Battle of the Beetles

Well, that title should really read “battling the beetles”.  I have a live-and-let-live policy with bugs … I live in my house and they live outside.  End of story (for the bugs, that is).

That policy was violated yesterday when my DH discovered that his box of dried mashed potato flakes in the pantry had beetles.  Because he has been on a diet restricting potassium for awhile, that box hadn’t been touched in close to 4 months.  I guess that was plenty long enough for the critters to come out from somewhere and multiply.

Cleaning/emptying Pantry in Process

What IS all of this stuff?!  It expired WHEN?!!

Needless to say, we scoured the pantry, threw away lots of old stuff and examined and/or repackaged anything not in a can or tin.  I must admit, the pantry hasn’t looked this good since we moved in 10 years ago, but what a job!

Fortunately, the discovery was made after I had finished off a few things in the sewing room:

I called it Purple Posies

This top was made from some Ohio Star blocks I had made up a few months ago.  I had meant to put them on point, but I didn’t have enough fabric and I wanted this to come totally from my stash, so hence, another rectangle quilt from me.

And this is the border finished on the little cars quilt from my previous post:

The binding will be the dark blue

And this is the start of my swap project with The Scratching Post:

This swap is called “Collections” and the jars can hold anything that can be collected (e.g., bugs, fish, fruit, vegetables, school supplies, nuts and bolts, sewing supplies, … you name it).  Mine are butterflies, fish, turtles, etc. – the novelties were all from my stash again.  Each set has three different size/shapes of jars and three different fabrics.  They need their jar tops yet, but that was when I got interrupted for the Great Beetle Chase.

I knew I was behind on quilting tops, but I found out I now have 8 tops stacked up (I thought I had 3 or 4), so this is the week to get those done and in a box and out of here!

Little Basket 'O Tops is full

Sounds like one of those Best Laid Plans again ….