THREE! I'm going for a new "Month's record"

 If you know me, you know I love to read.  Every day, my favorite time is to read an hour (or more) before bed and you can go thru a LOT of books - even more if they are so good you must read past bed time!!

AND I keep track of what I read!  Since 1985!! On an excel sheet!  Before you click me off because I'm crazy - I started keeping track because I rate them 1 - 5 and every year I look back at my 5* books and see if their author has written more. Don't worry - I'm a library girl.  Thank goodness!  I love our Brookings library.  They are the best!

Of course, now-a-days all you have to do is Google an author and you will get notices of all their books and anyone else they consider is like them!  Back then, not so much.  

Favorite books lately:

• Anything by Brad Parks   Interference; The Girl Next Door
• The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel
• The Mother In Law by Sally Hepworth
• French Braid by Anne Tyler

You can always look back on this blog to the January entries.  I usually have 2 year's summaries and always include the best books that year.

If it's not too foggy - salmon season is full speed ahead.  Every day there is 20 -30 little boats at a time in the mouth of the harbor getting those salmon headed up stream.  There have even been some tuna (mixed up apparently) caught.  It's very exciting when our commercial boats are headed out.  Horns - get out of our way!!  You talking to me???  People who fish in little boats are crazy!

Here is the September gallery hanging in our living room.  And yes, I did clean the top of the bins to get to avoid a junky picture!  C, a good friend from the MidWest is coming this week.  She'll recognize all of these wall quilts.  She's the one that made me add "DS" to the schoolhouse.  We laughed and laughed at the smoke rings behind the school.

And C started the invasion of the Sunflower Quilts in Lincoln NE. Every quilter that saw her quilt, made one!  G made the same design in reds for a poinsettia - gorgeous!  I also have a sunflower king size quilt - this wall quilt is a remake of the king-size pillow sham. (It looked like a coffin cover!!!)

We saw this Red Wagon quilt and loved it.  But we both lamented that the applique or the piecing was too hard ... so I did the piecing for both quilts and C did the applique for both of us.  One of my favorites!

                            

So after C sees these, we will put up the Halloween quilts.  In fact, I have a whole list of what we should do!  Visit and walk the beaches is on the top!

More information next time.

We have a new record! Unfortunately it's just 2 weeks in a row.

 But it IS two weeks in a row!!!  Pretty sad!  And I wouldn't be writing now if our plans hadn't fallen thru.  It's the Birthday Weekend! My DGD is 16 years old!!! and my DH is 70 - caught up with me again! (It's a long 5 weeks with bad, bad jokes!)

We were all ready to head up to Portland for a big celebration and then ... my DD failed a test!  Yep, she and DGS have Covid.  They are both fully vaccinated and boosted.  But it still is not a fun thing to have.  Wishing everyone a speedy recovery.

So here we are, a cool misty day on the coast - luckily, on my DH's birthday, there is football to watch!!  I feign an interest, but he sees thru me -  but it gives me time to piddle around and pretend to get things done while at the BD boy's beck and call.

Last night was his birthday dinner - he requested ham and Au gratin potatoes. AND a Marionberry pie.  Grocery store didn't have our favorite ham - Cook's Family Foods (Lincoln NE) at least not in the smaller size we needed.  But I'd already gotten the ice cream ... so I dropped the groceries "so far" off for Rick to put away. And went searching for ham at another store.

I should have know it was going to be that kind of day ... all week we have been swarming with workmen trying to finish the outside paint job they started in April!! Stairs and doors were out of commission.  Men hanging upside down painting the eaves.  AND Rick went into town for a pop, and I could NOT get the Marionberry pie filling jar open.  Looked around and no one to be found!'  I googled it - 6 ways to open a jar.  5 of them did not work.  The 6th one involved a knife wedged under the lid.  I didn't try that - I have a bad record with using knives in an unauthorized way - with stitches to prove it!  So I made my Canned in Water cherry pie for his birthday.  

I explained my sad, sad story when DH got home.  He looked at the jar, 'is this it?' and in a split second, half a turn, it was open.  (I didn't even say I'd loosened it for him!)  Luckily, cherry pie is one of my best pies!!  but now the jar is loosened and I need to buy another Pillsbury pie crust (don't judge) and get it made.  The cherry pie is almost gone! It's a birthday weekend and I'm going to share the recipe!!

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Canned Cherry Pie

Make pie crust (I use Pillsbury refrigerated crust!)

•  ¾ c sugar                                            
• 3 T flour
• 2 cans drained canned cherries in water (4 cups)
• 2 T butter

 Preheat oven to 450. Combine sugar & flour in a small bowl and stir well.  Add drained cherries and toss.  Pile cherries into dough-lined pie pan.  Dot with butter.  Put on top crust.  Bake 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake about 45 minutes more until crust is browned.

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At least 30 years later I'm still making it!  A neighbor in Princeton Jct oh-so-many years ago gave me her recipe.  She made her own dough (!)  But she knew I didn't.  They stopped by one evening to return something and we invited them in for some pie.  Her husband praised my pie and said he was surprised that she gave me her pie crust recipe ... my husband knew enough not to correct him, But, Oh, dear - I think her husband slept on the couch that night!  Don't know when she ever made her homemade crust again!

I'm back in the quilting mood this week.  Yes, my Eversewn still has the pedicure separator holding the cord at the right angle.  We have an appt with the Sewing Machine Dr in Medford in 2 weeks.  They are getting the part and I've got a date to haul it over.  Fingers crossed that they can fix it that day - before I come home.  We have separation anxiety without our machines, right??

Meanwhile, I'm not moving it at all, and wearing my lucky socks when operating it.  I managed to get somethings finished!  I love making progress.  Such as it is!

Sorry, this photo is sideways - the black borders are top and bottom.  This is from the Instagram sew along - #scrapsnap.  It was offered in 2020 but I didn't see it!  I saw it this year and started cutting and sewing the first day I found it.  I love the color block methods - this lay-out combines 2 different color combos for each block. yellow/orange; red/pink; blue/purple and green/teal. It really makes those blocks glow.

Many years ago this Improv Bird was offered as a free block on the web.  And now Jenny Doan tells you how.  Birds with attitude!  Just the legs are improv, you decide if they are standing still or running!  I made my Finishing School quilters make a block or two at our retreat for charity baby quilts.  I've spread the pattern around, and some people don't care for them!!!  I know, hard to believe, right?  I love them.  

I cut fabrics and background and striped legs for one of my 'very' small groups and we all went to town making wall quilts.  I had leftover 'legs' and incorporated it into a border.  It went into time-out for a while - it was wider than it was long and that just looks off-kilter to me.  But I found 3 more birds - put in a new top row. (harder than you think!  It's uneven up there!) And still had enough border to go all the way around.  Hoo Rah!  It's only a top - but it's calling to me!  Once my machine is fixed, I can see me pin basting this and finishing it yet this year!  Oh dear ... don't hold it against me if not!  I'm an incurable pie in the sky kind of girl!!

And here is Peek-a-boo! clipped ready to be bound.  The original pattern is by Missouri Star Quilts.  The squares are 5" and make a twin size quilt.  P made the quilt for a grandkid.  We thought it would look really cute as a small wall hanging.  P cut 2.5" squares but I cut 2" squares.  Last April we made them at the spring retreat.  They looked like 2 brothers and I had the youngest one!!  The 'bling' around the outside is the binding clips. 

 I love these clips - a Christmas present from a quilting friend - they hold the binding in place tightly and if it's clipped overnight, the binding stays in place as you remove the clips one at a time.  No pulling and holding it in odd hand movements (Hello 70!) and arthritis!

Enjoy the Canned Cherry Pie recipe and who knows - I might be back again next weekend!

To Blog or not to Blog -

 A 3 month blogging hiatus??  Why?  Who knows!  We are still under construction - the painters did come back this week and we don't really have that unique light blue and medium old brown combo on the outside of the house.  BUT they still need to finish doors, railings and PLEASE put back the handrails!!  It's really depressing, I know Curry county is often called "No Hurry Curry."  But these guys are stretching that to the max!

I celebrated a BIG birthday in August - SEVENTY! Thanks to P, I had 2 surprise lunch parties!!!  Fellow quilters know what you want!  Always the best presents. Thanks so much for the festivities!!

 I'm don't feel older but seem to catch every cold/virus around.  And for some reason, at 70, it takes longer to recover from said viruses.  Thank God, not COVID - but many days thinking 'if this isn't COVID, I sure don't want it'  And of course, aren't we sick and tired of Covid directing our lives and thoughts?  Bah!

My 'new' Eversewn QE sewing machine has been on the 'PIA' list lately.  Now the foot pedal port is loose.  It took 2 weeks to figure out the problem (one week it was in California to be looked at!)  No machine repair here.  Nearest is 2 hours away.  Meanwhile, I have a 'fix'  cram a folded 'pedicure toe separator' between the cord to the foot pedal and the electric cord!  P is convinced I got a lemon.  Sigh!  I miss my Janome that served me well for over 12 years!!  And the Kenmore before that I got while in HS!!  The quilt projects are stacking up!

Hmm, maybe I quit blogging because of my mood??  I'll try to correct that.

Blessings:

Living in Brookings where the climate is down right 'medium'.  Although, the Port, our neighborhood, was 101 degrees last week.  Yep, hotter than Medford AND Nebraska summer weather!  But, that's highly unusual.  Usually we are 50 something degrees sometime during 24 hours all year round.  Sometimes the high, sometimes the low!

These gulls insisted on posing for me!!

R and I walked the beach at low tide that 101 day.  We're walking close to the water and I kid you not -  hot, hot, one step, cool breeze the rest of the way!!  AND on the way back to the car we crossed that invisible line again - back into the heat!  Things that make you go "Huh?  What?? Why??".

Miss E was here for 6 days!  Everyone else in her family was in school.  She starts kindergarten a week later - different districts.  She did fine, until she heard Dad's voice on the phone!  That day was rough.  But with 2 older brothers, she's a tough little gal.  Not a fan of "NO!"  But who is!!

Brother D, now in middle school and just got his own phone.  D & K called us to talk to E.  She wasn't quite sure what was going on, but when she figured it out, she immediately threw us under the bus!!  "K, don't tell mom, but I got A LOT of screen time!!"  K immediately told mom!  Well, I admit screen time did go up after Nana got the cold.  

Redwoods - our model wanted pictures with all the trees!  40+! 

The call of the sea

Breakfast conversations! Love her crossed legs.

We had loads of fun reading library books over and over again!  Our favorites were "Ducks Don't Wear Socks"  And "Stephanie's Ponytail."

Unfortunately, she came with a cold and generously gave it to me (see 'colds' lament above)  Yikes, we drove her back to Medford and my ears did NOT like going over the mountains at all!  Took me 5 more days to get over it.  BUT not the first time (or probably the last) a beloved Grandchild spread the plague!  No hard feelings!

Meanwhile, there are failed projects and projects waiting to be finished.  Sewing rooms to be cleaned and reorganized ... all in different levels of implementation!  I'll let you know what's going on next time - hopefully before 3 months!