I Like Thurs #144

Starting this early so maybe I'll have something to post on Thursday. I seem to keep running out of time and then there's too much to post. Hopefully breaking it up and adding to the post every couple of days will work out better.

Last weekend I noticed my mini yellow iris were blooming. I "inherited" these when we bought the house. They used to only be in the front garden but I moved some out back too. They always bloom before the regular-sized iris.

My clematis is happily climbing up the trellis and is welcoming everyone that comes up to the front door.

The amaryllis my neighbor gave me last Christmas is blooming. This is the third time that this particular one has flowered. A second one is about to bloom for the second time too.

I spied this rain barrel on the last Sunday Stroll Day with Gracie. I liked they way the owners handled the overflow.

Mom's redbud tree was in full bloom this week. Look at that color against that beautiful blue sky. Mom always has a good day with sunny clear skies. The next day I showed her this picture and she wondered whose tree that was. I told her it was hers and she said she didn't remember having a redbud in the front yard.

I finished reading "Holly" last week. I enjoyed it. I had to chuckle when my daughter sort of warned me that there was a lot of political overtones in it. She was right but it reflected the Covid times during which the book took place. I feel like Stephen King pretty much covered both bases although you can tell he sided with the maskers during Covid. We didn't take all the recommended "precautions" around here but we don't hold it against those that did. In the end, we all survived, right?

However you feel/felt about the Covid pandemic, this book was a good read. It was nice to read about Holly again who originally showed up in King's "Mr. Mercedes" book and one or two others. I like recurring characters. I will warn you though that the storyline is pretty morbid but the suspense makes it truly worth reading. I'd say if you like reading Stephen King's weird side, this book is for you!

Now I've started "What Happened to the Bennetts?" by Lisa Scottoline. She's one of my favorite authors too and this looks to be a very good read too.

Read about it HERE

My most recent embroidery finish is this one. I'm trying to make some of the "people" blocks into faces from my family. Here's Gracie, in case you couldn't tell. Just look at that big old head! Lol! 

I hope you have lots of happy things going on in your life too. If you enjoyed this post, you can find more like it from others sharing on Not Afraid of Color, by LeeAnna. Have a great rest of your week!

RSC Yellow

Look at me! We are not anywhere close to the end of the month and my yellow pineapples are done! In case you haven't been following along on my pineapple journey, I started this project at the start of RSC2023. I managed to make 30 of the blocks when I thought I'd better come up with a plan. That's when I came up with a queen-sized quilt for the guest room because pineapples were a symbol of hospitality in history.

And now you know why I'm still making pineapple blocks again this year. Here are this month's RSC yellow pineapples.

I keep meaning to lay out all that I have but haven't done so .... yet. Stay tuned.

Another long project that I've been working on is Red Threads from Sentimental Studios. I'm using brown thread instead of red and I'm stitching my blocks on kind of a pukey brown but I think the final project will be pretty. All the blocks will eventually have flying geese sashing with Kansas Troubles/Kim Diehl vibey fabrics.

Here are the latest finished blocks that I don't believe I've shared yet.

I've been enjoying jigsaw puzzles lately. There's so much "wait" time while cooking -- wait for the water to boil, wait for the onions to soften, wait for the oven to warm up -- and this is how I entertain myself during those "wait" periods. Lol! Here's my latest puzzle completion. And yes, there's another one already set up!

When I take my mother to her P/T appointments, this is what greets us on the counter. I think it's adorable and makes me smile.

I'll leave you with that photo. I've always thought it was greeting me but I can see it waving good-bye too! Hope you have a great weekend. Our weather is great and I plan on cleaning out my car today!

If you'd like to see what others have shared with Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge, visit her SoScrappy blog!

I Like Thursday #143

Today is a great day. I love the Troy Senior Center Monthly Luncheons. This afternoon they served us ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans with bacon, and then there was various cheesecakes for us to make a choice. I chose turtle! After lunch we were entertained musically by Elizabeth LaCamp. We all had a grand time singing along with her. I think Mom really, really enjoyed all the singing! You know I liked that!

In gardening news, my bleeding hearts are coming up again this year. I hope they will be bigger and bushier than last year.

The lungwort is up and blooming already again this year.

No picture but I dug up a lot of my Gargantuan Hosta. Most of it I transplanted up by the woods. I should have done this last year but didn't get around to it.

Look at these beautiful tulips that were blooming by a mailbox on my way to the bike trail!

Our weather recently took a turn for Winter again. We are experiencing highs in the mid 40s with a north/northwest wind giving us a wind chill right around 30 degrees. Yikes! I had to bring in some of my houseplants again. Here's a picture of two amaryllis plants with new blooms shooting up. I got these plants two Christmases ago from a sweet neighbor and it looks like they'll be blooming again this Spring. On the left is an avocado plant that finally sprang out of a pit. It's growing with a philodendron.

These houseplants are sitting on a new bookcase in our house. Wayfair was having a sale so I ordered one up. I chose it because it's not super big but, and the main reason, the bottom shelf stands several inches off the ground. I'm tired of worrying about furniture placement due to heat/air conditioner floor vents. I assembled it over the weekend and Polly approved. *grin*

We're so happy to have some TV watching. The Cardinals have started their baseball season; we love watching Tracker and Jeopardy; and I'm happy to watch Survivor even if all alone in the other room because my family doesn't understand my obsession. Lol!

I hope you're having a good week. I'll be back next week to share more things I like with you and with the good folks on Not Afraid of Color.

Purple and I'VE GOT A FINISH!!!

We have arrived at the last Saturday of March which means Angela will be selecting a new color for April. I may not have done a load of purple blocks like some of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge friends but I managed to show off quite a bit of purple anyway. If you love the color purple, visit Angela's SoScrappy blogpost.

First up are my purple pineapples. Got my three done for the month.

My best purple achievement for the month of March is a finished quilt. Here's a little background on this project.

Around Christmas (I think) I found a pretty top that was all completed and only needed to be quilted. I don't remember sewing this but the fabrics are familiar to me and I'm pretty sure it was a mystery quilt at my local quilt store, Rosemary's. What leads me to believe this was a mystery quilt was I later came across the spotted batik fabric labeled Fabric #3 Binding. It's also in the body of the quilt, of course.

Not too long ago I ordered a Big Fan stencil from FunwithBarb Etsy Shop. I love the look of fan quilting and Barb Vedder had been a guest speaker at The Applique Society meeting. She shared some of her quilts with the fan quilting and I loved it. When it came in the mail I was happily surprised that it was truly LARGE -- about 14" tall! Now what could I use it on? That's about the time that I discovered this quilt in the basement.

I marked the entire top with the standard blue water-soluble marking pen, pieced together a backing, cut some batting, and basted it up. I took me the better part (or maybe even a little longer) of a week to quilt. I finished the binding last Tuesday but there were no beauty shots due to cold and/or rainy weather but Mother Nature is shining this morning so here are a couple of pictures.

Ta! Da!

A Sideways Shot to See the Quilting?

Laying Sweetly with the Daffodils

Close-Up of the Front Quilting

Close-up of the Pieced Back Quilting

So Many Lovely Fans!!!

I love how this quilt finished. It is so soft and squishable and a nice lap-size at 58"x 72". Anyone out there have an idea of what this quilt pattern was called? It is too lovely to remain nameless. I'm looking forward to your suggestions. The colors kind of have a Mardi Gras vibe?

Wherever you are, I hope you are having a beautiful weekend. If you celebrate Easter, I wish you a blessed Sunday.

I Like Thursday #142

So many things to like this time of year. Spring has shown up everywhere with bulbs reawakening, trees budding & flowering, and birds showing off their finest colors with song. My son spent five nights hospitalized due to headaches and apparently Bell's Palsy. He was released yesterday with meds and a follow-up appointment to a neurologist. I really like that he is finally home to recuperate.

Check out this little fellow. This goldfinch will soon be golden. Not a great picture since I had to hurry to get it through my screened window.

Speaking of screened windows. did you know that screens are optional in new houses? I find this mind-blowing!!! At least this is the case in North Carolina. Man, oh man. I love my screens. Fresh air with no bugs. No birds accidentally flying into the house either! Lol!

While sewing binding on my quilt, Polly needed to check it out. She hollowed out a space big enough for her, then left. But not before I snapped a picture!

Here's a funny photo I took yesterday. We noticed that Mom & her P/T guy were dressed similarly the other day. Look! Twins! Hahaha!

Which one is the Danny DeVito
and which one is Arnold Schwarzenegger?

I'm still reading "Holly" by Stephen King. It is really keeping my interest.

The kitchen has been busy this week making deliciousness. No pictures but trust me, good food. Chicken, Gnocchi and Mushroom Skillet was a hit. I substituted chicken thighs for the boneless chicken breasts since that's what I had on hand. This is a one dish meal -- NICE!

Another easy dish was this Crispy Breaded Pork Chops (Baked). I had some leftover mashed potatoes that I served with these and a couple days earlier I made these Refrigerator Pickled Beets. Earlier Mom & I had noticed that our favorite grocery store had beautiful fresh beets available.

Due to a very busy week, I needed a yet another quick meal. I went to my Instant Pot for this Beef Barley Vegetable Soup recipe. Unfortunately I used a different-than-the-usual wine in it and Hubby detected it. He said it was good but I've made better. Pretty sure if I made this again using the merlot it would be approved by all in this house. I personally thought it was wonderful! Rats! Unfortunately I can't share this recipe with a link because it came from one of the Melissa Clark cookbooks that I checked out from my library. It was from either "Dinner in an Instant" or "Comfort in an Instant".

My broken sewing machine was picked up this week and will be returned fixed & cleaned next Tuesday. Another major "Like" for this house.

I hope you have a great week. Don't forget to be grateful for all the good things in your life. If you need a little motivation, check out these other shared posts from bloggers on their "Likes" over the past week.

Purple Pineapples!

While I've been away the last couple of days at a daytime quilt retreat, one of the things I most wanted to work on was my Rainbow Scrap Purple Pineapples. Here's a picture of all three accomplished!

Some of my friends were wondering what was going on with these pineapples and some of my friends were wondering why I was still working on them. I explained about the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and I explained that this was a 2 year project. I started it in 2023 and I got half of the needed ones done. 2024 should be a good year!

They also wondered what the original purple pineapples looked like. I dug them out and posed them all together. Best purple friends!!!

Here's another glimpse of the quilt I've been working on. I am actually hand-sewing the binding on now with a short side done. Woot! Woot! Loads of purple here too.

I hope you're having a good weekend. Our weather is fluctuating a lot. Definitely Spring!

Linking up with Angela and all the others participating in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. If you like purple, you'll love visiting all the sites HERE.

I Like Thursday #141

Here we are on another Thursday and I will share a few things that I've "liked" this week.

My Lenten Rose is grateful that I cleaned out and clipped back the dead growth from last year. It practically jumped for joy overnight and made flowers!

My daffodils have been making quite a show around here too. I clipped a few before some expected storms so we could enjoy some blooms in the house.

My birthday gift from my BFF arrived late due to out-of-stock status. I love this coffee mug especially when enjoying  it with a slab of Irish Soda Bread!

The mug reads: I Wish We Lived Next Door
We could also add "Again" to the end of that!

Recipes around here have produced some delicious meals. I can't remember exactly which ones I've shared and which ones I haven't. Here are three delicious ones that were declared good in our house. Sorry to say I forgot to take pictures.

"Easy Coleslaw Dressing" from All Recipes was good in my opinion. Mom agreed but Hubby didn't care for the mayo base. Along with coleslaw that night, I saw Today Show's Dylan Dreyer make "Dylan's Oven Baked Ribs" so I grabbed her recipe. WINNER! Do you like Asian food? I tried Pioneer Woman's "Sticky Crispy Orange Shrimp". In the intro, Ree says this recipe is based on a similar recipe only using chicken so I decided to make this recipe with chicken. I had 2 large boneless breasts and chopped them into shrimp-sized pieces and then followed the recipe. It was also delicious and this entire household approved.

I finally finished "The Ink Black Heart" by Robert Galbraith. It was good but it was LOOONNNGGG. I only read 15-20 pages a 24-hour period. It was hard to remember some details over that much time since this book was over 1000 pages. I will say, for the most part, I enjoyed reading it.

Finished with this book, I downloaded an eBook from my local library. I really like reading on my Nook. "Holly" by Stephen King had become available for me so there was no choice to be made. I know the main character, Holly Gabney, from other Stephen King books so it was a relief to pick up with her storyline again. I'm not too far in but let me say that Stephen King has my undivided attention ... so far!

Synopsis from GoodReads

What a great week I had! Please join the others if you'd like some TV-viewing, book-reading, cooking, gardening, or otherwise interesting I Like Thursday posts HERE.