Star Quilt & Water Lily. Oh yeah, and Zucchini

Last week I quilted this pretty winter wall hanging. I used a variegated blue thread on most of the top. The dark fabrics make it hard to see the quilting in the photo, but there are lots of stars and continuous curve.
Light blue Bottom Line thread in the bobbin.Margaret (of the Kawartha Margaret's) made a mad dash down to this area last week, so I met her at Ikea for lunch. In the old days when I worked in Burlington, I used to clock Ikea at $100 per hour. Thank goodness I'm over that. However, since we were there, of course we wandered through after lunch. Well... they had these great pots (supposedly on sale - who knows???) that did not have a hole in them. I've been looking for one of these, at a reasonable price, all summer. When I was in Bangkok it was very common to see pots filled with water and water plants. Now, I have my very own little slice of Asia on the patio. If only I could convince the dog and the birds this is NOT a big water dish. sigh... Now, on to the ZUCCHINI STORY OF THE WEEK
The stuffed squash blossoms were ok. I picked 6 blossoms and stuffed them with a mixture of soft goat cheese and ricotta cheese, with some chopped fresh basil. Next they were dunked in egg, then in flour, and gently fried just until they are golden. DH did not die from eating them.
I fessed up that the Apple Crisp I've been feeding him recently is actually (I Can't Believe It's) Zucchini Crisp. Find the recipe here. I found the first version a bit too sweet so in v. 2.0 I cut down the sugar and substituted 1 c. oatmeal for part of the flour.
On Monday I gave away 2 zucchinis, threw one out because I'd cut it wrong, made 6 jars of zucchini relish, and two loaves of zucchini bread. When I woke up Tuesday morning I still had 2 zucchini in the basket. I used those to make another batch of Yummy Zucchini Salad, went out and picked four more zucchini, gave two away, and STILL have 2 zucchini in the basket. When will it end...?????

Oriental Braid Quilt and Backyard Goings-On

Here is a gorgeous Braid Quilt done up in oriental fabrics. The outer borders were quilted with clamshells. I chalk marked guidelines with a 1" grid stencil and quilted the clamshells freehand, using that as a base.
The inside background was quilted with molar flowers. The braids and the black frames were quilted with leaves. All black frames were stitched in the ditch to keep them nice and crisp.
My huge (HUGE) rectangular bale of straw was delivered last week. I spent the weekend completing the mulching of the veggie bed. I love the look of this when it's fresh. Almost makes me want to lay down in it. scratch, scratch, scratch.
I skipped harvesting on Monday. See what happens??? Another 5 zucchinis and now they're BIG.
I took the second smallest one, sliced in 1/4" thick rounds, floured, egged, breadcrumb/parmesan breaded, and then fried up in canola oil. I was trying to be all food-bloggy, taking photos as I worked. Then I forgot to take pics of them frying. Then I burned half of them. Then I forgot to take photos of a lovely plate of finished rounds before I ate them. So, I give up on the food-bloggy thing. The unburnt ones were pretty good. I force fed the first one to DH (man, he really does not trust me. "what is that?" he asked, and he repeated it twice before I finally told him.) He gave me a long sorrowful look and asked if this was supper. He perked up when I told him it was just h'ors doeuvres. After he choked down the first one, he ate two more all on his own. Wait until tonight when I feed him stuffed squash blossoms. He'll just freak, poor guy. heh, heh, heh. Bad wife, bad!!
Aaah, and now we get to...The stupid birds have decided it is THEIR backyard. Yes, I know they have babies in the trees. That does not entitle them to divebomb the silly dog and she's starting to get pissed about the whole thing. Yesterday she caught one. She finally let it go after I hollered at her for what seemed like several minutes and the slightly damp and tooth-tussled bird scrambled through the fence to safety.
By the way, you have no idea how long it took me to make up that little photo collage with text. I seem to learn these new techniques on mornings when I'm up at 5:30. I sure hope the next one goes faster.

Social Events

I've had a busy week, with TWO social functions. (yes, when you work at home, two outings is cause for celebration).
Wednesday was sewing day at the Caledonia Guild. I made a postcard and a handbag. The handbag includes a non-centered pocket. I was so busy matching the pattern on the fabric I didn't realize just how far off the pocket was. Better luck next time, eh?
The postcard is a birthday card for a friend of mine. Hopefully she'll get the card before she sees the blog.Thursday was Red Hat day. One of our members had us over for spiked punch and cherry cheesecake. In typical RH fashion we had our dessert first, with lunch appetizers afterwards. We played this fun dice game (left, right, centre) and I won one of the games. Woo Hoo $6.75 !!!

Much to DH's delight, I have also given away 9 zucchinis this week. I may torture him tonight though. I probably have 4 more in the garden ready to pick. Hmm, shall I slice them? Dice them? Stuff them? Bake? Saute? Ooohh, the choices are endless. ....I wandered off here for a while searching the internet for a funny picture of mutant zucchinis taking over the world (or even a backyard) but I had no luck. You will have to use your imagination today. Sorry.

Last night's supper was healthy & yummy. Spinach-from-the-garden salad with hard cooked eggs & raspberries-from-the-neighbours'-garden, served with buttermilk biscuits-from-Reverend Ann. I am on a mission to eat our way to the bottom of the freezer. Tonight I think I'll make crock pot barbeque with some stewing beef that's been frosting up since probably January. And the zucchini, of course. :-)

Altered Panto, Mom B-day, Garden, Artsy Dog

Here I've taken a pantograph "Popcorn" by Jodi Beamish, and altered it to include "16". Can you tell this is a birthday gift for a 16 year old boy who wants to be a pilot? You CAN???
Mom's birthday party at the 'home'. Upper dentures are missing again, but if you have a good son he will cut your cutlet into little tiny pieces. And mashed potatoes with gravy are never a problem.
Saturday's harvest. I had to share the beans, carrots and zucchini. There was just too much. DH, not surprisingly, was VERY glad the zucchini were shared.
The cutting garden, high summer. Really, this is when it looks it's best. There is friggin' dill everywhere. Yes, I do actually put it in flower arrangements occasionally. We had a huge rain storm yesterday so it all looks very refreshed here. I spent about 2 1/2 hours deadheading and weeding between here and the front walkway beds, which completely filled a garden cart. You know, the kind that's the size of a wheelbarrow.
Sadie in a BE THAT ART pose. If you aren't sure what that is... you stand by a piece of art (in this case the little pig statuette) and pretend you are the model. She's such a drama queen. :-)

Quilting on silk & cooking on the patio

Quilting on silk looks sooo pretty!

Yesterday's high temp on the patio was 98.8 F. With the a/c roaring in the house there was NO WAY I was going to turn on the oven. (hmm, enviro-guilt??) So I kicked the toaster oven out to the patio and cooked supper there. I've done that with the crock pot too in summers past. And yes, thank you, I do know the t.o. is missing a knob. I'm just glad it was set to 'bake' when it broke off. What do you want with free stuff you buy with your VISA points - quality??? Anyhow, I made a casserole with leftover ham from one Anne Lindsay's Heart Healthy cookbooks. It includes cauliflower, red peppers, fresh dill, a cheese sauce, and crumb topping. I served it with fresh salad, and green beans that I harvested the other day. Mom always calls me 'her little farmerette'. Speaking of mom - today is her 90th birthday. I am meeting my siblings at the 'home' for lunch in the dining room (that is an experience - yum... diced food). I plan to bring a cake & candles so we can party on, dude.

Lantern Quilt & Today's Garden Harvest

Here is today's harvest.

The beets are now cooked, peeled & chopped, ready for supper. The zucchini has been made into Yummy Zucchini Salad. I will cook the green beans later. It's hot hot hot this week. I watered the garden on Sunday and mulched a lot of the veggies with straw. I've run out of straw now, so the job of getting another bale goes on DH's honey-do list. Poor guy. Not only do I make him eat zucchini, I also make him help me to grow even bigger & better zucchini. I took Sadie to town for her quarterly visit with Tina at the beauty parlour. Tonight I will go to the quilt shop and pay my extra ten bucks for forgetting my block of the month in June. Sheesh - dummy me!

The lantern quilt is finished and really pretty in pink.

Just what DID I do with my brain???

Note to self: do not wash the dog's white Princess Pillow cover with a black/blue denim rag quilt and a never-before-washed rag rug of assorted colours. There are not enough Miracle Brushes in the world to clean up this mess. Sorry Sadie, Bad Mommy, Bad!!!

What I'm currently working on. In between harvesting zucchini. Sorry DH, Sorry!!! heh, heh, heh.

Happy Canada Day...

I only have to pick up a newspaper to remind myself how lucky I am to live in this great country. In spite of the new HST.


Speaking of the HST, I will not have to charge tax now - I didn't collect GST, therefore no HST. All of my customers... happy, happy, happy?