Did I mention that I like to sew????????? And if I could I would spend my four days off upstairs playing???????????

There is just the two of us here and we don't really eat all that much. I have spent the day in the kitchen cooking the full Thanksgiving Day meal only to put most of in the refrigerator where we ate it for days............. One year we ate out but that was not really like Thanksgiving. So this year when Stop and Shop offered dinner for two for $25.99 I signed up.

Wednesday afternoon I went to Stop and Shop to pick up our T-day dinner......... They gave it to me in this nice insulated bag............


After spending most of the day sewing I went downstairs to "cook"...ahem....


All in nice microwaveable containers.......... 45 minutes later we had a delicious repast...... and there are leftovers for several more meals........... Thrifty and good and easy........

And Now There Are Eight.

I have eight of my pincushions made and ready to wrap. They went together faster than I thought they would. I am amazed at what I can get done when I can find time to be in the studio.



And one more finish........... A darling little baby sweater. The buttons are heart shaped. Now to get this gift wrapped...........

I seem to be on a roll but I will be slowing down a bit. The tea towels do take some time and I only have one completely finished. Four more are embroidered but the scalloped edge is not stitched down yet. And I will need to make at least 6 more of them from scratch...........

This Weekend I Tried Something New............

I saw a picture on Sentimental Quilter of a pincushion that someone had sent to Kathy as a gift. It looked like it might be fun to make for my friends..........


After a few tries I finally realized that I would need to make two squares in order to get pieces to go in opposite directions. That would mean that I would be making two at one time.


I checked out my little drawer with one inch strips.............


Dumped them on the table and got to work.


I cut two five inch squares from muslin and got to work covering them with strips



With that done I squared my block..................and cut each block into four pieces cutting each square on the diagonal..............



Sewed them together again.............


It sure is messy to be creative. I dumped some buttons on the workbench and made some selections........... I also cut some 5 inch squares for the pincushion backing.


I realized that I needed to add a border because the block I had was rather heavy with all the layers of fabric.............


Trimmed them down, stitched on the backing, added some buttons......... and voila......... Two gifts all ready to wrap.............. Now I need to make six more. I am using a 1 1/2 inch strip in the middle on these. I found that the one inch strip put the seam too close to the center.....

A Few More Things

A few more things have wandered into the studio and requested attention............


Temecula Quilt Company had a quilt kit for this petite Pinwheel............ This seemed to be a quick pattern and a nice break from some of my larger projects..........


Bird Brain Designs sent out a news letter that contained the instructions for a free candle mat. Yes it was in wool and I have never done wool but............these candle mats have been intriguing for some time. They had a kit to make the candle mat so I thought I would give it a try.



They also had this in the newsletter. It looks exactly like what I wanted for my table in the fall. No, I doubt that I will get it made in time for this fall but I will not put it aside till it is ready for next year.............


Look at the lovely fabrics that came with the kit..............


I have seen Schnibbles mentioned everywhere and I thought they too would be a good break from larger projects. This is the first one that I chose.............



Peg gave me her magazines that she no longer wants............ This was in one of them....... I really want to try one of these blocks..............


But I am still making Christmas presents and I need to work in the kitchen for several hours today.

Yesterday was taken up showing the house and doing errands. I hope to stay in the studio for at least two hours before duty calls...............

Sometimes I Wonder

As I mentioned earlier this week, while sitting in my studio sewing I noticed all of the projects neatly stored in their plastic boxes and correctly labeled................. And as I reviewed the labels, I thought about just how long it would take to finish each one...........

So now I Wonder? Why when I have all the items to make these lovely things why do I continue to look for more? You are probably thinking that I am going to announce another NO BUY.......

Nope, not me, they don't seem to work for me................ I will say that this weekend I am going to do some more removals in the studio............. A nice big stack will make its way downstairs to the nether regions to sit for a wee bit so that I can concentrate on the things that are on my plate right now................. I would like for 2011 to be a year that I finish more things than I have recently.

Honoring Our Quilting Heritage

I signed up for the "Honoring Our Quilting Heritage" by Lori Smith BOM from Homestead Hearth. Every month I get the fabric for five blocks..... I started late so I began two months behind. I am not trying to catch up, just fitting in a block when I can. I have six of them done.

This is Block Five. It was one of the easier blocks.



All the fabric for one block ready to be cut. I am being careful with my fabric and I save the small pieces in my CW Repro drawers. One day I will be able to make a log cabin quilt with the 3/4 inch pieces that are left after the fabric is cut.



Here it is cut and laid out to sew..........


I have an old salt dish that I spray starch into.



Then using a paint brush I can put the starch exactly where I want it. I have found that using steam or spraying starch on the entire block sometimes makes the bias edges bloom and they never press flat again.








And here we are...................All done...................

Finds...........

Saturday a neighbor was having a yard sale.......... Even though Lem said that we did not need anything she had called to invite me to see what was there so I walked up the hill to say hello. W wandered around a bit and found these items......... Hand done. For some reason when I find something like this at a yard sale I realize that the owner has no idea the time that went into making these lovely linen items. All but two have tatted edges and the other two have crochet edges. I knew that I had to bring them home. I asked the price and she says, "Oh, $2.00....." Clearly she had no idea what the real value was. I could not take advantage of her that way but all I had on me was $5.00 so I offered her that............... Yes, I do know that they are worth more but at least they are in a home that appreciates the effort that went into making them.


And now to show the finished product.............. My little Tea Towel with the free design from Bird Brain Designs............. I have 10 with the scallop edge sewn on and all marked and ready to stitch. I suppose we know what I will be doing every evening this week.................



Yesterday was a delightful day................ Lem watched sports on TV and I stayed in the studio and played. I got my tea towels prepped and ready to stitch, I finished my baby sweater (picture shown yesterday) and I took the time to dust a bit and put things away. I even found time to sit and knit on a wee yellow sweater (more on that later)................ All in all it was a lovely time spent with my needle and thread.............. As I sat and looked around I could see one project after another that I wanted to dive into and make........... But for now I have a choice few that I will keep doing bits on each day till I can have another finish...............

A Finish....

I am delighted to have a finish this morning.......... I just kept pegging away on this project and when it got to the stage where I usually put it down and start something else, I worked on it for 30 minutes a day till it was done. Didn't take long either. The knitting is much more fun than the putting together. But nothing is better than finishing................



And didn't I find the snazziest buttons to put on it?


You can click on the picture to see it closer. Now back to my Christmas gifts..................

A Little Here and a Little There

I have finally gotten my sweater with legs this far along......... Sleeves have been knit but not added yet......... I am not to thrilled with the placket and plan to do that over...... This morning I began the hood portion of this project and it does seem possible that I could have it finished this weekend.


I also finished my tea towel (the one in the center). It is from a free design provided by Bird Brain Designs........... They have some lovely free designs. The towel was made from White Kona... I can get 6 tea towels from two yards of fabric. Then a bit of stitching and it is all ready to embroider.

Another Bit of Progress

The scallops are all marked and stitched.........


The little darlings are trimmed and clipped...........


and turned right side out and pressed.............. Now to the next step.............

Hexagon on Wednesday

This is the fifth day of rainy, cold, windy weather. As I have said many times before, I am a sunshine girl and in this weather it is a struggle to remain pleasant.. This is the view out of my studio window.....................


And this is my only offering for my Hexagons on Wednesday. Yes it is a sad showing but perhaps next week will be better...............

Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

There, I've said it..........

I prefer to wait till after Thanksgiving to think about Christmas but this year I need to make most of my gifts.......... And that takes time.......... So I have begun already..... I know you are wondering just what this could possibly turn into.......... We shall see............

Where Did I Put My Shotgun?

Here they are............two wild turkeys............. wandering around my front yard........... just in time for Thanksgiving..........


They really are safe because I am not sure I know how to clean a turkey for cooking although I did help my Aunt Irene clean a chicken for supper once...........

This Week There Are Three

This week I managed three more flowers for my garden. They are rather small and I have been wondering what I could do with them.

When I stopped to by the fabric needed for my Christmas presents I found a piece of ecru fabric on the 30% off table and got that for stash. It will be the perfect addition to these blocks and I will make a dresser scarf.

I started yesterday by being Susan Goodwife..............

I cooked some macaroni (and learned that one cup of dry macaroni is all I need to fix for Lem and I....)


Cooked 1/2 half an onion and one stalk of celery in two tablespoons of butter.


Added two tablespoons of flower to the pan and stirred it till the flour started to brown a bit.



Added one cup of milk and one cup of shredded cheese.



Stirred that till the cheese melted and added it to the drained macaroni along with 1 1/2 cups of cooked chicken. Well really the chicken is from the rotisserie chicken that Stop and Shop had on sale for $5.00 Friday. We had the sliced chicken breast on Friday and now I have gotten all the rest of the chicken off the bones for this casserole. I had enough to fill two small individual casserole dishes to give to a friend and after we had dinner there was still enough left for my lunch for several days. This chicken is really going places.







To give the day an added advantage my dear friend Jean Mello from Mequon stopped in. She was on the Cape for quilters retreat and was good enough to share some of her time with me. She looks great and it was wonderful to see her once more. She is the friend that made the baby blanket for our new great grandbaby, Drew..........

What !!! Monday Already

I had great plans to spend at least one day in the studio. Only made it upstairs for 30 minutes. Then duty called and the weekend errands had to be done. And things put away and dinner prepared and then I sat and knit for the rest of the evening.

I have put the quilt aside for awhile. Barbara loaned me her pattern for a cute little baby sweater with legs and Peg donated some luscious sage green yarn and I am making that right now.

I will need to get on with my Christmas presents so it might be a month or more before I work on the quilt again. I really needed to take a break from it to give my fingers a chance to get a rest.

Friday afternoon I did a bit or work in the studio getting something ready for Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times but never did get anything finished.

Sunday I made banana nut muffins................ They turned out great............. Our neighbor (and realtor) was having a yard sale and had left a message for me to drop in (she lives three doors down) because she had a bag of fabric for me............. Lem and I walked up there (we live on a small hill) and took her some muffins. She had a great two tiered stand that was just what I wanted for the kitchen. Yes, I do know that we are moving but this thing was just what I wanted.

We got home and I made a batch of dog food for Wade Hamilton and then moved on to the next item on the list. I did pause to make us a sandwich for lunch (it was 2:30 by now) before I started the chicken casserole for dinner. On Friday nights Stop and Shop has Rotisserie chickens for $5.00. I indulged in one and we had sliced chicken breast with mashed potatoes and garden peas for dinner. I had planned to use the rest of the meat for a casserole. For some reason I got real light headed and quite queasy. I thought I could lie down for a bit till it passed but sad to say it never passed. I had gotten out the recipes I had printed and my recipe notebook. Saturday I had purchased more sleeve protectors and another notebook. All I got done for the rest of the day was to put recipes in the notebooks. Lem called for take out and I had a few oyster crackers and sips of Coca Cola.......

I did take pictures this morning when I was assembling my casserole. I will try to get them posted for tomorrow.

Now I am blogging around and already I have found a great holiday gift idea at Pleasant Home for Scrappy Mug Rugs......... She also had some great Halloween ideas the day before. Make sure you check them out.

Kate at Life in Pieces reminded me of a Layer Cake Quilt Along being hosted by Moose on the Porch Quilts......... That looks like fun.. And she also reminded me of Bonnie Hunters upcoming Mystery Quilt. I will have to pass on both of these parties but I can print the instructions for a later date.

There is a great recipe for Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars over at Country Whispers.... I sure will have to give them a try.

Well, break time is over so I had better get back to work. I might even get some pictures up for tomorrow.