Birthday Thoughts, Stars Not in the Sky, Mr. Fix-It, What To Do With Leftovers

 So I had a birthday last week.  I walked around all day thinking now I am 69, what exactly am I feeling. I kept waiting for some sort of revelation from that big number, the one before 70. And true to life that when you chase something down. thinking you can run it to the ground and capture it, it doesn't happen. I had a perfectly normal day doing the things I usually do; however, with a heightened sense of how lucky I was to be here in this safe spot, moving my body with comfort, thinking clear thoughts and breathing fresh air.  Maybe that was my revelation, that what we crave is normalcy. If we are in a good and comforting space, then we don't want it to end or to change a thing.  Enough is enough.

I do have plans for this year. Nothing grand, just me going about my business but hopefully putting more effort into certain aspects of my life. For instance, I'm going to work harder at my overall fitness. I don't particularly have strength or flexibility but I do (used to) have endurance. More work on strength and stretching then it will be.  Right now, my motivation is strong to do this. Fingers crossed it stays with me. 

Above, wildflower Goldenrod in bloom; taken hastily because there were wasps!

Our good spell of all appliances working well ended recently.  Last week the dryer stopped drying though running fine. Hubby had to take it apart and did find the problem- the heating coil had a complete break in it.  I did some flashlight holding and now know more about the insides of a dryer than I ever wanted to. But clever Hubby found the problem, ordered the part online, had it in two days, put everything back together perfectly and now our dryer is drying again! He saved us a bundle in the process and I told him the added bonus was working his brain too. 😊

I made a decision about the Flower Garden blocks from Melva Loves Scraps  Pieces of the Past SAL.  I'm going to stop at 19 which should give me a nice sized table topper.  That means 2 1/2 more to make which I hope to get done soon. I think having this one finished and on a table will be my September OMG at Elm Street Quilts.  I'm still loving the hand stitching. Keeping my hands busy while watching t.v. has never changed for me. I think I'm addicted!

At Melva's link there you will find the latest block for her SAL, the India Star pattern, another pretty star. Thank you Melva for hosting this look at the past through quilt blocks.

I had a profound SQUIRREL moment recently. Items crop up in my mail from Pinterest and a pattern called Easy Hexagon Star Quilt caught my eye. I thought of my small and scrappy stash of Kaffe prints that I don't know what to do with and how much I love a pattern that miraculously makes a star somehow as this one promised to do, so figured I would give it a go.

Here is the link I followed to Calvin and Carolyn and their tutorial. How generous of them! You can see the version of this with white hexagons and colourful points which is a great scrappy project.

And here are a couple photos of what I've made so far. Ten blocks across is pretty much double bed size.

Fun too to have a project that gets stitched up quickly on a machine for a change.

Is this a pattern that would turn your head?

I'm looking up a couple of links to sales and then it's into the sewing room to prep enough hand work to see me through the weekend. Oh, remember the spaghetti sauce I made; it was way too much for one meal so I've looked up what to do with it. I found this site, 18 Delicious Ways to Use Leftover Spaghetti Sauce, and one of the ideas is to use it as a base for soup. Going to do that today too.  

What's cooking at your house?

Happy to link this post with Sandra at MMMQuilts who is hosting our squirrel projects. Also linking with Kathy's Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt, Quilting Patch Applique, Our World Tuesday and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.