Thursday 28 March 2024

Easter, Stitching, Food

 Easter seems to have crept up on me. I'm just now noticing all the bunny and egg patterns and realizing how fast time is spinning by for us here at the wooden house. We are both convinced a week is now feeling like five days not seven. I remember wondering how would I cope with all the free time in retirement...how in the world to fill all those hours not spent at work. Like so many idle wonderings, this one also turned out to be a waste of time and thought...time speeds up it seems.

So Easter is a surprise. I plan to have the family here for a turkey dinner so I'd better get in gear, make a grocery list and get to the store. For Dessert I'm doing something easy like store bought profiteroles with chocolate sauce. Who doesn't love cream puffs, as we always called them. And make one of those Ambrosia salads; Robbie would probably love a "salad" that includes marshmallows. 

 Speaking of food, I've decided to give this a try...imperfect produce. A small company sources imperfect produce in our area and offers a weekly drop off to our door. The price for the smallest box of mixed fruit and vegetables is very reasonable and savings off what we'd pay at the grocery store for like items. Beth has been very pleased with her boxes so I thought we'd give it a try too. The Odd Bunch

So happy to have all the blocks for the Crossroads quilt finished! That makes two fairly large projects soooo close to the flimsy stage. Here are the last of the blocks on the sewing room wall together.

 Figuring out their arrangement will be a bit of a challenge as I don't have a design wall space big enough for all of them at once. Maybe with half at a time I could work it out.
I've sewn a few Tiny 9 patch blocks using the FPP method. And I'm still stitching the blocks with EPP that I had previously prepped. Pleased that this is a year long challenge so no pressure. That's my bobbin tin there.
What did not get even taken out of its box was the Diamond Patchwork Quilt, my Chookshed Stitchers Challenge project, for this month. But that's okay. I feel good about all the March stitching I did accomplish along with a whole bunch of other things.

LeeAnna's Prompt this week is if we could have any wild baby animal, which would we choose. I thought the baby guinea pigs Sally showed in this post on her Crafts, Cavies and Cooking blog were adorable but they are not wild. Of the wild animals, all the babies look adorable to me. Close to home here, I sometimes glimpse a tiny rabbit so I'm going to go with that. They are furry and seemingly tame and entirely pettable ( not a word but should be.) And since my nickname as a child was Bunny, that would suit, wouldn't it. What about you? Is there a baby animal that stands out?

We had workers here for two days, early light to dusk, and they got a main log and three new struts made and up for the front veranda roof. The original main log had rolled a little. They made it a little more decorative than the original brothers who built it had. And the stain looks nice too.

They also removed extra boards which has opened up the view; I notice it through my kitchen window. I don't really like having strange people around here but sometimes you just have to. Don't get me wrong; these guys were really nice and came highly recommended by our chimney sweep. They work together at a local lumber company and were moonlighting. But, you never know... Tony says I watch too much Dateline.

Hope your weekend is great and if you are celebrating Easter...Happy Easter!

Happily linking with Quilting Patchwork Applique and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.



18 comments :

Nancy J said...

We had workers too, the local plumbing guys came, two, to me, quite young men, scaled the ladder, cleaned out all the gutters, or roof troughs? did the fire chimney flue, put a new under sink water filter in,I could have asked if they did windows maybe?? Then yesterday hopefully our last 7.2 cubes of firewood, gum and pine, half and half, both cats fled when he hoisted the back tray and lifted the tail gate to let all that wonderful wood slide off. Happy Easter to you both, maybe some stitching between a lovely menu meal.

Jeanna said...

You have some nice Easter plans, Jocelyn. Your Crossroads blocks look great, as do your tiny 9-patches. I really like the color you chose to stain the wood. We have to do the same.

Jackie said...

That really did open the view. I think that even if you didn't do March's project you still did so much stitching this month.

God bless.

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Easter snuck up on me too. I should have sent the cards/letters to the grandies last week but sadly they didn't go in the mail until this Monday so with no mail delivery on Friday they definitely won't get there in time.
Hmmm - baby animal - there's so many I would like but I think I would have to choose a baby giraffe.

Gretchen Weaver said...

You're making good progress with your projects. I agree, time is speeding up! Have a blessed Easter with your family.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

The weeks do go by fast, don't they, Jocelyn? Quite often, on a Sunday, I will be thinking there's not much going on in the coming week, and then poof! it's Friday! The imperfect produce idea sounds like a good one. I continue to enjoy seeing your Crossroads blocks and those tiny 9 patches, too. They look very enjoyable to work on. And I so agree about those adorable guinea pigs on Sally's blog - they look like fun!

Rosemary Dickinson said...

Congrats on getting all your blocks done for Crossroads. I'm not sure how it happens but it always seems I finish 2 projects at the same time. I never plan it that way. I think a baby bunny would be adorable! I know what you mean about having work people in your house. It's always a little awkward but it has to get done!! Have a nice Easter!

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

I don't even think of Easter anymore and really never do anything much different with no kids around anymore for the Easter Bunny stuff and no relatives around that bother with it. We have never been a really religious household either.
Time does seem to fly by and you are right 5 days seem to equal a whole week. April in another couple days and seems like March barely started.

PaintedThread said...

Happy Easter! It's early this year. I like your blocks. I don't know - those baby guinea pigs were pretty wild sometimes. ;-) That's quite the repair job for the log and struts. Looks beautiful.

Lin said...

Your imperfect veg box sounds like a great idea, presumably less plastic too which is a win win. We can't seem to buy any veg without it being packaged. Used to love going to the market in Spain where all the 'imperfect' veg was sold ie all the stuff that wouldnt fit into a supermarkets idea of perfect packaging.
Your Crossroads top is going to be lovely.
Isnt it sad that we are all now so paranoid about having workmen round.
Hope you have a lovely Easter. xx

Susie H said...

Happy Easter to you too! Your new look on the porch is lovely. The wood looks great with the natural outdoor view. Great job on the Crossroads blocks as well.

Linda said...

Hubs and I had a good chuckle about your comments on time passing. He says when we were working all we did was long for Fridays; now we don't even know what day it is, and time just flies. And we feel as you do about people doing work in and around our house. It's just torture while they are around, no matter how nice they are! Privacy - it's a treasured blessing.
Your Crossroads quilt is just beautiful!
My Mom used to make the best salads with marshmallows - I crave them, but I'm the only one who will eat them.
That produce company has such a wonderful concept!
Enjoy your Easter Jocelyn! :)

QuiltGranma said...

I use our bed as my design wall. Not always effective enough, but it is the space I have.

dq said...

I agree that you accomplished plenty even if it wasn't the list item. We take those finishes whenever we get them. Sometimes we have deadlines. Sometimes we are just in the mood for something different.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

I saw online a lot of foldable versions of a design wall, and they look quite handy. I made mine (attached to the wall, not foldable) with 3 panels of insulating material. Your Crossroads quilt is lovely!
Thank you for sharing.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

It looks like you had an extremely successful March as for the projects you didn't get to, my inner squirrel, Gertie, says it is good to leave a little "seed stock" for next month! I too am not that comfortable when workers need to come to the house. While we do have neighbors, our place is a little out of the way so it would be a good place to hit. . .if we had things of value which we don't! Your cross roads blocks and tiny nine blocks are terrific. It is hard to layout blocks when you don't have space for a design wall! Enjoy your family today, cream puffs with chocolate sauce and ambrosia salad sound divine to me!

CathieJ said...

Happy Easter! Your Easter dinner sounds tasty. I often make cream puffs for an easy dessert. I agree that it would be nice to have a wild baby bunny. Every so often we have them in our back yard, but they are very skittish. I like the crossroads blocks. Enjoy your stitching.

Rebecca Grace said...

I agree with you about weeks getting shorter mostly, but there are exceptions! I am finding that there are at least 11 days in each of the weeks between your house going under contract and the day it actually closes! I am counting down the remaining days of owning a vacant house in Charlotte that I have to pay utilities, lawn mowing, and worrying about something going wrong with the sale and buyers backing out at the last minute, and it is making the passage of time slow to an absolute crawl! Your Easter plans sound lovely and I hope you enjoyed a wonderful day with your family. I am intrigued by your FPP 9-patches. What is the finished size of the 9-patch and the finished size of each little square? What is the advantage to FPP for those blocks? Asking because I'm currently in the midst of making lots of little 3" finished 9-patches myself. Since I'm still mid-move and haven't unpacked rotary cutting tools yet, I just used my AccuQuilt GO! cutter to cut out hundreds of 1 1/2" squares. I know that strip piecing the 9-patch blocks would be faster, and I do love FPP for other types of blocks, but haven't tried that method for a 9-patch.