Almost there

I am almost finished with the first page of Three Boats. Last week I showed you this picture:  

I have added a whole lot of confetti stitching this past week to get to here:

I am very close to finishing this page, but Hubby and I are enjoying a visit from our son, so stitching is going to take a back seat.

I did try another new recipe this week that my mom found in a local newspaper years ago. It is called Summer Crumb Cake and can be made with fresh apricots, nectarines, blueberries, etc.

I made mine with peaches. It is so delicious. 

I will be making this again.

One of our resident bunnies came close enough to our back yard deck for me to get a few good photos. 

Isn't it adorable?

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I probably won't be stitching until tomorrow, but you never know.

Please excuse the weird large font in the middle of this post. Blogger was giving me fits when writing it and that particular font was either large or extra small despite my continuously requesting normal. Ugh!

Thanks for stopping by!

A new start and a question

I decided to finally jump in and make a sample block for the quilt I am hoping to make for my daughter. Here is the quilt from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book.

 Of course the quilt is the most difficult one in the book. My block is not perfect, but it is definitely doable. This first block required the use of my seam ripper several times, but that is how you learn what to look out for and how precise you have to be. I need to make 196 of these blocks in total so there will be plenty of practice.

Now what I really need is fabric. The queen-size of this quilt takes 32 fat quarters of dark fabrics (I have 15) and 33 fat quarters of cream fabrics (I have 13). So my question for all the quilters out there is where do you shop online for quilt fabric.....specifically fat quarters? I am still not comfortable with in-person shopping, especially for something that is not essential, so on-line it must be. I know this will not be inexpensive, but this will be a keepsake quilt for my daughter and her husband. 

I have been baking again. This time it was Blueberry Buckle from Brown Eyed Baker. It was delicious! The crumbs on top are amazing.

Thanks for stopping by! 

August SAL #1

It is time once again to update you on my progress on Three Boats.

This is where I was three weeks ago. 

I had added all the blue near the top as well as some more palm leaves.

After finishing Patriotic Bunny, which you can see here, I set my sights on working on this almost exclusively.

I have made quite a lot of progress recently. I have finished the tree trunk on this page and added some more blue and green. I have also stitched all of the black stitches on page 1.

I just have to fill in all those open spaces now with floss that is NOT black. I hope to have this first page completed by the next update.

Thank you so much to Avis from Sewing Beside the Sea for hosting this Stitch-along. Please take the time to visit the other bloggers below who are part of this stitch-along.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy,

 Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah,

Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, 

Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!

I won a giveaway!

Kathi at  Design Originals by KC celebrated her birthday with a giveaway this month and I won! 

I will be looking to see what fabrics I have to work this up. Unfortunately, I can't get the link to her site to work, but please Google it. You will enjoy her blog.

I have finished all the stitching on Patriotic Bunny. I added my initials and date, as well the sequins.  

I still have to determine how I want to finish it. I like the recommended finishing up to a point. I have to think about how to adjust it to make it more practical for me.

I have been baking again also. This time I made Honey Banana Muffins. 

These are made with whole wheat flour, applesauce and are quite delicious.

They have raisins in them too. I will be making this recipe again for sure.

I have to share a pretty lily that bloomed in my yard recently.

I have finished reading "Sea Glass Island (An Ocean Breeze Novel)" by Sherryl Woods.

 

This is the third novel of the series and just as interesting as the first two. A really nice summer read.

Now I am reading "Mariana" by Susanna Kearsley. 

This is the second novel that I have read by this author. The story is very intriguing. It is the kind of book that you just don't want to put down.

Well that is what I have been up to recently. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Someday is a dangerous word

I was watching the Hallmark movie "Christmas in Rome", and the lead female character said "Someday is a dangerous word". Now this is also a famous quote from the movie "Knight and Day", but it continues "Someday is a dangerous word. Someday is code for never". This quote struck me as so very true.  It is true in our lifetime plans and it is true in our day-to-day lives. 

I have always planned that someday I would visit Europe. Hubby and I had that planned for this summer to celebrate our anniversary. He and our children have both made trips to Europe. Hubby always went for work, so I didn't join him. We could have gone as a family over the years, but for some reason we just never did. Someday we would. Well this blasted virus scuttled our European plans for this summer and probably for several years in the future. Sigh.... Someday is far away.

In my day-to-day life, I collect craft and cooking magazines. I have clipped knit and crochet patterns, cross-stitch charts as well as recipes over many years. They all are mostly sitting on shelves and in binders for someday. Well I have decided that someday is here. I am going through my recipes and have started making some of them. First was a recipe I had clipped from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine: Bourbon-sauced pork chops. It was tasty and I will make this again.  I also made No-knead Honey Bread also from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine issue.

It looks beautiful.

It tastes delicious. Hubby loved it!

Mom and I have been going through her clipped recipes too. I think we will start making some of her baking recipes together at her house. I am sure that she will enjoy doing that with me.

I have also been talking about making my daughter's former bedroom into a guest/craft room for several years now. The guest room part is done, but I haven't taken my crafts out of the basement yet. I am stuck as I use her large desk when teaching my university class online. In order to comfortably fit my sewing machine table, I would need put the desk and hutch in the basement. This is another someday project that I really have to figure out.

Patriotic Bunny was a someday project that I started before I heard that quote. I have had this pattern for many, many years. The magazine where I found it doesn't even exist any more. I have almost finished stitching it. 

Isn't he adorable. I have to finish stitching "Happy" and then I just have to add the sequins and complete the finishing to frame it with fabric. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I will try to add those sequins today. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Progress and a finish!

I have finally finished my baby blanket after having to un-knit several rows. I was just happily knitting along one evening and decided to measure the length of the blanket. Well, wouldn't you know it, I had passed the length that I had wanted to stop at by one whole pattern repeat. Yes, I could have left it alone, but I knew I wouldn't be happy with an extra-long blanket. So I spent time ripping out rows while visiting with my mom the next day.

A close-up.

I am totally happy with the way that it has turned out now!

I have also made a lot of headway with my Patriotic Bunny. The cake is done and has a story of its own. As I am stitching with the white floss I realize I am running out. I go to my supplies and find another skein of DMC white that I can use. Uh-oh, this white is definitely not the bright white that I was currently using. It has a creamier tone to it. Usually I have a few skeins of white on hand, but not this time. I wasn't going to frog all those bright white stitches and I still had some of the bright white left. Since this pattern uses, three strands of floss, I decided to ease into the creamier white by using two strands of bright white with one strand of the creamier white for a little while and then go to one strand of bright white and 2 of the creamier white near the end. Thankfully, I had enough of the bright white that I could stay with the 2 strands of it to one of the creamier white right until the end. The change is really not noticeable and I am happy with the result.

Now I have to add the bunny's feet and complete the back-stitching and embellishments. The white embellishments will all have to be in creamy white, but I don't think that will be noticeable either. I will have to buy some more white floss sometime soon. 

I realized that I really want to finish a few items so that I can move on to my trying out some blocks for my daughter's quilt. That was my initial plan to work on this summer. I don't have all the fabrics that I need, but at least I can make a sample block and see whether or not I really want to attempt this quilt.

The log cabin pieces are really skinny and there is a y-seam to learn. The version shown above is much smaller than the queen-sized quilt I would be making.

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. Pop on over to her site to see what other bloggers are stitching. I think I will work on that bunny's feet today. 

I might make some more of this delicious Best Healthy Cole Slaw Ever too.

 I made it last week and we both really liked it. I am not a fan of mayonnaise and this recipe is made with a sweet, light dressing. It only takes half of a head of each type of cabbage so I still have some on hand. I left out the seeds and nuts as I couldn't find any in the grocery store and hubby would not have been a fan. I have been trying to find some light vegetable salads for the two of us. I figure that healthier eating can only help during this pandemic. 

Thanks for stopping by!

SAL Update

Can you believe that three weeks have passed since the last update? 

I haven't gotten all that many stitches added because I had visitors for most of that time. First my son came for a week. A few days after he left, my daughter, son-in-law and their pup visited for 10 days. My son-in-law only for 4 days of that time. I spent as much time as possible visiting with them or taking care of Ruby, their dog, while they worked remotely. Oh it was wonderful!.

Okay, that being said, here is where Three Boats was three weeks ago. 

Here is where I am now. I have added more black, brown, dark green and dark blue and.....I have added some pretty blue sky! I have also stitched to the far right of the first page.

Thank you so very much to Avis for hosting this Stitch-Along. Each week bloggers share their progress on a stitching project of their choice. Please visit the bloggers below and see all the wonderful pieces they are working on.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy,

 Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah,

Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ,

Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Thanks for stopping by!