A busy week is behind me, with three full days of retreat then a lunch meeting on Friday that was more fun than work. I also had displays to set up at the library Friday morning, so I had to just drop things in the sewing room and put off cleaning it up until Saturday. I’ll talk about retreat this week, after I get all those photos processed and have time to write about it. But for today, as always, we have a variety of subjects to chat about. So get your cuppa, and settle in.

As I was leaving the house one morning, I noticed the daffodils above beginning to bloom. Knowing we had rain on the way, I stopped and took a quick photo just in case they were damaged by the storm. Next to the retaining wall, my little bed of daffodils are making progress. There are several varieties in this group.

In the front yard recently, a small flock of four turkeys came by for a visit. They were a bit skittish at first, but quickly overcame their fears when the whole wheat bread bits were offered.

One turkey seemed to be dominating the rest and getting most of the bread bits, so I went to the seed bucket and threw out several handfuls of seeds over a wide swath. This allowed the other three to get some food.

On the feeder, the rain was pelting down on an almost empty seed tube. The goldfinches were not playing nice as they tried to be the one getting the last morsels.

Squabble over, they looked around for the best spot to perch to grab a beak full. They are still wearing their dull winter feather coats, but soon they will be the bright yellow of their summer look.

One of the displays I set up at the library is for National Quilting Day (or Worldwide Quilting Day). This display will be there until March 31, and it showcases the guild and our annual challenge. Quilts from the previous two year’s challenges were shown. The top three winners from the 2023 challenge of My Happy Place, and one from the 2022 challenge of Celebrate 40, referencing the 40th year of our guild were placed in the glass case. The challenge exhibit for 2024 will be on Saturday, March 16 at Blue Ridge Mall in Hendersonville. It is a magazine challenge. Challenge quilts had to be inspired by page 42 of a non-quilting magazine selected because it is the guild’s 42 year. Stop by and see us if you are local.

The other display was for Quilts of Valor, and the QOV coordinator, Didi, helped me. She had 8 photos of veterans receiving quilts that we framed with inexpensive blue and gold frames. My To The Nines Quilt is at the bottom of the display, along with placards of our mission, and telling how to nominate a veteran for a Quilt of Valor. In addition, it has some star sprays for extra decoration, and some other items of interest relating to veterans. I love the way this one came out, it is full and interesting.

I got some fun new things in the mail this week. First from Milk Street, a set of three confits in ginger, shallot and garlic flavors, something I’ve not used before. You can also get them individually if you didn’t want one of the flavors. The little jar on the top is Yokofuku Japanese Black Garlic Paste, another new thing to try. The taste is supposed to be sweeter than regular garlic. All of these can be added to meat and pasta dishes, eggs or flavored mayonnaise, stirred into the water to boil rice and more.

I opened up the white garlic one first as I wanted some for a beef stroganoff meal and didn’t have any fresh garlic left in the refrigerator. It is sliced garlic cloves, fully cooked and packed with a bit of olive oil. The jar says to use it in the same amount as you do fresh. The aroma is marvelous, deep roasted with a slow simmered soft consistency. It added a lovely garlic flavor to the dish. I used about 2 teaspoons in the meat sauce, as I wasn’t sure how strong it would be. Next time I know I can use more as the flavor is mild.

The surprise came when I read the list of ingredients. Not one chemical in it. I could actually pronounce every natural thing. Now I can’t wait to try the others. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The other package was from Impression Obsession, new quilty stamps and some wonderful Quilted Grunge papers in the new products section. I couldn’t wait to get those to the stamping bench, but I didn’t have time to finish the cards with them. It was already a bit of a mess, since I’ve been making cards for the quilt shoppe at our upcoming show. I’ll show you those soon along with some new ones.

At retreat, I took in 5 yards of fabric as I always get tempted by the swap table, and this time was no exception. I cannot resist Japanese inspired prints, especially on black. The pretty butterflies might go with some other bits I have in the stash. Not sure if I will keep the plum flower print on the bottom. I need to wash it and see if it will lose the stiffness. But there is enough for a small project backing, so it came home.

Then I saw this garden seed print, oh how fun is this! I don’t think I have any of the other black veggie print left, but I am sure I can find a way to use this.

Our local quilt shop, Beginnings, was offering a discount on retreat days to participants, so I took the opportunity to nab a couple of yards of a print I just cannot get out of my head. I loved it the moment I saw it a couple of weeks ago. Since I was still thinking about it, I decided that it had to come home with me. Blue mason jars, white and yellow daisies and lemon slices look so much like spring and summer. I see a big table topper to cover the pub table in the future. I know you want to know what line this is, it is Zest For Life designed by Cynthia Coulter for Wilmington Prints available at Fat Quarter Shop. Or if you are local, Beginnings still has it with some of the coordinate prints.

I have guild area meeting on Thursday, and I am hoping to clean up my sewing space before then and work on some projects. I need to finish some things I started at retreat, and get more cutting done for the other table topper I have in mind. We’ll get our charity challenge for Safelight at this meeting. Our chairperson has Villa Rosa cards for us to draw and we’ll be making our quilts from those patterns. I look forward to learning a new block design.

What are your plans for this week?