I decided that Wednesday is Puzzle Day. Hey!!! It’s Wednesday!!!
I learned that my photo choice for the hummingbird puzzle wasn’t the best — the puzzle pieces ended up either all red or all green. The Milo picture works a little better, but the cut of the puzzle is more difficult. Gretchen, this one is for you!!! There are lots of colors, and it’s a traditional puzzle cut. Good luck!
Sue
I’m sure I’m typical of most bloggers: I love to get comments on my posts. It assures me that someone did read whatever drivel I put out there for the world to see.
I know of a number of friends and acquaintances who read my blog, at least on a once-in-a-while basis. They rarely leave comments. And that is just fine. I have a few bloggy friends that regularly read my posts (and I read theirs) and we tend to leave each other comments. And that’s fun!
And then there are posts that are linked to someone else’s blog (in yesterday’s case, to Judy Laquidara’s Patchwork Times, where Judy asked people who completed one of her quilt patterns to post a link). Because Judy has such a HUGE reader base, by placing a link on her site, I receive a healthy number of site visits that I wouldn’t normally get, and if I’m lucky, comments from people I wouldn’t have “met” before.
It’s also a reminder to me of how global the Internet is. Yesterday I received five comments on that post (so far), and they are from Tennessee, England, Virginia, France, and Germany! If you don’t do this already, try clicking on the names of commentors — most of them have web sites — and it’s interesting to see what others are doing and blogging about. (If they aren’t “clickable”, they either don’t have a web site, or chose not to enter it on the comment form.)
And now to what you’ve all been waiting for: a report on BRUSSELS SPROUTS!! They are my favorite veggie, followed by lima beans. Many a time I have eaten a whole box/bag of Brussels sprouts as a meal when I’ve only had to feed myself. We had them with dinner last night (I try not to have them too often — not DH’s fave, but he eats them). Here’s what it said on the bag:
What??? Product of Belgium??? Really? This bag of sprouts that cost $1.39, Cub imported them from Belgium??? Does this mean the seeds originated in Belgium? I did some looking on line, and California is the US’s biggest producer of Brussels sprouts, so what does this mean? (And do you really think they would be delicious sprouty morsels until March 4, 2011?) I don’t know, but here’s what they look like growing on the stalk:
Who would think such an odd-looking vegetable could be so delicious!
Sue
(My blog was down most of Monday, April 6th, due to host server problems. My apologies for any inconvenience.)
Judy Laquidara hosted a “Quilt Along” a while back and offered her Bears in the Farmhouse pattern to participants. (In her Quilt Along, you were given a step via e-mail, and had a deadline by which to finish that step and e-mail Judy a photo to show that you truly did complete the step; then you would receive the next step, etc.) 300 people signed on, and over 150 quilters continued to at least close to the end.
I created a problem in mine by making my half-square triangles too big (should have been 3 1/2″ unfinished; mine were 3 1/2″ finished.) As a result, they didn’t fit in the border in the order Judy designed. I am very pleased with the quilt; I’m just explaining why mine is different. And it’s also a good reminder that there are no real mistakes — just pathways to creating a (slightly) different quilt!
I used a lot of fabrics that were offered during the Minnesota Shop Hop in 2007/2008, and I purchased them during that time frame. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but they were only available until sold out. No additional trips to the LQS were made in the creation of this quilt! Totally out of stash. Woo-hoo!
Here is Judy’s original Bears in the Farmhouse quilt pattern, which is now offered for sale. Click here for Judy’s post where she’s inviting people who have completed their top to add a link. It’s so much fun to see what other people do with the same pattern, so check back as I’m sure there will continue to be new links added.
Thanks, Judy! I’m keeping this quilt.
Sue
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in no logical order. First, The Ugly: I bought 6 more yards from our LQS that sadly closed their doors Saturday. It was 60% off though, so a good investment. I used 1/2 yard from stash. This week’s numbers:
The Bad. April 5th, and it snowed this morning. That isn’t all that uncommon in April in Minnesota, but it really has felt like we’re really going to get into spring any day now. This wasn’t the day. Plus these ups and downs in barometric pressure play havoc with my wrist. Although I can’t predict the weather, I CAN tell you when change is on the way!
This little ol’ crab tree outside our kitchen window provides us a lot of entertainment, between the birds and the tree itself. Here you can see where the birds (mostly robins) have “harvested” the crab apples left over from last year. I always wonder if they are a little fermented for springtime grazing, but I haven’t noticed any obnoxious behavior from the birds, so probably not.
There was one frozen morsel still tightly clinging to its stem.
And The Good: It’s Easter Week, and I have so much to be thankful for. I have a wonderful family. DS#3 turned 30 yesterday. (DS#2′s birthday is Friday, we have a DIL who is very precious to us, and DS#1 plans to come home for a visit this summer — maybe around his birthday.) DH found a sunny spot to read this afternoon (he always reminds me of a cat when he is enjoying sitting in the sunshine). Pat, Carol & Marcia, do you recognize the plant sunning with him? And do you get Vitamin D through the glass? I think you do…
I finally finished my green stocks, and started a yummy red pair. Rather, a started a yummy red sock (that pair thing takes time.) These only seem to take forever because I don’t get much knitting time in during the week. I wish I could crank out socks a lot faster because there are so many beautiful yarns and patterns, I will never get to make all the ones I want to make. These are from patterns in Cat Bordhi’s book, Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. A photo:
Thank you to those of you who commented on my jacket post and gave me some suggestions. Sandi, darn it anyway, you are absolutely right — it needs RIC-RAC (I would have NEVER thought of it on my own)!!! So I’m going to take the collar back off and re-do it (that’s the “darn it” part!). I would love to change the buttons, but they are the riveted-in type, so they are there to stay. The cuffs are quite heavy and I didn’t want to cover them. Thank you, Pam D., for the suggestion to REPLACE them! I think that will be a good option (and one I hadn’t thought of), and will lighten up the whole look and feel. I may also add some stars or flowers when I see how these other changes work out.
*whew* That’s it for now – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Maybe next time I’ll try for A Fistful of Dollars! (Sorry, but DH loves those old spaghetti westerns with Clint Eastwood!)
Sue
Milo is DS#2′s and DIL’s Sheltie. We puppy-sat for Milo the end of December. I was going to wait and post another puzzle in a week or so, but came across this picture and thought Milo would make a good puzzle. He is sooooo cute…
Sue
Well, today my youngest baby is turning 30!!! Wow, I guess I should stop thinking of myself as a 32-year-old who’s graying prematurely, huh? So Happy Birthday, Rob! And just to prove that mothers are put on this earth for the sole purpose of embarassing their offspring, I thought I’d dig out a few pictures…
Remember how you watered and grew that little watermelon in the garden? It was your very own plant. Finally it was time to harvest the little baby, and it slipped from your hands in the garage and split open? Oh, darn, the only thing to do was to sit you down at the table and let you dig in!
And today…
here you are as an Ultimate Frisbee player, a who-knows-what for Halloween, and all cleaned up for your brother’s wedding (aren’t those three handsome boys???). I guess I’ll have to move my age up to the 40s now. Bummer.
Sue
(Blogger-In-Charge Note: I thought I better check and see what this “Duff” stuff was about, since it’s now on my blog. It’s a fictional brand of beer from The Simpsons. I doubt very many of my readers watch The Simpsons, so, for better or worse, now you know too.)
I found this feature on another blog, Quilts Plus Color, and I look forward to her puzzles so much, I decided to post one of my own. You can click on the above picture to work out a little jig-saw puzzle of a photo I took of a hummingbird out my window last year. I have lots of photos to share, so I thought featuring a puzzle once in a while might be a fun way to do it.
Jig Zone is a fun site. After clicking on the photo above, you can change the cut and number of pieces on the left-hand side of Jig Zone’s site if you would like a more or less challenging puzzle.
Sue
