Happily Tired, Taking it Easy!!!

Happily tired! What do I mean by this? It's the tired that comes from doing two days of satisfying work. Knowing you took care of your patients to the best of your ability, you did your job with relish. I felt love, and gave love in return. I feel my care improved the outcome of my patients, and I was able to convey to both them and their families that I genuinely care.

So I have a couple of nights off now. I've come home to my family, surrounded by love. I'm tired, but not to tired to make a big pot of Pho',(Vietnamese beef noodle soup). Supper is done. Our tummies are full, and I'm happily tired...content...satisfied! I feel surrounded by love.  I have hugged and loved on grandkids, spent time with DDs, and have retired to my little room, ready to relax and finish my bag.
(Yes, I am truly thankful to be so blessed!)

 I have the inside pockets complete, and one side panel embroidered with a patch pocket attached. One side to go, handles, bottom, and it will be complete. So I shall get off this computer, and go sew my little heart out!

Snail's trails, Snail's trails! Almost complete!

 Yippee!!! I finally have my snail's trail peiced together! I'm pleased with it too! It's very colorful and happy. I had problems along the way. I didn't have a 4 inch half square triangle die for my Go! Baby, so I used a 4 7/8"quarter square triangle die instead for the last set of triangles. Well, it took me a bit to figure out how to fix my error. So the blocks sat in the naughty corner for a while. I knew I had to trim them up, but wasn't sure how much. (But we're much better now!)

 Now to figure out how I'm going to finish this border wise. It'll be a comfy throw size. I showed the DDs, and the first question was,"Is this an Addi quilt?" Ummm, well yeah, Addi will probably claim it for her own. It's pink with flowers and little Japanese girls on it. I was really just wanting to make some colorful throws for the couch, but if Addi takes it, that'll be ok too. It does look very Addi-ish.

Have you seen these? I've been wanting to get one of these for a while. I seen it in a quilting magazine, and it's a Guidelines4quilting ruler for no math cutting. It's pretty neat really. The guides on the side of the ruler slides and locks to the measurement you want, then you attach the seam allowance guides to add 1/4" seam allowances for squares,half square triangles, and quarter square triangles. Anyway, go see the site for a better description. www.guidelines4quilting.com . It's worth a look see. It's so neat, I got an extra set for my friend Ms.Julie. (I'm making her a goodie basket to say thankyou for the Go!) Shush...don't you tell her!

Gumbo, quilting, and Dear Jane...It's been a satisfying week!

First of all, there is gumbo. It's the good stuff chocked full of shrimp, chicken, sausage, and okra. There's not, pursay, a written recipe of my gumbo. I've been making it the same way now for awhile. It always comes out really yummy! I made it mild this time for the grandbabies. The least little hot, and they fuss at me. ( Yeap, I am ruled by the grandbabies!) I always start off with 3 tablespoons of vegatable oil in a soup pan. I add 2 good heaping cups of the Pictosweet mixed seasoning veggies I get at Walmart.(or two cups of onions,celery,bell pepper red and green). While the seasoning veggies are sauting on high, I add several chopped fresh garlic cloves. When transluscent, I add 1 pound of chopped boneless chicken breast, 1 package of chopped smoked sausage and let it brown. Add several good shakes of Emeril's Essence seasoning. I also add 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 3 tablespoons of worstershire sauce, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce or Bragg's amino sauce. A couple packages of frozen okra goes in and 1 large can of crushed tomatoes and 1 large can of Rotel. ( except this time...remember the grandbabies? I just used 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes this time.) You can either add a can of chicken broth or some chicken bouillon and a cup of water. Turn it down to medium, and go sew for an hour or so. Come back and in a separate skillet, brown 1/3 of a cup of flour in 3 tablespoons of vegatable oil. I make my roux peanut butter color. Add to the gumbo mixture and stir well. While it's all hot and bubbly, cut down the heat to warm and add 2 lbs of cleaned,shelled, deveined, detailed shrimp. I get this at walmart as well. I usually get the medium shrimp. Now stir and mix well, put the lid on. It's hot enough to cooke the shrimp instantly, but I leave the lid on and let it set for another 15 mins. Serve with hot white buttered rice. This makes a giant pot of gumbo that feeds 8 people with some left overs. My soup pot is the size of a small washtub. It probably holds 3 gallons easy. So for 4 or 5 folks, I'd half the recipe. Addy tells me that the gumbo was,"Really yummy!" So if the picky grandkids loved it, it must have been pretty good!(Nana loves it!)

I've made a lot of progress on my quilted bag. I have the front panel complete and quilted...

And the back panel is quilted and completed. I'll probably finish up the sides, bottom,and get some handles on it the next couple of days. I'm totally enchanted with this bag. The colors and embroidery patern are happy! I love happy bright colorful things!

Last, but no means least...Dear Jane block. I have completed one block. (Don't laugh...it's not the easiest thing to peice such a small block!) Mine will be a neon Jane, I love bright colors! I've started block 2, and it's going a bit easier than block 1, now that I've figured out a technique that works for me. Well, that's all I have for now. I am going to be finishing up my Snail's Trail quilt soon too. Problems arose and were overcome. Next post will be about it and my completed bag!

PS- Here's block two! See, I told you it was half finished!