Turkey Up A Tree, A Me Day, Wheel Within A Wheel Quilt, Starting Snow Days

 This time of year I take comfort in the lengthening of light that suddenly becomes noticeable. Not that I dislike winter; in fact, I enjoy it. I even like the snow especially piling up and the shadows all in blues and purples.  But yet, thoughts of spring and garden flowers are uplifting thoughts, filled with light thoughts.  I always feel grateful for living where there are the seasons, the wonder of it all continually moving and changing around us.

 I was thrilled to hear birds singing Monday morning. I distinguished the Cardinal and the Phoebe, the latter surprising to hear this early in the season. (But then I'm always surprised by how early they arrive back here from the south). They survive on insects and surely it must be slim pickings still in that regard. 

I was so excited when I spied this bird high, high up in the tall deciduous forest. I thought, with some excitement, it's an eagle, my first here on this property. 

No not an eagle; yes a turkey. However a little exciting because I'd always heard they roosted in treetops overnight. Always fun when you get to witness it. Such a heavy, ungainly bird so high up. 

Saturday I had a me day. Stayed in flannel and cozy fleece all day. Drank a second cup of coffee.I had made a pasta casserole the night before to keep me out of the kitchen. I used lots of cheese and actually put a package of Stove Top Dressing on top too. To compensate/ramp up the nutritional value, I chopped carrots and spinach to mix in with the dressing. It all was tasty. Btw, I have switched from using a sort of fancy marinara sauce bought at Costco to good old Prego which does surprisingly well in taste test competitions. Walmart doesn't carry it so I get mine at Giant Tiger.

 I took an extra long walk in the morning, collected sticks for my fires along the way. Ikea bags come in handy for so many things.

I worked on adding more bits and bobs to those Wheel Within a Wheel blocks. My eyes are adjusting to their extreme scrappiness. :) They remind me of old time quilts where whatever material was to be found would be used to make quilts.

I need to sew more of the fans and figure out how many of these blocks I need all together. To continue doing this week.

Astrid in  this post at Red Needle Quilts showed her progress on her Crabapple Hill Design, Over the River. It reminded me that I have a similar pattern called Snow Days. I dug it out, cut the blocks to size and put my giant light box to work tracing the designs. That was very relaxing. 

What had stopped me from starting this project (which I've had for almost 10 years!!) was stitching the accompanying quilt blocks. Now that I'm this far into quilting and more experienced with a machine, I think I can manage to sew them. 

I also read my eyes out visiting your blogs. So much beautiful stitching going on; I'm in awe of all your talent and generosity, my kind blogging friends.  Also as always, thanks for sharing your stories with me and sending me words of empathy and encouragement. 2023 has gotten off to a rocky start for my little family but we are in it together, supporting each other which is what family does. 💕

Do drop back on Thursday...I'm especially happy with the new finds I'll be sharing with you.

Happy to be sharing this post with linky parties at Quilt Schmilt, Creations, Quilts, Art, Wendy's Quilts and More, For the Love of Geese, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Quilting Patchwork Applique and Alycia Quilts.

Three Free Patterns, Kaffe Table Runner, Wheel Within a Wheel Progress, Me in the Garden

The deer have been around and gnawed down a couple of hosta plants; here they eat the same one and leave all the rest. 

I've finished the impromptu/squirrel project, the Kaffe Table Runner. It finished at 13 by 25 inches. I enjoyed the hand quilting part of this project and how it used up some very old scraps.

I decided, because it was geometrical, I would try some rounded edges for the quilting as contrast. Sharing with the Purple Party at So Scrappy.

I cut a cardboard template and used my hera tool to make the quilting lines. 

Then I cut down the template to make a smaller leaf.  I think it is enough and looks okay. 

I've been sorting and cutting pieces for more of the Wheel Within a Wheel blocks. I still don't have four completely together to show you the other "wheels" that go with them. These are big at 18 inch squares and I am really enjoying working with the colours and fabrics. 

LeeAnna's prompt this Thursday was to name a favourite piece of summer clothes.  I'll share this photo with you because I am wearing my favourite summer clothing item, my straw hat. This was taken August 26, 2018 a few days past my birthday. I know this because I posted it to Facebook to thank folks for the birthday wishes. Our front walkway and I'm puzzled why the hydrangeas are the odd colour they are and yet the yellow Ligularia are in bloom which only happens in August. 

 I don't go out without my hat in the summertime to the point now I feel naked without it. It was bought in a specialty shop where the owner makes hats...quite expensive at the time but I've certainly gotten my use of it and it is still as good as new. With my Vitiligo I am very sun shy. 

Perhaps you'd like to share what your favourite summer clothing is.??

Thursdays's Three (or Four) Free Patterns

Another of the pretty chandelier quilt patterns.

This combines two familiar blocks to create a beautiful effect. It is called Le Chandelier and the free pdf is Here. I found it at a site called I Love Quilting Forever and at their link you will find a variety of chandelier quilt patterns. 

This one below is called Picnic at Daybreak and the pattern is found at Moda's huge free pattern bank.  Link to this pattern! I chose it because I'm still in a red, white and blue plus baskets kind of mode. 

Here's a definite summer time pattern.  Ice Lollies to be found at the Craft With Cartwright site. Perfect stitching for these hot July days. 

I must admit I really like this one combining two loves. Link is here.

Loads and loads of stuff there to explore including this to check out for embroiderers.

Talented and generous Ruth is the lady behind this very dynamic site offering recipes, DIY ideas, etc. in addition to the stitchy stuff. Definitely worth checking out!

I'm going out thrifting this weekend and so looking forward to that. Wish me luck! And I hope there is something fun happening for each and every one of you too. 
Happy to link with For the Love of Geese, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt and My Quilt Infatuation.

Tornado Warnings, Eye Candy for Dogs, Dresden Blades, Woolly Purchase

We had another tornado warning last week!

 The radar showed we were directly in its' path which was scary for a few hours. Unlike before, warnings were issued in a timely fashion so folks had time to pick their kids up at school and daughter and Robbie came right to our house. The idea was that our house is very solid with a good basement underground. It was an uneasy feeling watching the wind start to whip up. But at the last minute the storm path divided right around us, part moving south and part going north, remarkable to see on the radar. We were of course very thankful and sad to hear of the destruction it caused to the north of us. However, the wind was strong enough to bring down more trees on our land...ones that had been weakened in the first storm.

 I really hope this is not going to become a thing living here. Tornadoes are so unpredictable and scary. It is nothing like the cold of our winters where you can just bundle up and go on about your business. I don't know what else to compare it to.

This week we are looking after Petey for a few days and Ned is deliriously happy to have him here. Here they are looking at one of the three baby ground hogs that appeared out of the blue on the weekend! Such cute animals but I'm a little worried about having that many of them in our garden. The dogs sat silent and enraptured as the little creature went about its business blissfully unaware of two pairs of eyes following him.

Munching on leaves.

I've worked out the size of the Dresden blades I want for the Wheel Within a Wheel block. I tried two sizes before settling on this one which fits a 9 inch square. These fabrics are wonderful quality to work with. 

 This will be partly machine stitched and partly applique.  The "wheel" bits in opposite corners will be appliqued. Such bright and fun colours to work with, so different from the Tilda soft and muted shades.  I'm eager to get this one further along and will work on it in between getting Plaid Tilda finished which will happen this week, as a flimsy that is, unquilted. 

I may have mentioned I've had a request for an afghan, one in blues. To that end, I put in an order to Wool Warehouse where they have wonderful pricing on Stylecraft Special Dk yarn in over 100 shades to choose from.  My package arrived so quickly and I really like these colours.  I added some steel blues, sage and bluey greens to the group, colours I know this person also likes.

I get tired of grocery shopping which I really shouldn't complain about but I kind of do. All the while I am grateful to have the appetite for food and the funds to support that appetite of course. But keeping us fed is on the TO Do list this week with a big shop necessary. I have made a more detailed list than usual to incorporate a few more of the anti inflammatory type foods. I gave up on avocados because of the environmental issues the growing of them cause. I wonder is that still an issue? Because I would dearly love to add them back into my diet.  It seems tomatoes are a bit of a no no, sadly for me as I love them. So I'm going to be testing those to see how I fare with them.  Back to sourdough bread which I know is better for this stomach of mine, the little I do eat of bread though I love that too. Thank you all for the comments and emails regarding food and inflammation; obviously a lot of folks are dealing with degrees of this issue.

Before this big shop, I have to clean out the fridge. I do hang onto bits and pieces. Having the compost bin is a great enabler in that regard. 

But in brighter news,  my heart always gives a little leap when this shows up in my email. 123stitch.com Newsletter This is June's so I'll be checking that out later. Does that happen to you??? You get a little lift when you see something stitchy that you just know will be good. 

Happy to share this post with Texas Quilt Gal and Creations- Quilts, Art, Whatever.