To-Do-List Tuesday 2-20-24

Hello Tuesday friends. It’s been quite a week with the weather extremes and high winds. I had a few tree branches down in the yard, but I have most of it cleaned up. There aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything that I would like to do, but I did make pretty good progress on my to-do list.

1) February block of the month. Yes. 

2) Quilt three customer quilts. No, I only did two. 

3) Make some potholders for a donation. Yes. 

4) Quilt blog hop quilt. I did two. No pictures yet.

5) Bind Birthday Cake quilt (if I can find the binding). I found the binding, but I'm not finished sewing it on.

I guess I will get that binding finished pretty soon, maybe today or tomorrow, so I’ll put that on my next week’s to-do list.

1) Finish binding Birthday Cake quilt.

2) Bind blog hop quilts.

3) Work on RSC blocks.

4) Quilt three customer quilts.

5) Put Gloria’s memory quilt together.

That should be enough to fill the week. My church quilting group meets today, and tomorrow we are preparing the meal that will be served before Wednesday night services. I walked a mile yesterday at the track, and I’m on my way to Zumba this morning.

I am liking this post to Quilt Schmilt. I hope you all have a fun and productive week!

Happy Monday

 

I’m not sure where the weekend went, but it is gone.i got another quilt top done for the blog hop, but I can’t post it. Ughhhh, it’s hard to resist posting pictures of the things I’m working on……my day to post for the blog hop is March 17th, so I will have to wait about three weeks. The patterns are cute, and I’m excited to share what I’ve done. I’m going to try and get both of them quilted today.

I did get my February BOM done from A Quilting Life.

I think I needed more contrast in the center, but I wasn’t unhappy enough to take it apart and redo it. I also cut some more red triangles for my RSC blocks, so that will be on my to-do list tomorrow. 

I didn’t make it to the track all weekend. In fact, I played bingo after church yesterday and ate at the bingo hall.

And, I spent last night on the couch watching Remember the Titans. So, not a a great weekend health-wise. I’ll be at the gym this morning for cardio class, and I plan to walk at the track this afternoon. There is a Tuesday/Thursday Zumba class at 7am, and I’m thinking of adding that to my regime. I think I’ll try it for a week and see how it goes. 

I’m still working on Gloria’s memory quilt. I’m hoping she can come by today and make sure she’s okay with it before I sew it all together. 

We’ve talked on the phone, and I ended up adding another row and another column after talking to her. I had to cut a couple of extra shirts to have enough. 

Making Progress

I get impatient with myself sometimes because I can’t work hard enough to get caught up on everything, but as long as I’m making progress it’s all good. I finished up on a couple of customer quilts. 

I also put the binding on the pink one. I had to think about a space to lay it out for a picture. The space I usually use is currently being occupied by a tshirt quilt I’m working on.

I’ll be glad to get it finished and returned to the owner. 

I want to get my blog hop quilt done this weekend if possible, but I’m not sure it will happen. And, I need to get the yard cleaned up as soon as possible, or at least get a good start on it. I don’t think we’ll have another freeze. 

Valentines Day

Is it Valentines Day or Valentine’s Day? I need to look that up. 

I looked at Wikipedia, and it was spelled there with an apostrophe; other places don’t spell it that way. Here’s what Wikipedia says:

Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine,^[1] is celebrated annually on February 14.^[2] It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine and through later folk traditions, it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world.^[3][4]

There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14,^[5]including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century.^[6][7] According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer.^[8] Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman emperor;^[7] an 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution.^[9]

I can pretty well assume it’s not a feast day this year, as it falls on Ash Wednesday this year. We had to remove all the lap quilts from the chapel and sanctuary yesterday in preparation for Ash Wednesday. 

They had been there two weeks and already been blessed. We spent the rest of the morning ironing labels on them, and then we went to a restaurant to celebrate our WELCA anniversary. This is the 140th anniversary of WELCA in our church. I wish I could see some pictures of those ladies in the 1880’s. Our services were still in German at that time, so no doubt a lot has changed.

One of my friends attends a church that is fundraising to build a new church, and they are doing a crafts sale in a few weeks. I took her a few things including this table runner and placemats

and these potholders.

I also gave her some ten-minute table runners made with Easter fabric, but I forgot to take pictures. She has helped me out on more than one occasion, so I was happy to help her out.

Today is another busy day—I’m hoping to make it to my exercise class, but my knee is bothering me a little. I chose not to walk at the track yesterday evening, but I still had almost 7000 steps on my Fitbit, so not horrible. I plan to attend Ash Wednesday service at noon; if I don’t, I’ll have to go at 7:00 pm. And, of course, there are quilts I need to quilt. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 2-13-24

 

It’s a good thing I didn’t have too long of a list; I had a lot of distractions that interfered with my progress. It’s tax season, and I have to file reports for sales tax, a report for inventory and equipment that is for the county so they can tax me, and of course, federal income tax (I haven’t gotten to that one yet). I don’t love paperwork, and it is all somewhat overwhelming. 

Here’s the good news: I got most of my to-do list done.

1) Quilt three customer quilts. Yes.

I only photographed two; I’ll get the other one photographed later today and add it here.

2) Bind one customer quilt. Yes. 

3) Photograph donation quilts. Yes. I posted those here and here.

4) Bind Birthday Cake quilt. No. I made the binding, but I can’t find where I put it. Did I mention distractions? That’s my excuse.

I was also planning to walk at the track Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and I did that. I also exercised at the fitness center two days. It should have been three days, but I overslept on Friday.

I need to refocus and get my head back in the game.

1) February block of the month.

2) Quilt three customer quilts.

3) Make some potholders for a donation.

4) Quilt blog hop quilt.

5) Bind Birthday Cake quilt (if I can find the binding).

I am liking this post to Quilt Schmilt. I hope you all have a fun and productive week!

Making Progress

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I spent some time working on my Villa Rosa blog hop projects. I have one pieced and ready to quilt, and I’m working on another using this charm pack:

I had planned to watch the superbowl last night, but I couldn’t get it on cable. I’m not sure why. It was supposed to be on CBS, but all I could get on that channel was a bunch of infomercials. It’s okay. I can always sew or cross stitch. I was also able to get some cleaning and laundry done. 

Other than that, I spent a lot of time on the iPad looking at quilt videos and quilt patterns. I’ve never made one of these

and I actually thought about cutting out the pieces, but I need to finish what I’m working on first. Story of my life. LOL.

Here are the Rest

Donation quilts part two. (It takes me a few minutes per picture to get them uploaded from my cloud, so it's easier to break into two parts.) They are resized, but you can click on the picture if you want to see more details. 

I was lucky enough to have an orange/red/yellow print for the back of this one!

I like for the backs to coordinate, but I don't get too obsessive about it, and I even use sheets for the backs when I have them available. I can get them from Goodwill for $2.99 each, and that's a lot cheaper than yardage. I launder the sheets in lysol and detergent to make sure they are clean and fresh before I quilt with them.

Altogether, I think we have twelve ready to go. Also, there are a couple more that are quilted and bound and need pillowcases. I have the pillowcases cut out; Betty and I just need to finish sewing them. 

Donation Quilts

I finally got them photographed! Betty brought by more bags she had made, so I decided to get everything bagged up and ready to go. These will all go to Midcoast Family Services. We make a pillowcase and a bag for each quilt.

Both of these have the dinosaur fabric I’ve used before. I have a dinosaur quilting pattern I used on them. You can see it better on the backs.

There are also two with the state fabric.

That’s the last of that fabric….I don’t think I had even an inch left.

I’ll finish uploading pictures tonight and post the rest tomorrow. 

I’m doing okay with walking at the track. I walked two miles Monday and Tuesday. I’ll go again this afternoon. I went to the fitness center Monday and Wednesday mornings for an exercise class so I’m staying on track on that too. The instructor is killing me with the squats. I can barely stand up from a seated position. I have been doing the class for some time, but I missed a couple of weeks, plus the instructor changed up the routines and added the split-leg squats. My thighs are so sore. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 2-6-24

Happy Tuesday friends! Let me just say I need a written list to keep me focused. I had a very unfocused week, but when I looked at my to-do list last night, I got myself in gear and knocked out a couple of things. 

Here’s the progress:

1) Finish piecing The Lady. Yes. 

I still need to press it and stay-stitch around the outside edges, but the piecing is finished.

2) Keep working on the sweatshirt jacket. Yes. I still need to quilt the sleeves, and then I can start putting it together.

3) At least three customer quilts--four would be better. I got three done, but I apparently only photographed one. 

4) Get donation quilts photographed. Not yet. I’m not sure why I’m dragging my feet on this.

5) Work on February RSC blocks as soon as the color is announced. Yes. The color for February is red, and although I only cut out two sets, I cut some pink and some blue and got those done.

6) Quilt my January UFO quilt. Yes. 

7) Keep working on scrap vortex blocks. No.

I think this week’s list will be a little shorter.

1) Quilt three customer quilts.

2) Bind one customer quilt.

3) Photograph donation quilts.

4) Bind Birthday Cake quilt.

Other than quilt-related stuff, I plan to make it to the track at least three evenings to walk. I have a cardio class three mornings a week at the gym, but the blood pressure medicine I was put on in June has caused some unwelcome weight gain. The cardiologist says it’s not the medicine, but I’m pretty sure it is. It’s a beta blocker, so it only stands to reason if it slows my heart down, it probably slows my metabolism down too. Anyway, I am hoping to jump start my metabolism if I can. The fact that I like to cook and like to eat is not helping matters. Oh well.

I am liking this post to Quilt Schmilt. Have a wonderful week wherever you are reading this!

Air Fryer Pork Chops

Like most people, I got an air fryer sometime around 2017 or 2018. And, like most people, I didn't really use it. It was one of the basket type, and it was okay for reheating takeout or fixing frozen tater tots.

Fast forward to 2022, and I got one that is more like an oven,

and I started experimenting with cooking different types of food in it. I found I can cook meat that is done without being dried out and tough. I had some pork chops I bought at Aldi, and although they weren't as thick as I normally like, they were thick enough to go in the air fryer. I seasoned them with some grill seasoning from HEB and some Tony Chachere. 

I preheated the air fryer to 400, and cooked them 5 minutes on each side. If they had been thicker, I would have done 6 minutes on each side.

While they were cooking, I sliced a couple of potatoes, and cooked them in boiling water to just about half-way done. After I took the pork chops out, I drained the potatoes really well, added cheese, bacon pieces, green onion, salt and cracked pepper and air fried them for 5-6 minutes. I sprayed the pan with a little spray butter so they wouldn't stick.

I also heated up some brussel sprouts. I had enough for two nights, and it was so good! 

Blog Hop

I normally write my posts at night and set them to publish early the next morning. I forgot to set this one to publish, so it’s a little late, but better late than never as they say.

I have some exciting news! Villa Rosa Designs is planning a blog hop in March, and I was chosen to participate!

There are around 15-20 bloggers participating, and they have sent us each five patterns: a table runner, one using 10” squares, one using 5” squares, one using fat quarters, and one using a panel. We each have to choose one, make it, and write a blog post. We can do more than one if we wish. There will be some duplication since there are only five patterns and 15+ bloggers. The blog hop will happen from March 14th through March 21st. I already have a layer cake picked out for my project. I started cutting it yesterday. It’s called “Fast and Fun Blog Hop”, and the five patterns look pretty easy, so I think they will all be fast and fun.

When I was in Yorktown on Thursday, I bought a layer cake for another different Villa Rosa pattern (not blog hop related). 

There are quite a few duplicates in this one, but it’s so pretty I don’t care.

I want to use one of these two patterns:

I bought two yards of orange in case I need a border.

I also found a new Villa Rosa pattern when I was there.

I haven’t seen this one before. It takes 11 fat quarters, so of course, I got enough to make the pattern.

Don’t even ask me when I am going to get all of this done.