Domestic Affairs

There was a little of everything in yesterday's comings and goings. Actually there was no coming nor going...I just stayed home (and inside). There was plenty to keep me busy all day. I spent most of the day in the sewing room with breaks for dealing with the week's laundry. Also, I wanted to bake some more biscotti. I didn't do any Christmas baking last year, and so I have a desire for some this year. Biscotti is something we both like, but it's not the sort of thing that entices one to eat the entire batch in one sitting. Yesterday's batch was Cranberry, Orange and White Chocolate Biscotti.

You can find the recipe for these right here. This is my own concoction. I took an existing recipe and reworked it so that it has no butter. By avoiding the use of butter, they bake up nice and crispy. Biscotti is a cookie for dunking in coffee, and so a crispy texture helps it hold together better when dunked.

While those were baking, I finished off the names and places for the next three Shop Hop blocks.

That left me with nothing to stitch this morning. Smitty started out as my helper cat. We were both dragging our feet about prepping the remaining Books & Roses blocks for stitching. I decided to do those first.

Smitty let me know he was bored at the prospect of it, but he perked up when I offered him some catnip.

So, yeah...I've been dragging my feet about these, but I had the right stitch plate and foot on my sewing machine for top-stitching the little appliques. It seemed the most logical place to start yesterday's sewing endeavors. I started with August's orange block. 

The applique was my idea for this. All the other blocks have applique, but this one did not. I decided the book cover could be fabric. Then I realized there is another block with no applique. Oh well. One can never have too much applique. (I say that whenever I have too much of something.)

Then, I moved on to September's light blue block. This one was pretty easy.

Then, October's light green block.

From there, I was out of colors, and so I chose lavender for November's block. I chose lavender for the Jericho Walls quilt too...my other rainbow scrap quilt.

Finally, for December, I chose multi-colored. 

All the borders are cut for each block, so I can finish them as I stitch them. I'll start with August this morning.

Okay, so then I moved on to the Shop Hop blocks. When we were in San Diego a couple of years ago, I met my friend Darlene at Rosie's Calico Cupboard. It's a great quilt shop in San Diego, and it wasn't my first visit. They happened to have a regional print specially made for their shop. I purchased a half yard so I could get all the pictures on the fabric. If you look carefully at the image below, you'll see Rosie's right in the middle of the panel.

One thing we always do when we're in this part of San Diego is to drive out to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery on Point Loma, which happens to be the final resting place of my mom and dad. If one drives to the end of the point, one can see the Point Loma Lighthouse and Cabrillo National Monument. I cut the lighthouse portion of the panel for my quilt. The rest will be squirreled away for use in another quilt sometime. You can see all these places at the link I gave you above.

The next block was from Roxy's Quilt & Sew in Ft. Mojave, Arizona. Ft. Mojave happens to be just across the Nevada-Arizona border from Laughlin, Nevada, where we stay when we're in the area. When I purchased this fabric, I saw casinos, and I chose it because there is a lot of gambling anywhere one goes in Nevada. 

Looking at it yesterday, I realized these are motels, not casinos. Oh well. There are lots of motels in Laughlin too. It still works...except for the Hollywood & Vine sign in the lower left corner. Nevertheless, this is the fabric I have to represent Roxy's Quilt & Sew. It's a great little shop, and I've visited more than once.

Finally, I chose this fabric from Quilter's Cove in Newport, Oregon. I visited this shop when a friend from high school was in town. They were staying at a house near Newport, and we drove over for the weekend to see them. From the house, we could see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse off in the distance.

So when I found this fat quarter at the quilt shop, it was a no-brainer.

Sadie seems unhappy with this choice of a fabric. She wanted to stay home that trip, but we made her go with us. Besides, where's her catnip?

So I spent the remainder of my sewing day cutting all the pieces I'd need to finish these blocks. It was late in the day by then, and so I left them covered with rulers, to protect them from prying paws.

Today is going to be another NBS day. There isn't much else to do now that the weather has turned so cold. It shouldn't take long to sew these together today, and then I'll be starting a new project. I'll say more about that in tomorrow's post.