Starts and Finishes

Getting ready for Thanksgiving here.  

Two gluten-free pie crusts ready and in the freezer, check.

Ducks out of the freezer and thawing, check.

Dad bagged these wood ducks (and a few more) this hunting season.  How about his XXX rating?  Triple X means they're in great condition, as in there are probably no shot pellets in the breast meat and all the parts are intact, etc.  The other end of the spectrum in his labeling system is "GA."  If you are gifted a package of wild duck or goose that says GA, he will tell you it means "Good to Average" (which may be true), but to him it means "Give Away."  Sorry, Dad, if I just busted you, but it is pretty funny.

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My sister will be bringing the turkey.  Norm is relieved to know there will be traditional domesticated fowl on the menu as well. 

We'll have squash in lieu of sweet potatoes.  I like both, but Dad had a bumper crop of butternut squash this year.  

He didn't plant gourds, but these hitched a ride in the tomato plants from the nursery and grew up among (and over and through) the tomatoes.  How long does it take gourds to dry, do you know?  These have been sitting since early September but they're still pretty solid feeling.  Remember when you dried gourds in grade school and they became nature's maracas?  Maybe you need an old-fashioned radiator to help the process, none of this humidity-controlled central heating stuff.

I grabbed some strips sitting off to the side on the cutting table and whipped up another kennel quilt for the animal surgery clinic.  I'm repurposing my daughter's old scrubs for these.

I did free-motion wavy quilting down the seam lines.  I asked my daughter how these were holding up through washings, etc., and she said "surprisingly well."  Guess I better churn out a few more then.

I also finished the borders on the improv corduroy quilt.  I used up all the red corduroy and almost all the blue in the process of bordering it.  You know what?  I really like it!

Not sure how to go about quilting it yet.  I think I want to keep it simple, whatever form that may take.  Feel free to volunteer ideas, if you have any.

I hope you and yours have a very Happy Thanksgiving!  And happy shopping, if you're into Black Friday sales.  I'll be home devising my Cyber Monday plan.