Puttering around the last week of the year

 It's 2 pm and I'm ready to sit down and rest.  Been hopping around from one hobby to another today. Made a pan of brownies (frosted them too) and shared with 4 neighbors so I wouldn't eat the whole pan myself. This particular recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook I've been making since I was ten. Needless to say I'm good at it.

I was getting low on bread (not something I like to do 'cause I LOVE bread) so I decided to use up the pkg of yeast I found in the cupboard.  I probably should have used a smaller pan or it could be my yeast was a tad old but it raised up enough to satisfy me. Now I have to try and not pig out on it.

I spent a lot of time in my bedroom/sewing room today. And it shows it. But that's okay. I'll pick up tomorrow where I left off today.

 I got a border on my latest quilt and yesterday I used the table downstairs to pin the batting and backing on. I hate that part. Today I quilted using the walking foot on my machine and then pinned one edge of the border before my energy gave up.  I'll finish tomorrow and then I can start two other small quilts. I found this big supply of material of this design....

I used two squares to make a potholder and the rest of the material I made two small lap quilts out of. There was so much of it that I think I'm going to use the same material for the front and back. My sister gave me a big supply of batting so I was able to use that up for these two quilts. Not sure yet how it will look if I quilt around the squares. Could be the back might not look as well. I'll do one and see what I think. If I don't like the looks of the backside, I'll use a plain material for the second quilt.

I was also given a bunch of batting pieces in odd shapes. I decided to cut them into 30- 7" squares.

I saw this video on youtube where you can make a quilt using strips and sew it right onto the batting and a backing piece already in place. I made one where the batting and the backing were both 7" but I discovered that wasn't going to work once I sewed the strips down. Here's the front and back.

Then I made a square making the backing 8" and it turned out a little better.

Only problem is, since the batting is kind of thick, I'm not sure how it will look once I sew the squares together. I'll have to search around on youtube and see if maybe I need to use sashing. I'm kind of learning as I go.

I pulled out my old cassette tapes to listen to old music but found I was having to get up too much so I may switch back to CDs tomorrow.  I sure do enjoy that old stuff, though. I wish I could figure out how to get my cassettes on CDs. I've got a gadget but I can't quite figure it out.  I just may investigate Amazon music as I think there's a way you can sign up for unlimited music and get exactly what you want. I could make a list of my cassette favorites and go from there.  We'll see.  Sounds like a whole lot of work right now.

I got the border done on my jigsaw puzzle so I'll play around with that all this week. 

At night while sitting in my recliner, I often work on counted cross stitch. If I'm not too tired.  Lately, I'm tired more than I used to be.  I'm working on another Goofy design right now but I see my aida cloth is a smaller size so this one will be smaller than the one I have done.

My body aggravation this week (as in previous weeks) is my dang blasted HAIR!  Or lack of. It's called alopecia.  Googled it last night and it is very common in older women.  They did mention Rogaine but I'm not sure if it's worth the money. I do have a  new wig and I could always buy a another but wearing wigs can be a royal pain in the ass!  Even though they improve my looks.  I think my hair is thinning faster now as I can really see the bald spot on  top of my head. And comb overs isn't covering much. Sigh....My hair has never been my royal crown of beauty but gees Louise!  At least I had some back in the day. I'm looking more like my grandpa all the time.  I just took a quick picture but it made me ill to see it on my computer screen so I won't post it for your enjoyment. Ha Ha

I took some ham hocks out of the freezer to make green pea soup tomorrow. Now that I think about it, though, I guess I better check my cupboard to see if I have any peas.  Oh good.  I have a little over a cup on hand so that should work. Tonight I'm going to put a couple of drumsticks in the air fryer and maybe I'll fix up a small pan of rice. I only have a few potatoes left so my grocery list continues to grow for when I get out and about again.  On second thought, maybe I'll add my chicken to a casserole dish and bake it in the oven with some rice, peas, and mushroom soup. That way I can get a couple of meals out of it.  Well, I'm rambling now so enough already.

My favorite view from my window is icicles from the rooftop across the courtyard.