Tuesday Archives and Fabric Tuesday!

Now that we're done with the prepping post, let's get on to sharing what I've been up to, both now and in the past.

First up, I finished this week's block for the Jane Austen Quilt Along.  It's called "Empire Star" and is honoring Napoleon.

Isn't it pretty????  As you can see, I'm focusing on using my 1930's stash for this quilt.  I had problems with the center strip being a bit too small, but, from the people I've spoken to, it seems to be a universal problem and I think that it is off in such a small amount that I can still make it work in the quilt.

I'm really enjoying this quilt along.  Every week, a new block is featured (it is scheduled to run for 36 weeks, plus setting instructions) and Barbara Brackman includes a lot of interesting history regarding the Austen family and situations going on in the world during Jane's lifetime.  We are only 6 blocks in so there is plenty of time to join in on the fun.

Next, Val over at Val's Quilting Studio has started another fun weekly linky party to revive some of your old projects/blog posts.  This week is highlighting charm packs and chickens.  Well, I don't have any quilt that deals with chickens(!) but I definitely have had fun with charm packs.

First up is a very simple, straight-forward charm quilt.  I love the simplicity and beauty of this little one.

I hate to say it, but this top may still be in my stack of tops "to be quilted!"  I know, I know, I really need to finish it.  It is way too sweet to just be sitting here!

Next up is my Noteworthy quilt.

It was made using both charm packs (for the stars) and a layer cake.

This one was finished up and then delivered up to Ft. Worth for my sweet little niece (love you Charity!!).

The pattern is called "Starry-Eyed" and came from Moda's Bake Shop.

That's it for today!  Can't wait to see what everyone is sharing!!

Linking up with Val's Quilting Studio and Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday.

Prepping Challenge

Judy over at Patchwork Times came up with an interesting idea.  She has issued a prepping challenge.  Now, I'm no prepper.  I don't have a stockpile of food and water that fills an entire room in my house and I don't have a secret bunker to hide out in if there is some major disaster.  I've never had any desire to have anything of the sort.  That being said, for a long time I've worried about what I WOULD do if something happened.

I suppose for me, it started back on 9/11.  You all remember that day.  Well I live in San Antonio, TX, and we are a MAJOR military city.  When everything happened that day, nobody wanted to go out.  We all retreated into our homes.  Baseball practice was cancelled, nobody was at the stores.  It's almost like everyone realized what a massive target our city could be.  That's when I started worrying about being prepared in case something DID happen.

My life being what it's been, financial and personal experiences provided wonderful "excuses" for not preparing myself, and my kids, for anything that could occur.  In my area of Texas, we don't normally have issues with natural disasters, although tornadoes HAVE hit and hurricanes HAVE made it this far inland, but not often.  We don't have earthquakes or snowstorms.  I don't worry overly about natural disasters.  But I do worry about our city being a target and not having power, or food, or water, for an extended period of time.

This is why Judy's challenge appealed to me.  It is helping me to stop making excuses and start taking certain steps to resolving the issue.

This week's challenge should be simple!  Eat at home and use only what we have at home to prepare our meals.  No trips to the grocery store.  Luckily, I went to H.E.B. on Friday and bought enough groceries to last the week, so, theoretically, I should be able to achieve this.

Sunday I put chicken in to marinate over night so when I got home from work Monday, it was a simple process to fry up some chicken.  I also made twice the amount of mashed potatoes I would need on Sunday night so we had that leftover on Monday, along with corn and green beans.  It was delicious and relatively easy.

But, I did realize Monday that I made a mistake at the grocery store.  I thought that I had sugar at home and needed flour.  When I got home, I realized I now had two bags of flour and no sugar.  And as I made my gallons of sweet tea on Monday evening (yes, I'm a southern girl through and through) I found that there is no way I have enough sugar for another batch of tea.  I will HAVE to go back to H.E.B. at some point this week.

But for Monday, I met the challenge.

Today as well.  I had leftovers from last night for my lunch at work.  And I wanted something simple for dinner so I made tacos, spanish rice and refried beans.  Delicious, economical, and made with stuff I already had in the apartment.

I'm not a prepper.  But I will become better prepared for what life throws my way.  Won't you join me?

Linking up with Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday 5/12/14

Hello my blog friends!! I’m sure everyone thought I disappeared forever! I’m so sorry. The last few months have been very difficult on me and my family. We had several deaths in the family and many trying situations to contend with but I finally feel like we’re past the difficulties and I’m ready to get back to my blogging world.

That being said let me show you a bit of what I've been working on lately.

Here are the recent block completions on my “Oh My Stars” quilt along. This one is called Diamond-Hearted Star.

And these are the small Frosted Tip Stars.

And here are the blocks I've finished so far, arranged in the layout on my quilt wall.

Next up, these are the blocks I've finished so far on my Jane Austen Quilt Along.

And last but not least, here is my most recent block in my Quilt Doodle Designs 2014 BOM. I've only finished January and February so far but I am really hoping to get it caught up soon.

So what are y’all working on?? Linking up to Patchwork Times.