O' Winter

With below 0 and single diget temperatures, I was suddenly remembering being one of the brave (fool hardy) leaders who would winter camp with the Boy Scout Troop. This soup was their favorite - had to have venison hamburg, if not it became known as Humbug Soup.

Hamburger Soup
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 white onion, peeled and diced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dry oregano
1/2 teaspoon dry basil
1 (1 1/2 ounce) envelope onion soup mix
6 cups water
1 (8 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
1 cup celery, sliced
1/4 cup celery leaves, coarsely chopped
1 cup fresh carrot, sliced
1 cup white potato, peeled and cut into small cubes

Brown ground beef and onion in a large pot. Drain if needed. Add spices and onion soup mix. Stir in water, tomato paste and soy sauce. Bring to a boil; then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer uncovered until potatoes and carrots are tender about 30 minutes. (Add more water if needed). Serve with shredded parmesan cheese and butter crackers.

I felt guilty not completing the Roll Roll Cotton Boll (Bonnie Hunter), so pulled all my pieces and blocks - decided to at least assemble one quilt. I like this smaller version and will keep her border setting for this one. The second one I will change the border on, but I like the lap quilt size. I will still have blocks and pieces left over, but they will most certainly get used in another quilt or maybe a wallhanging.

I decided I needed to at least get another UFO finished with the long cold days, so I pulled this very early paperpiecing project. I got tired of just square in a square and tried to change up the blocks, some are 'oops', some are original, some are planned. I think that is why it sat, plus I got caught up in NEW projects. I found some scrap border left from another project - I would have loved to show you the checkerboard back fabric, but my camera is limping with duct tape - yes, duct tape, thank you miss furry. This 'I SPY' will be saved for my new grandson's 1st birthday.

And I took time to have some fun sewing into the mix. I really enjoyed the week long Be Mine Blog Tour. Some very easy projects with excellent tutorials. This needlekeep worked up so quickly, that I actually made one for my Mom, my daughter and my SIL. And when I can add buttons to something, it is the perfect project - I love old buttons. Digging in those old tins from my greatgram brings back so many memories. But you can't share those memories if you don't take them out and use them.

This is another old UFO, a free pattern still on the Carol Doak website. I did these blocks when I first started and someone gave be a bag of scrap, not so quilty fabric. But they deserve to be a finished quilt, so they have been done up and some Thimbleberries fabric borders and backing. I am handquilting this one as it needs a little more love. It will make for a loving gift to the Battered Women's Shelter with those baskets of flowers.

"Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home."
Edith Sitwell

Sewingly Yours
Sharon