Slowly, But Surely...

The rows in the upper left are now sewn together - yay! The rows in the middle are sewn into rows, but are separate still. In the bottom right corner...still individual blocks and sashing pieces. I'm hoping to have the center of Winter Blues in one big piece by the end of the week.

I decided this was big enough, so no more blocks to make. But I still have to make the pieced border. The border looks pretty simple though. 

Over the weekend I made a couple of Color My World houses, too. I'm up to 9 out of the 16. Maybe I can finish the houses this week???? We'll see.

And my other quilting accomplishment was to find the fabric I had purchased months ago for the backing of Marshal. I pieced it together and pressed it. I found the batting in my closet and opened it up. It's draped over dining room chairs to air out and let the wrinkles release themselves. I'll be able to start basting Marshall soon! You may remember, I want to quilt it myself.

I've gotten into the routine of cooking vegetables on Sundays for the week ahead. I typically roast two sheet pans of veggies drizzled with a bit of olive oil. What you see above is chopped turnip, red onion, red pepper, broccoli, and baby carrots. I add whatever I have on hand...sometimes chopped sweet potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, etc. We never get tired of this.

I also baked a lot of potatoes. We like potatoes! I chop some up and saute in olive oil for breakfast. Others are warmed to go with dinner.  And for more vegetables, I cooked collard greens in my Instant Pot. 

I hit a wall recently with creating meals - so lately, we been grilling more - hubby does that. The side dishes are ready to warm and dinner is served quickly.

My blood pressure has been NORMAL for the last week or so! I've been working so hard on it. I discovered that bottled salad dressings are full of sodium, so I now make my own dressing. Yes, I made salad dressing for the week yesterday, also. I can't believe I no longer drink coffee - I'd been drinking it my entire adult life! But I really don't miss it. What I miss is the ritual of drinking coffee while easing into my morning. Hot tea has become the substitute and I love it now!

Here's a meal from last week - grilled salmon (topped with Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper), mashed potatoes, baby broccoli, and salad with radishes and my homemade salad dressing. We eat well and a LOT, but I've lost several pounds in the last month. Yippee for me! Hubby eats the same things I do, but he adds bread, salt, sweets, regular salad dressing, soft drinks, coffee...all those yummy things. But I don't miss those things and I'm so glad I have avoided blood pressure medicine. 

That's it for today...stay safe!!!