjoying the dock.

Exploring the back yard.

Who is that in the bushes?

A little paddle in the shallow end of the pool, brr.

Being silly, it's fun to be six.

A picture of Mom, Dad, Emily, Masen and me. We had a wonderful visit and I will be heading back in March to help out with moving day! 

Two Different Weeks and Two Different Walks

 Last week I was in Florida for a brief visit with my parents. I enjoyed several morning walks, although warmer than Indiana, the temperature was near freezing one morning and I had to bundle up and borrow a hat and gloves from mom. Meanwhile back in Indiana it was way below freezing, lows in the single digits, too cold to go out and walk. I returned to Indiana and we had a snowstorm and now have about nine inches of snow on the ground, making my morning walk very pretty and a little more challenging.

I always enjoy seeing Donkey on my Florida walks.

The donkey hangs out with the cattle and the horse to scare away coyotes.

The trees were absolutely loaded with oranges and looked so pretty.

A beautiful morning that soon warmed up into a pleasant day.

Bundled up in Florida!

Back to Indiana, eighteen degrees and windy, but bundled in layers it is easy to keep warm.

I enjoy this tree in every season.

I did not venture down the trail as the entrance was blocked with piles of snow from the snow plow.

Snow makes everything look peaceful and beautiful.

The snow eventually ended, I think around nine or ten inches fell, it sure looks pretty.

The Joys Of Paper Piecing

 In December we were assigned a block of the month quilt block put together using a method called Paper Piecing. Wow what a learning curve! My 9th attempt came out correctly and I followed it up with a correct 10th block. This project was so much fun and slowly but surely I figured out what I needed to change and each attempt got closer and closer to being correct, and finally I did it. I was really, really satisfied to have mastered (I say that lightly) how to piece the block to end up with the correct size.

This is one of the reasons I like the Quilt Guild, you are never too young to learn new tricks. It is always very tempting to go for the easy option block pattern, but much more satisfying to complete a challenging block pattern. 

I am now getting ready to start on the January block of the month and hopefully it should be fairly straight forward and not take ten attempts to get right! 

Squaring up the paper pieced blocks

Success at last, all points meet and there is adequate seam allowance to attach a border or another block. I ran out of the rainbow fabric, but I think I picked it up at Walmart so hopefully can find a fat quarter to make the last two corners of the 12 inch block. I plan to make this into a cover for a throw pillow and will give it to our granddaughter Alivia.

Four block of the month blocks finished, I will begin work on January's block very soon.

This block I ran up just for fun, I always liked this block pattern and decided to try it out, it was challenging but I turned out well for a first attempt. I am going to make this into a cover for a throw pillow for our granddaughter Aubrey.

Today our grandson Masen was over as he is on quarantine from school at the moment. It snowed most of the day so we made cookies.

I Am Loving Quilt Guild

 This past fall when school resumed I suddenly ended up with a couple of free days each week. Initially I took care of some projects around the house but then realized I needed an activity or two to keep me busy. My mom belongs to a Quilt Guild and really enjoys it and I wondered if there was a guild near me. I googled and voila there are two! I contacted the one closest to me and almost immediately received a reply inviting me to the next meeting. So on a very foggy morning in October I headed off to my very first meeting with The Spinning Spools. I enjoyed the meeting, paid my dues, submitted my information and picture for the directory, it turns out that October is the month all of this takes place, and I am a full fledged member.

The meeting starts at ten but there is a forty-five minute gathering time beforehand that is enjoyable and gives everyone time to chit chat and get to know one another. At ten the meeting is called to order, items are discussed, approved (almost always), and the meeting is closed by eleven. Next up is a demonstration, put on by a member, of a specific quilting technique, or tips and tricks for new quilters, or how to use various quilting aides, all good stuff. Then we are given the block of the month pattern, this is great, I tend to avoid certain block types because they are difficult, now I have a challenge and an opportunity to learn better technique. The blocks made the prior month are put on display, it is interesting to see as everyone uses colors of their choice and the results are very pretty. The last part of the gathering is Show and Tell, and I the items shown are quite inspiring, there are some very talented quilters in the guild.

In December we had our Christmas party after the meeting, it was fun with a catered box lunch, a fun gift exchange and good company, I had a wonderful time. I am so thankful I found this group, they are so friendly, so welcoming and so nice.

"Our Choice" block of the month

I love seeing the color choices for the block of the month

It was a small turnout this month and the block is paper pieced and challenging to make. Only four brave souls had a finished block to display. I did not get mine made in time for our meeting, but I am working on it now.

Do We Ever Love A Salad Bar

 My husband and I really enjoy salad bars! It is a great dining out option for us as Dave is not Vegan, I am, and we both love a salad bar and it caters to both our tastes.  We do not go out to eat very often, and when we do we usually go to our local Pizza Hut as they have a decent salad bar. A nice salad and a glass wine makes for a pleasant outing. Unfortunately on a recent trip to Pizza Hut we found that the cost had increased significantly and there were fewer choices available on the salad bar, it was disappointing. We were pretty shocked at the cost of our salad and will probably not go again.

Instead we decided to do our own salad bar at home. In last weeks grocery order I got a Romaine salad mix, cucumber, tomatoes, purple onion, frozen peas, chick peas, pickled beets, roasted pumpkin seeds (most stores now call them Pepitas), and croutons for Dave. We had pickled banana peppers, green and kalamata olives, and eggs as Dave enjoys hard boiled egg on his salad. I prepped everything and set out our "salad bar" and we were all set. And a day or two later we enjoyed our salad bar again. And it was a delicious, yummy meal at a fraction of the cost of eating out. 

I made some soup to go with my salad. It is a simple soup to make, a couple of quarts of water, a quart of veggie broth, throw in some veggies, I added onion, sweet potato, cauliflower, purple cabbage, kale, collard greens, mushrooms and garlic. Added a heaping teaspoonful of ginger and tumeric and a shake of salt and let it cook. I used an immersion blender to puree it a bit. It was delicious with a nice sprinkling of nutritional yeast on top. Between the soup and salad I was pretty well fed for the entire day!