Much Running Around

Yesterday morning started with me slow-stitching my way across the bottom of the Calendula Patterdrip block. The broom straws are going to take at least a week to stitch just on their own.

Now I've moved my hoop to the next position, and I'll just continue on...back and forth...until I reach the broomstick and spider web. It should move along faster after that.

After seeing the deer outside yesterday morning, I wanted to check to see if he'd also dined on the roses and lilies. Fortunately not, and we even have a rose blooming right now. These are very fragrant roses.

Also, I noticed there are apples on our apple tree. We never get much from this little tree, but it keeps on trying.

Also, check out this Fairy Princess peony. Isn't this amazing?

You can see the cruel peony...Rosy Prospects...there to the left. That bud actually has some white petals on it, and so it has made progress since last season. There are still plenty of buds that did nothing but go to seed. I'm happy to see this little bit of progress though. Fingers crossed we'll get the whole flower next year.

We had a pile of errands to run. We needed to do our grocery shopping, but there were several stops to make along the way. We needed more bird seed, for one thing. The birds are eating us out of house and home, and I can't resist filling their feeders when they are empty. We were completely out of suet. The Northern Flickers really like that, but the little birds eat it too. The image below is one I took with my bird cam some years back.

Bird seed aside, we had prescriptions to pick up at two different pharmacies, and something from the hardware store for Mike's watering hose set-up. We'd already made five stops by the time we got to the grocery store. With all that, I was actually happy to get there! And then, we had a very long list. Everything seemed to take forever. Finally, we were home. It was well past lunch time and I was hungry. And with all that, we both needed naps. Even then, there was still more to do. I needed to water the flower pots. And so all of that to say, it was very late in the day by the time I made it into the sewing room.

My first task was to cut binding strips for the French Roses quilt. This is one of the fabrics I picked up at Boersma's the other day. I pinked the edges and then washed it. There was almost no fraying.

Then I went back to work quilting Grandma's Thimbles, finishing up quilting thimbles into the cornerstones, and continuing on with my spool, thread, and needle motif on the top row of blocks. Now, just the bottom row, sashings and border are left. Probably I will have it to binding stage by day's end.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned an embroidered quilt collaboration. We're asked to contribute a 6-inch block embroidered in accordance with the instructions. You can read more about it at that link I've given you. She promises this will take no longer than an hour, and mine certainly was within that time constraint. Sadly, this is another project I can't show you before the reveal date, which is going to be on September 1st. For now, you just get this peek.

Join in, if you like. Even if you don't regularly do embroidery, this is a very quick and easy project. 

And that brought us to dinner time. We're really enjoying this sunny summer weather. It's about time the rain stopped. We enjoyed eating outside last night. We have all sandwiches and salads on the menu for the next week, starting with last night's dinner of Asian Chicken Salad.

I'll give you the recipe below, but in a nutshell, it's made with napa cabbage, romaine lettuce, fresh basil, slivered almonds, shredded chicken, and red bell pepper. The dressing is a delicious Asian-inspired vinaigrette. Then it's garnished with chow mein noodles and black sesame seeds. White sesame seeds are fine too...we don't discriminate. Also, none for Mike. We just say "no" to seeds for him. 

I can't recall where I found this recipe, and I have it listed as my own. I probably adapted it from somewhere else, but I can't remember where. Here's my recipe:

Asian Chicken Salad

Serves 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a side dish

Recipe by Barbara Stanbro

Ingredients:

1 carrot, peeled and shredded (I used packaged julienned carrots from the produce aisle)

3 cups shredded napa cabbage, from one small cabbage

3 cups shredded romaine lettuce, from one small head

1 small red bell pepper, seeded and deveined, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 cups thinly sliced roasted chicken breast, (from a store-bought rotisserie chicken, if you like)

1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1 tablespoon toasted white or black sesame seeds

1/2 cup chow mein noodles, for garnish

For Dressing:

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:

Toss together carrot, cabbage, lettuce, pepper, basil, chicken, almonds, and sesame seeds.

Whisk together ingredients for dressing in a bowl.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.  Garnish with the chow mein noodles and serve.

* * * * *

Just FYI, you'll end up with a lot of chow mein noodles. I don't think I use them in anything other than this salad. They freeze well, though, and so I just freeze them and save them for next time.

Okay, and so that was the end of our day. The kitties were outside most of the afternoon. Once they're out, we rarely see them until they come to the door to be let in. They stick pretty close to the house and lounge under the bushes. They're really loving this weather, as are we.

Today there's less on the agenda. I have a little housekeeping to do, but then I'll get back to my quilting. I'm hoping to have it to binding stage by the end of the day.