Design Wall Monday and Weekly Goals

Monday, November 9, 2015
This week I worked with the "found" 30's blocks (broken dishes pattern) from last winter--


They were partially set together with alternating white blocks and I didn't like that anymore--too much white.  I instead whacked them apart and now I call them "30's Streamers"--remember the crepe paper you would hang from the ceiling to decorate with??  One last border to put on and it will be a finished top to quilt.  Please see everyone's Design Wall Posts at Patchwork Times.

Weekly Goals--

Finish 30's border and prepare a backing
Prepare backing for another UFO
Work on Star Struck
Finish small guild class project

That is a nice variety for the next week.  

We're been busy preparing for winter.  Yesterday we worked outside cleaning the flower beds, putting away lawn chairs, pulling down the vines from the deck and pergola.  I still want to tackle pruning back the lilacs on the lot we bought next door, no one has done that for many years.  Does anyone have any advice on how or whether to do this?  I want to trim them back to four foot, they shield us from the street and west winds.  There are a lot of dead branches to be taken out.  I am hoping this will revitalize them.

Last week I bought a lovely Cinderella pumpkin--


 I try to grow them but this year the growing season was too short--they need 125 days.  I bought this one--I had never seen them in the store before.  Its a variety grown for eating and cooking.

I felt bad doing this to it--


 Much easier to cut using a hammer to tap the knife.


It was a big pumpkin--22# and yielded 12 pints of pumpkin puree.  Stephenie from Australia told me they grow like WEEDS there and other than roasting with other veggies they aren't eaten much.  Pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread (much better than banana bread) and pumpkin cake and bars are popular at our house and pretty much in all of the USA.  Do you use pumpkin in cooking??  Is it a USA only thing?

I threw the gauntlet down on Stashbusters--I challenged everyone to join me in a sewing/quilting marathon.  My goals are five tops quilted by January 1st and a total of 12 by May 1st.  Its a steep goal--I only have four tops ready to quilt.  But I'm going to try!  Would you like to join me?  Do you have projects you want to finish or need a set goal date for?  Maybe a UFO languishing in a box--you still love it but just haven't had the nudge to work on it!  This is what I see when I press--my shelves are directly in front of my ironing board--


Can you hear them?  They are yelling ''LET ME OUT--WORK ON ME NEXT!!!"  Do you have a project calling you??

~LORI~

6 comments:

Sara said...

Ambitious goals but I've seen how very productive you are so I have no doubt you will achieve your goal.

I love that setting for the broken dishes blocks and have never seen them done that way before. But it's very pretty.

mereth said...

I think it's funny because I'm working on the same broken dishes blocks, except I call the set Twisted Ribbons. I saw a picture on a blog and cut out some bright scraps ages ago. I started sewing them last week, so there must be something in the ether.
We eat heaps of pumpkin in Aust, both the large ones like you pictured and smaller Butternut (you call them squash) and Jap varieties. We don't use them in pies or bread, but roasted, boiled, mashed, in soups,risottos, pasta dishes etc. Our long hot summers make growing them at home easy.

Tired Teacher said...

Great goals. I think you can get the tops made by then, but I don't have any knowledge of machine quilting, so I don't know if your goal is realistic.

I love everything pumpkin!

The 30s streamers are beautiful and now you have a balance of white and color. Well done.

QuiltinLibraryLady said...

You're an ambitious lady! Good luck getting all those quilts finished.

We don't try to grow pumpkins, just Butternut squash. Between the late Spring and the hail in August they didn't do the greatest this year. I can some for pies, pumpkin bread & bars etc., but I really like them roasted...peel, chunk, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and granulated garlic and roast until done with crunchy edges and bottom. Yum!!

uk-writing-reviews said...

We do use pumpkins in cooking porridge and not so much in backing. I do really love pumpkin porridge especially with adding milk, its not only tasty but very healthy, too.

Katie Z. said...

I'm with you on the UFOs! I don't have many, but I have three projects that have been stalled for a while. The oldest has been around six or seven years, the next four, and the last has been abandoned for a year or so. Let's see if I can finish one of them!