Last Friday, I met Sherry from Haw River at our local quilt shop, Beginnings, to receive a fabulous shipment of quilts. She brought 12 queen, 6 twin / full and 14 throw/comfort quilts in both adult and children's themes. Since I knew well in advance that she was coming and what she was bringing, I …
Month: April 2025
Sunday Chat – Garden, Sewing and More
It has rained most of the week, which has been wonderful for tamping down the wildfires. It has made the grass and weeds grow, and brought the azaleas in full bloom. I've been taking more photos of them. We have this deep pink, along with the pastel pink and white ones. A few days from …
April Books
I've had a bit more time for reading in the morning lately as I slowly adjust to the bloody time change. The weather is finally nice enough to enjoy reading in Carolina room like we did after the hurricane while the power was out for days. The room still looks like this, as I haven't …
Baked Fire Roasted Tomato Pasta
Making meals from a new cookbook is always fun, but one problem is making them an appropriate size for just two people. Sometimes the leftovers can be frozen for a meal another time, but most of the time we just eat it until it is gone over the next few days. No matter how good …
Sunday Chat
The azaleas came into bloom this week with about half of the shrubs well into their spring show, just lovely! We have a lot of bushes inside the driveway island and down the edge of the meadow along the driveway. My favorite ones are the white ones. Luckily, the cold nights do not seem to …
Sewing and Decluttering
This week, I had a couple of days where I could spend the whole day in my she-cave. It was a good time to load up the embroidery machine and let it stitch while I was working around the room, pulling things out and working on the decluttering. Here are two of the kitchen towels …
Finishing the Kaleidoscope Project
I was able to get back to the Kaleidoscope block this past week. Here's where I left off after doing the paper piecing. I put it aside for quite a while, as I thought about what to do with it. All I knew is that one of these blocks was enough, and I wasn't going …
Sunday Chat – Garden, Sewing, and Cookbook Winner
Spring is arriving when the ajugas bloom, although this week has been a full-on Blackberry Winter with lows near freezing, and that will continue into next week. It may damage the plants that have already begun to bloom, like the azaleas, but these ajugas can take it. We have lots of clumps all over the …
Continue reading Sunday Chat – Garden, Sewing, and Cookbook Winner
Spring Ideas with Rabbits and Eggs
Now that spring is here, lightening up the home decor with fresh flowers and garden themes suits me. Today, I have a roundup of ideas for tablescapes along with some delicious ideas for meals. So, let's start with setting a table. I did this one for Easter dinner in 2017. It has the fun Easter …
Cooking from Backroads Italy
One of the great benefits of my collaboration with Milk Street is sometimes getting a new cookbook before it publishes. One came last week, and I have been devouring the recipes and stories it contains. It is Milk Street Backroads Italy: Finding Italy's Forgotten Recipes by Christopher Kimball and J.M. Hirsch. It was apparent that …