binding, tabs and ties

On Friday I had completed the pieced center of the paint chip challenge with some half square triangle unit trimmings to go.

On Saturday, I trimmed the units and got the borders on it and began the button hole applique that it required.

On Sunday I finished the applique, pieced the batting, marked it and pinned the piece---it is there on top.

This morning I am pressing binding in preparation to quilt those three pieces----the challenge piece, the tree skirt and a donation quilt that I would like to go to Gene Black's Angel Quilt projects along with another I have been holding till I get this one finished.  You can read about the effort on his blog HERE.  I discovered that I had NOT pieced the binding for that particular quilt or another one that is sitting atop my dresser.  I also forgot that the paint chip challenge needed some tabs made, it being a Button Up version and that is how they hang.  I'll do that before I start quilting today.

I follow my dear friend Joy's example of cutting the binding right along with cutting out the quilt top, seaming it when the top is done and then rolling it on section of cardboard like you do embroidery floss.  I pull and prep the backing as well and then pin it when it is convenient (read: corresponds to a meeting date if possible).  Joy often left "the spool" in the folds of the quilt.  I sometimes do that as well but mostly I file it in a couple of containers that I have set aside for this.  I check there first.  Occasionally I slip up or change my mind about what I want to use but I do try to make a habit of it.  Then there are no deterrents to quilting if the quilts are pinned.  If there is no deadline to worry about, I can pick whichever quilt I am in the mood to deal with.

All three of these have a deadline----the tree skirt I want done ASAP, the Angel Quilt before the 12th and the paint chip challenge on December 14th.  I best get cracking!  I'll see how far I get.  Guess that means I am quilting or working on binding at Belles tomorrow.

And sew it goes------

sidetracked

Color me distracted---in more ways than one! Because of the order the pictures posted, we'll go with this first.

Goodbye to most of the huge holly bush that was overgrown into the support post, the soffit and the driveway! DJ sawed off most of it yesterday but whittled away at it a bit more this morning. We both drug branches down to the burn pile last night, manually and in the wheel barrel---just ahead of a thunderstorm!

The biggest one you see down the row needs to go as well but can wait a bit. Actually till we are allowed to burn brush again (whole state is till under a burning ban as far as I know), we can't really pile much more on the brush pile.

I didn't get the best of pictures here but the crape myrtles bushes are beginning to show their color. The large more mature tree, white one, has been out for longer but not a whole lot of blossoms.

And look who was waiting for me to come back in the kitchen? He wants his treat bite (teaspoon of Fancy Feast canned) I was greeted with the full throated meow version. If you can't figure out what THAT means, then you don't speak "cat" very well, LOL.

Yesterday afternoon as I was working on the stitching project that I am piddling with (more about that in a minute), I got a call from my friend Lois. Did I want some sweet corn? Her husband Les had picked some that morning. I drove on over in short order. I guess they had been putting up corn for the freezer all day!

She asked me if I wanted some zucchini and cukes which were also producing in abundance. Now, I love cukes but DJ does not but I took a couple off her hands to slice up and marinate for my pleasure. Lois also gave me her recipe for zucchini soup which calls for 6 cups of shredded or sliced zukes. I peeled and shredded that all up last evening in addition to prepping the corn. I steamed the ears she already had husked and nuked the stuff on the cob. I have had good success using a recipe for fresh corn in the husks in the microwave---found HERE on cooks.com.

You see the good looking soup here---the extra bits. We will have some of it with our sandwiches for lunch. I tweaked her recipe just a wee bit adding a bit of thyme and celery. The sample I had about 1030 was delish! I add the leftover corn but now cut off the cob to the mix as well.

I was busy in the kitchen for quite some time. The soup was the last thing I made but before that I did up a batch of tuna mac salad for our supper, threw some chicken breasts in the crockpot for enchiladas later in the week and hard boiled some eggs for one of DJ's fav breakfast dishes. That puts me a little ahead of the game for meal prep.

In between there was a quick store run to get some more blueberries. I had two cups of fresh berries leftover from another purpose--the pie takes 3. I had toyed with the idea of making muffins but I didn't feel like baby sitting muffin pans all morning ( I am short a pan to bake them all at once). I use the Creamy Blueberry Pie recipe from allrecipes.com. The remaining cup of berries went up in the freezer to IQF for pancakes or whatever down the line.

So here is the sidetracked sewing project. 5 days into the month and I realized that I had not switched out the July wall hanging ----Be Attitudes and Calendar quilts. One is easy to do but the Be Attitudes uses a closed dowel rod hanger ( found HERE ) and hanging tabs. Each month I have to sew the tab over the hanger. After I put "Be Honest" up, I decided to just make some more tabs, get some more buttons and make one for each quilt fastening the back with a snap. I did an inventory to see exactly how many I need in what color groupings---one more green, 4 more blue and 3 reds since I already had 4 made that I could revamp. Just need to cut the tabs out and buzz them up on the machine and I will be golden from here on out, LOL.

I still have bias strips and binding to sew but I am on a roll with this tab thing and will see it thru first! Hopefully it will not be an all week deal----provided I can stay out of the kitchen for hours on end. Well, it is time to go warm up the soup. If Lois okays it, I will post the recipe down the line.