Abandoned!

At A Loose End*!  Definitely, I don't know why this town was abandoned some years ago!

I recently looked for the box that contained the patterns and instructions, only because, 

Pat Sloan was reviving the sew along--Will You Be My Neighbor?"

When I saw that notice--I said to myself--"self, you have this somewhere in your studio"

Look for it--and there it was--all neatly bundled up in a box with fabric I decided to use--plaids.

I had made four of the blocks and then--bam!  I abandoned the whole neighborhood!

It's big blocks--18" so it's doable and I have all the fabric selected--now is the time

to pick it up again and make another street or two or just finish the town!

Only three more streets to do--it can be finished if I put my mind to it!

So why 'be at a loose end"?

*"if you see children mooching about, apparently doing nothing recognizably useful, you are likely to say--they are at a loose end.  Why not send the little dears off to sea on an old sailing ship.

That is where the phrase was coined!

As with spinning a yarn, on quiet days at sea when the weather was good, sailors would have to perform ordinary tasks.  All the thousands of ropes of sheets making up the rigging needed to have their ends bound with twine to prevent them fraying.  Anyone with no other duties would be sent to

"tie up the loose end"

*Rigmaroles & Ragamuffins, Elinor Kapp author!

 

Luck of the Irish!

 As Luck would have it is the latest sew along from Fort Worth Fabric Studio.  You can find the free instructions on their Facebook group.

The phrase luck of the Irish is commonly thought to mean “extreme good fortune.” "During the gold and silver rush years in the second half of the 19th century, a number of the most famous and successful miners were of Irish and Irish American birth. . . 

My oldest daughter has the best luck--she finds four leaf clovers as she walks through her pasture

 The leaves of four-leaf clovers are said to stand for faith, hope, love, and luck. It's often said that Ireland is home to more four-leaf clovers than any other place, giving meaning to the phrase "the luck of the Irish." If you're lucky enough to find a four-leaf clover, look for more!

How rare is a four leaf clover? Its relative rarity (1 in 5,000 clovers) suggests a possible recessive gene appearing at a low frequency. Alternatively, four-leaf clovers could be caused by somatic mutation or a developmental error of environmental causes.

There were four steps to completing this simply made quilt top.  I didn't begin this one--now, I'm thinking I never have anything green to display for the month of March--this one could be it! 

Better, join their Facebook page to had advance information.

Look at that!  The pattern block called for is an Irish Chain!!

There will be a spring sew along in the next few weeks--

Tonight when you have your corned beef and cabbage--think of all that good luck you'll have in the coming weeks!  

A Quilting We Go

WORD of the DAY:  "many a mickie makes a muckle"--in other words:  A lot of small amounts, put together, become a large amount!

 It's been several weeks since we have graced the door of our local quilt shop (LQS).  We were going to not only SHOP (SALE! SALE! SALE!)  but we have couple of quilt tops to long arm in the back studio--First!  we must shop before the crowd enters.

My stash!  Certain fabrics were $6 a yard!  Alot of batiks as well! Yay!  that was fun.

I was quilting my Corey Yoder "Spring Brook Blossoms" from her 2021 blog--was great fun to sew up a garden of blossoms in different colors.

I was trying out my free form flowers and bugs--I know it looks like some kids' drawings--well, I'll take that compliment! 

I had this small top to place on the end of my longer quilt--don't remember where I got the pattern

For this one, I did my amateurish hearts and along the bottom "Love"

My friend was quilting on this top that she constructed though the $5 Club.  Each month you attend the meeting and bring in your completed block, you can get the next one for $5--she likes doing her quilts this way

You can see her backing at the bottom--here is a better photo of her backing

Butterflies!  Perfect for her flowery garden top.

It was a good day!! 

LIttle This, Little of That

 No word of the day today--there are just not enough words to describe our situation in this world!

This was one block from Pat Sloan.  This weekly sew along under Sweet Dreams--

I've decided to make mine in red, white and blue--wish I'd used a stronger blue instead of this

very pale shade.

As my leader and ender block, I"m working on this churn dash

Here we go with row #10 Tuning-my heart row along--there were birds,

small birds that were designed but I wanted bigger birds

here's what I made for my row--I searched for patterns and found a tutorial on

making this one.  Really like this fabric too--it looks like an eye!

and have you begun to work on Heartfelt?  I've printed the patterns for the

first two blocks--so I'm definitely behind!

 

Heartfelt

I packaged up 14 hats to send off to Emily's Hats for Hope Intuitive

Over a year or more I'll knit on a hat or two and when I have a collection, I

find a good charity to donate to.  If you have some hats or yarns to donate,

contact them.  I'll begin with another hat soon to begin another collection

On each hat, I add a charm "Hand Made with Love"

and so it goes--little of this, little of that!

Hearts of Hope Sew Along

 

We all want to assist Ukraine in some way--but what to do?  There are ways to donate money;

here is a way quilters can create something from their hands to help heal the heart.

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville has created a way for us to sew along to her

feature of Hearts of Hope--you can donate through her website with monies;

also, creating this sewalong to complete a quilt that could be used to raffle as 

a fund raiser.

Watch for the first drop of instructions on March 18 with supply list.

Part One will drop March 25

Sugar Free Quilts presents this lovely sunflower pattern for you to create and share with others.

Peace for Ukraine is quilt pattern from Sew She Can

Pat Sloan has This beautiful star of love

These are just a small way we as crafters can participate in this war.

As our hands sew, our hearts and minds can say a prayer for peace!

Don't DO IT!

 Just don't do it--unless, you have plenty of time and no other chores or tasks to complete!  I'm warning you--just don't do it!  Why--I speak from experience because I did it and now, I'm going down that rabbit hole!

  I joined a group on FB "Friends and Fiction and there was no turning back!  Each day someone would post about a great book they just read!  and then several people will jump on and comment "that was a super book" "I couldn't put it down" It's really good"--

Then I need to look on my app Scribd to see if that book is available--sometimes yes, sometimes no--then I need to check it out at Amazon to find out the details about the book--NO--don't order!!  NO! wait till it comes up on your app!  It's not like you don't have 50 other books already cued to read or listen too,  Self doesn't listen too well to me!

Of course, there is a logical solution to this--just leave the FB group! or don't read the notices!  Until, I catch up on all those good books that are stockpiled in my Scribd library or sitting on the nightstand.  That makes complete sense to a sane person--but, who says I'm sane-----about books!!  

I dug into this right away!! Very light reading—Molly Maid has discovered a murder in an upper scale hotel—can she find the suspect?  a fun read! 

I found this book on paperback swap.com—many and I mean many people recommended this book.  Then it must be GOOD! A tale of twin brothers born from an illicit love affair, abandoned by mother’s death and father’s disappearance, the twins must navigate their path during a life war—

An author who is absolutely loved by multitudes!  This story is placed during WWII; we seem to be more interest in historical events during the past years. 

Each of these stories will take me on a joyful ride of words—it’s times like this I’m glad I did DO IT! 

What's For Dinner??

 IT's been one of those days--busy from sunrise to sunset!  No time to plan for dinner--We have rodeo in town--that makes it even more difficult to plan for a meal.  Of course, we could always eat on the rodeo grounds--fight the crowds to the food tent, walk many steps, find a table to sit--what to do?

It's my go to meal--quick and easy and delicious--homemade pizza!  First step, pull out a cauiflower pizza crust from the freezer--slap on some pizza sauce, making sure to cover the whole crust.  We love the cauliflower crust--it bakes quickly, taste delicious and gives a nice crunch to each bite!

pile on the veggies, meats and lots of cheese--bake @ 400*

for 15-20 minutes.

Just the right size for two of us--price is right too--around $7 for two crusts.  Always, have

these on hand in the freezer

We like  red pepper flakes to add some spice and lots of fresh grated parmesan cheese!

If time allows, a green salad will be added.

add a glass of pizza wine and we have a delicious quick meal!

and we are off to the rodeo with full bellies