Getaway Day

Good morning, my friends. A "getaway day" would have been nice. I'm afraid the farthest we were able to "getaway" to was the grocery store in town. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, every Tuesday is senior discount day at our store, and so it's a happening place on Tuesdays for the time being. I'd like to say that it's snappy and vibrant, but then...seniors. Whaddaya gonna do? And the worst part of it is actually being one of the seniors. Oh well. It's the price one pays for getting older...being a senior, that is. Being a senior was a lot more fun when I was in high school.

With that done, it seemed completely appropriate to do some work on the Girls' Getaway quilt. I was starting with the seven small embroidered block centers finished last month.

The quilt border surrounding the center embroidered panels for the Girls' Getaway quilt are all pieced blocks. Some have embroidered centers. I'd already completed the first churn dash block some time ago. Yesterday, I made the second with its embroidered center.

That floral fabric around the outside is one of the oldest fabrics in my stash. I used it when I made the "A Day in the Life of Mr. Bear" quilt some years back.

There were two pieced blocks in this next configuration, and so I did both of them. The pattern is a little confusing with so many component parts to the whole. Doing both will help me keep it all organized.

And here are all the pieces I have for this quilt so far. There's still a long way to go before this will be ready to be sewn into a finished quilt top.

From there, I moved on to the last project on my WIPs list. I'll be making the first two blocks for the Shop Hop 4.0 quilt. After our trip to Alaska, we'll be scaling our traveling down to shorter trips and staying closer to home. This will probably be my last Shop Hop quilt. Certainly, it won't mean the end of my visiting quilt shops when we travel.

I'm starting with these two fabrics picked up on a really fun FART (Fabric Acquisition Road Trip) with my dear friend, Debi. Debi and I have known one another since high school, and we always meet up when Mike and I travel south for the winter. She took me to a shop that specialized in beautiful Hawaiian fabrics in Mission Viejo, California. They also have a shop in Kailua Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. The other shop was closer to where we went to high school. It specialized in more modern fabrics. I only just got started on the cutting for these yesterday.

The pattern for these blocks is very thorough, giving cutting instructions for most every single cut of the quilt. I've had to study it some to find the pertinent parts for cutting just one quilt block. When I work on this today and I'm able to nail down the sizes of the pieces, I'll cut enough to get me through the whole quilt. Then, I can focus on the quilt shop names, places, and fabrics, and that will make it easier. (I hope that makes sense.)

Smitty helped me read over the pattern. 

Oh my, this is purrplexing.

He'd only just woken up from a nap. 

Purrhaps we can come back to this when I'm more awake. I'll be a better assistant after I get my eyes open. Some kitty treats and catnip would help.

So, that's where we left off yesterday. I should have no problem making the first two blocks today, and I'll do the background cutting for all of them.

In yesterday's post, I mentioned I was going to start a frozen (thawed) turkey breast in my slow cooker. My friend, Helen, inquired how this is done. I'm afraid you're no-reply, Helen, and so I'm hoping you'll see the answer to your question here. Maybe some others of you wondered about it too. Of course, you need to start with a slow cooker large enough to accommodate a turkey breast. This is the one I have, although mine is an older model.

It's eight quarts, and oval in shape. Even at that, I could only fit the turkey breast from yesterday if I laid it on its side. It really doesn't matter. The only way this could be any easier would be if someone else did it for you. I usually thaw the turkey breast first, although I've put them into the slow cooker completely frozen before too. You must first (and obviously) remove the wrapper. But then...and don't forget this step...there's usually a gravy packet stuffed inside. Remove that. If you're brave, you might like to try it. I never have. I always just toss it. It looks gross. Then, just drop it into the slow cooker, put on the lid, and turn it to low for eight hours. At the end of eight hours, it'll be falling off the bone, and perfect for turkey sandwiches.

Mike and I like ours with just mayonnaise. He added some leftover jellied cranberries to his. I used some homemade Cranberry Orange Chutney on mine. We sometimes add some Cranberry and Apple Mustard, also homemade. And, by the way, both of those items make a nice little gift at Christmas. So, we'll have the turkey sandwiches twice this week, and then I'll use whatever is left for some turkey noodle soup and some turkey pot pies. Slow cooker turkey breast is the gift that keeps on giving.

Okay, so it's a stay-at-home day, happily. I'll get busy with my quilt blocks, and then I'll be moving on to the next section of my whiteboard...the "quilter's choice" section where I do something small and fun. Still on the list for the year is to make a donation quilt for Quilts for Kids, or I can make a mini. I'm kind of tempted to make a mini. It's been a while. I'm still mulling it over, and so we'll all have to wait until tomorrow to see what I decide.