A Finished Flimsy

It was a mostly sewing day yesterday, and I surprised myself by finishing up the Fancy Cats quilt top. The first step was to sew the component parts into rows.

And then to sew the rows together into the quilt center.

It was about that time Inspector Smitty showed up. He was only partly interested in the quilt. Mainly, he was wondering what happened to the open-door policy. I'd been sewing for a while, and so it seemed like a good time to take a break and see what was happening outside.

The first thing I noticed were these two, sitting at the entrance to their home. The one on the left looks particularly well fed. Between our trap and our hunter cat, we've dispatched with 15 squirrels. You'd never know it looking at the number still running around the garden and the field.

So I took a little walk around. The window washer man was there. The same guy has been washing our windows at least once per year for around 30 years. He almost feels like family. Smitty accompanied me on my walk.

The first thing we noticed was one of the daylilies opened up. I suspect more will open today.

One of the echinacea is starting to show its color. There are lots of buds this year, and I expect them to be putting on a show within the next day or two.

Also, the hydrangeas are trying their hardest. These on the back side of the house bloom first. There are two more around the other side.

This one is a variegated variety.

Check out the colors on these next two. They are both from the same plant.

Sometimes we get both colors on the same flower, half blue and half pink.

Back inside, I went to work on the borders. First, the aqua fairy frost border.

Then the dark purple...

And finally the paisley. I love this fabric. I'm glad I found a good place to show it off.

When I get it that far, I'll use the dark purple for the binding. You can see it there on the left in the image below.

Today I'll make a back for it. I should be able to use up the remaining purple and the remaining paisley. The aqua fairy frost has been used to the point of just being cut up scraps. I have another aqua fabric I can use to bring the quilt back to a large enough size, and I'm also going to use the "borders" that were a part of the panel. 

There are two, each about 23 inches long. I couldn't incorporate them into the top, but I think they'll be nice on the back. Inspector Smitty appurroves of all of these ideas.

It was toward the end of the day by then. Window washer man was finished and gone. Dinner was in the slow cooker, and I'll tell you about that in a minute. But first, let's just check back in on our squirrels, shall we? I watched as this guy stretched out on the warm patio for a nice little sunbath.

When I looked at him about ten minutes later, he'd melted, like a stick of butter.

As for dinner, I tried another new recipe from our diet. This is Thai Red Curry Beef, and this is the image from the recipe.

You can find the link to the recipe up there before the image, but I made some changes. I didn't have a jalapeno pepper, but I did have half a green bell pepper. With 3 tablespoons of red curry paste, I figured the dish would be spicy enough, and so I substituted the bell pepper for the color. Also, I didn't have as much meat as I was supposed to, but I did have half a bag of sugar snap peas. I figured that would taste good too, and so I mixed it in at the end. Mike and Matthew raved about this, and it was easy enough to make that I'd do it in the RV. So, if you want to try this, you can make it as it was originally published, or you can do it my way. Here's what I did:

Thai Red Curry Beef with Spinach and Sugar Snap Peas

adapted from Oxmoor House

serves 4

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds lean beef stew meat

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups finely chopped onion (1 onion)

4 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 cup lower-sodium beef broth

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

3 tablespoons red curry paste

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk

1/2 cup bell pepper, minced

2 cups bagged baby spinach leaves

8 oz. sugar snap peas

4 cups hot cooked jasmine rice

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Drain. Place beef in a 4-quart electric slow cooker; sprinkle with salt.

Return pan to medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes or until tender. Spoon onion mixture over beef. Combine beef broth and next 6 ingredients (through bell pepper); pour over beef. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours.

Stir in sugar snap peas and spinach. Cover and cook on LOW for 15 minutes or just until spinach wilts and sugar snap peas are tender. Serve beef mixture over rice.

* * * * *

Matthew is all about Instant Pot cooking, and he wants to try that, using the same recipe. I love doing a slow cooker dinner. All the work is done ahead of time, and I can just sit down and enjoy it when I'm ready.

Today I really need to catch up on some housework, and I need to get out and hoe the weeds in the vegetable garden. I'd also like to make the quilt back for the Fancy Cats and then it will be in line for sandwiching and quilting. 

With 6 days left in the month, I've finished everything I hoped to finish in June. Checking in on Eliza, I'm told she won't be back for another two weeks, at least, and so the Shop Hop quilt is still waiting to be finished. I'm thinking I'll get a head start on my July goals. First on the list will be to sew the Paintbox Pizzazz blocks into a finished flimsy.

Remember these? I have a fabric I'll be adding to each end to bring in the "paintbox" part of that name. 

I have a full day ahead if I'm going to get any sewing done, and so it's time to get started.