I prefer simple quilts these days

I read one quilt blog.  I mentioned her book lists previously. I set up a “quilt blogger” label for her. Clicking on the label, at the bottom of this post, will find the previous post. 

I enjoy reading about her quilting. She is prolific. She posts nice pictures. Here is a post with all her quilts from 2023 -

https://sisterschoice.typepad.com/sisters_choice_quilts/2023/12/quilts-of-2023.html

Some of her quilts, I love -

Sometimes I gravitate toward specific elements of her quilts, like simple blocks she makes to form a border. 

Here is a good example. I love the posey blocks on this border.

Too many different, complicated blocks combined into one quilt just looks exhausting to me. I am so far past being able to sew that style of quilt. The setting/sashing of this quilt is quite unique. 

I prefer simple quilts. I like very basic blocks with organized colors that look restful. These often look old fashioned. But somehow, they are absolutely timeless. 

My favorite quilt photo from another quilt blogger -

https://mondaymorningdesigns.com/2021/07/12/making-a-scrappy-on-point-nine-patch-quilt/

Utilizing my freezer drawer as a pantry

My Daffodils, Squills, and Forsythia are in bloom. Pictures posted earlier in the week. 

I think of the freezer section of our refrigerator as an extension of our pantry. 

I utilize candy molds, which I have in four sizes, to freeze liquids. 

I freeze small disks of lemon juice and lime juice (above). Otherwise I cannot use up a bottle fast enough in the refrigerator and it expires. 

I freeze medium disks of marinara sauce. Again, I cannot use a jar fast enough. It molds in the refrigerator. 

I freeze larger quantities of broth (below) and skim milk, leftover from cartons I open for recipes.

I use freezer zip lock bags to hold my frozen items. I label and date them carefully. 

We precook chicken breasts/shredded and ground beef/chopped. Then we freeze it in double portion sizes. 

My husband does most of the work on this project. We freeze this meat very flat in zip lock freezer bags so it is very thin in the bag. I can easily break it apart, frozen in the bag, and add the meat, at the very end, to whatever I am cooking. It thaws and is heated immediately by the rest of the food. 

Example, crumble frozen chicken into pieces, put on a plate, cover with hot rice and vegetables and it thaws/heats immediately. Add crumbled meat to pan of hot sauce or soup just as the pan is finished cooking, and it is instantly thawed. 

I divide low fat cream cheese into 8 portions and freeze (below). Previously I used a small portion of cream cheese for a recipe and then threw away the rest of the package, moldy, a few weeks/months later. 

I freeze unopened packages of shredded low-fat cheese. Then I always have it for a recipe.  

I keep one package of each type of frozen organic vegetables in the freezer at all times. I add these vegetables to everything I cook. Using frozen, instead of fresh, simplifies everything. 

I keep a loaf of bread in the freezer. We have sandwiches once every couple weeks. 

I keep a small package of flour and half sticks of salted and unsalted butter in the freezer, ready for recipes.

🥶 This icon popped up so many times, while typing this post, that it seemed to be begging to be included. 

Squills are in bloom, they are tiny

These are bulbs too. 

Full size and miniature daffodils are in bloom

Forsythia are in bloom

Chilled bulbs

I bought these containers from Kroger several years in a row. I rehomed the original glass containers. 

Last year, I bought one of these (below), Kroger, February 2023, nearly fully grown, because we had house guests. The photo directly below/full bloom is from last year.

I saved my glass container and liner. 

I had a note from Kroger that their tulips were in stock January 2024. 

I went to see what they had and was very disappointed that they were all fully grown. 

They looked pretty much like the ones in the ad photo (above).

I would be much happier if they were selling bulbs that had just a bit of green peaking out the top. 

Then, I dallied. I did nothing for a couple weeks, which nearly made it too late. 

Talking to youngest one night, I was telling her this story (have my own container, need bulbs, Kroger sets too advanced). 

We both started searching on our phones. We determined “chilled bulbs” was the key phrase. 

Nurseries chill bulbs so they are ready for forcing indoors or planting outside. 

We found various nurseries that sell chilled bulbs, but they were all sold out for the year. We determined chilled bulbs are meant to be ordered in December for January shipping. 

I have a note on my calendar for the first week in December 2024, to order bulbs for January 2025. Youngest has a note on her calendar for the second week in December 2024, to make sure I did this. 

I was pretty sad. We kept hunting.

We found a Wisconsin nursery that was mostly sold out, but had a few varieties still in stock. 

https://fireflyfarmandmercantile.com/collections/inside-winter-bulbs/products/winter-bulbs-pre-chilled-and-ready-to-plant?variant=43972034035948

Mostly these were yellow. I did not want yellow. I wanted red/pink. 

These bulbs have to be planted at middle’s, fall 2024. Middle has red/pink/white at her house.

We cannot plant tulips at our house, the squirrels dig them up and eat them, all, within a few hours of planting. I put human hair, pepper, bonemeal in the hole with the tulip bulb, the squirrels do not care. They once dug up 500 bulbs within 12 hours of our planting them. 

My bulbs arrived, February 20, 2024. The first photos, below, are from the day they arrived. I have one container with 10 bulbs. The container lives on the window ledge. The first day was very sunny, the container photographed better on the island.

The photo, below, is from one week later, 2/26/24. 

Here we are two weeks later, 2/29/24 -

Photo taken 3/5/24 -

Yes, very quick growth. Fast enough that I can see how they are so mature, for sale in the store. I feel like I can nearly stand there and watch them grow. 

I will post photos when they bloom. 

Britbox

I have many series I love on BritBox. 

If you like BBC style shows and have never utilized this app, are not finding anything interesting to watch on your usual sources, I highly recommend subscribing for a couple months and watching lots of series. 

Here are a few of my favorites (below). I subscribed over the winter and caught up on recent episodes.

Shetland had a major cast change, starting with season 8, still excellent.

I kept BritBox for an extra month to watch nine seasons of Lewis. 

I loved them. I was a little teary when I came to the final scene and knew it was over. 

I restarted Morse immediately. Lewis (the character) is in Morse, right from the first episode.

The original series was Morse. 

Then came Lewis. 

The most recent was Endeavor.

All are excellent, in my opinion. Normally I would say watch these in order, without a thought, because everything starts with Morse. But the Morse series is now quite old/dated looking. So some might need to start with Lewis. But - my opinion- have to watch Morse before Endeavor to pick up the references. 

Decluttering books

I am back to regular - once a week - posting. My intention is to post photos of the flowers blooming in my yard this year, so my posting rate may pick up then. That will be a fun project!

Please note - my husband and I listen to all our books these days. We are audio book people 100%. 

Decluttering books is a whole topic/category in itself. 

At one time we had full bookshelves all over the house.

The kids and I are huge readers. We are very pro library, but still had managed to each collect/hoard large collections of books. And we have a relative who sent hardcopy books, to us for years, as gifts. 

All our books have been culled many times in the last decade or so. The cullings happened as very organized projects. 

We have a large built in bookshelf in our living room (old picture, above, when I was shopping for new TV stand, but it shows the shelves). 

Previously, these shelves were full AND we had other bookshelves, full of books, all over the house. And we had stacks of books in various places they did not belong.

Remember, only my husband and I live here, and neither of us read hardcopy. We are both audio book people, 100%.

We now have a means of measuring/controlling the volume of books in our house. We keep only what fits on the shelves in our living room. 

If we find a book, somewhere in the house, that we want to keep, it has to fit comfortably on the living room bookshelf. 

If it does not fit, we have to one-in-one-out. This means we have to get rid of a book or two to make room. The books that are culled cannot go elsewhere in the house, they have to be rehomed. Self rule.

We recently discovered piles of books in a cluttered area of our house. 

My husband took these books to used bookstore #1. They bought many, but not all, of them. Used bookstore # 1 is locally owned. 

Then middle cleaned out the books at her house. And we found more books at our house. I took her eliminated books and our books to used bookstore #2. Please note used bookstore #2 is a chain. There is a note at the bottom of this post about selling to chain used bookstores.

I went in (used bookstore #2, chain) with five boxes -

I was very pleased when they bought all but three of the books from me. 

One of the books they did not want was a local medical directory from 2007. I sent a photo of it to the genealogy department at the library. They wanted it. 

I donated the last two books to a local resale shop.

Note - used bookstore #2 is part of a national chain. They advertise “we take all books”. Yes, they take them all, but they do not want them all. They pitch what they do not want. I am not okay with throwing books in a dumpster. I ask them to only take what they want and return the rest to me. 

Second note - I listed most of these books for sale, individually on Facebook Marketplace, first. They did not sell. When they did not sell, we tried the local used bookstores.  I have sold large collections of books and individual books on Facebook Marketplace in the past. For whatever reason, these particular books did not sell.  I have sold books to the used bookstores previously, sometimes they want them, sometimes they do not.