I Like Thursday #15

Welcome to I Like Thursday! This is my 14th post sharing happy and positive likes. I have this silhouette hanging on the wall of my formal dining room. It originally belonged to my Aunt Frances. She was my favorite aunt growing up. She was my dad's sister. When she passed away, my cousins gave me this as a remembrance of her. My aunt had 4 sons and didn't have anything too frilly around her house. I'm a little surprised she even had this little picture. I sort of smile to myself when I see it!

I love antique quilts. I bought this at a quilt show about 10 years ago. It's a block from an old Dresden Plate quilt that was beyond repair. I like that they could save a block and make it into something somewhat useful. The colors are a little more pronounced in person.

Yesterday's dinner was Easy One Pan Chicken and Eggplant from Lexi's Clean Kitchen. This is a delicious recipe that takes no time to make. It's Paleo but no one in my family could tell! My husband is following Weight Watcher's and I think he told me it was 1 point. (If that's possible!!)

I don't get too many quilt magazines anymore but I do get American Quilter. This month has so many great patterns. I love the articles as well as the quilts. You won't be wasting your money on this one. They have the cutest wallhanging that I'm thinking of making.. I'm not very artsy but I may try this one!

I'm linking with LeeAnna over at Not Afraid of Color. Check out her blog for more positive posts. You'll be glad you did!!

Paper Piecing and Curved Crosshatching

Here are 6 Pineapple blocks I made for Long Time Gone. I have 10 more to make. Actually, I've been working on 2 more blocks and they're almost done. They measure 5.5 inches square. After these blocks are done, I'll start putting Long Time Gone together. I'm also changing up the border. More on that later!

I'm trying to work on curved crosshatching. I took a class with Deloa Jones back in April at MQX. It takes awhile to become comfortable with the ruler. 

This is a picture of what her rulers look like. The markings are easy to see and line up. I find the midpoint on each side of my block and line up the ruler. 

This is just another picture of the curved crosshatching on the same quilt, different side. I just have a few more of these to quilt and then I'll be quilting in the sashing between the blocks. I think I'll be quilting feathers in that space but I'm not completely sure. I could change my mind!

Lily always stays pretty close to me. I thought she was sleeping but she's always keeping an eye on me. You can see it in the picture!! Silly girl! I hope she approves of my quilts!

I Like Thursday #14

I try to follow the Paleo diet. It's the only way I can lost weight at my age. It works for me so I've kept it up for about 3 years. This is a Paleo Quiche. Ingredients include spinach, mushrooms, bacon and eggs. There is no crust or cheese. I followed a recipe but changed it up a little bit. It was so good! My family loved it and they aren't even Paleo!

I love the look of Ribbon Candy! It's perfect in a narrow border or sashing. It's quick and pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

This is my latest read. I received an Advanced Reader's Copy. I thought it was a bit slow when I started reading it but not anymore! I think the author was laying the ground work for the rest of the book. It's so good! This book is historical fiction that takes place in Barbados during the 1800's. Lots of family secrets!

This is one of my guilty pleasures. I always read the September issue of Vogue. It's thick and full of ads but it's great fun to leaf through. I'm not big into new fashion trends but this issue is full of info on what we can expect to see in clothes, makeup, hair etc. It's a nice diversion!

That's my likes for this week. I went back to work this week and had to work until 3:30 today. I'm posting this so late but I'm glad I got to share a few likes with you.

I'm linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color. You can see a lot more positive and wonderful likes on her blog. Enjoy!

1930's Farmer's Wife Odd Blocks

I finished quilting all the blocks of my  Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler quilt. I had some odd shapes to quilt as I reached the end. This happened to be one of them. There is a reason I buy so many quilt books! I got some great ideas looking through books by Angela Walters, Natalia Bonner and Amanda Murphy. I got out the ruler and made 1/2 inch lines.

I got this idea after quilting the arcs around the squares. It's nothing fancy but it works great in this space. I was very happy with it!

I quilted wishbones in the lighter fabric so the darker orange will puff up. So easy!  I also stitched in the ditch in all seams. I'm getting better at it but still need more practice.

I'm still working on my curved cross hatching. It's not perfect but good enough. Once washed, these stitching lines become softer and harder to find errors. (I hope!)

I think my kitties have found a new game. They have decided to wreck my batting hanging off the longarm! However, I don't leave it hanging anymore. I pull it over the longarm to keep it from getting dusty. Bad kitties! Thankfully, my quilt ends before I would even have needed this part of my batting so it doesn't matter that they made holes in it. 

Although the blocks have been quilted, I now have to quilt between the blocks. I'll probably quilt feathers I'm going back to work tomorrow so I have some time to think about it. Wish I was still on vacation!

I Like Thursday #13

Since I'm on vacation this week, I made the annual pilgrimage to Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor, NH. I didn't really have anything to buy but that didn't stop me!

I bought this cute little pattern for 50 cents! I told the cashier that the pattern had an incorrect price on it but she told it was the right price.  I couldn't believe it! 

I bought this gadget to help me when I make jelly roll rugs. I was told it can be used for binding also.

I bought this little bundle of fat quarters. Also on sale! We ate at Hart's Turkey Farm after shopping. The weather was gorgeous and the shopping was great.

We went into Boston today. This is the view from the Museum of Science. We decided to go there since it's so close to the highway. You don't really get into as much of the traffic since it's so close to the highway. We used to take our kids there and my parents used to take me and my brother there years ago.

Here's a scene from the electricity area. The exhibits are the same but they have so much more interactive activities associated with each area. The kids were having a blast!

I think this is the same dinosaur when I was little! He didn't look quite as large as I remembered!

The Apollo exhibit was very busy! I think it's become so popular since the 50th anniversary. I did manage one picture without anyone around.

I hope you enjoyed my likes from this week. I'll be back to work on Monday. Vacations sure do fly by!

I'll be linking up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color where you can see more likes from a wonderful group of bloggers! 

More Long Time Gone and a Doily!

These are 2 of the Pineapple Blocks I'm making for Long Time Gone. I have to make 14 more.

I'm paper piecing them. I love the ease and proficiency of using paper. You just sew on the line and make sure the fabric is large enough to cover that particular area. I work on 2 blocks at the same time. They measure 5 1/2 inches square. Once these blocks are done, my blocks are complete and I can  start putting Long Time Gone together! 

These 60 degree triangle pieces are also part of Long Time Gone. Each triangle unit measures 2 1/2 inches square. So close to finishing! So exciting!!

I miss having hand work to do while watching television. I decided to knit a doily. I thought it would make a nice Christmas gift. It's very similar to knitting lace. My grandmother used to crochet doilies but I like to knit them. To each, his own!

I Like Thursday #12

Here's my mother's trunk after she restored it. She used sandpaper to get rid of  most of the old paint. It also ended up smoothing down the exterior. She painted it dark green which was the original color when she received it from her aunt. She replaced most of the brass screws. It looks so much better! Like new!

She used wall paper for the interior. The old paper was in poor shape. She just wet it and removed it before adding this pretty wall paper. She's thinking of adding another coat of green paint but it's pretty much done! She loved working on it and I think she did a great job!

We had a few old trees removed from our property this week. The guys in my neighborhood all came out to watch! I came home from work and was wondering what was going on. I didn't think it would be so popular.  We ended up having 4 trees removed. They were getting old. We were afraid they would damage our house if we got some strong winds. Better safe than sorry!

My daughter's friend brought over these beautiful sunflowers. They're so cheerful!

I finally bought these grapes. Everyone at work was talking about them. They really taste like cotton candy! They're a little pricey but well worth it.

I can't believe it's already August! The summer always seems to fly by. I hope you're all enjoying the warm weather. I still quilt in the summer. My house is air conditioned so the heat doesn't really bother me. 

I'll be linking up with LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color. Hope you check out her blog for more inspiration! Until next week!