I Don't Like Mondays

Tax Day AND Monday.  Did you get your tax returns in the mail?  We had to pay federal taxes this year.  I'm not sure why we do it, but I think we elect to pay extra to file our taxes electronically every year.  That seems like a good idea when we're getting money back, but if we have to mail in our tax payment anyway, what's the point of filing electronically?  But who am I to question it?  Hubby's the one who takes care of meeting with the tax people and providing them whatever they need, so although I might wonder about the arrangements, I just leave it all up to him.  I'm sure he must have a reason.

Here's the thing that bothers me though--and it's nothing Hubby has any control over.  Not only does the government want my money, but they seem to want to make it easy for other people to get my money too.  If you've had to pay taxes, perhaps you know the government requires us to put our Social Security number on our check and then mail it to a post office box where all the other payments go.  If you were the kind of person who makes a living stealing other people's identities, how easy would it be for you to intercept tax payments and obtain all kinds of bank information and Social Security numbers?  I always kind of worry about that.

And as if tax day wasn't bad enough all by itself, the bombing at the Boston Marathon made it ten times worse, didn't it?  For some reason, I didn't immediately think "terrorist attack" when I heard the news.  I figured it was just some nut job with a bomb in a backpack who wanted attention.  Maybe someone else who was pissed off about having to pay taxes.  At this point, nothing has been made public about who or what may be behind the bombing, but I suspect it's more likely to be a terrorist attack now that I've seen some of the video.  At least we can be grateful more lives weren't lost, although there were a lot of injuries.

The good news?  By the time you read this, Monday will be over, tax day will be done for another year, and hopefully there won't be any more bombings in the US for a long time.

And the Weekend Comes to an End . . .

Yesterday I mentioned I'd spent Saturday with my stitchery friends and I had completed something to show you.  Here it is--the latest sheep blanket (I think it's the April blanket).

This is the project I kit up for my friends each month, so the pressure's on me to lead by example and finish each month's blanket.  Otherwise, I'm not sure that I would!

Do you think it might be possible to drown in unfinished projects?  Probably not, right?  Good thing for me, because otherwise I'd surely be a gonner!  I feel like I have several different projects started, and I want to work on all of them at once--I hardly know which to work on next!  But here's the Country Cottages project I also mentioned the other day--I got the blocks out and put them up on the design wall again to see where I was on this one, because it's been a few months since I worked on it.

And on Sunday, besides playing in my scraps (and I'll show you those blocks next weekend), I prepped the applique for the last two blocks of the Country Cottages BOM.

Of course, I also still have the George Schibbles I'm quilting.  I think I have a clear case of quilting ADHD, don't you?!

It's Scrap Basket Sunday

That means it's time to use your scraps and/or visit other quilters who are working from their scraps to make deliciously lovely quilts.  As I'm writing this late Saturday night, there are ten of us, including me, who have signed up and are planning to post their blocks today; I suspect more of us will join in as the day goes on.  I'm certainly planning to visit everyone, and I hope you will too.

It's funny to think I'm now concerned about not having enough scraps but that's actually the case.  So on Saturday night, I pulled out the Country Cottages project--I still have two blocks left to make--and set aside the fabrics I still need to complete it, folded up the pieces of fabric that are large enough to go back on the fabric shelves, and added the remaining scraps to my basket.  And while I was doing that, I cut 186 2-1/2" squares for sashing the Country Cottages blocks--I still need to cut another 20 squares for that project.  Maybe I'll find some fabrics in my scraps for those 20 squares and mix things up a little bit that way.  I decided that pulling out the Country Cottages project tonight was a win-win situation--now I have a few more scraps for variety AND I've moved a little further on a project that hadn't seen the light of day in a few months.  I plan to get that one finished before too much longer too.

So, let me show you the blocks I made last week:

I've been using a lot of geometric scraps with stripes and dots and I like the way they all look together.  This Sunday, I'll make at least four more, and that will give me a total of 16--about a quarter of the blocks I need for the quilt.  Not too bad!

Also on Saturday, I ordered the pattern for this quilt from Primitive Gatherings, Pinwheel Garden.  I was going to wait until I went back to the local quilt shop to get the pattern, because I believe in supporting our local shops, but I don't expect I'll make it back by there in the next few weeks.  I wish I'd taken the time to look for it when I was there the other night.

Something else I wish I'd done the other night--I wish I'd taken a photo of a quilt shown by one of the Thimbleberries ladies, Wilma, that was from a pattern in the Scrap Basket Sensations book.  If you're familiar with the book, it's one that looks like connecting green circles, except Wilma added purple into hers and it was awesome!  The darker scraps made the pattern pop.  It was only later that night that I realized I'd missed an opportunity to share a really excellent quilt with you.  I don't know where my brain was!

I spent the day Saturday with my stitchery friends and I have a little project I worked on to show you, but I'll wait until tomorrow to share.  Now I'm anxious to get to bed so I can wake up Sunday morning and play with some scraps.  Happy scrapping to you!

Scrap Basket Sunday Sign-Ups

Got scraps?  Make blocks!  And then show us on your blog, because we'd all love to see what you're working on and pick up a few ideas and inspiration too.  Ideally, play in your scrap basket on Sunday and write a blog post the same day.  But if Sunday isn't a good day for you to sew, pick another day during the week and post photos of your results on Sundays.  Just as soon as you're ready to show us what you've been doing, please add your name to Mr. Linky below.  Where it wants your URL, copy and paste either your main blog site address or the address for the specific post where you show us your blocks.

Mr. Linky suggests you leave me a comment, but it's not necessary if you really don't feel like it.  Still, I DO love to hear from you, so I'm not trying to discourage comments!  Have fun and I'll see you tomorrow with my blocks.

I Guess It's Later Now

Yesterday I said I'd show you a photo of a cool scrappy quilt a little later in the week; then I realized this is just about as "later" as it gets, since tomorrow night I'll just post Mr. Linky for the Scrap Basket Sunday group and then the weekend will be here.  So let's talk scraps.  I hope you're not sick of the subject yet.

First of all, hi Liz!  Welcome!  My friend Liz, who had always been one of the Sacramento Thimbleberries ladies until she moved to Colorado a couple years ago, got a message to me that she was participating in Scrap Basket Sunday even though she doesn't have a blog to share her progress on.  And I suspect there are a few other quilters out there doing the same thing.  I'd be happy to set up a Flickr group if you want to share photos--just let me know if there's an interest.  Or, it's very simple to set up a blog through Blogger--just go to Blogger and follow the directions.  You can just use your blog to show your scrappy block photos and not be obligated to blog at any other time.

Now, here's a photo of part of the great scrappy quilt--actually I should say "quilts"--I mentioned:

There's a small quilt and a larger one hanging on the wall there.  I asked one of the shop owners about the pattern--they had the two quilts hanging as advertising for a class--and she said it was a Primitive Gatherings pattern.  At the time, I didn't check for the pattern in the shop, but I did find it online HERE.  Note Primitive Gatherings has ordering options for a kit and a pattern, but the kit doesn't use the same fabrics as those in the photo above.  There's a similar pattern HERE, but the blocks are set differently--it's nice to see a couple different options.

So many of you are working on such fun projects, it's hard for me to decide what I want to do next, although it will be a couple months before I'm done with the blocks I need for my current project.  Still, by then I'll have decided I want to make at least eight more quilts just from seeing your projects.  I also wanted to mention that Donna had the idea of making her scraps do double duty by making this month's Schnibbles project, Hat Trick, using her scraps.  How smart is she?!  If that idea interests you and you haven't signed up for the Schnibbles group, go visit Sinta and let her know.  Just click HERE.

Even if you're not making scrappy blocks right now, take a few minutes each week to visit the ladies who are linking up to show us what beautiful things they're working on--I bet you'll be inspired.  And if you're making blocks and sharing photos, be sure to include in your blog posts what pattern you're using and what book it can be found in--if it's from a book.  Because you know we're all going to want to make the same thing, right?

What a Day!

Before work, I noticed the clematis on the patio was starting to bloom, so I grabbed the camera and caught a photo.  I love these plants and I wish I had several varieties--maybe I'll look for another one this year.  Some are hardier than others though, and I definitely need one that's going to grow even under abusive circumstances--I tend to ignore the garden for the most part and Hubby tends to cut everything back whenever he can.

Until I plugged the camera into my computer to upload some photos, I'd totally forgotten the day also started off with me stuck in mostly stopped traffic for an extra 45 minutes on my drive to work.  This is the second time in two weeks something like this has happened--last week there was a fatality on the freeway and every route in either direction was stopped--and not just the freeways.  I know this because I tried several alternate routes, and it didn't make any difference.  Today I just waited it out because I had no idea what was causing the slow down.  It's usually very rare that I'd be anything like this late to work.

As it turned out, when I took this photo, I was finally nearing the problem.

See that overpass ahead and the crane?  That's a freeway up there and traffic was stopped or slow on that road too.  They've been doing construction on the overpass to widen it or reinforce it or something--I'm really not sure--but this is the first time it's affected traffic to this degree.  For most of the route, the road is two lanes in either direction and travels at 50 mph, although at this point, it narrows to one lane.  It was backed up for miles while they moved heavy equipment from under the overpass and did whatever these guys do.  Crazy.

Then at work we had a little bit of an incident.  You know I work for a law firm, right?  I really can't say anything specific because of confidentiality concerns, but a woman was in our office giving a deposition and she had some kind of a problem--whether it was a panic attack or medical or what, I'm not sure.  We had to call emergency services to take her to the hospital.  Definitely NOT something that happens every day!

I think I said I'd try to remember to take my camera to the Thimbleberries Club meeting and I did, but I sort of forgot to take photos during show and tell until this quilt was being shown.  The quilt itself was made by an almost-90 year old woman and it's probably the last quilt she'll ever make because she was struggling to remember how to do the binding.  The woman who is holding the quilt offered to do the binding for the elderly quilter.  Sweet, isn't it?  I hope someone will be that kind to me someday.

When I came home from Thimbleberries, I thought I'd make the next block for the block of the month.  And it's a basket for May!  I may applique a couple flowers in the basket but I'm not sure.

Here are all the blocks together so far:

I don't know if I'd mentioned it before, but I'm using scraps for this quilt too.  Well, I did mention I don't seem to have any problems using my Thimbleberries scraps and this is one example.  All of the backgrounds have been scrappy so far except for this month's block.  Unless I changed the block construction, I would have had to make those two large upper corners out of one fabric and I thought that making the rest of several different creams would have looked even funnier.

I saw a wonderfully scrappy quilt at the quilt shop and I took a photo, but I'm going to save that to show you a little later in the week.  It's time now for me to make my way toward bed because this crazy day is finally coming to an end.  "See" you tomorrow!

At Least That's Done

Moving on with my miscellaneous week, I finished the fourth scrappy block tonight.  Of course, I can't show you my blocks until Sunday, but it's nice to have them done so I can see how all four look together.  I'd really like to get them done ON Sunday next weekend instead of stringing them out for three days though!

Also tonight, I dug out the April sheep blanket pattern and pulled the wools I needed to kit up for my friends.  And when I do that, I prepare my pieces and get everything laid out and glued down, ready to stitch--that way, not only am I ready, but I know how the whole thing will look, and I know how big the wool pieces need to be for my friends' kits.  Want to see it so far?

I think I'll like this one too.  I've matched embroidery thread and packed everything up in a tote box to take with me on Saturday.  I was thinking on my drive home tonight that it would be nice to get the Schnibbles quilt done before then so I could work on the binding on Saturday, but I'm not sure that's possible.

I told Hubby several of you had complimented him on his caterpillar yard art and he was pleased, although I don't think he's read your comments yet.  He doesn't read my blog, you know.  But maybe he'll be curious to see what you said.  I know he appreciates it when people enjoy the things he creates.

Tomorrow night is my monthly Thimbleberries Club meeting--and I still haven't packed up what I want to take, but I'll do that in the morning.  And if I remember to bring my camera, maybe I'll have something to show you afterward.  "See" you then!

Miscellaneous

I can already tell this is going to be a miscellaneous sort of week in many ways.  Thimbleberries Club on Wednesday night means not much sewing going on that night and I'll be spending some time on Tuesday night assembling show and tell and a few other things to bring to the meeting.  And the monthly gathering of my stitchery group on Saturday means time spent this week preparing sheep blanket kits for my friends AND getting my own sheep blanket ready to stitch while we're together.  I'm not complaining--I love my groups and friends.  But it means I can't come home from work every night and play in the Sweat Shop as I usually would.

And then there are the projects I'm working on--miscellaneous stuff.  I'm about half finished quilting George, the Schnibbles quilt.  And let's not forget those scrap blocks:  I only had time to select fabrics and cut four blocks on Sunday, so tonight I pieced three of them, and I have one more to piece.  Then there was  QADD:  Quilter's Attention Deficit Disorder.  I'm pretty sure that's what made me set aside piecing the scrap blocks for awhile tonight to piece, quilt, and bind a little mug mat.

Perhaps you recall that earlier in the year, I wanted to make a mug mat for my desk at work every month or every holiday.  I think the last one I made was for St. Patrick's Day, so it was about time to make another, and I'd been setting aside random leftover pieces of the spring time fabrics I'd used in the two Easter projects I recently finished.  I guess maybe I got tired of moving aside my little pile of scraps for this project, because tonight I finally made that mug mat.

But maybe it wasn't QADD that caused me to be a little more scattered and less focused on my scrap blocks.  Maybe it was the crazy wind we've had.  Some of you mentioned it's too early for you to plant tomatoes where you live, but our temps here are expected to be in the 70s and maybe into the 80s for the next couple weeks.  Even if they dip, we're pretty unlikely to get a freeze at this time of year, but we may still get rain and winds.  The wind seems to cause strange things sometimes, and today's wind gusts got up to 45 miles per hour.  This morning I was out on the front yard patio--where our raised planter is--in my nightgown "staking" up my new tomato plants with bamboo shish kabob skewers and light kite string.  The plants are fairly well protected by the edges of the raised box, but this wind seemed like it could be stronger than my new babies could take.  I'm pleased to say that when I came home from work tonight, they all looked just fine.

And speaking of gardens, I wanted to show you Hubby's latest yard art creation.  Remember the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland?

He's been working on this one off and on for some months now, searching thrift stores for things like the teacup and saucer.  I think he's had a lot of fun making it.  The hookah lights up; I think the caterpillar does too.   Right now, this guy is living on our back patio--too bad we can't put it and some of Hubby's other creations in the front yard where they can be enjoyed by the neighbors, but Hubby's afraid they'll be stolen.  I'm glad, though, that he has a hobby he enjoys as much as I enjoy playing with fabric.

Thanks for visiting!

Fast Forward

I want to say I'm anxious for spring, but that's not quite right:  I know technically spring IS here.  It's just that I'm anxious to get a little further into spring, to the time when fresh fruits and veggies are available and I can get back into the farmer's market routine.  I know it won't be long, but I'm ready NOW.

On Saturday, a friend and I took a little road trip.  The idea began when I started dreaming of fresh tomatoes and it grew into a combination birthday celebration and miscellaneous shopping trip--my friend's birthday is coming up a little later this month.  So we had lunch out, went to a quilt shop, visited the nursery for tomato plants, and then hit six or eight vintage/antique/thrift shops in the foothill towns of Loomis and Newcastle.  Oh, and we visited a produce store called Newcastle Produce.   The shop is owned by a local farming family who also has a booth on Saturdays at a nearby farmer's market.  They carry all sorts of fresh produce, packaged specialty items, spices, etc.  They even have cooking classes.  I love that place!

During our trip, I found this pretty blue bowl at one of the vintage/antique shops, but even more special, perhaps, was this beautiful book called Farm-Fresh Recipes by Heather Cameron of Missing Goat Farm.  Heather's farm is in British Columbia and she has a blog called A Day in the Country where you can see some of her beautiful photography and her wonderful recipes.  Here are a couple pages from the book--the beginning of the spring section -- 

and the start of summer--

I found the book at Newcastle Produce.  It's such a beautiful book, I just couldn't resist buying it.

Saturday night, I did some grocery shopping and cleaned out the refrigerator a little.  I had a package of blackberries that needed to be used soon, so I made a simple blackberry sauce and served it on vanilla ice cream for dessert.  For breakfast on Sunday, though, I thought pecan waffles would be a perfect way to use the rest of the sauce--and they were! 

And those tomato plants I told you I was so anxious to buy?  I planted them in a raised bed.  It's probably not surprising that all three of these varieties I picked out are early season tomatoes!  (As an after thought, I also grabbed a yellow cherry tomato variety, but that's potted separately--not enough room in this space!)

There's a lot I like about fall and winter in Northern California, but I sure do miss the variety of locally grown fruits and veggies we have available to us in the spring and summer.  I suspect spring produce will start filling the farmer's markets sometime in the next month or so.  In the meantime, I'll just have to be patient and watch my tomatoes grow.

I'm glad you could stop by for a visit!

If You Show Me Yours, I'll Show You Mine

Welcome to all of you who have made the journey into your scrap pile, drawer, or basket and pulled out the makings of a block--or many blocks!  And welcome to those of you who are simply browsing for now, looking for a little inspiration.  Yesterday's Mr. Linky list will lead you on a little adventure to Scrap Land--just click your heels together three times and repeat after me:  There's nothing as fun and creative as using scraps to make something new and wonderful!  Then click your mouse on the names listed in the Linky list and see what everyone's working on.  Because this is, of course, Scrap Basket Sunday.  And these are my blocks for this week:

In case you're just joining us and wondering what pattern I'm using or have any other questions about what WE'RE doing for Scrap Basket Sunday, just click HERE--last week's post.

I thought I'd also show you how I'm keeping my blocks--at least for now.  I know many of you have some sort of storage idea you like to use, but here's another possibility to consider:  Wrap the blocks around a batting covered heavy duty cardboard roll and tie them with a ribbon.

Then store the rolls in a bin, on a shelf, or wherever you have some space.  I had a post about a year ago where I demonstrated how to make these and how I use and store them--HERE.

If you haven't already, I hope you'll join us in setting aside a little time each week to make blocks using your scraps.  There are tons of patterns and ideas out there--and you might just be able to find one you love by visiting the other quilters who have linked up to yesterday's post.  Scrap on!