More flowers from the garden.

I had the most delicious supper tonight.  I thought that I would cook whatever I had in the refrigerator.  I found a sweet potato, asparagus, onions and an apple that was partly bruised.  In the freezer was a small pork chop that I had frozen earlier when I bought a whole package of pork chops.

I started by turning the oven on to 400 degrees.  Into it went the sweet potato.  I cut the bottom stems off the asparagus and put the tops into a steamer kettle.  I did not turn this on yet as asparagus only takes about 15 minutes to cook.  It was ready to go when the time was right.

I have been using the cast iron fry pan lately and found it much better than the other fry pans. It can go from the stovetop to the oven without any problem.   In it, I put a little butter and the chopped onions.  The onions cooked on low until they were brown.  Be careful that they don’t burn.  I peeled the apple, cut away the bruised part and cut the pieces into chunks.  Now is the time to turn the heat on under the asparagus.  When the onions were browned, I added the apple and one tsp. sugar  and cooked for a few minutes.  The onion/apple mixture was removed from the fry pan and placed on a plate.  The pork chop was browned in the same fry pan for 3 min on each side.  The onion/apple mixture was spooned on top and the cast iron fry pan was placed in the oven with the sweet potato. It takes only about 3 to 4 minutes to finish cooking. Everything should be ready to go on the plate at this time.  The sweet potato might need one minute more in the microwave if it isn’t done.

I didn’t  tell amounts because everyone has a different idea of what is a single serving.  Use a sweet potato that is the size that you want to eat.  Also the size of the pork chop and asparagus.  The onion will cook down, so I used about 1/2 cup.  I would have used one whole apple, but had to cut some away because of the bruising.

The onion/apple mixture is delicious.  It would be wonderful on chicken.  White potato or rice could be substituted for the sweet potato.  Any vegetable can be cooked.  Adjust the timing to the amount of time that it takes to make the sauce and cook the meat.

Enjoy

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The first gaa barge piece is scraps made into a crazy quilt block.  The seams were covered with built in stitches in the sewing machine.  This would make a very pretty large quilt.  It would be a good way to use up a lot of scraps.  The quilting could be done on the machine in a very short time.  It would be fun to make a sampler type quilt and quilt each section with a different built in stitch,

The second piece Is made of thread that was cut off in the beginning of embroideries.  It is covered with tulle and beads are couched on.  For some reason, this piece is heavy and wants to be folded in half so it would make a very nice book cover.

The iris are beautiful this year.  I had planned to separate the bulbs because they were all jammed up, but didn’t get around to it.  It didn’t matter as they outdid themselves and made a beautiful display.  The massive display was battered by the last rain storm so I didn’t take a picture. These are pictures of a few that were left standing.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The lupines are beautiful this year.  Each year, in the fall, when the lupines have gone to seed, I cut off the stems and lay the whole piece in whatever garden that I want new lupines to grow.  The first year, the plants come and the second year the flowers come.  If I do this every year, I am assured a crop of flowers every year.  The seeds do not have to be covered,.  They just lay on top of the soil.  Some seeds do not germinate so I lay several stems worth of seed in the area that I want planted.

    

Several years ago, before the auctioneer retired, we went to an auction every Saturday night.  They had a food stand and we had our supper while we waited for the auction to start. It was our fun night out.  One night, I saw a quilt under a table.  It had bubble gum pink and gray.  I pulled it out and looked at it.  Then I hid it back under the table.

The quilt was in decrepit shape.  It smelled very bad. I hung it on the line outside and sprayed it with Febreze.  It didn’t do any good,  It still smelled.   Then, I decided to reproduce it.  I looked for about six months to find fabrics that looked like the original.  I had to apologize to the quilt shop owner when I took the quilt in to match the fabrics.  The four patches were made with different fabrics and I found enough to make it look like the original.  The fun was in the hunt.

The pattern is easy.  It’s a nine patch made from five four patches and four plain blocks.  It is set on the diagonal with a plain alternating square.  Even the backing is similar to the original.  The reproduction looks very similar to the original.  And it doesn’t smell.  

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

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We had a beautiful, much needed rain last night.  Most of the gardens have been weeded and seeded. Last night’s rain and today’s sun will help the annuals on their way.  I still have three gardens that need the beautiful, strong weeds pulled.  One will have to wait until the painters finish that side of the house. Hopefully, they will paint that side first so I can plant the seeds.  I’ll work on the gardens that go up the steps from the driveway to the house tonight after supper as I don’t like to work in the noon day sun.

     

     

The lettuce came up from last year’s crop.  There is almost enough for a nice salad.

When the stairs gardens are finished, I will have  to decide if I want to remove the garden by the road.  It is very overgrown with weeds and most everything is rootbound.  It is the most beautiful garden in late May and early June with all the Lupine, but after that there is nothing,   I would miss the Lupine by the road. I have successfully transplanted some to the other gardens so they would be still here.  The road garden is  usually is the last garden to get in order and  most of the time, it just does not get weeded.  I may surprise myself and clean it out.

Several flowers are beginning to show up, letting me know that they survived the winter. Some are in different places.  I have no idea how they got there, but will leave them alone as they seem to like their new spots.

There is no grass in the ditch along the road.  The state did a wonderful job last year cleaning out the ditches and the culvert.  They seeded the area but the grass didn’t grow.  It might have winter killed with the road salt.  I’m sure that if I leave it alone, the grass that is on the bank will migrate to the bare spots and I will have grass by summer’s end.

I made the 3-2-1 microwave cake mix with 1/2 box of lemon cake and 1/2 box of angel food cake.  The remaining half of the mix was in the cupboard and I made the most delicious cake mix cookies with it.  It makes about 18 cookies so there are not many left around to tempt me.

1/2 box lemon cake mix.  There are different amounts in different brands, so measure what is in the box and divide by half.  Or you can double the recipe and use the whole box.

1/4 c olive oil   1 egg      about 1/2 c shredded coconut    about 1/2 c chopped nuts

Mix all together.  Drop by spoonfuls on cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.  Absolutely yummy

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

 

Gaa Barge and Mile a Minute blocks are both made using scraps. Gaa barge is usually sewn as an art quilt.  The Mile a Minute is made from strips and pieces.   Although, they can be made with coordinating fabrics, the usual way is to use the scraps unseen from a pile of fabric scraps. Sewing blocks this way makes for some unusual colored blocks.  They have multiple colors and patterns that you would never put together in a quilt if you thought about it.

When you have as many blocks as you need, you should arrange them on a design wall.  I use a white sheet on my bed.  Some colors are predominate in the blocks and they should be scattered around the quilt and not placed in one section.  When the blocks are where you like them, you have to decide what color to make the sashing and border.

The amazing thing about the mile a minute block is that if you want the quilt in a blue room, use a blue sashing.  If you want it in a pink room, use pink sashing.  Whatever color you use for the sashing will bring out that color in the block.  The whole quilt will look like that color.

When I taught the Mile a Minute block, I used the four small pieces to show how this works.  All four blocks have the same gaa barge center.  The surrounding colors make each block look different.

       

Most of my mile a minute quilts have three borders.  The first one is about 1 1/2″ wide and is the same color as the sashing.  The second border is a Mile a Minute block cut down to 2″ to 3″ wide and the length of the pieced square.  These pieces are sewn end to end to make the length of the four sides of the quilt.   The third border is about 4″ wide and is the same color as the sashing or a darker version of that color.

These blocks can be made a few at a time, using fifteen or twenty minutes at a time after concentration on sewing a complicated quilt.  A quilt can be made without even thinking about making it.  Seam allowances are not important. Just sew a straight seam,  Thread color is not important.  Use leftover bobbins and whatever color thread you want to use up.  This is no thinking sewing. Cutting blocks after they are sewn makes each block the same size.  I like to use a 6 1/2″ square ruler and a rotary cutter to make a 6′ finished block.  The blocks can be used in any quilt block pattern that has a 6″ part.  You can also choose any other size block that you want.

Have a great day and happy sewing.

One of the prettiest gaa barge pieces is made of cut out flowers from a small leftover piece of fabric and small strips of green fabric.

The background was quilted before the scraps of fabric were added.  They are not held down by tulle, but are stitched down in a random fashion. The edges of the leaves and flowers are loose.  It took just minutes to make.

The background is a hand dyed piece.  The mottled look was made by pre folding the white fabric before putting it into the dye bath.  I dye using the baggie method and pre folding the fabric to get the look that I like.  There are several ways to pre fold the fabric.  Each way gives a different effect.  With the mottled or designed fabric, you can get realistic leaves and flowers for applique.  I often dye going from light to dark, depending on how much dye I put in the baggies.  The last batch of dyeing that I did had recipes to follow to move from one color to another.  Sun dyeing is also a lot of fun.  The only problem is that I find it very hard to use the dyed fabric.  It is so pretty to look at.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

The Tapestry was made in the back door quilting method.  Different blocks were made with different methods.  After they were made, They were put together like a jigsaw puzzle.  Strips were inserted to fill out some spaces.  After the whole piece was together, a backing was sewn on.  The Tapestry is very heavy.  Very few people have seen it as it is too heavy to take to show and tell.  I spent many wonderful hours with special friends as we all made our own versions of the Tapestry. Each one was different.

Two machine embroideries, stipple quilted with a border.

The twisted ribbon had squiggle free motion quilting around it.   The beads were applied with the sewing machine.  You will notice that the same rose fabric was used in different ways in the blocks.   Jewelry and several other small objects were added to many of the blocks.  Fancy buttons were added.  Neckties were turned and couched down.  Many laces, some antique lace were applied.  Several of the blocks were piped.  Some with double piping.  Built in stitches were used as well as lots of free motion quilting.  If we could think of a technique, we used it in this piece.  When my friends do see it, they spend lots of time discovering all the little things in this quilt.

I did have the Tapestry appraised and was shocked at the low appraisal price.  They said that it wasn’t even a quilt because it hadn’t been quilted through all three layers.  It was appraised by a traditional quilter.  Art quilts do get more recognition now.

                    

Have a great day and happy quilting.

I installed my mailbox today so I am officially in Maine.  Miss Molly has adjusted to the change of scenery very well, although she is nervous when the cayotes sing at night.  They are still on the other side of the valley. but I still go out with Miss Molly in the evening.

The lilacs are in blossom.  The deer must have been hungry this year as there are no blossoms at the bottom of the bushes.  They enjoy snacking on the flower buds.  One year, we had just one blossom that they couldn’t reach.  I’m glad that the bushes are taller so we both can enjoy the flowers. 

 

 

 

The crab apples have outdone themselves.  They are so beautiful that I don’t mind that the fruit is too small to be of any use.

It’s lupine season in Maine.  I have a pink lupine along with the purple.  Lupine is a biennial.  The pink lupine is in a different spot every other year.

 

 

 

 

 

Several years ago, I made twelve little wall hangings, one for each month of the year.  When I think of it, I try to change the wall hanging on the first of each month.  Each one has an embroidery pertaining to the month.  I feather stitch the edge of the two borders.  The small pieces are a perfect size to try new background fillers.

April showers bring May flowers.  May’s wall hanging is a Donna Dewberry embroidery.  It is fun to watch the pictures  come alive as each color is added.  I tried painting in the Donna Dewberry method once and I didn’t think that I did very well.  I came across my paintings the other day and they’re not bad.  I should try it again.

    June is a picture of a little boy and his dog.  He is out of school and is fishing.

The weather is finally warming up.  I think we will have summer after all.

Gave a great day and happy quilting,

I was at the grocery store looking at vegetables when a friend came by for a chat.  We were standing by the eggplant when I remarked that I didn’t like eggplant.  I had it once when I was a child and it was tough and bitter.  That was the time when bigger was supposed to be better.  She told me how to cook the small eggplants, so I bought one and thought that I would try it once.

It was delicious and I will definitely make it again.

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees.  Slice the eggplant into 1″ slices and coat the eggplant with olive oil on both sides.  Sprinkle with onion salt.  Bake for 20 minutes, turning once during this time.

I made a sauce to go on the eggplant.  Fry 1/2 cup each of onion, green pepper, and orange pepper in olive oil for a few minutes.  Add 1 diced garlic clove and fry for a few more minutes.  Add a can of mushrooms and lots of basil.  I had 1/2 jar of leftover pizza sauce in the refrigerator, so I added it to the pan.  Any tomato sauce would be fine.

When the eggplant was done, I covered it lightly with the sauce .

For a side, I spiraled some zucchini, which I cooked for 2 minutes.  Now that I’ve mastered the spiralizer, it is fun to use.  The product has to be firm. Be careful of the blade.  It’s very sharp.

 

 

I also had some delicious cheesy onion  biscuits.

Ingredients

1/4 c chopped onion   3/4 c flour    1/8 tsp baking powder      1/8 tsp baking soda   1/8 tsp salt    1  Tbsp.. shortening     1/4 c shredded cheese    1/3 c buttermilk

Microwave onion for 1-2 minutes.  Cool for a bit.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cut in shortening until mixture resembles small crumbs.  Stir in cheese and onions.  Stir in buttermilk until just moistened.  Turn onto a floured board and knead 8-10 times.  Pat or roll into a 4″ circle.  Cut into four wedges.  Place 2″ apart on a greased cooking sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.

I keep powdered buttermilk in the refrigerator and use it when a recipe calls for buttermilk.  When I make this for myself, I cut the recipe in half so that I have two biscuits.  They are so good.  I would eat all four at once.

Have a great day and happy quilting.

 

It has been fun designing all the 32 pieces in the Gaa Barge series.  I have enough scraps taken from the wastebasket or swept off the floor to finish the remainder of my challenge.  I had originally planned to make one a week for a whole year, but gardening got in the way and the series wasn’t finished. Maybe, I can finish the series next winter when the snow flies.

The cat and dog pieces were made with purple and other dark fabrics for the background and tan fabrics for the animals.  The made fabric was made in the mile a minute method.  The patterns for the animals came from a child’s coloring book.  The cut out animals were fused down and then zig zaged around the edges with tan thread.  The lines of the drawing were zig zaged with black  thread.

Shortly after I made these two pieces, I taught a class on this procedure at a local quilt shop.  The pieces were my sample pieces.  They were at the shop when a photographer came to take a picture of the owners.  One of the pieces was grabbed and put under the needle of a sewing machine.  The colors went with a piece that was on the wall behind them.   I enjoy seeing my animal in the picture on the wall when I go to the quilt shop.

Have a great day and happy quilting,