Anna is Molting

Poor Anna is molting.  It's Ohio.  Last week our lowest temps were -18 (with the wind chill factor).  I name my chickens after Disney princesses.   Not all my chickens have names yet.   I decided to call this one Anna.  Her feathers are similar to Anna's hair from Frozen.  It's cold.  She is a Buff Orpington. 

Only two of the six blonde Buff Orpingtons have names.  I'm positive that if one of them molts now that I will name her Elsa.  There's gotta be an Elsa if there's an Anna.  I just need to wait to see which one it is.

Anna is the one in the back center looking at the camera for a pose.

Temps here are supposed to drop into single digits the next couple days.  I'm hoping her flock mates keep her warm.  She's pretty high in the pecking order.  The lowest temp I have seen it in the coop is 20 degrees F.  That's not bad.  About an hour after I feed the chickens I noticed that the temp raises at least 10 and sometimes 15 degrees.  Each chicken when consuming grains puts off 5 BTU's of heat.  There's some fun chicken trivia for ya!

25 Spools for 2014 & 7up Biscuits

Here's something goofy that I do.  I save my empty spools for the year in a Ziplock bag in my sewing desk.  I count them at the end of the year.  That's it.  Here's my 25 empty spools from 2014.

 

 

ONLY 4 INGREDIENTS!!!!!
I keep getting asked over & over again for this recipe. People can't get enough. Fast, easy to make and soooo good!!!! Recipe is hard t...o find. Share it to your Wall so you'll have it whenever you need it.

~~ 7 UP BISCUITS ~~
INGREDIENTS:
4 cups Bisquick
1 cup sour cream
1 cup 7-up
1/2 cup melted butter
DIRECTIONS:
Mix Bisquick, sour cream and 7 up. Dough will be very soft - don't worry. Knead and fold dough until coated with your baking mix. Pat dough out and cut biscuits using a round biscuit / cookie cutter. Melt butter in bottom of cookie sheet pan or 9x13 casserole dish. Place biscuits on top of melted butter and bake @ 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until brown.

Pat Sloan's Hip to be Square Challenge

Add another WIP to the list!  This one should be fast, fun, and a scrap buster.  I have a huge cheese ball jar of 2" squares.  I call them my UGLY squares.  When I'm sorting strings and scraps if there is a fabric that I can't classify as a specific color I put it in this jar cut into a 2" square.

This jar rarely gets emptied.  The 2" squares multiply from project to project.  Besides UGLY fabrics I throw in pieces that are just too small to have to open the color bags for.  That adds variety to the squares and makes it more fun.

I am using these to make a charity crib quilt for my local quilt guild. Pat Sloan is having a Hip to be Square Challenge.  The flimsy needs to be done by February 6th.  Hopefully my quilt will be completely done by then.  Here's what I have so far:

I'm linking up with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!  Come play with us and bring your scraps!

I think I better make another row before I attach these.  I'm getting too many pinks too close together.

Here's a closer look at what I'm talking about when I say a huge cheese ball of 2" squares:

Pat Sloan's 2015 BOM -- Vacation Time

I am doing Pat Sloan's 2015 BOM -- Vacation Time.  This block is called, "Down by the Boardwalk".  I'm sorry I forgot the person's name from RSC14 that did blocks that mixed the current RSC color with the color of the previous month.  That quilt was gorgeous.  That's what I'm doing for this BOM project.  Here's my block:

 

I'm linking up to Pat Sloan's blog.  You can see some fun Down by the Boardwalk blocks here.  Some have some really fun fussy cut centers.  Check them out!

 

If you're interested in using some of those scraps this year, check out what others are doing in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2015 at Angela's blog, SoScrappy.

 

 

I'm also linking up with LynCC at What a Hoot! for BOM's Away.

 

 

 

 

 

Urban Churn Dash Progress

Here's the progress that I made this week on my Urban Churn Dash quilt blocks.

This is the little sew along I'm doing called Urban Churn Dash -- A Simple Sew Along at Piece N Quilt.  I am doing a smaller (crib sized quilt) with the blocks scaled down using Accuquilt dies.

Scrap Saturday RSC15

I LOVE playing with my blue scraps.  I know we're supposed to be working with the light blue scraps this month, but I just can't help it.  I need all shades of blue this month.  I'm working on the pattern, Scrap Crystals.   I chose this as one of the patterns to do first because I seriously overcut the green scraps that I needed while working on the Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt.  I didn't have to cut ANY more green squares!

This quilt pattern is by Bonnie Hunter and can be found in her book More Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  The block was also featured in her Addicted to Scraps column in Quiltmaker Magazine and in 100 Blocks Volume 8. 

Over the Christmas holiday break, my son and I sorted and cut ALL of the pieces for the quilt (except the back). 

 

Here's a picture of how many of my scrappy quilts start.  I love it when my son starts to move all of the stuff we need to the kitchen table.  He knows we're going to "play" in there all day!

 

 

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy,  for Scrap Saturday.

Link-A-Finish Friday -- Plaid Patches

Here's my first finish for 2015.  It's a happy little 27" square table topper.  This was one of my RSC14 projects, playing with 1.5" strips of browns and greys.  The pattern can be found in the book Fast, Fun, and Fabulous Quilts, by Connie Tesene and Mary Tendall of Country Threads.  I quilted it with Circle Lord Cosmos.

 

Brrrr... As I type this it's 4 degrees F, here in Ohio.

 

I think this little print on the back makes it look old fashioned.

 

This was goal 1 of 2015 for the Q1 goals for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I'm off to a great start!  You can see my list of four Q1 FAL goals on this post.

 

 

Here's a close-up of the quilting, but you still can't see it very good.

 

 

 

Linking up with Link-A-Finish Friday with Richard and Tanya here.