Apparently, I'm NOT perfect

This is Sue's gorgeous wall hanging.

I used a double layer of batting to give it extra pouf.

The quilting is almost identical to what was on the cover of the pattern.

The back is soo pretty!

So.  As I'm looking at the photos and preparing to load them to the blog, I see THIS.  Missing background stippling.  Oh, fer cryin' out loud!

DAMMIT.

Last Day of Eat-From-Pantry Challenge and Blooming 9-Patch Quilt

This is a Blooming 9-Patch quilt from the book Tradition With A Twist.

Made with a beautiful selection of batiks.  Gorgeous.

I'm working on one of these too.  If you recall, last summer I was short about 6" of black butterfly fabric and a wonderful blog reader sent that to me in the mail.  Sweet. This top is currently in the UFO pile waiting for a final border, then quilting.

Day 6 of the Eat-From-Your-Own-Stuff challenge was 2/3 successful and 1/3 Order Chinese For Dinner.  I had my usual oatmeal for breakfast, then we both had leftover linguine for lunch.
I am pretty confident that we would never have any difficulty feeding ourselves for a week without leaving the house.  It took three years of nagging to finally get DH to stop bringing home MORE stuff for the freezer so we could finally defrost and clean the poor thing.  I have said in the past, it would be much easier for me if the freezer was upstairs in the kitchen because I am looking for something in there at least once a day.  If it got to be an extended confinement we might end up eating nothing but frozen tomatoes and zucchini loaf, but we would not starve.  :-)

We DID have a wee challenge yesterday when I asked him to put a fresh jug of water on the cooler thingy.  Hmm.  The cupboard was bare, but that is unusual.  And I've had our water tested - we could drink from the tap.  We just don't for whatever reason.  Chlorine smell, I guess.

Happy Victoria Day Weekend from:

Crayon Box quilt & Eat-At-Home day 5 report & a Recipe

You have heard me refer to the Scrappy Club that I'm in - this is the Crayon Box quilt, made from a pattern by Quiltville (link HERE).  This is not my quilt - it belongs to one of the other gals.

I quilted this with a pantograph design: "Axel".  This is one of my new favorite patterns.

Okey dokey.  On to food & prepping.  Friday was a complete success - everything consumed came from existing supplies already here - no shopping involved.
Breakfast - same old oatmeal.  I finished off the bowl - I'll have to make a fresh 5-day batch tomorrow.  Yeah - I eat the same thing for breakfast almost every single day of the year.  Here is a LINK to my recipe, although now I also add about a cup of chopped walnuts when I add the cinnamon.
Lunch - yogurt sweetened with maple syrup & cherries (cherries from freezer - from our own tree, too!)
Supper - ooh - yum.  DH made Linguine with Saucy Ham and Peas.  This is a recipe I cut out of the newspaper eons ago.  The credit printed at the end says "Company's Coming Cook for Kids".  I can't find it on web so I'll add it at the bottom.
Snack - cheese & crackers with my glass of wine, while relaxing in my jammies with a book.

Today is the last day of this challenge and unfortunately (or not?  :-) ) this will be another 'fail'.  We are going to my nephew's for dinner (1-800-luke.  You know, our tech support nephew, ha ha.  He cooks too!  And once again, don't phone that number - I'm only kidding.)  I'm glad this challenge is almost finished.  Blogging every day is throwing a real kerfuffle into my morning routine.  I love blogging, but it is absolutely time consuming.

LINGUINE WITH SAUCY HAM AND PEAS
Serves 4

Sauce (makes 3 cups):
1 1/2 c. milk
3 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder *
1/8 tsp onion powder *
1 C. diced cooked ham
1 C. frozen peas *
1/3 C. sour cream *
=====================
8 oz. Linguine pasta
12 C. boiling water
1 Tbsp. salt
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
=====================
Sauce:

• gradually whisk milk into flour in medium saucepan until smooth
• stir in salt, garlic powder and onion powder
• heat on medium, stirring occasionally, until boiling and thickened
• stir in ham and peas, then bring to a boil
• stir in sour cream
• keep warm until serving.

Pasta:

• bring water and salt to a boil in large uncovered pot or Dutch oven
• add pasta and cook for 11 - 13 minutes, until tender but firm
• drain, then transfer to a large bowl
• toss with sauce
• sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

* and * and * and *
DH used real garlic and real onion.  He also added lots more veggies:  chopped fresh broccoli and fresh (from the garden!) asparagus and fresh red pepper.  We don't have sour cream, so this got plain yogurt instead. And there was no 'sprinkling' of parmesan cheese.  We throw it in by the generous handful.  Probably not good for my cholesterol, but after Thursday's bacon and deep fried dessert, what the hell difference does a bit of cheese make now?

Bacon Mania, Eat at Home Day 4, Oh My Gosh Quilt

First, I'll do the quilt.  This is the Oh My Gosh quilt.  These pieces are so teeny tiny - the little squares finish at 1/2".

She did a lovely job on the border.  It sets the quilt off beautifully.

Leftovers for the back. 

The only food I ate at home yesterday was breakfast (which was a repeat of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday), and an evening snack of cheese & crackers with a glass of wine while watching Greys Anatomy.  I was so full of BACON from our cooking excursion with Chef Rosa that I didn't need anything else for hours and hours and hours.  I had a few sniggers into my hand during the day - I am forever bugging DH to cook healthy, low cholesterol food for us, and yet I was pigging out all afternoon.

Here are the different items Rosa fed us, and as I go I'll let you know what I don't have in my own pantry.  Those are the parts where I failed at the week long eat-at-home-from-your-own-supplies challenge.

#1) Peanut butter and onion sandwiches.  We arrived at Rosa's at 12:30 and a few of us were starving. These took the edge off our hunger and gave us energy to watch (!) Rosa cook.  (we were supposed to help, I guess, but...)  I have everything on hand for these little goodies, but this is a combination I would certainly NEVER have imagined.  These were yummy.  Nice squishy bread, a touch of mayo, peanut butter, thinly sliced onion, a dash of salt. 

#2 - Maple Bacon wrapped Sweet Potatoes with spicy sour cream.  Again, I have everything on hand to make these, although sadly I would have to substitute the 14% sour cream with plain low-fat yogurt.  Absolutely delicious.

#3) - Spinach, Pear & Pancetta Salad.  My pantry totally failed here.  No spinach, no pear, no pancetta, no shallots, no pomegranate seeds.  :-(  This was delicious AND healthy.

#4) - Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bombs.  This was only a partial fail - I have no jalapeno peppers on hand.  These chicken breasts are stuffed with jalapenos which are stuffed with cream cheese and cheese, 'cause you always need more cheese, right? I really liked these.  Even when you got a stab of heat from the pepper there was enough cheese to cool you back down.  Yum.

#5) - Bacon Wrapped Perogies.  Easy peasy, I could totally make these tonight.  Except for the sour cream.  I do have lots of plain yogurt, so I guess I could substitute, but honestly - this is one place where it just isn't the same.

#6) - Bacon Wrapped Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.  Ha ha ha ha!  Total fail on my pantry's part.  Holy shit - these are deep fried! *!#**!!  Ha ha ha ha!

But oh my, they were sooo good!!!  I don't have the main ingredient - Pillsbury Grand Cinnamon Rolls with Frosting.  I have the other stuff (bacon, maple syrup, cinnamon sugar or icing sugar, toothpicks).  But that would get me nowhere, fast.  I suppose I could make the cinnamon rolls from scratch - I do have all the necessary supplies.  But that will not happen.  :-)

Here we are BEFORE a wide-angle lens was required from all the bacon.  :-)  At one point in the afternoon we were laughing about cholesterol and the good luck that no one had to get their bloodwork done the next day.

This was such a fun day.  Rosa is a great cook, totally down-to-earth, and has a very normal kitchen.  For me, that takes the fear out of making some of these dishes when you want to 'wow' your friends with something a little out of the ordinary.  She is located in Port Dover and will do classes at her house or yours.  Definitely check her out.  Link HERE.

Eat-At-Home days 2 & 3

What the hell?  DH is doing better than me!  And he doesn't even know we're involved in this challenge. Because I was at guild for supper on Wednesday, that does not count as food eaten at home, obviously.  However, the church ladies served us a meal that I could have made at home from what is on hand, so as far as I am concerned, I'm only quasi-failing.  :-)

Tuesday breakfast - same oatmeal as Monday
Tuesday lunch - same yogurt as Monday (yup, as you can see, I am livin' the wild life here)
Tuesday supper - wrapaninis (a DH invention (?) - make a wrap, then put it in the panini press.  These are very good.)  Also - a few spears of asparagus FROM THE GARDEN.  Also coleslaw and cut up veggies.
Tuesday snacks - cheese & crackers with my evening glass of wine while watching Mad Men.

Wednesday breakfast - same oatmeal.  You may find this gets boring really quick.  :-/
Wednesday lunch - leftover chicken teriayaki with rice from Monday's supper.
Wednesday afternoon - chocolate covered almonds with ginger tea, to ease my stress while DH was adjusting the wheels on Floyd.
Wednesday supper at the church - sweet 'n sour meatballs, rice, coleslaw, sweet potatoes, frozen peas (pfft - they cooked 'em, silly!), raw veggies, pumpkin pie with ice cream. 
Wednesday supper for DH - What DH had for supper is a mystery.  He was asleep when I got home from guild, and I forgot to ask him this morning before he took off for parts unknown.  Evidence in the sink leads me to believe that he made himself a wrap or two.  Last week at Costco we bought the gargantuan size cold cut packages, so...

Today I'm going out with the Red Hats to Chef Rosa's.  She's gonna teach us to cook!  (ha ha, better late than never!)  We will be doing the Bacon Mania class.  So it looks like today will be another fail as far as this challenge goes.  But hey!  Maybe I will have all the ingredients at home for today's concoction, too?  note to self:  stop saying GONNA.  That is a terrible, LAZY word.

Here is where I left off work yesterday...

A Challenge - Eating From Home & A Pretty Spring Quilt

Judy Laquidara's Patchwork Times is a blog I follow.  She is hosting a challenge to eat ONLY FROM  HOME this week, from Monday through Friday.  No grocery shopping.  This is an exercise in prepping, in the event of a zombie apocalypse.  Or other catastrophic event.  DH and I will probably be fine with the challenge, except that I have guild on Wednesday and that includes supper catered by the church ladies.  In all honesty though, in the event of a zombie apocalypse I would probably still go to guild.  :-)

Monday:
breakfast - oatmeal, as usual.  I have enough oatmeal and raisins and walnuts to get me through several weeks of breakfast, so this is easy.  Hmm.  I may run out of milk before Friday.
lunch - yogurt & banana.  We just went to Costco and I have a large 2-pak of yogurt which will last me a couple weeks.  Bananas will run out on Tuesday, but I have cherries from our tree, frozen since last summer.  They will make a dandy substitute.
supper - crock pot teriyaki chicken.  This is a make-ahead freezer recipe.  I took the premade mix out of the freezer on Sunday, leaving it in the fridge overnight, and put it in the crockpot all day Monday.  Made a pot of rice to go with it.  It will not win any award but it was totally edible.  Recipe link HERE.
snacks & beverages - snacks today were boring.  Carrots, sigh.  Beverages were also pretty boring.  Water, milk, and of course, my evening glass of wine.  I have a good stock of wine downstairs that should get me through this challenge.  ha ha ha, no surprise there!!  I actually had TWO glasses.  It was a bad thread day today, so at 5 o'clock I parked myself on the back patio with a glass and the Sudoku puzzle from Sunday.  I have had no success with that one.  Not one stinking number!  I'll tackle it again tonight and hope a lightbulb goes off in my head.

Pretty - mauve & green

A motif in the plain setting squares & triangles, s.i.d. in the pieced blocks.

It's pretty on the back, too.

Cats, Garden, Stash

Some of the blocks from the March/April challenge quilt:
Quiet, well behaved kitty (pfftt.  We all know THAT'S a fantasy)

Kitty wants fish for dinner

Kitty flying high (hmm - smoking something interesting, perhaps?)

Kitties pretending they are Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, singing in the rain

Kitty with a belly-ache, can't believe she ate the whole fish

Hurrah... the asparagus is up!!!  By this time next week we should be getting a meal from here.

Hurrah... the volunteer lettuce seedlings are up!!!  DH wanted to know how I'm able to identify these.  Well, they are in the right spot.  They are the right shape.  They are the right colours.  I've been checking for them every few days for the past couple of weeks and they've finally appeared.  Therefore, they MUST be lettuce.  If not, dear Lord, I'll be feeding him weeds.  :-)

I have burnt myself quite crispy today - it was a gorgeous day, which I spent in the veggie garden digging out overwintered weeds.  The garlic that I planted last spring (which I thought had died out from being bullied by the phlox) is all up so I cleaned that area too.  When I came in at 5 o'clock I cut and split a couple of large leaves from an aloe vera plant, and gooed up my frighteningly red arms.  I'm pretty sure I will stick to the sheets tonight.

Now that those Batik Cats are finally finished, here is the stash report:
STASH REPORT
Used this report:  9.2 m
Used YTD:        45.2 m
Added this report:   0 m (good girl!!)
Added YTD:    113 m (apparently I'm not always a good girl)
Net YTD:       + 67.8 m  Hmm.  Bad number.  Hopefully over the next seven months I'll get this back into the red zone, with a net minus number.

Kiss Me You Fool (music) and Quiche Me You Fool (a recipe)

For your listening pleasure, from the days of my youth, by The Northern Pikes:


And from the warmth of my kitchen, here is QUICHE ME, YOU FOOL from the Looneyspoons cookbook.

Here is a LINK to the recipe, although this one calls for fake eggs (!).  Use 4 real eggs instead, ok?

Finish #2

Woo hoo! Finishing this binding was item #2 on my weekend list. Oh. You thought I could go away for a few days and not take a list?

Project 1 done

This was item #1 on my to-do list. The top was made with the guild Scrappy Club and just needed the outer border. Now it can move to the TFUQ pile. (Top Finished Un Quilted). Today we are heading to the Quinte Guild show in Belleville, On. I'll probably bump into Anita from Cottonmill Threadworks and she'll start to wonder if I'm stalking her. I just saw her last week at the show in St. Marys. Hopefully she will have the colour of King Tut thread that I need and I'll feel like my early morning (gaah...7 a.m.!!) was worth it.

Necessities for a weekend away

Hmm.  Let's see.  From top left:

• handbag with $$ and credit card to attend quilt show
• cooler bag with food prep items
• coffee for the road
• bag containing Ott light, bottle of wine, and quilt for binding
• sewing machine, doh!
• suitcase with undies, cosmetics, books.  And extra shoes - another doh!

This is the annual spring retreat at Margaret's.  The forecast is for much rain, so we may skip the quilt show.  It's kind of a long drive and that would be no fun in the rain.  And after all, we have enough quilts we can have our own quilt show.