Halfway

Good morning, my friends. We're expecting plenty of rain over the next week or so...nearly two inches in the next two days. Yikes. It's good sewing weather, though, and I'm glad to be home for the day. I have an early doctor's appointment tomorrow to see what's going on with my left shoulder. I only mention it now because tomorrow's post will be late, and I should have some news about my shoulder by then. Honestly, I don't see how I'm going to avoid a surgery on this, but I'm hoping the doctor will have some other ideas.  

It was late in the day by the time I got to my quilting. Fortunately, Smitty was keeping an eye out for invading forces, and so I felt purrfectly safe.

With his purrtection, I was able to quilt another two vertical rows. That makes five down, and five to go. Here's the top half of the quilt.

Here's the bottom half.

Here's a little peek at the back.

Sadie was there to give her purrspective.

She doesn't like how I quilted this cat. Its ears and tail are too short.

That is purrpawsterous.

Everyone's a critic.

It was nearly time to start dinner by then, but I sat and finished off the eighth block for the Snowmen & Reindeer project while we watched the news.

Sadie helped me trim it to size.

Here are the eight blocks I have for this quilt so far.

On today's agenda, two more vertical rows of quilting, and I'll be taking the first stitches on the fourth block for Home is Where My Flock Is.

The quilting is taking most of my sewing time, but I'm still hoping to get January's Inverted Star block made. The pieces are cut. It's just a matter of sewing them together.

There's one housekeeping chore on today's list of to-do's. Hopefully, I can manage to fit it all into a single day.

So that's all the news that's fit to print. I have some comments about the actual news, but I'll keep that to myself for the time being. Just now I'll get started on my slow-stitching and enjoy the rainy day. Rainy day = Good sewing weather.

Approaching Normal

Good morning, my friends. My post is late this morning because we left early for an epic grocery shopping trip. Honestly, it's the worst grocery shopping trip of the year...that's the first one after we get home from a trip. Thanksgiving gives it a run for its money, but today's was impressive by any measure. Our list was so long that I actually moved some items to the list for next time. Enough is enough, as you probably know.

There were two positives about this morning's shopping extravaganza. First, we got Egg McMuffin. I think we only did it once while we were traveling, and so I was missing it. Second, we got to see some of the blooming trees. Things bloom earlier in the valley than they do at our home's elevation, and so we're seeing some stuff we won't see at our house for a couple of weeks.

The flowering plums might be my favorite spring bloomer, and they're also one of the earliest. These were blooming in a store parking lot. We have them lining our driveway, but ours are still in tight buds.

Here's a close-up of their flowers.

Behind me was another blooming tree. It looks similar.

It's flowers are white. My phone tells me this is also a plum. The flowering plums are ornamental only. Perhaps this one actually produces plums.

Also, this viburnum. 

Seeing all those blooming things made the trip worthwhile. But, oh...the prices of things. Good grief. Let's just not talk about that, okay?

In yesterday's sewing, I quilted two more vertical rows on the Painted Ladies quilt. This is the top of the quilt.

This is the bottom half:

So, I'll continue on with that, going for two vertical rows at a time. If I can stick with that, I should have a finished quilt in less than a week.

This is how much help I got from Smitty. He put out the do not disturb sign.

Sadie was no better. I think we're all still adjusting to the time change.

In the sewing room, I cut the background pieces for the January and February Inverted Stars. This is my 2026 Rainbow Scrap project. January's blue star pieces are cut. I'll make that one first, and then cut the pieces for February's block.

I'm hoping to get that sewn together today. Also, I'll finish Block 8 for the Snowmen & Reindeer soon, and so I traced out the fourth block for Home is Where My Flock Is.

Finally, in leftover news, I had forgotten I took this picture when I picked up my sewing machine a few days ago. This was a class they were having at the shop. These are Easter Egg Mug Rugs. They were done with machine embroidery and using the fancy stitches on a sewing machine. I think these could easily be done with applique, and you could also use cut-off ends for the left side piecing. Cute. This looks easy enough, and I might decide to make a couple.

So, that's all I have for you today. I'll get back to my quilting, and I'm hoping to get started on January's star. Right now, I'm drinking another cup of coffee. After that, I'll have some lunch and take a nap. I'm already worn out from the morning's activities.

We got a little dusting of snow last night, and it's very cold out. Sounds like a good day to get under a quilt and stay warm, doesn't it?

It's a Start

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Monday! The sun is shining here, but it's cold out. Nice to look at, but I'll probably stay indoors today. It might be the first morning I've felt mostly settled. Not much was accomplished yesterday, but I still felt worn out from the trip. It had me wondering why I felt so tired at home, and yet, not while we were still in the RV. I'd say traveling is tiring, but isn't being in the RV traveling? Well, duh. It's the routine that's missing. If I'm not in my regular routine, then it's more tiring and stressful. So, all of that to say that I think I can pick up where I left off in December from here on. Yes, I'll have to make some trips into town, but that's part of life. I don't think it will throw me off too much.

My first task yesterday was to help Mike by emptying out the freezer so he could attempt to repair our malfunctioning ice maker. He has a part on order, and so we're optimistic he'll get it working as soon as the part arrives. And that was the last thing I needed to do before I could get to my sewing. 

Yesterday's highest priority was to get a start on quilting the Painted Ladies. They've been more than patient. The image you see below was taken in January of 2024, and that's how long they've been waiting to be quilted.

First, I needed to choose a thread color. As usual, my friend, Ila, has given me the perfect color. Thank you, Ila. This is a dark gray Aurifil. I don't know anything more about it...weight, what it's made from ...but I already had a nearly-full bobbin of the same thread, so it didn't really matter.

Of course, Smitty had to put in his two cents, helping me select the thread. 

You might remember that we saw the Painted Ladies when we passed through San Francisco two years ago. After making the quilt, it was quite a thrill to see them in person.

I was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest for this project. The quilt was sewn together one vertical row at a time, and I'll do the quilting the same way...one vertical row at a time. Starting on the fourth vertical row from the left...

I think of those long diagonal strips of gray as the "road" where the Painted Ladies are located. In the pieced triangle there, I've done a sort of arching sequential dot-to-dot motif.

In the rectangle below, I did a loopity-loopity thing. (Technical quilting terms. I should probably create some sort of reference manual.)

Below that, another dot-to-dot motif in the triangles on either side of the roof. The roof was left unquilted, although I might decide to do something there later. (Probably not.)

The original pattern had an applique template to create an eave under the roof. I decided to use bits of ribbon, lace, and other stuff there. In this first one, I'm using a ribbon that was tied around some fabric with the Moda label on it. Originally, I simply caught the upper portion in the roof seam, but left the bottom edge unstitched. I'm afraid that will be annoying for whoever uses this quilt in the future, and so I've decided to stitch all those loose edges down. (I'm doing this quilting with the quilt sideways to me, and that's why the image below looks larger on the right.)

And then, I outlined the door, but added a little design on the wall of the house. After giving this some thought, I decided to let the fabric tell me what the design should be. In this case...a ladybug.

And that completed the first block. Continuing on...I started with the large gray triangle.

The rest of the gray section was stitched just the same as before. Also, I stitched down the ribbon.

The house wall was from a floral fabric, and so I gave it a tulip. Who doesn't want to see tulips in the spring?

Continuing on...I gave the next block a little cat. I'm thinking I need to give this cat a tail.

And then stitched the upper portion the same as before.

Finally...this fishing lure fabric was given a fish, and the rest quilted just as before.

And that completed the first vertical row. I got a late start on this, and so that was also the end of my sewing day. I took it off the machine to have a look at the back. This quilt has a pieced back. Happily, this first section of quilting is where it's easiest to see on the back.

So I'll continue on my merry way with this. The quilt has ten vertical rows. I'd like to make it my goal to quilt two vertical rows each day until it's finished. Any sewing when the two rows are finished will be in the sewing room with whatever I'm working on there. As I mentioned yesterday, my first priority will be to make January's and February's Inverted Star blocks. I believe I'll have time to at least get started on that today.

As for my quilts that need quilting, I'm turning over a new leaf in 2026. I've always had the quilts for quilting as a section of my white board, and I'd work on the same one until it was finished. Then, I moved on to the next thing. Well, the quilts that need quilting are beginning to pile up at an alarming rate. For now, I'm going to just keep going with them. By that I mean I'm going to start each sewing session by making progress on one of the quilts that need quilting before I move into the sewing room to work on a project there. I'm hoping I can make some progress on the stack that way. 

This morning, I'll spend some time on my slow-stitching. And I know I'm getting back to my regular routine because I have a couple of housekeeping chores on the day's list of to-do's. I've already planned out the week's menu, but I need to make up a shopping list for tomorrow's grocery shopping trip. It'll be senior discount day at our store, and what could be better than that?

Okay, then. Off I go. Much to do. I'm hoping to accomplish more today than yesterday, and then I'll know we're really home again.

Limping Forward

Good morning, my friends. It's past noon as I'm writing this. Did you remember to spring forward?

We did...grudgingly. I don't mind the time change, but I think losing an hour is a more difficult adjustment than gaining an hour in the fall. As I'm writing this, I can hardly believe it's past noon, and I'm still sitting here in my pajamas. It's one of the best things about being home...plenty of pajama time. And plenty of pajamas.

All the unpacking is done, and we can begin to settle into what passes for a normal routine around here. There are a few things we're still working on. Mike is filling our hot tub. I put out the bird feeders yesterday. Our ice maker stopped working while we were gone, and so we've had to move everything from one freezer to another so that Mike can attempt to repair it. (Do you think he breaks stuff just so he can fix it and claim the hero's mantle?) 

One of the last unpacking tasks is to try to find room for the newest batch of refrigerator magnets. From this trip, I gained just three new ones. It wasn't easy, but I managed to find places for all of them. This is our overflow refrigerator in the laundry room. I might have to start working around the sides pretty soon.

Already I've arranged for the kids to come for dinner next month. They'll be here on the 4th. Matthew's birthday is on the 2nd, and so I let him choose what we'd have for dessert. After thinking it over, he requested creme brulee. Now...I've made creme brulee before, but it's been quite a while. It seemed worthwhile to "practice," and so I whomped up a scaled down version and made Classic Creme Brulee for Two. 

The challenge with creme brulee is that it has to bake in a water bath, and those little fluted dishes are only one inch deep. The dishes are placed in a larger baking dish, then the custard is poured into the dishes, and then boiling water is added to the larger dish before they're placed in the oven. To increase my chances of keeping water out of the custard, I used a funnel to pour the boiling water into the larger dish, and that gave me more control over the flow. When they came from the oven, they looked like this:

Getting them out of the oven was another challenge. Could I move them from the oven to the countertop without sloshing water on the custard? For that, I used a turkey baster to suck out most of the water, and then I used a spatula to remove the dishes from the larger baking dish. It worked perfectly, and it was much easier than anticipated.

Okay, so far, so good. Then, they cooled on a rack for two hours. Once they were cooled, I put them in the refrigerator to chill. When we were ready to eat them, I sprinkled Demerera sugar over the tops and then used my little blow torch thingy to "brulee" them. And lemme just say those were mighty tasty.

I was glad I did this ahead, because I feel confident about making them for our family dinner now. Here's my scaled down "for two" recipe:

Classic Creme Brulee for Two

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cups heavy cream, chilled

2 tablespoons plus 2 additional teaspoons granulated sugar

pinch table salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 large egg yolks

3 teaspoons turbinado or Demerara sugar

Directions:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Combine 1/2 cup cream, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, and salt in small saucepan. Bring mixture to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure that sugar dissolves. Take pan off heat and let cool15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place kitchen towel in bottom of large baking dish or roasting pan and arrange two 4- to 5-ounce ramekins (or shallow fluted dishes) on towel.  Bring kettle or large saucepan of water to boil over high heat.

After cream has cooled, stir in remaining 1/2 cup cream to cool down mixture.  Whisk yolks in bowl until broken up and combined.  Whisk about 1/4 cup cream mixture into yolks until loosened and combined; repeat with another 1/4 cup cream.  Add remaining cream and whisk until evenly colored and thoroughly combined.  Strain through fine-mesh strainer into 2-cup measuring cup or pitcher (or clean medium bowl); discard solids in strainer.  Pour or ladle mixture into ramekins, dividing it evenly among them.

Carefully place baking dish with ramekins on oven rack; pour boiling water into dish, taking care not to splash water into ramekins, until water reaches two-thirds height of ramekins.  Bake until centers of custards are just barely set and are no longer sloshy and digital instant-read thermometer inserted in centers registers 170 to 175 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes (25 to 30 minutes for shallow fluted dishes).  Begin checking temperature about 5 minutes before recommended time. (In my toaster oven, this took 35 minutes.)

Transfer ramekins to wire rack; cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  Set ramekins on rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap,  and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.

Uncover ramekins; if condensation has collected on custards, place paper towel on surface to soak up moisture.  Sprinkle each with about 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar (1 1/2 teaspoons for shallow fluted dishes); tilt and tap ramekin for even coverage.  Ignite torch and caramelize sugar.  Refrigerate ramekins, uncovered, to re-chill, 30 to 45 minutes (but no longer); serve.

Notes:

Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks after the cream has finished cooling; if left to sit, the surface of the yolks will dry and form a film.  The best way to judge doneness is with a digital instant-read thermometer.  The custards, especially if baked in shallow fluted dishes, will not be deep enough to provide an accurate reading with a dial-faced thermometer.  For the carmelized sugar crust, we recommend turbinado or Demerara sugar.  Regular granulated sugar will work, too, but use only 1 scant teaspoon on each ramekin or 1 teaspoon on each shallow fluted dish.

* * * * *

Yesterday was a farmer's market day. It was good to see Erik and Mae, and the farmer's market was expanded...a surprising number of vendors so early in the season. Afterward, I picked up Eliza from her spa vaycay. It was good to have her home again. Now she's all set up and ready for quilting.

All the while we were gone, the Painted Ladies quilt was draped over her table, and it's nicely wrinkle-free now. If all goes to plan, I'll start the quilting on this today.

Also, I finished Block 7 for the Snowmen & Reindeer project. It had been several days since I'd done any stitching on this, and I had just a little left to do.

Now that one is finished. It's called "Reindeer Behind the Tree."

Also, I took the time to trim the rest of the blocks already completed. All of them have been trimmed to 8-1/2 inches square now. Here are the seven blocks I have for this quilt so far:

Since Block 8 is already made up, I continued on with that one, taking the first stitches Friday morning.

And now, I'm pretty well ready to put in some serious sewing time. Aside from getting a start quilting the Painted Ladies, my first priority in the sewing room will be to make January's and February's blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. As I mentioned, I'm doing this Inverted Star block for this year's project.

I'd been undecided about what color to use for the background. Since I have white in my stash, and no black, I'll stick with white for this project.

And that pretty well brings you up to date. I've made several appointments over the coming month, including a visit with an orthopedist to evaluate my left shoulder pain. (Pretty sure I have a surgery in my future for that.) Also, we'll do our grocery shopping on Tuesday. I'm seeing my PCP a week from tomorrow, and I'm due for some lab work. Probably I'll do that on Tuesday as well. So, there's still some catching up to do on the routine body maintenance and day-in-the-life maintenance fronts, but nothing is going to keep me from my sewing today.

So off I go. Since it's past lunch time, I guess I'll get dressed and start acting human. We're still regaining our energy levels from the long drive home, and "springing ahead" couldn't have happened at a worse time.  With the time change, I expect to get in a nap before I do anything else.