Catching Up

 I have been doing a LOT of binding lately. 
 It's not great for photos but it is what I have been working on. 

 That and embroidering and sewing on labels. 

 I have bound 2 quilts for babies and now working on a third,

 to gift to a very special friend for her birthday (which I will miss this year). 

 I have also been making yummy keto foods from new to me recipes.  

Is there any interest in that?  

I've also been giving plasma

 (right now twice a week, but once that commitment is over I will give once a week).  

Since I have recovered from Covid, my antibodies in my plasma can help others that need the antibody therapy to get better. 

 WHEW. 

 The plasma donations make me a little tired for the day though so I just take it easy on those days.  

Wanna see some of these things now?  

First up was binding a second baby quilt.

  I think I showed the other baby quilt, the Dogs in Sweaters.
This one is made using the Neverland fabric line by Jill Howarth for RBD.  

You can see the corner of the label peeking out there.  

I need to get a photo of the front of this one all quilted. 

 So sweet.  

These Neverland fabrics are so cute!

I will show the labels once the quilts have been gifted.

So some of that keto food.
This is a pulled pork sandwich.
I made the port in the Instant Pot and it was so easy and so good!
Recipe can be found here

After 2 days of pulled pork I wanted something else. 

 I was at Aldi getting eggs and saw their shaved beef.  

Made me think Philly Cheese Steaks. 

 I found a casserole on Wholesome Yum but I changed it a little bit.

  I used the shaved beef instead of ground beef, I added half a package of sliced mushrooms.  

I didn't have provolone cheese so I added some shredded mozzarella and then slices of swiss cheese. 

 It was so good! 

 Really easy to make and so yummy! 

 This is what it looked like coming out of the oven.

This is what it looked like on my plate before I devoured it!

My daughter asked me to make a self binding blanket for a friend of hers.  

Is there any interest in a self binding blanket tutorial?

Or do you all already know how to make them?

They had a baby recently and their last name is fox, so a fox version it was! 

 Finny approved of it too.

I had a little bit of the flannel left over so I cut it into 5" squares 

and paired it with some orange flannel and made a burp cloth to go with the blanket.  

I am just waiting for the address to send this one away.

I recently gifted a chenille blanket to a friend to pass along to a friend of hers that had a baby.  

It seems the package may have gotten misplaced/lost.  
I keep hoping it will show up.

I had a quilt here that was custom quilted but the colors were not something I would ever be able to use. A friend of mine is raising money for a little boy and his family (he is in the hospital). 
 When her Go Fund Me page reaches certain milestones she gives away a quilt, 
so I offered up this quilt. 
 I said if she preferred she could give to the family or the grandmother 
(who is keeping their other child and is her friend).  
So I am gifting that in the near future.

Doesn't it feel so good to send good out into the world?  
That quilt was not bringing joy to anyone sitting in my closet! 
 
One of my all time favorite sayings is "What goes around comes around".
Have a great day my friends!!
~XOP~

WIP Wednesday

I have several things going right now.  

I'm working on some bridal shower gifts and 

trying to get my The Splendid Sampler blocks caught up.  

I spent a lot of time on this paper pieced block on Saturday 

(when I should have been in the garden weeding)

I think the resultant block turned out well though!

Hubby and son were out fishing on Saturday and since he does most of the cooking I decided to cook.  I made some chicken pot pie. 

 I use broccoli as my kids don't like peas.  

Kicker is that they are no longer at home and hubby likes peas better, but I love the broccoli!  

I decided to embroider some "Kitchy" kitchen towels for the bridal shower as part of my gift.  

I did get this one teapot finished, but have 3 more to do.  

There are black stripes down each side of the towels. 

 Their kitchen theme seemed to be black and white, so I thought these would be fun!

I also madea pair of oven mitts.  I love that the dots have faces!

I lined the mitts with white polka dots on black, so cute!

I also got the last round of my bee blocks finished.  So I guess that is not a WIP but the bee is a constant WIP!

Now I just need time to finish the embroidery on the last towels.

Quilt Fox Face quilt for the next baby.

Assemble the Little Birdie quilt and get that quilted.

Just a few balls in the air.

Linking to Let's Bee Social

~XOP~

Last of the Bee Blocks?

I only had a short amount of time to sew yesterday but thought 

I should work on the remaining Ima Bee blocks.  

I had found a bordered star block I was dying to try out.  

The rules were that we had to use med gray Kona for the background and low volume for the star.  This one was a lot of work and it is far from perfect but I like it anyway.

I was not really paying close enough attention to this one and 

reversed the background and the star colors.  

I will probably either make it again or make a different star and send this along anyway.  

I need more medium gray though either way to make another star.

I went to see Catching Fire this weekend and it was amazing!!  

Can't wait to see it again. 

 I love this series.

I also went through a ton of boxes.  

Both boxes I brought home from my dad's and boxes from my own basement that I will be taking to my dad's on Friday for the estate sale.  

I had 9 Rubbermaid containers full of Precious Moments Figurines that I will be selling there!!!  

I did keep some but I just have too many and have no real attachment to most of them. 

 My mom used to buy them and it was a nice gesture but 9 Rubbermaid boxes??  

Plus I kept 4 and I think there are a few more in the crawl space under the family room,

 but I won't go in there to check (I secretly call it the Hell Hole).  

To get into the crawl space you have to crawl through a hole 

in the cement wall in the basement and it is all dirt.  

NO THANK YOU!  

I make hubby go in there when I need something!!

I am ISO this red print by Kate Spain from The 12 Days of Christmas.  

I need a yard. 

 If anyone has it and is willing to swap or let me purchase it that would be GREAT.  

If you know a shop that still has it that would be great too.

Hubby and I made pasta from scratch for dinner on Saturday night.  

It is so easy to do with the Kitchen Aid mixer attachment!  

Now I need a pasta drying rack.  He made the sauce from scratch too.  

It's great to have a hubby that loves to cook!!

Have a great Monday!

~XOP~

Whatever You Do On New Year's Day...

You will do for the entire year! 

 Ever heard that?  

I was trying very hard to do some things today that I want to be doing throughout the year, for sure. 

 I started off the morning by making a new waffle recipe.  

They were fantastic. 

 I can see I will be experimenting with cooking more this year.

Check!

I was uploading photos and had a cat helper.

 (love the fact that my hair was wet from the shower, so flattering!)  

Hallie would not leave my lap so I used her as my table. 

 Cat at my side all year? 

 Check!

I did some stuff no one wants to hear about (boring, but necessary). 

 I decided it was time to get into the new sewing room and 

see how my machine would fit and it which position.  

So I was moving stuff around and I think this is going to be the arrangement.

I will end up facing the IKEA shelves once I have them. 

 This is the only way, if I want to open up my whole table that I can do so.  

See that low dresser? 

I wrenched my back moving it toward the window! 

It feels like a pulled muscle on my right side.

 YIKES!

Then because I wanted to do something quilty, I cut my 10" squares for the Kokka fabric swap.

  I think it means I will be swapping all year too! 

 Woo Hoo! 

 I also think it means I will be spending some time in my sewing space. 

 Check!

I went to see Les Mis tonight with a good friend, so spending time with friends? 

 Check!!

Taking pictures of my kitties? 

 Check!

Last but not least?  

Why blogging of course! 

 Welcome 2013, I hope you will be a great year!!

~XOP~