Still Kicking Plus a Scrappy Trips Quilt

It has been a long time since I blogged....seems like forever.  I've had some health issues that have caused me to make several changes.  Don't worry, I won't bore you with the details. :) :)  I just wanted to give you an explanation (although simple) as to why you've not heard from me in awhile.  I've given up my part-time job at the local quilt shop and now stay home all the time.  I've continued quilting over the past months, just at a slower pace.  Slow and steady wins the race...right?  :) :)

Here is what I've been working on lately.  In an attempt to clean out a few scrap 2 1/2" strips, I decided to work on a Scrappy Trips quilt using Bonnie Hunter's free pattern from her Quiltville.com website.  

Using her method, each block ends up being 12 1/2" unfinished.  That means I only needed to make 64 blocks total to end up with a 96" x 96" quilt (requiring NO borders).

Because I was TRULY going all SCRAPPY....another thing I decided to do was to assemble my quilt top in fourths.  So whenever I had finished piecing 16 different blocks, I then pieced them together into a 48 1/2" x 48 1/2" unfinished quarter section.

This started out as a "work on it as I feel like it in between other projects" item.

Before I knew it, I had another 16 blocks completed.....TA DA.....the top half is complete.  96 1/2" wide x 48 1/2" long.

Next, the lower half of the quilt.  I'm not sure how it happened, but this time I had completed 32 blocks and laid them out to see what it would look like.

Scrappy LOVE!  (Please ignore the mess surrounding the quilt top!)

Just another angle....

Instead of folding it up and putting it away to finish the quilting, etc., at a later date.  THIS time I decided to just throw it on the long arm frame immediately and "get her done". :)

As of this blog post, I'm got over half of it quilted.  To take it easy on my hips and knees, I'm only quilting a couple of rows across each day....so it will take a few days to complete. :)

When I took a break from blogging months ago, you may recall I was in the middle of much needed remodeling, etc.  We still are no where near finished....but we're closer than we were!!!!!

We decided to remodel my daughter Emily's old bedroom and make it our temporary master bedroom.  Our home was built in the early 80's, a split-level design, with very small windows that don't allow enough sunlight into ANY room of the house.  As you can see, I chose a paint color called "Butter Up" for the walls.  The old, yukky hunter green carpet was removed and new flooring was put in it's place.  A new ceiling fan took the place of an ugly light fixture.  Now the room makes me smile.  I still need to decorate, hang things on the walls, etc., but I move slow...it will happen.

I'm thinking about hanging my Bordered Periwinkle lap quilt over the bed.  The photo below was taken when it was hanging as a sample in the quilt shop.

Before closing this post, I thought I'd share with you an idea for a meal I experimented with a few days ago.  It has been so hot lately, and I hate heating up the kitchen.  I try to use my slow cooker as often as I can.

This time I had some thick cut boneless pork chops.  I sprayed the crock pot with PAM, then placed the pork chops flat on the bottom.  No water was added, just sprinkled seasonings that our family enjoys on top.

Next I wrapped a few potatoes in aluminum foil and laid on top of the pork chops.  Half of us likes white potatoes and the other half prefers sweet potatoes.  Doing this allows me to fix both varieties.

Then I wrapped a few fresh ears of corn in aluminum foil and placed them on top of the potatoes.

I cooked everything on high for 6 hours.  It worked beautifully!  Everything was DELICIOUS!  This will be something I do frequently when it is just Ray and I for dinner (since Kirsten will be leaving for college in 3 weeks).

It's felt good to sit down and type out this blog post.  I've missed doing it.  Hope you enjoyed it and I hope you welcome me and my life adventures back into your lives.

Take care!