Sister's Choice Quilts

So I Made a Pie

I am staying with my dad a few extra days this week. One of my sisters is moving into a new house and my other sister and I are covering for her while she gets settled in.

I am always trying to come up with menu ideas that appeal to my dad. He has a very small appetite, and doesn't care much for pasta or carbohydrate-laden dishes such as casseroles, Mexican dishes etc. He's a meat and potatoes guy, and loves his veggies. 

Yesterday I decided I'd make him a chicken pot pie, and it was a big hit. I had fun making it, and he seemed to enjoy eating it. I used half a rotisserie chicken for the meat. For the veg, I diced a potato and a carrot which I boiled for a few minutes (4 or 5) in a pan of water. I diced half an onion and a celery stalk and sauteed them in 5 T of butter. Once they were softened, I added 4 or 5 T of flour to the onions and celery. Once that was kind of pasty, I added 1 1/2 C of chicken broth and 3/4 C of milk and whisked it around until the sauce was nice and thick. I added salt, pepper, a bit of Lawry's seasoning salt, and some thyme. You could add frozen peas at this point, but I don't like 'em. Put the drained carrots and potato in the chicken mixture and stir. Mix it all up and pour it into a pie dish lined with one Pillsbury pie crust. I carefully placed the second crust on top and crimped the edges. Make a few little steam vents. I then baked it at 425 for 30 minutes. 

I was worried the bottom crust would be soggy, but it wasn't.  I was quite happy with the result. It was super easy, and wasn't even really a proper recipe. 

I'll be home Sunday, and we plan to celebrate the 4th with our son-in-law, who always does a BBQ. Next week, get ready for some sewing posts, because I have some catching up to do!

Summer Has Arrived

Summer has arrived and that means some sewing, some reading, and some Eva time. This is a block for the Peace and Healing BOW I have been working on. Love this block.

Eva is really into making smoothies these days. And they are a delightful treat on a warm afternoon. This one was strawberries, bananas, orange sherbet and some juice. It was delicious. I keep trying to get her to try blueberries and peaches, but so far she is resisting.

And of course, it wouldn't be summer without some light reading. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is a perfect summer book. You think you know what is happening, but you couldn't be more wrong. Matthew and Marissa are having some marital issues and seek help from Avery, a therapist who has lost her license due to her unorthodox methods. I was hooked from page one.  I am enjoying this fast, light, brain candy read. 

I have been buying books like a crazy person lately. There are so many new books that have come out lately that are perfect summer fare. In fact, did you know that yesterday, June 7, was the day that more books were published in 2022 than on any other date? And I think I bought six of them!

I hope to get a May book review out this week. Those review posts are a heck of a lot of work, so if I can drag myself away from my sewing machine, I will produce something for you!

Whirlwind Weekend

What a productive and fun weekend we had! We squeezed in a fun visit with family, some great shopping, and then I even had a day to do some sewing.

The blocks above are part of the Piecing the Past Peace and Healing Sew Along. I think they are perfect blocks for a diagonal quilt setting, which is what I have been planning for them. In all the years I have been sewing, I have never made a Tree of Life block! I don't think I'd want to make a whole quilt of them, but it is fun to have one in a sampler quilt.

I brought Eva along with me to visit my father and sister (who is out visiting from Wisconsin). We stopped at Target on the way and she picked out some cute new outfits. She is modeling a romper suit below. I don't think I have ever had a romper. It is definitely a look that soon-to-be eleven-year-old Eva can pull off. She looked adorable and it was so nice to show her off to my relatives.

Eva and I stopped at a Panera for lunch on the way home. Eva was in heaven with their mac and cheese, but to tell you the truth, I was extremely disappointed, with the food, the presentation, and especially the high price. I had a half a turkey sandwich and an iced tea. Eva had a bowl of mac and cheese, a skimpy yogurt, and a strawberry lemonade. The bill came to just under $25. I think that is ridiculous! The tiny portions were plopped on very large plates which made the small amount look even more minuscule. I used to enjoy Panera, but I doubt I will go there again.

Eva is clowning around for the photo, but she did say the mac and cheese was good. Oh, but it was our second try because the first one was served in a dirty bowl and had to be sent back! Yikes.

Hope you had a great three-day weekend (in the US). Ours was pretty quiet, but we did go see the new Downton Abbey movie and it was excellent! We thoroughly enjoyed it. There might have been a few sniffles at the end.

 

 

Vacation Week and Easter

The family spent last week down in Palm Desert, having a wonderful time in the sun. Our daughter Sara and granddaughter Eva came with us. Besides celebrating Spring Break, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary. 53 years! We escaped a nasty cold spell at home and enjoyed temperatures in the 70s and 80s. There was a bad freeze in our county which affected the new growth on the grapevines, which will mean our harvest this year won't amount to much. Pretty tragic, actually.

We had a wonderful Easter brunch at a local winery my son in law is associated with. Several families with young children were invited and it was such fun to watch the kids do the Easter egg hunt. Eva and her best friend Addie mostly gave oversight to the event and made sure the little kids got their fair share of eggs. We had such great weather. It was a lovely perfect day sandwiched between rain on Saturday and more rain predicted for this week.

Some happy mail arrived while I was on vacation. You will never guess my plan for it! I have started starching and will share more later.

I'll leave you with a cute picture of Eva by the pool at our vacation resort.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

 

 

April Mug Rugs

April Mug Rugs of the Month are almost done.  I got them quilted and still need to attach the binding.  With luck, I will get that done today or tomorrow. I am late with these and have half a notion to say they are April Easter baskets and May flower baskets combined, and save myself some work next month. Clearly, I am having a hard time getting up into my sewing room and producing anything.

I am pretty pleased with my straight-line quilting. I used painter's tape for the first diagonal line and then just stitched one inch away for the subsequent lines. Easy peasy.

Eva and I made baked donuts this week. I think they are pretty spectacular looking. Here is the recipe if anyone is so inclined. The frosting was more of a glaze. We dipped the donuts into them and then immediately sprinkled them with our sprinkles.

Eva is gung ho to get our Easter decorations out, so we put a few things out this weekend. I worked on the binding on an Easter/Spring table runner I made last year. Got that binding on! Here is a sneak peek:

Hope you all had a great weekend! It is starting to feel like spring around here.

Flea Market Progress and Wonder Woman Goes To School

All the little Churn Dash blocks for the Flea Market quilt along are finished. I can now start on the next round, which is made up of basket blocks. I do love a basket block. These will go a bit slower I imagine. I think just three are assigned in a month.

I have to share something strange/funny with you all. I am reading two different books with the exact same title! The Paris Apartment by Kelly Bowen, and The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. How weird is that? My sister recommended the first one, which is historical fiction set during WWII. The second one is just published and is a mystery.  Books with the word "Paris" in the title apparently sell very well. You would think that a publishing house would check it out though and to avoid confusion would try for a different title if one came out with the last year with the same title. I've got the first one on audio and the second one in hardback.

Today was Super Hero Day at Eva's charter school. She goes in a couple of times a week to attend in-person workshops. She wanted to be Wonder Woman, so we found a red dress with a hoodie at Walmart, some navy leggings at Target, and made a gold cape and wrist bands. She has a gold headband and a gold lasso to complete the look. She was happy with the results and can at least use the dress and leggings again! The look is veering more towards The Handmaid's Tale than Wonder Woman, but that's ok.

Hope your week got off to a great start! My gosh, can you believe it is March?

 

A Chilly Weekend

This is what 96 looks like. My father has been without heat from his furnace for a month and it looks like it will stay that way until the end of March. His furnace died and the part that is needed is not going to be available for a long time. It is probably sitting on a ship off the coast of Long Beach, but be that as it may, his house is without heat until it is delivered and installed. Meanwhile, we try to keep him warm every way we can. 

He is 96 years old, and, as most elderly people do, he feels the cold intensely. I took this picture on Sunday morning. It was 62 degrees in his living room. He is bundled in a heavy sweater, sitting in front of a fire, covered with a down comforter, with a hot water bottle on his lap. Out of the picture is a space heater which I had aimed at him, set to "high". He claimed to be comfortable. Good thing, because I had no more rabbits to pull out of my hat.

What you may not notice right away is the amount of reading material that is surrounding him. I believe keeping up with current events and reading is the secret of keeping your mental faculties sharp deep into old age. He has just finished reading the Sunday paper, which he has scattered on the floor all around him. He is reading a book on his Kindle. The latest issue of Economy magazine is on his lap. A current hardback edition of a history book on Winston Churchill is on his side table. And I am sitting across the room from him reading my own book. Not that my activity will aid him in any way, but the reason I am occupying myself in this manner is due to his influence. Books are important. I learned that at an early age, and hope it will sustain me when I am 96, should I be so lucky to live that long.

Truly I believe that reading is far more than a means of entertainment. It is that, of course, but I think it keeps your mind sharp long into your journey into old age.

We had a good weekend, although we are very concerned about the situation in the Ukraine, which was a hot topic of conversation between us.

I hoped to get some sewing done when I got home from my weekend visit with my father, but it was not to be. It turns out Eva has "Super Hero" day at her charter school tomorrow, and a costume was required. I ended up spending my afternoon making a Wonder Woman cape and wristlets. So, technically, I did sew. I will share some pictures tomorrow.  Hope you all had a good weekend. I devoted mine to  my family, and could not have spent it better.

Cooking Up a Storm

Hope your holiday celebrations have been as magnificent as mine have been! Since our son arrived home from Ireland, we have been cooking up a storm. All the dishes he has been craving, and some new experiments as well. On one of his first nights home, we made homemade pasta for linguine and clams. It was so delicious.

We made a rum cake, which was sensational. Wish I could show you a photo of that, but it is long gone. Here is a link to a similar recipe.  

For Christmas, of course there was prime rib roast and mashed potatoes and a fancy salad. Ahren and I did make a really yummy bread wreath that came out great. We had to jerry-rig a tube pan out of a cheesecake pan and a tin can in the center.

Here it is before rising and baking.

And here is the finished result. It was pretty amazing. The recipe is called Pull Apart Garlic Butter Wreath by Half Baked Harvest. It wasn't hard to make and in fact, we had a good laugh while we were cutting out the dough into all those squares. It makes tons, and I mean you could feed 12 people this thing!

It's been so wonderful to have our son home. I do not want to see him go home on Friday. We really have hardly left the house. Of course our weather is really acting up, so it is cozy to just stay in. His sister Sara has come over several times to visit and it's been great to see the two siblings together. And of course, Eva is having a blast with Uncle BroBo.

Happy holidays from our house to yours!

January Mug Rugs

Since I was excited about the idea of the Mug Rug of the Month Club, I got cracking on the January offering. I had a tub full of Primitive Gatherings Snowman Gatherings fabrics that are perfect for that month. I had a couple of false starts, but ended up with four mug rugs that are acceptable. 

I have to say, I am done with this octagonal shape. I find it impossible to have them turn out symmetrical and even, no matter how careful I am to sew and trim. And sewing on the binding is a colossal pain.  After this month, I am going back to rectangular designs.

If anyone has a great idea for cute patterns for mug rugs, let me know.

We are gearing up for our son to arrive from Ireland on Friday. I cannot express how excited we all are. We have been decorating, and baking, and cleaning the house to get ready for his visit. I know we are going to be busy over the next couple of weeks, but I'll sure try to post as often as I can!

Mug Rug of the Month Club

My workload has lessened a bit and I have been able to escape to the sewing room to whip up another mug rug or two. This is one that I gave to a friend who works from home. I really love giving these things to people who seem to really enjoy and appreciate them! She took a picture of it and sent it to me, saying she would not be telling her boss she was enjoying a glass of wine before she logged off for the day!

I told her I was going to start a mug-rug-of-the-month club for my nearest and dearest! Wouldn't that be a cool Christmas gift? You could make up a January mug rug in blue and white and gift it with a note saying the recipient would get a different one for every month, or at least every season/holiday. I'm already looking up Valentine's fabric collections!

Hope your week is going well.