Spending hours in the sewing room

I finished the 4th clue for Bonnie Hunters Celtic Solstice. This time is was 120 4 patches. I am so glad I am keeping up - with Christmas just around the corner.




I have been busy with working on a all the small gifts you have to give to so many people in your life who make a difference. I have such great employees, neighbors and freinds. I wanted something that was home made and that they would actually use. I just love mason jars and I have seen many mason jar recipes so I went on line and found a few I thought were appropriate.

I made 25 in total. Cranberry Hootycreeks, Hearty Soup Mix and M&M Cookies. All the recipes looked good as far as ratio of ingredients and instructions.
I brought one over to my neighbor Eileen and that night she called me up and told me that she made the Hearty Soup and if I wanted some for our dinner (as it makes about 15 cups!) I said "Yes" of course. I was really wondering if the soup was any good and this was my chance to try it and see.

The instructions tell you to brown a pound of ground beef, reserve the colored noodles, add 12 to 15 cups of water, simmer for an hour. Then add the noodles and beef and simmer for 15 more minutes.

I did enjoy the soup BUT I think it you could improve it a couple of ways. I think instead of ground beef - chopped chicken would be better. If using the ground beef I would add a can of chopped tomatoes and some oregano. Anyways I was so pleased to see the gift used and now tested.

UFO's
Seeing how I had knocked out most of my weekend projects I decided to pull out my $3.00 garage sale find I have been working on. Oh about 3 weeks ago I found a garage sale on Craigslist that touted a lady who quilted for 40 years had died and donated her sewing room to her church. Well - being the penny pincher I am - I had to go. I was amazed at her stash, literally 75 to 100 unfinished projects and boxes of notions, craft supplies and books. I picked up 7 of her UFO's, some fabric, rulers, buttons, and many little bags of cut fabric some sewn into flying geese, HST or organized for lets say an I Spy Quilt. All in all I "only" spent $110.00. It filled the back of my car!

Here is the result of one of the $3.00 bags I picked up:

Pretty sue it is a Lynn Mann Mystery quilt! Shown here it is 60" x 84".
Most of the clues were completed - 2 blocks were completed so I had a good idea of what the quilt was to look like. When I started to put together the rows, I realized one block was missing... and no extra fabric to be found. So if you look at the center accent block - this is what I came up with with the pieces still available. I love it and I actually think that that block adds interest to the quilt.
On the inset photo is showing the pieces I still have left and the 2 fabrics I chose for the boarder and binding. I am going to use the 4 flying geese as diamonds in 2 of the corners. I will use the other little scraps somewhere too.

I will surely post about all the wonderful project I got at that sale. They should keep me busy for a while.  Seeing what happens to someone quilting life after they are gone was very saddening. The church yard was full of boxes, everyone digging into them, all the organization being taken apart. Within the 2 hours I spent 50 percent got scooped up for pennies on the dollar. It made me look at myself and tell myself to finish things I start an to control my stash more wisely. LIFE.