Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Quilt for Alli

Another finish. This tumbler quilt just needed binding.  While I played "customs agent" at Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe for the shop hop this weekend past, I was able to accomplish that task.






This quilt will go to my cousin Alli Maxwell, in El Paso TX.  Happy to know it will have a good home.  

2015 Finish count: 11
(3 quilts, 8 "other")


Friday, January 9, 2015

Abe's Quilt Finished


Done, and ready for delivery. This one is for my nephew. It actually has a purpose!  This is from one of Karla Alexander's "stack" books - New Cuts for New Quilts. I've made a number of her patterns and have enjoyed the process in each one.

Onward! There are about five or six more UFOs needing only the binding. I'm getting them finished!

Thanks for stopping by.

2015 finish count: 10
(2 quilts, 8 "other")

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

First Finishes of 2015

I finally did the binding on this strippy quilt. It's the first finish of 2015. On my screen, the greys look blue: there's not a bit of blue in this quilt. It's "modern" in feel.  I don't remember the fabric line, but I just had to make it. I completely copied the shop sample! How totally uncreative. :)


When I took the Fractured top to the quilters, I also took them a practice piece. I had batiks and non-batiks, and a slippery thread I wanted to use for quilting, so I thought it would be good to give them something work on for getting tensions right, etc. From that practice piece, I cut 8 wristlets. They didn't turn out as nice as I thought they would. The expandable piece in the bottom of each is the same color as the strap, but because you don't really see it, there isn't enough contrast. I guess this makes them useful in their "neutralness".  Regardless, they're done and count toward 2015 finishes. 


I had chickens from the grocery, so Monday night I put the carcasses in the crock pot and made stock overnight. Yesterday I used the stock to make chicken rice soup (also in the crockpot - love that thing!), had some for dinner, then froze the rest in portion containers. I've done a lot of that over the last month and probably will be able to survive any zombie apocalypse with no need to go foraging for food. Ah, well. I really enjoy cooking and have been doing a lot of it! More experimentation will be coming up: I also enjoy trying new recipes.

Any suggestions on how to give chicken soup some flavor, though? Honestly, it's quite boring and in need of some pizazz. 

And that's my update for now.  Thanks for stopping by!

2015 "finish" count - 9



Friday, January 2, 2015

New Year's Eve, a little late

I was feeling a little adventurous on New Year's Eve day. I started with these two "sets" of raw materials. 

In the kitchen:


In the sewing space, playing in the scrap bin:



A few hours later, I ended up with Honey Garlic chicken, made in the crockpot. In spite of 1/2 cup of soy sauce, the final product still needed salt. I think a few more tweaks to the recipe will improve it, even though it was fairly tasty in the original.  



I was feeling the need to do something small so I could "get it done". Digging through the scrap bin, I made 28 tissue covers. Not a bad binge, if one must go on a binge.  (Much better than the food binge I just indulged in after my daily walk!)


A little adult beverage capped 2014 for me, then off to bed so I could wake to see what's going to happen in 2015. 

A late post beats no post! Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by.