Happy National Quilting Day!

 Good morning, my friends, and Happy National Quilting Day to all who celebrate!

To celebrate, I finished the Painted Ladies yesterday. The quilt ends up at 60 x 72 inches. I started it on March 15, 2003, and so it was almost exactly three years in the making. Here's the quilt top:

Here's the quilt back. I pieced it using some fabrics gifted to me by a friend. They came from a quilter who had passed away. These aren't the sorts of fabrics I usually buy, and so it seemed like this quilt back was a good way to put them to use.

That was the only sewing I did yesterday. Most of my day was spent in the kitchen. I wanted to bake another loaf of Irish Brown Bread. We really like this toasted for breakfast in the morning, and so we wanted another loaf.

Also, I ended up with too many lemons, and so I made another round of Lemon Pudding Cakes for Two. 

When I made these last month, I unmolded the cakes onto a small plate, thus:

When I looked at the recipe yesterday, I realized they'd left them in the ramekins they were baked in, and so I did that this time too. So much easier. I'll do it that way from now on.

Also in yesterday's kitchen duties, some hard boiled eggs, and a Tangy and Creamy Macaroni Salad.

This is my contribution to tonight's dinner. Erik, the Grill King, is grilling up a brisket. We'll be making Reubens with homemade sauerkraut. As someone who loves most anything fermented, I'm looking forward to trying the homemade sauerkraut. Also, I'm exceedingly curious about how it was made.

So with all that going on in the kitchen, there wasn't a lot of time for sewing. The only other sewing I did was to make some more progress on the sixth block for Le Jardin.

There are probably a few days' work left on this one, but I decided to choose the next project from my embroidery dance card. I've reached the "short" project. Short projects are those that can be finished in one go-round. This time, Mr. Random chose the Cozy Quilt embroidery pattern. 

That looks like fun, and I feel fairly certain I have everything I need to get started when the time comes.

So I've planned another busy day today. We'll be heading over to Erik and Mae's house this afternoon for our dinner. As for the rest of the day, it'll be mostly boring houseworky type of things. I need to start some laundry, and I need to do some other cleaning. Knowing there won't be time for most anything blog-worthy, I'll take tomorrow off from blogging and meet you back here on Monday.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, my friends. And for National Quilting Day, be sure to celebrate with style!