At Last! An actual Applique Tuesday

Still at Mom's.  She is doing great!  I still have to remind her sometimes not to pick up something heavy or lift her arm over her shoulder, but she's getting there.  This is a time when no pain can be a hindrance.  Tomorrow we go to see if the drain comes off.  If it does, my nursing days are over.  Thank you so much for all your best wishes, concern, prayers and thoughts for us.  They are most appreciated!!!

And while here, I actually finished some applique:

 Here is the 7" Anna's Garden block I have been working on. I brought this block because it is the smallest and most portable of my applique projects.  Half is is now stitched.

Here at Mom's I decided to add all the other pieces that needed to be prepped.  I began with the nest. The inside of the nest is reverse appliqued and I then made the egg.  Somehow it was too big!  So I had to keep making it smaller to make it look to scale with my pair.  I find my pieces grow as I trace and cut out. I've had to keep reminding myself to cut inside the pen line so they will stay the right size.

Next I added the leaves.  I had very few choices of fabric with the leaves.  The block now has all the pieces fused in place.  I would start on the stitching, but I didn't bring thread that will work with this fabric nor invisible thread.  I'll save this for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I wonder if Kath will be doing it next year.

What are you working on?  Would love to see your eye candy.  Leave me a comment and I'll come for a visit.  Happy New Year this Thursday!

No Camera

I'm at Mom's still playing nurse, so I didn't think I could post my hexies cuz I forgot my camera - then thought the word SCAN!
I realized I could scan my hexies with the printer, import as a jpg to the computer and here they are:

A white flower and two more fussy cut ones for my golden triangle in the quilt top.

I'm linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.  Lots of goodies there.

Hexie Weekend and a Finished Top

Did you see the 4 hexies I whipped out last week?  If not see the previous post.  I'm working on some more, but none finished yet.  I was home for a bit and did make the last Block Lotto block and finished putting it together.  I like it!

If I add any border it will probably be a narrow white border. You can see Sophie's masterpiece here.
I can now say I have a sampler quilt  top of my own. Now to quilt it.

I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it Up Fridays and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop? ,and Bonnie at Quiltville. Link button below - it can be an old post - If you're like me, you're too busy right now - something from this past year will do.

An InLinkz Link-up

Still concentrating on handwork as I'm still keeping Mom company to do some nursing duties.  We saw the surgeon today,  and he shared the the most wonderful news - she is definitely Stage One - the earliest type ever and will not need any other treatment.  Praise God!!

Hope you are having wonderful holy days!

Quick Stop on DWM

Hello. Back from Mom's for a quick stop before returning.  First, thank you all for your kind wishes and prayers for Mom. She sailed through the surgery and left the hospital staff in shock and awe with her recuperative powers. When the nurse called Friday, the day after surgery, and asked about her pain, she said: "what pain? I haven't had any."  We praise God daily!

Here are the few hexies I managed to make while waiting at the hospital:

I like the strippy one so much I think I"ll make two more to add a golden triangle to my quilt top.
And my wonderful friend, Deanna, gave me this gorgeous embroidery for Christmas. Thank you so much, Deanna!

I'm thinking of making a medallion wall hanging from this.  What shall I surround it with?  Stars?

I'm linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday and Lyn's BOMs Away.  Merry Christmas everyone!

Busy Week Ahead

Mom home from her 6 weeks in TX. A busy week awaits us with tests, travel, and surgery. This may be my post for the week.  I've used 1.5 yards making two more charity quilt tops.  Piecing batting for one and the other is sandwiched. Quilting a third.  I'll take fabric with me to Mom's house to make more hexies - that's about all I'll be able to do around nursing duties. Say a prayer, please!
 My design wall hasn't changed.  See my De-stashing numbers on my right side bar.

I'm linking to Judy's Patchwork Times and Esther's Wow. Check them out for great eye candy.  Merry Christmas to one and all!

Two finishes and a Recipe for Hexie Weekend

I met my goal - my commission quilt is finished.  We decided to give it to Father on his birthday which is Monday.

LOL - my holders didn't want to be in the photo and you can see one is taller than the other from the slant of the quilt.  I didn't catch that in the viewfinder.

and here's another finished hexie flower.  I think I have about 20 of these now.  Need 16 more.

Time for a recipe.  We love turkey carcass soup. Each year the evening of Thanksgiving, I boil the bones and make broth and then my DH likes to clean the bones. This year, with all the family here, I didn't want to miss a minute with them.  So I froze the bones and pan drippings.  Three weeks later, long after the last turkey meat was eaten, I decided to make the soup.

Here's dinner from the freezer - Turkey soup and rolls - all leftover from Thanksgiving.  If you've never made some, here's what I did. I took out the bones and pan drippings (plus a little bag of white meat) from the freezer about three hours to defrost before you start the soup.

1. Place the carcass in a large pot.  Squash the bones down so that they'll be covered with 3 quarts of water. Bring to a gentle boil while you add 3 bay leaves, some salt to taste, a little black pepper, basil, garlic powder, and poultry seasoning. Let it cook for an hour.

2. Strain the broth and keep the bones for the vulture in your family. If no one is around, I pick the meat off the bones and set aside.  Pour the broth back into the pot. Add the pan drippings ( skim the fat off) and stir to dissolve and mix. Taste for salt.

3. Again bring to a gentle boil while you chop 3 carrots, one small onion, two stalks of celery, a quarter of a small cabbage and 3 medium sized potatoes. I would have added green pepper but had none in the freezer.  Add in the order listed.  Wait to add the potatoes and cabbage til the last 20 minutes - total time about 30-40 minutes or just til the carrots are done - they take longer than the potatoes.  

4. Chop the turkey meat and put in last just before you turn off the soup.  You don't want to recook the meat, just warm it up.  While the soup was cooking I made a pot of rice. We put a scoopful of rice in the bowl and ladled the soup over it.  Serve with bread and salad if you like. Oranges for dessert.

Enjoy!

So what have you been up to?  Show us your eye candy - quilty or not; hexie or not. Old post or new. Button below.  I'm linking to Amanda Jean's Finish it Up Friday and Sarah's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?

An InLinkz Link-up

Quilting on Applique Tuesday

Sigh. No applique yet, but I'm almost done with the commission quilt - which is a good thing as I have to take it to the meeting this Thursday.  I finished the last large blocks this morning.  Here is how I did them.  As you can see in the photo, there were large blocks surrounding by the sashing I quilted.  In the black and white blocks I echo quilted once around the symbols.  I wanted to do something similar for the orange, brown and light blocks.  I decided to use the whole note as the symbol to quilt in them.  So off to look for public domain music symbols.

After finding one I made a copy (it's the first figure in the photo below). I didn't want to waste ink, so I made an outline copy ( figure 2)  Too small for my six inch blocks, so I had to go about enlarging it.  Fortunately, my printer enlarges and reduces.  I just had to do a little math.  Now don't panic - it isn't algebra or any thing like that - just some multiplying. I measured the width of the note and it measures 2.75 inches. Multiplying by 2 made it 5.75 - too large.  I then multiplied by 1.80 and got 4.95 - good just a bit shy from 5 inches wide - just right for my six inch block (figure 3). So I made one that size, copied onto freezer paper, and iron them onto the white blocks of the quilt.

 This was one time I wished freezer paper came in different colors as the white paper on white fabric can make it hard to quilt around it.  I could have used a pen but I have this phobia about marking my quilt tops. I'm using Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. And a So Fine on the topwith an 80/12 titanium coated needle.

 Next step was to quilt around the pattern. I quilted first the inside oval, raised the presser foot and moved the needle to the outside oval. When done and locked, I clipped the short thread over the pattern.

Then all I had to do was pull away the freezer paper from my finished motif.

Here's my first quilted motif.  Once all those white background ones were done I decided to change thread for the orange and brown squares.

I just happed to have this varigated 50 wt thread.  My Juki's great tension handles different colors of thread on top and bottom beautifully.

 This thread worked out great.

Now on to the binding,  Any questions?   Feel free to ask me in the comments.  I'm linking to Esther's WOW and Connie's Linky Party. See you there.

Hexie Weekend

Company is gone now, but it's taken me some time to get back to normal, do laundry and store things. I was actually able to do a bit of hexies for this post. But the wonderful thing I read this week was Sue Garman's continuing post of the Quilt Festival in Houston. She photographed this gorgeous quilt by quiltmaker Anna Maria Schipper Vermeiren. It is called British Garden. Look very closely and you'll see hexagons.

Photo by Sue Garman

You can see the full post here .  Do go to her post and see the closeups of this incredible quilt! You will be amazed. And watch this video below of another of Anna Maria's fabulous quilts:

 Before the company arrived I was quilting the commission quilt whenever I could fit in a few minutes.  I quickly found I had to find a way to mark the path so I wouldn't get lost in what direction I needed to go.  I came up with masking tape to lead me across the quilt as it isn't a straight path for this quilt.

 Here is part of that path quilted.  Just have about a fourth to do by the 13th.

I'm linking to Amanda's Finish it up Friday and Sarah Jean's Can I get a Whoop, Whoop?  as I got to finish 2 hexie flowers.

Let us see what you are up to - hexie or not, new post or old - we love all eye candy. Linky below - closes Monday, midnight.

An InLinkz Link-up

 Blessings!

Applique Tuesday

Still no quilting, applique, or hexagons - enjoying our NJ company.  So here are a few more of those mug rugs that I enjoyed seeing at the last Guild meeting.

I'm linking to Esther's WOW and Connie's  Linky Tuesday Party.  Happy 2nd Day of December!