A Few Finishes

Remember this post about the Island Chain quilt top and the Fourth of July quilt top? This is a little follow up to that, now that I have completed the backing for Island Chain and the other quilt "American Sweetheart" has its outer border, been quilted and bound. Also back from the quilter: Ginger Belle.

"American Sweetheart" was a 2006 McCall's Quilting pattern. It is funny that I put it away almost complete. It is ironic (if that is the right word) that most of the fabrics are 2006 or older. Even the border fabric I found at the last minute is a 2006 1930's reproduction print!

The back I made for Island Chain was inspired by a quilt called the Skinny Strips quilt in American Patchwork and Quilting. The link here is to their free downloadable pattern on All People Quilt. I chose that pattern because after making the Island Chain from a jelly roll of Oh My! I had all these leftovers that really don't go with any of my scrap stash. Not wanting them to waste away in the bin forever, this seemed to be the perfect answer. And it is going to be 2 quilts in one when it is quilted! 

The fabrics in Island Chain are not what I would buy for myself, but I LOVE THEM! My daughter picked it out for my Mother's Day gift. I swear that girl will someday admit she is a quilter at heart and stop denying any interest in the craft!

When I took the Island Chain class from Kim Brackett (author of Scrap Basket Sensations) everyone else used a Bali Pop. I was the odd one. It just proves that we should all step out of our habits, our comfort zone, and be surprised at what is waiting!

I think this is going to be one of my all time favorites.

Finally, the completed, quilted and bound "Ginger Belle" from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company patterns. It is in the book "Spice of Life Quilts."  The quilting is gorgeous. Exactly what it needed. And I didn't buy one piece of fabric for this quilt. Total stash buster!

Have you ever made a quilt from Kim Brackett or Carrie Nelson? You will not be able to stop!!! I want to make each and every one in their books.

More Adventures with Zucchini

Okay, I tried a Zucchini Banana Bread recipe from Cooks.com and it was just that. OKAY. Not great. It made a huge loaf, and that is always nice. But the banana was very hard to detect. I want a wow factor.

While the bread was baking I got out my late grandmother's recipe box and looked through her desserts section. Wouldn't you know she had a Zucchini Cake recipe in there, and I had all the ingredients out? Is that fate or what? And seeing Gramma's handwriting made me all sentimental. I had to make it.

The following was made in a bundt pan. Picture borrowed from the web (lickthebowlgood.blogspot.com to be exact.) You know. My camera sucks.

Zucchini Cake

3 large eggs at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract - don't fake it, use real vanilla extract!
3 cups all purpose flour
2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini, unpeeled, loosely packed
1/2 cups finely chopped nuts (I used pecans)
optional 1/2 cup raisins (I used 1 1/2 cups Nestle Chocolate Chunks cause what is life without chocolate?)

In your large mixing bowl, blend the eggs for 30 seconds on low speed then add the oil, baking powder, soda, spices, vanilla and sugar on medium speed. Beat for 1 minute. Mixture should be smooth. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl while you do the mixing part.

Now mix in the flour using a wooden spoon, alternately adding the zucchini. When this is well blended, stir in the nuts, raisins, chocolate etc.

Pour this yummy batter into a greased and floured bundt pan (or other cake pan) and bake at 350 degrees for 70 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean from the center. Let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, loosen the edges with a knife, then invert onto a plate.

Some choose to sprinkle powdered sugar on the cooled cake, or a thin chocolate icing drizzled down the sides.

If you make this, and especially if you have some healthier conversions (like applesauce as an alternative to how much oil?) let me know! I'd also like to hear if you made the cake and your thoughts!

Food Trials and Gardening in Florida

I made Cheesy Zucchini Bake the other day. Not bad and very healthy. Its just that it is a tough sell at my house where loads of flavor are normal fare. Since I made the recipe about 1/3 bigger by adding fresh mushrooms and extra squash, I was not going to toss it out. Can't really freeze zucchini well. The alternative?

Please note, the picture to the left is from another blog, not my actual dinner. Most of you know my camera stinks, especially with food pics.

I drained off the juices that were in the bottom of the pan, browned 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef with some minced garlic and diced fresh sweet onion in a large skillet, added 2 jars of marinara sauce, and slid all the leftover squash in to simmer. Voila! A chili-like dish that can stand alone, or be served over pasta or rice. Sort of like this recipe, which reminded me of my childhood.

Once upon a time, we had a garden and my mother made something wonderful out of nearly baseball bat sized zucchini. (I think she learned not to skip checking the garden for more than a day at a time after that crop!)  She sliced the zucchinis down the middle lengthwise, parboiled them, scooped out the seeds and filled them with a meatsauce mixture like you would make into lasagna. Topped with Italian cheeses and baked, it really was like lasagna without noodles when you got a slice of that on your plate. The end.

Next up for me will be the Zucchini-Banana-Flaxseed Muffins as found in Everyday Food magazine. Minus the flax seed. I don't have any. I am pretty sure if I bought it, it would be much more than I'll ever use. What is flax seed? Is it like Wheat Germ? That stuff is not right. Like sawdust mixed into perfectly good food and ruining it. Seriously.  I'll make the zucchini banana muffins straight up, thank you.

I must admit I am jealous of all the bloggers who have grown big crops this summer and are now canning their rewards for winter. They must be in much more temperate climates than our lovely Pensacola. I dare them to come here and try to have a Summer garden with a full time job. I was spoiled by the ease of gardening in Southern California. There, you can literally throw a peach pit over your shoulder and have a fruit-bearing tree in a few years. Here, you will look like a Swamp Creature just trying to fight the weeds, the heat, the awful humidity, the fire ants, the Cow Ants, snakes, mosquitoes, berry vines, etc after work.  ( I think we should have a European type schedule, where everyone takes August off, because even the corn has given up and burned out by August. )

Market prices have never seemed so bad after a season of coming into the house drenched in sweat and a bad attitude.

And on that note, Bon Appetit!

I won an award!

I won a One Lovely Blog Award from Cook and Be Merry!  Isn't that nice? Thanks Lynne!

You may remember my post about the delicious Chicken and Sausage, Mushroom and Asparagus Pasta dish? That is Lynne's recipe! I guarantee that if you follow her blog, your mouth will be watering on a regular basis.

As part of the award, I am supposed to share 7 random facts about me! What a coincidence that I have been thinking of doing just that after reading it on other blogs.

1. Due to having to wear a full torso back brace in junior high for scoliosis, I can pick up most things with my toes. Everyone says I have monkey toes. My grandson and daughter also have the talent, so maybe the brace is just how I perfected it?

2. My favorite color is red, but I have very little of that color in my fabric stash. I make up for it with a red car and a red kitchen wall, pots and pans and Kitchenaid mixer.

3. I became a grandmother at 44. This pretty much goes with family history. I absolutely love being Nana! I've started making lots of clothing and accessories again since he came along.

4. Women in my family live to be an average of 89 years old. One great grandmother passed away at 99.
(I still have both maternal grandparents. That makes 5 generations here in Pensacola.)

5. I was in an art exhibition during my senior year. I drew a charcoal portrait of an old woman. How I wish the public schools allowed for more elective classes! I really wanted to take pottery, sculpture and other art classes, but there was never room in my schedule. Now I have to find the time and money in my busy life for art classes!

6. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising accepted my application, but at 17 I was terrified of driving to and from Los Angeles by myself, so I never went. Sad, but true.


7. My second cousin and I are 4 days apart due to a $2 bet between his Marine dad and my Marine dad. You can probably figure the details out. I am the older. Yep, my dad won $2 and started a family.

That's a pretty good start on trivial facts, I guess.

Now to pass the award to some recently discovered blogs:

http://craftsewcreate.blogspot.com/
http://www.beneathmyheart.net
http://rachelkrutsch.blogspot.com/
http://mygrammasaid.blogspot.com/
http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/lavieenrosie/
http://patchworkpottery.blogspot.com/
http://www.pleasant-home.com/
http://sewkatiedid.wordpress.com/
http://www.stitchedincolor.com/
http://bombardone.com/sewingprincess/

I hope you will visit them and enjoy them as much as I do. Please leave a comment so they’ll know you stopped by.

Blog Award conditions:

1. Post a link back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to recently discovered blogs. It is supposed to be 15, but I am going with 10. ;)
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

I Can't Help It

I said I was going to slow down. I said I would only make 2 blocks a week from now on to avoid burning out, but I started 5 blocks yesterday. I finished the last 2 this morning. So there you go, 5 more blocks!

Busy Bee

I have been very productive with the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along this week. I want to use up my scraps and get a lot done before something sidetracks me or I run out of steam. I am really good at not finishing projects for me.

 Here is my progress. Blocks 1 through 24. I skipped #18 "a Century of Progress" because it looks difficult and I would rather breeze along and maybe come back to it.

I wonder how many of you can name the fabrics? A few are newer, but most are last year or older. Some are REALLY old. See that one with the gray and white triangles? "Broken Dishes" is the block name. That dark gray fabric was bought about 21 years ago! Some of it was in my first quilt!

 I've been following along with the flickr group. Have you? There are some very inspirational quilters in the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt-A-Long group! Some are doing each block in one color, some in only red and white, some in 1930s fabrics. It is very interesting to see what others decided to go with.

Don't be frustrated by all the little pieces! If you make sure you are cutting your triangles on the grain, and not on the bias, it is easier. And if you cut carefully, the angles on the ends of the templates line everything up perfectly. If you want to print and cut out the templates as you go, this link will allow you to print by block number. That is helpful, right? I have my templates in a large vinyl envelope I found at Office Depot. I printed them all out at once and now I just sort through the numbers til I find what I need. Whatever works!

I have been lugging a bin of scraps, fat quarters and yardage to work and home every day to keep going. If I weighed the bin, I think it would be close to 20 pounds. Making a dent in some of my scrap stash and putting my treasured older fabrics to good use feels good!

On another note, we have had tons of rain lately. We needed it! It is so wet and humid, mushrooms are sprouting up all over. Our usual summer weather is afternoon showers, then hot and humid after the sun comes back out. That means the mushrooms don't survive or even sprout most years.

This weekend is supposed to be drier (and hotter) but it should be perfect for another 2 days in the pool!

I hope you are staying cool and enjoying the summer! July is almost over and school starts up again here in about a week. The school supplies have been out at the stores for a month now. That always bummed me out when I was in school. Here you are enjoying summer and you go shopping and there it is, right in your face. Aghhh! School! Not yet!

Late to the Party: The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Along

You've seen it all over quilty blogland, right? The latest craze, the online quilting bee, and a little lesson in farm life and being happy with what you've got too. I found blog posts about this from the beginning of the year, including this FINISHED one from February!

It is a challenge, this quilt along. There are no instructions for making the blocks. I guess it is assumed that if you buy the book, you've made quilt blocks before and can figure it out. There are lots of helpful tips on the flickr group's discussion page. There is even a pdf link so you can download all the templates, condensed to 15 pages!

My thoughts on making this: I have so many other things I need to be doing, I must be crazy to start it! But then I thought about how impossible it is to have any kind of quilting bee these days other than a quilt along online, and I've never made a sampler quilt or worked with templates, so why not? I have tons of scraps and stash. I don't need to buy anything but the book! And if Kim Brackett can squeeze this into her busy schedule, I will too!

So I have jumped in. I'm behind but catching up. At first I was really stuck as to what fabric colors I wanted to use. Christmas fabrics? Red, white and black? Thimbleberries? Brights? I even considered using all batiks. I think making this in all batiks would be fantastic. However, I have chosen the brighter Spring time color scheme and  am using a lot of leftovers from lines like "Farmers Market" (Sandi Henderson), "Hunky Dory" "Spirit" "Just Wing It!" and "Swanky" to name a few.

I think that if these farmer's wives, who wrote so consistently about the beauty all around them; the joy of things blooming and growing; how healthy and alive and at peace they felt every day with nature, if they could have had bright colorful prints like these, they would have used them. A lot.

I am making the blocks in numerical order. 1 thru 111 (or whatever number I stop at.) Not sure I want a queen size quilt or just a twin. Sorry for the blurry pic.

I've made 2 more since this one, I am trying to knock out 2 a day to catch up with the crowd!

Are you in?