11/28/21

Lots of Sewing

There was plenty of time for sewing yesterday. I had a couple of small housekeeping chores on my calendar, but I ignored those and spent the day working on my projects. First, I spent an extra long time on my morning slow-stitching and finished up this section of the tree and leaves:


This morning, I'll link up to 


From there, I headed into the sewing room to quilt the snack mat sized Bee Brave quilt. There wasn't much room for quilting on this little piece, and so I stitched a flower on the right and left side of the center block.


Then, I quilted some honeycomb hexagons in the honeycomb border.


And then, a leafy meander in the outer border.


While I was doing that, Sadie was lying on the floor beside the ironing board, awaiting her chance to be helpful.


She helped me hold the quilt down so I could sew on the binding.


Then she helped me finish off the binding ends.


And with so much help, I had that binding sewn on faster than you can say "Bob's your uncle."


Sadie needed a nap after so much helping. By that time, she was 'zhausted.


The mail was delivered while I was working on that. Happily, the hot fix nailheads I was awaiting arrived. I ordered the little packet on the right from an Etsy seller, and the little package on the left was included.


Some time ago, I ordered a mixed assortment of hot fix nailheads. They came in all colors, shapes, and sizes. I've never been able to find a mixture like it again. I have an idea it was a seller going out of business and getting rid of overstock. Whatever the case, I've picked over it so much that I don't have a very good mixture any more. I went in search of more colors when I ordered these new ones, but the best I could do was this assortment of yellows ranging to reds. No matter, I had enough different ones to finish off the cats in the Never Enough Cats piece. 

If you're wondering about these, they're applied just like hot fix crystals. I've used a craft iron to heat them before, but ended up scorching one of my quilts that way. I bought the applicator wand at a quilt show one year, and it really is the correct tool for the job. You can find the one like mine right here


I note that the newer ones are a different shape, but they all come with interchangeable tips. Some of the tips have a flat end, but some are indented and make it possible to pick up the crystals using the wand, which is very handy. 

After sorting through the available colors, I went to work. Sadie's cat got some amber eyes.


Smitty's cat got some green eyes.


The rest of the cats were finished off with as many different colors as I could find. And then my quilt top was finished.


Now it's sandwiched for quilting. I'll pack this up as a take-along project and try to get it finished up when we head south this winter.


From there, I headed upstairs and hand sewed the binding on the Bee Brave quilt. And that makes a little finish. It ended up at 13 inches square.


Here's how it looks from the back.


That was the end of my sewing day. 

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had a turkey breast in the slow cooker. I wanted to try this recipe for Sausage-and-Apple Stuffing Bites. These were easy to make and pretty darned tasty. The recipe makes a lot. In the future, I'll make just half the recipe, which will work out better anyway. The whole recipe required two of these little mini muffin tins, and I had just one. Once you have the mixture stirred up, there's a short waiting period. Then, they're loaded into the mini muffin tin and baked for 20 minutes. (I used my toaster oven.) When they come out, they look like this:


I used a plastic teaspoon to get them out of the tins. Then, we just picked them up with our fingers and ate them. Yummy. The apple and sausage together gave them a nice flavor. Also, I skipped the first step in the recipe that called for cutting bread into cubes and then toasting them. I had some stuffing mix in my freezer, and so mine were pre-toasted.


I have a bunch left over, and I'm not sure how well they'll keep. We'll find out soon enough. I think these might also be good for breakfast. For sure, they made a fun little side dish, but they'd also make a good appetizer for a holiday gathering.

Okay, so before finish off today, I want to point you in the direction of my right side bar where I've added some new and used patterns for sale. Please take a look and email me if you see something you like. 


Now, go enjoy your Sunday. I hope you have lots of time for sewing. I'm off to make our Sunday morning Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes. I should have time for more sewing today. If I'm feeling particularly industrious, I might actually do those housekeeping chores I put off yesterday.

9 comments:

Barbara said...

Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~ Jim Davis

Quilter Kathy said...

Looks like a great recipe to try at CHristmas!
Lovely job on the fall tree stitching!
And I adore the photo of Sadie "helping" with attaching the binding... super sweetness!
Love that Bee Brave...maybe I will make that next!

Karrin Hurd said...

Gorgeous projects. Love the Bee Brave! Great idea on the stuffing in muffin tins. Stuffing is my favorite thing to make and I like leftovers, but this would be good for me to have small portions. Hope you have a great week!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Those eyes on the cats glow just like the real thing. I'd say those nailheads were a perfect choice. And I'd also say that you and Sadie did a great job on the bee quilt. Kudos to you both.
Went and peeked at the yard sale fully prepared to be filled with temptation if you happened to have listed the barn quilt. Don't know whether I'm relieved or sad that you didn't!

Julierose said...

Those kitties' eyes are so cute--great idea to use the hot fix ones...
I like the Bee petite quilt too...hugs, Julierose

Deb said...

Your tree and leaves stitching is just beautiful, love the Bee quilt and the Many Cats quilt is adorable. The stuffing bites look so good.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Just love those kitties. My granny made stuffing like this, but I like the idea of the little muffins.

SJSM said...

Another productive day for you. I like the cat eye solution. More expressive than buttons. I’m eeking along on the 5 Christmas stockings. I was distracted when the dishwasher stated it needed a cleaning. Looking for the cleaning product to run through the machine I ended up re-organizing the pantry, cleaning out under the sink and searching the garage and laundry room. Once found that exhausted me and i followed Sadie's lead and took time to rest. I watched videos on my new machine and still haven’t unpacked it as making room is another organizing task. I did sell one machine and another is ready for donation. Now to change shelf heights so my old machine has a space to live as my travel machine. Love seeing the kitties at work.

piecefulwendy said...

ou made the most of your NBS day, and glad Sadie was there to help. I think those stuffing bites might be tasty throughout the year, they look easy enough to make. I'm sure there are no calories, since they are bite size. Yum!