What I did on my autumn vacation...

Hope everyone is well and has yet to give up on my sporadic blogging.  Thanks for the reminder to get back to it, Barbara!  :) 

I've been on vacation this week, and spent 4 days at quilt retreat with my library quilting group.  I worked on this much-delayed work in progress.  The bow tie quilt top was pieced by the grandmother of my longest-term friend...not to be confused with my oldest friend.  ;)  She handed it to me 21 years ago and asked me to finish it.  Twenty-one years!  I am so ashamed that I didn't finish it and return it to my friend decades ago!

I've always loved bow-tie quilts, and wanted to quilt this one by hand rather than have it machine quilted which was part of what led to the delay.  I tried to give it back to her at one point, but she wouldn't take it.  We've been friends since the 5th grade, so since I've always been a procrastinator she had reason to know this was a possibility.  

I started the hand quilting of it on the first day of the retreat in a wooden hoop, but that was pretty horrible.  On the second day I phoned Carey and asked him very nicely if he would meet me half way and  bring my PVC standing quilt frame.  The retreat was over 2 hours from our home, so the rest of the group was mightily impressed when he said he would.  Such a sweetie!  When assembled this frame is about the size of a card table, so gave me much more work area and much less frustration.

I made good progress on it, but still have a long ways to go.  I'll keep you updated.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes

I came home Tuesday and started (and finished) a book that a friend recommended at retreat: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.  Hard to put down.  About the Pack Horse Library Project which was a WPA project started in the 1930s.  The ebook was available through my library.

This morning I remembered to log on to work system and complete our insurance selections before the open enrollment period ends tomorrow.  Carey will be retiring at the end of the year (though he only has to work for another week and a half in actual days on the job), so have to make sure we both have coverage starting January 1.

Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment, and then hope to go get my Covid booster on the way home.

Not sure yet what the weekend will bring other than the normal work-week laundry.  Hopefully it will also bring some more hand quilting...don't want that to get pushed aside as I would really like to complete it before the end of the year.

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

 

1.  My shoulder has been bothering me a LOT all week.  Using our TENS unit on it helps the pain without having to take any meds.  Actually wore it to work one day.

2.  I've been cooking more lately.  Haven't been ordering from the subscription service since the delivery issues (leaving in full sun and fire ant mound).

3.  Carey is 2 months away from retirement.  Eeeeeek!

4.  I've given up Coke (-a-Cola).  It's been a month or so now.

5.  Been hearing about the shortages and delays as we head into the holiday season.  First it was toys.  Then that clothing delays were leading more people to thrift and try resellers.  Today I heard that some hard cover books may be hard to find, because just like shortages of wood for construction, there's shortages of wood for paper.  Time to come up with a plan for getting creative with gift giving.

6.  Anyone else take piano lessons as a kid and learn a song that goes, "I'm a little wooden soldier, on a dusty attic shelf, and it hurts my pride just cast aside all by myself" ?  After 50+ years, it is playing on a loop in my head tonight.  

7.  Looking forward to the weekend!

Sunday roast...

 

A month or so ago, my first grandson (not to be confused with my oldest grandson) said that he had made chicken and dumplings, and was very happy with the result.  (Oh the shock of realizing that my sweet little baby was old enough to live on his own and cook real meals for himself!)  We were talking about dumpling recipes, and how I had to try a lot of recipes before I found one that worked every time.  He asked me to share that one with him, so I made him a recipe card of it to pop in the mail.  

Of course I had to decorate the card.  I think the original recipe came from a Better Homes & Garden cookbook that had a red gingham cover, so I used that as the card background.  And yes I know that he may have preferred a digital copy of the recipe, but maybe this will be a keepsake.

I like dumplings, not only with chicken, but also with a roast beef.  I've been hungry for beef and dumplings ever since I sent him the recipe, so I added a roast to the grocery order this week, and put it in the slow cooker today.  After it cooked all afternoon, I removed the roast and carrots from the pot, and added the dumplings to cook.

It was exactly as yummy as I hoped for.  I texted him this photo with a note that dumplings are not only for chicken.  

The cooler temps that we enjoyed earlier this week also made me want oatmeal in the morning.  So today I made a batch of Oatmeal To Go.  Nice to have that done to take to work with me.

Speaking of work... Last week I worked from home a couple of days.  Carey came home from work a little early due to a co-worker testing positive for Covid.  Carey's brother, who works with him too has now tested positive, and his wife is now symptomatic too.  Carey is feeling fine, but he is going to be tested just to make sure he isn't positive and asymptomatic.  After his test results, my boss and I will decide if I should continue to work from home for awhile.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Making it Monday...

Another catch up of cards made...this is a long one as it has been awhile.

The next eight are from August 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit by Stampin' Up!  The first three were made pretty much by just following the instructions that came with the kit.

When I made the one above as per the instructions, I found it way to frenetic.  Then I went on to make some that were more to my taste.

The one above and the one below both use the same background paper.  The one above I used some floral stamps to stamp over the flowers of the background.

The one above is pretty simple; I just outlined the background spirals and flowers with a black pen.  This was CASEd by a design I saw at Cards by Cheryl on Youtube.

This was also CASEd from Youtube at Stamp Your Art Out With Rachel Tessman.  That brightly colored laser cut against the black sings to me...it says...Light Bright Lalalalalala.  LOL, all I can remember is the Light Bright name and the tune of their jingle...and those amazing colored pegs against the black background.  Ooooo...and COLORFORMS...another good toy that was very visually appealing to me as a child.

Then I thought I would turn the laser cut over to use the white backing side, and I put it on a lavendar background.  I dropped it it the mail this morning to my mother-in-law as that is her favorite color.

This was also inspired from Cards by Cheryl.  I loved her suggestion of cutting all the banners in half and using them as a bunting.

This one and then next four are all birthday cards from over the summer.  This one has a slug bug for my Catiebug on her 16th birthday to commemorate her getting her driver's license.

The candles were for Bobby's 22nd birthday.  Looking back, I have given him a lot of 'candle' cards over the years...maybe because I want all his wishes to come true.  :)

This one  was for our beautiful Chloe's 15th birthday.

This yellow 'I Miss You'...

...and this "Wish we could hang out" went to friends.

I made this seashell card as a condolence for the loss of a wonderful man. 

And I loved its elegance so much that I made it again using a metallic gold layer to border the embossed seashells.  It went out as a wedding card to a celebrity...no kidding...you would definitely recognize the name if I was allowed to use it...alas, it's work related.

And I will close with this wine bottle sleeve that I made last week.  It's not really a card, but it is made from paper with great directions from Wow Nola Creations along with her Youtube video.

And with that I will close.  I was up stamping at 5 a.m. this morning, and that is SO unlike me.  Well, I can't say I've never done it before, but when I have, it was because I had stayed up stamping all night, not got up and stamped before work like I did today!  :)

Thankful, Grateful, Blessed...

So many things to be thankful for...

Thankful that Carey is home safe from a week away.

Blessed to have had the energy to make him a pie to surprise him.

Grateful for free eggs from my non-sanctioned neighborhood chicken wrangler.

Blessed that I got to hug my granddaughter yesterday, and her smile...oh that beautiful smile!

Always grateful when my boss takes the elevator and, knowing I will be following soon after, sends it back to the floor I'm on so I don't have to wait too long for it in the heat (it is a slooooow outdoor elevator).

Blessed with good dreams almost always.  Last night I woke up from one that was so entertaining, I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and texted myself the plot so I wouldn't forget it.  And just last week I sent a card to my oldest friend (not to be confused with my eldest friend) to tell her how often I have been dreaming of her and her family...parents, siblings, spouse, and children...over the past year or so.  We live far apart now, but each time I wake up feeling like we've had a good visit.  Recently I even woke myself up singing aloud a song that makes me think of her parents.

So thankful that we have all been healthy.  So many locals have had Covid lately.  I'm wearing my mask again almost always.  My company has been requiring us to wear masks again in the office, and I am all for it as I am almost certain a number of our clients are anti-vax and/or anti-mask.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

I haven't been reading much for the past couple of weeks, and I'm still working through the book of short stories I posted here last.

Killing Trail by Margaret Mizushima

Now I'm in the mood for something adventurous.  The second book in this series (Stalking Ground) was $1.99 for the Kindle version on Amazon today.  The main characters are a policewoman and her K-9 partner in a small Colorado town.  And I thought it might be a series that Carey and I would both like to read.

I thought I'd check the library to see if they had the first in the series, and I lucked out.  Killing Trail (first in series) is the only one the library has, and it is on the shelf, so I put a hold on it and will pick it up tomorrow and start it, as I thought I would read them in order.  The first two should be a good sample of the series to see if we want to look for any more.