Summer Challenge

Every year, Seams Like Home quilt shop in Yorktown does a summer challenge starting on Memorial Day. 

This year is a Jacob’s Ladder block. If you want to enter, here is a link to the website. You don’t have to be local to join. Just use the link to enter—cost is $10, and if you finish by Labor Day, you will be entered into the drawing for a $250 gift card. Tell them Carolyn sent you!

I said I wasn’t going to do it this year, but……of course I am going to join. I went through my charm packs and solids yesterday, and I needed up pulling these out.

I think I have another charm pack of the Chez Moi somewhere that I can use for a border. I have until Labor Day to find it, so there’s a chance I can locate it somewhere. Y’all, the FOMO is real. I haven’t signed up yet, but I will—probably next week. 

Other news: some friends at church gave me veggies from their garden. I cooked green beans and squash last night.

The little potatoes were from the grocery store, and I cooked some sausages in the oven. My friends also gave me some corn, but I didn’t have time to cook it last night. I’m hoping to do that tonight. No tomatoes yet, but I will go by the farmer’s market in the morning and see if they have any. I sure hope they do. 

It was good. The discoloration on the squash was from the Morton’s Season Salt. If you’re like me, this is how you grew up eating, so it’s comfort food. 

Shrimp Scampi

I saw a Facebook reel where a young lady was cooking shrimp in a muffin pan, and I was intrigued enough to try it. I bought some fresh large raw shrimp at the grocery store Saturday. I bought a little over a pound, but decided I would only cook nine to start with.

I seasoned them with Tony Chachere and Chesapeake seafood seasoning.

I put a slice of butter and a little bit of minced garlic on each one. The lady in the video put a teaspoon of garlic on each one, but I knew that would be too much. She also used precooked shrimp, which I also didn’t like the idea of.

I also added some parsley to each and baked about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven. The video said to bake the shrimp for 30 minutes, and she used precooked shrimp! That’s way too long! While they were baking, I cooked some spaghetti and made a salad. Here’s what they looked like after baking. 

And here’s my meal:

I know it looks like a lot, but half the plate was salad. It was good, but I really don’t see the advantage of cooking the shrimp in a muffin pan. I think she did it just to make it more attention-getting. It actually made the cleanup a little harder. My advice is to just use a small pan and sauté the shrimp in melted butter with the seasonings. There’s less chance of overcooking it that way.

Graduation

My oldest grandchild has graduated from high school, and I’m both happy and sad if that makes sense. From this:

To this:

All in the blink of an eye.

I did absolutely nothing yesterday, I was so tired. Actually I cleaned one of the bathrooms and cooked and walked the dogs, but that doesn’t exactly fill up the day. We celebrated all things graduation over the weekend, and it tired me out! Friday night was a party for the graduates at the community center with a dinner and dancing. I couldn’t stay late because I drove my mom there and as soon as the dj started, she was asking when we could leave. I put her off for a while, but I knew she was ready to go.

Each graduate had a table that was decorated by their family. This was ours.

There were a lot of pretty ones.

The guest of honor:

Saturday I did a bunch of house cleaning as I knew some people were coming over Sunday to catch a ride to the graduation ceremony. It was pretty lengthy or maybe they all are. I’m out of touch. LOL. 

We went out after, and there was a long wait for a table. I had had to be at church at 7am to unlock everything, and didn’t get home until around 8pm, so it was another long day for me. I’m still recovering.

Cruise Project Pix

I meant to get this posted yesterday, but things have been crazy busy and I ran out of time. We all worked on our own projects on the cruise, but I didn’t see a lot of finishes. I couldn’t finish this one because I was short on fabric. 

It still needs the bottom border, but I ran out of the solid blue I was using as the background. The quilt pattern was inspired by a quilt I saw on Tiffany’s Quilting Life, but I made a few changes, including the size. I calculated what I would need for the larger size and obviously miscalculated. It’s okay. I’ve got the corners done, and I have an entire bolt of the background fabric so it will be finished soon. I worked on three other projects, but none of them got finished either. No pictures yet.

Donna finished her top. 

It’s a Villa Rosa pattern called Notches. 

Karen finished a couple of three-yard quilts.

And, Catherine finished a Turning Twenty quilt.

There were other people sewing, but I don’t think they finished anything. There were plenty of other things to do on the ship and excursions when we were in port. 

Cruisin’

I returned yesterday from my quilting cruise, and I had a great time. I do one or two each year, and this one may have been the best one yet. We left Saturday from Galveston. 

Goodbye Galveston!

Our first stop was Costa Maya, Mexico, and I didn’t even leave the ship! I did get up early every morning and walk on the top deck and work out in the gym

It’s not difficult to get plenty of exercise, between the jogging track and the gym, and the views are very motivating. 

We had a conference room for sewing, like usual, and I spent plenty of time in there.

There was an ironing station and two design walls.

Not everyone in our group sewed. Some worked on puzzles,

some crocheted,

and BJ worked on her sashiko

The food was really good. I mostly had the same breakfast every morning

eggs, bacon, avocado toast with smoked salmon. Salad for lunch, and then dinner in the main dining room. 

Prime rib with tomato basil soup:

Seafood linguini:

Sirloin strip with French onion soup:

My favorite, filet of sole:

Our waiter offered to take a selfie with our group. Elton and the rest of us:

That’s enough for now, I’m super tired. I’ll try to get some pictures posted tomorrow of some of the projects we worked on.