Saturday, September 15, 2018

Third blog post in a week!!!

I’m at a mini retreat this weekend.  Does your guild hold these?  We meet at the clubhouse our meetings are at.  Start at 10 on Saturday, BYOL (lunch) and Pot Luck Dinner.  (I made tabuli!)  We quilt until we wilt (about 8:30 these days!!!)  Come back Sunday morning, Leftovers Lunch and quilt til about 4!  It’s great fun.

I’m working on the 2nd “dog destroyed” quilt.  It’s my favorite Halloween quilt.  It was tied (tied quilts are so comfy!)  Most of the damage was on the back? 
I’m sure you remember my whining last year?!  THREE quilts returned for ‘repair’!  

I repaired my DSIL’s Cancer Survivor Quilt first – I’m superstitious!  This Halloween quilt was my favorite of the four I made.  So prep-work was: cut the ties; remove eaten back and batting.  There were a few chews on the front.  But not bad.  Replace one four-patch; slipcover one square I missed the damage on! 

Then there was the “Tie” holes.  I had some of the awesome orange “Maywood’s ShadowPlay”  I used in the alternate squares; so I fused and cut 2” squares to cover them.  So far so good – Now the checkerboard looks like Pluses!!  SCORE!!

You’ll see before, during and after pictures, I’m sure!  More to come!

Anyone out here use Instant Pot?  I found a recipe to make applesauce.  Umm, Umm, sure is good!  We like chunkier applesauce … so I revised the recipe a little!  (I'm getting braver about revising, as long as DH is my 'taster'!)

I have a good friend, U, who has two types of apple trees in her backyard.  Every year, about this time, she puts out the call:  “Help!  I’m up to my knees in apples, come pick!” And we come!!  I’ve been twice this week! Of course, I only pick half a Trader Joe’s bag at a time!  My body doesn’t like marathons any more.  Not cooking, not quilting, not walking – not even binge watching!! 

One tree is Delicious apples – planted by a seed by her father.  One is a tree transplanted from the family home – type forgotten.  SO  I didn’t use the apples the recipe suggested,  our apples must have been tart-er.  The recipe doesn’t call for sugar.  I added some quickly!

DH helped me peel the apples the first day.  Then he took to the couch and didn’t even go golfing that afternoon.  I thought I’d killed him!!  The second day, I started the applesauce after he left for the golf course.

With some trepidation … I have arthritis in my hands, especially my left thumb.  The apples are organic, small and gnarly!  I used that kitchen tool – the apple star.  Wear an apron – those things throw apple juice far and wide!!  

Then I peeled the eighths; cut them in half, put them in a 6 cup mixing bowl. 
When the bowl was brimming, I put them in the IP with my revised recipe.  

While that was cooking, I kept working with the apples.  Had the second batch ready when the first came out!  Cleaned up the kitchen while the second batch was cooking.  Done and cleaned up in 2 hours!!

A half Trader Joe’s bag makes 2 batches.  The finished applesauce is about 2 quarts – I freeze mine.

Here is MY adaptation of the recipe:
six cup mixing bowl brimming with cut up apples
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (from about 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup of Brown Sugar
Cook on high for 6 minutes – release early as described.

This year is the first time using an Instant Pot, but the applesauce is a big hit with the grandkids.  In fact, Miss P asked me over Labor Day if I could make some applesauce!  I said no – didn’t have my stuff.  But I’d make some and bring it next time! 

I'm sure it will be a hit!  And if not - well, more for us!!  Tee-hee!

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Two days in a row - we're heading for a new record!

I forgot to tell you about Sisters this year!  It was a blast!  It was hot - can't deny that, but the evenings were cool and there was usually a breeze.

I got to go early and share a cabin with 5 other crazy quilters.  There was great food, show and tell and a whole lot of giggling!

We stayed out at Black Butte.  And there is always something going on around there.  Quilts in the Lodge and five swimming pools!  -alright, true confession, we only talked about going to the pools this year!  But last year when our family was there, we hit all 5!


I told you we ate (and drank) well!  We had a magical refrigerator, it never seemed to empty!  AND the freezer was full of ice cream!! These are seriously my kind of people!


Here is our intrepid group.  We were from Idaho and all over Oregon.  These ladies are rad!



View of the work space from the sleeping loft!  It's a quilty heaven!


Last year they exchanged strips and each made "Many trips" -  a pattern and technique by Bonnie Hunter.  I tried to claim one (all) of these, but no luck.  Darn, I'm going to have to make my own.  Next year the challenge is Hexagons!

One of my favorite things at Sisters this year was the Jenny Doan Lecture (Missouri Star Quilts)  we went to.  She filled the HS auditorium to the max.  OMG!  She is the best speaker.  It's like you've known each other forever and she's just catching you up on the news!  We laughed, we cried, we all enjoyed her.  Her dear husband was her stage helper and he is such a good sport.

They have 7 kids (in 9 years!) and Jenny said when she introduced him, "This is my husband, I didn't even know he could talk until the kids left home!"

She told how she got started with Jelly rolls and pre-cuts, couldn't afford to buy bolts!!  I wasn't a groupie before hearing her.  I have lots of stash and thought (erroneously!) that pre-cuts were too expensive!! She showed me the error of my ways!

She uses the patterns she demos online for her charity and gift quilts.  Genius!  AND she doesn't give a bed quilt for a wedding present.  She makes a good-sized square quilt, pairs it with a picnic basket and gives the happy couple a card that encourages them to go out and make memories!  What a great idea!

She talked about the surprises running this business.  With all of her tutorials online, we has many children and handicapped quilters following her.  They may not be able to get out for classes, but they can watch the tutorial and rewind it as many times as they want.  It has changed lives.

Most of their children are involved in the business.  There is one son in NYC.  Her favorite call from him was, "Mom, you are on the front page of the Wall Street Journal!  What's going on out there!!!"  She laughs every time she remembers that call!


We stood in line after the lecture and got the latest "Block" Magazine autographed.  I asked her to sign mine - "Pick your first quilt out of this" for Miss P who turns 12 this weekend.  Of course, she has many quilts, but this year we are going to SEW one TOGETHER.  She picked 3 favorites, settled on one and I ordered the Layer Cake!  Next time we get together, we'll start.  Miss P's a little nervous, and so am I.  But, it'll be great!


We were there Saturday at the crack of dawn, it was still cool then!


There were a lot of text quilts - always my favorite



 Everybody matched this quilt!  So Photo-Opp!

Just 2 Stashbusters present for pictures this year!  But we had a good visit and enjoyed looking around the show together.

Well, two days in a row.  Can you stand 3???  We'll see!



Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Weren't summers long and lazy when we were growing up???

Well, summers aren't long and lazy now!  That was a busy summer!  My plan is to get caught up on the blog this week.  Write a memory each day?  We'll see, won't we! Tee-hee!

On Facebook I was tagged to share my favorite books.  No comments, just a picture of the cover ... you know me, oh, yeah, I'm leaving a little comment!  But here are the books I recommended:

 

Stephanie Plum (26 books in the series - so far!) is perfect for a rainy day and giggling.  Forty Signs of Rain is not recommended to read during a NW Winter storm!!  Just saying - good 3 book series, but read it in normal weather!!

 

Dies the Fire series (15 books) is based in Oregon!!  So fun to be able to picture the locations he mentioned.  Engines of God was printed in 1994!  Great space adventure that is all about the people, not technology!! Just went out to see how many books are in this series.  Now 8 - two I haven't read yet!!  SCORE!


But the big news this day is:   (insert suspenseful drum roll here)

Welcome to the Neighborhood has been accepted into the Santa Clara International Quilt Festival!!  It will be in the Traditional Category. Whoo-hoo!


Here's how it came about:  Quiltmania Magazine ran a BOM by Yoko Saito in 2012.  There were 6 blocks in that series.  But no schoolhouse!  That was the first block I designed and added.  I wasn't wild about the final layout of the quilt.  So I recombined the houses into new extra blocks.  Then I went to Yoko's "Houses, Houses, Houses" book and made houses out of that.  I DO have a collection of house patterns and other books, so I dived into them too.  I had to resize up and down to get them all to fit!  Just between us (wink, wink) there is a "cheater" house in it - cut from pre-printed fabric!  No one has found it yet!!

I absolutely loved adding the hand embroidery touches.  I could have done that for a few more years ... but I decided that this was the year - I was going to take this project out of time-out and finish it!  I still wasn't happy with the shape, it was wider than long.  I was trying to avoid making more squares, but I knew it would look better.  So I bit the bullet and made 3 more blocks (bottom row) and added top and bottom borders.  

Then I handed it over to my friend, Cindy Young, Riverjoy Quilting.  She had fun researching the other quilts from the BOM that were lo-o-o-ng finished.  And came up with the whimsical quilting that differs from block to block.  Cindy really made it come to life!  There are cobblestone paths leading to some of the houses.  She loved discovering all the little details as she quilted it.  And I loved all the details she quilted into it!  We had fun celebrating each other's work!!



It was very successful at both Brookings and Newport guild shows.  Two blue ribbons so far!  I'm not expecting a ribbon at an Intl Quilt show - but it's probably the only time I'll be accepted into one ~ so let's make hay while the sun shines!!  Let the party begin.

I'll be at the show, so I'll send pictures from there too!  October 11-14, 2018

But now for the scary part ... mailing it to them!

I have to share - you know I'm addicted to the free online game Wheel of Fortune.  The day after I got the news about Santa Clara - this was one of the puzzles I solved!!  LOL!  Everyone's celebrating!!!