Sandwiches for Four

In case you were wondering, this is how Sadie does Sunday.

This is how I do Sunday...and every other day of the week. Yesterday, I finished off the little redwork piece, "When Life Gives you Scraps." When I filled my hoop, I moved it to the next position and finished off the rest.

This pattern was created by Kaaren Johnston at The Painted Quilt. Her blog has been retired, but her free patterns are still available. You can find the free pdf for this little mini right here.

I was hurrying to finish off that little snack of a project so that I could start on my newest project from Anni Downs, Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. This quilt really appeals to my whimsical soul, and I'm excited to be getting it going. I'm forgetting how many blocks there are, but it will be a long-term project.

The rest of my day yesterday was spent sandwiching quilts. Mike helped me set up my sawhorse tables in the garage. I'm a spray baster, and this is the best way I've found to sandwich large quilts. There were still six quilts in the pile already sandwiched and waiting for quilting, but this one is moving to the top of the list. Matthew has laid claim to it, and it's a birthday present for him. He'll be home from his Guatemala adventure at the end of the month, and I want to have it finished by then.

For now, it's draped over my quilting chair, doubling as Sadie's fort for the time being. She likes to hide under these quilts. I'll get going on it in a day or two, but there are some other things I want to work on first.

As long as we went to the trouble of setting up the sawhorse tables, I sandwiched all the flimsies that were waiting in line. The next one was Tuxedo's Tales. This is such a cute quilt. I'm already regretting sewing on all the buttons first, but it seems to me there's never a really good time to sew buttons on a quilt. I choose to do it when the threads will be buried inside the quilt sandwich.

I pieced together some batting for this one, and don't you think I was feeling smug about that. That smug feeling comes over me whenever I used any kind of scraps, be it batting, fabric, or embroidery floss.

Next up was the largest of the bunch, Shop Hop.

I love the backing fabric for this quilt.

There is so much going on including many of my favorite things...cats and birdhouses.

Wine and chocolate.

Owls, sewing machines, and bobbins. It's easy to get lost looking at it.

Finally, It's Raining Cats and Dogs. I pieced together the batting for this one too.

Now there are ten quilts in my quilts to be quilted pile. There are also five sets of finished quilt blocks waiting to be made into flimsies. That should keep me busy for the next year or so.

It's quite a job spending the day sandwiching quilts. First there's the setting up and taking down of the sawhorse tables. The garage is on the main level, of course, but my sewing room is in the basement. And so I'm traipsing up and down stairs, back and forth from sewing room to garage. My Fitbit logged over 12,000 steps yesterday and more than 25 floors. Who says quilting isn't good exercise?

When I took a break for lunch, I looked outside to see this: A cat watching a cat. I don't know what Sadie was looking at, but Smitty thought it was interesting enough to keep an eye on her. Just FYI, Sadie does the hunting, Smitty does the eating. Both are happy with this cooperative arrangement they've worked out.

The only other thing I have to tell you is that Marisa McClellan's new book, The Food in Jars Kitchen is out. I ordered my copy right away because I love her blog, her books, and her recipes. This one is devoted to recipes using the items one might can during a season.

I'm often canning things that we get in abundance in our CSA...sweet onions, as an example. Radishes are another. I've made sweet onion relish and also pickled radishes. While each is good, they sometimes sit on the shelf because I'm not sure what to do with them once I've canned them. Sweet onion relish is good on hot dogs, but we don't eat many hot dogs, and so it sits. Pickled radishes are delicious, but really, how many can you eat before you tire of them? So, enter this book. It has an excellent index, and so I think I'll be able to put some of those neglected canned goods to better use in condiments, sandwiches, and regular dinner items. Right away, I spied a recipe for some baked chicken thighs that will allow me to use some salsa verde from last year.

There probably won't be much time for sewing today. A neighbor is joining us for dinner, and so I'll be spending some time in the kitchen. We're doing a smoked and grilled flank steak, and Mike will be responsible for that. I just need to get it marinating, and then I'm going to make a lemon meringue pie for our dessert. You can hardly have a guest for dinner without providing dessert, can you? Only a cretin would do that. If there's time for sewing, I'll get back to work on the Paintbox Pizzazz blocks...my second quilt for RSC2019.