Asparagus & The Cost of Groceries, and the Current Quilt

 FOOD

I'm currently at the beginning of a couple months where I will pick asparagus every day.

This week I've made:

GREEN CURRY CHICKEN WITH ASPARAGUS  DH and I don't find it hot, but if you're not used to cooking with a curry paste you may have a different experience.

ASPARAGUS & CHEDDAR QUICHE (this freezes quite nicely, and I use a homemade pie crust).

I have to admit to being SHOCKED when I saw this...

Holy Mackerel!  $7.99???  I had to employ my mental coping technique of adding an imaginary question mark.  

Apparently this will "mentally" put you back in control, at which point you can say "um, nope" and walk away without causing any embarrassment to yourself.

QUILTING

If you follow me on either Instagram or Facebook you may have seen my last few posts about working on this quilt.  The top was pieced by my program partner in the Binbrook Quilters' Guild.  She used this as the sample while she ran the Block of the Month program for the guild, so there will be several of these quilts completed by the members over the next little while (quilt pattern by Phoebe Moon Designs, with permission granted to us to run as a b.o.m.).  LINK.  

The guild is paying for all the materials, I'm donating the quilting, then the guild will donate the completed quilt to Glanbrook Community Services who will use it as part of their ongoing fundraising campaign. 

The last several days have found me working on computer designs to do the remaining quilting - the s.i.d. is pretty much complete, although I may do a bit more as I progress.  This is design version number...4?  It has taken an inordinate amount of time to figure out something here that made me happy.  There is a LOT of negative space on this quilt which will show off some beautiful designs, but I need to control that so it doesn't get too crazy/busy.  

I don't want it "quilted to death"  because that makes quilts pretty stiff.  This design should give me lots of quilting, but still leave the quilt with a nice drape. That inner white star that appears in the background is such a weird shape that it's been giving me fits. 

That's a terrible pic, I know, if you're trying to actually SEE what the quilting design looks like.  Sorry about that.  Anyhow... my basic plan was to stick to:

• straight lines
• feathers
• curls

Feathers are a little tricky sometimes because they're quilted in many different shapes, which can look (to me) like different shapes.  And that's what I'm trying to avoid... too many different things going on will ruin the cohesion holding the designs together.  The sashing design of pumpkin seed & line doesn't fit into my "plan", but it IS the same shape you see in the block pattern, so I'm calling that OK because it's repeating the same shape as something that's already there.  I may yet change the mid-size border design (curls & pearls) to something more... feather-ey.  I'll probably quilt other areas and leave that empty while I think on it.

BLOG POSTING

Why have I been gone since the end of December?  I dunno.  Had nothing to say?  Winter doldrums?  My brother being a stupid asshat and continuing to criticize me for no good reason, which put me in a crabby mood for months?  Sadly, yeah, I'm going with the brother theory.  He's my only remaining immediate family, and probably 50% of our conversations devolve into him giving me shit for something, or insulting either me or DH.  So once again I have had to put him on "ignore" status for the sake of my mental health.  If you have siblings who love and respect you I sure hope you appreciate how lucky you are.  Sigh.

 

I CAN'T leave this post with a tone of misery.  Here's one that makes me laugh at myself.  And that helps. 😄

Fall & Winter Projects

 I started this back in the summer, it became Part II of a wedding gift.  Cute - a modern version of Christmas trees.

The pattern is a freebee from Art Gallery Fabrics, "Tepee Adventures".  It's written as a lap quilt so I had to make more blocks and kind of re-jig things to get a queen size quilt.  Most of the fabrics came from my stash, with the exception of the backgrounds and the border, and I think a couple of fat quarters.

This was made as a gift for an animal lover.

All fabrics from my stash, although the dog panel was a recent bargain purchase that I couldn't (ahem, couldn't?) walk away from, at a quilt shop that was closing due to retirement.  Quilted with cute little paw prints, and very cozy with a flannel back.

More animal lover gifts.  These were packed up with some tea packets, chocolate balls, and a book for each.

These six quilts went to Martha House (a women's shelter in Hamilton).  I've been working on these throughout the year.  

• The cat quilt on the left was made from a panel that I picked up from the guild "take it" table.  
• The blues/yellows next to it was a guild demo for three-patch quilts, made from flying geese blocks.  
• Next the charm squares were pieced on Super Bowl Sunday, my annual project fueled by commercials, cocktails & frozen lasagne.  
• The reds/greens started as a layer cake from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  
• Next is another layer cake, which I WON at Missouri Star, pieced with a redrafted version of the Summer Slice pattern.  
• Far right is the original version of the Summer Slice pattern.  This was an example on using a border print fabric.

This Dream Big panel has been hanging on my flannel board for a few years.  Originally I put it there to give myself some Stand And Stare time.  After it had been there for about three years, though, I started to get a guilty conscience over the un-doneness of it.  

When the fearless leader of the Beach Girls announced an in-person SOLO meeting (Southern Ontario Longarm Operators) scheduled for November (the first one since the pandemic started), I was determined to bring this finished, because the program was Show & Share.

As it turned out, I barely got it off the machine the evening before the meeting.  I took it in all it's not-quite-finished ugliness, with excess backing & batting flapping in the wind.  Whatever.  It was quilted.

This whole thing was quilted by me, as in "hand guided", as in "no computer".  I don't generally work my creative brain cells this much, so I had to pull out some of my books:  Angela Walters, Renae Haddadin, Judy Madsen, as well as go through the zillion sheets of quilting doodles that I've brought home from classes over the years.

I'll give you closeups of each quadrant because Every. Single. Petal. was quilted differently:

And the back.  You can see the various thread colours I used to accentuate the petals.  The one thread I ended up not being happy with was the pale peach, it looks washed out.  The rest were all good.

Now remember:  common folklore tells you that however you start the New Year is how the year will progress.  It is crucial that you have your stitching project planned for Sunday!  I'll be doing my usual in person AND long-distance-via-email group sewing, with Chinese Food to follow.  Happy New Year. 🎇

A Winter Quilt & A Donation

 This is a beautiful quilt made from a panel.  As you know, Winter Is Coming.

I love this gal's work.  She cut up the panel, did some math, made lots of patchwork, then put it all together.

Even the back is lovely.

Back in the spring my friend and I were horrified about what was happening in Ukraine, and we decided to put our stashes together and make a quilt for donation.

Here's the final product.

A closeup of the quilting - sunflowers.

I also made some placemats to go with the quilt.

I'm pleased to say that I delivered the quilt and placemats to the Hamilton branch of the Ukraine Canadian Congress last week.

That must have worn me out...here's what I just finished.

Ha ha ha, that tiny little thing is for a guild swap - a mug & mug rug.

I've kept up my energy by eating lots of Kale Salad.  My goodness, that stuff is very resilient.  

DH said: (with a fake sad face) The kale is dead.  It didn't survive that cold snap.

Me: Uh, nope, you should go take another look.

DH:  What?  No...it was all droopy and wilted.

Me:  Uh, nope, it has recovered quite nicely!

DH:  mutter, mutter, mutter... 😖

RECIPE FOR KALE SALAD

227 g kale, chopped (massage with lightly oiled hands for a few minutes)

2 apples or pears, cut into matchsticks

56 g sliced almonds, lightly toasted

DRESSING

1 tbsp dijon mustard

4 tbsp oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Whisk dressing ingredients together.  Toss kale, fruit, almonds with dressing.

I'll close this post with a pic of my useless assistant.  She was stuck at home on a very rainy Friday instead of playing with her friends at daycare.  She's missing a tail, so she does a piss-poor job of sweeping up threads.

Seasonal Quilts & Tales From My Boring Life (boring is good)

I quilted these two back in July.  One for Christmas. 

One for fall.

This belongs to a friend of mine, for winter.

This is one of mine that is planned as a Christmas gift.

My life is generally pretty boring and I'm ok with that.  Boring is good!  Boring means you don't have to call your friend and repeat yourself because she can't understand what you're saying while you're crying and hiccupping and blowing your nose.  I actually had a not boring, really FUN week in October, though.

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to see Michael Buble.  He was excellent!  And what's even better, I was in a pretty big arena and did not get covid! I left the next morning to spend a week with the Beach Girls!

I have been watching Only Murders In The Building for the past couple of months.  It's a very entertaining show, with Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez.  Season 2 featured Shirley Maclean, and she was always drinking Cocotinis, so I decided to make Cocotinis my featured cocktail for the girls.  They are quite drinkable. 😋 The cocktail on the show has a layered appearance, showing pink on the bottom so I started with maraschino cherry syrup in the bottom of the glass, then ever-so-gently added the mixed cocktail on top.  I don't know what happened, but I did not get a photo, so you'll have to use your imagination.  I apologize for making you do the work. 

How we entertain ourselves whilst sewing.  Identities have been disguised to protect the innocent.

The only lovely sunset was our final evening, while we were trying to eat up all the leftovers.  Even though we reduced the number of meals we brought this year we STILL had too much food. 

I came home three pounds heavier than I was when I left. I decided to confuse The Universe with reverse psychology.  Fingers crossed that it works.

OMG, those are ridiculously good.  Apple Cinnamon Rolls With Maple Cream Cheese Icing.  People need to stop giving me produce and fruit.  I feel compelled to BAKE something to share with them as a thankyou.

In the week I've been  home I have managed to finally finish the 20 flannel pillowcases for the hospice that took care of my s.i.l. during her last days.

Tomorrow it's back to normal...guild meeting on Monday, quilting work for two weeks, peel the remaining apples and make applesauce, do something with the butternut squashes, plant the garlic, ...

A Quick Catch-up

Where I'm going tonight.  Might come home with a new t-shirt!

I made a couple of pear & raspberry galettes to thank the ladies who gifted me with the fruit.

Coco trying to coerce a treat (?) out of one of the trainers at doggy daycare.

What I did to her AFTER daycare. 😁  PetValu in Binbrook.  $12.00.  Excellent value!

 

I've spent a lot of time this week getting ready for my annual week-long retreat with the Beach Girls in Tobermory.  I was a little stressed when I realized I couldn't possibly finish everything packed in the box.  My solution?  Add a couple more projects. 😜  I would say that I need to have my head read, but I don't know if that's politically correct.

  

Today I also had to go vote at the early poll, and then do a Costco run for retreat supplies. Food actually.  Is that considered supplies?  FYI, Saturday afternoon is not the smartest time to go to Costco if you like wide open spaces.  Hubby stocked up his supplies for a bachelor week - hazelnut straws, Doritos chips, BBQ nut mix, Clamato juice, apple pie, ...  At this point it's uncertain which of us will put on more weight in the next seven days.  The Beach Girls at least eat some green stuff too (although I think I got the hairy eyeball from one of them when I said I was making kale salad).

Two Modern Quilts & ....

 These were two beauties that both wanted the pantograph Modern Curves.  

That's such a striking quilting design and it shows up really well on solid fabrics.

And, HEY!  I MADE A QUILT!  This was for a young man who's gone off to university.

Here are the strips of geese.  My original intention was to use a border print as sashing between the rows, but I didn't like the look, so I opted to stick with the solid black.  These are 4" x 8" geese made using the Quilt In A Day ruler.  Definitely one of my favorite rulers.

DOG STUFF

You may have seen this goofy pic already if you follow me on facebook or instagram.  A few people have suggested that we get another dog to help Coco relax, so...yup.  Being a crafty girl I made another dog.  Since this was taken I have brushed out this much fur AGAIN.  TWICE MORE in fact.

Here's another fun one - this one's from daycare.  Obviously neither one of these goofs has gone to Etiquette Class.  Elbows on the table??  Helloooo!

KITCHEN STUFF

Oh, hubby, hubby, hubby.  After one of my weekly chats with the Beach Girls I mentioned to DH that three of them have air fryers, and they were pretty surprised that I didn't have one.  Well, hubby doesn't need more than one reason to go shopping. 

 

I used it last night to bake frozen shoestring fries and onion rings and they both turned out pretty well.  Better than in the oven, as in crispier.  I don't think it did anything to make them healthier though.  That would require an act of God.  In a pointless attempt to make him repent I was reading the recipes to him that came in the little book... lots of sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and fish recipes.  All on his personal list of "foods to avoid", ha ha ha. 

I'll close with a bit of beauty from Sept. 8th, courtesy of The Universe.

SUNSET

MOONRISE