coincidence?

last week visited a nearby guild and on the free table was this little book of geometric quilts in lovely solids.....

back in my formative quilting days, was never a devotee of gwen marston's simply because i was too rigid and cautious, aka no confidence at all in being "liberated"....and now this week she has passed on...joining so many others who inspired novice quilters like me in the 1970s and 1980s, people like mary ellen hopkins, virginia avery, jeff gutcheon, yvonne porcella, jean ray laury, monica calvert, sally palmer field....thus this little but powerful book is now more important as a testament to gwen's liberating style.  flip thru old quilt mags and you'll find gwen giving advice and encouragement to many who yearned to earn the title of quilter....another empty seat at the frame.....

got strips?

as you can see, i've got plenty but this sizable tote had only ONE measly, piddly, itty, bitty aqua strip for this month's rainbow scrap challenge blocks!!!  how revolting is that!!!  i took on this challenge to empty this tote, or at least make a dent, but so far...nada.  so back to the stash for aqua FQs to cut up and now, of course, there are more aqua strips in the tote....groan....making it more jammed than before.  

but now they are done for april...once again, this pattern is bonnie hunter's 'crayon box' found on her website...and more civil war blocks are done as well...

the red/black/white block is so well named...plenty of anxiety over the 2 hours it took to make it but result is quite acceptable to me.  ***** and today's cup runs over with thankfulness for how good i am feeling, how far i've come in not-yet 1.5 years since open heart surgery...did i actually have that?  so hard to believe at this point.  the restrictions, the meds, the exercise are all routine now, which i never thought would happen...hoping you find blessings in your day as well...they are there!

a finish!

had a small UFO that served as my doll quilt swap piece that is now done!  a win/win situation!   just have to wash, dry and then mail!  once received, i'll show the front!

and today's dish?  a nearly no-salt quiche, more like a savory custard since reduced the amount of cheese by half and added more veggies--sauteed leeks, mushrooms, onions.  the salt culprit here is the store-bought crust but since it'll be eaten over 3-4 days, can manage.  used to buy croissants, pizza crust, biscuits in the tube but no more...too much salt for me.  ditto for rotisserie chicken...at my local store it has 850 mg of sodium per 4 oz serving... my ex, a sometimes sober alcoholic, used to say there was nothing worse than a reformed anything as they would be on the soapbox constantly but it isn't my intent to tell anyone what or how much to eat, smoke, drink or anything else.  making this change has been very hard for me--nobody likes cheetos better--but on a restricted budget and with food choice no-nos, i'm always tickled to find something delicious and allowed.  now doesn't this look yummy?  and it really is!

weekend update

two good days, one cloudy and rainy and one sunny, made up the weekend but since sewing was on the agenda both days, it was a good weekend indeed.  **** first up was a few household chores and some food prep....

these are my go-to, cardiology-approved stuffed peppers.  i participate in a couple of food programs that give me one box every month of meats and produce and a weekly program that is just produce.  much of it is rescued food that has been turned down by retailers but good nonetheless.  the selection varies every week and this week was peppers, 2 each of mangoes, oranges, apples, acorn squash, grape tomatoes and eggplant.  most has to be used fairly soon so the eggplant and grape tomatoes got roasted with onions, garlic, ital seasoning.  in the monthly box came ground turkey, a roasting chicken, fresh tomatoes/cukes/lettuce, potatoes and onions and oranges.  so made up these for the week ahead with no salt added, even canned stewed tomatoes had no salt added.  having such a severe restriction is a lot of extra work and rules out nearly anything canned/boxed/frozen, most restaurant meals and everything in the grocery store that isn't fresh.  this is my own recipe concocted out of desperation.  there is about a tablespoon of worcestershire sauce for zing.  the corn was in a previous week's order that i cut off the cob and sauteed with a bit of pepper then froze.  this will give me a few days' respite...lol!   ***  now for the sewing part...i quilted some on my big quilt, finished up the doll quilt that i'll show later....and made these 2 civil war diary blocks.

still more household tasks on the to-do list but i'll be spacing them out to fit in more fun sewing time...war rages on!