Not Afraid of Color: August 2023

Thursday, August 31, 2023

I Like Thursday...# 365 pasta, poodles and one little tomato

welcome to this week's list of likes... starting with my happy place, studio 1. I have different organizational systems, this one holds sharp things like cutting tools. It's a picnic silverwear basket given to me long ago. I painted it red, put a cute fabric around it, and beads and the little compartments are perfect for this, I got the paper girl at a craft show here, supposed to be marker for herb garden. I like this scent of lotion, and keep it in studio.

On to the show...

I can sometimes work at the computer a bit longer these days so the upcoming painting workshop might turn out to be enjoyable, At least a few teachers maybe, time will tell.

Sewing

I am starting the quilting on a new quilt... finished the top, more on Saturday

I discovered this week, that you can't fully appreciate a clean bathroom, microwave oven, or studio until it gets a bit, ahem, dirty before it's cleaned. LOL!

thankful for a new magnifying glass

does my butt look big?

I had an ancient one that broke, and dh found this pretty orange one. I keep it in the kitchen desk, to read labels and exp. dates! Maybe some recipes...

fine dining...

I have to try this recipe, my friend Sonja in HI sent a link to this chef's pizza dough, but these are coconut cream rolls... in case it won't open, the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD-ohOhDVOY

I made up my own recipe for "savory pasta " side this week.Don't have exact measurements, since I cook by intuition but here are the best guesses on ingredients

whole wheat spaghetti, cooked slightly less than normal

Tbsp butter melted in pan,

mushrooms (I use a frozen mushroom mix, and put in about a cup) saute in butter

add in 5 thinly sliced garlic cloves (fresh is best) and add in a bit of broth

Over time I ended up adding about 3/4 cup broth as we live at high alt. in dry conditions

as that cooked, I added in a chopped large tomato, about 1/4 Cup marsala wine, a bit of S&P, some oregano, fresh basil from garden sliced, and let me tell you, by now it smells so good with the wine cooking off. Keep adding a bit of broth to keep a slight sauce going.

add in cooked drained pasta to finish cooking in the sauce.

1/2 cup of cream and 1 tbsp capers go in last, stirring a few times to coat the pasta, low simmer til the sauce seems good to you... then finish with 1/2 cup grated parm cheese to melt.

We laid cooked chicken on the top to warm, and served with a side of english peas

Land Management

we planted 4 tomato plants in May after frost date. 1 survived and it had 2 tiny green marble sized tomatoes for months... now one is ripening... what the heck. DH figures each one will have cost $7.50 plus watering for months

the wildflowers didn't thrive this year either... very disappointing. No poppies, no flash, just a few yellow and one white sprig

I would love one day to plant some pumpkin vines but...

reading:

audio:

I LOVED this... a multi generational family mystery... loved the characters, plot and reader!

Love this series... and the reader does delicious accents... Scottish, English, and American. Story of a girls school, the teachers, and their lives. I laugh out loud often.

Ebook

lots checked out but still reading the 2nd novel about Edwina and Beryl in post war England

Milo's Moment

Milo here... gosh, my mama cut almost all my hairs off this weekend. I am cooler but sheesh! I still love my baby crate which lives in the family room, and which is very close to my toy box so I can keep watch over them

I was cooler with less naturally curly hair and I admit I do look good. Mama seems to like my scent but I'm working on returning to a natural Manly odor by peeing on my leg hair, and rolling in the grass. Heh heh.

please visit these folks to see what they liked this week...

grammajudyb.blogspot.com

http://littlepenguinquilts

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/06/gratitude-76.html

https://knittingquilter.blogspot.com/

https://canadianneedlenana.blogspot.com/

https://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/

http://3poodlesandanana.blogspot.com

craftscaviescontras

pieceful thoughts

princess bubbles creates

http://imworkingonaproject.blogspot.com/

the knitty quilter

https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/08/gratitude-76.html

https://faithtrustandbreastcancer.blogspot.com

https://lavenderdreamstoo.blogspot.com/

https://whataboutrheema.blogspot.com/

https://scrapatches.blogspot.com/

https://www.texasquiltgal.com/

LINKING WITH

http://floralfridayfoto.blogspot.com/

https://brianshomeblog.com/

http://itsasmalltownlife.blogspot.com/

http://goodrandomfun.blogspot.com

https://llbinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

patchwork Sunday
oh Scrap Sundays

friday smiles at a stitch in time

Saturday, August 26, 2023

creativity round up for the week...

the addition is an improv flying geese row at top

I spent my creative time in my studio this week

When I want to spend time in my happy place but If I can't focus on sewing, I sort... this time sorted paper piecing pattern copies collection.

I looked through three books to come up with border ideas for my sunflower piece. I wasn't excited by any of them though...

I looked through my stash to choose fabrics to set off the sunflower piece.

I googled medallion quilts for ideas on how to set my sunflower piece...! All those great quilts on one long page of images! Me with one unset sunflower block!

the improv geese came from the scraps making the sunflower itself...

I know they look like bits to throw away!

add in some tiny blue sky bits

then since I didn't know what to do next, I stopped and moved on...

I listened to two creatives on a podcast talking about women's value.... my takeaway was

first

when you find yourself lacking, who are you comparing yourself to? Is that right/smart/helpful?

second

when you say to yourself, "I'm no good at "insert skill here" could that be changed to

"I'd like to be better at "insert skill here" instead

can you relate to self talk like this?

I finished up an old EPP project, tumbling blocks done with scraps. I thought the edge might be floppy when finished like this

so I cut some large half hexagons, and basted them to insert into the edge

I safety pin them in place so I can sew this at night in front of the tv

the color of the month at RSC is yellow. Use those yellow scraps...

I got out an old pattern, not realizing just how small the blocks were going to be, and chose 9 soft yellow prints to make some pears

If I had more energy I might have chosen hand dyes to make these, and will in future I think.

this time I wanted to quickly make a couple blocks to try the pattern. I chose quickly and cut without dithering, and there is a lot of satisfaction in getting something done.

I'm more known for saturated colors, so this will be a different experience. I should have taken more time and chosen green pears, some orange ones, maybe in batiks or hand dyes but not this day.

It's all good, I love fabric, patterns and colors

this was a new to me method for joining binding at the end. Mostly it's a video for beginners but the end had a fresh approach

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onjcpIz4xgo

linking with

https://superscrappy.blogspot.com

patchwork Sunday

oh Scrap Sundays

slow stitching Sundays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts

https://songbirddesigns.blog/monday-musings-6-26-23/

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss

Midweek makers wednesdays

http://www.myquiltinfatuation.com/

https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

face off

finished or not

off the wall Fridays

https://myblog-lunchbreak.blogspot.com/

Thursday, August 24, 2023

I Like Thursday # 364


not new, but looks like summer right?

whew, Thursday already? I may not be well, but there is always something to like so here goes

I like pizza, and we tried this recipe for quick yeast pizza dough.

https://www.jennycancook.com/recipes/20-minute-pizza-dough/

It came out pretty good, but next time I'd let it rise closer to 45 min, Better than our non yeast dough was... no pics, sorry I forgot. We put sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms on it, some turkey pepperoni, and mozzarella

We found a grocery delivery co that drives refrigerated vans, saw the van while we were out walking. We are unhappy at the level of thawed food, out of date items, and rotten vege coming from Whole Foods . We got some frozen ground chicken, which whole foods doesn't sell (!!!) and I was ecstatic to make spaghetti (angel hair) and meat sauce again, my ab fab favorite meal. Delish!

I love the miracle of veggies coming back to life when they start to go bad for eating...

exhibit one, I planted pieces of potato and they are busy making little potatoes, I hope, that might come to be before the first frost

My doctor wore a mask last visit, miracle! (I always wear one) which made me say I Love you to him. Most people around here won't wear one even if you ask. He had just returned from a speaking engagement in LA and I was concerned.

I got to talk to Joy on zoom again this week, and to my friend Diane in Texas... missed her.

I loved this book on audio: The wonderful story, the characters, especially the reader who was clear and spoke in the lovely Irish lilt

now I'm listening to: I'm not done, please don't check it out yet!!!

I mostly listen when prepping food, or when working in studio and haven't done as much of either this week, so I'm behind on my roster of audio books. I hear faster than I read! ( I read at night)

I enjoyed the finale of the Bachelorette, am catching up on Love Island episodes, and enjoying the Bravo Real housewives of NYC. Project runway has been great but is approaching the end of this season, Big Brother is still fun, We are almost at the end of the season for Murdoch Mysteries. We still watch Chateau DIY during lunch... watching people fix up chateaux is a dream. I've liked The Chase game show very much. As always I love youtube videos of animals...

owning a dog.... made me laugh out loud... it's one of the very short videos

https://youtube.com/shorts/5kYhW0Eem7U?feature=share

this dog wants to bring his stick in...Milo always wants what's in to be out, and what's out to be in

https://youtube.com/shorts/ugbioXzaNec?si=shPZywo9x0x1xmQH

Milo here, finally, with, big-poodle-sigh nothing new to tell you... what a boring poodle life we live at the moment. Don't get me wrong... I like things... I like cookies, the ones Mama makes : pumpkin oatmeal, and rice applesauce almond butter. I like to have my chew toy stuffed and ready for me to dig into while the pawrents eat dinner.

I like that I just got my octopus skint and empty and floppy, just like I like it, and I like getting a NEW octopus too!