Great Food

What is it?  Shrimp and Grits.  I had never tried shrimp and grits before, but have heard a lot about them in the last few years.  They are one of Paula Dean's favorites and she even had another chef challenge her in her magazine.  At least I think that was what that article was about.  I didn't read the entire thing and it was several months ago.  I digress.  Shrimp and Grits.  Last weekend I got the privilege of attending the Culinary Educators Conference hosted by the Texas Restaurant Education Association and the Texas Beef Council.  It was awesome!!  I learned so much and got to practice a lot of what we were learning.  Wonderful conference.  One of the best I have ever been to and I hope to go back next year.  Enough gushing - on to Shrimp and Grits.  Like I said, I had never had theses before, but they have become really popular recently.  We had the honour of having the executive chef from Sandra Bullock's restaurant, Bess, in Austin, come and demo for us.  She made and served everyone this wonderful dish.  Along with her husband who is a chef/teacher at Escoffiet - another culinary school in Austin.  We were at Le Cordon Bleu.  Even though we ate and cooked most of the weekend, this is the only picture that I took.  Period.  I didn't take any other pics the entire weekend.  Okay, what is in this pic?  White cheddar cheese grits topped with spiced grilled shrimp, bacon, chives and a red wine vinegar gastric.  Delicious!! 

Nighttime sewing - Challenge block gone awry.

 I got out of work early last night and found some time to sit and sew.  I decided to make the newest block of the month from 15 minutes play.  I read through all the directions and started in to sewing.  Cut out some reds/pinks/oranges/purples for my flower portion and rummaged through the scraps to see what I could use for the leaves.  There were some greens and blues, but not in big enough strips so I just sewed them all together to make that 7 inch square that was needed.  I cut out my background - going with the darkest gray on this one.  Got the leaf elements done, made the stem and now it is time to square up and put this puppy together.  Decided that it would be easier to make my squares with a 6 1/2" square ruler so I got it out, cut all the squares the same size, sewed it together and it went together like a dream.  One of the easiest blocks to make.

  

I was happy with the look - even though the stripes on the leaves are going differently than what I wanted, it was still okay. I put it on the wall with the other blocks and . . .


 

It's a lot smaller than the other blocks.  What could have gone wrong?  I did everything right so something was off.  Maybe the sizes.  No, 6 1/2 and 6 1/2 sewn together is 12 1/2 so that was correct.  What could be wrong.  WELL, let me tell you.  That 6 1/2" square ruler that I thought was 6 1/2" square?  It is only a 6 inch square ruler!!!!!  Why would I have one like that in my stack of rulers?  I know it's an old one and I even thought last night while I was cutting that I needed to get a new one since this one was looking all ratty tatty and the edges were a bit sliced, but still, you would think I would know better than to make that big of a mistake.  I was too tired to do anything about it last night and after sleeping on it I may just leave it smaller.  I am going to "sash" this quilt together anyway, so the "sashing" around this block just needs to be a bit larger.  Who knows, I may just have one or two more mess-up-small-size blocks to go with it. 

You may be asking yourself why I put "sash" in quotations like that and it is because even though I know this quilt will need some separation between the blocks that sashing provides, it may not be a typical sashing.  So, I put the word sash in quotes to show that it probably won't be a single strip of fabric and the blocks may not be set in straight rows/columns.  I don't have an idea in my head how to put this quilt top together because we haven't done all the blocks.  Who knows what else is in the works for this block challenge.  It has been fun making all the blocks though. 

Sewing Time Again

I finally found some time to sit and sew!!  I planned on doing more this summer, but I have been really, really busy as those of you that know me can attest to.  I have this entire weekend off so I sewed and watched videos yesterday, put them in the mail this morning so I can get some more in the series - True Blood, season 3 from Netflix, I only saw the first disc yesterday.  I can't wait to get the next ones. 

Sew, back to sewing - I worked on the blocks of the month challenge from 15 minutes play and made the three newest blocks.  This first one is called, Beacon Lights.  I wasn't too sure about it when I first saw it on the blog, but it has grown on me.  I was worried about my center block with the large patch of purple left of center, but in the picture, even though it stands out some, it doesn't look as bad as I thought.  And, with all the blocks together - see end of post - it might just blend in with the blocks, especially if I use a large chunk of that fabric in a later block.  I am not changing it like I wanted to at first.  After making each section of this block I started piecing it together and it just wasnt' working.  I thought I had cut things wrong; the directions were off,  I didn't know what was going on.  Then I realized that I needed to square up the quarter square triangle blocks to 3 1/2" and it was amazing how easy the block was to put together then.  some of the blocks were as much as 1/2" off and when you put two of them together it just didn't fit!


I made this Cactus Flower block first and had to find a green that I wasn't going to use a scrap piece in the made fabric.  When I squared up the stem/flower body part, I didn't really center the stem and it is a little bit off, but if I hadn't pointed it out to you, you might not have even noticed.  Here again, I wasn't going to go back and fix the problem.  I am letting everything stay as is for now. 

The last block I put together last night was this courthouse steps.  I knew when I saw the block on the blog that I wanted a red center.  That is what the old log cabin blocks used for most of their centers.  However, I didn't plan on reversing the made fabric and the background until I realized that I was going to have to make some more fabric if I wanted to make it the original way since I didn't have enough for 2 - 12 1/2" strips.  Here is where I had to piece the background fabric in the 6 1/2" strips to get enough fabric to work.  Thank goodness this background fabric has a little print to it or it would have stood out and been very noticeable if I had used the first gray fabric.  I can't even see where the seams are in the picture.  Each of the two side pieces are pieced 2 times.  One of the solid squares from one of the two blocks above is also pieced, but just on one of the corners. 

Here are all 5 of the blocks on the wall together.  I was worried about not having the same background fabrics on my blocks, but with just these two fabrics it is not too bad.  I have several more background fabrics selected that I am going to use for the next blocks.  I think the one I used last night was probably the lightest gray I got.  It will be fun to see them altogether at the end of the year - I think we are doing this for a year, I am not sure, though.  I will have to take their picture somewhere else since my bulb burned out on my halogen and I only have 300 bulbs left and not the 500 that was previously in there.  (I bought a bunch of bulbs on clearance several years ago and am down to some of the lower wattage bulbs.  I could go to the store and purchase some new ones, but why?  That would mean braving the crowds this holiday weekend and I just don't want to do that.  I would rather sew which is where I am heading soon after I go back downstairs and check on the dogs)

Summer update

I finally had time to just sit and read through all of my favorite blogs.  It has been quite awhile since I have had that big of a block of time.  Of course, having my dogs wake me up at 5 in the morning has really helped make that time.  It is just a little past 7 now and no, I haven't been reading blogs for 2 hours.  I am considering going back to bed for a couple of hours since tonight may be a late night.  I have finished my two weeks of working for the Barn Door - half way through my externship - and have moved on to the first week of summer volleyball league.  Last night was quite hectic.  The first couple of hours was spent getting everyone organized and where they should be.  First night with the junior league parents who are venturing out into the world of volleyball and summer league is always hectic.

I haven't been in the sewing room much lately, just to busy.  I have added a stitch or two here and there, but nothing is completed or even close to being completed.  I got a lovely little batik square from Helen in New York and some great batik scraps from Ellen in California to go into my pieced fabric challenge blocks from 15 minutes play. (no pictures of these)  There have already been two more blocks posted on 15 minutes play that I need to catch up on sometime in the near future, possibly tomorrow since I don't have to work anywhere for the first time all summer.  Okay, I don't work on Sundays either, but it will be the first middle of the week non work day since Spring Break.  I am getting my hair permed later that afternoon and I do need to call about my phone and see if anyone can come and fix it that morning, but other than that I don't have any plans for Wednesday other than sewing.  Next posting I will hopefully have a few pictures to add to the post.

What's New?

Even though I am not getting to sew and quilt as much as I would like this summer, I am plodding along and doing a bit here and there in my spare time.  I have an idea in my head about a future quilt, so I drew it up, traced it, cut it out and put it together to see if I would like it.  It's not totally what I wanted, but it looked good so instead of tossing it, I made it into a little wallhanging.  I had fun adding the nose, eyes and eye lashes through my quilting.  I learned alot making this little quilt. First of all, make sure you add the iron on adhesive to the wrong side of the fabric.  Both the eyes (both pieces of both eyes) and the face itself are the backside of the fabrics, because I wasn't paying attention.  After ironing the wonder-under to the right side of the purple fabric that was to become the face, I kept telling myself to not make that mistake again.  I cut out 4 pieces of fabric to make the eyes and I ironed my adhesive to the right side of every single one of them!!  argggg!!!  I used them anyway.  I think that maybe the eyebrows, which I had left out of my original drawing, are from some of that same fabrics.  The tongue was also not on my original drawing.  It just needed something else and that open diamond looked like an open mouth and therefore needed a tongue.  Like I said, not perfect, but it works and has actually quilted and bound with hanging triangles so the future owner can hang it on their wall. 

I saw a quilt on Basket Full of Scraps and fell in love.  My favorite all time block is the Monkey Wrench, aka hole in the barn door aka churn dash.  I love this block.  I once made my sister a quilt using this block and lots of plaids.  It is still one of my most favorite quilts I have made, even though the quilt is probably long gone.  So, when I saw that quilt on Basket Full of Scraps I knew I had to make it.  I recently took a liberated basket class with Gwen Marston and this quilt was the perfect combination for me to make.  So, I got started by making my fabric for the basket.

Then I began making my little churn dashes.  I made the two on top first.  They are on the small side.  So I made the three on the left a little bit larger.  Even though I thought the two on top were too small for this quilt, I may enlarge them with a few strips of fabric and use them.  We'll see what happens next.  I am liking the direction this is going, but it is not jumping up and down with excitement and letting me know that I am on the right track.  As a result, I will plod along and make a few more blocks to see what direction this will lead me. 



Summer Job

It's going to be a very busy and hot summer.  I can tell that I am not going to be sitting in my nice air conditioned home much the next couple of months.  That means that I may not be sewing much either.  I am hoping to get in to the studio at least once a week, but you never know.  For those of you who don't know, I am doing an externship with a local restaurant.  When I signed up, I was told I would work about 30 hours a week for 4 weeks.  I have already worked about 18 hours and that may not seem like a lot now that I have written it down, but I have had the privilege of being cut two nights so I was scheduled to work 6 more hours - the bad thing for me is that I still have three more days to go!!  I am only half way through my work week!!  I AM EXHAUSTED!!   Already.  It is hot, hot, hot in the kitchen and when you are moving all the time, I bet I have sweated off at least a pound or two!  that is the good thing.  The bad thing is that I haven't been cooking yet and I know it will be much hotter around the stoves.  I think they have fans running on those people.  I have been working where there are no fans.  I try and move to the coolest spot when I get a chance.

Tonight I think the manager felt sorry for me and he cut me 2 hours early and bought me dinner!  I worked 7 hours today!  (yea, it was supposed to be 9)  I am not used to this!  Restaurant business is hard, hard work!  I knew that, but I had only seen it as a cashier or waitress.  I am getting to see it from all sides in the next few weeks.  I am almost looking forward to working summer volleyball where I basically sit for 8 hours at a time.  As long as the air conditioner is working in the gym, it's relatively cool.  Well, I am off to the showers, and hitting the hay.  It's back to work tomorrow morning  to assist in hosting for a few hours and then split shifting at night.  busy, busy, busy!! 

So, if you don't see quilting stuff up here for awhile, you know what I am doing.

Design Wall Monday, May 30, 2011

Yea!  I remembered to post my Design Wall Monday actually on a Monday!  This is for Judy's Design Wall Monday and today, here is what is on my wall.

The top left are liberated log cabin blocks from a Gwen Marston class I took in March.  I just got them out and put them on the wall this weekend.  The bottom gray blocks are ones I just finished from the monthly block challenge over at 15 minutes play.   The right side of the wall has a "table runner" that one of our guild members taught last summer.  I don't like to do table runners so I was going to make mine larger so I would have a lap quilt.  There are supposed to be stars in every large square, but I thought there were too many stars in that quilt and haven't put them in.  The extra pieces I could have added way back when, have all the same colors right next to each other and that is probably why I haven't added them.  I found this last week and started going through everything to see where I go next with this project.  One thing I know is that I need to machine applique more stars on squares and cut out some more fabric.  Hopefully I will have the top finished sometime this summer.  That is if I don't start on something else which we all know I will.  Go see more Monday walls over at Judys' blog.