Chicken Stir Fry

How about a recipe? I can’t give any credit for this one because I just made it up. I’ve been gaining weight, so I’m back on Weight Watchers. This recipe is probably 0 points; I counted it as 1 point because of the canola oil, but that’s probably overkill. 

I kept forgetting to thaw out some chicken, so I stopped at the store to get some, and found a package of chicken breast tenderloins that were marked down to $4.85 since the “use by” date was the next day. It was a little less than a pound.

1 pound chicken breast cut into bite-size pieces

1 head bok choy, chopped

1 package broccoli florets (I only had a half package, so that’s what I used)

1 small white onion, chopped

1 package mushrooms, sliced

1 T oil

Small piece of ginger, grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 t black pepper

1 t oyster sauce

2 T soy sauce

1 T corn starch

1/4 c water

Brown the chicken in hot oil. Add bok choy, onion, and broccoli. I put a lid on the skillet and let it steam until the veggies are tender. Add the mushrooms, and cook for about 1 minute. Add the ginger, garlic, pepper, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Mix everything well. Add the corn starch to the 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Add it to the skillet and stir until the mixture thickens.

I ate mine with cauliflower rice, which is also 0 WW points.

Healthy and very filling!

Scraps

I’ve been working on cutting up some scraps. Some of my friends are not big fans of scrappy quilts, and they occasionally drop their scraps off at my shop. I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but this is a huge tote. 

I also found a bunch of these in the tote:

I called and asked her if she wanted them, and she said to throw them away. I didn’t. LOL. I have a 2.5” template that fit on the masks 

so I cut out a bunch of squares.

I added all these to my 2.5” squares box. It was definitely worth the effort—at least I think so. 

I’m trying to find something to work on that will inspire and energize me. I have been working on cutting up this project.

My goal is to get it all cut up, and then I can just sit down and sew. At least, that’s a plan. The cutting is going pretty slow, but I’m getting there. I also took out a Villa Rosa kit that won’t take long to cut in case I can’t get any traction on the first one.

The plan for today is to get a customer quilt done, plus two more trimmed, and if there’s time left, I’ll cut some more 5” and 10” squares from the scraps. Yesterday, I was at the hospital for several hours. I had an appointment for a Doppler MRI on my leg. It has been bothering me, and the doctor thinks it’s nothing serious, but wanted me to do the test to make sure. There was a long wait at the imaging center, but the test didn’t show anything of concern, so that’s good news. Now that I’ve been cleared, I can get back to walking and exercising. I think that will have a positive effect on my mood more than anything else. 

Port Lavaca Quilt Show

Here are some more pictures from the quilt show. This is not all inclusive, just the ones that inspired me. 

This quilt was the result of a workshop we did at the Victoria quilt guild. I still need to finish mine. ☹️

They had several done with the buzzsaw pattern. I’m guessing they must have done them in a workshop at their guild. Of course, I don’t really know.

This was a beautiful one done by William Reue in his new fabric line. He designs for Free Spirit fabrics, and is originally from Port Lavaca. I graduated with his brother Robert.

That’s all I have so I will stop here.

Weekend Happenings

I’m still not feeling like doing much. I try to keep up with laundry and housework the best I can, but I might be losing the battle. I did some reorganization at my shop—Betty is helping me with that—but it is going to take some time to get it all done. Right now, I feel like we are moving stuff from one pile to another. I have found some long-forgotten projects that need to be finished, but I can’t seem to find the energy to work on them. I found this kit that I thought I might start

It’s not too big, and it uses the civil war reproduction fabrics. I have all the pieces ironed and ready to cut. Maybe I can start this afternoon. 

Last night I worked some more on the scrappy improv blocks.

I think I only need about 12 more. I really just need to push through and get it done. But again, I can’t seem to find the motivation to do it. 

The Port Lavaca quilt guild had their show Friday and Saturday. I took my mom to Sugarland on Friday to get a cardiac ablation. We’re hoping it will prevent all the a-fib issues she has been having. Saturday morning I was able to go to the quilt show. I thought the attendance was generally disappointing, but hopefully they did better on Friday. I bought a kit to make a casserole carrier, and I would like to get that made soon. I can definitely use a casserole carrier for church functions. I took pictures of some of the quilts, but not all. I wasn’t finding much inspiration, but I think it’s because of my mood more than anything. They did have a display of some antique quilts that I appreciated. 

The one on the right in the last picture is from the 1870’s, so definitely worth seeing. The one beside it with the hexagons is actually made of yo yo’s, and I thought it was very interesting. I will post some more pictures tomorrow of the present-day quilts I liked.

A Little More

I’ve been getting a few things done, but probably not as much as I should be doing. I have been pretty much unmotivated to do much. I did manage to get four quilts done, and I took pictures of three of them. The first one is for Betty. This is the third one she has done with the cowboys.

I quilted this flannel panel and put the binding on it. It will be donated to Gabriel Project.

The next one is Halloween fabrics. I don’t know if she was late getting it done, or if she’s planning ahead.

I have so many more things I need to do. I would love to get out of this slump I’m in. The cold weather doesn’t help. I spent the whole evening sitting in the recliner watching tv with a blanket over me when I should have been doing other things. The dogs were just happy I was sitting still for so long. 

One was under the blanket.

Today is my daughter’s birthday, and we are going out to lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse. I haven’t been there and am looking forward to trying it out. 

Happy Valentines Day

 

Donation Quilts

I did a little organizing at my shop and found five quilts that I had missed when I took the last batch to Mid-Coast Family Services. I was able to find enough pillowcases and mesh bags to go with them, and they are now bagged up and ready to go.

Here are three of them.

I didn’t make the last one; someone from the guild made it and donated it. I think it’s an interesting pattern. I was able to locate a pillowcase that coordinates pretty well. 

I need to call the Mid-Coast director and see when I can bring these over to her. I also have a stack started for Gabriel Project, and I want to get some things done for that. I also unearthed a bag of flannel during the re-organizing that needs to be washed and sewn into receiving blankets.

Soccer season is over for Kathryn. It seems like her brother plays all year. The last home game was “Senior Night”. 

I’m glad I got to go—the times are often not convenient. 

The game was a tie, and they did a penalty kick shootout to determine the winner. After about a dozen kicks, the other team (St. Anthony) was declared the winner. Oh well. It was a good try.

Road Trip

Tuesday was road trip day. I left Victoria with three other ladies from the quilt guild headed for Sequin. The primary purpose of the trip was to drop off all the quilts the guild was donating to Day One Bags. Here is a link to their page that tells about their mission. We met the director for our region in the Walmart parking lot in Sequin and transferred the quilts from our vehicle to hers. 

After we finished our business in Sequin, we drove to the nearby town of McQueeney. It’s a little bitty town with a large quilt shop called Fiberworx. I didn’t take a picture of the outside of the building, but I found this on the internet. I think it is the same building.

There is a lot of fabric and a large classroom inside. 

They also had a lot of books and patterns. I didn’t find a pattern for this one, but I really like it. 

We spent about an hour in there and probably still didn’t see it all. It was just overwhelming. 

From there, we went to Luling and got some barbecue. 

I got brisket and sausage and had plenty left to bring home. 

There is also a quilt shop in Luling, Holly Dee’s. The owner has taught classes at our guild before. 

Lots of great fabrics, precuts, and notions. By the time we left there, we were ready to head home. It was a tiring trip, but it was a lot of fun, and the company was great. Best of all, we got all our donation quilts dropped off. I want to get busy and get some more done for 2026, and also some zipper bags. I saw on their website that they were also taking zipper bags for donations. 

Free Pattern

I haven’t posted a free pattern in a long time…..I have mostly been using patterns I have, or doing BOM’s. Anyway, I saw this one recently, and I really like it. 

It’s called Agatha’s Garden. The pattern is on the Andover website. You can go directly to it here. It really looks more complicated than it is. It would be quite easy to cut and sew, and it’s fairly big at 74” x 74”. I think it would be a great way to use a fat quarter collection that has an equal number of darks and lights. I am going to play with a few of the blocks and may end up adding this one to my inspiration list.

Happy Scrappy

I saw a chandelier quilt last year made with scrappy blocks, and that got me motivated. I added it to my UFO list for quilts I want to make this year. According to my calculations, I need 50 blocks. How far have I gotten? 

They are 6-1/2”. There are plenty more in various stages of completion. This is my favorite kind of sewing, so I’m sure I’ll get to 50 soon enough.