A couple of knitting finishes

These have both been done for a number of days - I just found time to post!

The cowl is from the pattern Very Gifted Cowl by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. It is quite plain so every 10th row, I did a K1 P1 pattern for the entire row. The yarn is HiKoo by skacel Simplinatural, color 46 Crimson, that I bought last spring at Knit-n-Crochet in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  I can use the cowl as a hood so I guess it is called a snood.

The sweater is from the pattern Vineyard Pullover by Rosemary Drysdale. I used James C. Brett Marble Chunky that I bought last spring at Back Porch Quilts and Yarn in Livingston, Montana. I love the yarn. The sweater design is a little blah - I'll wear it some but I was hoping it would be a goto sweater with jeans. 

I'm currently knitting a vest in a lace pattern. It will be awhile before it is done...

Vegetable Beef Soup using dehydrated vegetables

I keep hunting for recipes that use dehydrated food. Some are ok but many have been somewhat disappointing. Today I decided to use a tried and true recipe and change it. Maybe I've found the key - just use my regular recipes and allow for rehydration.

This recipe calls for 4 cups of tomato juice. If I had tomato powder, I could have made tomato juice. No tomato powder because I could not get an abundance of tomatoes this past fall. I decided to just use tomatoes. I had 3 cups of frozen tomatoes and I added 1/2 cup of dehydrated tomatoes. I would have used all dehydrated but I wanted to get those last frozen tomatoes out of the freezer. The soup is not as tomatoey as the original recipe but it has a good flavor and we really liked it.

This makes 8 good sized servings and freezes well. Sorry I forgot to take photos! 

Vegetable Beef Soup in Slow Cooker

2 c  cubed beef

3 c frozen tomatoes

½ c dehydrated tomatoes

2 T dehydrated onion flakes

¼ c dehydrated carrot chips

¼ c dehydrated celery

½ c dehydrated cabbage

1 c dehydrated potatoes

8 ¼ c water  (original recipe called for 4c; added 4 ¼ c for dehydrated veggies)

2 t salt

1 T sugar

2 t chili powder

¼ t pepper

Brown beef. Can use oil but I didn’t. Add all to slow cooker. Cook 6 hours on low.

A small finish

Our house is decorated for Christmas. The shopping is about done. The cards are started. I still have baking and a few other things to do but there has been some time to sew.

In my cleaning, I found some pieces left from a baby boy quilt that I made last February seen here.  I decided there were just enough pieces to make another baby quilt. It's only 32" by 38" and will be donated.

The backing is teal with orange and yellow and the binding is an orange stripe from my stash that seemed to work.

The quilting is a new design for me. I saw it on a Sew Very Easy video. It is a double C. Basically, you draw a C and then come back to make it a double C. I don't know if you can see the pattern or not in the following picture; I do know I like the texture of the quilting.

My donation pile was pretty low and now it has one more quilt, although it is a small one.

Delivered!

What a great day - we delivered quilts to American Family Children's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. It is part of the University of Wisconsin Health System and a fantastic facility. 

Ray and I toured the hospital when it opened in 2007. Ray's mom was in the UW hospital at the time and we just wondered over for the Open House and were very impressed.

The two ladies accepting my quilts were very excited to get them. 

All 23 quilts ready to go

We know of two young friends who have used this wonderful facility. So today when we delivered the quilts and I filled out the paperwork, it was with great pleasure that I wrote: 

Donated in honor of 

Junko Takahashi 

and 

Sawyer Fry

Today was fun. I hope 23 children each feel the love and hugs in his or her new quilt.

Cashmere Socks!

I've had very little free time lately but I finished knitting my latest pair of socks today.

They are not pure cashmere - the Smooshy yarn is 20% cashmere, 70% super wash merino wool, and 10% nylon. The yarn was wonderful to knit and it is so soft. 

It feels good to put my feet up. I love my socks!

Eleven finishes!

Note: not sure what is going on with Blogger and the centering????

Here are the most recent finishes - all eleven of them! Nine of the eleven are donation quilts.

The first is a North Carolina shop hop quilt from a few years ago. It is about 47" by 49" and stippled. The words "most of my friends are flakes" read up/down instead of down/up which is weird to me but that is the way the panel came. We will keep this quilt.

I pieced the back.

The kit of totem poles from Alaska were supposed to be two wallhangings - I made them into one. It is 26" by 38" and stippled around the appliqué. We will keep this quilt.

The back was a also a batik.

The orange and yellow quilt was something I wanted to try based on a quilt I saw a number of years ago. The orange and yellow strings are batiks. I appliquéd the circles onto the quilt. The 50" by 50" quilt is quilted with straight lines.

The back is cotton and pieced with some batik strings.

This quilt is made from a Lady Bug Blooms layer cake by Clothworks. It is 49" square and quilted with an orange peel grid quilting design. The pattern is Square Cut from Cutting Cake by Creek Side Stitches.

I used some left over pieces in the back.

This batik quilt was made from scraps. This 50" X  74" is quilted with straight lines in a double grid pattern.  The pattern is Sea Glass from Scrap Basket Beauties by Kim Brackett.

The back is cotton.

The Figtree quilt is made from a Honeysweet jelly roll by Moda. This 50" by 60" quilt is free motion quilted with a design I call three-loops. I cut each strip into four 6 1/2" pieces and six 2 1/2" pieces. Then I used two 6 1/2" pieces, two 2 1/2" pieces, and one 2 1/2" contrasting piece (for center) to make each block. 

The back is cotton.

I've always wanted to do a scrappy Trip Around the World. This quilt is 59" by 83" and I straight stitched it in the diamond pattern.

The back is cotton, also from my stash.

I made my own 2 1/2" strips to make this jelly roll race quilt. It is batiks as are the little red squares connecting the strips. The quilt finished at 64" by 72".

The back is cotton. The lines really are straight - I flipped this in the wind and took a picture.

The blue and white disappearing pinwheel quilt has a little surprise. This 62" by 90" quilt has a red back! I free-motion quilted this with the three-loops.

Here is the red back.

A long time ago, I asked for input on the orientation of the block with the white background on this next quilt. The diamond looks great on this 54" by  66" batik scrap quilt. The white is cotton. I free-motion quilted this with the wandering clover motif.

The  back is cotton and looks very much like a batik.

How long ago did I begin this QOV quilt? Quite a while ago but it is now done! The design is similar to one I once saw on a Fons and Porter show. It is a 65" by 73" scrap quilt with all of the blues matching. I machine quilted it with a large loop-de-loop.

The back is red with tiny blue tear drops.

That's all of them! I'll be passing the donation quilts on next week.