Over the wing…………

My daughter’s best friend from grade school and I flew to North Carolina on Monday.  We were sitting right over the wing in a small plane.  On May 17 I mentioned that my daughter’s property with a named waterfall in NC is going to be on a TV show.  Tracy and I were there for the taping of the reveal segment where my daughter and son in law got their first look at the improvement on the property.  You can go here for some background on this.

This is the largest of 3 waterfalls on the property.  You can see a video of another one on the link above.

I found my new favorite candy bar while we were shopping.

This was the decor in one of the restaurants.  I just got home and was exhausted so I’ll tell more tomorrow.  I can’t show the reveal because it is going to be a TV program and is a secret.

No sewing yesterday……

I went to my twice monthly quilting group and just cut pieces for a future project.  When I got home I baked this cranberry upside down cake to take to my granddaughter’s birthday party.  Mine is not quite as attractive as the one in the newspaper but it sure tasted good.

My little great grandson is moving 3 states away this weekend.  We have enjoyed having him and his parents here in the area for 2 1/2 months while they waited for the job transfer to take place.  He is holding the remote control for the fan and he thinks he is controlling the TV.

First April finish, quilt gifts, recipe………..

The 40″ African 16 patch wallhanging is done, the first finish for April.

The binding is sewn onto the Kaffe zig zag and I have started the hand sewing.

Here are 4 of the 5 quilts that went home with relatives on Sunday after the wedding shower.  They are left to right for a 20 year old great-nephew, wedding present for nephew and wife, shower gift for nephew and wife and last one for a 4 year old great nephew.  I also gave one to my sister in law but don’t have a photo of it.  It was made before digital cameras so I may have a real photograph of it, maybe not.

Many people requested the recipe for the frosted creams so here it is:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream 3/4 c. Crisco and 3/4 c. sugar
Add 2 egg yolks and 3/4 c. molasses
Add alternately 1 1/8 c. cold water with 3 c. flour, 3/4 t.baking soda, 3/4 t. cinnamon, 3/4 t. salt. (I do 1/3 of flour and other dry ingredients first, then half of the water, another third of flour, other half water, then remaining flour) beating well after each.  Spread in a 11.25″ x 17.25″ greased pan.  Bake 30 min. or until edges are browned and pulling away from pan.  Frost with your favorite butter cream frosting.  Yield, about 40 pieces.

Sewing and last treat baked…….

I sewed this group of triangle squares and then went down to the basement.

I had seven of these blocks to sew together to prepare the next two columns to be added to the first sewn group.

After sewing those blocks I’m off to the next decision.  You can see I have one more triangle unit to sew before I can sew those 2 rows together.  I need to decide whether to use 2 of the 3 pink/red fabrics next or switch those with those darker purple ones to their right.  After all of the company leaves I’ll make the decision.

My sister-in-law brought over the floral centerpiece that she had ordered.

I baked my last batch of sweets for the shower.  They are frosted creams, a molasses based sheet cake.  It is a family favorite.  

Company should start arriving a little after one.  I’m looking forward to seeing the family members that I haven’t seen for several years.

More baking…..

I baked the other 2 batches of Spritz cookies, ironed the 55 year old pink damask tablecloth (that was one of my wedding gifts in 1959), and washed all of the serving plates for the cookies.  My little great grandson came to visit yesterday morning and he tested a cookie for me too.  

I cut one fabric for the triangle project and sewed a few triangle units.  After washing floors today I hope to get in a couple hours of sewing.  It feels so good to have a clean house. 

Triangles, garden, cookies………….

Here are the triangle units from the piles of triangles I showed yesterday.

They are up on the design wall as well as some more choices for future large squares.  If I have time tomorrow I will be working on the bottom section so I can sew more columns together.  

My inspiration quilt is the one done by Jenny Bowker.  She is the person who has the pattern for Shimmering Triangles on Craftsy.  I am not trying to imitate hers, just studying it to see how some of the fabrics work together.  I am just past the half way point with my designing now so many, many more fabrics will be added.  I’m trying not to repeat any fabrics but I may end up repeating some outside edge fabrics before I am done.

I walked out to the backyard to see how my garden is growing.  Some of the hostas are getting big, others are barely peeking out of the ground.

The earliest blooming peonies are getting tall.

The first batch of Spritz are baked.  They are so yummy.  Yes, I did have to test a few……to be sure they would be OK to serve on Sunday.  They passed the test.

Only cookies……….

All I have to show for yesterday is the 2 batches of cookies that I baked for the art quilters group today.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent picking up and putting away my stuff to make room for 7 of them.  I had dies for my Studio cutter on 3 different tables as well as all of the fabric that I have been playing with recently.  It is a good thing I have a deadline now and then to get everything put away.  And then…………I can’t find it when I look for it later.

Quiltiing, baking……….

I wasn’t sure I would do much quilting on this X and + quilt yesterday.  I decided to just do a couple lines but once I started though I got about 2/3 of it quilted.

I am just ditch quilting it because I want the focus to be on the fabrics, not the quilting.  I’m using a raspberry variegated Superior King Tut thread and it is blending in most places.

Last night I baked 2 batches of Spritz cookies for the birthday party Sunday.  Today I will bake the chocolate cupcakes and then mix the dough for the 2 batches of cookies for Monday and Tuesday.

The end of a treat……….

All I have to show for my day yesterday is the last 4 toffee bars.  I baked 2 desserts to take both places I went yesterday.  I started out at the twice monthly sew in and helped someone with the directions on a pattern.  Then I went to a sister in law gathering and also saw my niece from California.  It was a relaxing social day.   Last night I sorted kits and then spent time on the computer contacting a bunch of people who wanted a kit.  I’m at the end of the fabric with just 4 more kits to cut today.  When I finish them I will have cut 89.25 yards of colorwash type fabric into kits.  That leaves me with 2 empty blanket boxes under the pool table.

Garden Bounty…….

After the art quilters left I went outside to water my tomato plants.  I noticed yesterday one large tomato on the Early Girl was starting to turn red.  Yesterday it was ready to pick.  The others are grape tomatoes and pear tomatoes.

I wanted to see how the GO! Kite block would look as corners in a 9 patch type block.  I used squares from one of my labeled boxes in the basement.  I’m sure this could be made more interesting if the center square was made of 4 triangles.  As one of my commenters mentioned yesterday, Doreen Speckman called this corner block “ice cream cone (full)”.  She had another block she called “ice cream cone (empty)” which was the long point and then flat at the top connecting to a small triangle of background color, making it look more like an empty cone.