What's OLD is back in vogue! That's not new!

Pepper on cottage cheese? OK -- I must try that. I'm away this coming week (AGAIN!), but I'll try it when I get home. I still have two road trips before the end of the year and one and perhaps two plane trips. Wait -- and a weekend quilt retreat. It's going to be silly. 

PHEW -- both presentations are done for this morning. I swear it's amassing my photos for the darn things that can take so long. Thankfully, I have a very good filing system for my pictures - NOT perfect by any means, but not bad. But it still takes time to find some of them. 

Sometimes I need to take pictures of things, so I have to find the samples to do so. In an ideal world, ALL samples, including details, would already be photographed, tagged, and sorted, so it would be even easier. But hey -- Rome wasn't built in a day. 

I have a task this afternoon: find a particular quilt top that hasn't seen the light of day in years, and while I have my master list of unquilted quilt tops, I'm not sure exactly which quilt it is. Sometimes my description on my master list is vague. Brown/beige doesn't really cut it when looking for something specific. BUT in going over the list, I found a couple of other quilts that sound interesting, and I will dig them out and see if they are picture-worthy for an upcoming class. 

Since I am away this week, I'll have to work on my scrap class presentation while away. That means I have to find/sort/take some pictures this afternoon. But the majority of what I need is already filed, either on the shared drive or my portable drives. 

I have to share yesterday's homework with you. The first quilt is Forty Shades of Grey. Some very neat color combinations are emerging, and it seems almost everyone is using scraps with a few purchased fabrics thrown in. Is this a sign of the times? Or is it our age and the realization that we, in fact, can't take all that fabric with us to the grave? Or have we finally just become scrap happy? 

Whatever the reason, scrap quilts are big these days. I've had several chuckles from my scrap class groups, as many of them perceived scrap quilts as UGLY. But they don't have to be ugly. Be careful when you choose your fabric, and you can make beautiful crap quilts too. 

Here are the recent blocks I made for Forty Shades of Grey, and you can see where I'm missing that Jinny Beyer Dark purple eyelash fabric. I don't think I'll find it. I did another search online, and I can't find anything, not in that color. So unless someone has it in their stash, I'll find a close substitute and use it to finish that block and the remaining blocks. 

My homework for Forty Shades of Grey

These are my blocks from last month. Yep, this isn't really a scrap quilt for me, as I'm very focused on green and purple, and I did pull yardage. I'm OK with that. 

September homework

The second quilt we did yesterday was Show and Tell. And I have to say that when I finished the first complete block and hung it on the wall, it's so darn cute. Here is a deer holding its half-square triangle quilt. 

Block one of the Show and Tell quilt.

OMG --- is that not adorable or what? I can't wait to work on more blocks, but I ran out of time to finish all three deer blocks, which is this month's homework. 

In case you are wondering, YES -- I did twirl all the seams on the back of the half-square triangle block. How could I not? And it lies perfectly flat. 

Twirled seams on the half-square triangle blocks

I grabbed a few bits of paper from the junk box and quickly sorted them into recycling, keep, and so on. While sorting, I found a card of someone who makes hand-cranked socks. OH MY --- I remember chatting with this person. 

Bits of stuff from the junk box

So now her card is attached to the manual for my hand-crank sock knitter. This picture was taken BEFORE I found the card. I don't get why we can't deal with this mess as it happens, instead of waiting months/years to deal with it. I understand that you can buy a NEW hand-crank sock knitter that is 3-D printed. Seriously??? Here's a site I found this morning. Remember the telephone receiver from yesterday? NOTHING is new!!!

Instruction book for the hand-crank sock knitter

I am taking a wee bit of hand work with me in case we get some free time from packing up a house. I needed a crochet hook, and I went through my meager stash and attempted to clean it up. I found one hook in a package with NO number on it. I added a piece of tape and wrote the number on the tape. The quality of this crochet hook is questionable, so it may not stay in the collection. However, I've had it for years and never used it, so I may never use it. 

Marking the size on a crochet hook

I didn't find the size I needed, so I went to the mall and picked that up. I dug out a little bag that I bought years ago, and it still had the tag on it. The tag is gone, and the bag contains my crochet. I'm going to add a small hexie project as well - I just need to find the thread and a needle. It's all set out on the cutting table to finish packing today. 

I've been to the mall two days in a row! It's a 20-minute walk from the house, so no big deal. The first day, I forgot my phone (camera) at home. There were a few things I wanted to take pictures of!! 

Look at this picture. The flowers are made with a commercial version of punch needle. 

Commercial version of punch needle

And did you know you can do some punch needle designs with your embroidery machine? This is one design that I made a couple of months ago. 

Punch needle by machine.

All the stitching was done with machine embroidery. I've done my share of hand punch needle, and I would be hard-pressed to see the difference between the two. I used to teach classes twice a year at the Creative Festival, and I hear it's making a comeback, too. WAIT --- punchneedle, NOT the Creative Festival!

Machine embroidery on a felt tablet case

A while back, I took a picture of some crochet flowers, and will I be able to find it? STOP!!!!!

OMG, I just checked the blog for the picture I was looking for, and I found a post dated January 20, 2020, about my meager crochet hook collection. LOL. 

OK -- here is the picture that I went back to the blog to find. This was from the end of March, 2026. Notice how full the buckets are. 

Spring crocheted flowers on display in a mall store window.l

The other day I passed by the same display, and this is what it looks like now. They are selling the flowers for $10 a piece. I was tempted, but what the heck will I do with it? I think there are more flowers on the inside as well. Hmmm -- maybe I should get the sunflower!!! 

All that remains of the floral display

And then I spotted these small crochet displays. Nothing came home with me, except slippers for DH, which is why I went to the mall the second day. Since I didn't have my phone the previous day, I couldn't ask his size. 

Little crocheted flowers

Oh, every time I go back to the blog to check out something, I get caught up reading or skimming through MULTIPLE posts. OK -- so I might be a bit biased, but so many interesting things have happened over the years, and it's always fun to go back and revisit some of those days!!!

Now I'm going to be late, so I have to close off. I still have a few more pictures to share for tomorrow! 

It is going to be a WONDERFUL day!!!!

Ciao!!!!