Chicken Soup and Soupy Sales

We just had a new cable channel added locally - a lot of oldies and I never laughed so hard to see the Soupy Sales show. Don't know Soupy Sales? Do I date myself?
Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009) was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children’s television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

Chicken Tortellini Soup - My sister-in-law brought me a roaster chicken carcass the other day as she knows I love to make soup. I start with 7 1/2 cups water and place chicken in to boil, lower heat and let cook for about 1/2 hr. While chicken is doing it's thing, I take a skillet, add 1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil, go nuts with the seasonings - sea salt, cracked pepper, cyan, and minced garlic (one clove). I let the seasonings warm (infusing) while chopping 2 stalks celery, one onion, I had some pre-cut carrots for salad fixings so used them-chopped smaller. Oh, there's a tomato and half a zucchini left in the fridge - chop. Add to skillet and let warm until onions are just "sweating" (translucent) as everything will cook more in the soup. Remove skillet from heat. I then strained the chicken stock - let bones cool and then 'pick-em-clean'. Now if this doesn't appeal to you, you could use a canned chicken broth and cubed chicken (use up some leftovers) and let warm. Add seasoned vegies, chicken to the stock and let simmer until vegies are done. You can add rice, macaroni, egg noodles, but I like to add cheese tortellini (thaw frozen package in microwave) and heat thru. Serve with a hearty crusty bread or whole wheat rolls.

I won some scrap fabric and challenged myself to make something with it. I saw a unique bag and set to work. The bag is finished - you can tell it is part of a vest and kept that as the bag shape. Keeping the inset pockets - added velcro so they could be closed - and 2 inset zipper pockets in the lining. It was claimed as I was cutting, and she only wanted one strap. Had more fabric left so made a little clutch that can be used with the bag or by itself. Used some antique wood buttons from greatgram's tin and TA-DA! I love it. What have you challenged yourself with lately?

This little scrappy heart wallhanging was made using the pattern/tutorial during the Be Mine Blog Tour. She offered a pillow, but I'm not a pillow decor person. My decor is very country, and I like little wall art, so my plaid heart evolved. It goes so well with my North/South quilt I just finished.

And I made this cute table runner with another of the Be Mine Blog Tour pattern/tutorials. Again, being creative with my scraps and just enjoying sewing for fun. After all, what do you do when it is accuming 2 feet of snow outside? The Be Mine button is on the side - take some time for fun sewing.

'Boxes in Boxes' - I just love this pattern and colors of bits of fabric. I used 2.5" squares, 1.5" sashing, and 1.5" cornerstones. It is machine and hand quilted - love to use color when quilting. This quilt is on it's way for 'Happy Chemo" donation. I found this thru another quilting blogger asking for donations. You can check the founding site: http://happychemo.blogspot.com/

'Simple Boxes' - This is a very easy donation quilt pattern. I just hit the scraps again. I love blue, birds, and bird houses - can't you tell? The blocks are just simple 'patches' and sashed. This quilt has a ticking and pieced back. It is another quilt on it's way to "Happy Chemo". http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com/2011/01/little-help-please.html
Emily is the blogger who's so graciously collecting for her area and I just had to send these to her.

I'm sew excited! Even in a snow storm, UPS delivers. My thread is here. Just had to share all these wonderful colors. I'm not affilliated with Connecting Threads, but I love their thread. Their Egyptian Cotton with Silk finish is great for machine quilting. I'm panting to use their new line of Essential Pro, cotton,poly - designed for longarm. But I don't have a long arm, it should work just as well on my domestic and I can't wait to give it a whirl. That's my schedule thru the weekend - how many UFOs can I get done? I'm going to have fun trying - like Soupy, with a pie in the face.

Sewingly Yours,
Sharon