Come Fly With Me

Finally, I've done a little bit of sewing. Yay! Not a lot to show you. One for the Birds is now officially 28" x 30" big as a quilt top. Obviously a long way to go. But it did take a tiny step in the right direction. And I do like the way it is looking in its absolute randomness of the piecing.

And, get this, it even stopped raining for a little while (we won't discuss the forecast). The sun came out and I got to use my traditional photo place - the trampoline. Honestly, if I tell you I made ice cream today too you will think there is too much good stuff going on. So I will tell you about the ice cream tomorrow.

Susan

A Small Treat

Most of my treats these days seem to consist of things of the sewing variety, or chocolate. Let's not forget the chocolate. But yesterday we went to Tesco because there was time between the dentist appointment and the dance class. So the girls asked if they could look at the books on sale. While they browsed, I browsed.

I browsed the cook books. I love cook books. I have been collecting them for years. Proof -

If that is not enough, there are more stored in my brother's basement in Canada. Because we were never meant to be living in the UK this long. Therefore we have belongings still waiting for us to return. (Yes, my poor brother has had them all this time.)

Yesterday I added a new cook book to these shelves, because I needed it. I really did. And it was on sale, cheap.

I didn't intend to buy it. I was just flipping through various books while the girls entertained themselves and we generally wasted time. But I came across this page...

... and that was it. I had to have it. For those of you who live outside of North America you have probably never heard of General Tso's Chicken. Those of you who live in North America, and like Chinese food, may well be aware that it is one of the most popular dishes available on the menu there. I love it. It is tangy, spicy,  gorgeously good. And I haven't had it in over eleven years. As soon as I have the ingredients bought I am having it again. I will let you know how it turns out.

That was more than enough incentive for me to buy the book, but a little page flipping further brought me to things like this...

... and this.

I do believe that I am going to have fun with this book.

Does anyone else get this much joy out of food? Fun out of the anticipation of it? Pleasure from the making, sharing, introducing to new flavours? Because it is one of the great joys in my life. I associate so many of my memories with food. I can remember things I have eaten in places all over the world, and having them again takes me right back to where I was when I first tried a particular dish.

General Tso's Chicken is the dish I ate after I met himself, when we first lived together and when I was pregnant with Helen. She incubated on chillies, and garlic, and ginger. Lucky kid! Wonder if that is part of the reason she loves her food so much now?

Susan

Focus, Susan, Focus!!

I am hereby officially making a Third Quarter list for Rhonda's (Quilter in the Gap) Finish-a-Long that I don't have a hope in hell of finishing. But I am hoping that this list will bring me focus and impetus to shake off this sewing slump and get back to what I enjoy so much. The idea being that if I don't get at least some of it done I will make a complete laughing stock of myself and that should be incentive enough to get back to the machine.

So here we go, my FAL 3Q intentions are -

1. Finish the Birdies quilt. I am so close really it would be silly not to take all those wonderful, mismatched, different sized blocks and turn them into a quilt. Considering I even have the backing fabric already (which is rare indeed) I think this should be doable. (Stop laughing!!)

2. Finish the Sew Stitchy quilt. This is not going to be a large quilt and will most likely be the first thing that I finish. You can always point out that I said that if it all goes horribly wrong.

3. Finish my French knot hell. Otherwise known as the prototype FQ Retreat hoop. I will finish this and it will be given to someone. Because I wouldn't want to keep it here, after all it might give me nightmares.

4. Turn my Diamond Hexies into a cushion. Not sure what to use for backing here and that brought me to an abrupt halt. But honestly, how long will it take to turn this from a WIP to a finish? All I need to do is stop dithering.

5. Turn these meagre few hexies into a lot more hexies, and then make them into a cushion for a very good friend of mine. Now this will get a nice start when I go off on my annual summer migration northwards in a couple of weeks. I plan on taking them as my little project to work on between lie ins and glasses of wine. (Chance would be a fine thing!)

6. Take all these wonderful carefully collected rainbow charm squares and turn them into the quilt that they are meant to be. They may look pretty hanging about as 5" squares but I firmly believe they will look even better when they are all sewn together.

7. Now Rhonda may argue with this one, because I have not officially started cutting my HR but I do consider it a work in progress as I have so diligently spent time collecting, swapping, buying and so forth since the beginning of the year. A lot of work has gone into this quilt just to get to this point. Now I want to take my HR Fan Club Quilt to the next level. In other words, sew it all together. (I would also like to point out that the wonderful stack of FFA on the top left of my storage box was a gift from Leanne when she came over from Canada. Isn't she fantastic?!)

8. This last item is not really an item. I need  you all to convince me that number five (hexies) and number 6 (rainbow charms) should not become a new project that could potentially send me over the edge this year. Because I keep placing four hexies on a charm and thinking 'Ooooo, I could get a lot of hexies from all these charms. A lot!' Liking little hexies and thinking I could do a whole quilt with them are two entirely different things. Kindly talk me out of even thinking about it. Please!

I think I will stop now. I am sure I could come up with more, but I am equally sure that I will not finish the seven projects listed so best to not add anything else. I have found that the Finish-a-Long has been one of the best things to come into being this year. It really does make you focus and think about what you have on the go and which projects you honestly want to work on. Rhonda came up with a fabulous idea and I fully expect that she will carry it on for a long, long time. Won't you, Rhonda?!

Please go on over to Quilter in the Gap and see what other people are planning to finish this summer.

And then when you are done there you might like to hop on over to Fluffy Sheep Quilting as you can vote for your favourite Kona solids bundles that people have put together. Cindy will be featuring the winning bundles in her fabulous shop. Which reminds me, I have some shopping to do there.

Susan x

The Day After

It has been pissing down rain all day today. But for once it hasn't put me in a mood. Nah, going to the dentist did that! Okay, sort of joking because I'm not in a bad mood despite having to spend my morning with someone else's fingers in my mouth.

And I am not in a bad mood because I had such a good day yesterday. Thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes. I do appreciate it. We had a brilliant meal last night, aided by the fact that it didn't rain here all day. So I got to barbecue ribs for our dinner which was very much what I wanted for our meal. Just in case you think the birthday girl shouldn't be cooking her own dinner - we are going out for dinner tomorrow night. I preferred to eat out on a non-school night.

It did my soul the world of good to be outside wielding the tongs, watching the girls play and then letting them toast marshmallows after dinner. Himself grabbing the rare opportunity to cut the grass.

I also have something to look forward to in nine days time. Something that is going to do my soul even more good. I'll leave you guessing what is happening for now because it is too much fun not to keep it secret for a little while. And as I have spent my day with a half frozen face hoping to God I didn't drool without realising it while I did my grocery shop, I have no photos to show you. Other than a half eaten cake. Which was very, very good I must say.

Susan

Is It Wrong...

... to make your own cake?

If someone else does the decorating?

Thank you to Ellie for all the hard work.

It was Ellie, wasn't it?

Hope you have all had a good day. I'm another day older, but I have a fabric budget that I didn't possess yesterday. Woohoo!!

Susan