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.