Three Free Patterns, Chocolate Strawberry Cake, Kim's Flower Pots, Purples For July

I'm not feeling up to par this morning. Yesterday I turned my left ankle on a late afternoon walk (am I fit to leave the house anymore???) and it throbbed lightly in the night, enough to wake me around 2 and I didn't get back to sleep till 4 ish. Up at 6:30 per usual with Ned and relieved the ankle is a little sore but totally walkable. That's the good news.

And that aside, what bothered me is this... it didn't occur to me to get up and take a Tylenol. That link between feeling, thought and action was just absent, zero, zip, zilch, nadda as the Joker said. Because, though I don't take OTC drugs (or any drugs for that matter), I'm definitely not a martyr...I will take a Tylenol if I need it which I clearly did last night. Now I ask you, that loss of connections in the brain, is that not what Alzheimer's is all about. Was that a perfect example or what!  EEk! Thoughts??? ( For new readers, this is all pertinent because my 23andMe profiling showed I carry the gene for late onset Alzheimer's.)

Enough of that bit. Onwards and upwards, wobbly ankle, so so brain and all. Time to share some lovely Thursday things.

The indoor geraniums that were moved outside took a bit of a beating during the Deroche incident and subsequent heavy rainfalls. It looked a little bit ragged for a while but has bounced back which makes geraniums one of the most rugged of perennials. And the flowers are so pretty. 

I was happy to capture a couple of shots of a bird that is rather elusive though I hear its' very loud drumming on trees quite often. It was moving quickly from tree to tree so this is not the best of photos. The Woody of Woodpeckers, the Pileated.  Its' size, so much larger than the song birds, always thrills me. 

The latest cake from Daughter. Delicious with the fresh strawberry, cream and chocolate combination. Such a pretty presentation too.

A word or two about purple, July's colour as chosen by Angela at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  It's not a colour that comes naturally to me to either wear or stitch with. Though it just occurred to me I am wearing purple as I type this. 

This is a sleeveless sweater vest with cap sleeves older daughter gave me years ago and is useful for cool mornings. It is a deep plum kind of purple. HERE they say there are 80 shades of purple. Who knew!

Anyway, I thought about purple in the sewing room and remembered I had a few Kaffe prints left over  from an almost finished project, Kim McLean's  Flower Pots. That will be showing up soon as an OMG.  A portion below; I was doing hand quilting on it. Why I dropped it-haven't a clue. It was so close to a finish.

So I found the tote and pulled out a few of the prints that had purples, matched up a few solids and cut some triangles for a table runner. I don't know if you can tell what I'm trying there with having the prints run diagonally. Has this got a name? Does it work?

That's as far as I got yesterday and if I can keep my wits about me, I will work on it a little today.

 There are so many designers generously sharing free tutorials and patterns and their expertise, it is so easy to find three a week to pass along to you. 

#1 is from Tree House Textiles and called Stitching Sampler. I've already downloaded the PDF. Forgive me if I've shared this already.

#2 is  a page in quilting history namely  The Nancy Page Quilt Club. 

The real Florence La Ganke using a fictional Nancy offered free quilt patterns to newspaper readers in the late 20's and 30's, over the years, adding up to over 800. There is a wealth of  good information and inspiration to be found in those columns, not only in the main blocks but designs for borders, applique and embroidery included. It's well worth the digging about. Q is For Quilter offered a number of the patterns over the years, 

This site, Newspapers.com, proved to be the best source for the columns that I could find. Hope you enjoy having a look about.

Great Minds Think Alike...Michelle at her blog Pennsylvania Piecemaker, which I love, btw, just shared a lovely Zinnia pattern from this same source, the Nancy Page Quilt Club.

#3 For a little hand stitching...10 Free Embroidery Patterns for Beginners from here, Sprucecrafts. So appropriate I found a strawberry...have eaten quite a few lately.

That's my Thursday Three Free and my bewailing all done. Thanks for the ear this morning. I already feel better for having "talked" about things. 

Happy as well to share this with Not Afraid of Color, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting Applique Patchwork, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and My Bijou Life.