Just a little news and a recipe

In June, I traveled to Arkansas to give a trunk show and teach a short class to one of my mother's quilt guilds.  The first part of the morning I gave my trunk show and answered some questions before breaking for a pot luck luncheon.  Which,  by the way, was delicious and the homemade bread was awesome!  After lunch, I set up for a small showing of projects with plans to demo a bit and teach some strip piecing techniques. It didn't go that way, but was really wonderful anyway.  After showing some of my strip piecing projects, they all just wanted to look at my projects and ask questions.  They were not really prepared - most of them - for a "class".  However, one lady, pictured below with me and my sister, Paige, came prepared, but decided not to sew.  She was darling and requested that we take a picture with her.  They asked if I would come back and teach an all day class next time.  So, I am looking forward to returning to Arkansas to teach some more quilting in the future.  Don't know exactly when that will be, but hopefully sometime soon.  

 

 

 

One of my strip piecing projects that I took was this string quilt I have previously blogged about here.  Since returning from Arkansas, I have added a large blue border all around.  I was thinking at first that would be all I would add, now I am thinking about adding some gray and green 4 patches.  I still have some of the gray strips and I have some bright green fabric in the same print as the dark blue.  I think I will work on that tomorrow and see where it leads me.   I am not sure I want them all the way around the quilt or if I want them randomly spaced, clustered on the corners or what.  I will just make up a bunch and then play.  

 

 

Earlier this week I tested out one of the recipes I have copied down from the Internet - probably from Facebook - for easy lasagna.  It was fast, easy and tastes wonderful.  Here are the simple directions for making this fantastic lasagna. 

 

Ingredients:

1 jar prepared pasta sauce (I used a jar of Putanesca sauce I got at Big Lots and had in my cabinet - I think this made the dinner since it has great flavor with the olives and capers)

1 package refrigerated ravioli (I used Buttoni cheese ravioli in the smaller shape, but used a large package)

Mozzarella cheese grated

Parmesan cheese grated

frozen spinach, thawed and all the water squeezed out

 

Now to assemble.  Put a little bit of the pasta sauce in the bottom of  a 9 X 13 pan.  (You could probably use a 9 X 9 pan and make more layers.)  make one layer of the ravioli - do not overlap.  Pour a little of the sauce over the top and cover with half the spinach and mozzarella cheese, do another layer of the ravioli, sauce, spinach and cheese.  End with a layer of the ravioli and sauce. Be sure you have enough sauce to do this top layer because it's important to cover all the ravioli so it will cook and soften in the oven.  Cover the entire dish with the Parmesan cheese and cover with foil. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake about 10 more minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  Let set for a few minutes on the counter before serving. 

 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I have enjoyed eating on it.  I have put some in the freezer to see how it likes to freeze.  I figure it will be okay since all the ingredients can be frozen.  You could change it up just by changing your sauces and your ravioli.  I think the next time I make it I will use a vodka sauce and a meat filled ravioli in the large squares.  Enjoy!



Checking in on my Blog

Wow!  June went by fast!  I can't believe it's already the 6th of July.  Where has my summer gone?  I have gotten nothing - I repeat, NOTHING done here at home.  I went to Arkansas to visit with my mother and sister - and nephews, too.  While I was there I gave a trunk show and was supposed to teach a short class, but everyone was more interested in seeing my quilts and visiting with me and we never got around to the class part of the day.  It was a lot of fun and I think my mother took some pics with my camera.  I will have to dig it out and post them.  (if I approve of them)  We also did some shop hopping of our own.  A store in the area was having a massive sale - owner had passed away and the family was getting rid of everything - so we hit that one first - about 60 yards later we were ready for lunch and another store.  My sister hit that one pretty hard and we had lunch at a Mexican food place near that store that was one of two the clerk recommended.  I wish I had taken a picture of what my sister and I ended up sharing.  It was large, yes, but not too large, what it was - was delicious!  I am going to have to make something similar here.  If only I could remember everything about it.  I am drawing a blank.  ARGGGG.  Oh well, I will create my own version of something.  LOL.  Well, got a border to put on the previous string quilt.  I finally found the right fabric for it in my collection.

Hippo Nostrils and Other Animals

 

Tonight I got a little bit more time to work on the quilt top and made 8 more blocks.  This is how it looks right now.  It is about 24" square.  I thought I wanted it 5 X 6, but I am not sure if I am going to like the incomplete square look.  I may have to make it a 6 X 6 to finish the look.  However, that's 20 more blocks and I am not sure I have enough strips for that.  Below are some close-ups of the strips.  

lion eyes and ears

 

Hippo nostrils!  My favorite!

 

Hippo teeth and monkey faces.   This fabric is fun.  Okay, Mom, look.  Does that gray fabric (light gray calico-ish) look familiar now?  I promise it came from you. 

The newest in the series of Strings

This past week was chock full of fabric store stuff.  Our new JoAnn's had their Grand Opening last Thursday, Friday and Saturday and were giving away 100 gift cards each morning. So, of course, I had to go stand in line to get one. Unfortunately I didn't get one of the $250 cards, but I did get three (one each morning) ten dollar cards.  ($30 to spend on anything in JoAnn's - free!)   On Saturday, I did the usual, get there early, sit in my car and read - count how many people are in line - read, finally with about 35 in line and more people getting out of their cars, I get out and go stand with everyone else.  I don't think 100 people showed up to stand in line any of the mornings.  Anyway, on Saturday, I spent my gift cards and then headed to Andrews where the Sewing Cottage was having their newly re-modeled (kept typing re-molded - couldn't figure out how to spell, there for a second LOL) sale.  I found some goodies I couldn't pass up and then I got, in my bag, an added bonus.  A cute little hand made bag - think small  - with some goodies inside.  There were two pieces of chocolate - they are sitting on my nightstand since Saturday night when I remembered the clerk telling me not to let them melt and I went out to the car to retrieve them - they were melted, but now have hardened again and are ready for me to eat.  (rambling much?) Anyway - there was also a pattern with an interesting border, may have to try it and then - - - several pieces of fabric.  Cute, fun zoo fabric.  Hippos, zebras, lions, giraffes, etc.  This fabric is a good size chunks, but none of it is the same size.  These are really cute, but what can I do with them?  I unfold them and stack them leaving about 1 1/2 inch strip showing of the fabric underneath wondering how they would all look together and I think!!!  strips!!  What else?  LOL That is where my brain is right now.  So, tonight I cut them into strings - no specific width on these strips - and then I start rummaging in the rest of my stash.  I had at first thought I would add some pinks and yellows/golds with the fabrics. (pink hippo noses, mouths and ears)  However, when I began cutting, the color gray kept showing up.  In almost every fabric.  So, the gray drawer comes down, I pull a few grays out to cut into strings and in there I find some pre-cut strips.  These fabrics are old - at least 30 years old.  They use to belong to my mother, but I took them - many years ago - (actually she gave them to me when I began making quilts 20+ years ago.  They were strips she had previously cut for a quilt class she took with Sharon Newman or a quilt she wanted to make after the Sharon Newman class?) Well, I ended up with them and didn't think I would ever use them.   I couldn't throw them out so they have been loitering in the gray fabric box for a really, really long time.  Now they are the center stripe on this string piecing quilt I am making.  Along with the grays, I added some black and white from the black and white blocks I just finished - didn't put the fabric back in the drawer so it got used - some blues from the other block I made - the tub of blues and greens was still sitting out - and of course had to pull in some of those greens.  Now, it's no longer a pink and gold dominate quilt, but a blue/gray/green dominate quilt.  This one will definitely be for a little boy someday.  Below, I have pieced four blocks - cut up an old phone book for the paper backing - and have sewn those four blocks together.  Since these squares are 6 1/2" squares I will try to make this a 5 X 6 setting and add a border of some kind.  I really like the way it is looking just from these four squares.  I can't wait until tomorrow night to add the next four blocks in an X style to see the pattern emerge a bit more. 

I love the hippo noses and the lion eyes.  It's all so fun and cartoonish.   Even though the center strips are all the same size, I am not being precise on the middle placement of them.  My thought on this is, "as long as it covers the center points on the paper, I am good with it" so you can tell that the gray strips don't match up 100%.  However, it's close enough that it moves the eye around the block an will create movement in the quilt.  Okay, yet another strip/string project for me.  Has any of this inspired you to start a strip/string project yet?  If so, I would love to see what you are working on. 

Triangle Strings and Quilts from the Quilter

 

I finished my string triangles.  The above picture is of the block top and the below picture is of the quilted, finished pillow cover.  It's about 18 1/2" square.  The one on top is a bit dark since it was really cloudy that night and we were supposed to be getting a bunch of rain.  It didn't happen that night, but it did a couple of nights later.  We still need more and we may be lucky enough to get some this week. 

 

You can see my strip boxes on top of this cabinet.  I have a 1 1/2" box and a 1 3/4" box.  I also have a 2 1/2" box, but it's higher up on this cabinet.  They are all full of strips for future projects.  These triangles didn't come out of those boxes.  I used strings - strips of fabric in an undetermined width.  (that's my definition of strings) I keep my strings in a separate tub. 

 

There are a couple of triangles in there that were cut out with the strips running up and down.  I think they add some fun and character to everything.  They were also too narrow to cut out the other way, but I didn't want all that sewing to go to waste, so I cut the triangle out any way I could.  The border fabric was stuck in the string box, also.  I am not sure if I had intended to cut it up into strips or if I was working on a project and this just happened to get in there.  Either way, it ended up in a string project. : )

 

Last week I got back the quilts that I had sent off to be quilted by Abby at Latimer Lane Quilts.  They are beautiful! 

 

 

The one above is a flannel quilt I made many, many years ago.  It was hanging in my closet with the backing - also flannel - and the binding just waiting to be quilted.  It will be going to my cousin's daughter as a late graduation present once I get the binding and label done.  With the wonderful quilting it now feels like suede!!!!  It is amazing.  I just love touching it.  

 

This one is a pattern I got off of Moda Bake Shop and was designed by Quilt Dad.  It's made with a honeybun and a charm pack (all of the same line).  It's really sweet and girly, but really small. (about 50" square)   I am not sure where this one will end up - I have a couple of ideas - but I really like it even though it's pastel so I may keep it.  The quilting is awesome on this one, as well.  I didn't take a close-up of the quilting.  Sorry



 



This quilt you may recall seeing here on the blog.  It's the Jelly Roll quilt along from the Moose on the Porch blog.  It was a lot of fun and turned out really great.  I can't believe it was in 2010 that I made this top and I hate to say it, but it's one of the newest quilts from this collection of quilts.  I think the pastel one is probably the last one finished because it even has it's own matching bag and I recently started doing that.   

I had originally said I wanted it to be quilted in orange or red or pink, but Abby suggested a pale yellow and it works great.  I just knew I didn't want white thread. The yellow is so pale, that the quilting fades into the background - which is what Abby said it would do. - so, listen to your quilter on things like this. 

These next two were made to show case some fabric I had in my online quilt store.  I still have a bit of some of these fabrics and they are the best feeling batiks that I have ever worked with.  They have an almost suede like texture, but are not flannel or even brushed cotton.  I don't know what they are exactly (other than 100% cotton batik fabric)  They have a completely different feel from the  other commercial batiks you find out there today.  

Yellow Brick Road

 

showcasing the quilting on this quilt.

 

And another section of the quilting on this quilt.

 

Lucky Star

 

the quilting on this quilt. 

 

Those were the first 5 that I have sent off to Abby to quilt, but won't be the last ones.  They were the only ones that had backs already made and ready to go.  I have since finished the back to another late graduation quilt and am working on putting together a second back - yes, to yet another graduation quilt.  I do believe I am behind on giving out 7 graduation quilts to family members - they are the only ones that get them.  I think they all know that I run late on these after seeing the first two great grandchildren get their quilts late.  Maybe I can get caught up on all these quilts - the tops are all made - it's just the backs and getting them quilted that is the problem - now that I have found Abby and her wonderful quilting I hope to get back on track and might just have the quilt finished the next time a family member walks the stage.  (I think I have a couple of years before the next one graduates! It doesn't help when you have 6 graduate in a two year period!!)

 

String Bag Finish

I finished my latest project from the string box.  I pulled out a lot of green strings and began sewing them together. When I got a piece I thought was going to be big enough, I pulled out a bunch of pink strings and sewed them together.  Then I combined the two sections into one large piece of fabric.  I used up little bits and just had a great time seeing what I could combine.  I had no plan on what I was going to do with it until I had a piece of fabric about 18 X 65 inches.  I then knew it had to be a large bag.  I sewed a final strip across both ends to unify it at the top when it would become a bag and began quilting.

 

 

I sewed some wavy lines along the length of the fabric and then I began filling in each section with some different quilting.  I really need more practice on my free motion quilting so I took this time to create and have fun.  Below is a combination of pebble and ??? kind of a flowery/paisley creation.  There was no plan and I just let the needle take me on that journey.  It was a lot of fun and it took a bit of time to quilt.  I was surprised at how long it took, but I like the result and am glad that I took my time with it.  Believe it or not, this section is a close up of the above picture.  The color distortion is amazing.  There is no peach in this bag and yet, here the pale pink takes on an orangey hue. The above picture and every other picture is more a true color than the picture below.  I don't know why this picture turned out this way, none of the others did.  It's a conundrum for sure. 

 

 

Below is where I practiced making swirls.  I really need more work on going slower on parts of the swirls.  I don't have a stitch regulator and have only my speed to control the stitch length.  I did one more section where I stitched flowers with stems and leaves.  I don't have picture of it, but it turned out quite nicely.  The flowers kind of go in a line up and down the bag. 

 

I adhered fusible batting to the made fabric (outside of the bag) before I started quilting  - since it was handy on the night I decided to begin quilting.  Then after all the quilting was done and I sewed it in bag form with boxed corners. I knew it needed something a lot sturdier.  I didn't want to use Timtex since that can be a bit too stiff and that wasn't what I wanted.   Light bulb!!  I have some canvas I purchased for another purse project that I have yet to make.  I will use that for stability.  I then found some fabric for the lining and added some pockets from fabric laying around - but in the pink vein - and added one large one across the bottom inside of the bag - sorry no pictures - and divided it into three sections.  Then one more smaller one toward the top for keys or things I need to keep handy and quickly get to made out of the lining fabric and the lining is ready to go. What next?

 

 

Handles of course.  I cut long strips and using the fusible batting scraps, I made nice thick sturdy handles to go with my bag.  Even though the two fabrics are different in the handles, they are from the same fabric line and coordinate with each other and go nicely with the fabrics in the bag.   This is just another string project I can use to show in my strips and strings class.  I can't wait to use this bag.  I may have to pack it up for school tomorrow.  Maybe not, I will keep using one of my "grocery" bags that I made and have been using all year. (again, no picture - I am going to have to get better at taking pictures along the journey of the project and not all at the end)  Maybe this will inspire you to get out your strings and start sewing them together.  



 

After I finished this bag tonight, I got out the scraps I received from Chris and began sewing them together for some made fabric.  Don't know where this one is headed, but I am ready for that journey.  I will try and get some pictures along the way so you can see where I am going on this next one. 

 

*Update

By the way, still no disposal at school, but we do have running water, so we are having to do our best on washing dishes, but good note,  the dishwasher doesn't leak anymore  - had to put up with stinky glue smell for a few hours, but so worth it - so we may just rinse the small stuff and run it through the dishwasher if we can.  We are in cooking mode.  Not a whole lot done today just made and froze 4 cakes and boiled a ton of chicken breasts and diced up about a dozen large onions.  I also saved all the chicken broth from the pots to use in making the casserole and rice dishes.  (about 40 quarts I can freeze what we don't use and save the canned stuff)  Also made 4 quarts of ranch dressing.  I am thinking that is not near enough.  It was a great job for my first years to make and introduce them to our recipe.  We are busy, busy, busy and depending on the day, I may or may not have a full class of students due to testing and late buses.  Fun times in the school!