not much going on...

...just sewing a binding down on an auction quilt for my grandsons parochial school,  and dreaming. I can't help but laugh when I am deep into the process of a quilt.

                                                      



I would pick up a vintage quilt at an antique shop or flea market and wonder what SHE was thinking while making this, I have no idea, but now I feel connected.

                                                                        



I guess we all have our dreams and secret thoughts.

I would have liked to drink a cup of tea with her.

I have liked to have traded a scrap or two so I could finish my quilt top.

In case you were wondering, this is the quilt my friend chose. She did however, wish to purchase the other quilt. They are off to the long arm lady to work her magic, can't wait to get them back. Have a great day, Elaine
                                                                                          
                                                                            
                                                                             

Jen is the 1st winner!

Jen is the layer cake winner, whooot, whooot!! Now if you other 3 sweet ladies would like a "package" in the mail, I would so like that, pop your snail mails to me via email:
echristian851@gmail.com
and I will happily pop it off to you. Thanks for reading, Elaine

Hmmm, maybe a charm pack of sew stitchy....

                                         
or maybe a sampling of Little Black Dress, aren't they gorgeous? If you do have a preference, Janet, Lizzie and BeeBee, please let me know before Monday when I send the packages out. Thanks for playing along,
have a great evening, Elaine

I messed up!

My friend at work was telling me a few months ago that she needed some "umph" in her bedroom, that maybe she needed to do "something" to make it more conducive to sleep. She works 3rd shift and needs to sleep during the day.

I volunteered to whip up a runner for her dresser. You know, 2 blocks wide, maybe 5 blocks long....










And like any good persistent quilter, it quickly went crazy on me and ended up growing into a king sized quilt top.....what was I thinking?

                                                                                            









It was a lot of fun!

                                                                                              I love making this string type of quilt, such freedom! Then it had to have a border of zebras, oh, and a lime green border on that.


It's finished. The top.

   King sized.










Now, for the backing, I thought about doing a pieced back.

                                                                                   You know where this is going, right? It grew on it's own. I took them to my long armed magician and she told me it wouldn't work, it would become wavy and I should make them into 2 quilts.

         I asked my friend which she would like, the first one or the second one.










So, here's the deal. Tell me which quilt top she chose. I'll pick a winner on Friday and pop a surprise in the mail for you. It could be a layer cake or...?  Enter more then once. Just let me know your email in your entry so I don't have to dig around for it.                                                                            

A little cooking please!

One of my favorite blogs is by a lady in Australia. I have followed her and loved reading her posts about cleaning house with non-chemicals, using natural ingredients; cooking with down home honest foods, nothing super expensive; she makes her own bread and soaps; knits dishcloths, sweaters, etc. She makes her own vinegars and ginger beer! Check it out when you have a bit of time, http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/
One of her latest posts was about making a hearty soup. Off to the farmers market for some root veggies. I found

                                                                    












new potatoes, , onions, , then to the grocery store  for carrots, a turnip, rutabaga (called a Swede by Rhonda~~who knew?) and flat leaf Italian parsley. Mine dried up in the heat/drought we had this summer. I wanted a parsnip but It's too early in the season, it's more of a fall veggie here in the US. So is the rutabaga but I found one. Guess what? It's imported from Canada and is coated in wax! WT....? That's ok, most of the veggies I saw in Canada are imported from the US! Now I'm laughing. Ok, on to cooking.

                                                                                  I followed Rhonda's recipe as much as possible. I made the meat balls from hamburger, I also used ground pork, she didn't, and was going to use that little package of ground turkey, but popped it in the freezer instead, maybe next time.

                                                                               I have never used barley before, strange, I guess I never thought about it. I love the flavor. Rhonda rinsed hers, I just used it out of the box. Was I supposed to wash it first? I cook with Quinoa. Oh dear. The Quaker made it, it must be ready to eat, right?

I popped 1/2 cup in the soup. Yummo!




I first cooked soup bones down with salt, pepper, water and a bay leaf, removed the bones and fed the meat to the Ferrel cats who eat snakes. I love them for that.

                                                                                I cut carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, onions, turnip and fresh parsley, put them into the new stock along with the barley, and simmered for a few hours.

Then I mixed the meats together with salt, pepper, fresh parsley, onions, minced garlic, bread crumbs and 2 eggs. I also grated up a small package of parmasean cheese and a healthy pinch of dried Italian herbs. (I had picked up on close out. It goes bad? Weird, but it was 1/2 price.)  I mixed very well and made meatballs about walnut size, per Rhonda, then added some to the soup and let them simmer gently for about 1/2 hour.

  I formed 2 cookie sheets full of meatballs and popped them in the freezer. I'll separate them into several baggies in the morning and will have them on hand for different dishes.   





This is the soup. It tastes so good. This recipe is a keeper! Let me know if you try this.

Then go see Rhonda and her awesome tutorials of a simple life lived frugally.                                                              

No difference

I was a bit disappointed with the colors showing in my quilt tops, kinda muddy and dark. So I tried another pic indoors....still looks muddy, hm?

Back to the drawing board....

                                                                                 

My days off

On my days off I had decided to tackle a few UFO's. I ended up with 3 tops, watched the cooking channel and stayed indoors. It's 105 F today. My lawn is suffering because we don't water. Our drought continues on. It didn's stop Billy the Kid from rolling in the sand to cool off. Now, to get them quilted...have a great week, Elaine

66"x82" or 9 patches with 8" squares

Christmas quilting

I am literally melting here...105 F today at one point. Then I just quit looking at the thermometer. I am trying to finish some long awaited UFO's, so dig them out, lay them out and jump right in.

I uncovered a substantial amount of 9" squares....what was I doing with those? They are now turning into disappearing 9 patch blocks.

It's so hot...I better get back to it. I'm in the beebalm virtual quilting bee and can hardly wait to start up again. These ladies are so talented and fun.





I have some 5" squares, well......a large shoebox full! I would like to make some disappearing 4 patches, but who knows when I'll get to that.

Are you working on UFO's too? Do you have any pointers to REALLY get them done? Let me know please. Have a great week...Elaine