It's beginning to look....

.....a lot like Christmas, and I should hope so, seeing as tomorrow is Christmas eve!
Wow! Where did the year go???? Has anybody seen it????

Actually we had the tree and lights up pretty early but of course it's everything else that I put off to the last minute that catches up with me. I did get several batches of cookies made and I still have some sugar cookie dough to be rolled out and baked, and frosted, and eaten!
I was able to use ground shipping this year so that's an improvement over years past when I was scrambling to get things ready for fed ex... perhaps there's still hope for the queen of procrastination!
Oh but wait...I didn't mail any Christmas cards this year for the first time ever! Drat!

I did make some gifts, but wish I would have started earlier and made more ......double drat!

We're having Christmas brunch here at our house for just a small group and so I do need to get the house tidied up and I so wish I didn't have to work tomorrow ..... oh well, it'll all get done and if it doesn't look absolutely perfect so be it....I am going to enjoy the miracle that is Christmas, and the blessings of family near and far ( pouty face) and if I see a dust bunny or cobweb bouncing off a sunbeam I will smile and be thankful for the sunbeam. I hope that you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.......

cozy..... and quilting

Look what we found just outside our front door yesterday morning.... we have had very cold weather, by south Florida standards anyway, in the 30's overnight brrrrrrr and double brrrrrr.  I don't know who made this cozy little spot during the night but I took a peek late last night to see if they had returned to it again and it was empty. It only measures about 4 or 5 inches across so I'm puzzled as to what was snuggled down there. Maybe I should leave a little quilt outside :)

We've been hauling out the quilts this week to cozy under and there's also nothing like a pair of warm and cozy socks when it's chilly along with a mug of hot coffee or hot chocolate. Tonight I'm going to make cozy food....a yummy old fashioned tuna casserole, mmmmmm.

I also just finished making a cozy new bathrobe to replace my old favorite that has been used up.
I wore it last night for the first time and it is oh so cozy and I will most likely wear this one until it is all used up too.

my old favorite...bye bye

Although I used to make quite a few garments, my stitching time has been devoted to quilts for many years now. I still prefer making quilts but this robe project wasn't so bad.

my new favorite!

When was the last time you made a garment for yourself? No, really.
 
I hope that you are enjoying all of your cozy favorites this time of year......which brings me back to quilting and a return to my stitch-a-long. 
The final design element for the stitch-a-long quilt is the option of scattering some appliques across the quilt.

 

I made a daisy-ish  applique using fusible web on the back of them. I made 11 appliques and scattered them randomly across the quilt.

scatter appliques randomly

I have posted the applique design for you on my website as a free download. It's a very simple design and you could draw one of your own designs too.  Use as many appliques on the quilt as you like. You can use one of the fabrics from your original choices or make them with several fabrics or a totally different fabric. Have fun with it. I will then machine blanket stitch around the appliques .......and yes this time I will do it before I sandwich the quilt!!!!!!  (see post on  8/24/2010 )
With Christmas just around the corner and with the hours I have been working I don't know how much I will get done, but I would love to see how your quilts are coming along.
Leave me your email and I will contact you to get photos of your projects or leave a link if you have a blog. I'm so sorry that it has been so long since the last stitch-a-long update. I hope you didn't give up on me :)

had enough turkey?

So...... just how many turkey leftover recipes have you been cooking up?

 I hope that everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends. We had half of my DH's step family and his older step brother had the other half. No....there's no bickering, just making the size of the gatherings a little easier for the hosting families. The family has grown with nieces and nephews marrying and adding wee ones and moving closer. It was a great day, the weather was nice and it was good to get together to count our blessings and share our thanks around the table. The down side was I so missed sharing the day with my family up north.  sob, sob , sniffle, sniffle :(
I am so grateful to Alexander Graham Bell so that at least I can hear their voices over the miles. Texting is great and convenient, but there's still nothing like hearing the voice of your loved ones.
Of course it goes without saying that we ate our fill of the Thanksgiving feast and yet as always there was leftover turkey. Last night we had turkey enchiladas and we'll most likely have turkey sandwiches again for lunch today.  We're also working our way through the leftover apple pie.

I promised on facebook the other day that I would post a soup recipe and it's NOT turkey soup.
So here is my recipe for meatball soup...it's easy and it is a favorite of ours on chilly days.

Meatball soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic - minced
2 T olive oil
4 cups water
 2 cans condensed beef broth
1/2 can of 6 oz. tomato paste (3 oz.)
1 cup coin sliced carrots
2 cups cubed potatoes
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup snipped parsley or cilantro
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup long grain rice uncooked
1 can black beans drained

In large pot, cook onion in oil until tender but not brown. Add the garlic and cook about a minute. Stir in water, broth and tomato paste. Bring to boil and add potatoes and carrots. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile combine egg, cilantro or parsley, salt, oregano, pepper, ground beef and uncooked rice. Form into small 1 inch meatballs and add a few at a time to the simmering soup. Bring soup to boil again. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes or until veggies are tender. Add 1 can black beans and simmer another 10 minutes.
yummy ~ yummy
If you have any leftover freeze it for another day that begs for warm and hearty soup.

By the way, sorry I have not been posting as frequently. Now that I am working in the outside world I have been working on juggling up my free time between, designing, blogging, stitching and all the other aspects of my pattern business and life. Bear with me, I am also working on the next post for the tortoise paced stitch -a-long. At least you've been able to keep up LOL

something's missing....

OMG - I am so sorry. The blog post for assembling the quilt blocks did not post as scheduled and I guess that could make this stitch-a-long a bit challenging, don't you think? Thank you so much Penny for calling it to my attention. Now I have to go wash the egg of my face.

Here is the missing post for assembling the blocks and sashing:

Now we get to put the rows and sashing together and it's going to start looking like a quilt.

Make the block rows as follows...
There are 2 row settings,

Row 1 setting (make 2 of row 1)
Row 1 uses 2 of the single 4-patch blocks, one of the double 4-patch blocks and two of the 8-1/2" strip pieced blocks.
Set them together as shown below and pay attention to the placement of the dark (red) squares.

Row 2 setting (make 2 of row 2)
Row 2 uses two of the double 4-patch blocks, one of the single 4-patch blocks and 2 of the strip-pieced blocks. Again, pay attention to the color placement.

Stitch the rows together beginning with row 1 . Add a sashing strip, but note the placement of the 4-patch placement in the sashing. (circled in photo)

 

 Add a row 2. Continue adding rows and sashing alternately and note the position of the squares in each sashing row (circled in photo).

TA-DA! ....the quilt top is assembled and next we will move on to adding the borders.