The fabric I’m using for the new 4 Patch Stacked Posie is a new collection called Peony Tales by Betty Wang for South Sea Imports.
The focus fabric is on the right – the border print I’ll use for the border is on the left.
The pink and green I’ve used in the blocks is also from the collection. All the blocks are done and I’ll begin assembly tonight after dinner… I’ll update later if I get anything accomplished.
Sunday morning I got up to a dry (and very cold – brrrrr) house. (Enough of these single digits - Spring can’t come soon enough.) The humidifier was in need of cleaning so I unplugged it on Saturday morning as I headed out the door for an all day workshop. By the time I got home Saturday evening I was too tired to mess with cleaning the humidifier… so late Sunday morning I put a large pot of water on the stove to simmer. The Engineer had already headed out to his woodshop so he didn’t know I was just using a lazygirls method of boosting the humidity in the house.
Well … he didn’t know until 11 AM when he came in after finishing up his project. “Are you making soup for lunch?” was his question – which had caught me off guard because I forgot about the simmering pot. He wanted to know if we were having lunch before or after he got his shower? LOL I told him to go get his shower and I’d rustle up some lunch.
Since I had a pot of hot water all ready… I threw a spoon of chicken soup base and about 3 cups of dehydrated scalloped potatoes in. I had a ham steak in the freezer – so I pulled that out, cut it up, cooked it in a pan and then deglazed with some of the broth and dumped it all in the pot with some dehydrated onion and some pepper. Everything simmered for 20 minutes until the potatoes were done. I chopped at the potatoes with my spoon to break them up some and then added 2 cups of light cream. At that point - we called it lunch. We were slurping our soup by 11:30.
After the pot had cooled off I packaged the rest of it up for his lunches… I think I have the freezer pretty well stocked now. I didn’t take a picture Sunday but here is a picture from a couple weeks ago when I packaged up a bunch of beef vegetable soup in containers for the freezer. I bought these microwave containers at a restaurant store last year. I had to buy a case but have shared them with my daughter and son to freeze leftovers for lunches. My husband use to take the freezer tape label off – but I told him to leave it as the writing washes out in the dishwasher and I just remark it.
The serving size is perfect – he has soup or other leftovers for lunch every day.
Enough of that – here are a couple pictures from my Buggy Barn Hearts Workshop this weekend for a group of Jersey Girls. There are 3 sisters, one daughter and a friend. They came out last year for a 4 Patch Stacked Posie workshop.
From left to right the fabric combinations are – vintage fabrics, green-brown-creams, 30’s, blue-brown-cream, and the pink-brown-cream I had used as my sample. None of the blocks have been trimmed yet – there will be 2 other sets with fabrics all switched around.
There are lots of pieces parts to keep track of as you can see by their tables. We had a good day – everyone got a complete set of blocks done and started working on the others. Although it’s bitter cold outside - at least they had clear weather to head home in this year – last year when they headed home we had flurries here and they drove into 6 inches of snow at their homes in southern NJ.
Last but not least… this is where I’m headed with the 4 Patch Stacked Posies. I’ll get a picture of the fabric and post it when I get back into the shop. I can’t even tell you who makes it… but it’s a pretty grouping.
Enough sitting around this morning… places to go and things to do!
Do you Skype? Since I’ve gotten this new little Acer Aspire One Netbook computer we Skype more often with the grandkids in Hawaii. My other computer was just tooooo slow… so we didn’t Skype very often. But now we do… and oh what fun.
The kids always ask if Pop’s is around… like I’m chopped liver… and they ask to see our dog Toot… again with the liver! LOL
One day I showed my daughter my new Muckboots ( I LOVE THEM) and my grandson Kai was quite impressed with ‘Ganny’s’ boots (he hasn’t quite gotten the rrr’s down).
Apparently the boy loves boots… yeah the boy who lives in Hawaii loves boots! My daughter asked if I still had his boots from last year…
So I got them out so he could see them.
He wanted them… and each time we have Skyped since he has asked about his boots… well after he asks about Pops and Toot… me? well, remember - I’m chopped liver.
The other night when Pop’s and I were on Skype with them Kai asked again about his boots. He wanted to see them - again. I told him they were put away in a box and he could have them when he came to Granny’s house to visit.
So… as he climbed out of his Mom’s lap and onto the desk he said… “I go now”
Yep, right through the computer the little fella was headed…
“I go now”…LOL
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (6)")
If you guess a 4 Patch Stacked Posie – you’d be right!
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (2)")
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (3)")
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (4)")
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (5)")
The 4 blocks above are the 4 options I have in making one block.
%5B3%5D.jpg "4PSP Peony (7)")
Now that I have all the blocks done – a total of 33… I’ll have to decide how I want to set this. I would have 36 blocks had I been paying attention when I made my first cut at 3” rather than 3.5“… I’ll work them in if I can – or use them as a teaching point… LOL
I’ll have to spend some time with EQ this weekend and see what I can come up with…
The holidays are over and it’s time to get back in the swing of things. I certainly don’t want to mislead you into believing I’ve been very productive recently… I haven’t. The little tree is still sitting here on the dining room table waiting for me to go find the box it belongs in… everything else is put away – but not the tree.
I spent one recent Saturday in the kitchen cooking up a storm… a crock pot full of beef short ribs – 3 meals put away and one eaten that night. A large pot of Spaghetti Sauce made up – several containers frozen and we enjoyed a couple meals that week. I don’t know about your family – but my husband could eat spaghetti every day. I cooked a big pot of vegetable beef soup up to put in the freezer for The Engineer to take for lunches. I was seriously out of lunch stuff for him. I also cooked up a big pan of pork chops and sliced potatoes… that divided up nicely into 5 meals – 4 went directly into the freezer. Hmmmm lets see – what else… I cooked a nice pot of red beans and rice but we ate it all before the week was out – so no lunches set aside… but it was sooo good! I saved out some of the hamburger meat (from spaghetti) and made up a Sheppard's pie for the freezer. Needless to say I was tired of cooking that day!
Before the holidays I did have a couple things that I finished but didn’t report on at the time. My grandson got his Swimmies Quilt for Christmas – somehow I managed to not get pictures – but my daughter will be bringing it back this spring when they come to visit… we need to decide what to do with their little fishy eyes! And I need to get a label on it too.
I finished the Buggy Barn quilt…
The colors don’t show as nicely in the picture - it’s a sample for a class in a couple weeks for this coming weekend (how’d that happen so quickly?). It’s done in creams, pinks, and chocolates!
I’ve also gotten the tops done (not quilted yet) for the March and April Calendar Quilts… they are cute – I’m going to just do an all over stipple to quilt them – I’ll post more pics when they are quilted. Click on Calendar Quilts to go over to that page… it’s also listed on my side bar --->>> over there… on the side.
I have two thumbs to knit and I’ll have 2 pairs of fingerless gloves done for a couple of friends. Now I’m working on some mittens for my husband. He has problems with carpal tunnel so is quite fussy about things on his wrists. I got about 2 inches past the cuff and had him try it on… too tight so I unraveled it and made it bigger. I should finish up the first mitten tonight and be able to start on the second one. I’ve had the yarn for about a year… I think he’d also like me to finish the socks I told him I’d give him. It’s the first pair I started… got one sock done but it was a bit too big for me. Rather than undo it I told him I’d finish them for him. LOL That was 2 years ago now. Oh well…
I’ve put the last load of laundry in – so my loafing time is about over. Time to get out of my jammies… and make lunch… LOL
We ended an old year and began our new year enjoying time with family. No grand parties, no elaborate celebrations… just time hanging out, talking, playing cards and Pictionary… quiet family time.
Santa was good to me… I got a zippy little Netbook computer and a digital camera. Technology that I’ll very much appreciate and enjoy using. All I need to do is get my new camera set up to work with my new computer – then I’ll have some pictures to share.
Everyone gets back to a normal routine this week… not that I consider my life in any way normal. I need to go around and pick up the few holiday decorations I put out so that I can get them put away.
I have done NO SEWING the past couple weeks… zip, nadda, none. I seem to be lacking interest and enthusiasm… sure hope that changes because I’ve got lots to do.
So did y’all make any resolutions? Yeah… me neither! I have some plans… but nothing cast in stone.
