Flying Geese, Bonnie's Geese on a String

I try to keep a several quilting projects going at the same time, though I try to keep my works in progress to just a few, four or five at the most because I like to finish them.  My mind gets cluttered and I feel overwhelmed if I get too many, but, at the same time, I want a variety of things to do so that I can stay busy.  Usually I limit them to a main project which is usually something that I am doing by machine, a hand piecing project that is portable, and a leader ender project.  I also occasionally have something that I am hand quilting. 


Currently, my main project has been a Flying Geese pattern that is called Geese on a String.  This is a pattern that comes from Bonnie Hunter's blog. She is my all time favorite quilter.  If you don't know about her, check out her website and blog at Quiltville.com.  She has all kinds of free patterns on her site.  She is a quilter after my own heart. She uses all kinds of fabrics together in a quilt, AND she loves vintage sewing machines. 


Last year I made my daughter a king sized New York Beauty and had a whole bunch of short strips left over.  Bonnie's Geese on a String was a perfect way of using most of these strips up.  I've also been trying to teach myself how to free motion quilt, and I got lots of practice quilting this. So this is what I've been working on.

                                     

Picking out the binding was the hardest part. No color seemed to go with this quilt, but I finally came across this beautiful piece that I found on my trip to Paducah this year.  When I bought it, I just knew it would be great for a border or bindings. 

Using scissors, I carefully cut out a 2 inch strips of the sections that I chose for the binding on this quilt.  I usually make wider binding from 2 1/2 inch strips, but this quilt only needed a narrow binding. I had purchased 5 yards of this so I only had to cut 3 strips.  The picture below shows the front and back views of the binding.

I finished this quilt this week and plan to give this to my sister who also quilts, but has never made herself a bed quilt. 

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE

ITALIAN VEGETABLE SOUP

One of the things I like to do is make big pots of soup or chili and freeze it in quart sized freezer bowls.  Then, whenever we need a fast meal, or I just don't want to cook, we have healthy and delicious fast food already at home. I can just take one out of the freezer and heat the frozen contents slowly over low heat and it doesn't take long before it is ready.  You can change the ingredients to suit your taste or whatever you have on hand.

1 pound or so of ground beef

2 cups of water or beef broth

2 or 3 beef bouillon cubes

1 or 2 onions, chopped

3 or 4 stalks of celery, chopped

3 or 4 carrots, chopped

minced garlic

1 tbls dried parsley

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 or 2 cans of kidney beans

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato sauce

1 can of green beans

can also add shredded cabbage, mushrooms, corn, and even noodles if you desire.

Brown the ground beef in a large soup pot.  Drain. Add the other ingredients and cook on low until the vegetables are tender.  

OR, you can brown the meat and then transfer to a crockpot and add the other ingredients. Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. 

I John 4:4   You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.