Winter days

 I've spent a couple more evenings cutting out fabric for quilt patterns. It's nice to have them ready to sew together and it's a good activity rather than settling down in front of the TV.

This one will be one of those "Three Yard" quilts. I bought the fabric set and pattern at the Paducah quilt show a few years ago.

This next one is a kit that I bought on clearance from Connecting Threads back when they had some real sale deals. (Maybe I even bought 2 of them! - don't judge! )

Such pretty fabrics! I don't normally choose big florals.

Puss kept me company in the kitchen. She must have heard a mouse under the dishwasher. She was watching and waiting for it to come scurrying out.

I noticed one of my toilets was running water (sigh). I've replaced the working parts in this one before so I ordered the replacement parts.

I guess no one really wants to see in my toilet tank...but just so you know...I got it fixed and working.

I noticed the bottom of the lid is stamped with the date "4-24-73". 

Sheesh, this thing is over 50 years old.  

It does sit a bit low. My mother used to always comment on that when she came for a visit. It seems odd if you are used to the newer taller toilets.

I finished that quilt I made for the Christmas contest. I have it laying around waiting to stitch the binding on but I've been using it to snuggle under in the recliner while watching TV.

It's warm. The bright colors add a bit of cheer to these short gray January days.

A new year

 We had mild weather the days before the new year, so Puss and I got outside for a stroll around the property.

We went just a little way into the woods where Puss imagines herself to be a wild vicious jungle beast.

I wish she was a huge jungle cat...then she could prey on the deer that are determined to tear up my trees.

Here's where they have peeled the back off a branch of my small Paperbark Maple.

It could have been deer that girdled this little Ginkgo tree trunk or it could have been a rabbit eating the bark.

I see this plant sometimes in the weeds. It looks like little yellow tomatoes, but nope, it's Horse Nettle.  Poisonous fruits and leaves.

This bright spot of green caught my attention! A little patch of moss in the driveway.

Such a lovely color and so soft looking.

I started off the new year with a healthy batch of soup...turkey, cabbage, and vegetable.

Then I wanted to do so something with the bread that we didn't eat at Christmas, so I diced it up and baked some croutons.  They're good in the soup or tempting just to eat as a snack.

New year - new broom! I ordered this one on Amazon. The handle came in sections that screwed together.  The dustpan has "teeth" that you can use to comb hair and fluff out of the broom bristles.  Ooooo, fancy!

My quilt group, Crazy Quilters, is going to switch to daytime meetings this year.

 I'm so glad because it's easier to dig into working on a project early in the day.

A lot of us like to avoid driving after dark too, so that's another good thing about switching to daytime meetings.

I decided to cut fabric for some quilt patterns so I would have something ready to work on at each monthly meeting.

This quilt will be just simple squares.

I'm cutting at the kitchen counter because my sewing room table is piled up with stuff, as usual.

 I'll get this set cut and bagged up and then cut enough for maybe 3 more quilt tops..That will last awhile!

A quiet Christmas

 A nice quiet relaxing Christmas Day for The Sasquatch and me. 

A few gifts wrapped and around the wee little tree.

I fixed up a take-home goodie box for the Sasquatch...since I've stopped baking holiday cookies and sweets.

It's a good thing there are no unexpected drop-in visitors because this was my Christmas morning outfit...

But I did spiff up a bit before The Sasquatch arrived with our Christmas dinner.

Oh, this looks really delicious! Beef filets and homemade foccacia bread. Yep, The Sasquatch prepared this.

I made a broccoli salad to go along with it. It was a nice holiday meal.

My gift from The Sasquatch was this nice pair of scissors. Just right for my quilting projects.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Peace ✌️ ☮️ .

Crazy Quilters Christmas party

 Members of my quilting group, Crazy Quilters, always have a nice holiday gathering in place of our regular sewing day.

Always a lot of fun!  This year we played a couple of games with fabric as prizes.

Everyone brings a dish to share. This looks like a colorful spread with lots of healthy choices included.

We stopped doing a gift exchange but everyone brings in sewing related items we no longer need so there are lots of door prizes.

I had mentioned that we had a sort of a contest this year. It was a challenge to make a "quilt based on a piece of artwork".

Here are the projects a few of us came up with. Yep, that's my giant gaudy unfinished quilt in the middle.  Sure, my quilter friends made polite remarks about it...but it was a bit of an embarrassment for me.

The other ladies all had such skillfully finished work. 

Wanda created this amazing self portrait! See her photo there on the right.

Susan created an interesting wall hanging by doing her own version of an art quilt from a magazine.

Isolde also was inspired by a magazine pattern...made bright and pretty with her improvements in color choices.

Jan interpreted " based on artwork" the same way I did and made this cute mini quilt based on a piece of art from a fundraiser.  Adorable with the chenille trim added as lines between the blocks.

Oh well, someone has to be in last place. Might as well be me!

A fun gathering with friends though!

More food, more decorating

 We celebrated Christmas at my Dad's house early this year. We've been scheduling it like this for a few years to work around travel plans. It's fun to have gatherings spaced apart over the holidays...no rush and time to enjoy each one.

I had a smart plan and bought foil pans with snap on covers to take some food along for the get-together. Much easier than taking breakable casserole dishes!

Broccoli casserole, beans with bacon, green beans with red potatoes and cornbread casserole.  

I brought the pans home and washed them to re-use next year!

Macaroni salad in a plastic container. Coconut cream pie filling taken in a container then added to the pie crust when I got there.

Nice to have everyone together for a meal and conversation. No gift exchange to add stress to the day.

At home, I put more small plants in containers. This bunch to give to ladies in my quilt group. These are a type of sedum. I added the plastic berries and the Sasquatch made the small green planters (each a different design) with his 3D printer.

I put a few more Christmas decorations out.

What? What is this shadow? Is it the Batman signal?

Nope, it's only Puss.

Looks like she wants to go outside and stir up some trouble.

Holidays are coming up quick

 I received a few Christmas cards. The first two were almost just alike...red and black check with gold lettering.

It's fun to receive cards but I've never started the tradition of sending out cards. I'm just a Grinch, I guess.

But I have started putting out a few holiday decorations. I won't be hosting any gatherings here so I will keep it simple.

I planted my extra Aloe Vera plants in solo cups and added some fake berries. I'll pass these out to members of my coffee group at the library.

One-pan meals have been on my menu these past few weeks. A big pan makes enough for several meals. Easy clean up!

My brother kept telling me I should try maple flavored Spam. I have been trying to avoid processed meat but it was actually pretty tasty. Not artificial tasting.

I roasted it in the oven with chopped eggplant and a few jalapenos.

I am doing a poor job of avoiding processed meat because the next one pan meal was bratwurst with peppers and onions.  Pretty good.

I'm finished piecing that quilt and now I'm pin basting...getting ready to quilt it.

I need to hurry this up if I'm going to finish in time for the quilt group meeting.

Working on that quilt

 I'm moving right along getting this quilt ready for showing at my quilt group at our Christmas gathering.

Some of the borders are on and I was considering adding a border of the print fabric laid out by the right side.  It doesn't seem exactly right but it coordinates pretty well so I'll use it for a backing instead.

I'm also sewing together a few of these blocks made with the scrap fabric I've been cutting down. I like them and they're fun to sew.

Every day the deer are up underneath the oak tree chomping down on acorns.

It was a real bumper crop of them this year. The ground is covered.

Out walking some with Puss, the cat. It's easier to go into the woods at this time of year when the greenery has died back.

I can't say that I get a lot of steps in though. Puss takes a lot of time looking everything over and smelling it thoroughly.

Inside she likes to watch bird videos on YouTube.

Eventually she ends up much to close to the TV screen.  I really doubt if she can even make out the images this close.

Time to change channels, kitty!