Happy Easter

Our Daily Bread

One loaf of banana and one loaf of zucchini

To be shared with friends and neighbors during the Easter season.

(Winter and Mother Nature are still holding Spring hostage--good quilting weather)

Motivation and the Red Bow Tie Quilt

Saturday, March 16 was International Quilting Day.  I celebrated the day with a trip to my local quilt shop to pick up a couple of quilts from the long arm quilter.

This is my Flying Geese from Jo Morton Little Women Club #11.  Miss Callie Mae decided putting the quilt at the end of her day bed would be a good place for the quilt (just in case she got cold).

This is Pottery Shards also from Jo Morton's Little Women Club #11.  This is my favorite quilt from the series, the quilt is filled with reproduction fabrics.  One of the few quilts I have ever made which I give a thumbs up to the quality of my work.  This quilt is going to be so fun to use in the fall.

One of my best motivators is completing a project.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I finish anything especially a challenging project or one which has been in my stash for years an extended period of time.

Ahh, the red  bow ties.  Yes, they have been languishing in the unfinished project pile for years.  Gulp!



Finishing two of the Jo Morton Little Women Quilts, an opportunity to further reduce my stash, an opportunity to complete an unfinished project and finding this bow tie quilt on Pinterest was the motivation I needed.

The number of bow ties has grown from 19 to 77.  Whoo Hoo!  Another 66 bow ties to make and then  I start setting this sucker quilt together.  Whoo Hoo!  Mother Nature is still playing havoc with Spring and the late spring has meant an extended quilting season.

It's my Birthday

  I'm six!

Thanks to AppleJack, I scored big time on my birthday gift!  My very own, I don't have to share with anyone condo.  Upon its arrival I gave the scratching post its first test.

Yep, it passed the test--it's a keeper.  My Cat Mother says I am persnickety.  Not so, I am just a girl who knows what she wants.

The tube as my Mother calls it, is the perfect place to hide out, catch a few rays and catch up on my zzzzzzzz's.

Mom says I have two speeds:  asleep or 110 mph

I seldom get into mischief and rarely get scolded.  

I wake up happy every day and bring joy to my parents lives.

I am Mother's best and cheapest consultant.

No birthday cake for me--tuna all the way!  All in all a good birthday.  

Misrepresentation of Spring or Phil's Legal Problems

Punxscutawney Phil is a groundhog, not a weatherman.  Clearly no one should be taking advice from a groundhog, but a prosecutor in Ohio is so fed up with the snowy winter (and Puxotony Phil's lies) that he is filling a lawsuit against the rodent.

Mike Gmoser, Butler County Prosecutor brought charges against the fury (alleged) criminal for lying to America.  "Punxscutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe spring would come early." 

Phil has been charged with "misrepresentation of spring" thus committing a felony.  Phil does have a lawyer and plans on fighting the litigation.  Being that he is not a human being, there is a good chance that he could care less about the indictment--or how long winter lasts.

(Story from the Associated Press)




It snowed last night.  Snow being a relative term in Music City.  I have found a new way to control the weeds in Next Year (the garden)--a late spring with snow.

Grandmother Bessie's Fruit Salad

Grandmother Bessie was a wonderful cook!  One of her many chores was cooking for the field hands.  Field hands were the hired laborers to help with hay season, cutting tobacco, gathering corn, etc.  Doing hard physical labor the field hands had a voracious appetite!  The field hands looked forward to dinner (in the South, dinner is the main meal of the day usually eaten around noon time).  Because she was cooking for men "who had worked up at appetite," Grandmother Bessie cooked in large portions, super size large portions. 

Grandmother Bessie's Fruit Salad was a favorite dish among the field hands, neighbors, and her family.  This dish was shared at family get togethers, church socials,  and to ailing neighbors.  This recipe is an old recipe and women in the South have been preparing this delicious salad for many, many years.  In Grandmother Bessie's lifetime, I suspect she made a few gallons of this salad.

Grandmother Bessie's Fruit Salad

1  large can pineapple chunks drained
3 medium apples diced
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup cream or less (whipped)

Sauce
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon oil or butter
1 tablespoon vinegar

Combine all the sauce ingredients except the vinegar in a sauce pan.  Let this mixture thicken over medium heat.  Watch closely as the mixture will easily scorch.  Let cool and add the vinegar and a dash of salt.

Pout the sauce over the fruit mixture and stir well, making sure the fruit mixture is covered and coated (fruit mixture will turn dark if not completely covered and coated).

Auntie M and Uncle Stu have invited AppleJack and me to share the Easter meal with them next Sunday. Auntie M asked if I would bring a salad to share.  Sharing Grandmother Bessie's fruit salad seems like the perfect dish to share with family and remember the many meals lovingly prepared by Grandmother Bessie. 

Spring Comes to Thistle Manor

Wool Applique 

(Made by Anne at Homespun Corner)

In spite of the freezing temps, in spite of the snow, in spite of my wearing my heaviest winter coat on my morning walk, spring has come to Thistle Manor.

Eggs from Hobby Lobby

Mr Sunshine did not make an appearance today, these bright sunny, lemon Gerber daisy's added cheer to an otherwise gray, overcast day.

There are blue birds.  This one is from the Sweet Summer book by Blackbird.  A golden oldie and sweet.

More bluebirds, this one from Stacy Nash called Early style Bluebird Cupboard Sampler.  (I took some liberties with Stacy's design and stitched Tenn and the year of Tennessee statehood)

Mr McGregor is busy in the garden.  (He better stop chewing on the dogwood tree!)

Spring pastel colors in this Grandmother's Fan quilt

Lambing season (Thistle Manor style)

So in spite of the low temps, snow and wearing my winter coat, it is spring at Thistle Manor.  Ask the young man at the garden center who helped me load 300 pounds of mulch!