60 Blocks of Summer and Paying it Forward

I decided that with all my "free time" I'd play along with some other insane Flickr-ites and challenge myself to "60 Blocks of Summer". That is - to make 60 quilt blocks, basically one a day, between June 16th and September 3rd.

Yesterday I was afraid that I was already falling behind because it was June 18th (day 3) and I still had nothing. So, I broke out a box of scraps that Heather of A la Mode Fabric had gifted me with. I had promised Heather to make some things to be donated with those scraps, and since I'd already raided a couple of the scraps for my own projects, I thought it was time to use the scraps as I had originally intended. But, hey, with gorgeous scraps like these; who could blame me for wanting to keep some for myself? :)

I'm feeling pretty good about yesterday's accomplishments. I completed quilt blocks 1-9 for the 60 BoS and got most of a quilt top finished to be donated to Project Linus.

I was going to use the 60 BoS to push me to finish the Halloween spiderweb quilt I've started, but I think I'll focus instead on quilt blocks for donation.

With all that yesterday I also pulled the pressure cooker out of my pantry. I bought the thing years ago and never used it. As exciting as a new toy is, I was also afraid of it. Partially because of the 15 psi, even though it's a modern pressure cooker with a release valve and everything, but mainly because I'd never used one. Fear of not really understanding it stopped me. So, I checked out a cook book from the library and tackled the unknown. The recipe I chose was Dilly Mustard Chicken. The chicken meat came out wonderfully, moist and falling off the bone. But the recipe was a little bland. Now that I conquered the unknown I'm ready to dive back in!