Making Progress

Good morning, my friends. There was a lot on yesterday's agenda. Not as much was accomplished in the sewing room as I'd hoped, but there was some progress. Probably I'll end the day with some top-stitching. But first, I'm going to finish off the last of the snowman and the reindeer.

When I finished with yesterday's slow-stitching, I happened to look outside to see Smitty sitting in his favorite spot. He can keep watch on his entire terrortory from this spot, and the sunshine isn't too intense. They were smart to enjoy the sunshine yesterday because we're back to rain today and tomorrow, at least.

Toward the end of the day, I found Sadie stretched out in the afternoon sunshine.

In the sewing room, I finished off the applique for the Outhouse.

I'm making this quilt two blocks per go-round. The next one I'll make is the Loon. Here's the picture from the book.

First, I created the quilt block. 

Some time ago, I mistook the block above for a "Dutchman's Puzzle." Maybe you would too. My friend, Sharon of Vrooman's Quilts, set me straight that time. A Dutchman's Puzzle has the flying geese oriented to form a pinwheel in the center like the one below. (Think of it as a windmill.) 

And the block I made for the Loon background does not. Somehow my brain grabbed hold of this riddle: What is its name if it's not a Dutchman's Puzzle? I asked in a group on Facebook and the answers I got were of two varieties: It's a Dutchman's Puzzle (no, it isn't), or it's pieced wrong (no, again). So I went perusing my bookshelf and started paging through this book.

It has a good index. It took me a bit of flipping back and forth, but I finally found it. When the flying geese are oriented as my block is, it's called "Return of the Swallows." (Polishes fingernails on shirt.) When I first learned to quilt, realizing that all the blocks had names was, for me, part of quilting's charm.

Okay, but I wasn't finished yet. I still needed to add the surrounding pieces to create the background.

Somehow I wasn't in the right head space to start on the applique. I might have packed everything up at that point, but then remembered I needed to trace out my next embroidery project. Next up will be October's block for A Year in the Garden. Probably I won't start on this until tomorrow.

There was still time in the day. The pile of leaders and enders was growing scarily large, and so I decided it was a good time to trim and sort them. Now I'm back to zero with these.

Okay, and then it really was time to stop. I tried this new recipe for dinner last night. This is Butter-Soy Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry. With asparagus in season, how could I resist?

It's easy to make, but a little unusual. The chicken is marinated for anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours in what amounts to a coating made from a lot of dry ingredients, a little oil, some soy sauce, and a portion of egg white. Then, the chicken is first boiled for 90 seconds before adding it to the rest of the dish. Meanwhile, the vegetables were stir-fried before adding the chicken. After that...some butter and soy sauce is added to the pan making another coating for the veggies and chicken. I'd say it was a "sauce" except that it was too skimpy to qualify. It was easy enough, and it was good. It's not going to win any cooking contests, but I'd make it again. Also, the recipe specifies to serve it with rice. It really could be served with anything, including noodles.

That brought me to the end of my day. Today is still busy. I want to get in a walk on the treadmill, and I have one housekeeping chore on the calendar. Also, it seems like a good day to get the laundry taken care of. There should still be plenty of time to finish the applique on the Loon. If I feel up to it (and there's still time), I'll get started on the top-stitching. It's doubtful that I can finish it all today, but I'll give it a valiant effort.