Wednesday Whiskers

Before I go on, I just want to remind you that there are just two days left to link up to the November NewFO Linky Party and Giveaway. If you want a chance to win the quilt block needle nanny, head over here, link up, and show us your new projects. And if you're new to this blog and don't know what a NewFO is, then click right here for an explanation of the challenge.

So here's what's been going on here today. I slept better last night, and so I had a lot more energy today. This morning I broke apart my turkey carcass and boiled it down for stock. Man, did that make the house smell good!

I ended up with six quarts of stock. I'll use three when I make some turkey noodle soup for dinner tomorrow. The rest went into the freezer for another time. I have used all of my Thanksgiving leftovers, and I am feeling pretty darned spunky, let me tell you. I already told you about the salad I made on Monday. 

Then last night, I adapted a recipe I found on Annie's Eats for Portabellos with Herbed Stuffing and Sweet Potatoes. I did what she said for the portabellos, but then just used my leftover stuffing and sweet potatoes for the rest. As a binder, I used the egg like she said, but my stuffing was already pretty moist, so I only used 1/4 cup of the chicken broth. Also, I topped it with a little Parmesan cheese to hold the whole thing together. It was quite good, and it used up the last of my sweet potatoes and stuffing. We had the last of the cranberries served on the side.

Tonight, I made Cottage Pies...one of Mike's favorites...and that used the last of the five pounds of mashed potatoes I had. Yes, you read that right: five pounds. You can find the recipe for Cottage Pies right here. Tomorrow we'll have the turkey noodle soup made with the last of the turkey and the stock I made this morning. Am I a frugal earth muffin or what? As I said, I'm feeling pretty darned spunky. So spunky, in fact, that I just said it again. In 38 years of Thanksgiving cooking (minus a year here and there), I don't think I've ever managed to use everything up without throwing something away.

I had physical therapy this afternoon, but before I needed to leave, I had several hours to spend in my sewing room. I finished making the label for my Snow Birds quilt. Then I went back to work on Wind in the Whiskers. I was considering changing its name to "Whine in the Whiskers", but today's effort wasn't so bad. I think I'm kind of getting the hang of it. Definitely, I'm getting better organized with it. Before I left for physical therapy, I fused the tree to the right side of the background.

The little house has been giving me grief. The roof and dormer piece on the right side didn't want to stay fused. I'm not sure why since everything else is working just fine. Today, I realized I was going to have to do something about it or risk losing the pieces.

When pressing them for the umpteenth time didn't work any better than the previous umpteen times I'd tried it, I decided to turn to this can of 606. You are probably familiar with 505, but I found this can of 606 at some point in time many moons ago. I have yet to use it. It was one of those products that seemed like a good idea at the time. Today, it earned its place in my sewing room. I simply sprayed the back of those two pieces and then ironed them down again. Miracle or miracles, they stuck. 

Okay, 606. You can stay.

About that time, my little furry helper decided that temperatures in the 20's were just no good at all for hunting and he decided to join me in the nice warm sewing room on his comfy little bed.

"Mom, Geez! Will you stop flashing that camera in my face, puh-leeze?!?"

"I want to take a nap."

Okay, Big Boy. Have a little snooze and stop walking on things.

Coincidentally, the next bit was to make the little kittens in the basket.

I planned poorly when I chose the fabric for the interior of that basket because there isn't any contrast. That's okay. It'll get top-stitched and that will give it more definition. Anyway...there are the kittens...and I fused them to the background.

And that was the last bit that I need to fuse to the background until I get around to Block 4. There are still leaves, blossoms, and the little chickadee to be fused across the top of the piece. 

The only thing left to do is to make all the little items that will hang from the clothesline. The boxer shorts and the quilt on the left side are all three dimensional. The rest will be fused to the background once I have the clothesline attached, but that will have to wait for later. Block 4 seems to be the linchpin for the whole project. I'm going to get those pieces ready to go, and then I'm going to move onto something else. That will be on tomorrow's agenda.

So that was my day. The only other thing left to do was to hand sew the label onto my Snow Birds quilt. I sewed the sleeve on it already, and so this one is ready for the quilt show next month. Now, I'm kind of excited about it!

Tomorrow I have just a little bit of housework to do, and I want to go swimming. My knee has been bothering me since physical therapy this afternoon. It was bothering me before physical therapy too, but it seems a little worse this evening. If it isn't better tomorrow, I'm afraid I'll have to bag swimming. Aside from that, nothing else to do but sew. Our temperatures are so frigid right now that the sewing room is the best place to be.

How's the weather where you are? I think most of us here in North America are experiencing cold temperatures. You folks down under must be feeling pretty good about your weather right about now.