Tuesday 12 April 2022

2 In Between Quilt Projects, Raisin Oat Cookies, Tulips For Planting Time

Emily's Quotes- Pinterest

I've just put another pan of raisin oat cookies in the oven. The smell is fragrant.  Make no wonder cinnamon is so prized among spices; it makes anything baking smell so delicious.  
Outside we have had rotating bouts of snowflakes, hail, rain and yes even sunshine all these recent days. There was snow on the ground when I got up Sunday morning...I suspected because the light behind the blind seemed whiter. That bit didn't last at all.  Today we have a promise of 12 C. 

Getting back to the cookies, I used partial whole wheat flour and also ground flax seed. Extra molasses and lots of raisins. I had soaked dates with the thought of   adding them to the dough but decided at the last minute, I had played havoc enough with the recipe. I'm saving them to add to my oatmeal tomorrow. Recipe is here at Sally's Baking Addiction.

Since I had the oven on and warmed up, I roasted chicken thighs afterwards for the meat to use in a curry dish too. Chicken thighs are good for that.  All of it was tasty.

Two IN BETWEEN Projects

#1   I have a few more blocks from my Tiny Trees project to show with the thought of stepping up the sewing of these blocks this week.  I've not kept up the six or so a week I had promised myself that I would do. Need to play catch up while using up scraps.

#2  I did test out the Confetti scrappy quilt block using foundation piecing I mentioned in this post last month. It really wasn't effective for me as I realized right away I do not have enough white fabric. Seems like a lot of cream, off white, etc. is in my stash.  I also wanted to use scraps and not many of my scraps are worthy of fussy cutting like Rachel did with hers that made them look so pretty. In the end, I went rogue and just sewed randomly with the smaller scraps especially.  Perhaps more confetti like in the end as I think of confetti as tiny bits. 
 The pattern is there if I want to revisit it but for now I'm just going to sew more blocks in a liberated style and try to use up as many scraps as possible in the process. The white fabric does showcase the colours well.  This will be a 9 inch square and the thing that really surprised me was how long it took to sew this. Putting it together so it doesn't look like a dog's breakfast takes time. Hopefully,the result in the end achieving an "unstudied, unpretentious, and more interesting" quilt...a quote from Gwen Marsden.
 And another  upshot, I need to buy more fabric!

The ground is softening up quickly. I have tulip bulbs I received as a birthday gift last year that I want to put into planters as soon as the threat of frost is over.

  I can't put them in the ground as the squirrels find them. Of course, they might find them in the planters too but I plan to keep them up on the veranda close to the front door. That may or may not help.

I have two robins combing the side lawn for worms already. They are off to an early start with the nesting. 

The Phoebes are back; it was music to my ears to hear their familiar calls. Migration is such a miracle. How in the world do those tiny birds manage it! 

I'll leave you with a photo of one of the red squirrels.  It was munching away on last years' spruce cones sitting on a branch outside the dining area window. It's a good thing they're so cute!

Hope you are having a great week!

21 comments :

Brian's Home Blog said...

Boy, those cookies sure do look good and your quilt projects always do. That sweet Robin looks so curious!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

have you tried putting your tulip bulbs in a chicken wire - kind of make a small basket with the wire - you put the bulbs in the wire and close the top up and then cover with soil - I haven't tried it but have heard of others that have and they say the critters can't get the bulbs. The cookies sound so good I haven't made any for awhile.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Those cookies look and sound delicious, Jocelyn! I'm glad to see your little trees out for piecing again, too. I have a completed quilt top of those that I still need to get quilted. Your liberated confetti blocks sound like fun to me. The paper-pieced versions of that quilt that I have seen are gorgeous, but I think do probably take larger pieces of background fabric. It's good to see the robins out, isn't it?!

Jenny said...

How nice to have Robin's and Squirrels come to visit! I love tulips, hope your planting is sucessful and you get beautiful flowers fro your bulbs. Here, we dont have to worry about critters digging up and eating flower bulbs, that must be quite upsetting to keen gardeners, I would think.

PaintedThread said...

Mmm... I bet the place smells delicious. Those trees are cute.

Jackie said...

The smell of baking cookies is so lovely and the cinnamon just adds to the luscious smell.

Love the scrappy quilt.

God bless.

Snickelfritz said...

I wonder about the tiny birds and their migration, also. Especially the little hummingbirds. I imagine them flying thousands of miles to warmer climates in the Fall and wonder how they can ever manage it. Yes, cinnamon does make the house smell so good. My favorite spice. I buy huge jars of it.

Karen said...

Our pheobe was back checking out last years nest. Sometimes they reuse it, sometimes not.
Am I the only person in the world who doesn't like cinnamon?

Linda said...

Hi Jocelyn, your cookies look wonderful. I don't like raisins but my husband does, so I have to keep some around for him. ;) On the confetti scraps, the quilt that took me the longest to make was a simple baby quilt that I put together row by row with no plan and using larger scraps. Getting those scraps to fit took so long!
I spent a pleasant morning yesterday reading some of your older posts and now I understand why you call it the "wooden house". You are such a good writer and write in such a lovely way, and I even laughed out loud a few times. I really enjoy your posts!
Thank you for sharing with us at To Do Tuesday!

piecefulwendy said...

I think your confetti quilt is going to look quite nice. I like your little trees, too! Your cookies and the chicken thighs - yum - I can imagine the lovely aromas coming from your kitchen. Mr. Robin is looking quite handsome, as is that little red squirrel.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I've heard that bone meal placed around (and in the hole) tulips helps deter the squirrels....don't know how well it works but might be worth a try.
I'm liking the confetti blocks - harkens back to what our grandmothers did by making quilts using what they had on hand.

QuiltGranma said...

Love the description of Robin's combing the lawn for worms.

gladiquilts said...

I love your little trees blocks and the confetti blocks are looking fine too. Thanks for the link to the baking site which looks wonderful and has me thinking about making a cake! I tried to get a photo of a robin for my blog but she flew away too quickly- yours is great! Am enjoying sharing signs of spring with you!😊

LA Paylor said...

look at all the projects and interests!!! so good! Your photos are inspiring, I want to eat the chicken, Love Sally for baking stuff, birds, flowers, stitching... so many good things

grammajudyb said...

Wonderful post, Jocelyn! Food and quilts! Love the confetti quilt idea! I don’t this the background needs to be consistent, I wouldn’t have enough either. You got a good photo of that “chubby” robin! We’ve seen a few lately, bot not many!

Chopin - A Passionate Quilter said...

Nice post! I bet you are really enjoying Spring and all the critters coming out and enjoying it also. Hugs

Rosemary Dickinson said...

Your cookies sound so good! I can almost smell them! I think you can do whatever you like with your confetti quilt. I know in Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts that the light background can range from white to beige and all are used in the same quilt. It works fine. That robin looks a little chubby to me!

Siouxzq64@gmail.com said...

Oatmeal raisin cookies are one of the favorites at the store. Your chicken looks yummy. LOL you said what I think about crumb piecing, takes forever, and I think mine always looks icky. Your tiny trees are cute though. I was looking at tulips at the store today and loving some of the newer colors. I don't think they do well once in the ground. As always you have fabulous pictures of birds and the squirrel.

Angie said...

Jocelyn - when we left the house for the airport on Wednesday, we still had four inches of snow on the ground. Looking at the weather report now, it is snowing with a forecast of another 3 - 5 inches. For once, I am happy to be elsewhere - we are in the UK and it is a gorgeous Spring day, perfect for Easter Sunday! Good luck with your tulip bulbs!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Super cute scrappy PINK projects, Jocelyn!!

Gwyned Trefethen said...

You are so productive, hop-scotching from one project to the next. Nothing like going rogue when a project isn't coming together as anticipated.