Happy Easter!!

It was a full day yesterday, and there was time for a little of everything. My day started with a visit to the farmers market with Erik and Mae. It's fun to go with them. They do most of their grocery shopping there, and they go most every weekend. They've honed their food shopping expeditions to a science. We usually start with breakfast right there at the market. Erik made us some fresh-squeezed orange juice to have along with our breakfast. They even brought cloth napkins and real forks to use instead of the plastic cutlery provided by the market vendor.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is a real treat. But before breakfast, we headed to the oyster guy. We didn't want to get shut-out again. Mae and I each bought a dozen oysters. Ours were turned into a main course for dinner last night. This is our own concoction for oysters. It's a take on Oysters Rockefeller, but we first got the idea for this when we were in Rockaway, Oregon. We call them Oysters Rockaway. You can find our recipe right here. Mike grills them, and then we lay waste to them.

Also, I picked up another bundle of asparagus, and we had those as a side-dish wrapped in bacon. I didn't add anything to these...just wrapped them tightly in a strip of bacon that was sliced in half the long way. They were roasted a 400°F for 25 minutes, turning them after 10 minutes. So yummy. We have some leftover to have with breakfast this morning.

And I wasn't finished trying out rhubarb recipes. I picked up another bunch of rhubarb to make these Apple-Rhubarb Crisps. Whoa. These were delicious. They filled their ramekins when they first came out of the oven, but then shrunk back some. It was a perfect place to put a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and we enjoyed these for dessert. The tart rhubarb was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the ice cream.

I used a Granny Smith apple in mine. The recipe comes from Eating Well magazine, which is the magazine that came along to take the place of Cooking Light magazine when it ceased publication. Each crisp (sans ice cream) is just 287 calories, so it won't take too big a bite out of your diet's calorie allotment. ("Too big a bite." Did you see what I did there?)

Okay, and I have one more picture form the farmers market. Isn't this a cool flowering shrub? I'd love to have one of these. I might have to investigate to see if it would be okay at our elevation.

Here's some information about it.

Okay, and back home, I was ready to start on my new project. I'm in the "Quilter's Choice" section of my work flow, and I've chosen to make up this Catnip panel, a gift from my friend Sharon. Thank you, Sharon. I found a suggested setting on Pinterest, and I like this layout.

Here's the selvage edge of the panel. I believe these are still widely available.

Here's how it looks laid out. There are four large cats and 20 small ones.

I first cut them apart. I decided to trim the small cats to 6 x 6 inches. The larger cats will be trimmed to 11-1/2 inches square.

I like this layout because I happen to have a large selection of black on white, and white on black scraps and fat quarters. I purchased both when I made this Block Party quilt for a guild challenge.

I had a couple of extra blocks, and so I used them on the quilt back.

Okay, and so I pulled all the appropriate fabrics. These are the black on whites:

I don't have as many white on blacks.

It's okay because I have plenty in my black scraps bin.

Also, I have this one, purchased when we visited Keystone Quilts in Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada. It might become a stop border. More likely, it will make a good binding.

And I absolutely love this cat fabric. I believe I purchased this on a quilty day I spent with my friend Robin in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It came from The Quilt & Fabric Shack, located in Bird-In-Hand, Pennsylvania.  It's purrfect for a quilt border.

I can't remember where this next one came from, but I have three yards. It will be a perfect back for my quilt.

Smitty was dismayed that I'd broken one of the Ten Catmandments: Thou shalt have no other cats before me. My apologies.

The quilt has ten rows of ten blocks. When I quit for the day yesterday, I had the top two rows finished. 

The quilt will use 10 of the 20 smaller cats and all four of the large ones. I have in mind to put a small cat at the corner of each quilt. That will leave six. I might figure out a way to use them...adding more rows or columns...or maybe I'll use them on the back somehow. Or maybe I'll set them aside for another quilt. There are endless pawsibilities.

Okay, so I'll continue on with that today. I hope to get it well along by day's end. However y'all celebrate Easter, I hope it's a good day for you. Don't eat too many chocolate rabbits.